Read Aegis of The Gods: Book 02 - Ashes and Blood for Free Online

to drag the litter away from the stump. When the entire process was completed, he nodded in satisfaction.
    The first yowls, snarls, grunting barks and growls of daggerpaw fighting wolf echoed through the gloomy trees.
    Stefan strode over to where he’d left his bow and picked it up. “I’ll send Charra to you to help clear a path.”
    Ancel shook his head, his words easing out in a disbelieving whisper, “No, you mustn’t.”
    “Yes, I must and I will.”
    “Da, there’s no way you can hold them off. Please, don’t do this.”
    “Alone, I probably wouldn’t be able to, but we’ll do our best.” He nodded toward the south, the direction of Eldanhill.
    There, appearing from the tree line like a spirit dressed in the dark-colored britches and tunic she favored, a short cloak whipping around her, jogged Kachien. Two sheaths stood out on her hips, each containing a black-handled dagger.
    “How?”
    “I told her if we weren’t back by noon to come find us.”
    “Why not Shin Galiana?”
    “She had more pressing issues with the possibility of Pathfinders coming to Eldanhill since we declared ourselves.”
    Ancel cringed with the thought of the men and women tasked with capturing those who Forged without the proper control, used Mater to commit crimes, or stood against the Tribunal. Not only was he guilty of the first and the last but so was much of Eldanhill. To the Pathfinders, they’d also done the second.
    In the distance, the fight between Charra and the wolves grew more pronounced. A howl resonated to the northeast. A different wolf pack.
    “There’s no time to waste,” Stefan commanded. “Mount up.”
    After a slight hesitation and a pained look to both his father and the woman he’d grown to love, who he still cared for to a great extent, Ancel climbed atop Stefan’s horse.
    “Don’t stop. Don’t look back until you reach Eldanhill.”
    As his father was saying those words, Kachien drew even with them. Ancel opened his mouth to acknowledge her at the same time that she glanced down at the giant. She sniffed, rubbing a thumb across her nose. Then her head jutted forward a bit, her eyes narrowed, and her hands slid imperceptibly closer to the handles of her daggers.
    Before Ancel contemplated her reaction, his father slapped the rump of his mount and sent him on his way.

Chapter 4
    H ead held high in defiance, Irmina Nagel regarded the Tribunal Assembly’s members arrayed before her. Tiered alabaster steps formed a semicircle like an amphitheater of old. Spaced along every stone stair were chairs of the finest mahogany behind matching balustrades. Upon each chair sat the Tribunal High Seats, the twelve colored stripes on their sleeves unmistakable.
    Depicted on the walls behind them was Denestia’s creation by the Annendin, taking his lifeblood to produce Mater. He separated it into the three elements and made the worlds. He further broke down the elements into the essences and bestowed them onto the gods. Other murals showed the gods passing their essences down to the Eztezians. Mixed in were the wars with the netherlings, the shadelings, and men with black boiling from their bodies—supposedly, the Skadwaz after the god Amuni changed them. Thinking back to Ryne’s story of the man he faced near the Vallum of Light and their battle in Castere’s Keep, she averted her eyes from that specific section.
    Directly ahead of her, on a seat positioned higher than the others, sat High Jin Quintess, leader of the Raijin. Wiry and imperious, auburn hair cut short, she regarded Irmina with cold, golden eyes. To Quintess’ right sat High Shin Hardan, the Pathfinder overseer, silver robes matching his hair. While he studied her, he stroked the corner of his mouth with his thumb. A habit she still found as disconcerting as his piercing eyes. As usual, his expression reflected little to no emotion.
    In positions sloping down from the center, according to importance, were High Shin Neftana, sniffing at a