Paradox - Progeny Of Innocence (bk2) (Paradox series) by Patti Roberts Read Free Book Online Page B

down from the treetops. Razor-sharp talons reached out in front and collected the huge hound’s head in one swoop. Then the owl banked left and flew effortlessly off into the mist hanging high in the treetops.
    "I know you’re there, Thorn. No one else cuts the head from a spectre hound like a blade cutting through lard like you do." He looked up just as a slender figure descended from a high branch, like a spider gliding down an invisible thread, a long, bloodied blade clenched ready in his hand. He landed almost silently on the forest floor. A light scatter of leaves fluttered around his feet in half-hearted protest. He holstered his weapon in a leather sheath that hung across his back with a second blade.
    "That is one beast that won’t be going home to sleep by his master's hearth this fine evening." He took Bakari’s hand and shook it firmly in greeting. His brown hair was disheveled and rested on strong shoulders. His ears, with closer inspection, were ever so slightly pointed on the top, an almost extinct trait of his Ancient Forest ancestors.
    "Thorn," Bakari said, letting go of his hand to return his inquisitive gaze to the treetops, and what lay secreted there.
    Another figure stepped gracefully from the shadows.
    When her face became visible in the firelight, Bakari bowed. "Your highness, such an honor to see you again," he said, giving her a respectful tilt of his head. She wore the traditional earthy tones of the Forest People. Her hair was long, past her waist, and wavy, like an ocean of golden waves. A braid intertwined with twigs, leaves, mistletoe, and flowers of the forest crowned her head. A crystal acorn on a golden chain hung between her breasts. A vine of gold and bronze leaves entwined her arms.
    "Bakari," she said, walking toward him gracefully, noiselessly, "please, call me Willow." Her hazel eyes shone like precious gems as they sparkled in the firelight. "You are foolish, you know, to walk into the forest alone at night. Do the legends about our forests not frighten you?"
    "The giant owls cause me some fear," he blurted nervously, feeling a little embarrassed at admitting such a thing to a woman.
    She smiled and took the stick from his hand, her hand pale compared to his darker skin. "Yes, the owls. That beast could quite easily have been you, you know. Do you fancy losing your head, Bakari, to Thorn and his owls?" Willow poked him in the chest playfully with the stick. Her voice was soft, and as gentle as a breeze as it carried her Celtic accent to his ear. The branches above her stirred; leaves floated gently to the ground. There were others up there out of sight, he knew. Their long bows, unseen, would be pulled taut, with arrows aimed and ready to fly. He would be dead in a heartbeat, before his body had time to hit the earthy carpet of leaves beneath his feet. The Forest People had grown defensive, and with good reason since the night the Grigorians had ripped through their forest, all but destroying the village with flame, during their pursuit of the fleeing Bulguardian Army and the city’s people.
    The Forest People had sat in council on the night of the equinox, with the three remaining Guardians. The Guardians had requested safe passage through the forest to the desert lands beyond, in an effort to reach the sanctity of the high mountains in the south.
    Willow, having listened to their plight, had agreed immediately, and offered them safe passage through her forest, believing that the Grigorians would not break the laws of the ancient Celtic treaty, a treaty that had stood fast for thousands of years, stating that no being that feasted from the flesh of another soul could pass through the sacred Forest Of Doors, for fear that their evil would pass through the portals to the outer worlds.
    Willow had been wrong, and their magic had failed them. They had all been wrong. Instead of the Grigorians traveling east to pursue a path around the forest, as they had previously done centuries past,