Paradox - Progeny Of Innocence (bk2) (Paradox series) Read Online Free PDF Page A

from the bloodstained sword. Then he went about his business, polishing and muttering in the ancient language of his people, the Khnum River People in the east lands.
    "Well it does not rest in the hands of the Gods any longer, now does it, Bakari," Temulun said angrily.
    The boy glared at her with a stern look on his face. "You should not be saying such things, Temulun. It is not safe."
    Temulun sighed. "You are quite right."
    "You should go now," Bakari said, dismissing them. "I am busy here; we will talk later tonight, under the Great Oak at the edge of the forest."
    "If I have nothing better to do," Temulun replied curtly. "Come," she said to Keyla. "Let us take leave of this stupid boy with his shiny new toy." They walked from the room, glad to be free of the stifling heat from the blazing bowl of hot coals and flames in the windowless room. They welcomed the touch of cool air on their faces as they walked out across the cobbled courtyard toward the outdoor pantry to fetch Lord Cerberus his beast. Lush green pastures speckled with long swaying blooms surrounded the open-air pantry and perfumed the air. Lambs frolicked playfully. Ewes grazed lazily, ignorant yet blessed with the lack of intelligence to question.
    Temulun filled her lungs with the beguiling scent of Mother Nature as they walked in silence, each completely immersed in her own thoughts.
    The sound of hooves pounding noisily on cobbled stones rumbled closer from behind a high stone wall, dissolving their concentration. They drew closer to the end of the wall and peered out. A gust of breeze carried another, sharper, pungent scent, overshadowing all that was fresh and crisp. Booming voices, beastly snarls and muffled voices echoed through the stony courtyard.
    Hidden behind the stone wall, Temulun and Keyla watched on in horror. From the south they came. A barrage of armored Grigorian guards: some on horseback, some on foot with giant black spectre hounds, almost the size of a horse, hunched and hovering by their sides. A slow-moving throng of prisoners as far as the eye could see moved clumsily along the cobbled path. They were pushed and shoved forward toward covered enclosures where they would later be sorted. Some would become breeders to replenish the dwindling food stocks. Others would become bleeders who would provide a continuous supply of fresh blood. These were the unfortunates: the souls who had fought bravely alongside the Royal Bulguardian Army during the last days of war, and had been captured fleeing the stricken city.
    "Move, hurry along," a massive guard boomed as he shoved a young woman with long, matted fair hair with the front of his horse. She fell forward. A man reached out quickly for her arm. "Rose," he gasped, but it was too late. She fell heavily to the ground on her hands and knees. "Abel," she cried out, and reached up frantically for him. Another Grigorian guard on foot smashed his heavy shield into the side of Abel’s face, forcing him backward into the shuffling throng of bodies. The Grigorian guard shouted again. "Move it, I’ve got better things to do with my time than herd you lot all day." A man stripped of his armor and clothed in a torn and bloodied Bulguardian tunic clutched Rose’s arm and pulled her to her feet before he, too, was dragged forward by the throng of prisoners.
    Rose scanned the mass of bodies in a frantic effort to find her husband as they jostled her along. "Abel, Abel," she cried out hysterically but no reply came. Only the booming voices of the Grigorian guards filled her ears.
    "Move, move, move," the guards shouted in a hoarse chorus as hounds barked, snarled and nipped feverishly at the prisoners' bloodied ankles. Another Bulguardian soldier raised his arm at a Grigorian guard, but was quickly slammed to the ground by a pair of massive paws. The Beast snarled viciously, opened its jaws wide, and with one quick snap, tore the man’s throat out with a row of barbed fangs.
    Temulun eyes stung with