Failure of Descent — Troy Carrol Bucher

The second book in this epic tale of gods and warriors follows two young individuals trying to unite warring cultures to banish the gods who destroyed their homeland.

Blood calls to blood.

Five years have passed since Riam escaped alone to the southern kingdom of Arillia. Owl Regiment is no more, Master Iwynd is likely dead or imprisoned, and the Draegoran council now rules the north by the point of an often-used blade. Yet despite his grandfather's efforts to see him free of the regiments, a war is building that Riam's heritage will not let him escape. Somehow his brother Lemual stands at the center, feeding the flames.

In the tribal lands of the Esharii, Nola's training as a spirit-taker comes to an abrupt end. It is time to make the choice she most fears--unite the tribes against her former homeland or see it torn apart by the very regiments she was destined to serve. But she has walked the ways of the future, and both choices will cost her, and those around her, more than their lives.

Together, Riam and Nola must return to the lands of the Covenant to stop a war certain to wake the Fallen Gods.