The Heartstone Saga by Archibald Bradford (short novels in english .TXT) 📕

a genuine expression of fear that her bond-sister Bruti recognized, on the ground not far away after having taken a brutal hit from one of the Ogres.

But there was a reason that Nina was wary of the big bear girl when they first met: she knew what a Grizzly could be like when riled.

And with her bond-mates’ lives in such jeopardy, Bruti was riled.

Below the dome, Grant had tears standing in his eyes as he coughed away the dust from the destruction around them, his hands helplessly pushing upwards against the bottom of the clay.

With Linda screaming above him and being blind and disoriented he saw no other way but to give the order no Aegis operative ever wanted to give.

“Bruti! G-Go lethal!”

He had no idea if she could even hear him, but it didn’t matter, because at that point the bear wasn’t asking for his permission.

Once she was back on her feet she roared at the Ogres as only an angry bear could, the pair of them turning away from trying to pummel Grant and Linda flat, unable to ignore the smaller monster’s challenge.

The both towered over her, but she outmatched even their dark ferocity as she charged at them and latched her thick black claws into the leg of the taller of the two.

The Ogre swatted at her back, but Bruti tore deep into the dark girl’s flesh and climbed her as readily as she would a tree, leaving deep bloody gouges in her wake.

The other Ogre likewise tried to strike her with her massive blue fists, but succeeded only in pummeling her giant sister instead.

And once she reached her shoulders Bruti wrapped both of her massive paws around the Tenebrae’s neck, digging into her flesh before tearing back again.

A massive goat of blood flooded from the grievous injury as the giant let out a piteous whine, mortally wounded by the Grizzly’s savagery.

Again the other Ogre swatted at her, and this time her fist landed a glancing blow across the bear’s back, but she barely felt the hit, too deep into her bestial ferocity.

Instead she threw one paw back and latched onto the Ogre’s fist, pushing off of the dying girl with her feet to pounce onto the other’s chest, her claws tearing into her face with relentless purpose.

Soon two dead Ogres were lying in the street, shocked people all around watching as the Grizzly that ended them roared again, this time with a plaintive note of grief amidst the rage.

Bruti was a grumpy girl most days, but something that few other than Grant and Linda knew: she was amongst the kindest of souls.

But today no one could afford to be.

__________

Meanwhile in the air far above the stricken city Evadne and Volka were trading magically charged attacks.

Bolts of darkness and enchanted feathers flew back and forth between them as they ducked and wheeled through the sky.

“Can you afford to keep chasing me?” Evadne taunted in a strained voice; “A whole lot of people are dying right now!”

“We both know that a great deal more will die if I let you escape!” The Valkyrie shouted as she darted in and swung with her glowing sword.

The tip of the blade whistled past the Chimera’s face as she flinched away from the light of it.

“And I know your story now, Evadne Contrail! I know the depths of your grief, and the source of it!”

“That, that name means nothing to me!” The off-balance Chimera hissed as she flapped her bat-like wings furiously to try to put some distance between them.

“I know of Malcolm’s treachery!” Volka countered; “I know of what he did to your children! To your babies!”

The demon within her breast still hid from the Valkyrie, her aura as toxic to it as her sword, so Evadne was free to feel everything, all of the pain that had driven her into accepting the demon’s promises.

Dreadful agony and rage twisted inside of her, each emotion striving to drown out the other and pull her into chaotic madness.

But before the advent of the Empaths it was the Valkyrie’s duty to confront the Tenebrae, so the Dominar’s aura seeped into the broken Chimera like life-giving water into parched earth.

As such, Evadne’s jaw shook while she struggled in vain to control herself, her teeth grinding together as she remembered her daughters and the man who once upon a time held her heart in sway.

They flapped their wings, circling in the air not far from each other as Volka concentrated more power into her aura and forced the other monster girl to open her fractured heart.

Never before had the dark Chimera spoken openly about Malcolm’s betrayal, such was the might of the Dominar’s compassion.

“He was always distant with our children, I thought it was the nearness of my mother, who never liked him, never trusted him! I now know he kept himself aloof so that when the time came he could stand by and let them die.” Black tears traced down Evadne’s face and her eyes blazed with grief and hatred; “Show me a monster who could do the same!”

Volka shook her head as she called out over the sound of the wind in her ears.

“I’m looking at one! You lost your children, which should have been tragedy enough. But how many children have you now slain Evadne? Let go of this madness, find peace in death as you should have done so long ago! Your people are waiting for you!”

For the first time in centuries the Chimera felt something other than rage and hate: temptation.

But the compassion of a single Valkyrie, no matter how powerful, was not enough.

Evadne was too far gone, and the fleeting thought of release was squashed beneath the weight of a millennium of twisted desire cultivated by the malevolent being that dwelled in