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

ass in a closet somewhere. Even more troubling is that we haven’t heard anything from any of the council.”

Volka landed beside them then, she was grim-faced at having lost the Chimera but still her presence evoked a hush from those nearby as her aura told them that not all hope was lost.

But the silence couldn’t last long, not with so many injured.

“I need gauze over here!” Brooke Merlot called from nearby, Ophelia’s former teacher doing her job amongst the other medics.

“My husband’s head is not anywhere it should not be, despite Evadne’s efforts.” Volka pronounced; “The Chimera attacked the Bastion, the council is dead.”

While she spoke the angel walked towards the two Ogres, the one still conscious snarling and straining mightily to be free of the goo.

Several of the cadets with Kavanaugh let out gasps of shock at the news about the council, but he was quick to bark an order to silence them.

“Take these girls to the training grounds in front of the Bastion.” Volka continued; “He will meet you there. But many more Ogres rage throughout the city for us to deal with. I will track them from the air.”

Volka knelt down and arched her wings in preparation.

“Go, please.” Miranda said with a nod, the professional choking back any feeling she had about the council being gone; “We’ll start assembling teams and do what we can on the ground.”

The Valkyrie nodded and took flight, and suddenly Rebecca was being squeezed hard by her bond-mate.

“When this is over, you are in so much trouble.” She whispered into the bunny’s pierced ear; “You got too much brave in you Becks. Too much for your own damn good.”

“S-Sorry.” Rebecca replied lamely.

Nearby Kavanaugh and the cadets were doing their best not to eavesdrop, though the instructor interrupted their embrace before it ended.

“We brought a number of people from the academy, after getting these girls situated we’ll raid the armory in the Bastion. Assuming someone hasn’t already. After that, we’ll get back into it on the streets.”

__________

The open field just outside the boarding school was a mess.

The fighting had been fierce, but the last of the Ogres was on the ground, six other monster girls on top of her to keep her from getting up again.

Amidst the roars from the captured Tenebrae, a mournful chorus of groans reverberated around the field from the wounded.

Sitting propped against the wall of the school, Tiana’s breathing was ragged, her spear broken and her left side a wreck from being on the wrong end of an Ogre’s foot.

“She’s here!” She heard Lilly call out, leading a pair of naked green Dryads to her side; “Tee? You still alive?”

She was barely able to nod.

If the Dryad groves had not come out of their woods to help, the battle against the fifteen Ogres would have been a bloodbath.

Once they joined the fight they quickly overwhelmed the Tenebrae with their nature magic, massive enchanted roots surging out of the ground to bind the Ogres to the blood-soaked field.

It took some doing but the nature spirits soon stabilized her, and Tiana looked to the Wolfen looming at her side.

“I-I’ll take that drink now.” She wheezed.

Within the streets of the city, the chaos continued; members of the Aegis were evacuating who they could and striving to contain the Ogres still running amok.

Evadne and Jonathan had sent Tora’s entire clan into the city, from all different directions, and it was three hours before their rampage was ended.

Three hours of terror and destruction in the once peaceful seat of the Aegis’s power.

And even after the last of them fled or was killed, the dying continued.

Just like Nameless’s apartment, countless homes and buildings were destroyed around the city from the rampage, with innumerable people trapped beneath the rubble, living and dead alike.

Volka took it upon herself to unite the disparate rescue efforts, flying to and fro and directing the personnel on the ground.

In the market district a group of enterprising workmen had managed to draw one of the rampaging Ogres into a blind alley, then box her in with an enormous metal storage container that had to be moved by an even larger lost-tech mechanism.

The giant’s angry strength fell short of budging the steel box, so instead she raged within the confined space until Nina was able to subdue her for Nameless.

The giant was in a truly foul mood at having had to dig herself out of two separate piles of rubble.

Even still, were it not for Xalanth, the Ogres’ rampage would likely have gone on for far longer.

Once she found her bond-mate safe with Nameless, the ancient Dragon returned to the streets and began her hunt, swatting the giants down as if they were impetuous children.

Tenebrae were creatures of rage and hate, but still they came to fear the lone Dragon; with her wings they could not escape once she caught sight of them, not when they were misbehaving so close to her lair and within the bounds of her city.

Sadly there were far too many of them to contain, and when she came to realize this she stopped holding back, killing every Ogre that she encountered.

The Dragon was old, countless Tenebrae had fallen before her in the past, and she understood the necessity of it, had strength enough to bear the weight of their lives on her soul.

But it still pained her greatly.

With Volka’s help, Miranda and Commander Dawn Morrow eventually managed to coordinate the Aegis response, while Nameless dove into the minds of what few Ogres that were able to subdue, wrenching them free of their nightmare.

Even without his Valkyrie to shield him from their pain, he was familiar enough with Jonathan’s work by now to undo it alone.

She was needed elsewhere.

Tora and Kriss had helped Ginger and