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

Sadly many of the monster girls that followed Tiana into battle met their end there.

Two of the Saenga girls were critically injured when their effort to take one of the Ogres alive failed, and if Tiana hadn’t interceded than Lilly would have once again been forced to mourn for one of her pack.

And their names were few amongst many on an ever growing list.

On top of that, the damage to the Bastion from Evadne’s reckless magic was extensive; the structure had to be evacuated while a team of earth spirits set to work within in order to ensure that it was still sound.

If even part of the ancient spire had collapsed amidst the crowded city the death toll would’ve doubled in an instant.

As it was Garland was cast into mourning.

An Ogre’s rampage would have been terrible to behold, but a whole host of them, all fueled by rage and grief at the loss of Evadne’s children... it was the worst disaster ever to befall any of the city states.

To make matters worse Aegis Booker was now the only surviving member of the original Aegis council. Evadne, wherever she was hiding, had struck a terrible blow at the very heart of the peace-keeping organization, and she had more or less gotten away with it.

Booker was found along with Juni in a corner of the training grounds at the base of the Bastion, the pair of them lying amidst a soaking wet pile of rubble.

When Yana had attacked the council the Undine had used her magic to flood herself and her master out of the side of the building and into what would have been a fatal drop had she not used all of her power to form a massive pillar of water to fall with them and cushion their landing.

Booker broke his leg in two places and shattered his hip, while the elemental was completely exhausted from expending every bit of her magical strength.

Yana escaped, though nobody was sure how.

The one-eyed man looked terrible: gray faced and trembling on a cot while Miranda, Kavanaugh, Dawn Morrow, Theo Holbrook and the Valkyrie did their best not to get in the way of the medics and Dryads bustling around him in the temporary canvas shelter.

“We should never have argued with you.” He spat out bitterly; “We should have recognized what you were doing and got in line behind you weeks ago.”

Raw tears streaking down his face at the memory of his friends on the council, all dead.

So many people, dead.

Volka extended her aura over him to shield him from his bitter grief, his trembling stilled and his lips parted in shock at the wash of joyous light enveloping him.

Once he’d regained control of himself, he wiped the tears from his face and looked to Dawn Morrow.

“Commander, by my authority as representative of the Aegis high council, I am directing you to do whatever it takes to move the Aegis into a wartime footing... under the leadership of Dominar Volka.”

The woman’s eyes widened at the order, but she soon clapped her fist to her breast in acknowledgment.

“Yes sir.” She turned to face the Valkyrie and repeated the salute, the others quickly doing the same; “Ma’am, your orders?”

The Valkyrie quirked an eyebrow at being called ‘ma’am’, a human conceit, but let it slide and got right to the point.

“After this attack, we need to take stock of ourselves and do a complete tally of our numbers, both those within the Aegis and those monster girls that have already responded to my summons. Coordinate with the lawkeepers in the city, many of the Aegis’s duties will need to fall upon them.”

“They don’t have the same training.” Kavanaugh warned tiredly.

He hadn’t stopped to take a break until it was confirmed that all of the Ogres in the city had been brought down.

“No, but they must step up and do the best they can. Everyone who is able must step up. Along with taking stock of our forces, put out a call for volunteers. As the people are even now demonstrating around the city, there are many roles to be filled in war.”

“What should I tell them?” Dawn asked.

Volka looked to Nameless, assisting Ophelia not far away with one of her patients, and smiled sadly before repeating the same words she said to him some time ago.

“Tell them if they want their peaceful lives back, they will have to earn it.”

A brief silence greeted her words as they all took in their meaning.

“Fair enough.” Miranda mumbled finally, Dawn soon mirroring her nod.

“Additionally I want every cadet and monster girl in the academy counted amongst our numbers. No matter their level of training.”

“Some of them haven’t even finished orientation!” Theo objected.

“Yeah, but we don’t need them to know how to salute or how many criminal statues there are.” Miranda reasoned.

His mouth worked as he continued to sputter, but before he could articulate the innumerable problems he saw with putting a hodgepodge of inexperienced cadets into the field, Volka turned on her heel and glared at him.

“At the moment all anyone needs is the knowhow to take a Tenebrae off her feet without killing her, and the courage to do so.”

The way that her eyes were glowing made it absolutely clear that she wasn’t asking.

“Yes D-Dominar.” Theo stammered and awkwardly bowed at her without really understanding why.

“I’ll have the instructors shift their training towards take-downs.” Kavanaugh promised; “We’ll get it done, Dominar.

“Good. Also inform them to expect a lot more students. Because when those volunteers start pouring in, we’ll need to get them organized somewhere.”

The way that she was rattling off orders one after another made even Nameless nervous, half-expecting her to round on him and do the same even though