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

backpedalled out of the way of one of the Amazon’s projectiles.

Despite the spear that nearly ended him, he managed to keep his cool as he directed everyone to open up on any of the women they could see behind the massive shield wall.

“Come on boys! We’ve been in tighter spots!” He urged his men onwards; “We’ll never outrun them so we have to finish this here! We have the guns, they have the sticks! Pour it on them!”

Galvanized by his leader, a man with a flamer rushed the left side of the wall, spewing fire indiscriminately and forcing the Amazons to duck behind their shields.

But his reckless charge was cut short by a spear cast from the other side of the semi-circle; the weapon catching him in the small of his back and the force of it driving him into the wall only to bounce off and to the ground.

Unfortunately the Amazon who threw it had to expose herself to protect her sisters and died almost at the same time from a lucky shot to the side of her head from Tristan’s pistol.

There was a cry of grief and rage from behind the wall, but Alcaia’s voice shouted over it.

“Vohan! Kai!”

The Saenga women let out another mutual cry of strength as they hefted their shields off the ground.

Tristan and his men stumbled back into the prisoner’s flattened lean-tos as the wall began to close in on them, slowly at first, than with increasing speed as the Amazons became surer of their footing.

But the experienced smuggler had regained control of his anger and his men, his orders calling out in counter to Alcaia’s, and everything he said, Carl repeated to keep the prisoners in line, the two factions within the camp uniting against the common enemy.

“Stand your ground! Focus your fire! Tear those fucking things apart one at a time!”

The din of battle carried throughout the forest: the screams of the wounded, the coarse shouts of coarse men, the sharp cracks of their illegal weaponry, and above it all the battle-cries of the warrior women hell-bent on ending them.

Fifty desperate criminals did as Tristan asked; firing into the weak points of the ceramic wall, and despite the chaos of the explosion and the thrill of fear that the Amazons’ cries brought out in them, they held their nerve.

Even reinforced with leather and bark, the surfaces of the Vohan were starting to come apart from the sustained fire. First one crumpled, then another, the women behind them either falling as well or ducking behind their neighbour’s shield.

As their cover began to break apart, the Amazons’ advance slowed, and then stopped while they were forced to close the gaps left by their fallen sisters.

At this point they had come too far into the clearing to withdraw to the safety of the trees, the battle apparently turning against them.

Tristan smiled wide and stood up straight when he felt the shift.

“That’s it lads! They’ve lost it! They stole our payday so let’s make them regret it! We’ll sell off the survivors once it’s done! You all know how much the arena masters will pay for a healthy Amazon!”

With a roar of victory, the hardened criminals with him fired everything they had, forcing the Saenga girls to huddle behind their ever dwindling bulwark.

Then, just as planned, Sila and her Trogs sprinted out of the trees.

Tristan and his men were so focused on attacking the improvised wall that they never wondered why the Amazons had forced them towards the other side of the clearing.

Charging through the smoke and the flattened tents, the fifteen lizard girls hit them from behind with brutal force, their massive blades sweeping through multiple people with each swing, leaving behind gory messes of ruined flesh.

Confusion swept through the human ranks and the weapon’s fire against the Amazons faltered as they turned in a bid to save themselves from the Trogs’ ferocious onslaught.

And when the withering punishment from the lost-tech weapons diminished, Alcaia stood from behind her Vohan at the center of the Amazon line.

“Saenga!” Her voice rang out as again she raised her spear above her head and give her final order of the day; “Klael!”

Death.

At her word, the wall of Vohan was pushed over and abandoned as the wrath of her people was unleashed, the surviving Amazons taking up their spears and charging into the fray with resounding cries.

A few were caught by desperate shots from desperate men, some of them collapsing to the ground, but most kept moving as adrenaline and battle-lust made them ignore their injuries.

The bloody work of the Troglodyte blades and the Amazon spears that he witnessed that day would haunt Adrian Shaw for the rest of his life.

Watching from the edge of the trees, Olena’s eyes were glowing green again.

“My curse unfolds.” The Witch said flatly, all enmity between her and Adrian forgotten in the face of the carnage; “Now we save as many as we can.”

Chapter 10: Dismembered

It was chaos on the field.

Monster girls were everywhere, killing the humans with wild abandon.

Tristan narrowly ducked under a Trog’s massive blade, falling flat on his back and firing his caster at her desperately.

His first shot took her in the thigh, but he heard the most unpleasant of sounds from his weapon when he made to fire again.

Click.

The lizard girl hissed at him, sending chills down his spine as she stumbled towards him, hampered by her injury but still hell-bent on ending him.

“Shit, shit shit!” Tristan scrambled backwards across the harsh ground.

The wounded monster’s blade thunked into the earth between his legs, drawing an unmanly yelp from his lips as she continued to curse and hiss at him.

Nearby Carl, one of the last prisoners standing, took up a dead man’s flamer and let loose with it, but