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

The three of them stepped into the dark.

Immediately they felt a change; the atmosphere grew oppressive, the air thick and cloying all around them.

But it wasn’t until they were far enough from the healthy growth that they noticed the real worrying part.

“There are no birds.” Helena murmured, unwilling to speak in a normal tone amongst the dark sacred hush of the alien forest; “No crawling animals. Nothing that should be in the woods dwells here.”

They listened, but the only sounds they heard were the deep and ominous creaks of the massive trees around them swaying in the muted wind.

The Saenga warriors trained their whole lives to seamlessly blend into the wilderness, to move without making a noise even on a bed of dry and crackling leaves.

But here the quiet was so total that even their practiced footfalls could be heard amidst it.

And after two hours of walking, another sound joined their steps.

A quiet and constant rasp, just barely within the range of their hearing.

“The ground!” Kaylee hissed suddenly; “Look to your feet!”

The others flinched, no one had said a word in some time, and immediately afterwards they did as she asked.

Were they not hardy warriors, panic would have filled their hearts.

Snakes.

Countless tiny white snakes, no longer than the span of their feet, squirming around and atop their sandals, drawn out of the ground by the warmth of their bodies.

“It’s alright.” Escrya breathed, her heart hammering in her ears belying her words; “They are harmless. They have no mouths.”

“How do they feed then? And what upon in this wretched place?” Kaylee queried.

“It is not known. At least, not to me. My grandmother only told me tales of the white snakes of the Darkwood, but she never dared set foot here to see them.”

Helena lifted one of her feet and gave a little jerk to shake off the strange snakes.

“With good reason. If I did not fear the trees more than the snakes I would be halfway up one by now!”

Feeling their resolve shaken, Escrya extended her arms and nudged at them both.

“Do not forget our purpose, my sisters! We must locate the Matriarch’s people, and it will do us little good if they see us behaving like frightened children when we do!”

To help remind them of their quest, she pulled her bond-sister’s feather from within the hem of her skirt where she had tucked it for safe-keeping.

Though she had to suppress a shudder when she did; as they walked the feather had shifted over within her skirt so that when she pulled it out it tickled across her bare pussy lips.

Regardless of the sudden longing she felt to experience the angel’s touch again, Escrya held up the golden feather.

“This is our path. And one day our daughters’ daughters will speak of it around the cook-fire. So let us hope they leave out the part where we trembled in fear at these fangless-snakes!”

Helena and Kaylee reached out and clasped their hands around her fist, the feather suspended between them.

“Then we adapt to this place.” Helena suggested; “That maybe we find the reason the Matriarch and her people stayed here for so long.”

“Perhaps there is beauty here that we are too ignorant to see.” Kaylee offered hopefully.

As they stood in the heavy silence, where the sun’s kiss was barely able to filter down to reach them and with cold white snakes writhing around their feet and ankles, they very seriously doubted it.

All the same, they pressed on.

__________

Despite the circumstances it felt good to be traveling with Miranda and her girls again, though they had barely cleared the city when she rounded on Nameless.

“Alright kid, what the hell did you say in front of the council? I’ve never seen Booker look so annoyed during a briefing.”

“Does that guy have a first name?” Nina asked before her master could respond.

“Not one that I know.” Miranda shrugged but kept her focus on Nameless; “Now answer the question probie.”

“I didn’t really say anything. It’s just gotten a bit... awkward, since now two of my bond-mates don’t really recognize their authority.” He uneasily looked over his shoulder as he spoke, but Volka was too deep in conversation with Queen Julia to hear him.

“Hey, I’m fine with following their orders.” Nina protested mildly; “You know, just so long as it’s something I was going to do anyways.”

Erica was habitually spinning one of her knives in hand as they walked, dressed in her full-body leather outfit.

“Can I be a rebel too? Nina always makes it look like so much fun!”

“You don’t have the temperament for it.” Jan tossed out.

“Yeah.” Jez agreed from Milly’s back; “You need to be cool like me if you want to be a rebel. I’ll show you!”

Her whitish pink tongue shot out and the bulb on the end swatted Ophelia’s ass, causing her to yelp and flutter into the air for a moment in surprise.

Most of them laughed, but when she landed again the Flutterby stormed over to Jez, who suddenly didn’t look so smug.

“You are not going to try to eat me again young lady!” Ophelia sternly chastised the tiny frog.

Meanwhile the Gripau scrambled around on Milly’s torso, trying to keep the Minotaur between her and the upset Flutterby.

“Kala help! I started a rebellion but I don’t think I can finish it!”

“I’m afraid you are on your own this time, little warrior.” The Amazon smirked.

Miranda sighed and shook her head.

“You know what kid, forget I said anything. I hope everything works out between you and the council.”

Having been distracted from her conversation with the Antlion Queen by the commotion, Volka frowned when she heard the senior operative’s words, but she didn’t comment on them.

They traveled until quite late, passing through little hamlets and