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

As soon as the Gigas leapt through the opening with her heavy hammer and proclaimed it to be safe, the rest took it in turns to climb down, Ophelia and Volka of course simply gliding down into the wide-open space below.

And once they had more light in the place it became instantly clear that this was not a naturally occurring cave.

It was some kind of subterranean passageway, the ceiling easily fifteen feet above their heads and curving down to either side to meet the floor, while the passage itself extended as far as their light could see in either direction.

“These walls look familiar.” Milly remarked as she ran her hand against the smooth and perfectly even stone.

“Yeah, just like the bunker in the desert!” Erica agreed from beside her; “Man, I hope there aren’t more of those Seeker things down here.”

“You encountered a Seeker?” Julia said in surprise, the cat inadvertently distracting her from her worries again.

Naturally Erica was incredibly blasé about it.

“Sure did. Milly kicked the snot out of it. My sister is a badass.”

Before Julia could follow up with more questions though, Kala shook her head as she looked into the dark tunnel extending in either direction with no sign of an end.

“These strange caves could extend for miles. And if it branches off and we aren’t careful we could get lost down here and never find our way out again.”

“We will do no such thing!” Julia promised with some indignation; “Antlions do not get lost underground. Even now I can point to where the sun is in the sky.”

“Yeah, and as long as I know which way ‘up’ is, I can dig us out.” Nina affirmed.

While they spoke Jan was hard at work, sniffing at the air and all along the floor.

She frowned suddenly and looked to the queen.

“Were any of your workers hurt down here? Like a major injury?”

The Antlion’s antennae wiggled for a moment before she shook her head.

“No, a few minor cuts, but that was in the excavation far above.

The Wolfen sighed and she nodded.

“I was afraid of that.”

She moved her foot against a spot on the floor, sweeping aside the broken bits of sandstone from Nina’s digging to reveal an ugly dark stain.

Immediately they all knew what it was.

“Antlion blood.” She explained unnecessarily; “It’s weeks old, but-”

“Avita!” The queen cried, moved into motion in the direction Jan had found the blood.

“Wait!” Miranda called out, risking injury at the hands of the soldiers by putting herself in front of their queen; “We have to go carefully Queen Julia! We have no idea what we are walking into.”

The mother’s longing to charge into the darkness was plain to see, but she was wise enough to hold back.

“There was a fight here, some time ago.” Jan continued as her keen nose found more evidence, a few more spots of blood coming into few as she shifted the dust around; “But I can’t tell much more beyond that, I’m sorry but the old scents are getting all muddled together with all of ours.”

“I... I will call the rest of my soldiers down.” Julia turned away to hide the tears on her face, her antennae wriggling to summon her Antlions.

“So her colony was attacked.” Miranda mused, scratching at her chin.

“Seems like it. But they were attacked from below which is really spooky.”

“Maybe it is Seekers then?” Ophelia suggested worriedly as Nina put herself between her bond-mate and the darkness.

“This close to Algrade? Not bloody likely!” Miranda exclaimed; “It’s amazing enough that these tunnels haven’t been discovered with all of the digs going on around the city. If there was a swarm this close, no way would it have gone undetected for so long.”

Volka was frowning as she mimicked Milly from earlier, her hand on the wall.

“What if this tunnel doesn’t go near Algrade?”

“You find something?”

The Valkyrie’s glow brightened, making the lost-tech orbs that Nameless and Miranda were still using for light unnecessary.

“Perhaps.” She mused.

Her eyes grew distant and Nameless felt a swirl of vague memories from her past overtook her mind.

Memories of war.

He made an effort to keep his breathing steady to avoid distracting her as she delved into the pain of her bloody past.

After several seconds Volka turned from the wall, her eyes wide with realization.

“The capital. By my goddess how did I miss it?”

“Okay, cut it out.” Nina huffed; “Explain.”

“The landscape of this world has changed much over the millennia, and never more so than when the emperor of the Divine Republic fell, his final act unleashing the arsenal of man-”

“Yeah yeah.” Nina waved impatiently; “He was a dick, the magic tribes tried to stop him, world got busted. What does that have to do with this?”

Volka sighed at her bond-sister’s impatience, but nodded.

“Wars are not fought with one side and then another each taking half of a perfect board. Wars are fought over the complicated topography of the world. I believe that we are now standing within an underground network of tunnels constructed by the Divine Republic... around their capital city.”

Miranda shrugged.

“You’re talking like that’s a big reveal, but I’m pretty sure that it’s the prevailing opinion of the history buffs at the university. Hence why the dig-sites in Algrade are amongst the richest known. But like the red girl said: so what?”

Volka pulled away from the wall, her light dimming somewhat when she realized her mistake.

“Forgive me, I was distracted. I was going to suggest that the reason this place was never found is because that network I spoke of was built outside the capital. It was a staging area for their armies and supplies. But I suppose that it isn’t relevant to our present circumstance.”

From the heartstone set in her shield, Nameless felt