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

“Alright kid, stow the wise Empath crap. You’re still little more than a trainee, not to mention barely old enough to drink.”

“Yes ma’am.”

There was a spell of companionable silence between them; everything they had been through since they had first met had bonded them in an unusual sort of friendship.

She would always be his mentor, not to mention his superior within the Aegis, but they had both gotten involved in each other’s personal lives to the point that all of that stuff was secondary.

Miranda let out a happy sigh as her smirk returned without her knowing it, then she gave him a speculative look.

“You know what kid? The first day I met you I thought you were made of cotton candy and lamb farts. Now you strut around like you’re made up of pure testosterone and bear semen.”

He grimaced at the... compliment?

“Thanks, I guess. But that isn’t me. That’s my girls. They don’t just bring out the best in us, they deserve the best from us.”

She nodded and clapped him on the shoulder by way of farewell.

“Yeah, yeah. Now if you will excuse me, I suddenly need to go find my bunny and give her my ‘best’.”

While she walked away, Nameless thought back upon the circumstances that brought them together, but down that road lay only melancholy, so he didn’t dwell on it long.

Instead he delighted in watching Miranda sneak up behind Rebecca while she was distracted by Jan and grip her waist with her clawed fingers, making the Lapine shriek with laughter at being ambush-tickled.

‘Goofish’ indeed.

But despite the welcome bit of joyous nonsense, his mind inevitably turned back towards Cordelia and the child she might very well already be carrying.

__________

Just a few days in the Darkwood felt like a lifetime for the three brave Amazons; the oppressive monotony of the place wearing on them greatly, as was the fact that they had yet to find any sign of the Matriarch or her people.

Their bush-craft had proven to be as utterly worthless in the alien forest as they feared, but they carried with them enough provisions to not yet have to discover whether the ever-present white snakes were edible.

They were resting again, not sure at this point whether it was day or night beneath the ominous bows of the massive black trees.

Helena and Escrya were eating, forcing themselves to do so despite a lack of appetite; meanwhile Kaylee was repeatedly cutting at the blackened bark of the tree roots they were resting against, as if just to spite the ominous things.

Conversation was sparse between them, but it was sometimes necessary.

“Kaylee, you need to eat something.” Helena said as she held out a pair of dried biscuits.

The younger Amazon made a face, but put her knife away and took them, eating them as lifelessly as her sisters had.

Escrya opened her mouth, but couldn’t say anything, having no words of encouragement left to give.

They would go on, because at this point there was nothing else for them but to continue, but the recently bonded teller was worried for them all the same.

Their dark thoughts were suddenly disrupted however by a lengthy piercing scream.

They jumped up, their hearts pounded and spears pointed outwards at the sharp cry, amidst the blackness of the place it was a heretofore unknown sound that sent ice down their spines.

“Where did it come from?” Escrya whispered harshly.

At her left elbow, Kaylee looked around wildly.

“I don’t know!”

They waited a few minutes, but heard nothing so their guard remained up.

The sounds around them, such as they were, resumed as if the scream had never happened: the faint dry rasp of the snakes squirming around their feet, the occasional deep creak of one of the black trees swaying in a breeze so high off the ground that no one could feel it, and the sound of their own breathing, short and fearful as they waited.

After a good ten minutes, a mocking female voice cut through them as readily as the scream had.

“What have I found? Three Amazons, huddled together like children? Such an embarrassment!”

As one they whirled to face the woman that spoke.

She was tall, close to seven feet, leaning on her spear with one leg bent inwards so that the sole of her bare foot was resting against the side of her opposite knee.

Her skin looked as if it had never known the kiss of the sun, and was fully revealed to them as she wore no clothing beyond a couple of woven white leather cords to hold a sheathed knife and a simple pouch at her waist.

Her short blonde hair was tied up in a bun atop her head with a similar strip of white leather, while numerous black hand marks were made on her body from painted palms.

Yet as strange as she appeared, even in the dim light her eyes were just as blue as any Amazon they’d seen.

“Who are you?” Escrya demanded, her spear still raised.

The answer she got was another scream, the woman spreading her mouth wide and expelling what seemed to be an entire lungful of air to shriek at them.

It was unnerving to say the least.

Worse, it was soon echoed from behind by another, and then yet one more.

The Saenga girls looked around to find themselves in a ring of mostly naked Amazons; by and large their height and complexion a match for their sister, while their expressions ranged from arrogant amusement to naked hostility.

Helena let out a heavy sigh and lowered her spear, Kaylee and Escrya soon following.

There was no fighting their way out of this.

The first of the Darkwood Amazons that they’d seen strode forwards and methodically relieved them of their weapons, handing them off to her sisters.

She smirked once they