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

blue girl abruptly released Milly and pulled the Trog into a breasty embrace.

“Yous supposed to come right back.” She repeated in a whimper as she sat in the middle of the road and hugged her missing friend with all her might.

“I... I had to take care of some things.” Kriss explained into her cleavage.

Whatever ‘things’ she had to take care of had put up a struggle as the Trog looked like she’d been through a rough couple of days.

Her hardened leather chest-piece had a number of odd little burn marks on it, and the rest of her clothing was bloody and torn in a number of places to match an equal number of cuts and bruises on her skin.

“Did these things have names?” Miranda asked cautiously as she took in her appearance.

“If they did, they don’t anymore.” The Trog replied flatly as she glared at the assortment of monster girls crowding around her and Tora.

Once the Ogre finally set her down, her head turned suddenly to stare at Nameless, her forked tongue slipping out to taste his scent.

“You, you are of my bloodline!” She exclaimed.

“What?”

“Who was your sire?” She demanded with her blade leveled at him.

It was clear from her words and bearing that she was just pointing at him to highlight her question, but Nina certainly didn’t see it that way, the Gigas quickly stepped in front of him and knocked the weapon to one side with a swat of her hammer.

“You’re going to meet yours if you keep pointing that thing at my weakling!”

She was using her angry voice, and the Chameleon took a wary step back at the rumbling timbre of her words even as she righted her blade.

Nameless reached out and set his hand on her shoulder to still her.

“Nina, it’s alright.”

“No it isn’t!” The giant roared; “First the dumbass fucks with my Flutterby, then this little shit cheap-shot me. I’m going to have a bruise!”

She rubbed at her face sullenly.

While still wary of the Gigas, the young Troglodyte hissed at her in irritation.

“You were frightening her!”

They all looked to see the enormous blue girl trying to catch a butterfly with hands the size of serving plates, a big smile on her face at the sudden distraction.

“Then use your words you little shit! Don’t jump straight to decapitation!”

“I will not be lectured by a little whore who bullies the weak!”

Nina’s eyes narrowed and Nameless felt her anger growing to a dangerous degree, but his own anger got away from him and she flinched when she felt it.

“Enough! We have enough enemies without making more for stupid reasons! Put your weapons away already!”

A tense couple of seconds followed, the monster girls exchanging wary glances.

Eventually Nina dropped her hammer, Milly and Kala both lowered their spears, and even the strange Troglodyte’s weapon found its sheath on her back.

He rubbed at his temples, the beginning of a stress headache coming on.

When he looked up again, he faced a lot of anxious faces.

With a sigh, he brought his temper under control and tried to organize his thoughts.

“The Ogre-”

“T-Tora.” The blue girl volunteered with one hand raised nervously.

She’d abandoned her pursuit of the brightly coloured insect at all the shouting, nervous again.

He closed his eyes again for a moment.

“Okay, Tora. How many Ogres did you live with?”

“Um…”

Miranda set her hand on Nameless’s shoulder and interjected.

“How many did she take with her, the dark girl with the not-pretty wings?”

“Sh-she took momma and all my aunties, um-” Her face screwed up in thought as she helplessly tried to count on her fingers; “Momma said we about sixty once, but don’t know how much many that is.”

Her eyes welled and she looked ready to cry again, so Ophelia fluttered over to comfort her.

“Sixty Ogres. That’s bad right?” Erica said quietly.

“Yeah. That’s really bad.” Miranda agreed as she watched the Trog measuring her protégé; “Okay, so now that we’ve all calmed down, what was that about your bloodline?”

Without looking at Miranda, the Chameleon’s tongue slipping out again to taste Nameless’s scent, confirming what she already knew.

“I meant exactly that. He tastes of my blood. Who was your sire- your father?”

Her gaze was intense and he answered her cautiously.

“William Armstrong, who the hell are you?”

She was nodding even before he finished speaking.

“Then we are kin. I am Kriss. My mother’s name was-”

“Cass.” Ophelia whispered as the pieces finally fell together in her mind.

The Trog nodded in confirmation.

“Holy shit.” Milly said.

Nameless’s jaw dropped, though more from the Trog’s revelation than Milly’s language.

“We really need to work on your swearing lover.” Erica muttered.

“I’ve been searching for you since my mother was taken from me.”

It took him a good ten seconds to formulate a response.

“So we’re... siblings?”

She nodded solemnly.

“My mother was friends with yours, in truth, she was in love with her. I don’t know all the details, but she bred with your father after your mother died. I believe it was when they were on the run from the one that killed her.”

“A Chimera. And a Tenebrae.” He said to fill in the gap in her knowledge; “Her name is Evadne.”

The Trog’s eyes narrowed.

“A name, at last! I was just a girl when she took my mother from me, I barely saw her. Mother handed me her blade and told me to hide.”

Her skin mottled as she briefly faded into her surrounding, causing Nameless to blink and shift his head side to side in an attempt to make her form more visible.

“I’ve been looking for you so that you could explain to me why my mother is dead. And after you do, you can direct me to this... Chimera, so I can finally kill her.”

“Get