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

“Easy Nina.” Miranda warned; “We need information, not more fighting.”

Ophelia settled her arms on the giant’s shoulder, pressing her thighs to her back and massaging her gently to assuage her temper.

Erica meanwhile looked to her bond-mate, his face a confused mess of emotion from all of the surprises coming at them.

“Hey lover, I know this is terrible timing what with all the earth-shaking revelations.” Her eyes flicked between Tora and Nina, both having shaken things so recently; “But we should really report all of this stuff to someone, right?”

“Erica’s right Master.” Milly agreed softly; “Tora picked me up like I was nothing, if... if Evadne has sixty girls like her now, we need to let the Aegis know!”

“Is yous going to help Tora’s family?” The Ogre asked suddenly, naked hope in her eyes.

Milly opened her mouth to respond, but Miranda stopped her before she could make any more promises.

“We’ll do what we can. For now we need to get back to the Bastion and report in.” She sighed and shook her head at Nameless; “I know you just met a long lost sibling kid, but your girls are right. We need to move. The Aegis needs to be briefed about this, a clan of Ogres being turned could be the most disastrous thing to happen in centuries.”

Chapter 33:Dressing Down

While they walked back into the city, Nameless had a hard time keeping his eyes off of his sister.

If it weren’t for the pressing issue of a missing Ogre clan, he would be asking her a million and one questions about her life, about his parents and their shared history.

But as he made to give voice to one of them, she narrowed her eyes and hissed at him, deliberately turning looking away from him.

“The last thing my mother told me before stuffing me in a closet was ‘find your brother’. So while you might have some softskin feelings about us being siblings, just know that I only found out you existed by watching and listening as my mother was tortured to death. If it meant she would be returned to me I would gut you this very moment.”

“Yeah, because we would all be totally cool with that.” Erica interjected with a roll of her eyes; “Why is every Trog we’ve met so obsessed with blood?”

Naturally, the Chameleon answered her rhetorical question.

“Because we can taste it. All the time.” She explained as her tongue darted out to do just that; “I can taste yours now.”

“It’s true.” Miranda added; “Trogs are right up there with Wolfen when it comes to tracking, though they do it by taste instead of smell. You’re my first Chameleon though.”

“Lucky me.”

By the flat tone of her voice, it was clear Kriss didn’t feel that way about it.

They left her alone after that.

Miranda refocused her attention on the Ogre, relying on her years of experience and all of the patience she had cultivated while working with Nameless to get as much information out of the innocent monster as she could.

Once they were back in the city, the senior operative led them straight into the Bastion before turning to hers and Nameless’s bond-mates.

“Why don’t you lot get some lunch while me and your man take Tora and Kriss in?”

She received several flat looks at the suggestion, so she rolled her eyes.

“The room is going to be packed to capacity with just Tora in it!”

“It’s alright girls.” Nameless nodded; “I can fill you all in later.”

Erica snickered at the obvious opening.

“You better fill me later.”

Along with Milly and Ophelia she gave Nameless a peck on the cheek and ruffled Nina’s hair, the Gigas showing no sign of doing as Miranda asked.

The operative gave her a pointed look, which of course was ignored.

“Whatever, come on.” Miranda sighed.

“Where are we going?”

“To where I work when I’m not being led around by the nose by you and yours.” She replied irritably.

A couple minutes later they were in a converted briefing room where a dozen men and women in grey uniforms were working, with seemingly every scrap of information they had gathered about Jonathan and Evadne pinned up all over several large boards mounted on the walls.

“This is basically the nerve center for the hunt for Evadne and Jonathan.” Miranda explained to Nameless; “You’ve met Commander Morrow?”

The room had gone silent at the arrival of the Ogre and the commander in question quickly made her way over to them to see what was up.

Nameless and Miranda both saluted the uniformed woman, while Nina yawned, though she kept one eye on Kriss when she did.

The woman’s uniform was the definition of neat as she returned their salute, a puzzled frown on her face.

“Yes, we have met, once. At ease. What’s this about?”

She was looking as much at Tora as she was Miranda, the Ogre meanwhile looking very out of place as she did her best not to break anything in the crowded room, the enormous girl already having to hunch to avoid hitting the ceiling with her head.

Kriss wasn’t much more comfortable; her eyes were constantly darting around at all the unfamiliar faces while her scales frequently blended with the background of the room, causing Nameless to squint at her whenever he noticed.

A half hour later, the commander knew as much as any of them, and the news of an entire clan of missing Ogres proved exactly as alarming as expected.

Afterwards the conversation turned towards Nameless and Miranda’s experiences in the search for Avita Longinus.

“We have a team there now, with an Undine on site to relay everything they find. But that network of tunnels is beyond anything we’ve ever seen.” Dawn Morrow offered a sympathetic expression to Tora as she filled them in on their progress; “If there