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

she felt her daughter go rigid against her hip, the girl having seen something she hadn’t.

The roaring of the Ogre had gone silent.

Grace felt the impending threat in her neck and shoulders, her tail likewise puffing up from the anxiety of it as she slowly turned her head...

The massive blue girl was now staring at them with her black eyes, panting from her rampage as she considered the pair.

A predator, waiting on its prey to flee.

“Move. Mishka move!” Grace said in a strangled hiss as she pushed at her daughter.

But the girl wasn’t moving, and she looked down to see her frozen face: the terrified mouse’s instincts had overridden everything, even her mother’s orders.

Moments later Grace’s pleas for her daughter to wake up were drowned out by the Ogre’s roar as it charged them.

The Katje sobbed out in fear and threw her body over Mishka’s unmoving form in a last desperate attempt to protect her, her eyes closing tight as she waited for death.

There was pain, but not as much as she was expecting; just a sharp pinch in her upper arm.

Then a lilting voice sounded right beside her.

“Pretty cat. Thank you for helping me demonstrate how the blood of a protector is supposed to work.”

__________

Nameless and most of his girls scrambled down the stairs to get free of the partially destroyed apartment building, his mind already searching for Volka and Nina’s.

With the Valkyrie’s shield in his arms and the giant’s bracelet on his wrist it wasn’t hard to reach them.

Nina was basically indestructible and Volka had wrapped herself in a protection spell a moment before Evadne attacked, so she too had only minor injuries from the collapsing building, but they were both pinned under it.

That didn’t stop Nameless and the other girls from frantically digging at the rubble though, the urge to free them too strong to ignore.

Never mind us! Get to the bastion Husband! You must raise the alarm!

But Nameless still hesitated, so Nina threw in her two cents.

We’re fine! Now move your ass you puny fuckwit!

Her mental roar was enough to calm his panic, and to hurt his feelings more than a little. He paused long enough to share a helpless look with the other girls.

“I’ll stay here and begin triage.” Ophelia told him firmly; “Get out of here dearheart!”

There were many injured people in the street from the collapsed building, and the trained medic was already helping a dazed man with a head injury to sit down.

Leaving Nina and Volka was one thing, but the vulnerable Flutterby...

He felt a tug as Erica took her claw off of his belt, then slapped him on the ass.

“I’ll protect her, get moving already dummy!”

Nameless choked down the lump in his throat as he did what was necessary.

“Stay safe.” He ordered them before he and Milly turned away.

“You too dearheart!” Ophelia called after his fleeing back.

To separate like this during a crisis felt unnatural, but it was necessary.

And they all knew that if Evadne clapped her eyes on Nameless again, it would mean the end of him.

So he and Milly sprinted through the streets, past panicked and confused people coming out of their homes and businesses to see what all the commotion was about.

“Get back inside!” Nameless ordered; “It isn’t safe! Everyone get inside and lock your doors!”

It was fortunate that he was still wearing his uniform; most people did as he said when they accepted his authority as a member of the Aegis, though more than a few scholars simply gawked at him and the Minotaur sprinting past them.

With every step it felt like Evadne was going to land on his back, but Nameless did his best to put the terrifying thought out of his head.

Milly tugged at his sleeve to stop him a moment later.

“Master, we’ll be completely exposed in the square!”

He followed her worried gaze to the wide-open space, the entrance to the Bastion’s courtyard on the opposite side of it.

They could skirt around the edge...

He shook aside the thought.

“We’ll have to risk it.”

She lowed involuntarily, a sign of her nerves, but nodded.

They crossed the square feeling utterly vulnerable, he and Milly both eyeing the sky all the while to see if Evadne was going to attack them from above, but she was nowhere to be seen and they reached the other side without incident.

They arrived at the Bastion in time to witness a surge of Aegis operatives flood out of it like ants from a mound that had been kicked.

Looking from one face to the next he spotted one of the senior commanders.

“Sir!” He called out breathlessly to get his attention; “We’ve got a collapsed building on Hazel Street! Evadne brought it down! Two of my bond-mates are on-site enacting triage protocol.”

The man’s eyes widened and then narrowed as he took in Nameless’s stature and the dust covering him, not to mention the glorious shield he was carrying and the Minotaur at his side with her black spear held tight and one eye still on the sky.

Everyone in the Aegis knew who he was by now, and even if they didn’t know him personally they at least knew how short he was, not to mention who he was bonded to.

To his credit, the man didn’t hesitate for long; immediately he turned to the others and started barking orders.

“Three relief teams, Hazel Street, now! The rest of you, security sweeps outwards from here! Prepare for imminent Tenebrae assault! If you encounter the Chimera, fall back and report on her location, do not engage until we can assemble a proper tac-team!”

Evadne and her bond-mate were the most wanted fugitives in Aegis history, and after Lipton Falls the protocol was to assume that wherever they were spotted, there would