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

“Carrot sticks.” She cursed in a bit of a daze; “Did anyone see a Dragon here just now?”

Kavanaugh barked out a laugh.

“Missed that part didja? Come along then, you got more running to do, assuming you still can?”

He looked to her leg where the Ogre had grabbed her, his brow quirked questioningly.

Rebecca licked her lips and twisted her injured knee from side to side, then nodded.

“I’ve got a few miles left in me.” She faked a cheerful smile.

“Good. Then get your ass out of that chair and fall in, cadet.”

With no training yet, she didn’t quite understand what he meant, but the brave bunny got up all the same.

Chapter 37:Stand Together

Nameless and Milly were in for a shock when they arrived on the third floor of the Bastion.

Evadne was waiting for them.

Or rather, the Chimera happened to be there, casually murdering anyone and everyone in the mess hall that caught her attention.

They weren’t the only ones that knew about the muster point, and the Chimera had decided to disrupt the Aegis response to the crisis outside, so she had emerged from darkness right in the middle of their preparations.

The assembled men, women, and monster had put up a fight, but she was on them too quickly for them to react effectively.

“Less than I expected.” She muttered as she cast aside another body, the man’s throat gouged out by her merciless claws; “But these things are like weeds.”

Before the Chimera could find another victim though, a steel-clad hoof hit her in the side of the head, its owner having vaulted off of the floor with her black spear and committed her entire body into a dropkick the likes of which no Minotaur before her had ever pulled off.

It rang Evadne’s bell hard.

But in preparation for attacking Garland, the Chimera was already wearing her demonic armour, and having given all of herself to entropy, she was far stronger than she had been the first night that she and Milly had fought.

Holding the side of her head, Evadne hissed at the pain in her scalp, but was distracted from it when she saw the Minotaur and recognized who she was.

“You!” She snarled as Milly came to her feet and raised her spear; “I know you!”

“No you don’t. But I know you.” The brave cow declared firmly; “You are a coward and a bully.”

Her normally bell-like voice was low and steady while she stalked at the edge of the Chimera’s reach in a bid to keep her attention away from Nameless and the other non-combatants.

Crouching low behind a counter, the Empath was franticly beckoning for members of the kitchen staff, likewise cowering from the Chimera, to come towards him and escape down the stairs.

Milly’s distraction worked, as Evadne would not soon forget the pain of being impaled by the cow-girl, not to mention the weeks of being laid up in bed that followed, desperately trying not to die.

“I’m going to take that thing and fuck you to death with it!” She pronounced as her eyes fell on the Minotaur’s spear, black from the Chimera’s tainted blood.

Despite the gruesome threat, Milly’s chest filled with a warrior’s courage.

“Bring it on.”

They charged towards each other.

But this wasn’t the same Minotaur that Evadne had met before: this Minotaur had been regularly trained by a Gigas to know when she was outmatched.

At the last second she slid on her knees across the floor while Evadne’s claws audibly swiped through the air above her horns.

The Chimera’s snake tail darted out, it too remembering the bitter sting of that spear, but it got tangled up in one of the low benches by the tables, so Milly was able to bat it aside before its deadly fangs could pierce her.

She came back to her feet afterwards and whirled to face her off-balance opponent.

“You are slower than I remember.” She taunted as she began to circle out of her reach again.

Her movements were taking them towards one side of the room, luring the Chimera away from the stairs to help her bond-mate get the survivors out.

At his silently insistent urging, the kitchen staff finally darted out of hiding and past Nameless, going down the stairs as quickly and quietly as they could.

Once they were clear the Empath drew in a breath and moved out into the cafeteria, using the tables and support pillars for cover as he picked his way through the bodies.

He knew how important his life was, but he valued Milly’s more.

No way was he leaving without her.

“I’m going to pull your lungs out and eat them while you die gasping!” Evadne roared from nearby as she drew back an arm and surged forwards to launch another powerful swipe at Milly.

But once again the canny Minotaur was too quick, ducking beneath the attack and lashing out with her spear, cracking against the Chimera’s armoured thigh as she swept past, flowing around her opponent as water would, or as a Saenga warrior would.

Her blow did no damage, yet it was an infuriating insult to her already-infuriated opponent nonetheless.

The snake lunged towards her again, coming in sideways now to sweep Milly’s legs out from under her, but she dove over it into an expert roll across the top of one of the tables.

The Chimera hissed and her eyes narrowed at the elusive cow.

“Someone has been practicing. Fine.” She drew herself up, seeking to take control of her rage as she reached out one hand to grasp at oblivion.

Milly’s eyes widened at the sudden threat as the Chimera launched a broad wave of darkness at her.

But Nina threw trees with less wind up.

She took cover behind the one of the thick support pillars in the otherwise open room, and though the wave unmade much