She kicked it off its hinges.
As they entered the darkness of the house Nameless whispered to Erica.
“We’ll need your eyes. He wouldn’t have wanted to risk it being stolen, so it will be somewhere accessible but hidden, maybe a secret compartment or-”
“Or maybe it’s sitting on the table right there.” Erica whispered pointing at the little yellow stone.
Nameless looked at it, surprised.
“He must not have had time to put it back in the secret compartment.” Kar said drily.
Despite the seriousness of the situation Nameless couldn’t keep from blushing a bit.
He picked up the precious stone, and knew immediately who it belonged to.
“Yeah, it’s hers.”
“So when he told her to ‘run along’ when we were trying to talk to her…” Erica said.
“She didn’t have a choice.” He nodded grimly.
“That man will die by my hand.” Kar swore.
He wrapped the stone in his hands and closed his eyes, but almost immediately he opened them again.
“Dammit, they have her!”
“Where?”
“The Cat-House! In the basement!”
__________
“Poor little Mishka, do I need to go home and get your heartstone or are you gunna tell me what I want to know?”
Mishka was on the ground, Jared and Francis looming over her while several other men lounged around the well-attired room, the lawkeeper had called everyone in after he had learned that the men he had sent to trail the strangers were missing.
“But, I didn’t say anything! Honest!” Her bottom lip quivered.
“Not this time, but you didn’t exactly keep your distance now did you? Nor did you just tell them that you still had your heartstone.” Jared’s eyes narrowed.
“I-I don’t have my heartstone. I’m n-not a liar.” She whimpered.
Francis snorted in contempt as Mishka began to hyperventilate.
“Yes you are, you’re a bratty little thief that is way overdue for a beating!”
He seized her by each shoulder and lifted her off her feet, shaking her in frustration.
“Easy you idiot! You’re going to set her off-”
There was a yowl and a crash from upstairs.
Jared frowned and tilted his head at one of the men by the exit.
“Go see what that is.”
The man made it to the top of the stairs before the door burst open in his face and knocked him sprawling.
“Battle!” Kar shouted as she charged down, quickly knocking two others down while Nameless and Erica slipped in behind her.
Francis was the first to recover, drawing a thick cudgel from his belt after roughly tossing Mishka’s still form to the floor.
His cruelty cost him dearly as a hissing Erica leapt into the air, rebounded off a beam and landed on the bouncer’s shoulders, two of her knives drawn.
Before he had time to do anything else she stabbed him in either side of his neck. The sight of Mishka slumped in his arms had set something off in her and she didn’t hesitate.
Kar was laying into the men all around with the haft of her spear, breaking bones and bowling men over, meanwhile Nameless scrambled across the floor in the chaos of the sudden melee, a booted heel grazed his chin before he reached the poor mouse girl and pulled her into his arms. But no sooner had he regained his feet when someone slammed into his back and he crashed to the floor beside Kar.
As the Amazon took up position over him he noticed for the first time that the mouse was completely still.
“Mishka? Mishka!” Nameless gently patted the girl’s cheek but she wasn’t moving.
Kar quickly realized that, though surprised, the men in the crowded basement were recovering quickly and greatly outnumbered them, so she gripped Nameless by the scruff of his neck and pulled him to his feet even as she fended off the crude strikes of the rapidly organizing men with her spear.
“Go! Get her out!”
Nameless nodded and clumsily carried the girl up the stairs; she was slightly smaller than Nina but surprisingly heavy.
Erica gracefully vaulted over the men that stood between her and Kar, the pair standing together for the briefest of moments before sharing a quick look and fleeing up the stairs.
“Don’t just stand there you morons, after them!” Jared ordered as he knelt next to a flailing Francis.
The men poured up the stairs and out the front entrance of the Cat-House while the three supposed rescuers leapt into the muddy street.
Unfortunately Erica was limping, she had twisted her ankle when she made her vault back to land next to Kar, and combined with Nameless’s burden they didn’t get very far before they were once again surrounded, their backs to the wall of a shop just two doors down from the whorehouse.
Kar leveled her spear at the surrounding men while Erica, knives in hand and covered in Francis’s blood, stood beside her, her tanned skin looking slightly green in the torch-lit streets. Nameless held the unconscious girl in his arms, desperately trying to rouse her.
“Who then will be the first to die?!” Kar snarled.
Jared tsked his tongue chidingly.
“That would be poor Francis. And here I told you not to cause any more trouble, now you’re cutting on honest folk and kidnapping helpless little girls. Give the girl back and come quietly or this whole thing will get really ugly.”
He spoke mostly for the benefit of the mob behind him; many of those in it were customers from the Cat-House who had gotten caught up in the excitement of the lawkeeper’s pursuit of the apparent criminals.
Kar spat in the mud at his feet.
“This thing was ugly long before we arrived you worm! I serve the Aegis, and this girl is now under my protection! Would you do battle with an entire Amazon tac-team?”
The other men were beginning to look nervous and uncertain at her words.
“Ah, she’s lying. This lot came in to town alone! We all saw. There ain’t no way an Aegis team would be all the way out here!”
The men, bolstered by Jared’s words, gripped their improvised weapons tighter. Kar was taller and stronger than any one of them but they were still greatly outnumbered… until a familiar gravelly voice called out.
“You sure about that?”
Heads whirled to see Miranda, Kala, Yana and all of the other Amazons stalking purposefully towards them, Ophelia fluttering above them.
Jared paled as his mouth fell open in surprise.
The mob folded in on itself, men tripping over each other to back away from the imposing women.
“J-Jared? What now?”
One of the nervous men called out.
“Now someone explains to me what the fuck is going on around here.” Miranda snapped.
Once again the man looked to Jared, but the Aegis operative’s voice cut like a whip.
“You don’t look at him! You look at me! You think because you live in the lowlands we don’t care what happens out here? As far as I’m concerned every one of you is bound by law! Someone better start talking. Now.”
Nameless wasn’t listening, all of his focus on the poor girl in his arms.
“Miranda! We need help! She’s not breathing!”
Yana quickly shouldered her way through the crowd.
“Juni! You’re up.”
The Undine flowed out of her gourd, the blue skinned girl gracefully somersaulting over Yana’s shoulder and landing barefoot in the mud before kneeling next to Nameless and putting the back of her hand to the poor girl’s forehead.
“Can you do something!? Use your, um, water-magic or something?”
He was truly frantic with worry.
But Juni just shook her head.
“No, but I can do this. WAKE UP!”
And just like the game she played with Jez she dropped a ball of water on the tiny girl’s face.
Nameless’s gaped.
“Wh-”
But Mishka stirre
d in his arms, her eyes fluttering open and she yawned.
“Wha happ-nd?” She mumbled as she rubbed her fists into her eyes to clear the water from them.
Juni smiled at Nameless’s stunned look.
“She’s a Dormaus. When her kind gets a fright they play dead. Pretty convincing right?”
Nameless had certainly been convinced.
“I’m still waiting for someone to tell me what is going on in this town.” Miranda said, glaring at the crowd.
But something caught Kar’s attention.
“Dammit! Where did he go? Where is Jared?!”
The lawkeeper had slipped away while they were distracted by Mishka.
Fortunately he didn’t get far.
“Hey! This is the bad guy right?” Jan called out.
She was dragging an unconscious lawkeeper through the mud by his ankles, and was thoroughly coated herself, her tail wagging as it was the second time today she had gotten to roll in the mud.
Meanwhile Jez sat on the lawkeeper’s stomach, his hands bound by her powerful tongue.
With Mishka awake and her heartstone returned to her the truth soon came out of the tearful mouse girl: Jared had been running a smuggling ring for stolen monster girls. So-called tamers who had gotten their hands on their heartstones would seek him out and for a percentage he would broker the sale to whatever shady individuals had use for them.
He had taken to running his business out of the Cat-House basement, and Mishka had inadvertently witnessed a meeting between him and his associates from her little spot in the crawlspace.
Unfortunately Francis caught her and Jared took her heartstone. In order not to rouse suspicion from the Katje there, she was allowed to roam free as usual but was ordered not to leave town or talk about her heart at all.
What he didn’t realize is that several of the Katje had gotten suspicious about what was going on, though they had kept quiet until Nameless pulled Grace into his mind, too afraid of the corrupt lawman.
As far as anyone could tell, most of the locals of Bramblewood were oblivious to these activities. Though Jules, the owner of the Cat-House, was also complicit and was soon kneeling in the mud with him.
“Well now what are we supposed to do?” One of the Katje whores complained.
“Yeah, how are we supposed to run the business side of things without Jules?”
“You could always stop selling your bodies for sex…” Nameless suggested.
But the Katje looked at him like he was crazy.
“Hey, a girl’s gotta eat, and it just so happens our favorite meal is dick. These guys aren’t so bad, you know, after a bath.” The girl smiled at the surrounding crowd.
“But this is no place for a child!” Ophelia snapped.
“You’re right, it isn’t. Which is why I want to take her away from here.” Grace spoke up.
The Katje had taken charge of the little Dormaus, wiping away her tears and holding her close.
“Wh-what do you mean?” Mishka asked with a sniffle.
“Yes what do you mean?” Miranda repeated with a level tone.
“I mean I want to take care of her, like I should have been doing already. I have enough money saved to settle somewhere else, I’ll find another job and I will take care of you Mishka. That is, if you want me to.” Her voice was small.
“B-But why?”
Grace smiled and gestured at Nameless.
“Him, he’s the one who showed me another life. Being a whore is hard work, and I think I’m ready to work hard at something else.”
“This is not a small commitment you’re talking about!” Miranda said; “And besides, this will need to be approved by the Aegis.”
“But, aren’t you the Aegis?” Erica asked.
“I don’t handle adoption cases!”
Grace and Mishka’s faces fell.
Miranda sighed.
“But I can direct you to someone who does, though I’m not making any promises!”
After the hubbub died down some and Jared and the rest of his compatriots were bound, stripped and strung in a row by the Amazons, Miranda was debriefing a very frazzled Nameless.
“And how did you know we were being followed?” She was saying.
“I-I didn’t, but Grace did, she left the Cat-House right after we did and saw the two guys coming after us. I still had her heartstone and was sharing her thoughts at the time…”
Miranda gave him a long look before shaking her head.
“Damn kid, that was pretty slick. You might actually have some talent for undercover work you know.”
He shuddered.
“I don’t want to ever have to do that again!”
Erica was scratching her head.
“So, you read minds now?”
He groaned internally as he remembered Grace’s skepticism from before.
“No, it’s, oh man. I feel things, right? So if you’re mad at say, Miranda, I would know that, and I might even pick up on why. And I knew about those men because Grace was afraid for us. But if Miranda took you off to the side and whispered a secret at you, well, unless it upset you or made you happy, I wouldn’t be able to just pluck it out of your head, at least I don’t think. I don’t exactly have an instruction manual.”
Erica was looking dubious, but then she began to purr as she had a naughty thought.
“Can you tell what I’m thinking now?”
He closed his eyes and focused on her heartstone on his arm…
Then blushed crimson as she thought long and hard about how much she loved having his cock stuffed in her mouth.
“Erica!”
She grinned and gave his cheek a few quick licks.
“Okay, I like this new trick of yours. And we are totally doing that later.” She decided.
He chuckled with her for a few moments, but felt a dark wave pass over her heart.
She had killed a man.
His blood was still on her skin, she could still taste it.
“Kitty?”
She shook her head.
“Not really ready to deal with that yet, okay baby?”
“A-alright, but whenever yo-”
“I know.” She cut him off; “I know, you’re here for me. I know.”
To one side, Kar studied her carefully.
__________
“That was quite the adventure we had.” Kar remarked as she smiled at Ophelia who was handing her a bowl.
It was a large group that sat around their little fire that night, Kar had joined them for a late dinner as they had grown quite close and it was to be their last night together. They were also joined by Mishka and Grace, as Ophelia was determined to see the child fed.
“Yes it was, and thank you Kar, for keeping us safe throughout it.” The Flutterby’s smile was warm as she ladled out a healthy portion of soup into Mishka’s bowl.
“I can’t believe I missed out.” Nina complained.
Milly pouted.
“Did you really miss out though?”
Surprisingly, Nina blushed.
“Wait, what did I miss?” Erica asked, looking between the two.
“Oh nothing, Nina and I just had a nice chat while you were gone.” Milly said artlessly.
“What kind of ch- oh!”
Erica looked between them with wide eyes, Milly’s cheeks turned a bit pink as she joined Nina in her blush.
“I know what that means.” Mishka said accusingly as she blew on her soup.
“Eat your food dearheart.”
“Yes Mistress Ophelia.” She said automatically.
Nina shifted her hammer over to sit next to Kar.
“So the little pussy landed himself in trouble and you bailed him out eh?”
Kar tilted her head in thought and then nodded.
“Yeah, let’s go with that.”
“Hey!” Nameless complained.
“Well, thanks for looking out for him while I was otherwise occupied.”
Kar smiled and gave Nina’s bottom
a healthy squeeze as her voice turned husky.
“If you really want to thank me, you can show me what you and Milly were talking about earlier.”
Nina declined the teasing invitation, firmly removing Kar’s hand from her ass.
But the Amazon did get the offending limb back so that seemed like progress.
“She seems to be doing better, right?” Grace asked Ophelia.
The worried Katje was watching Mishka slurp down her soup.
“She is, children are resilient. Something you will learn soon. They are also petulant, argumentative, willful and must become the center of your world. Are you certain that you are ready for that?”
The Flutterby’s expression was kindly but her voice was serious as Grace swallowed.
“I have to be, for her.”
Ophelia smiled.
“That’s how it works dearheart. It is a truly good thing you are doing for her, but where will you go?”
“Garland, the scary Amazon with the blue girl on her back said they will be taking Mishka and the prisoners to Garland. So I’ll tag along and then see if the Aegis will let a whore raise a kid.”
She exhaled with a shudder at the hopelessness of the proposition.
Ophelia reached over and patted her knee.
Mishka kept eating her soup.
While they all ate Nameless noticed that Kar kept glancing at Erica at regular intervals, waiting for something. The curious Empath watched her, and watched Erica.
The Katje had grown quiet, while the others talked about this or that, her eyes were on her untouched food.
Abruptly she excused herself, and Nameless made to follow her as she all but fled from the fire, but Kar placed her hand on his shoulder and pressed him back into his seat.
“Forgive me Valkyrja, but it is better that I speak with her.”
The Amazon quickly followed the Katje into the darkness of the trees.
Chapter 10:
Departures
Erica was retching into the bushes, her empty stomach trying again and again to vomit without success. Though she had changed her clothes and washed up, she could still smell Francis’s blood all over her, the stench had grown and grown as they sat around the fire.
She had killed a man.
She had killed him, and she didn’t care.
She should care right?
Legacy of the Valkyrie Page 13