And when Milly heard about what they were doing, she smiled with genuine enthusiasm, as happy as Nameless to be doing something important again.
“Neat, I’ve never been to an auction house!”
Ginger smiled wide at her enthusiasm; the innocent Minotaur just had that effect on people.
But as they left the Bastion’s courtyard and crossed Divinity Square it quickly became a competition between her and her Harpy as to who could be more annoying.
Though still capable of flight, the yellow-skinned and red-haired Harpy was otherwise quite similar to Paul Fletcher’s Cockatrices; her posture was hunched low to the ground on taloned feet and she had brilliantly feathered wings instead of arms.
And as talkative as Ginger was, her scarlet winged partner was worse.
“-gave my stone to the Aegis at one of the houses! That’s how I met my Ginger-Boo!”
How Celeste could be so oblivious to the irritated look on Erica’s face was anybody’s guess, though Milly didn’t seem to mind the chatter as she nodded along politely.
Nina meanwhile lacked the Minotaur’s patience as she took in the blushing redhead.
“Hey Ginger-Boo, does your bird-brain ever shut up?”
The Minotaur sighed at the predictable interruption and Ginger turned even pinker at the giant’s words, while the now-offended Harpy turned on the Gigas with a stern look on her face.
“Hey! My name is Celeste, not Bird-Brain! You nasty little bully!”
“You called me that before.” Nina observed with a yawn; “I don’t really mind the nasty bully part, but call me ‘little’ again and I’ll be having talkative-turkey for dinner.”
Celeste’s face turned as scarlet as her bond-mate’s and she ruffled her feathers as she glared at the Gigas with impotent rage.
“Nina, leave her alone.” Nameless ordered with a sigh; “We need to focus on the assignment.”
The Gigas shrugged as she looked to her man.
“What’s there to focus on? Anyone steps towards the girls in the auction house, I kill them. Easy.”
Ginger and Celeste exchanged worried looks at the giant’s careless bloodlust, the former thinking she had perhaps been a bit too familiar with the Gigas in the past and the latter thinking she should maybe talk less around her.
“Minotaur tail hair?” Baron asked out of nowhere, gesturing at Nameless’s neck where Milly’s braid was.
“Uh, yeah, Milly made it for me.”
“Not very practical having your girl tethered to you like that.” The young man noted.
Nameless felt a sharp spike of annoyance from the girl in question, and was quick to defend her.
“She braided it for me long before we had any intention of joining the Aegis. At the time, neither of us were thinking about practicality.”
Baron sucked air between his teeth, but didn’t argue the point.
Nina was walking along at Nameless’s hip, and as she had so recently demonstrated with Celeste, she wasn’t one to just let things slide.
“You got a big mouth on you kid.” The Gigas remarked as she loosened up her murder-arm, jiggling her hammer back in forth in preparation of using it; “You gunna talk shit about me next?”
Baron drew in a deep breath and shook his head.
“No. And I wasn’t talking shit about her either. Just an observation of fact.”
Milly let out a huff, her annoyance growing even plainer and her glare nearly boring a hole in the back of Baron’s head.
“Can I scratch him, just a little?” Erica whined.
In response to the rising tension, the other three felines let out a low growl, their blue fur bristling and crackling with electricity as their ears flattened.
Ginger and Celeste shared a look and wisely, and uncharacteristically, kept silent.
“Enough, girls. All of you.” Nameless stepped in before things could get worse; “We have a job to do, and it’s an important one.”
No one disagreed with him, so he continued, striving for diplomacy.
“I know where my strengths lie, and I’m pretty sure I know where yours do.” The corner of the taller man’s mouth twitched, but again he didn’t argue as Nameless continued; “Every heartstone that passes through that place while we are assigned there will go through my hands before it leaves, agreed?”
“Sounds good to me.” Ginger shrugged, though she was watching Baron.
He frowned.
“Is that how it works? Your… ability?”
“You can call it a gift.” Nina observed; “In fact, I insist.”
Nameless could see the other man’s ears flush, whether with embarrassment of annoyance, he didn’t know.
Losing patience, he tried to be as direct as he could.
“Look, Baron, you and I never really meshed. I think we can at least agree on that, but if something bad happens because you and I are bickering over nothing, I won’t forgive myself. And I doubt you will either.”
“I didn’t mean-” Baron began, but stopped himself with a curse, finally turning to face Nameless; “Yes, it is true that we got off on the wrong foot at the academy, and I will accept the blame for that. It was my mistake to think that your only qualification was your bond-mates. But right now you all seem to think I’m being passive aggressive or something, and I assure you that I am not. I am trying to focus on our assignment. If we’re working together, Jennifer and I need to know exactly how your gift works!”
It was Nameless’s turn to blush, having mistaken Baron’s behaviour so very badly.
Insanely he wished that Volka were here to give one or both of them a wedgie to ease the tension, but the Valkyrie was off trying to shape the mob of monsters that had responded to her call into an effective fighting force.
“Some Empath I am.” He sighed; “I’m sorry, you’re right.”
Baron stared at him for a few seconds, seemingly measuring his sincerity, before turning away and resuming their trek.
“Uh, Baron. My name is Ginger.” The redhead corrected from behind them; “People just call me Jenny because of my hair.”
He didn’t bother answering, though once again they all saw his ears turn red.
Nameless took it as a good sign that the professional young man could make mistakes just like anyone.
They spent the rest of the walk to the auction house discussing how his powers worked, Baron seeming especially interested with his ability to communicate with his bond-mates directly.
“Are you able to see what’s going on in the real world when you are completely in their mind like that?”
“Yes and no. It’s sort of like how you can effectively blind yourself by focusing all of your attention on a different sense. I am aware of what’s going on, but-”
“When he’s doing it you’ll know.” Erica promised; “He looks just like he does when he busts his nut, all slack jawed and dopey-faced.”
“Here’s to hoping I don’t become overly familiar with the sight.” Baron remarked drily, finally displaying something close to humour.
Embarrassed, Nameless mentally scolded Erica for her indiscrete phrasing.
Then Milly broke in, trying to be helpful as she pointed at his face in excitement.
“Just like that! He’s doing it right now!”
This time Baron actually snorted out a laugh.
“Alright, I think I have the gist of it. You focus on the heartstones. We’ll focus on the prospective buyers.”
With a rough understanding of their respective roles, they arrived at their destination.
Chapter 19:
At Auction
The auction house was an enormous circular building with multiple stories, the stone and wooden structure painted in joyous shades of yellow and green, while the emblem of the Aegis proudly displayed on large banners to either side of the main entrance marked it as an officially sanctioned house.
Baron nodded as he looked up at the building.
“That must be the pl-”
&nbs
p; “Yeah, that’s it!” Ginger interrupted; “It’s just like the one where I met Celeste! Wow, it’s really busy though huh?”
It was something of an understatement as the place was swarming with hopeful monsters and equally hopeful tamers.
Many monster girls had flocked to the city in the hopes of finding safety in numbers, not to mention a potential bond-mate, so the auction houses were all bustling.
The interior was a spacious crescent around a raised stage where the bolder girls could show off their attributes in a bid to catch a buyer’s attention, while an upstairs catwalk surrounded the high ceilinged central chamber, with wooden railings and access to a number of small rooms for… taming purposes.
Though it was faint, even over the chaos inside they could hear cries of ecstasy coming from the private rooms.
On top of that though, it was chaos inside.
The monster girls in the crowded auction house ranged from bawdy to bashful in temperament as they sought owners for their precious hearts, while the tamers there likewise ran the gambit from keen-eyed and cautious to downright lascivious.
A particularly energetic water spirit had taken to the stage just as they entered and collapsed into a puddle only to reform a moment later, beaming hugely to the enthusiastic applause of the onlookers.
“Naiads are so cool!” Ginger enthused, clapping her hands together excitedly.
Nameless and Baron were a bit more reserved, both maintaining their professional decorum, but the excitement was contagious and both of their girls loosened up as they joined in the clapping at the water spirit’s antics.
It took them a few minutes but eventually they located the worn out Aegis moderator, whose face lit up when he realized that help had arrived.
They then spent an hour running over everything that Theo had told them with their senior, and then another hour more with him observing them quietly while they performed their duties.
Every sale that happened in a sanctioned auction house had to be approved by a representative of the Aegis, this meant that every seller and buyer had to have their paperwork checked and every monster girl had to sit down for an interview and a heartstone inspection in one of the little cubicles pressed against the walls all around the first floor.
The buying and selling of heartstones was actually a remnant of the system used by the Divine Republic, but where they employed it as nothing more than a means of acquiring and exchanging slaves, the modern world viewed it as a good way for monster girls to meet as many different people as possible who they might then bond with.
To the average human the bond was just as sacred as it was to monster girls, and the Aegis was steadfast in its resolve to see it remained that way. It was a bizarre setup, but in the thousand years since the war, no one had bothered to come up with an alternative, so deeply was it ingrained into their culture.
For an ordinary Aegis operative conducting heartstone checks and interviews with the monster girls coming through the house would be a challenge, they’d have to rely on their training and intuition to ensure that the girls were happy with her situation.
For an Empath sick to death of paperwork, it was both an easy task and an oft-times delightful one to be working with monsters directly again; all it took for him was a couple minutes of holding a girl’s stone and a few well-thought out questions to know whether or not everything was in order.
But even though it was a fruitful day where he and the other probationary Aegis operatives approved the sale of nearly three dozen girls, he still felt that faint twinge in his stomach that told him he didn’t believe he was doing enough.
He was still working at a desk.
__________
“Tora, why?!” Kriss cried out in an uncharacteristic wail.
The Ogre was currently sitting in the middle of what used to be a storage shed for the watermill in the abandoned village the two of them were staying in, though it would be more accurate and less kind to say that they were squatting in it.
“Wanted for to get higher to see what for smoke was come from!” Tora whined.
She had climbed up on top of the shed, but her weight had proven to be too much for the thin wooden panels of the roof and she had promptly flattened it.
Now the massive blue girl was covered from the bottom of her breasts to her calves in partially milled flour.
“But why are you naked?!” Kriss demanded.
With the Trog’s help Tora scrambled out of the ruined shed, spreading broken boards and dusty flour everywhere as she did, then shrugged as she sought to explain her logic.
“In case fall into water, didn’t want for to get clothings wet.”
At that point Kriss gave up trying to follow the other girl’s thinking; the shed was easily thirty feet from the water and even if the Ogre fell off the very top of it she would have remained perfectly dry.
“Just… come on, you’re going to have to go into the water now.”
It had been several days since they had met outside Greyhaven and their journey had been filled with similar mishaps that drove the young Troglodyte to distraction.
It seemed that every time she turned around Tora was getting up to some sort of innocent mischief, which Kriss would have no problem with if it didn’t mean constant delays in their journey towards Garland and the Aegis.
Oblivious to her new companion’s suffering, Tora’s face brightened.
“Bath time?”
Kriss hissed out a sigh, her tongue darting out and tasting the area for any hint of danger.
“Bath time.” She confirmed.
Tora’s face split into a broad smile and she scooped the Chameleon up into a chesty hug, covering her front with flour.
By this point in their relationship, Kriss wasn’t resisting the hugs anymore, figuring that they were a smile price to pay to keep the Ogre happy.
Though she was none too happy about being coated in flour like a lizard-girl dumpling.
They skirted the trough of water that fed the massive wheel of the mill, making their way towards the bank of the sluggish river.
But as they reached the edge, Kriss frowned.
“Wait, Tora… what smoke?”
The Ogre was already ladling palmfulls of water to splash on her swaying breasts, washing away the flour and leaving her blue flesh slick and glistening even as her darker blue nipples peaked, but her brow furrowed at the Trog’s question.
“Ups over there.” She gestured downriver.
Sure enough when Kriss looked where the big blue babe indicated she quickly spotted a thin winding line of wood smoke coming from with a strand of trees that hugged a curve in the meandering flow of the water.
The Trog’s frown deepened and she paused in the act of unbuckling the harness that held her massive blade in place on her back.
Who camps just outside a village like that?
With a few deft movements she pulled her red sash free of her waist and set it on top of Tora’s tunic.
“Bath time will have to wait for me.”
“Aww, was look forwards to washing yous nice brown skin.” Tora said as she adopted an impressive sulk.
“Yesss, a pity.” Kriss muttered, her tongue darting out again, the Trog on her guard now.
She was the sort of monster girl who would be quite happy to just be left alone, but given what few rumours she’d heard about what was happening in the world, about a mad Empath and an evil Chimera, she couldn’t ignore that someone might need help.
It was how she’d met Tora after all.
“I’m going to go and see who is skulking in the woods.”
“Mmmkay.” Tora said happily as she continued to splash about in the water; “Yous come rights back though!”
Kriss bit back an acidic comment, the Ogre’s words made it seem like she was the one that needed supervision!
The tiny scales covering her skin shifted to blend into her surroundings and Tora squinted as she tried to follow the Trog’s movements.
Kr
iss left her to play in the water and headed towards the trees; she left her blade sheathed on her back to keep it hidden from whoever might be in front of her.
Well, mostly hidden, the thing was huge.
Once she was in the woods her skin mottled in varying forest hues to maintain her camouflage, while she walked on the balls of her clawed feet to make as little noise as possible.
Soon she tasted the smoke in the air, the sound of the blissfully ignorant Ogre faded, and Kriss began to move with even more caution, her tongue darting out more frequently.
Five minutes later she froze when a bawdy laugh disrupted the stillness of the woods, listening intently to hone in on the source of it.
She was ready for anything, but what she found was less concerning than she thought.
A group of four teenage boys, nursing a little fire and exchanging really bad advice about women.
“I’m telling you! The girls love it!” One of them was arguing.
“You’re nuts, it would hurt like hell.”
“No it doesn’t!” The teen insisted; “You start with your hand like this, in the shape of a duck, then just curl it into a fist! And then-”
To demonstrate, he rapidly pumped his fist in the air, causing the Chameleon watching and listening to adopt a pained expression at what he was proposing.
The other three laughed at his ludicrous suggestion.
“Are you trying to beat her insides to death? Give it a rest man.”
Kriss listened for another minute or so as the argument continued, the Trog increasingly bemused by what the young idiot was proposing.
Finally she decided to make her presence known.
“Your friend is right. That would hurt too much.” She hissed drily.
The four teens jumped in surprise when she seemingly appeared right beside them.
“Holy shit! Are you a Witch?!” One of them blurted at her sudden arrival.
She decided to ignore the truly idiotic question, instead looking between them as the rest sized her up.
The Heartstone Saga Page 18