The Heartstone Saga

by Archibald Bradford

  Despite the magnitude of the conflict above, the one below continued, the circumstances growing more desperate by the minute, to the point that even the working medics were under threat as the Tenebrae rolled around the edges of their defensive line and inevitably out-flanking Tiana and Lilly’s teams.

  But it wasn’t just the Amazons that Volka asked for help, and it wasn’t just the warrior breeds that answered.

  While the Dryads and the medics were treating the wounded, their elfin cousins were covering them.

  Dozens of Spriggin formed a short but effective ring around the triage center, firing their tiny arrows into the Tenebrae to hobble them and make it easier for others to subdue them.

  Aiding their efforts was Paul Fletcher, moving faster than most of the people decades his junior; his Cockatrices paralyzing any Tenebrae that came too close to him as he covered the volunteers who were assigned to evacuate the wounded to the waiting medics.

  And in the midst of this mess, Helen Loskins was wondering just what in the hell she had been thinking.

  She had a bit of first-aid training from a midwife in Kettering, enough to know how to staunch bleeding and even to set a broken bone. And against her father’s wishes she was putting that training to use today, working alongside Ophelia and the Aegis medics to keep the death toll down while they all hoped for a miracle.

  As she was working there was a warning shout and a moment later an Echidna burst into the middle of their triage center, her eyes black and spines quivering as she shrieked at them.

  Helen backpedaled away, the Echidna snarling as its spines struck in the mud, drawing a line that stopped short of impaling the terrified young woman.

  Then another shriek sounded, this time coming from the Griffon scout who swooped down to land on the Echidna’s back and roll over her into the mud, the two monsters clawing and biting viciously.

  “Hot-stuff coming through!” Someone shouted from behind Helen.

  She turned in time to see a Lapine fearlessly leap over her and sprint into the scuffle, hopping off the ground again at the last second to land with both feet on the back of the Echidna’s head, knocking the girl into the mud and into unconsciousness.

  Helen looked to the rapidly breathing Lapine and the bleeding Griffon, her heart pounding in her throat.

  “You saved me. Thank you.”

  The Lapine looked back at her and smiled nervously.

  “All in a day’s work?”

  “My thanks as well, Lapine. But the battle continues with or without me, and I’d rather it be with, for I have a score to settle with some Harpies.” The Griffon pronounced.

  But before she could leave, Helen grabbed her arm.

  “Wait! You’re hurt!”

  Rather than address her concern, the proud and bleeding warrior turned and pulled her into a sudden kiss that knocked the wind right out of the baker’s youngest daughter.

  It was brief and hungry and altogether out of place in the middle of a pitched battle.

  But it bolstered the monster girl’s resolve.

  Once they broke apart, the Griffon very deliberately winked at Helen and took to the sky again with a triumphant shriek, soon disappearing from sight in the chaos.

  “Come on, uh, medic lady.” The Lapine called to bring the dazed teen back into the moment; “Let’s get this spiky girl somewhere she can’t hurt anyone.”

  Shaking off her befuddlement, the human turned to the bunny with the pierced ears.

  “Helen, my name is Helen.”

  Together they worked to get the Echidna on a stretcher, binding her hands and feet together carefully to avoid the spines.

  Once they were finished, the Lapine smiled at her.

  “Becks.”

  Unfortunately, though the people filling the support roles were doing their jobs admirably, Evadne was not the only leader amongst the Tenebrae forces.

  And in the midst of the fiercest fighting, things took a turn.

  The Longinus line suddenly buckled as a dark Amazon slammed into it, her spear a whirling maelstrom of death that overwhelmed even the doughty shields of the legionnaires, striking several dead in rapid succession.

  She was Yana Brael, and her heart was black.

  As the Antlions struggled to reform their defenses and contain the breach, two Aegis members tried to stop her with a combination of strobes and goo bombs.

  They died within seconds of each other on the tip of her spear, their bond-mates following shortly after as the rest of the Tenebrae exploited the break in the shield-wall and showed no pity for their grief.

  But Yana was not the only warleader on the field.

  Not far away another Amazon held the line as the battle slipped towards chaos, flowing around the surging horde of Tenebrae and exploiting their single-mindedness to great effect; already dozens were unconscious and incapacitated from the work of her twirling spear.

  Upon spotting the breach in their lines, Alcaia gave a resounding shout and slammed the butt of her weapon into the temple of yet another Tenebrae, leaving her unconscious in the mud.

  “Mightiest daughter of Brael! Leave our sisters alone and face me or be labeled a coward!”

  The dark Amazon whirled, her short hair a tangled mess, her eyes like twin pools of night and her face a storm cloud of hate, stained black with Chimera blood.

  “I’ve met your sister Warleader, and she is mighty.” Alcaia continued; “She bested my second, so let us see then which of us is strongest!”

  Alcaia readied her spear and Yana let out a bestial snarl as she charged.

  In the midst of the battlefield, two peerless Amazon warriors collided.

  While Xalanth battled Evadne in the sky above, people gave the two Amazons room as a massive ring of bodies naturally formed around them.

  Like many of the warrior breeds, Amazons train practically since birth, and they never stop: their prowess growing to allow them to pit themselves against nearly any creature living, and only their greatest combatants could call themselves warleaders.

  Rarely do two such Amazons fight, so the whirling dance of spears as they came together would have been a sight to behold if anyone had the time to witness it.

  Yana was enhanced with the dark energy of being a Tenebrae, which gave her superior strength, but her blind rage caused her technique to suffer.

  Meanwhile Alcaia was in top form, the mightiest Amazon in her village and a veteran of many conflicts in defense of it.

  The Brael tribe’s fighting style was firm and rigid, while the Saenga fought like a rushing river, fluid and adaptable.

  But the Saenga warleader’s aim was to save Yana, not kill her, which put her at a severe disadvantage.

  The clatter of their spears came so fast that it was hard to tell where one strike ended and the next began.

  Alcaia’s was the first to shatter.

  With the canniness of a seasoned warrior she was undeterred and spun around Yana’s opportunistic thrust, twirling to one side and seizing the Tenebrae’s weapon before throwing both feet against the other woman’s ribs to wrench the spear away from her.

  Her victory was brief though as Yana snarled and threw herself back at the other Amazon before she could bring the stolen weapon into play.

  The dark Amazon brought her to the ground and they rolled over each other in the mud, now exchanging vicious punches and kicks.

  Yana’s spear was soon lost to either of them in the churned earth, but they were Amazons: their bodies were weapon enough.

  With a grunt Alcaia got her legs under Yana and threw her off, then rolled backwards and to her feet, her eyes scrambling to find her opponent.

  She was already charging at her and so the Saenga warleader brought her arms up in preparation for the assault.

  They half-grappled, half-boxed their way around each other, further churning the earth as the battle raged around them, mostly oblivious to their contest.

  To the Aegis, Alcaia was keeping the dark warleader occupied while t
he Antlions reformed their defenses to contain the breach, the best and only option at the moment.

  And to the Tenebrae, Yana had claimed her as prey.

  There battle lasted another minute or so: another desperate minute of countless blocks and counters that would one day become legend.

  Then Alcaia’s foot caught on something, Yana’s spear, buried in the muck at their feet.

  She died less than a second later.

  One moment she was trying to duck under Yana’s arm, forced on the defensive by the Tenebrae’s ferocious strength, the next and her opponent had taken advantage of her stumble to bring her other arm around her neck.

  Even in the clamour of battle there was an audible crack as the dark Amazon twisted her head too far to one side.

  And watching on in horror was Kala, Yana’s sister, come too late to help.

  With Becks helping the medics, Miranda and the rest of her girls had rushed forwards when they saw how badly the Longinus line had been penetrated.

  Now they stood opposite the Tenebrae, with Alcaia’s body on the ground between them.

  And the fallen Amazon warleader wasn’t the only one.

  Yana had killed a dozen people and monsters in the span of a couple minutes, the danger she posed as a Tenebrae terrible to witness.

  Miranda knew the order she had to give, but she couldn’t say the words.

  How could she order her bond-mate to kill her own sister?

  “Enough Yana!” Kala cried out suddenly, her cheeks red with rage and grief; “You have done enough!”

  Over and over for weeks Jonathan had forced Yana’s mind into a loop of tactile sensations: the taste of vomit after she retched upon finding her dead family, the pain of her claws tearing into the granite floor as she expressed her grief.

  All of it surrounding the image of her children as ashen statues at the feet of her mother in her favorite chair.

  Her mother...

  That isn’t... her mother.

  The voice pleading with her to stop had woken something buried within her heart and another memory blossomed in Yana’s tortured mind, momentarily drowning out that of Evadne’s children.

  Now my darling, like I showed you: plant your feet and thrust!

  Her mother, teaching her the spear, which she would later teach to her younger sister.

  Another memory, a painful one.

  Her sister clinging to her and weeping as together they mourned their mother’s death.

  Telling Kala that their mother was gone was the most painful day of her life, but it was also the day that she vowed to become the strongest, to lead and protect the Brael tribe.

  The Tenebrae that she had become shook her head in a vain attempt to cast aside the memory, but it was a part of her, no matter how much Jonathan tried to smother it with the Chimera’s pain.

  Questions began to bubble to the surface of her addled mind as her will resurfaced for the first time in ages.

  How could she have forgotten her sister?

  Who were these poor children that she was being forced to weep for?

  “Keep talking to her Kala.” Miranda ordered, noticing the effect she was having; “Jan, Jez. Get in position for take down.”

  The breach in the Longinus shield wall had been closed, and the mob of Tenebrae that had made it through had been more or less dealt with.

  All save Yana.

  “I still carry the spear that you made for me!” Kala called out with unchecked emotion, tears trailing down both of her cheeks; “You must remember that much at least. Come back to me, my sister! Tiana and the others have been waiting for you as well!”

  Yana shook her head again, her hands gripping her matted hair as her face twisting with confusion and anger.

  But getting free of Jonathan was not so easy, and she struggled mightily as she mentally fought against the sticky tar-like hold that he had on her mind.

  “Go now!” Miranda barked.

  It would have been better if she had given the order silently.

  Yana reacted on instinct, her well-honed body countering Jan’s flying tackle and flipping the Wolfen up and over her to land hard in the mud with a harsh yelp of pain.

  “Froggy kic-rk!”

  The warleader’s powerful backhand caught Jez in the upper chest just below her clavicle before she could deliver her signature move, the Gripau landing in the mud even more painfully than Jan had.

  Not seeing another option, Miranda tossed an adhesive grenade at Yana, but the Amazon danced to the side of it before leveling a glare at the Aegis operative.

  Miranda sighed.

  “Yeah, I didn’t think that would work either.”

  As Yana’s attention narrowed onto Miranda, and with two of her bond-sisters already down, Kala made the decision that her bond-mate couldn’t, her heart breaking as she silently stalked forwards with her spear ready to end things.

  But out of nowhere a Chameleon emerged, her skin turning orange with stress as she bodily tackled Yana around the midsection, catching her completely off guard.

  They went down together, but by the time they hit the ground the canny warleader had already reversed the grapple to land on top of her unexpected opponent and deliver several heavy punches.

  Before she could well and truly beat Nameless’s sister to death though, Jan, Kala and Jez all piled onto her.

  Once she was immobilized for long enough, the Gripau set to work with her tongue.

  “As tight as you can Jez. We can’t afford to have her break free again.” Jan grunted while her tiny bond-sister wrapped the dark warleader up with every inch of her tongue as she was able.

  “Ah’ve gow thisth!” The frog promised with tears of pain standing in her eyes, her whole body tense from the effort; “Bwech, thews mubdth im my moufth!”

  Meanwhile Miranda offered the dazed Trog a hand and helped her to her feet.

  “Thanks for the assist. But how long have you been hiding?”

  Kriss’s tongue shot out nervously.

  “Was hoping to find a chance to ambush Evadne.” She admitted unhappily.

  Both she and Miranda looked skywards to where the Dragon and the Chimera were tearing into each other.

  “How’s that working out for you?”

  The Chameleon sniffed and began to fade from view again, this time out of embarrassment.

  “I guess I could have listened to the bitchy little red girl.” She admitted finally.

  Chapter 50:

  Reckoning

  Elsewhere the circle of Undines that had gathered around Nameless struggled under the weight of the task that he had set them.

  But they were many and soon they were joined by Undines from all over the shattered world, answering their call and bolstering the Sacred Current with their magic.

  A massive column of water formed in the center of them, with Nameless’s hands slipping into the bottom of it, as if holding it off the ground above his head.

  And then the blue-skinned Undines unleashed their power and the water shot upwards, forming a colossal spout thousands of feet high, much higher even than where Xalanth and Evadne fought.

  At the top of the magical waterspout the moisture dispersed, quickly forming an ominous cloud of grey.

  Then the elementals cried out together and the rain came, a torrential downpour soaking the field, each droplet of water a piece of the current the Undines held most sacred.

  The field was quickly drenched, and the water permeated the soil deep, far more than was necessary to reach the large pile of heartstones that Jonathan had buried, the disturbed earth actually making it easier for them to foil his plot.

  Inevitably, the glowing water saturated the hearts of all of the Tenebrae on the field, and through that touch, Nameless gained access to their souls.

  Husband, my love, they have done it!

  He felt Volka’s presence around him, and he needed it, because with the combination of Empathic and Elemental magic, it was akin to floating in a dark space, sur
rounded by innumerable stars and tiny black holes.

  The stars were the girls fighting tooth and nail to save their sisters, while the black holes were the Tenebrae, their pain calling out and drawing him towards them.

  They did, but now what?

  Nameless cast his mind around, trying to find a means of saving them.

  If he and Volka were to do this piecemeal, it would take hours, maybe even days.

  But before he could decide, they both sensed another presence, flittering between the broken minds of all of the monster girls.

  And both of them knew him well, having reassembled his mind once upon a time.

  The other Empath didn’t notice them, too preoccupied with maintaining his connection with the Tenebrae.

  In the next instant Nameless was on him.

  The younger of the two men hadn’t been in many fights; he’d never thrown a punch at someone in anger, not even as a child.

  But he had no problem kicking Jonathan in the balls so hard that his mental form almost split in half, while his physical form doubled over and threw up from the imagined agony of it.

  It was one of the most satisfying things Nameless could ever remember doing, and a great chorus of cheers came from the Sacred Current connecting them all together as every one of the girls that shared his mind heartily approved.

  He felt Jonathan try to slip away, somehow making his mind oily, a tactic he had developed to protect himself from the rage and hatred of the Tenebrae he created.

  But Nameless was an Empath, not a monster girl, and emotional nuance was his jam.

  Shedding the emotions of the present moment to make it harder for me to find purchase with mine? Clever.

  Then he imagined Erica’s claws, only several times their normal size, latching onto Jonathan and sinking deep into his psyche, fueled by Nameless’s hate for the man for all that he had done.

  But you’re forgetting who it was that risked his life to put your mind back together. You can ignore or throw away all of your shallow feelings, but I know where you really hurt, and I have no problem using that against you.

  He mercilessly tore into Jonathan’s deepest memories and brought out the one of him as a child watching Evadne murder his parents, pinning him in place within the shared starry hellscape that he and Volka had created together with the Undines.