Jonathan cried out, both mentally and in the real world where the foul taste of vomit in his mouth only adding to his discomfort.
And it would only get worse for him, because Nameless’s wrath was nothing compared to his angel’s.
Husband, allow me.
A golden light burned with as much ferocity as a sun blooming in the darkness, and very quickly Jonathan was hyperventilating as the weight of the higher-angel’s wrath bore down on him.
Glad I am to see you again, Jonathan Pym.
The condemnation in her tone was impossible to miss.
The dark Empath desperately tried to fight back, throwing a ball of his most bitter and negative emotions at her, drawing on the decades of neglect and abuse he’d suffered at the hands of Evadne.
The Valkyrie burnt it away like it was nothing, impervious to his human weakness, and he shrieked out in agony at the damage she did to his psyche by doing so.
You would direct your power at me? Why, it’s almost as if you don’t know where it came from to begin with! Allow me to remind you.
The Valkyrie spoke to him almost conversationally, but he still couldn’t escape her. Even when he threw all of his desperate power into trying to wriggle free of Nameless again, Jonathan remained pinned and forced to face up to everything he’d done.
Very quickly he was blubbering from the judgment in her mind’s eye searing through him.
Still she did not relent.
I’ve wanted a private chat with you ever since you had my husband thrown out of a window.
The mental judgment intensified, and Volka’s chatty demeanour vanished as she stepped back into being a Dominar to finish things.
By the light of my goddess, entrusted to you through your ancestors, I find you lacking Jonathan Pym. And I take back what was given.
His torment worsened as the light within him, the light Evadne had worked so hard to corrupt and twist to her purpose, shifted away from his center in response to the Dominar’s call, burning its way free of him as it did.
Outside of the mental landscape, Jonathan was seized up, his every muscle taut as miniscule pinpricks of gold shone forth through his skin, growing brighter by the second until it was like Volka was pulling tiny beads of molten metal out of every one of his pores.
Agony couldn’t even begin to describe what he experienced.
A moment later it was done, and Nameless was holding onto nothing, Jonathan’s mind gone.
Come Husband, our true task awaits us. Dwell no more upon that man, for he can do no more harm in this life.
Right. But still, how do we do this?
He turned his attention back to the countless black holes surrounding them, both of them straining to find a solution while the Undines maintaining the Sacred Current fretting as they watched on, their power unable to help any further.
One at a time for now, unless you can see an alternative that I cannot?
He couldn’t.
__________
Grant Semper was on a stretcher being carted away from the fighting by Brandon Dixon and his father Rory, the pair of them working with the other volunteers to evacuate the wounded.
The water pattering down on Grant’s face was a comfort to him, as was the heavy weight of Linda’s clay, packed tight around the stump of his right leg to staunch the bleeding.
In a daze from blood loss, he was trying to figure out where in the hell Evadne and Jonathan had drummed up a Manticore, the fierce monster girl whose barbed tail had so recently cost him a limb.
Technically it was actually Bruti’s thick black claws that cost him the leg; the bear was fully aware of how fast Manticore venom acted and couldn’t see another way to save his life in the midst of the melee.
“You’re…going…to… be… alright.” Linda swore, miserable tears rolling down her face belying her worry.
Bruti was there as well, hanging back and looking forlorn as she carried his leg in her claws.
Grant made to reassure her, but was cut off by the blacksmith on the front of the stretcher.
“The Gnome is right, he’s gunna be alright.” He said gruffly; “We got a whole mess of Dryads working double-time, and the best medics out of Garland. Your man is going to be fine.”
Grant was actually a bit put out that this stranger was saying all of the things that he wanted to say, especially when he saw Bruti nodding her head in agreement, still clutching his leg tight.
But when he opened his mouth again to tell them all that, a stab of pain unlike anything he’d ever felt came from where his leg used to be and he hoarsely cried out instead.
His voice joined the many others amongst the wounded and dying, forming a grim chorus to accompany the harsh shouting and snarling of those that could yet fight.
Grant had already decided that he didn’t like the music.
But then something happened to change his mind.
It was subtle at first, barely at the edge of his range of hearing, but even gravely wounded as he was it filled his breast with that most precious of things: hope.
Because amidst the horrible symphony of the continuing melee, two thousand Amazons from the Darkwood arrived on the field to change the tune.
At their front stood Escrya, daughter of Alcaia, a broad band of black warpaint covering her eyes as she surveyed the ghastly scene below, while on her right was the hulking presence that was the Amazon Matriarch, her face similarly painted.
There were a number of gasps of conflicted shock and joy from the Darkwood Amazons, because even though the Valkyrie was huddled in the midst of the Undines with Nameless, many of them had already caught sight of her golden wings.
“I did not dare to believe.” The massive Amazon leader murmured.
“It would seem I don’t get to kill you after all.” Alia agreed from the other side of Escrya, looking only slightly unhappy about it.
“I’m sure that you will get your chance to prove yourself down there.” Helena advised with a nod of her chin.
Kaylee said nothing, her lips thin and her eyes focused on the conflict.
Ignoring the younger warriors, the Matriarch turned to Escrya and bowed her head, deferring to the one who had summoned them.
“Battle calls to us, daughter of my sister. Show us the way.”
Escrya drew in a deep breath and began to walk purposefully forwards, casually tossing her spear aside, and soon her stride became a loping run, then an all out charge, all of the Amazon nation at her back.
The other warriors had copied her in discarding their lethal weapons as they set forth to pit their strength against that of Jonathan and Evadne’s dark army.
For their Dominar and for the Valkyrja-datta, both of whom the young storyteller wouldn’t shut up about, they were intent on taking the Tenebrae alive.
The rolling thunder of their charge shook the very bones of the earth as their ululating battle-cries resounded off of the heavens above.
Suddenly the Tenebrae were the ones who were in trouble and the Antlion legions within the Aegis forces rallied as their queens became aware that help had arrived.
The wild pale-skinned Amazons sprinted into the fray, and when they reached the edge of the line the front runners bodily tackled any Tenebrae that caught their eye, the tide of battle shifting abruptly as the wave of blonde warriors collapsed the Tenebrae’s chaotic assault.
For every girl tainted by Jonathan’s power suddenly there were two or even three monsters to bring them low, not that they were going down easy.
And even amidst the dramatic turn Evadne and Xalanth fought: the titanic struggle in the sky a match for the wrath of any storm.
But the Dragon was bleeding.
Chapter 51:
Embracing the Light
Evadne tore herself away from Xalanth’s grip, the Dragon’s massive clawed fist casting aside a piece of darkness as it disintegrated in the air like broken glass.
“You disappoint me Evadne, if this is the all the strength you gained from selli
ng your soul!” She spat out in contempt.
But the Chimera merely ran her tongue over her clawed gauntlet to taste the blood she had drawn from the Dragon’s cheek, the shadowy armour reformed to replace what had been torn away from her shoulder.
“Hardly.” She hissed.
She lunged forwards again, a swirling blur of shadows that slammed into the Dragon, catching her off guard and carrying her back and down through the air.
A moment later the pair smashed into the midst of the battlefield like a comet touching down, the surrounding combatants thrown away from the crater that formed while the debris and mud cast upwards was quickly settled by the steady rainfall.
Evadne regained her feet first and quickly laid into the Dragon with lightening fast blows.
“This is my power! Can you feel it?!” She slammed her fist into Xalanth’s gut as she struggled to rise.
There was a deafening crack as one of her abdominal scales broke.
Xalanth roared in pain and at last managed to regain her feet, throwing Evadne back by unfurling her powerful wings.
More blood was trickling from her stomach now.
“How long has it been Xalanth?!” Evadne screamed, she had sunk into an aggressive crouch on all fours in the mud, her snake tail writhing madly above her; “How long has it been since you’ve felt pain? Since you’ve bled?!”
A brave, or foolish, Aegis cadet tried to take Evadne from behind with a goo canister but her tail lashed out and struck her down, the deadly venom quickly overcoming the girl as foam emerged from her mouth.
Evadne laughed while Xalanth narrowed her eyes and roared in rage.
“Curse you Evadne! How many must perish before you are satisfied?!”
“HOW MANY ARE THERE?!” The Chimera threw back with a roar of her own.
She lunged forwards again, and there was no technique in their fight now; both combatants sought only to end the other, their clawed fists slammed into each other with such force that shockwaves radiated out from them, bowling over any who still dared to approach.
To call Evadne a Chimera at this point would be a mistake, with Volka occupied it was a demon of entropy that the Dragon fought.
And it wasn’t going well for her.
__________
Still largely oblivious to the goings on around him, Nameless mentally cursed as he and Volka re-emerged from the latest girl they pulled free of Evadne’s nightmare.
This isn’t working! We’ve only saved a handful, and every second we waste more people are dying!
Volka didn’t disagree with him, but she simply didn’t see another way but to treat each girl individually.
The young man scoured his brain for any trick he’d used as an Empath, anything that might serve to help them all.
Calm, husband, be calm and think rationally. I know how difficult that is to suggest, but it is all we can do.
It was difficult, but as always her serenity helped.
He threw his mind back to the very first time, remembering what it was like with Erica, the shame she felt at being a sex-slave, focusing on how he had helped her.
But he came up with nothing, so instead he remembered Nina, remembered recklessly diving into her minds and leaving his anchors behind, nearly losing himself…
Another dead end.
Even with the angel in his mind, dread filled him when he realized there might not be an easy solution.
The angel in his mind…
His mind.
A memory popped into his head all on its own to suit that line of thinking: the first time he had deliberately entered the minds of his bond-mates, when Milly needed him to.
And more importantly when he had in turn pulled them all into his.
He felt Volka gasp beside him when she read his intent, a wave of remorse coming from her heart to his before she could suppress it.
Because while she recognised the terrible danger, she also knew that it was their only chance.
And above all else, the Valkyrie valued sacrifice.
You know that what you seek to do here must come with a cost, I won’t be able to shield you from yourself. No Valkyrie could.
Despite her efforts at concealing it, there was great sadness in Volka’s mental voice.
I know, but there is no other way.
She choked out a sob as she felt the moment that he committed himself to the course of action.
I love you, my Nameless Lord, for all time.
Her words, even in his mind, came out thick with tears.
And I you. If I… if I don’t… look after the others for me?
He couldn’t bear to give voice to the thought, but she knew what he was asking.
She sobbed again, but quickly drew upon her angelic will, determined to support him to the very end, whatever that end might be.
Always.
With that Nameless focused himself utterly on the task at hand.
He held no anchors but Volka; they would instinctively try to shield him from what he intended and he couldn’t allow that.
Then he opened his heart to the minds of the surrounding Tenebrae, and didn’t flinch when he felt them inexorably drawing closer, their ravaged souls unable to resist the beacon of love that he presented to them.
Outside of Nameless and Volka’s shared hearts, outside the protective circle of Undines around them, the battle continued with unrelenting violence, the pooling water on the ground was mixed heavily with blood.
Even with the Darkwood Amazon’s help, so many were already dead…
So Nameless Armstrong, beloved of the Valkyrie and monster girls everywhere, cast aside everything that he was and welcomed the chaotic hearts of every Tenebrae on the field into his.
Every Tenebrae save for one, who was weighed down by a numbing blackness which he could not touch.
For an agonizing eternal moment, Volka’s light in his mind, unwavering as it was, was a mere candle against the darkness and pain of the innumerable Tenebrae that he drew within himself.
And then suddenly, her light was all that he could see.
__________
Milly and Erica were feeling superfluous, standing just outside the ring of Undines and watching their master and their bond-sister labour away in their minds.
“Little help!” Someone called.
They tore their eyes off of Nameless long enough to see Miranda and the others approaching with Yana, the warleader still bound up in Jez’s tongue.
Not that she wasn’t struggling: it was a bit awkward for Jana and Kala to carry her with the frog sitting on her, so they rushed over to aid them.
But before they could reach them there was a sharp cry to one side and several of the captured Tenebrae broke loose.
Their resources had been stretched thin, and evidently they had just snapped.
Miranda threw one of her canisters with a curse, stumbling back even as the sticky goo exploded out of it to containing two of the escaped Tenebrae.
But it wasn’t enough to stop them all and suddenly she and her girls were in the thick of it as rest of the Tenebrae set upon them. But at least they weren’t alone for long, Milly and Erica quickly joined them while Kala and Jan were forced to drop Yana, Jez making a whining noise of protest when she fell with her.
Milly battered and threw her opponents down with bellowing lows, her aim to get them away rather than to hurt them, while Kala did similar work with her spear, tripping and swatting the charging girls aside instead of stabbing into them.
Jan had less wiggle room when it came to weaponry; her strength wasn’t a match for the Minotaur or the Amazon so she was forced to use her claws and teeth, though she sought to maim rather than to kill.
It was nearly her undoing as a Katje emerged from nowhere, leaping over another Tenebrae and landing on Jan’s back, tackling her to the ground with a yowling hiss as her claws dug deep.
But Erica rushed in and pulled the smaller cat off of the Wolfen and rolling around in the mud with her, biting and cla
wing with vicious hisses and snarls, her leather outfit providing some measure of protection for her.
Jan quickly regained her feet and moved to help, and the two soon disabled the cat as a number of Myrmidons broke formations to contain the threat.
“Thanks.” The Wolfen panted, her tongue lolled out.
“I still hate you!” Erica called back as she stalked back to Nameless’s side.
“Naturally!” The Wolfen replied, managing a grin as Miranda checked over her injuries.
The setback with the runaway Tenebrae aside, the battle had definitely shifted in their favour, and obviously the girls from the Darkwood were a big reason for that.
Yana Brael was widely considered to be amongst the most dangerous of Amazons, her dedication and the results of her training unrivalled.
But the Matriarch of the Darkwood was the penultimate embodiment of what an Amazon is.
Which is why, while her warriors were working in teams to take down the more dangerous monsters, she acted alone.
She had no problem matching the fury of even the fiercest Tenebrae on the field with a deep-throated battle-cry so resounding that every Amazon nearby was emboldened by it.
Without breaking stride she headed towards the Manticore that had cost Grant his leg, the large monster girl on all fours while its tail lashed out at everyone and anyone nearby.
That changed in an instant when the Matriarch’s knees locked in place on either side of the girl’s head before she could react and gave her the perfect leverage to strike down with her elbow in a blow that would shatter stone.
From that single hit, the powerful Manticore collapsed in a heap and the Matriarch fluidly rolled off of her to immediately move to the next threat, as if she were merely out for a stroll.
Meanwhile at the back of the Tenebrae line, Jonathan was on his knees and sobbing into his hands, unable to watch as his bond-mate’s schemes began to come apart.
The Valkyrie’s judgment had been absolute, and the guilt he felt was all-encompassing in the face of the carnage he had unleashed.
The Heartstone Saga Page 44