The Heartstone Saga

by Archibald Bradford

  “Them being here means that she is still alive! Hold them. Subdue them where you can. We will save your daughter!” He repeated as his face turned upwards to meet hers.

  His eyes were glowing gold as his bond-mate’s divine might reacted to his resolve.

  It was a surprising turn, but Queen Julia regained her royal dignity as she reached down and set her hand on his shoulder.

  “Thank you, young Aegis.” She whispered.

  “Thank me when I have actually accomplished something.” He muttered.

  “Look sharp kid!” Miranda snapped at him; “Focus on containment for now until we can get a handle on this!”

  “Yes ma’am! Nina, Milly, strobes are coming!”

  “Yeah yeah.” The Gigas replied placidly as she carelessly knocked over the forerunners of the mob.

  There was a great woosh as Volka flapped her wings once to bring her higher in the chamber.

  “My sisters! Calm your hearts and step back from this nightmare that you face!” She cried out as she released her aura in its entirety, making the light orbs completely unnecessary and bolstering the hearts of everyone in the chamber.

  The Tenebrae-Antlions hesitated, their blackened eyes glossing over momentarily in the face of the glorious love that Volka’s aura promised them.

  But it wasn’t enough.

  The moment of doubt passed and they surged forwards, hungry for blood.

  “We are outnumbered! But my workers are coming through the tunnel now to bolster our forces!” Queen Julia declared in a clear shout; “House of Longinus! Guard well your daughters!”

  Volka’s aura had filled her heart with the hope that she had nearly lost and her soldiers let out a unified grunt and took a step forwards, their shields slamming into the surging horde of Tenebrae and pushing them back, a dark wave breaking on unyielding rocks.

  Because while their hearts were filled with rage and hate, they were worker caste, and Queen Julia’s soldiers were more than a match for them.

  And that wasn’t even counting Nina, Milly, Kala and Jan.

  The four of them worked seamlessly together, swirling within the mass of bodies and putting them down two and sometimes even three at a time.

  Meanwhile Miranda and Nameless were sowing chaos in the horde with strobes and goo-bombs, blinding and binding the fallen girls.

  “Where is Erica?!” Ophelia demanded suddenly from behind him.

  Amidst the chaos, the Katje had disappeared.

  Distracted from the pitched battle, Nameless reached out with his heart to feel his kitty slinking off down one of the tunnels and he nearly died from the fright of it.

  Erica had cleared the chaotic mob of Tenebrae when they were distracted by Volka and her light.

  But his concern was unwarranted, as she was a Katje and stealth was what she was born for; her black leather suit and her natural night-vision helping her hide in the shadows.

  Once past the last of the Antlions swarming into the chamber her thoughts reached back for him.

  You guys take care of the hard stuff! I’ll find the queen!

  He wanted to call her back, but by that point she was actually safer than the rest of them. And though her nose wasn’t as good as Jan’s, with so many ants to follow it wasn’t hard to backtrack where they had come from.

  While the slinky cat slunk through the dark, the Tenebrae hesitated to strike at the light that was Volka, but she struck at them, using her shield to bowl them over as she joined the other four girls fighting in a slow circle outside the wall of Antlion soldiers.

  “We’re lucky that Avita is a young queen! All I’m seeing is workers!” Kala declared as she grappled one of the girls to the floor.

  Milly bellowed at her side as she fought with two others.

  “Workers or not they are pretty strong!”

  From atop one of the stout soldiers protecting them, Jez’s tongue lashed out and bound up one of the girls angling to brain the Minotaur with a shovel from behind, dragging the girl towards the shield wall.

  “Ah’ve goth won!” She declared proudly.

  “Good! Now grab twenty more!” Nina roared at her.

  The hard part for her wasn’t the Tenebrae piling on top of her, it was throwing them off without hurting them.

  She was enormously grateful to Tiana and the other Amazons for helping her practice.

  As desperate as their situation seemed, the Tenebrae they fought were not doing well either; their numbers had been steadily dwindling since the fight broke out and it only got worse when Queen Julia’s workers arrived from the surface.

  They didn’t have the training that her soldiers did, not to mention the doughty shields, and a few of them were torn apart by their dark counterparts. But while it pained Julia greatly, it helped them turn the tide when they waded into the mess of Tenebrae to reach their queen.

  Nameless suddenly stood bolt upright when he felt another thought from Erica.

  Found her! Wow she doesn’t look good! You better get here quick lover!

  Erica! Are you safe?!

  I’m fine, I’m pretty sure that all of the Antlions are with you.

  “Queen Julia!” Nameless shouted once he’d absorbed everything from Erica; “There! That tunnel! Avita is there!”

  It was all he needed to say.

  The soldiers maintaining the shield wall began to move immediately, somehow keeping their formation solid even while fighting off the Tenebrae.

  But Nameless felt a sudden surge of surprise, fear and pain from Erica.

  His eyes widened and he threw his thoughts at the others.

  Erica is in trouble!

  “I felt it Husband!” Volka called out even as she brained yet another Antlion with her shield.

  If they were keeping score, the Dominar and Nina would be neck in neck.

  Though when she heard that her precious sister was in danger, Milly bellowed aggressively and set her sights on the passage that led to the Katje and soon she very rapidly caught up to Nina and Volka’s numbers when she plowed over anything and everything in her path as only a charging Minotaur could.

  Not to be outdone, Volka gave one flap of her wing and risked breaking her neck by flying over the mob to reach the tunnel in question.

  “Shit!” Miranda cried out when it suddenly got very dark; “Lights!”

  She and Nameless cracked the last of their light orbs to illuminate the chamber again, by which point they had all converged on the tunnel in question.

  He felt a surge relief to see Milly and the others alright, but was still dreadfully afraid from what he still felt from Erica.

  She was alive, but from the mess of emotions he felt from her, he knew she’d been found by some of the Antlions.

  “My soldiers will hold the rest of them here!” Queen Julia proclaimed; “Lead me to my daughter young Aegis!”

  With Erica fighting for her life, he didn’t need to be told twice.

  “This way!”

  The tunnel had many smaller passages that broke away from it, but following her heart in his mind, Nameless led them through the many twists and turns until they arrived at a spacious dome-ceilinged room with numerous crates pushed up against one wall and countless tiny ovular husks set against the opposite one.

  Inside Erica was fending off two Tenebrae, relying on her superior speed and reflexes to evade their shovels and picks while her tail behind her was bloody and hanging at an odd angle.

  Her stealth had failed her quite spectacularly.

  “I cannot reach her!”

  Near where the rest of them entered Volka was fighting through a half dozen more Antlions to try to get to her bond-sister, but they were holding her off too well.

  When one of the Antlions became aware of the Katje, they all had, so a group of them had rushed to protect their dark queen and they fought with even more ferocity than before to protect her.

  Frantic to save Erica, Milly got creative.

  “Jez! Help her!” She seized the tiny mo
nster off of the back of the soldier she’d been riding.

  “Wuh-oh.” The Gripau ribbited once just as the Minotaur flung her over the heads of Volka and the Tenebrae locked in combat with her.

  The flying froggy sailed through the air towards the embattled Katje, and right before she landed she shot her tongue out to wrap around one of them, dragging the dark girl down with her.

  “Milly!” Jan growled out a whine at the cow’s side; “No throwing things!”

  Now that he fight was suddenly one on one, Erica began to fare better, pulling herself close to the Antlion so that she couldn’t bring her shovel to bear and using everything she knew to grapple with her until she had her on the ground in an arm-lock, the Katje’s chest rising and falling rapidly.

  “Kid!” Miranda shouted from one side; “Here! The queen is here! End this!”

  Slumped to one side of the room was the Antlion Queen, her dark eyes were vacant as she directed her horde of workers in their losing battle against her mother’s forces.

  With his girls protecting him from the Tenebrae in the room, Nameless pushed his concern for Erica down and rushed to save the queen.

  Surrounded by the same broken husks that were adhered to the walls, she looked dreadful; her eyes were shallow in her skull, while her flesh was emaciated.

  “Get it done Nameless!” Miranda barked from beside him.

  With others having taken up her struggle, Volka joined her husband and together they loomed over the defenceless queen.

  She still hadn’t reacted to their presence.

  “Poor and wretched creature.” The Valkyrie declared as she took up the girl’s crown and handed it to Nameless; “Come back into the light, your mother awaits you!”

  With her heartstone in Nameless’s hands, they entered her mind together.

  __________

  Immediately they knew something was off.

  Just as they had discovered in Kettering, the Antlion Queen’s mind was paired with another.

  But this was in the mind of one who already shared her thoughts with that of her colony. And this time the added layer of torment from being forced to share someone else’s thoughts had happened after she was already a Tenebrae.

  More of Jonathan’s experiments.

  As a result of the mental chaos Nameless’s mind was forced through a faceted kaleidoscope of sensations, emotions, and broken memories.

  Not for the first time, and sadly not for the last, his Valkyrie saved him.

  Husband, be calm. You are in control here. Govern her mind with yours, show her stillness. The pond by our cottage in the early morning. Water as calm and sacred as glass.

  With each whisper the fragmented imagery faded from his thoughts as he focused on what she directed, drawing upon the light of his bond-mates’ hearts to hold himself steady.

  Soon they floated together in the middle of the maelstrom within a safe bubble of their own creation.

  Then Volka let out a mental chuckle.

  Hey. That actually worked. Cool.

  You didn’t think it would?!

  I’ve told you: Empathic magic is new to humans. And you have done more with it in a few short years than most before you. Breaking new ground comes with risk.

  Nameless sighed as he looked upon the madness still happening outside their bubble, able to focus on it now without fear of being torn asunder.

  Now she tells me. How do we do this?

  His angel’s golden presence at his side was as warm as ever, though he definitely felt her concern for the creature whose mind they had invaded.

  Just as with Jonathan, it may be necessary for you to put her mind back together for her. To sort out what emotions and memories are her own, and cast aside those forced upon her. But this time we need not move about within her fractured psyche. Jonathan was human, while she is a monster without a bond. Her mind is more flexible. She will seek us out if we give her reason to.

  That explains how I ended up bonded to Erica and Nina. The rules for this magic crap seem to change every time I get into it.

  Together they watched as all around them scenes from the battle played out while the Antlion workers strove to overwhelm their enemy.

  Why are they your enemy, um, Queen?

  Nameless cast the thought out into the maelstrom; a clumsy beginning but he had to start somewhere.

  The mental image of Volka at his side shook her head.

  She is royalty. She is owed allegiance and respect.

  What? I called her ‘Queen’ didn’t I?

  You mistake me. She is owed these things. She expects them. She is used to them.

  Slowly Nameless clued in to what she was saying, or rather thinking, to him.

  I gotcha.

  This time when he cast his thoughts out into the chaos, he made sure to colour them with Nina’s bluntness and a fair bit of Erica’s sass.

  Yo Avita! Get your skinny ass over here!

  Neither of them was prepared for the vehemence of her reply.

  All of her thoughts, and all of the thoughts of her many workers, turned inwards, until it felt like they were being glared at from every direction imaginable.

  VENGEANCE FOR MY CHILDREN!!

  The booming roar hit their bubble like a tidal wave, again coming from all sides.

  But Volka stood firm, and thus so did Nameless.

  They both balked somewhat though when the Antlion Queen’s meaning became clear in their minds.

  They saw her hands reaching out, except they weren’t her hands, to caress the statues of ash that her children had become.

  At his side Volka sucked in an ethereal breath.

  By the light of my goddess! The pain of it! Steady Husband!

  It hit him then as well, a wall of grief so black and all-consuming that it made him want to throw up all over the Antlion’s mind, which definitely wouldn’t have helped matters.

  But the image of the Chimera’s children, dead and ash now for centuries, felt wrong in a different way than the tragedy it presented: it didn’t belong here.

  Plain as day to him, the memory was not hers, it couldn’t be hers.

  So he cast his thoughts out again, responding to the wave of rage and hate and sorrow with firm patience and unconditional love.

  There is only one enemy here. And you know it, proud daughter of the house of Longinus. These are not your children.

  With all of his focus he dragged the queen’s all-encompassing attention towards a single Antlion worker, currently being pinned to the stone wall by a grim-faced Milly.

  This is your love. See her pain? See what you are doing to her?

  He felt the mental sob as the queen broke, felt a chink form in her already fractured mental armour.

  NO, I MUST... I MUST KILL EVERYTHING!

  Why?

  She didn’t respond, instead his simple question reverberated in Avita’s thoughts and he felt her confusion swelling all around as a result.

  Outside of their shared minds the others were having a much easier time of it: the remaining workers had become dazed as their queen’s control slipped.

  Emboldened, Nameless pressed on.

  Explain to me why you must suffer for the Chimera’s dead children. Why must your workers fight? Why must YOU fight?

  That was all it took.

  Over the course of the next few seconds he watched as the multi-faceted mind of the Antlion colony cleared.

  Though he was surprised by what was left:

  Order.

  A painful degree of order.

  The unrealized structure of an entire society: rigid and unchangeable, but beautiful in its simplicity.

  Worker, Soldier, Myrmidon, Queen.

  But it was fading, and he knew why.

  A whisper of a thought reached out to them, the queen’s final words as she slipped ever closer to oblivion.

  Thank... you.

  Chapter 24:

  That Which Sustains

  Nameless and Volka returned to their own
minds with a start, surrounded by the others.

  He sprang into action immediately.

  “Milly! Milk! She needs milk! She’s dying!”

  “Wha-”

  But Volka was already pulling her off of the worker, now slumped against the floor, and pushing her towards the young Antlion Queen.

  “Beloved sister, there is no time! Even now she fades! Evadne and Jonathan forced her to produce far more workers than she was capable of sustaining, her body needs nutrients!”

  “My daughter!” Julia wailed as she rushed to her side; “Please, the Dominar is correct, please save her!”

  With her confusion gone, Milly shrugged the straps of her overalls off of her shoulders and pulled her shirt up to expose one breast.

  With great care she held the emaciated queen to her chest, positioning her pink nipple at her lips.

  “I don’t understand. They were so strong a moment ago, what changed?” Erica asked as she gingerly paced over to them.

  Midway down, her sleek black tail was kinked at an unnatural angle from where an Antlion’s shovel had struck a clipped blow, but with the young queen fending for her life, she didn’t complain about it.

  The Valkyrie had taken a step back to allow room for Julia to go to her daughter and turned to answer her bond-sisters question.

  “The will to live... it is no mere thing. Poor Avita and her colony were filled with Evadne’s twisted purpose, her hunger for vengeance, the same hunger that has sustained the Chimera for so long despite the demon inside of her. And now that it is gone her body is failing.”

  Milly didn’t give up, still pressing her nipple between the Antlion’s chapped lips and mooing at her gently as Nameless helped her coax some of her cream into her mouth.

  Kala spoke then, her voice subdued as she inspected their surroundings.

  “It’s not just her. Half of the workers down here are already gone.”

  “Talk to her Queen Julia! I can’t reach her anymore, but you’re her mother, your voice-” Nameless settled his hand on the woman’s hip as he urged her to do what he said; “Remind her of everything that she is, and everything she wants to be!”