The operative snorted, expecting the half-ass response.
“The law in question was regarding the age of consent for Ogres. And whoever proposed it was a complete nincompoop. Since Ogres mature physically much faster than mentally, some members of the Aegis were uncomfortable with allowing them to have sex with humans before their intellect was fully developed. Which basically meant that the Ogres would have to wait decades before being able to look for a bond-mate.”
“An ill-conceived idea, I take it?” Erica remarked drily.
“They were conflating regular intelligence with emotional intelligence.” Ophelia interjected primly; “Ogres are monsters and monsters love sex. As much as any human. And telling children they can’t have something they desperately want can be a nightmare, believe me. How would you have reacted if someone told you that you weren’t allowed to bond with our master until you were at least forty?”
Erica nodded her agreement.
“Truth.”
“I would... probably have broken some things.” Milly admitted.
Miranda shrugged, causing Jez to wobble on her back.
“That’s exactly what they did. No one was badly hurt, but they were rather heavily censured for it.”
“Explains why we don’t see Ogres around the city I guess.”
“There is no law keeping them out, at least not formally, but they’ve always steered clear of Garland because of the Bastion.”
Ophelia’s feet briefly touched the street as she half-flew along beside Milly, the Flutterby not hiding her indignation.
“It really isn’t fair for them to be so ostracized, but such is the world we live in.”
Nameless felt her discontent through their bond, and reached out with his heart to reassure her.
“A battle for another day.” He promised aloud.
Chapter 32:
Feeling Blue
As it turned out, finding a giant who wasn’t trying to hide was as easy as one would imagine, though finding one sitting on the side of the road and crying was also as heart wrenching as one would imagine.
Nameless knew that Ogres were large, and yet somehow he had always just pictured a blue-skinned Amazon, since every one of the blonde warriors that he’d met had towered over him.
But the Ogre would dwarf any of them, as she was ten feet tall if she was an inch.
She was dressed in a simple tunic cinched at the waist with a simple brass buckle, while her skin was a rich shade of blue, with her hair a slightly darker shade.
It was bizarre, but she reminded him a great deal of Nina.
She was sobbing while holding a tattered red sash to her cheek, a forlorn and piteous sight.
Before Miranda could say anything, Ophelia was moved to action, flying to bring herself to eye-level with the bereft monster.
“Hello dearheart, what’s the matt-”
She didn’t finish as the blue-skinned girl abruptly reached out and seized her with both hands around her hips.
“So pretty!” She gushed as she held Ophelia close and rubbed her cheek against the Flutterby’s breasts.
“Serves you right.” Miranda muttered as she crossed her arms, annoyed at Ophelia’s careless approach.
The kindly woman squirmed in discomfort but managed to maintain her composure despite the operative’s words.
Which is more than can be said for the Ogre when Nina’s hammer hit the ground and drew her attention with a minor quake.
The Gigas glared at the other suddenly wide-eyed giant.
“Yes, very pretty. Also mine, so let her go you dumbass.”
The enormous blue girl was a formidable sight, but at the three-foot-tall Nina’s words she immediately let out a shriek and released Ophelia, who had to awkwardly flutter her wings to regain her balance in the air.
“Really Nina, I’m sure we were fine-”
Even as the Flutterby spoke the Ogre leapt away, gripping a startled Miranda by either shoulder as she sought to hide behind her and Jez, crouching down to make herself as small as possible.
“Biggest giant! Please no squishing me!” Her echoing voice came out in a pitiful whine.
“I changed my mind! I can’t take an Ogre!” Jez wheezed out as the big girl’s breasts smooshed into her back, pinning her in place.
Miranda could feel the raw strength in the girl’s enormous hands, but remained calm and patted her fingers.
“It’s alright, we’re with the Aegis. So no one is going to squishing you- er, squish you.”
She continued to sob over her though.
“Red one is! I can feel it in the earth, like, like before a ground-shake! She angry with me.”
The Gigas shook her head in disgust.
“So this is what passes for a giant around here? Pathetic.”
The Ogre flinched at her words, while Ophelia drew in a sharp breath.
“Nina! That is enough!” She cried out sharply.
The Gigas had her arms crossed over her chest as she glared at the whimpering girl still trying to hide behind the much smaller Miranda.
“Well she is! You are not Gigas, but you are still a daughter of the mountain! Where is your pride, giant?”
The poor girl gave a big sniff before she blubbered out a response.
“I-I lost it, with my momma and my aunties. Dark lady came and took it all away! I ran, but human lands is confusing, and now I lost my new sister too.”
She held up a tattered red sash as if presenting evidence, but Nameless barely saw it.
Ice had filled his veins and he stepped in front of Nina as if to shield the frightened Ogre from her wrath.
“What do you mean? What dark lady?” His eyes flicked to Miranda’s, both of them dreading the answer.
The Ogre wiped her forearm over her face.
“She came to our den with wings, but not pretty wings! She say mean and scary things and so momma and my aunties try to squish! But she no squishes! She make night come and sickness in my belly, then auntie tell me to run and she take them all away!”
Releasing Miranda and Jez, she flopped down on the ground, her legs spread like a child as she balled her fists in her eyes again.
Nina was about to say something else but Ophelia stopped her.
“Dearheart, we just talked about this! Ogres gain intelligence very slowly, their oldest are as smart as anyone, but that takes decades. This girl is probably only in her forties or fifties and doesn’t understand what is happening, be patient with her.”
Nina groaned.
“This is stupid. I’m in my forties.”
“All the same.”
Nameless stepped closer to the crying girl, Miranda holding up a hand to advise caution, and his presence soon distracted her from her tears, her deep blue eyes wide now as she took in the sight of him in his uniform.
“You, you’re pretty too.” Her cheeks darkened in a blush; “But not girl-pretty! You’re boy-pretty!”
Nina and Jan both snorted with laughter while Miranda’s palm found her face.
“Okay, this definitely isn’t stupid.” The Wolfen’s tongue lolled out in amusement; “Tell us all about how boy-pretty he is.”
The Ogre nodded earnestly.
“He very pretty, makes me warm all over.”
Her eyes were hooded and she gave Nameless a very familiar look.
“Ooooh, we can sex? I promise I no squishes, am good at sex! You be on top!”
With that she flopped on her back and spread her legs to reveal her pussy previously hidden beneath her simple tunic.
Erica let out a possessive yowl and Nina’s mood soured again.
“Not funny anymore.”
After the ever patient Ophelia made it clear that sex with Nameless was not on the table, the Ogre opened up to them and recounted her story.
“-And then there was a man and he said he was safe, but was a pockpicker and took my heart from me! But then new sister hit him and make his head fall off! I hope he okay...”
“He isn
’t.” Nina, Erica, and Jan all said at the same time.
The Ogre sniffled again, wiping at her eyes with Milly’s polka-dot hanky while Kala loomed nearby, trying her best not to startle the girl, while at the same time wanting to keep her bond-mate safe from any threat she might pose.
“Now me lost again, I told new sister to come right back. But I never told her how much many right backs to take so she got lost I think. Now I look for her for much time, but still no find!”
Her bottom lip trembled as she finished her story and her eyes welled with fresh tears.
“Oh would you just get a grip already!” Nina said in exasperation, causing the big blue girl to flinch back.
But as she approached the frightened Ogre a barely discernible blur shot out of the trees, Kala called out in warning, but was too late to stop a massive blade as it whistled through the air and struck the Gigas in the cheek, causing her head to snap to one side.
Had she not been holding he hammer the blade would have taken her head off, as it was it left her ears ringing and her eyes spinning in their sockets.
Milly was standing closest to the Gigas and reacted quickly; with a startled bellow she leapt forwards and parried the follow up strike with her indestructible spear, the pair soon dueling across the road while Nina tried to shake the stars out of her eyes.
The shock of the sudden ambush had frozen most of the others in place, but Tora broke free of it quickly when she recognized the one Milly was fighting.
“HEY! No squishes!”
The ground shook slightly as the voluptuous Ogre leapt in the middle of the fray, seizing both combatants and pulling them away from each other with implacable force.
Milly’s opponent was revealed to be a young Troglodyte, her minute scales darkened with her ire as she glared at the Minotaur.
“Releasse me!” She hissed.
“NO! New sister no squishing new friends! Where for has you been?!”
“I told you not to trust anyone!”
“AND I TOLD YOUS TO COMES RIGHT BACK!” The Ogre roared.
Silence fell and the big blue girl abruptly released Milly and pulled the Trog into a breasty embrace.
“Yous supposed to come right back.” She repeated in a whimper as she sat in the middle of the road and hugged her missing friend with all her might.
“I... I had to take care of some things.” Kriss explained into her cleavage.
Whatever ‘things’ she had to take care of had put up a struggle as the Trog looked like she’d been through a rough couple of days.
Her hardened leather chest-piece had a number of odd little burn marks on it, and the rest of her clothing was bloody and torn in a number of places to match an equal number of cuts and bruises on her skin.
“Did these things have names?” Miranda asked cautiously as she took in her appearance.
“If they did, they don’t anymore.” The Trog replied flatly as she glared at the assortment of monster girls crowding around her and Tora.
Once the Ogre finally set her down, her head turned suddenly to stare at Nameless, her forked tongue slipping out to taste his scent.
“You, you are of my bloodline!” She exclaimed.
“What?”
“Who was your sire?” She demanded with her blade leveled at him.
It was clear from her words and bearing that she was just pointing at him to highlight her question, but Nina certainly didn’t see it that way, the Gigas quickly stepped in front of him and knocked the weapon to one side with a swat of her hammer.
“You’re going to meet yours if you keep pointing that thing at my weakling!”
She was using her angry voice, and the Chameleon took a wary step back at the rumbling timbre of her words even as she righted her blade.
Nameless reached out and set his hand on her shoulder to still her.
“Nina, it’s alright.”
“No it isn’t!” The giant roared; “First the dumbass fucks with my Flutterby, then this little shit cheap-shot me. I’m going to have a bruise!”
She rubbed at her face sullenly.
While still wary of the Gigas, the young Troglodyte hissed at her in irritation.
“You were frightening her!”
They all looked to see the enormous blue girl trying to catch a butterfly with hands the size of serving plates, a big smile on her face at the sudden distraction.
“Then use your words you little shit! Don’t jump straight to decapitation!”
“I will not be lectured by a little whore who bullies the weak!”
Nina’s eyes narrowed and Nameless felt her anger growing to a dangerous degree, but his own anger got away from him and she flinched when she felt it.
“Enough! We have enough enemies without making more for stupid reasons! Put your weapons away already!”
A tense couple of seconds followed, the monster girls exchanging wary glances.
Eventually Nina dropped her hammer, Milly and Kala both lowered their spears, and even the strange Troglodyte’s weapon found its sheath on her back.
He rubbed at his temples, the beginning of a stress headache coming on.
When he looked up again, he faced a lot of anxious faces.
With a sigh, he brought his temper under control and tried to organize his thoughts.
“The Ogre-”
“T-Tora.” The blue girl volunteered with one hand raised nervously.
She’d abandoned her pursuit of the brightly coloured insect at all the shouting, nervous again.
He closed his eyes again for a moment.
“Okay, Tora. How many Ogres did you live with?”
“Um…”
Miranda set her hand on Nameless’s shoulder and interjected.
“How many did she take with her, the dark girl with the not-pretty wings?”
“Sh-she took momma and all my aunties, um-” Her face screwed up in thought as she helplessly tried to count on her fingers; “Momma said we about sixty once, but don’t know how much many that is.”
Her eyes welled and she looked ready to cry again, so Ophelia fluttered over to comfort her.
“Sixty Ogres. That’s bad right?” Erica said quietly.
“Yeah. That’s really bad.” Miranda agreed as she watched the Trog measuring her protégé; “Okay, so now that we’ve all calmed down, what was that about your bloodline?”
Without looking at Miranda, the Chameleon’s tongue slipping out again to taste Nameless’s scent, confirming what she already knew.
“I meant exactly that. He tastes of my blood. Who was your sire- your father?”
Her gaze was intense and he answered her cautiously.
“William Armstrong, who the hell are you?”
She was nodding even before he finished speaking.
“Then we are kin. I am Kriss. My mother’s name was-”
“Cass.” Ophelia whispered as the pieces finally fell together in her mind.
The Trog nodded in confirmation.
“Holy shit.” Milly said.
Nameless’s jaw dropped, though more from the Trog’s revelation than Milly’s language.
“We really need to work on your swearing lover.” Erica muttered.
“I’ve been searching for you since my mother was taken from me.”
It took him a good ten seconds to formulate a response.
“So we’re... siblings?”
She nodded solemnly.
“My mother was friends with yours, in truth, she was in love with her. I don’t know all the details, but she bred with your father after your mother died. I believe it was when they were on the run from the one that killed her.”
“A Chimera. And a Tenebrae.” He said to fill in the gap in her knowledge; “Her name is Evadne.”
The Trog’s eyes narrowed.
“A name, at last! I was just a girl when she took my mother from me, I barely saw her. Mother handed me her blade and told me to hide.”
Her skin mottled as she briefly faded into her s
urrounding, causing Nameless to blink and shift his head side to side in an attempt to make her form more visible.
“I’ve been looking for you so that you could explain to me why my mother is dead. And after you do, you can direct me to this... Chimera, so I can finally kill her.”
“Get in line.” Nina snapped.
“Easy Nina.” Miranda warned; “We need information, not more fighting.”
Ophelia settled her arms on the giant’s shoulder, pressing her thighs to her back and massaging her gently to assuage her temper.
Erica meanwhile looked to her bond-mate, his face a confused mess of emotion from all of the surprises coming at them.
“Hey lover, I know this is terrible timing what with all the earth-shaking revelations.” Her eyes flicked between Tora and Nina, both having shaken things so recently; “But we should really report all of this stuff to someone, right?”
“Erica’s right Master.” Milly agreed softly; “Tora picked me up like I was nothing, if... if Evadne has sixty girls like her now, we need to let the Aegis know!”
“Is yous going to help Tora’s family?” The Ogre asked suddenly, naked hope in her eyes.
Milly opened her mouth to respond, but Miranda stopped her before she could make any more promises.
“We’ll do what we can. For now we need to get back to the Bastion and report in.” She sighed and shook her head at Nameless; “I know you just met a long lost sibling kid, but your girls are right. We need to move. The Aegis needs to be briefed about this, a clan of Ogres being turned could be the most disastrous thing to happen in centuries.”
Chapter 33:
Dressing Down
While they walked back into the city, Nameless had a hard time keeping his eyes off of his sister.
If it weren’t for the pressing issue of a missing Ogre clan, he would be asking her a million and one questions about her life, about his parents and their shared history.
But as he made to give voice to one of them, she narrowed her eyes and hissed at him, deliberately turning looking away from him.
“The last thing my mother told me before stuffing me in a closet was ‘find your brother’. So while you might have some softskin feelings about us being siblings, just know that I only found out you existed by watching and listening as my mother was tortured to death. If it meant she would be returned to me I would gut you this very moment.”
The Heartstone Saga Page 29
