Amongst the dead were Kathryn Jacobs and her family, their palatial home flattened by several of the enormous girls as they stampeded into the city.
By some miracle the Tenebrae had bypassed the garden full of Blomma at its center, though the flower-girls would be a long time recovering from the trauma of it.
The surviving masters of Garland’s many districts helped to coordinate with the Aegis in rescue efforts, scrounging medical supplies and finding shelter for people who had lost everything but their lives to the Ogre raid.
All watched over and directed by the tireless Dominar, her golden form flying to and fro over the city providing the only hope that many had to cling to.
Chapter 40:
The Matriarch
Though she could feel the bond with her husband within her, the distance between the two made Escrya’s sense of his emotions hazy at best.
And she had her own problems to worry about.
When Nameless first met the Saenga Amazons he found them to have a feral age to them, a touch of untamable wilderness that could never be contained.
The Amazons escorting Escrya and her war-sisters were the very embodiment of that wildness.
Most of them were topless, and some wore no clothes at all, their naked bodies painted with swirling dark patterns, likely made from the bark of the ubiquitous black trees.
None of them wore anything on their feet, treading amongst the white snakes without seeming to notice them at all.
Together with Helena and Kaylee, Escrya’s hands were bound by white cords made of braided snakeskin as they were led into the strangest Amazon village imaginable.
The residents of the Darkwood lived on massive raised platforms encircling the black trees, presumably to avoid sleeping amidst the snakes that had so vexed the Saenga Amazons while they tried to sleep.
Connecting the platforms were simple rope bridges that extended from tree to tree to form an arboreal highway high off of the ground.
They walked for ages below the platforms, while pale-skinned faces peered over the edges to see who their war-sisters had returned with.
“There are more of them than I thought.” Helena muttered, only to earn a harsh cuff from one of their captors.
“We are many.” The leader of their captors sneered at her; “But you will not get to count our number before your death.”
After that there was no more talking, and finally they were led into the open-aired husk of a staggeringly massive tree stump in the center of the settlement.
Against the back wall of the hollow stump was a raised stone plinth, upon which the tallest Amazon any of them had ever seen watched them approach; the muscles of her legs and arms were a match for her height and her bearing was as stern and unreadable as the crude throne upon which she sat.
Her skin was as pale as any of the Darkwood Amazons, while a thick furred mantle lay across her shoulders, and the skull of some manner of large beast sat upon her head.
If this wasn’t the Amazon Matriarch, Escrya would eat her own hair.
All around the inside edge of the stump unfriendly glares were coming from the Darkwood Amazons waiting on their arrival, while the ones in the warparty soon fanned out to join them.
The Amazon that led them there knelt on both knees in front of the stone throne before looking up at the woman atop it.
“My Matriarch. That you might know me, I am Alia. I found these three interlopers. I wish to kill them that I might become a blooded warrior in your eyes.”
One of the other Amazons, the one that had objected to the syllable count in Alia’s poem, quickly stalked forwards and matched her kneeling posture.
“My Matriarch! That you might know me, I am Krista. There are three of them and many of us who wish to be blooded.” She gestured around at the circle of Amazons, several of whom were nodding their heads in approval; “I ask that we share their deaths!”
Alia tensed up at her side, but didn’t argue against her.
“Do we get a vote?” Kaylee asked plaintively.
Without a word one of the naked ones watching from the ring of warriors walked up and slugged her across the face, causing her head to snap to one side as her feet moved reflexively to keep her body upright.
She then looked to the Matriarch, as if silently seeking approval.
The massive monster girl had yet to speak, but she did nod her head at the Amazon that had struck Kaylee.
So another strode up to Helena, her eyes as cold as her sister’s as she pulled a stone knife from a white leather sheath under her arm.
Again without speaking she brought the blade up and cut the older Amazon below her clavicle, her blood flowing freely into her cleavage.
Helena grimaced at the injury, but glared her defiance at the one who inflicted it.
She and the others had picked up on what was going on: the Matriarch was testing them.
All around them wild warriors watched intently for any hint of weakness, while Alia still waited on her knees for approval to kill them.
“We’re wasting time!” Kaylee shouted when she recovered; “So many have died already, listen to-”
Another of the pale Amazons let out a high pitched scream and pounced forwards to deliver a brutal kick with both feet that connected with Kaylee’s breasts and launched her to the ground.
“You cowards! Stop attacking my sisters!” Escrya snarled as she wrenched her bound hands, causing the tough snake-leather bindings to cut into her wrist before they broke; “It was I that lead them here! Strike at me if you dare!”
In response she got a fist to the gut, but she was expecting it and absorbed the blow with a heavy grunt, doubling over afterwards to catch her breath.
A moment later she was laughing.
Finally one of the Amazons spoke.
“You have courage to mock us so, trekdotter. Or is it stupidity?”
Trekdotter: daughter of traitors in the old tongue.
“I’ve been hit harder.” Escrya boasted with a smirk, ignoring the ancient insult; “One of my bond-sisters is a Gigas.”
She shrugged her shoulders and raised her chin in invitation.
In response to her challenge, one by one the Amazons in the circle stepped forwards and struck her a mighty blow, but after each of them had a chance she was still able to stand, if unsteadily.
Having regained her footing from the latest punch from the circle of attackers, the beleaguered young Amazon spat blood to one side then regained her breath in order to shout at the surrounding warriors.
“I am Escrya who Weathered the Mountain! She whose mother is Alcaia, Warleader and Chieftess of the Saenga! As teller for my people my voice WILL be heard this day! Even if I must fight every one of your number that it may be so!”
Kaylee and Helena both let out fierce ululations at her sides, their cuts and bruises forgotten as they stood proudly in support of their teller.
Once their warcry ended there was a long silence as the rabid Amazons considered the brash young women breathing heavily before them.
A moment later the Matriarch leaned forwards and nodded her head, gesturing for the two kneeling Amazons to move to the sides as she spoke for the first time.
“Tell us your story then girl. You have earned a few words at least before I give your deaths to my sister-daughters.” Her voice was deep and feminine, while her words could not be mistaken for anything but a command.
Escrya wiped the blood from her face and her expression turned grim.
“Matriarch, forgive me, but I must call your people to war.”
Gasps of shock sounded from the wild Amazons, and more than a few harsh insults, but their leader silenced them with a sharply raised fist so that the interloper could continue.
“And by what right do you call upon us?” The Matriarch demanded with eyes narrowed dangerously; “Of what importance is the one who sent you that we should not kill you now?”
This one Escrya had a pretty good answer for.
“I
come at the behest of Dominar Volka Gundresdotter, she who flew with the Fourth Heavenly Host so many years ago.” The teller straightened with pride as she remembered her golden bond-sister; “And I come for the sake of my beloved, William Nameless Armstrong, our Valkyrja-datta, who returned her to this world! I stand before you as a warrior yet blooded and bring dire tidings. The dark Empath Jonathan Pym has created an army of Tenebrae, girls stolen from their families and forced into shadow by his twisted heart! Dominar Volka and the Aegis intend to stand against him, as do my people and many others besides. If the Matriarch and her kin are not willing to stand with us knowing all of this, then I will proclaim you to be the trekdotters! And say that the world would be better off if you stayed here clinging to your crumbling traditions and cowering in your blackened trees!”
There was a long silence from the gathered crowd.
Then the massive Amazon leapt down from her stone throne, her feet striking the ground with a heavy thump as her muscular legs bent to absorb the impact.
With all of the gravity of the Matriarchy she strode forwards and loomed over the bold young warrior, more than a full head taller than her as she glared down at her with piercing eyes that almost perfectly matched the colour of Escrya’s.
Abruptly she brought her fist up and seized the smaller woman by the jaw, gripping tight as she measured the resolve in her face.
“Trekdotters? Courageous or stupid indeed. I would crush you now, but I have heard whispers of this... Valkyrja-datta, and of course we all have heard also of the return of the golden one. But we have heard whispers before. What proof have you that this isn’t some human deception?”
Escrya didn’t blink, a tear tracing down her cheek as she brought forth Volka’s flight feather from the hem of her skirt, again drawing a gasp from the Amazons.
Valkyrie feathers were rare and priceless treasures to the Amazons, reverentially handed down through the generations.
But none of those came from a living Valkyrie, and so none of those possessed the golden sheen of Volka’s feather.
“If the feathers in our hair are not enough to convince you, than perhaps this one will.” Escrya challenged.
The fist holding her jaw released her and the Matriarch took a half-step back to get a closer look at what she was presenting.
At first she was scowling, but then it was like someone had punched her in the stomach.
“How can this be?” She asked, her words thick as for the first time she showed some emotion beyond disinterest and contempt; “Tell me truly, young warrior, or I will strike you dead here and now: have the Valkyrie returned to us?”
Escrya’s eyes locked with hers once more, ice blue meeting ice blue, and her gaze was unyielding as she spoke only the truth.
“One, at least, has. And she faces war. Will she stand alone?”
The shaken matriarch brought her hand up and touched the feather with trembling fingers, and then clenched her jaw tight before speaking once more.
“Indeed, she will not.”
Chapter 41:
Tainted Pair
Hiding within a kitchen in one of the many abandoned farming communities to the east of Garland, Evadne was seething with rage and pain after her confrontation with Volka.
Calm down pet.
“Calm down?” She hissed incredulously; “Did you not see what just happened?!”
I did, which is why I know that right now we need to be calm.
“You told me you had made me the strongest!” Evadne wailed.
And you are. With this one notable exception that I didn’t foresee. The angel has embraced the mantle of Dominar. Which means I cannot touch her anymore. But it isn’t anything we can’t adapt to.
Remembering the glorious strength and unyielding prowess of the Valkyrie, Evadne’s eyes widened incredulously.
“How are we supposed to adapt to that?! Especially if she has the Gigas with her, not to mention Xalanth!”
Suddenly her body seized up and her features became blank when the demon’s forbearance ran out again.
After being forced to hide from Volka, its grip on Evadne had weakened significantly, so it was necessary to reassert dominance once more.
We adapt. Your missing fingers aside, the Dragon is no match for you. And neither is the giant so long as you see her coming.
With the demon’s hold on her, Evadne had to speak through her teeth.
“But what about the angel?”
She will be too busy. Nothing has changed. Nothing. We struck a decisive blow today. Now we prepare for the next.
“And what would that be?”
She felt cold all over when the demon’s irritation against her softened to the point that she could move again.
Originally we were going to spread as many Tenebrae out as possible, a never-ending plague that could only have one conclusion, but with a Dominar in play we need to change that plan.
Evadne’s eyes widened at the thought, and a moment later a cold smile spread across her face.
“Rather than sowing chaos all over, we give them one large target, draw her out and overwhelm her with numbers?”
Precisely. And not just her. We’ll use the remaining Ogres to even out the odds a bit. Assuming your human pet hasn’t lost his nerve.
“He’s fine.”
He’s squeamish. With so many dead he’s having serious doubts, doubts that have been building for a while now, something you well know.
“What do you suggest I do about it?”
You? No, not you. I will handle it.
The thought of what the demon intended fluttered through Evadne’s mind, and she opened her mouth to object, but couldn’t.
Her will was not her own, and her body was not her own.
The demon could do with it what it willed, that was the deal they made after Yana nearly killed her.
Having recovered its composure after their escape from Garland, it took stock of its prized possession.
We’ll need to patch you up before anything though.
The worst of Evadne’s injuries were her severed fingers, blackened stubs now from the higher-angel’s wrath.
Her brow creased in concentration and black armour formed tight around her hand; the fingers of the new gauntlet might not be able to bend but they were strong.
Rigid, straight, and ending in deadly points.
“It will have to do.” She muttered aloud.
With the demon’s control reasserted, the unproductive emotions that Volka had drawn out in its slave had been squashed and Evadne was able to focus on her task again.
Though Nameless and Milly’s continued survival was regrettable, as was the entire encounter with the angel, she was ultimately pleased with the result of the raid: trading one clan of Ogres for the countless dead and dying, not to mention the lives of the Aegis’s precious council, was a fair deal in her mind.
And the fear that the people of Garland must be feeling!
Shortly thereafter Jonathan found her humming an ancient lullaby to herself as she used her remaining fingers to paint Yana’s face with a fresh coat of her black blood.
The Amazon stood perfectly still and accepted the mockery of her battle-paint without any complaint, her spear still red with the councils’ blood and her mind trapped forever in the day that the Chimera’s nightmare began.
“I know you’re there.” Evadne called out suddenly, making her bond-mate flinch.
Once it had been pointed out to her by her demonic patron, she could sense his wavering feelings: ever since he had witnessed her surrendering herself utterly to the entity that now more or less governed her every move he had begun to truly doubt their purpose for the first time in decades.
And she needed him still.
With hesitant steps he came into the room.
The demon that dwelled now behind Evadne’s eyes retained the Chimera’s consciousness, but her submission had been absolute and so her body was only hers to control when it allowed it. As such it shooed
Yana away and shed her blackened armour, save the gauntlet hiding her ruined hand.
With a few deliberate movements she pulled off her shirt and shorts to reveal her pale nakedness to the nervous human, her snake tail hissing in sibilant promise.
As Jonathan’s eyes took in her exposed form, the demon further schooled Evadne’s features into what was necessary, and then knelt before him.
“I have been unfair to you Jonathan. And for that I am sorry. You are tired. For once... for once let me tend to you.”
As a being of manipulation and malice, it knew exactly the words the confused Empath needed to hear to stay focused on his task.
Jonathan Pym never stood a chance.
The sight of the Chimera on her knees before him, submitting to him, was a fantasy he had clung to his entire life, and it drove out everything else.
His hands shook as he struggled to free his cock from his pants, his haste making the simple task take longer than it should. Once it was free he let out a hoarse grunt and gripped Evadne by her short black hair to shove his erection into her face, his cockhead rubbing against her cheek.
The demon silently laughed at him even as it shifted Evadne’s head around to capture the wayward cock with her tongue and mouth.
When she did the Empath cried out at finally getting what he had wanted for the vast majority of his life, his hips rapidly pistoning his shaft in and out of the wet heavenly warmth of the Chimera’s seemingly willing mouth.
It didn’t last long.
He wheezed and moaned in equal measure as his cum shot out across her tongue, though he gripped her hair tight and kept his cock in place until she swallowed all of it.
He wanted her to taste it, wanted her to take him inside of her.
But what he didn’t know is that no one tasted it; Evadne was numb to everything by that point, while the demon had no desire to and so simply didn’t.
He had her use her lips and tongue on his balls and cock until he was at full hardness again and the charade continued. He wanted so badly for her to be his in totality, to be his bitch, and so was unwilling to give up this chance to make it so.
The Heartstone Saga Page 36
