The Heartstone Saga, Archibald Bradford [the snowy day read aloud TXT] 📗

Just outside the tent, the giant’s hammer still glowed dully in the mud, no one able to touch it.

“I’m glad that you are alright.” She said softly, hugging the Gigas close when she was finished tending to her.

“Yeah, me too.” Nina murmured, once more feeling the sting of killing the innocent Ogres.

Nearby Erica was milking Milly, both for the sake of the giant’s ribs and for the other wounded that could benefit from her cream.

Volka hovered by the flap of the tent, torn between spreading her aura within to comfort her sisters and being as inconspicuous as possible to evade Ophelia’s notice.

The Flutterby had not met her gaze once since they last spoke, still angry with her for nearly killing Nameless.

A strong arm encircled the Valkyrie’s waist though, Escrya reaching out to offer her some solace.

Her husband was alive, so the young Amazon at least had no desire to hold a grudge about it.

But a few minutes later, the world outside caught up to them and a hand settled on the Amazon’s shoulder.

“Escrya, come.” Myrina spoke softly into her ear, her hair plastered to her cheeks from sweat and blood; “I hate that I need to pull you away. But you must see to your mother.”

Somehow the older Amazon maintained her composure despite a bloody bandage over where her left eye used to be.

And any concern Escrya felt for her friend’s injury was soon overshadowed as her words began to sink in.

“My mother? What is she-” Her breath caught as she saw the grief on her war-sister’s face; “Take me to her! Please!”

Volka watched her go with a pensive expression on her face, but she couldn’t bring herself to leave their husband’s side, no matter how upset Ophelia was with her.

A decision that she would later regret.

Once Erica was finished milking Milly, she took Escrya’s place at the Valkyrie’s side, likewise not holding any ill-will towards her bond-sister, recognizing the futility of it.

“Ophelia said that he is blind.” The tired Katje remarked; “Did you do that too?”

There was no accusation, only the question, which Volka answered after a moment.

“Yes. It is my fault. Through me he was forced to look directly upon the divine.”

“But that was only in his mind though right?” Milly objected.

“Yes and no. If you want me to explain the workings of the aether to you, I’m afraid we will need much more time. Suffice to say, the essence within him was but a spark, and he beheld the blazing sun that was the source of it, in a place that is without form. Something no mortal is meant to do.”

“I oughta put your eyes out for blinding him.” Nina snapped bitterly; “I killed Evadne, that should have fixed everything without this crap right?”

Escrya, Erica and Milly might have been over it, but Gigas invented grudges, so Nina was still pretty raw about how things had turned out.

“No. Even with her dead, the Tenebrae would still be Tenebrae, and if we tried to do this piecemeal than so many more would have perished in the fighting.”

Suddenly a hoarse voice cut into their muted conversation, surprising them all.

“My choice.” Nameless coughed out from the cot; “My fault, don’t... mad at her.”

“Master!” Nina scrambled to join Ophelia at his side; “Baby are you alright?!”

But he was unconscious again.

After fretting over him for a time, finally the Flutterby looked up into Volka’s eyes, remorse writ upon her face.

And with that gaze, the Dominar felt safe enough to spread her aura within the tent, to bolster her bond-sister’s spirits, and to ensure that Nameless could rest comfortably.

__________

While Escrya experienced a great surge of relief when she felt Nameless awaken, however briefly, it was greatly tempered by shock and grief.

She now stood over the body of the former Saenga warleader, laid out on a stretcher amongst the dead, covered in mud and countless bruises from her final desperate battle.

Someone had closed Alcaia’s eyes and crossed her arms over her breasts, but there was no mistaking her eternal repose for sleep.

As Escrya looked upon the body of her mother, another form drew the teller’s attention and she turned to witness Yana Brael on her knees before her.

“My life is yours to take.”

Her words were lifeless, and she spoke as a broken woman confessing a terrible crime.

But the young Amazon had already been informed of how her mother died, and was not so ready to condemn her killer.

“No. It is not.” Escrya replied through gritted teeth and a veil of sorrowful tears.

Then, some distance away, she saw Jonathan being escorted through the field and her eyes filled with hatred as she identified who he was by the hateful stares of those around him.

“But his is.”

The former Empath was a shell of a man; his bloody jaw swollen and hanging at an odd angle, dislocated, not broken as Nina thought.

After they pulled him out from beneath the shed the Gigas had felled, Ginger and Baron dragged him right past the remains of Evadne, and with the sight of his bond-mate, her tragedy finally over with, the last dregs of hope crumbled to dust within him.

Which is why he made not a sound, not even a whimper, when the furious young Amazon rushed away from the body of her mother and tore him from the grip of the two young Aegis members to throw him to the ground.

“H-Hey! Cut it out!” Ginger protested as she reached out.

But a hand seized her wrist as the pale-skinned Amazon Alia interceded on Escrya’s behalf, several of her sisters joining her and blocking the two Aegis members and their bond-mates.

“She has claimed him.” She said severely; “Do not interfere.”

Ginger’s cheeks turned red with ire as she rounded on