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

the Troglodyte warrior and the career criminal used every trick they knew, and a few they invented on the fly, to deceive and otherwise throw off their pursuers.

But still they were hunted.

Months past, months where they ate, slept and lived together, constantly looking over their shoulders.

Inevitably, they grew to lean on each other; shared grief for Kendra and shared enmity for the creature that took her away had united them as comrades, as did their shared love for the precious infant.

One fateful autumn night they sat around a little fire, far away from the big cities where danger always seemed to lurk in every shadow and around every corner.

Not far, actually, from a small farming town called Kettering.

“I am carrying your child.” Cass said bluntly.

Will’s jaw dropped and he paused in the act of burping his son.

“You, you’re- but, how?” He sputtered.

She met his shocked gaze, her bearing unflinching.

“The usual way. It was my choice. I wanted something of Kendra’s and so I took it, the night we... well, you were there.”

He swallowed and began to pat at his son’s back again when he squirmed against his shoulder.

“Yes, I was. We were both hurting with her gone, and that thing after us. But I never thought that-”

“It is done.” Cass said with finality.

He looked at her for a long time, a slight frown on his face.

Living on the run with one child was bad enough, but two?

Finally he sighed and brought his son down off of his shoulder.

“Reckless and stupid, but then you always say the same of me.”

The corner of Cass’s mouth twitched, a hint of a smile, her tongue slipping out to habitually taste the night air.

But what she tasted filled her heart with dread.

Her eyes widened and she shot to her feet, her massive blade all but materializing in her hand as she looked to the trees, the shadows between them suddenly turning menacing.

They had been together long enough for William to trust her instincts, so he quickly edged around the fire, setting his baby down and taking up his blaster.

When he was a criminal he had never drawn the ire of the Aegis, and he absolutely despised lost-tech weaponry. Sure he may have been a crook but he had some standards at least.

But ever since the murder of his wife he had discovered that there were no lines he would not cross for the sake of his son.

Cass let out another hiss and spoke in a low voice, her words resigned.

“It is almost here, along with the human. I can taste them both.”

William cursed.

“How? We’ve been so careful!”

Another voice broke into their conversation from outside the circle of firelight.

“Not careful enough. Even your oldest friends will give you up if persuaded to.” The words came like whispered death as the bat-winged creature emerged into the light, a cold look on her face.

At her side stood the same dark-haired man that had knocked on their door that one fateful night before, the stolen Aegis uniform he wore had been all it took to dissuade William and Cass from seeking out the aid of the peace-keeping organization.

His eyes flicked down to the child bundled up and beginning to fuss with no one holding him.

“Eve, it’s just a baby, like I said we can wait and see-”

“It is a threat to my plans.”

He shifted his weight onto his other leg impatiently.

“Our plans Evadne, and he might not even be an Empath.”

“I take no chances.” She said with a menacing hiss; “You of all people should know that.”

William had finished loading the blaster, a look of stalwart determination on his face as he leveled it at the dark monster.

“Yer not getting me boy, not ever ya dozy bint.”

In the heat of the moment his accent slipped back into that of his childhood, even after all the effort he spent with Kendra working to sound respectable.

“I am. I am going to kill him, keep pointing that toy at me and I’ll eat him too. You don’t have to die. It is not your bloodline that I care about.”

Abruptly she wheeled in place, bringing up both arms as Cass darted forwards with her massive blade leading the way.

The weapon stopped cold against the black claws of their pursuer.

Evadne’s dark eyes narrowed as she felt a ridge of pain along her hardened fingers from the impact.

“Alright fine, everybody dies.”

Cass was a Troglodyte warrior, and she fought with all of the ferocity of her kind.

But the Chimera that had hounded their every step for months had killed many in her time, Troglodytes and otherwise, and so was more than a match for the weaker monster.

Barely a minute later Cass picked herself up from the dirt, blood trailing from the numerous puncture wounds in her body; all she could think about was that the baby was crying, a good sign in her mind, as it meant that at least he was still alive.

The injuries were slowing her down, but Troglodytes had a natural resistance to poison, even the venom of a Chimera’s snake tail, and she wasn’t about to let Kendra’s son be taken.

Like his father, she would die first.

Except the boy’s sire had other ideas.

“Cass, take the bairn an’ go.”

He’d been trying to line up a shot on the shadowy figure, but was naturally leery about hitting Cass by mistake.

“Never. I will-”

“Yer preggers.” He said simply, cutting off any protest she might have.

Cass hissed at him as the Chimera paced before them, her taunting laugh cutting through the night.

“Little children, there is no escape, not tonight.”

Part of her enjoyed toying with them.

But Will was undaunted.

“Ye soun’ like one of them villains in the storybooks.” He