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

now you’ve had a bit of an exciting night, are you hungry? Thirsty?”

Once again Neru’s first instinct was to shake her head to the negative, but those violet eyes were so earnest that she felt the need to be honest.

“I-I haven’t eaten anything other than some sunflower seeds since this morning.”

Her voice was ashamed, as if it were somehow her fault.

Ophelia made a noise of displeasure in her throat, but quickly smiled.

“Well that just won’t do at all! Stay right here and I will get you something?”

“O-Okay. Thanks.”

Neru’s voice was little more than a whisper: she wasn’t used to people taking care of her.

But the experienced Flutterby at her side had spent a great deal of time around wounded children and she easily predicted everything the young Katje was feeling.

“Dearheart, you are so very welcome. And just so you know, those women there?” She gestured to the wild-looking Amazons surrounding the tent, one or two met her eye and offered her warm smiles through painted faces; “Those are Saenga Amazons, some of the fiercest warriors in the entire world. And every one of them has the same mission: to protect the girls in here, so you are safe. I promise.”

Neru nodded.

“Yeah, that’s what… uh, William? Nameless? Said. He said that.”

Ophelia smiled slightly.

“He would. And he was right.”

She leaned in and gave her another side-hug and another quick ear scratch before fluttering away to get her something to eat.

She returned shortly afterwards with a decent sized pitcher and several cups, which she began to hand out to the other girls in the tent before filling them.

Neru was a bit puzzled by this given that she said she was hungry, not thirsty, but she wasn’t about to complain.

Especially once she sampled the creamy deliciousness that was in her cup.

She gasped in a breath after greedily gulping down the beverage.

“What is this?” She asked in wonderment, mouth watering for more.

“Minotaur milk dearheart.” Ophelia smiled as she refilled the hungry cat’s cup; “And don’t hesitate to drink your fill! The Minotaur who gave it would be heartbroken if you held back.”

Neru didn’t need to be told twice.

As she watched the young Katje drinking her bond-sister’s milk, the smile drifted off of Ophelia’s face.

How many more girls just like her were still trapped somewhere, desperate for rescue that might never come?

__________

Once he had delivered his Katje charge to the capable hands of his bond-mate, Nameless went to speak with his commanding officer.

For her part, Miranda quickly realized that they weren’t going to get anything out of Leland any time soon, so after dragging him out of the building she sent her girls off to dump the fat lump with the other prisoners.

And when she saw Nameless approaching, she figured it was as good a time as any to debrief him.

“Okay then, now that the doe-eyed Katje isn’t watching, here is everything you did wrong.”

Nameless frowned but stood at attention in front of her, since she outranked him and clearly expected it.

“While Mister Brown was unconscious, you had no way of knowing for how long, or even whether or not he was faking.”

He opened his mouth to protest but she immediately snapped at him.

“Stand at attention probie!”

His spine straightened and his chin tilted up again, she glared at him for a good five seconds to make sure he was following orders, and then continued.

“You have no medical training and are thus unqualified to make that call, and as such ‘very unconscious’ just isn’t good enough. Not in the field, when things can go from ‘all clear’ to ‘life or death’ in a second. So while your priority was keeping Neru safe, you left behind a potentially dangerous situation for the people clearing the building. You should have stayed put and waited for help.”

She paced in front of him, her arms behind her back as she lectured him.

“Furthermore, and as much as Nina might disagree, there is such a thing as excessive force.”

This time he kept his mouth shut but she knew he wanted to protest and so she headed him off.

“In this instance you are in the clear. Volka explained the defensive nature of the charm she utilized before we sent you in, so it’s Mister Brown’s own damn fault for taking a swing at you. That being said, it’s something to watch out for in the future, more than a few of the higher ups have expressed concern over Nina’s behaviour.”

His ears turned a bit red at that; his Gigas had just suggested killing everyone in the whorehouse, and it wasn’t an idle thought.

“Finally, and most egregiously in my opinion given how many times we went over it, you forgot the most basic thing when exiting the building...”

She turned on her heels to face him like a whip cracking, staring at him expectantly while he puzzled over the leading nature of her statement.

Then he closed his eyes and had to suppress a groan.

“Identify myself and sound the all-clear with ‘sunrise.’”

She nodded.

“When coming out from undercover you speak the codeword so you don’t get lumped in with the bad guys. The Amazons know you on sight, but they weren’t the only ones clearing the building. If I didn’t see you first you might have ended up naked and kneeling in the dirt with the other perps, though I’m sure the ladies would have all enjoyed that immensely.”

She waited until she was certain that he had taken the lesson to heart before continuing.

“Other than that, you did fine with the sneaky stuff, you kept your wits about you for several hours with little actual experience, and most importantly you kept your charge safe and calm throughout. But you still get a ‘B minus’ from me for failing to follow protocol