Chapter 43:
Catching Up
Adrian and the Saenga Amazons had been pushing hard to catch up to their quarry, and had closed the gap substantially when they arrived on the scene of one of their recent camps.
But to their great lament, the little grove within the woods had been occupied before the men they were pursuing arrived.
A patch of wild Blomma had lived and played within the same clearing for nearly a hundred years, but they had awoken from their winter hibernation only to be greeted by a group of most unwelcome human visitors.
The overwhelming majority of criminals that had escaped from Bask’s people were either rapists or murderers.
Or both.
It crushed their spirits to look upon the remains of the innocent flower girls the prisoners had made sport of.
The mixed group of Trogs and Amazons quickly spread out to search for survivors, but found only one.
All of the ellow skinned girl’s petals had been forcibly removed, and she had numerous shallow stabs that had sapped her life blood to the point she was barely conscious.
Alcaia and Olena set to work on her, but both soon realized that there was nothing they could do.
“As if we didn’t already have reason enough to hunt these wretched scum to the ends of the earth!” Hila cried out, tears streaming down her face as she cradled one of the dead Blomma in her arms.
“How could the Aegis let this happen?!” One of Bask’s Troglodytes demanded, her eyes locked on Adrian.
The Aegis technician was pale and heartbroken in the face of the atrocity before him. He couldn’t meet the angry warrior’s gaze.
“We tried to stop it. My team, my love... they all died trying to stop it.” He spoke helplessly.
She hissed in frustration, unable to argue against his loss.
But once again the world flipped upside down.
Darkness took the sky, emanating from Olena.
Kneeling next to the now-dead Blomma, both of her hands were drenched in the poor creature’s sap-like blood, her fingers writhed together, working the slick substance all over.
She began to mutter while the others fought to breathe in the strange atmosphere that came about as a result of her unleashed powers.
Her chant rose in cadence as green lightening speared across the blackened sky, coalescing into a blindingly brilliant ball directly above their heads, promising nothing but calamity.
The Elder Witch rose to her feet, her arms reaching out to either side with balled fists as her chant continued to rise ever higher in volume until she was all but screaming at the sky.
The ball of energy darted away with a whooshing roar, leaving behind a deafened crowd.
Just as before, the world righted itself almost instantly and the various monster girls stared with wide-eyed apprehension at the shockingly silent Witch; with her thumb she tried to wipe away a single tear from her cheek, but managed only to smear Blomma blood across her face.
“What-” Adrian began.
Alcaia cut him off.
“A death curse.” Her demeanor was fearful, an unnerving sight on the powerful Amazon; “The darkest power that the Witches possess. The ones who did this... the will never escape it. Each and every one of their ends will be violent, even should they manage to evade our wrath.”
“That way.” Olena pointed towards the trees where the light had gone; “My curse pursues them. And the man who brought about this Blomma’s death will die when it catches them. A life for a life.”
She sounded tired, as unfamiliar on her as Alcaia’s fear had been.
“Are you alright?” Adrian asked.
She didn’t respond right away, a sad look on her face.
“Some magic… we do not use so much. That may well have been the first death curse cast since the war. It is a burden to be the one to enact such a thing.”
“Then why do it? We will catch them soon…”
“Because it is what they deserve. Now come, as you said, we will catch them soon.”
__________
As they had the night before, Cordelia and her sister fed the Aegis the following day, hosting lunch in the hive for the weary but grateful task force.
Like everyone else the baker was pretty tired, though she was also worried about Rebecca, having only spoken to her once very briefly the previous day while delivering food.
During lunch she had a chance to check in with her, but found that she was doing much better than she had expected.
Miranda’s Wolfen partner was flirting with her shamelessly, and she even heard the Lapine laughing, so Cordelia opted to leave her to it and took the opportunity to catch up with Nameless and his bond-mates, it having been several months since she had last seen them.
The changes she saw in him were dramatic to say the least!
Like the other women in his life, she appreciated the uniform, but it was the surety and focus in him that really impressed her.
When last she had seen him he was wracked with grief for the death of his friend, now he seemed to be thriving under the tutelage of the Aegis, even despite the heartbreaking events of the previous day.
And he wasn’t the only one changed; Cordelia reached up and flicked the brim of Milly’s hat.
“I love your hat by the way, where’d you get it?”
The Minotaur naturally beamed at the praise as she self-consciously adjusted the hat on her horns.
But as they were finishing eating, a breathless lawkeeper was led inside by Oldeera’s Hornets, his eyes wide and demeanor urgent.
“I wonder what that is about.” Erica said as she indicated the man with her fork.
Ophelia’s brow furrowed as she watched him whispering urgently with Miranda and Benjamin.
“Oh dear, it can’t be good.”
Nameless didn’t say anything, just waited, while beside him Cordelia gnawed on her lip and Oldeera’s eyes narrowed, her antennae twitching as she communicated with her hive, having them ready themselves for whatever challenge came next.
But even her girls closer to the conversation didn’t catch what was happening, so she shrugged.
“Whatever it is, the Aegis will handle it I’m sure.”
In a minute a grim-faced Miranda turned to them all, silence having spread as people realized something was up.
She didn’t mince words.
“Get your shit and get off your asses. We’re heading out. Right now.”
The way she said it, no one challenged her, or complained that they were too tired, though Nina looked at the table against the wall that had been filled with food.
The little giant had been considering a third helping.
“So much for our day off.”
Rebecca and the others watched as Miranda and the Aegis task force left the hive, all that they were able to glean was that apparently there was some kind of emergency to the west, but for once the Lapine wasn’t in the middle of it so she trusted in Oldeera’s words that the Aegis would handle whatever it was.
With the taskforce having all but fled the hive without explaining anything, Cordelia was now making awkward small talk with Oldeera as Rebecca helped Christine clear up the remains of their luncheon.
Trying to find a sense of normality again after so much activity and bloodshed was a challenge she doubted she would ever get used to.
The Hornet queen looked at her with one eyebrow raised to meet her drooping antennae while they talked.
“-so what you are saying honey, is that Nameless needs to have children with a human?”
Cordelia nodded.
“Yeah, he seemed pretty stressed out about it. I don’t even know how it came up!”
The Hornet queen nodded, giving her bond-mate a funny look.
“Uh-huh. And didn’t you once tell me... that you wanted to have children?”
It took a second but her meaning did eventually sink into the baker’s head.
At which point her eyes went wide.
“WHAT?!”
“And there it is.” Oldeera murmured to herself.
Cordelia seemed incapable of any other words beyond the one, so Oldeera sat on the circular couch and patted the cushion beside her while a pair of her Hornets helped their stunned bond-mate to sit down next to their queen.
Oldeera tapped her chin thoughtfully, a smile growing as she considered the possibilities.
“Oh honey, this could be so much fun! We both noticed how good he looked in that uniform, and if half the rumours I’ve heard about his ah... ‘other’, attributes are true, than it could be just the thing to scratch that itch for us.”
Cordelia was scarlet by that point, she had seen for herself the truth about Nameless’s equipment in the bathhouse in Kettering.
Then the last part Oldeera said hit her in the face.
“Wait... us?”
“Of course, or did you think I would just sit back and watch?”
“That’s not- but I-”
Oldeera chuckled at her stammering queen.
“Don’t worry honey, you hold my heart, always. But if you’re getting a taste...” She hinted.
Cordelia groaned and hid her face into her hands.
“I can’t believe we’re even talking about this!”
“Talking about what?” Christine asked as she strolled into the room from the kitchen, munching on an apple.
“Nothing!” Her little sister’s head snapped back out of her hands before Oldeera could answer.
The Hornet laughed.
The mechanist student looked around the empty seeming hive, scratching her head at the difference.
“I wonder why they left so quickly?”
“We don’t know, Miranda wouldn’t say.” Rebecca shrugged.
Having grown up with two sisters, Christine couldn’t help but tease her a bit.
“Oooh, ‘Miranda’ is it?”
Becks turned pink, but smiled shyly at the normality of it.
“Yeah, it is her name you know.”
“Maybe, but when you say it it’s more like…” Her eyes fluttered closed and she mimicked the Lapine in the throes of ecstasy; “Oh Miranda! Don’t touch me there!”
Cordelia burst out laughing while Oldeera smiled wide.
Rebecca’s blush deepened, but then she offered the elder Loskins sister a speculative look.
“You make that sound really good, are you sure you aren’t into girls? It does seem to run in your family!”
Now it was Christine’s turn to blush, though she laughed it off well enough, tapping her chin in thought.
“Hmmm, you’re right, my dad and my sisters do all seem to have an aversion to the penis.”
Cordelia shook her head violently and chucked a pillow at her sister.
“EW! Christy don’t talk about dad’s funny business!”
With Cordelia and Christine distracted with teasing each other as only sisters could, Rebecca gave a wistful sigh as she juxtaposed the cheerful atmosphere with the horrors of the last few days.
She shuddered at the thought of Carol’s bitter end, not to mention Sandra’s, but with the help of the strange Empath, Nameless, she was able to focus on other things.
Her mind inevitably drifted to the mature Aegis operative.
“Miranda... Holt, huh?” Two fingers went to her lips as she remembered the emotional turmoil of the previous night; “It’s a good name.”
There was a twinkle in the woman’s eye that Rebecca hadn’t failed to miss; even a little spark between them, though it had nearly gotten lost in the press of other, more destructive, emotions.
She wasn’t about to forget that kiss, even with the awkwardness surrounding it.
It was certainly too soon for her to dive into anything, but just knowing that Miranda thought she was attractive was enough.
She had some healing to do, for sure, but there was no longer any doubt in her mind that she would heal.
With the help of the little Empath, the emotional injuries that Carol had inflicted on her were fading, and she would love again.
Of that she was certain.