She ran through the still darkness, her antennae constantly moving and sensing for the hidden location markers carved into the walls. It was additionally tense in the passage during the wave, since she had to constantly be on the lookout for monsters. Although she ran past a few, she knew that these were pets, controlled by the core shapers within the order who had tasked their charges with sweeping the tunnels clean. She gave them their space and continued on her way.
After ten minutes of zigzagging, she arrived at the confluence, a wide meeting point of many tunnels close to the heart of the nest. Many of her siblings were already there when she arrived, moving from tunnel to tunnel, gathering into teams, or meeting with the present acolytes of action to coordinate their strikes.
She had other business, so she turned her attention and antennae to the roof and began to feel her way amongst the descriptive carvings there. The entire ceiling was an elaborate mural, though she had met none who could claim to know who carved it, which contained many scenes radiating out from the centre of the chamber, each filled with breathtaking beauty.
It was the outer edge that contained what she sought, and she headed directly there, moving clockwise around the edge. At various points, she came across various monsters defeated by the Eldest emblazoned on a star as if they had become part of a constellation that illuminated the Eldest’s strength. Eventually, she found what she was looking for: a croca beast, jaws wide open and a savage gleam in its eye, as if ready to leap off the stone and consume the ants around them.
The croca-star.
She approached the nearby acolyte and greeted her. Genuflections complete, they began to discuss the mission.
The many-headed beast has made plans to skip torpor and gather in one place, which will give us the perfect opportunity to strike, the acolyte told her.
Do we know the meeting place? the nameless one asked.
We do not, though our every effort has gone into discovering just that. From what we have been told, the location has not been shared with any not of the beast.
The beast grows ever more cautious.
Indeed.
Where can I rendezvous? I am eager to begin work.
I will lead you. There are three teams assembled for the task, with two more on the way. Find your place amongst them quickly. We cannot allow this breach to occur.
The nameless one nodded. Once one ant thought they could get away with skipping torpor, the desire spread like a contagion. Every attempted breach needed to be put down harshly. Only that would be enough to discourage infractions. It wasn’t possible to get everyone, the Colony was just too large for that, but they would try, and some days, they got very, very close.
She followed the acolyte, racing down a side tunnel, and it wasn’t long before they entered one of the small operation chambers that dotted the Dark Passage. Compact spaces in which the order could gather to run localised operations, serving as a planning headquarters, gathering place, and briefing room, all in one. Inside was a full team awaiting instructions.
Welcome, nameless one, she was greeted by a general who stood over a map a carver had magically engraved on the floor. Please join us.
She signed her greetings then familiarised herself with the operation. Timing was of the essence, only an hour remained until the breach was expected to occur, and they still didn’t know where. It was possible they could try and nab the targets separately, but that would create a logistical nightmare. And if they weren’t careful, word would leak the moment the first target went down, driving the rest into hiding. They would still be caught, but only at a great cost of time and energy. The order had to be efficient, otherwise they would be ineffective.
The work drew her in as they discussed theories, options, and strategies. Plans were rapidly proposed, debated, and discarded. In ten minutes, they had a working plan and scattered through the tunnels, ready to return forty minutes later for the final briefing.
To think she had been ready to hunt down a few miners and soldiers in this shift. Now she had much bigger fish to fry.
It had been a while since the nameless one had put the Council to sleep.
22. The Sanctum of Sleep, Part 3
“Ensure you hit your targets, here, here, and here. With these junctions secured, the digging teams will be able to move relatively unhindered. That’s where the difficulty comes in. You’ll need to make sure that the crossroads remain blocked and sweep out spawning monsters at the same time. I know that’s going to be hard, but we can’t spare the antpower to send another team. The diggers will help you, all you have to do is—”
The nameless one allowed the words to wash over her as she focused her mind. This was a difficult infiltration, but nothing she hadn’t done before. She knew from experience that a lapse in concentration would be fatal, exposing her cover for all to see and forcing her to retreat, her prey alerted to her presence. Not that they didn’t already know she was after them, that much was clear.
Down below was the Dungeon Map, created in the central planning hub of the General caste. She was stuck to the roof, her claws like steel traps that wouldn’t allow even a speck of dust to leak from her iron grip. She overlooked Sloan as the general discussed plans for securing sections of the Dungeon for construction. Except there was a problem. She wasn’t sure what it was that rubbed her senses the wrong way, but every instinct in her body was telling her something was deeply wrong.
Beneath her, Sloan waved away the general she’d been talking to and returned to perusing the map, discussing a few points with a carver representative, hammering out the finer details of their plans. The nameless one saw no sign of tension or stress to indicate that this individual was planning to breach her sleeping obligations. To all intents and purposes, Sloan had the appearance of an ant coming to the end of her workday and wrapping things up so she could find a sleep chamber and enter torpor.
Could the shadow be wrong?
The nameless drew the shadows deeper around and pulled her body flat against the ceiling. It was impossible for the shadow to be wrong, she had to push all such thoughts out of her head. Meaning the shadow was right, a breach was happening—then what was it about Sloan that bothered her so? She focused her eyes and homed in on every detail of the general, every movement, every little tic and shift of weight, every change in her scent. No detail was small enough to escape her notice. There was nowhere to hide from the eyes of the order.
Wait, what was that?
A strange flicker of the light caught her attention. It was such a minor thing that had she not been concentrating, she would have missed it entirely. Where was it? She focused, patient as a predator as she continued to observe Sloan. There! The shadow! How could she not have seen the shadow?
As Sloan went about her business, the nameless one focused on the play of light around her feet and after a few moments, she realised something.
The shadow didn’t fit!
It wasn’t anything major, the legs were just slightly off, the abdomen and thorax not quite the right dimensions, but you could see it if you were looking for it. The shadow that Sloan projected didn’t match the shape of her body. It was a double!
She mentally cursed admiringly as she drew the shadows around her like a cloak and began to sneak her way to the exit point.
The Council had replaced themselves with doubles cloaked in some kind of illusion spell! The mages within the order would need to learn of this technique as soon as possible. They needed to find a way to better break it. For now, the slight differences in shape had been enough for her to see through the ruse. She had to inform the others!