“Prepare the firing ports! Mages at the ready, archers behind! Shields up!” he roared.
There were more than fifty guards manning the gate, and they leapt to their tasks like a well-oiled machine. As their major, his heart swelled with pride as he rushed to join them. A full fifteen metres high, the back of the gate was lined with three tiers of viewing ports accessed by ramps that joined across the centre. At his command, the guards flew up the ladders and took their positions, ready to throw open the hatches built into the gate and annihilate whatever they saw on the other side.
“Steady, men!” Ernes urged them. “When I give the command, unleash hell fire!”
Heart pounding in his chest, he took a deep breath to calm himself. His reputation would be made by what he did here today. This was going to be the defining moment of his life. He was ready. It was time.
He needed to see what was happening, so he threw open his own hatch and courageously leant over to look, exposing his head to enemy fire. For a brief second, he gained vision of the tunnel approach to the gate before he flicked his head back out of the way and slammed the hatch shut.
“Well, how is it, sir?” the guard next to him asked.
Ernes frowned. He wasn’t sure exactly what he’d just seen. He’d expected onrushing soldiers, siege weapons, or something.
“I need another look,” he muttered and performed the action again.
Open, peek, slam!
…Did that person have… antennae, on his head?
Then a voice called out from beyond the gate.
“Please surrender to the colony, and you’ll be spared! Weapons down, uh, would be very appreciated! There isn’t much time, so, I’d do it fast…”
A murmur of confusion arose from the guards on the gate as they tried to unpack exactly what that meant.
“Major? What the heck is that?”
Ernes shook his head, still confused.
“I think it was a person, asking for our surrender?” Anger built inside him once more. “Mages! Prepare to fire the tunnel on my mark!”
Asking for him to surrender? Idiocy! He refused to bend to Wallace, and he wasn’t about to lie down for a single invader. They’d roast this fool to send a message. Regardless of what happened at every other gate, the west gate would stand firm!
“Three, two, one, m—”
BOOM!
Before he could say the final word, the stone exploded outward on both sides of the gate. A shower of rock and dust flew into the air, but even that couldn’t obscure the two gigantic ants that burst out of the wall.
CLACK! CLACK!
Jagged and barbed mandibles opened and shut with tremendous force, unleashing an ear-splitting crack into the air. Ernes could only stare in horror as the two titans turned toward the guardsmen and women clinging to the back of the gate preparing to fire on the person outside.
Before they could even begin to process what was happening, a flood of insects poured through the tunnel openings, climbing up the walls and throwing themselves onto the guards. Ernes couldn’t even scream before an ant was upon him, throwing itself forward and latching its mandibles around his neck.
35. Attack on Rylleh, Part 3
From what I understand, we expected the gates to be abandoned at this point, so I’m more than a little shocked to find this one fully manned. Not that it did them much good, as it turned out. Surely by now, the city knows exactly what is attacking them? What did they really expect gates to do? We’re ants! Never happier than when we’re digging!
I should also say that the generals have got together and created specialised digging teams. Only a colony of ants would have the resources and spare bodies to be able to dedicate individuals to such a niche task as breaking through hardened and magically reinforced stone, but here we are.
Turns out that when mages whose sole pursuit is breaking down earth enchantments are paired with huge soldiers that have dedicated every ounce of Biomass and evolutionary energy to ripping through stone with their mandibles, you can really dig a tunnel. As it happens, you dig the heck out of a tunnel, regardless of what people have done to try and prevent you from doing just that.
Ten of these teams went to work, and I was able to burst out of the wall in suitably dramatic fashion with hardly a wait. The Queen came out at just the same time, and I have to say, the poor defenders looked as though they fairly browned their trousers. In less than ten seconds, they were overwhelmed and pinned to the ground, multiple ants gripping them by their limbs and pinching their necks at just the right pressure. At that point, they became very still indeed. When Tiny and Invidia leapt out—Crinis is still with me—they became practically statues.
“Well, that went fairly smoothly,” I observe to the Queen.
She dips her antennae, but I can tell she’s anxious, looking for the next fight.
“We have done well so far, child, but we must advance. If the others reach the city before us…”
She’s worried they’ll take the brunt of the return fire when she and I should be absorbing it instead. Good ’ol Mother! Always thinking of her children.
“Not to worry, they know to hold back and give us a little time to get ahead of them. Let’s get this gate down and then we can move on.”
Working together, the two of us approach the massive gate, nearly as impressive as our nest gates, and get to work opening it. Since we’re on the inside, there’s no need to try and tear the thing down, we just leverage the bar off its mount and bam, gates open. With that job done, we’re able to welcome Beyn within the city without much fanfare.
A decision was made that we ants wouldn’t communicate with the defenders, since the idea of intelligent ants was more likely to terrify them than the thought of a human invader with a horde of ants under their control. Once he’s inside, we task Beyn with trying to sound like he’s in charge—seriously, that’s not hard for the priest—and getting information out of our captured defenders.
I didn’t think they’d talk much, but I was genuinely surprised at how much they were willing to cough up in a short amount of time. I suppose having two or three monsters with their mandibles on you is rather persuasive. The humans also seem rather shocked that they aren’t dead, which adds another element to their mental distress.
With our tasks done, the Queen and I prepare to run ahead of the rest of the invasion and get closer to the city. At the moment, we’re still in a well-shaped tunnel, but I can see it opens up roughly a hundred metres ahead. After all the fuss, I’m quite keen to see what this city looks like! Discounting the nest, this will be the first major Dungeon construction I’ll have laid my many-lensed eyes on! Despite the fact I’m ostensibly invading the place, I feel quite like a tourist.
“Alright then, Mother. Ready to charge forward recklessly and endanger ourselves?”
THWACK!
“That is not what we are doing,” she reprimands me firmly. “We are attempting to focus attention on ourselves as we are in the best position to absorb danger.”
I rub my head and refrain from pointing out that it’s basically the same thing. Mother has a look in her eye as if she knows what I’m thinking and one of her antenna twitches irritably.
“Right then, off we go! Come on, Tiny! Keep up, Invidia!” I say and scurry off.