I’m not sure if this is a good sign.
“Hey,” I approach a nearby general, “what am I supposed to be doing? I didn’t get an assignment.”
All my siblings have already scuttled off, throwing themselves headlong into their next tasks, despite the crushing fatigue of having just fought a battle no doubt dragging them down. Heck, I’m tired, and I have an organ that replenishes my energy!
The general in question wriggles a bit and runs an antenna over the slate she has in front of her.
“Ah, you aren’t mentioned in the report, Eldest. I guess you’re supposed to do your own thing.”
I stare.
“I just wander off and do whatever? That doesn’t seem right!”
“Doesn’t it?” she shrugs. “You’re the Eldest.”
“I mean… I suppose so.”
Tiny reaches out and pokes my carapace. I find him giving me the most disturbing set of puppy dog eyes I’ve ever seen. Come on, Tiny! You’re an enormous gorilla monster over ten metres tall! Have a little dignity, man!
Sigh.
[Yes, alright. Let’s go eat. May as well start packing it away.]
I swear, the way the Colony has been treating me has been weird since… a long time ago. The statues, I could put up with, barely. The engravings and carvings, almost tolerable. But this feeling of being… ‘other’ amongst my own family definitely stings a little. It’s nice to be respected and all that, but not to the point I no longer feel like a proper member of the Colony. I’ll have to think on this another time; the gains from the battle aren’t insignificant, and I’ll have to consider a big mutation session when this is all said and done.
By the time I climb back down off the wall, Tiny has already been stuffing his face. Great fistfuls of Biomass are being shovelled into his face hole. Despite his abundant appetite, when it comes to my comrades, he’s probably the slowest eater. Nearby, Invidia is unveiling his ghoulish grin, the hovering mouth comically larger than his miniscule body. He leans forward, and with an almighty CRUNCH, takes a huge bite from the sea of Biomass on display. Unfortunately, not even he can compete with the true glutton of the group. I can hear her at work now, though I can’t see her. Probably for the best.
A creature of the shadows has she become. She doesn’t even need to show herself in order to eat, instead merging with the darkness that lies in the gaps beneath us. Three separate, horrific gnashing sounds can be heard echoing up from below, and I for one am pleased it remains hidden from view.
I suppose I better get to it if I’m going to get my share. It won’t be long before the Colony starts to haul all of this away, and ten thousand ants can work up quite an appetite, let me tell you.
87. Twisting Words
Rassan’tep kept his eyes lidded to conceal his impatience. Even the heated sand against his scales rubbed him the wrong way, irritating him further. The third stratum, it simply couldn’t compare to the fine grain and hot sun of his native desert, but how many decades had it been since he could run freely on the surface? Too many.
[Enough,] he spoke to his chief servant, Ammon’sil, who signalled the others, and they stopped producing fire beneath him.
The Old One stretched his hands, his claws flexing and scraping against the sand as he opened his mouth wide, stretching the loose skin and exposing his fangs, each a deadly blade that glistened with venom. Lethargy tugged at his thoughts but he pushed it away. There wasn’t the time to sleep.
[You seem very antagonistic toward the ants,] he observed to his guest. [I would like to know why.]
High atop his mound of sand that steamed and sizzled within the confines of the brick walled furnace beneath, the great lizard looked down on the enormous worm who writhed in discomfort. Despite the tough outer covering of the Earth Worm, its flesh was still soft and vulnerable to heat. What would Yarrum think to see one of his own kind display such weakness? A foolish question. Yarrum would eat the entire city in a single bite, never caring if the city was filled with worm-type monsters or not. Of all the Ancients, the Eternal Worm had a hunger second only to Tarriflyx.
Though there was quite a distance between the two.
[I-I’m not sure what you mean.]
Even the mind of this creature felt weak, slippery and noxious to Rassan’tep. In control as he was, he felt as if he gripped a poisonous toad as it wriggled within his grip. To think a creature such as this came from the same place as that ant. A much more promising specimen.
[You hate them.] Rassan’tep bared his teeth once more, a childish display, but he was angered. [You seek their destruction and you wish to use the ka’armodo to achieve it, because you are far too weak to achieve your desires alone.]
Sensing his master’s distaste, Ammon’sil placed a hand against the Old One’s side as he directed a glare at the worm. That such a thing would attempt to dissemble before his master was a sin that he would not forget.
[I b-betrayed them in the past. They seek my death! If they aren’t stopped, there will never be a safe place for me in the Dungeon, or anywhere on the planet. They grow so quickly! You haven’t seen what I’ve seen! The enemies they’ve defeated, the rate of their spread. Already, they have a dozen nests, each with two Queens! They produce thousands of young each week. And they can already fight against you—they pushed you away from the garden, didn’t they? What will happen when there’s a million of them? Or a hundred million? I might want them dead, but they are a threat that you cannot deny! Already, they’ve defeated the golgari and the Legion. Will the ka’armodo be next?]
The great lizard let out a noxious breath and closed its eyes as he probed with his potent mind.
[And what of the one you wish to save?]
The worm recoiled, as if struck.
[W-what do—]
[I can almost see her in your thoughts. A female, yes? She is large. Powerful. Much more than you.]
He opened his eyes and stared fiercely at the creature, Jim.
[If we destroy the Colony, how will she be saved if you do not tell us? Have you even thought that far?]
A trace of his contempt leaked through, and Jim shrank in on himself.
[I thought… That is… I meant… I wanted to bring her up at the proper time.]
[You have lost your chance,] Rassan’tep spoke mercilessly. [I have it now. Sarah. A bear type.]
[Stay out of my thoughts!]
[Keep me out, if you can.] He flicked his tongue dismissively.
Obviously, the worm could not.
[You know nothing of this world, worm Jim. You think the Legion, defeated? The golgari, helpless? I have seen it all in your mind. A puffed-up border clan, filled with arrogance and foolishness. A green Legion, forced back to more important duties by the coming of the wave. The Empire of Stone can be traced back to before the Rending; their greatest warriors wield the mightiest blades of living stone this world has ever seen, their bodies coated in precious minerals harder than diamonds. I’ve seen golgari warriors conceal themselves in flowing magma. I’ve seen them chew through stone. They have battled the Dungeon for over two thousand years. They could annihilate this Colony with a turn of their hand, should they choose to.]
[But they were defeated!]
[You hear nothing of what I say. You think the strongest golgari are in the second stratum? The second? Don’t be a fool. It is a playground for the incompetent and the weak. That you would also underestimate the Legion is even more pathetic.]
[I saw them retreat with my own eyes!]