Chapter 544: 544

The tunnels are a complete mess . Huge cracks run through the stone and sections are collapsing all over the place . Before we even meet up with the main group, I know what’s taken place . The moment I came under attack, the message was passed to enact the ambush on the Golgari in the other tunnel .

No point allowing the two groups of rock-people to reunite and fight together . Decisive action was called for . I objected to the Colony going to head to head against such a powerful enemy, but the other members of the council assured me that they had another strategy in mind . Which turned out to be collapsing the tunnel on top of the enemies’ heads . Using earth mages and our natural predilection to tunnel digging, the council was able to arrange a fairly broad tunnel collapse in a matter of hours . After the stone came down, the ants moved in to fight whatever they could find, taking advantage of the less than ideal state of their opponents .

The fact that the armoured Golgari, the ‘nobles’, were in the center of the column would have played to our advantage . They should’ve taken the brunt of the fall, and been too far from the front to be in a position to fight the ants when they charged . Somehow, I doubt they died . With their Skills, armour and doubtlessly potent true skin, if anyone was going to survive a tunnel collapse it would be them . All the more reason to get ourselves out of here .

“Eldest! What a glorious injury you’ve received! I’m jealous…”

“Leeroy, you idiot . You’re looking disappointingly healthy . “

“I was unable to find an enemy during the battle . I wanted to start unearthing the Golgari but the others stopped me . “

Her antennae droop sadly as she talks of saving the lives of our enemies, only so that she could end them in person .

“I’m tired, Leeroy . What did you want?”

“Right! The others were wondering if you wanted to discuss what was going to happen next? It’s a little up in the air, from what I gather . “

Up in the air? Why the heck would it be up in the air? Let’s go home! Irritated, I drag my still regenerating backside around the tunnel until I find the other council members gathered in a huddle .

“What the heck is going on here?” I demand . “We need to get away from this place and go back to the nest! Why am I hearing about discussions regarding our ‘plans’?”

The others make room for me as I barge forward, my larger frame taking up much of the room . Only the tier four soldiers can rival me for size but even they fall short of my bulk and I loom over the council . When I think about it, my eyes are probably at a similar height level to that of a tall human, my third body segment actually being the ‘tallest’ part of my body . It’s in length that my true mass lies and I’m a fairly chunky ant at this point .

“Obviously the plan is to get back to the nest,” Burke explains patiently, “but we need to do it in such a way that we don’t get followed . At the very least we need to make tracking us as difficult as possible . The more time we can buy for the Colony to grow, the better . “

Actually, that’s a damn good point .

“Doesn’t that just mean we keep going without using pheromones?” I ask .

“Look,” Burke says, exasperated, “doing that isn’t as simple as some of you seem to think . My scouts rely on those trails to move around and ensure that they stay on safe paths! We don’t have mind magic to communicate, and it’s too risky to drag a mage that far away from the main group . Long range scouting is basically impossible without pheromonal communication . “

Ahh . I’m starting to see the problem .

“So that means we need to move slower in order to ensure we don’t take any wrong turns and run into trouble,” I say .

“Right,” Burke agrees, “but we can’t really afford to slow down that much . “

“Not to mention,” breaks in Sloan, “that we still don’t know how they were tracking us once we ceased using our pheromones . Without that knowledge, it’s impossible for us to be certain we can’t be followed . “

“Have either of the prisoners said anything?” I ask .

“Nothing!” declares Leeroy . “They won’t even fight with me!”

“What about the two new Golgari you brought back with you?” Burke asks .

“How do you even know about that already?”

“I have my sources, Eldest . “

“I bet . No, I’m not going to question them on anything that might be considered a betrayal of their own people . To be honest, I’m not even sure why they were sent with us . I’ll have to work that out with them later . For now, let’s put our antennae together and work out a plan . “

The four of us rattle on for twenty minutes without coming to any conclusive path forward . It’s frustrating, but we’re dealing with something unknown, a Skill that we don’t know about, perhaps . In the end, all we can do is try to limit our scent and move as quickly as possible . To that end, it’s agreed that the main group will maintain ‘radio silence’ whilst the scouts roaming ahead would be able to put down a limited number of trails to mark paths . Alongside this, an extensive network of false trials would be laid by splinter groups roving away from the main group before they returned .

“If we slow ourselves down too much worrying about something we don’t understand, we’re only shooting ourselves in the claw,” I tell them .

“Right you are, Eldest . “

“Sounds good!”

“If you don’t mind, I’m going to try and finish healing myself as we start marching . “

They agree that seems like a good idea and I pull away from the group to go find my pets . Predictably they’re hanging out with Corun and Torrina, both of whom seem a little stunned to be where they’ve ended up . As I painfully crawl over, I whip up a mind bridge and extend it to both of them .

[He didn’t tell you what he was going to do, did he?]

Torrina starts when my mind touches hers and turns her head to find me amongst the swarming ants .

[No, he didn’t . I kind of had a feeling that something like this might happen though,] she replies .

[You did?!] Corun cries . [You might have said something . I had no idea…]

I’m also a little curious .

[Why did you think he would leave you behind?] I ask . [This is hardly a wonderful place to be for you guys . Your people are about to go to war with mine, for starters . ]

Torrina thinks for a moment before she replies, the gleaming metal of her skin shining softly in the dark .

[Do you remember what the Cult of the Worm is all about, Anthony?]

[Finding the twentieth ancient? Or creating the twentieth, more accurately . ]

[Right,] she nods, [it’s not unusual for the Cult to appoint a mentor, a steward, to prospects that come under our care, which was done for you . The Cult placed Granin and his triad in charge of you . ]

[So?]

I’m struggling to see where this is going .

[So you’re still our responsibility as a candidate monster . ]

[This seems a little far to go just to fulfill that responsibility, Torrina . I’m not buying it . ]

[We take that a little more seriously than you seem to think we do . But there is more . I think that Granin has come to believe you actually have a chance . ]

…

[WOT?!]

[That makes sense,] Corun muses . [For Granin to stick his neck out like this . To put the two of us in harm’s way? He must really believe in you . ]

[Ah, heck . ]

So the old man was loopy in the end after all . No way I want something like becoming an ancient . Sounds like way too much work . Not to mention, I have no idea what’s supposed to happen when twenty of them get together . Something big apparently . I can’t be bothered thinking about this . I’ve got about a week of marching ahead of me .

[Invidia! Get over here and help me fix my butt . We start marching soon . ]