Chapter 598: Doing the Rounds

I find Jim and Sarah in a place I didn’t quite expect, visiting the golgari prisoners, which is an unexpected convenience for me. As I bustle onto the scene, my pets in tow, my two fellow ex-prisoners appear to be getting ready to leave.

[Hey there you two! How’ve you been?]

I don’t think I’ll ever get used to seeing humanish reactions from giant monsters. Jim is a gigantic worm, he basically doesn’t have a face, you can’t even see his mouth most of the time, but I can still recognise the awkward jerking motion he makes as he reacts to my voice.

Sarah, for her part, has a much more standard face. Eyes, nose, big ol’ horrifying bear maw filled with death fangs of murderising. Standard. Those huge eyes blink slowly as she looks down at me for a moment.

[Anthony? I-I didn’t expect to see you here…]

[Yeah, I’ve been ignoring this lot for a while. Letting them stew in their own juices, as the fairly disgusting saying goes. I guess I’m not that shocked to see you here, considering how long you were… a guest of the cult. Manage to get anything out of them?]

[I’m afraid not,] she says sadly, [they don’t want to open up to me. I can’t get any answers out of them about what they planned to do with me, or why. I guess I just wanted to know what made them want to turn on me.]

[Self-interest,] I shrug, [isn’t it always? That’s why you’re better off hanging with the Colony. If you ask one of these ants if they’re self-interested, they’d probably slap you in the face.]

[What about you Anthony?] Jim interrupts suddenly, his tone a little sharp, [can you make the same claim? You aren’t an ant like them, after all, you were human once.]

I’m a little taken aback at these words, but I consider for a moment and do my best to answer.

[I don’t think I’m particularly self-interested, or selfish. I didn’t have that many wants or needs in my past life. I mean, some security would have been nice. Physical or emotional, either one, I’m not picky. Could have used some heat in the winter actually, those last few years were rough. Perhaps a few less beatings? I always wondered about that, you know? They knew I didn’t have any money, so why continue the beatings? I tried asking once, but -]

[Jeez, I don’t need your life story. I just want to know you won’t turn on us to look after yourself like they did,] the big worm jabs his ringed tail back towards the improvised ‘cell’ the golgari are being kept in.

I scratch my head with an antenna.

[How did you die, Jim?]

He freezes for a long second.

[I’d rather not talk about it,] he mutters.

[That’s fair enough. I shouldn’t have asked. I myself starved to death because I gave all my last scraps of food to an ant colony I’d raised in my room. There were so many of them, I kind of figured they’d need it more than me, you know?]

[Thank you, Anthony,] Sarah says quietly, [I think you answered his question.]

[All good,] I give the two of them a cheery wave with an antenna, [all the people from Earth who wind up in this place are a little weird. We need to keep looking out for each other.]

[Right,] the enormous bear lumbers to her feet and begins to plod down the corridor, her vast bulk taking up most of the available space.

[Come on, Jim,] she calls back, [let’s go hunting.]

[Again?!] the worm is aghast. [We just got back!]

[I feel motivated. Come on.]

[Fine, fine.]

If a worm can slither in a resentful way, then that’s what I witness as Jim and his many segments vanish around the corner. Those two have been out hunting? Nice! I hope Sarah managed to keep herself under control. Having an insane raging doom bear stronger than myself tearing the tunnels apart would be a slight problem, to say the least. She has Jim to help keep her in line, that should be enough.

Pushing the two friends out of my mind, I round another corner to find who I came here to see. When I lay eyes on the ‘cell’ the colony stashed these two in, I almost stumble over. It’s clear the ants don’t have any real understanding of the concept of prisoners. These rooms are done up just the same as Enid’s sitting room! The damn golgari are just sipping tea and relaxing in an idyllic, well-furnished sitting room! That’s not the play!

If it weren’t for the team of eight mages placed about the place watching them like hawks, you’d never know they were captives.

“Just having a quick chat,” I inform the guards.

“Go ahead, Eldest. These two don’t do much. Maybe talking to you will stir something up.”

I hope not. I don’t expect them to give us any meaningful intelligence, but at the least we might be able to use them as bargaining chips. It’s unlikely, given how willing their leaders were to throw lives away, but I don’t want to rule anything out at this point.

I reach out with a mind bridge and feel it snap into place in short order.

[I was wondering when you would come to gloat,] Irette Plamine sneers at me.

How do you even sneer over a purely mental form of communication? Her face didn’t move, but there’s a definite sneerish tone to her thoughts.

[Gloat about what? ] I ask, curious.

[Flipping the tables on us? Taking us captive and placing us in your control where once you were in ours?] she seems almost flabbergasted that I would need to ask.

[Oh, that. Honestly, I kind of forgot you two were here. There’s a lot going on around here at the moment.]

[You WHAT?!] Plamine bursts out before her fellow triad member settles her down and turns to speak to me.

[Come now, Anthony,] she says, calm on the surface but with a simmering anger underneath, [you don’t really expect us to believe that you forgot we were here, do you?]

Ahh… They seem annoyed. Might as well play it cool.

[Of course not. I’ve been… brooding! Yes, indeed! Brooding about… the unspeakable torture that I’m going to inflict on you, my former tormentors! Aha! What suffering… err… awaits you! Unless you tell me what I want to know!]

[You really did forget us didn’t you?]

[I really did, yes, I’m sorry.]

I’m not that good at playing the villain.

[I don’t think it’s entirely my fault,] I say to their chagrined faces, [what with the whole threat of invasion thing hanging over our heads. The golgari who chased us were not happy, not happy at all.]

[Did they say anything about us?] Biritite Cryslas perks up.

[Not a word. Don’t think they care about Shapers much, from what I gathered. No, they were mainly concerned with annihilating us.]

[As you deserve,] Irette spits at me, [a failure like you shouldn’t even exist.]

[That’s a lot of resentment from someone who had me locked up and forced to fight in a death tournament against my will. You seriously don’t think you deserve just a little of the misfortune you’ve suffered? And what do you think is going to happen if the golgari do make it this far? I highly doubt they’ll think a Colony of intelligent ant monsters kept you living comfortably and supplied in tea, during your entire captivity. Do you?]

I can tell that Irette is simply too angry to listen to what I have to say, but a flicker of understanding appears in the eyes of Biritite and I keep speaking to both of them, but mainly to her.

[The only chance you have of getting back into the empire of stone, or whatever you call yourselves, is to cooperate with me. There are cult members in the Colony right now, it’s not like I’ve totally cut ties. The nutcase warriors on the way here are never going to take you home. The question you have to ask is, how badly do you want to see me fail? What price are you willing to pay?]

With that thought, I leave them to stew a little longer. I’ll check in again when I get back from this excursion. Who knows? They might have something useful to share.

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