“The ants? That was faster that what I expected. It seems that the forest were in too much of a hurry to escape or their forestry skills aren’t as effective in these insects.” Dahani quickly realized what was Luke talking about.

“Yes, there are almost thirty of them. They hadn’t advanced far past the border, just enough for me to sense them. It looks like they are trying to find the elves tracks without success. Whatever, you coming?” He found the ants actions strange. Why were they having trouble finding the trail now, when they didn’t before? Besides, it appeared like they didn’t wish to go deeper into the awakened forest. Weird.

“Sure, why not? Truth is that I always wanted to study them in depth, but never could.” She answered. Her abilities in poison wouldn’t be useful, but her knowledge would.

“Follow me” He started to run in the direction he sensed them. His increase in attributes, speed and stamina in this case, meant that he could keep a pretty fast pace, allowing him to arrive to the scene quickly. It would have been faster to treewalk to the area, but he hadn’t tested if he could take someone else with him when he teleported.

Once they arrived a hundred meters away, they climbed a tree and advanced by jumping from branch to branch. They didn’t know how good were the ants at climbing (though if they resembled the normal version they should be very good), but for now every last one of them was on the ground. Luke guessed that this method of approaching may give them a better chance of sneaking up close to them. With direct sight, they saw that there weren’t reinforcements on the other side of the frontier. These insects had an appearance quite similar to their tiny cousins. There might be different types of giant ants colonies, but this one were of the black kind of ants. Their feelers moved up and down and to the sides like a caffeine addict (or chocolate addict). They seemed to ignore their companions while at the same time being perfectly in sync. This was probably due to their mental link.

They didn’t seem to notice Dahani and Luke’s presence, too preoccupied in sniffing(?) the ground. Something interesting happened when he got close: he discovered that the forest didn’t reject them as it had done with the spiders. The forest accepted them as one of its own. This little fact made Luke decide not to attack and try to convince them to leave. The problem was that he didn’t know how to communicate with them. From Dahani information, he needed a higher ranked ants than the soldiers and workers he was seeing. He assumed that there was a chance that this group had an intelligent ant, but he hadn’t found it yet (to make things clear, Luke could sense every ant, but not differentiate between the different types with his sense. He had direct line of sight, but they were too many for him to be able to watch each one. So at any moment he could barely see half of them due to the trees blocking his sight).

Suddenly, a bright white ant grabbed his attention. It also moved differently compared to the rest. It wasn’t paying attention to the ground, it was checking on their surrounding like a general expecting an ambush. It was impossible for this particular ant to shout ‘leader’ louder and clearer. Luke told Dahani what he saw and asked her to remain up there as backup. He had more ways of defending and fleeing. It was also true that her magic wasn’t very effective on this enemy, so it was a better tactical decision for her to keep hiding.

Luke waited until the white ant was closer to his tree and dropped to the ground. To his surprise, they didn’t go ballistic and attacked him immediately. Only the white ant got closer to him with a relaxed attitude. He suspected that this might be a consequence of his high nature affinity. It did say when he got it that creatures of the forest wouldn’t attack him if he didn’t. There were less than five meters separating the two. He was worried in how they could communicate with each other, but he shouldn’t have.

Greetings from the earth Forest dweller. I am an envoy from her majesty chasing those that would fight us for our tunnels. We apologize if we invaded your territory, but it wasn’t our intention. We will leave as soon as we found their trail.

Its words came slowly. It was clear it hadn’t talked this way very often. However, the words were clear and the slight stuttering didn’t impede understanding the meaning. It also showed that cohabitation was possible. Luke thought that it may be a chance to establish a more trustworthy alliance that the one he previously created.

Hello there. This aggressors that you speak of, are they forest elves? A group of them told me of their confrontation with your colony and their hurried escape. If that’s the case, I urge you to leave. They had come to an agreement with me and decided to set up in this area. As such, you no longer have a reason to confront them.

The white ant stopped moving its antenna and tilted its head as if it was listening to something. If it was actually conversing with the queen, their reach was amazing. He had estimated that their base was some fifty miles away. It was a very long distance for mental communication. There was also the possibility that there were several ants working as relay stations repeating the message to cover a bigger area. In both cases, it showed that you couldn’t kill or be noticed by a single ant if you wanted to sneak your way into the queen chambers.

Yes, it is them. My queen asks about your intentions. We have no problem with stopping the chase under the understanding that if they come again there would be no possibility given to dialogue. But, will you attack us? You are as much of a danger to us as they are.

No, as long as you leave and don’t intrude in this forest, I have no reason to go to battle. Be warned that this forest is constantly growing. If in the future it nears your tunnels we will have to decide in differents regulations. Even if they live here, the elves are their own community so I don’t assume any responsibility for their actions, but I do promise that if anything comes to strike you unprovoked you can always call for my help. I’m a guardian of the forest and you are recognized as residents, so I feel it is part of my duty.

No words of departure were uttered (thought?). The white ant simply turned around and left, being followed by the rest of the group in three well ordained lines. While most people would think that this was too easy, the truth is that most animals, or insects in this case, fight only for food and territory. Intelligent ones may add revenge to the list, but far behind the other two. It was instinct. The ants already had a territory and Luke wouldn’t be enough as meal for the whole colony, so there was no reason to fight. Besides, they could probably feel that he was no pushover, in that case it was even more logical to reach an agreement.

Dahani dropped to the ground next to Luke while staring at the departing ants.

“I gather there won’t be a fight” Dahani

“Nope, they are quite civil and agreed on not biting us to death if we leave them alone.” Luke

“So? What will we do?” Dahani

“Leave them alone and make sure your woody cousins do so too.” Luke

“They aren’t my cousins!” Dahani shouted

With that said, they argued their way back to the house.