786TH Soldiers P.O.V

Atop the tallest plant in the inner region, the world was quiet and serene. Gentle wind flowed there, keeping the misery and struggles of the farm away. 786th loved the quiet and the emptiness. It was her hiding spot, a place to escape from the farm, and its worries.

However, it was a different day and she wasn’t alone.

Silver was there with her. He was staring west, but that was not where he was looking. His antennae were abuzz, vibrating at a sweltering high rate that 786th couldn’t even begin to fathom. A vortex had formed around his antennae, sucking particles from far. It was a scary scene. She was mad at what he was doing to her place, but the interest kept her rooted.

What’s he like looking for? 786th asked Red, Silvers shadow. That ant did not leave his leader's side, unless he was specifically asked to, which she hadn’t seen happen, yet. Apparently, he was a strategist? So someone like her? Well, she wondered about that.

She asked him for an answer and he gave her a puzzle.

My Leader is looking for something that the others can’t handle. Red told her. At least he answered. Had she asked someone from her colony—

Alright, she walked right into that one. The two might have warmed up to her, but that didn’t mean they would start discussing their plans with her, too. She was an outsider. She understood, but the vigilance was suspicious. Everyone knew they wanted to get into the tower; so what was with all the planning and the terse question she’d been asked? Maybe they had a different objective? They could be planning to destroy the tower for all she knew.

Wait! What if she was right?

No, that was an impossible job. Anyways, the army wanted to be a part of the alliance, not to destroy it.

A warm touch on the back brought her back to reality. It was Red, and he looked concerned.

What are you thinking? He asked whilst rubbing some warmth into her.

She was startled but quickly realized that she wasn’t on a mission and she hadn’t been caught. For better or worse, the latter had already happened and her situation was the aftermath.

She liked the rubbing, however, and the warmth it provided. When was the last time someone had cared for her?

She didn’t remember.

Never, popped up in her mind, but she shook it away.

Nothing, She replied instead. Red nodded and pulled his antennae back.

Did he have to do that though? That warmth felt so great. And he was walking away. She sort of panicked and scented out the first thing that came into her mind to make him stop.

I was thinking about your objective. She felt embarrassed saying that, but he stopped and turned around. That was her intention, right? It meant he was interested. She had his attention. Now only if he could start rubbing her back again. Sadly it didn’t happen. She was being too greedy.

So, what are your thoughts? Red asked her. She had wasted too much time again; better start talking before he goes away again. This is what she wanted; she found it difficult to cope with the thought.

786th went deep into thoughts and come up with something that had been irking her since last night. You don’t need to get into the tower to show your might. Everyone has already seen it. So why do you want to get into the tower?

Red stood a bit straighter at the mention, attentive. Wait a minute. Was she on the right path?

Like what? He asked, amused, but he couldn’t hide the nervous twitch from her. It surprised her much. So much she didn’t know what to do with it.

I haven’t gotten to that part yet. She scented and curbed eh shaking of her abdomen. It was acting up again.

Take your time. Red glanced at Silver who was yet to move from his position. We have some.

Are you trying to destroy the tower? She scented and moaned mentally. She had already thought about this. Why did she have to act stupid in front of him of all the others?

I don’t think that’s possible for a bunch of ants. Red released. See? Now he was laughing at her. What if he suddenly thought that she was different from him? What if he grew distant?

Red continued unaware of the storm that his amusement had set off in her mind.

Destroying the tower serves no purpose. He scented. We are mercenaries, not terrorists. There is a difference.

Ah, the word ‘purpose’’ set off 786th soldier's mind ablaze. She hadn’t thought about that yet. What was their purpose? What made the tower so special? Well, it was the safest place, but safety was the last thing on their mind. They weren’t there for the tower either. The alliance representatives resided inside the tower, but they were just that, representatives and nothing more; sure they had a large force under them working on the farm, but even that was but a small battalion considering what a colony usually housed. Killing them would produce no results. Then there was just one thing left.

And she figured it out. It was so simple. They were at the farm because the army wanted honeydew and what else could they be doing instead of—

Shading hell, you want to steal the Honeydew!

She inspected Silver for a reaction, a turn of the head, fidgeting of the antennae, a quiver of nervousness, or a shiver down the back, but there was nothing. As for her immediate neighbor, Red showed all the reactions and more. And it made her nervous. She had done it this time. Sure there were only three of them up there and she could run, but the possibility of her getting away was slimmer than them actually managing to steal from the farm. There was only one thing left to do then.

Scared as she was, she raised the question that only someone insane would.

Am, am I right? She asked.

It depends, Red scented. He was staring between her and his leader, nervous and shaking. Then suddenly he was fine like it didn’t matter.

786th took a step back. That change was scary. It was the difference between deciding and having decided upon her fate. Maybe she should have blurted that last piece of information out like that. What was wrong with her? What kind of an information broker admits about knowing others' secrets?

A dead one, she thought and pulled away from Red even further. They were far too close.

Now, what is going to happen to me? She asked and received an answer.

You can sell the information for your freedom. Isn’t that what you wanted?

She couldn’t determine if Red was being sarcastic or hysterical, but a reply was good. She had seen many executions while spying, and all had one thing in common —the silence.

Most murders are committed on impulse. What she needed was to bide for time; and starting a conversation was a natural way to accomplish that.

Freedom is a matter of perspective. She scented. In other words, it’s a lie. If you are not bound by society, then you are bound by your passion or others expectations. There is no getting out of the cycle.

So what do you want to do? Red asked another question, another excruciating moment when she was forced to wonder whether she would survive or not.

I want to be away from here. Shading fire, she was letting fear dictate her. Now they knew she was afraid as if all of her backing away and delaying hadn’t already told them such.

Do you want to return to your colony? I can understand that feeling.

No. Her feet stopped. She stood at the edge of the leaf. A step further and she would have fallen off. The realization jolted her out of fear.

So where do you want to go?

She heard the question and in that time and moment, when her mind was suddenly empty, the answer just slipped out of her.

Someplace I can call home.

A breeze rose up from the farm at the same time, bringing along an alarm from the farm. Red hurried to his leader’s side. As for her… did they not care about her running away? He had left her wide open, free to do anything she wanted. She was once again in a situation where she couldn’t decide whether to run or wait.

She ran… after Red. It couldn’t be a coincidence that they had asked her to take them to the highest place in the inner region. With the leader looking out for something and then the sudden alarm, it made her suspicious and she loved this mystery. Oh, it burned her insides to know the truth. She couldn’t wait any longer. Not like she had anywhere to go or be. And she knew too much. Therefore, she went to their side, stood at the edge of the leaf with them, and peered into the distance even though she couldn’t see.

Her antennae caught something without her having to vibrate them. The vortex that Silver had created was to feed her curiosity for a while. She found it amazing how far the scents were coming from.

What’s happening? She was going to ask but held herself back when she noticed the grim atmosphere between them.

They have outdone themselves. Siler scented.

Will you be alright? Red asked.

We are not going to discuss this again. Return to our territory. The others will be coming up soon.

Silver finished saying and jumped off the leaf, disappearing from her senses altogether. That was numbingly daring of him. Everyone knew that a fall wouldn’t kill them, but to knowingly jump off from the tallest plant in the whole inner region… that was foolishness to her, not bravery.

Will he be alright?

He’ll be fine. It’s us who need to worry about ourselves.

The alarm rose once again and spread throughout the farm. The heart jumped up in her chest. The farm was not abuzz because of a mere interloper. An alarm raised in a territory meant an interloper; spread in a region it was a call for help. But with the whole farm alight in the scent of alarm, it could only mean one thing, a raid. The farm was being raided and 786th had strong suspicions that the two were somehow responsible.

Shepherdess's P.O.V

The shepherdess sat in a corner of her burrow, head bowed and antennae slumped to the ground. She was still inside the tower, locked and contained by the authorities. Why? That was a simple question to answer. She was no longer a shepherdess and was in waiting to be sent back to her colony. They were yet to take her privileges and I.D since the jawbreakers guarding her would have attacked otherwise, but it no longer mattered.

She was done, all was lost. There was nothing left for her to do. After everything she had done for her colony, they had betrayed her. To think they would sell her for a bare minimum profit when they could have had a crew sitting in the tower and earning them a flat 5% of the total honeydew produced each week. They had most likely been pressured into accepting the deal, but to think they would betray her. 786th soldier was right: she was too naïve for her own good.

That’s when she sensed the commotion and the fear and felt the vibrations. They were abrupt in their timing, but shallow and soft in nature. The tower was the reason behind the latter; it was built too strong, too stable. The vibrations making it to her burrow on the fifth floor meant the farm was in danger.

She stumbled to her feet in a hurry, only to remember why she was caged in the first place. The thought took her back to the ground, slumped but thoughtful. She was not a shepherdess anymore. She no longer needed to worry about the farm and its worries.

Anyways, there were guards outside the burrow, guarding her like she was precious honeydew. Until they were outside she wasn’t going anywhere. They would know what was happening. No. First of all, they were jawbreakers; it would be pointless to ask them anything. Secondly, there was a rock wedged blocking the exit and sealing it from the outside. It wasn’t an airtight seal; scents could still reach in and out. They weren’t trying to kill her. And thirdly, the farm and its denizens could go to hell for all she cared.

The vibrations stopped first, but a panicked alarm took its place, spreading in the tower.

Raid! Raid! Moving East to North! All personal, report to the battle station!

The alarm echoed inside her small chamber.

The tower could keep the vibrations to a minimum, and allow the scent molecules to propagate further than any dirt creation ever could at the same time. In a sense, it was far better than an amphitheater. It was no wonder everyone was interested in knowing about the creator. There was a time when she would have spent hours in dazing wondering the same, but those days were already in the past.

The alarm pulled the shepherdess —correction: the former shepherdess— back to her feet. This time around she didn’t stop her feet and rushed at the exit.

She felt restless. The raid couldn’t have come at a worse time. She understood her crew better than anyone. They were sure to jump at the opportunity to increase their tribute and try getting that spot in the tower, whether it was a raid of flying beetles or an army of interlopers.

What if they managed to kill it, them? No, that was a baseless thought. And, the authorities had already decided to not accept any tributes from them this week. She had opposed, of course, but they were already decided and were only asking for her cooperation, not consent. She needed to tell them that. Her crew needed to know the truth.

She pushed at the rock blocking her exit and started banging at it with the clubbed ends of her antennae when it didn’t budge.

Let me out! Let me out!

There was no answer. She already knew the reason and was only making sure that there was no one outside. Sure her emotions took control of the situation, but there was no harm in a bit of vigilance.

The reason was simple: The jawbreakers guarding her would have had their priority shifted toward the alarm, and if she was right, it meant there would be no one standing guard outside.

But what could she do? She was stuck. The rock could only be taken away from the outside. She couldn’t do anything. She was small and weak, a worker. She couldn’t possibly force the rock out!

She remembered being sold by her colony and the pledge she made to herself.

Never bow to anyone. That is what she had promised to herself. It was damn time she started acting upon it. She needed to be courageous. And she was a worker. She might not be good at fighting, but there was something she was good at and coincidently, it was exactly the skill she needed to get out.

She started digging around the rock.

Red’s P.O.V

Red took a deep breath as his leader leaped off the plant. No worries. He understood better than anyone what the silver enigma could do. Nonetheless, it unnerved him still to sense someone standing right next to him disappear away like a mimic. He stopped that train of thoughts before it could open old wounds.

786th soldier stood by his side, equally baffled by not just Silvers unhesitant display of courage, but also by the whole situation.

He took her scent in through his antenna; there was fear mixed in with excitement and wonder. She really was so different from the others. He had never met another soldier who could scent her emotions; other than his leader, but he was a different case. That one could do anything. But for a common soldier to be able to emit emotions was truly remarkable.

All were freaks around him. He was the only one normal. Well, someone needed to take care of the misfits.

That’s a lizard he went after. 786 told him. He nodded. It was a general signal telling others that he as listening. He never understood why everyone always needed these wasteful shows of acceptance. He stood next to her and hence was forced to taste all that she scented. There was too much insecurity around. If his leader had taught him right, it meant she was nervous. His leader did indeed go after a lizard after all. Those idiots really did outdo themselves.

It’s a raid. Do you understand? You probably don’t. There will be deaths, thousands of them! Do you understand? How could you let him go alone?

Now what to do in this situation? He opted for silence, but it soon became too awkward between them.

So back to the territory it was. He turned to leave, but 786th stopped him. She jumped at him. It was a startling experience for Red. He turned stiff from the closeness, but his mind raced.

Are you trying to kill me? He asked and almost exclaimed upon realizing that the past was repeating itself; the only difference being, this time around she had him cornered. Her antennae though… the scent they released was intoxicating. He couldn’t help try to tangle his antennae around them. Well, he would have if she hadn’t pushed away from him.

What are you trying to do? She scented, no her haunches, hiding her antennae between her forelegs.

It confused him. Shouldn’t I be the one to ask you that? You jumped at Me.

You tried to form an internal connection with me!

Ah, he finally realized. That was unexpectedly rude of him. How did that happen? That wasn’t like him, now, was it? It was the scents, he realized. Well, what could he do to make things better?

I-I apologize.

For some reason, he didn’t enjoy the silence that followed. Didn’t he have something to do? Oh, yes, he had to return to the territory. He could dally a few more minutes; the others would need time to come through. However, what to do with her? Now, wasn’t that a conundrum.

She could spoil the plan if he let her go. There was that. And she could get them all killed. There was also that. Hadn’t his leader told him to take care of her? Needless to say, he was very tempted to just let her go. But he could almost taste her excitement in the air; she wanted to come, to see what they were planning. He was not delusional to the truth that she had figured out most of it.

He wondered if she was being plainly deliberate with the scents, or seriously had no idea. As a fellow on the path of wisdom he understood her better than anyone else and made a decision that would make Black cringe in disgust and call him an idiot.

Will you come with me? Red asked the 786th soldier and he was right. Her antennae instantly came to a standstill above her head. She became lost in thoughts again, but only for a fraction of second, and came into motion soon after. She was decided from the start.

Where are we going?

Red scented: To meet the idiots I call family.

Silver’s P.O.V

Silver jumped from leaf to leaf, plant to plant, making west at a blistering pace. The lizard had left a path of destruction in its wake, killing soldiers that courageously stood in front of it, and sweeping away those that had hidden under the leaves.

Silver had no difficulty chasing after it, but the sight he saw on the way numbed him internally.

The lizard had invaded deep into the eastern territory, devastated the bridges of the outer region, then changed direction and made north.

Soldiers had rushed into the affected region from the nearby territories. Most stayed back watching, but a few had come forward to help the shepherdesses move the aphids to safe shelters nearby, and move the injured to the nurse stations. Those that stayed back used the mayhem as an opportunity to catch scared interlopers running for their lives.

A few volunteers took positions at the leaves for lookout, while the rest banded together to chase the lizard.

They were all from different territories and different colonies. Outside the farm, they would have been enemies, but inside they were only rivals, competitors in a horde to earn a larger share of honeydew. It was no wonder most of them retreated, but the real wonder was the group that came forward to help. It showed that the farm wasn’t all rotten and hopeless. There was still some compassion left in the living occupying the farm's veins.

Those left behind stood stiff and scared, afraid the lizard would come back.

Silver rushed past them without stopping. One part of him wanted to help those in need, but he kept going. It was a difficult decision, but he made it easy because he also had those counting on him. He didn’t want to cause this, the carnage, the deaths. He was sure to have protected the farm if the circumstances were different. But he had no choice this time around.

Since he couldn’t save everyone, he would save those he could.

It was on the boundary of the inner region where he found the lizard. Soldiers were putting a strong front against it, but the lizard was not one to get pushed around. It was slowly eating through their numbers, one bite at a time. A drastic change was needed, and soon. That’s where Silver came in.

The soldiers faring well were in the process of moving the injured away from the site.

Silver pushed past the injured and the dead. He knew none of them, but they seemed to know him, or they were generally good of heart because they tried to stop him. However, Silver wasn’t one to back down after making up his mind.

It was evening. The sun was setting, and the world growing cold. Half the sky was filled with clouds and the other half was quickly turning grey. A wild wind was blowing around the corner.

The lizard was green, with an arrow-shaped head and scaled skin. There were black patterns swirling down its head that stretched over its back and faded at its abdomen. It was humongous, almost twenty-two ant lengths large and seven ant lengths tall. It had its tail wrapped around the stem of a plant and looked to be in no mood to move away.

Alarm spread as the lizard slipped between the leaves and the branches toward the front line. The leader of the expedition sounded a retreat, but the lizard was not like the frogs. It whipped around the obstacles, moving with a grace that the monster its size didn’t deserve.

A swipe of its red triangular mouth and a whole team disappeared from the back of the group. The soldiers were quickly losing hope. They couldn’t even drive it out of the farm. It was impossible to fight it.

They needed reinforcements, but the leader, a large-headed brown sand ant, cursed at the thought. She knew better to hope the greedy would help unless the beast was on the verge of dying.

But help arrived, and it came in the form of a dazzling silver bullet that shone brightly under the waning sunlight.

Silver rushed up, getting higher than the lizard and jumped at it. He crashed onto the lizards back with enough force to curve its spine. All movement stopped when the lizard uttered a wail of pain. That was impossible. The same swords passed through everyone's minds.

But the lizard twisted its body, clearly not comfortable after the blow. It fell down to the ground. The soldiers cheered, believing it was leaving, but it was quick to climb back up. It would have run away against anything else, but against a prey it could not even distinguish from the other mouthfuls of food around, it could not leave. Anger tugged at its mind, telling it to kill them all. The lizard could not ignore the call.

It followed the scent of its prey and found Silver standing alone at a leaf. The lizard showed its blood-red mouth to openly challenge Silver and changed when the tiny stomach weight didn’t retreat.

Silvers had limited options against the lizard. He didn’t want to hurt the beast for it had a purpose in the plan, but subduing it was also not an option. The lizard was quick-footed, and the stage was far from optimum. But the atmosphere was growing cold and the wind was starting to blow. Whatever calories the monster had absorbed in the day had already been sucked out of it. It had replenished some by eating the farm soldiers, but it was huffing and puffing, and clearly tired. Silver could feel its heart beating at a much higher rate than normal.

The soldiers had already retreated far back, so far that none of them could see what was happening. However, they could sense the commotion and it frightened them.

Then suddenly the commotion stopped. However, before they could even guess the result, the lizard stumbled and trundled toward them. They saw each other and the lizard changed directions, diving deeper into the farm.

However, there were no celebrations. Another alarm rose high into the air instead, this one representing danger of the utmost level. The lizard was leaving but in the wrong direction. It was heading straight toward the center, the core area, in the direction of the tower. And there was nothing anyone could do to stop it.