When the noise finally died down, Isaac pulled his hands from over his ears and slowly, very slowly, opened his eyes.

The first thing he felt… was relief that the roof hadn’t collapsed on top of him. A good start. Next came the relief that his legs hadn’t fallen off or been crushed, they were simply numb from the incessant shaking of the floor.

Wins all around. Isaac was beginning to hold out hope that his moustache hadn’t fallen straight off his face from the stress, but he deliberately didn’t reach up to check. He wasn’t ready to find out his suspicions were correct after all.

Soundly convinced that he was (sans moustache) in one, sound piece, he began to turn his attention to everyone else.

“Hello! Ant cavalry, sound off!”

He got a few muffled calls, some groans and a few swear words for his efforts. The air was thick with dust and he could barely see ten metres in front of himself.

There must have been a collapse somewhere in the chamber to kick up all this mess; he could only hope nobody not covered in a second skin of minerals had been caught underneath. Confident he wouldn’t get much more out of his human squad mates, he turned to pheromones and called out again.

“Ant cavalry? Who can smell this?”

“How are you, Captain Isaac?”

“Doing well over here!”

“That was something interesting, wasn’t it?”

“Finished napping, then? Ready to get to work?”

“Anyone else want some biscuits and tea when we get back to the ship?”

“Stop slacking, Captain!”

Slacking? What in the name of his mam’s buttered scones were they on about? He made his way toward them and found the ants had already collected their less active riders and deposited them in a line of sorry-looking sods. Covered in dust and clearly shaken, they shivered, moaned and stared blankly straight ahead, ignoring everything happening around them.

Isaac had seen it before, many times. Shock. They were rattled by what had just happened. And why wouldn’t they be? The mountain had been rattled, so it was only fair the mortals were too.

One by one, he moved down the line, calling names softly, placing a hand on their faces, shaking hands. Most were able to acknowledge him, some were able to get up and assist with a little encouragement.

“Can we get a mage to clear this dust?” he asked one of the ants. “It’s as thick as me mam’s porridge, even if it tastes better. I can’t see a thing.”

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“Oh, I think so. Most of them are clearing out the rock, but I’m sure someone can spare a little mana.”

The ant scuttled off while Isaac wondered just what she’d meant when she said they were ‘clearing out the rock’. A minute later, he no longer had to wonder.

In one fell swoop, the dust was blown away, revealing the true extent of the devastation. Luckily, the area occupied by the trade mission was undamaged. The brathian merchants were there, along with Eran and her family. The ants were also safe, though most of them had relocated to where the problem lay.

The roof had collapsed, on the side of the room which led to the exit. Ants were crawling all over the rubble now, doing their best to clear a pathway. Isaac saw immediately what the problem was. With so few ants allowed inside, most of those who had entered were carvers who specialised in making things, and the soldiers who were part of the cavalry. Precious few mages had entered, so a lot of the work was being done manually.

With a sigh, Isaac headed over to see what he could do to help.

The ants met his offer with clear scepticism.

“You could use your… hands… to shift some rock… I suppose?” one offered, doubtfully.

“Can you even move rock with those? They aren’t anything like mandibles.”

“Yes, I can move rock,” he snapped, reaching down to pick up a chunk of stone.

Naturally, he picked up one a bit larger than he probably should have, and instantly regretted it. However, he couldn’t put it down now, so he grit his teeth and began lumbering away with it.

“See?” he squeezed out. “Don’t underestimate the power of the opposable digit!”

“We have those too,” one of the carvers said smugly, holding up one of her front legs and snipping her little claws together.

He’d known that, but it wasn’t really something he kept in the forefront of his mind. The ants win this round.

“Anyone know what happened?” he asked.

“The Eldest,” a chorus of them replied, seemingly unbothered.

They were most likely correct, Isaac had been around Anthony long enough to know that, but he’d hoped for something more specific.

“Any idea what the Eldest did?” he pressed. “I’d love to have a little more knowledge about why this mountain decided to shake itself down.”

“Someone probably annoyed them,” one of the ants responded.

“They probably did something to protect the Colony and nearly died in the process.”

“So brave.”

“I wish it was me.”

“Shhhhh!”

Isaac could only shrug his shoulders in resignation. No matter what Anthony did, they trusted it was the right thing to have done. A little healthy scepticism wouldn’t be such a bad thing for these ants, in his view.

The excavation effort was interrupted shortly thereafter by a roar that echoed off the chamber walls, as a massive golgari strode back through the entrance.

“Eran Thouris! You have some explaining to do!”

It was the silver-coated warrior who had welcomed them, and he was steaming mad. However, his anger paled in comparison to that of Eran Thouris. She was incandescent with rage.

“I have some explaining to do? I?! The entire Noble circle of this mountain needs to come down here and explain why there shouldn’t be an immediate trade embargo placed on this damned city!”

“How dare you?!”

“WATCH YOUR TONE!”

Well, this was off to a good start.