Cornered Rat (1/4)
Over the next few days, Commander Fisco listens to the reports on the Ant hordes.
Apparently, the Ants went underground for a while and hid when a dozen or so dragon kings (like Kalkor) showed up and started blasting them to oblivion. The Ant Queen was able to hold her own against Kalkor, but this new situation is proving to be too much for her.
Sure, all the newcomer dragons are younger and weaker than Kalkor, but that hardly matters when you add in a dozen more in the mix.
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"Queen Mother," one of the Ants telepathically says to their master, "The big, scaley meats are vigilant to us now after our battle with the big meat. The big meat has called on its allies to harrass us while he gorges himself."
"Where is the big meat getting all of his food?" the Queen hisses, "he only has one body, so he can only find food so fast."
"It seems like the Rehkin Clans all across the land are hunting for it and donating food to him."
You'd think that because these Ants had lived underground away from civilization that they'd be unable to speak with the inhabitants and learn of their culture and names… but the Queen was smart enough to capture many of their prey alive.
Like all Rehkin, the Ant Queen is able to speak spirit to spirit; hence, despite there being no shared language between her and her food, she was able to interrogate them for information; hence, she knows what dragons are, how many there are, as well as what all the different Clans are called.
So, the Queen thinks for a moment and conjures up a plan. "We'll use tunnels. Instruct the swarm to not touch the mole clan we've captured on our raids. They can dig a lot faster than we can. We'll go underground where the Overlords in the sky can't see us. We can move about unseen underground, and we can find the large nests where the small meats live. We attack, hide, run away, then repeat until we're stronger than the dragons."
What worries the Queen about her plan is that that even though the Moles they've captured can sense what's on the surface to a degree, but they can't see into the sky, where the dragons are waiting for them.
So, the Queen adds, "Have some of your sisters wear their humanoid forms and go up to the surface. Scout the land and see how the Rehkin Clans are reacting. Most importantly, keep an eye on the skies and make sure there are no dragon kings waiting for us when we come up to feast. We're not ready to face them in great numbers yet. Don't engage any lone dragons without me being there."
"As you say, Queen Mother."
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Shortly after the Queen hatches her reconnaissance plan, Kalkor is flying above in the sky. Beside him are the war chiefs from the the Hawk, Eagle, and Crow Clans – all flying beside him as he drifts idly through the air.
In other circumstances, he'd have had several different Rehkin Clan representatives resting on his back for this important meeting… but unfortunately, all the Rehkin races in his territory who couldn't fly have already been wiped out by the Ants.
"My lord," the Eagle war chief reports, "my men have been patrolling the land, and the Ants seem to be popping up out of nowhere. We can't seem to catch them, and more Clans in other territories are disappearing."
"Hmm...," Kalkor rumbles in the air, "the bugs are obviously moving underground. However, they're going too quickly for an ant. They must have enslaved a few of the burrowing type Clans to hasten their travelling." He turns to the Eagle. "Send your men to find all the remaining burrowing clans and secure them!"
"Yes sir!" the Eagle flies off and disappears beneath the clouds.
Kalkor then turns to the Crow war chief, "Remember, those bugs are all identical. Post wanted posters of them around all the Clans, if they aren't up yet." The Crow man solutes and flies off.
Finally, Kalkor addresses the Hawk, "Your people have excellent eyesight. Spread out and patrol the lands! Search all travelers! I can't afford to lose any of you, so if you find any 'mysterious travellers', report to me or the other dragons."
Hopefully, with her scouts being taken out, the Queen will be blind to what's happening above the surface; if she can't know where the dragons are, then she won't be able to effectively hunt.
The dragon king looks down at the ground in hate, and his echoing roar echoes across the land, as if sending a proclamation through the heavens. "STARVE THE ANTS OUT OF THEIR LITTLE HOLES!!! I WANT ALL THOSE BUGS TO BE GLOWING CORPSES BY THE END OF THE MONTH!!!"
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"Queen Mother! Queen Mother!" one of the little ants screams in agitation over their spiritual link, "The spies we're sending above ground are being spotted too quickly! Please punish us for our failure!"
"No," the Queen waves her daughter off, "it was my failure to be caught off guard by this. There's no way the cunning dragons wouldn't find out what we were doing, since it's the only logical thing we could be doing now."
"What do we do then!?" all the Ants protest as they look at their master expectantly.
"Hmm... Keep some of the captured meats alive after our next successful raid," the Queen instructs. "Threaten some of them with their family's safety, and have them go up to the surface and pretend to be refugees. Also, please make sure to get our smell off of them, though hopefully I didn't have to tell you that. Anyway, they'll be our new eyes and ears."
"Yes!" the Ants all cheer enthusiastically.
As the Ants scuttle away to carry out their orders, they can't help but be in awe of how genius and awesome their Mother is! She must be unstoppable, right!?
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Within days, we see the same hawk giving another report to Kalkor. "My lord... the Ant swarm has gone out of sight again. We caught many suspicious "travellers", but after that, they vanished. Yet, they still seem to be aware of where my lord and your brothers are before they pop up and ambush our clans."
Kalkor bares his teeth menacingly, "I was expecting this to happen."
"What do we do then?"
"Hrrmmm…," Kalkor rumbles to express his deep thought, "the other clans should be aware of the danger now. It should be easy to convince them to leave their homes. Have everyone gather in a few select places. That way, my brothers and I don't have to cover such a wide area in order to protect you. It should be harder to be caught off guard this way."
Knowing that a king's words are like gold – only more valuable because it exists sparingly – Kalkor shuts up and thinks some more.
Once his next train of thought is fully processed, he continues saying, "Hmm... While you're moving, you'll be in a lot more danger. I'll have one of my sons draw up a map of our patrol patterns. Have everyone flee along the specified routes. I shouldn't have to tell you that you should give up your life before any of those Ants get ahold of these routes."
"I'm on it."
The Hawk man is about to leave, but King Kalkor stops him, "Don't leave yet."
The dragon then gets to thinking..., "How could the bug queen know where we are? Do they have special scry magic? No, no, there shouldn't be any scry magic below the Divine Realm that would work against dragons like us. The Ants having Scrying magic on par with a god's is extremely unlikely."
This next thought elicits a growl from deep inside Kalkor's throat. "Wait," he thinks, "did the ants enslave other races to keep an eye on the ground above? How could they possibly control the captured clans once the freed Rehkin are above ground and out of harms reach?
"Either the swarm got ahold of the human's slave collar technology, or they're holding the families of the 'refugees' as hostages. Ugh."
Holding hostages is such a simple, yet brutal solution that Kalkor can't help but think the Ant Queen went with this plan.
"One more thing, then you may go," Kalkor finally says to the Hawk man. "Keep an account of all the destroyed clans, and check all the refugees for slave collars. More than that, check every enchanted item on them in case the Ants disguised the slave color as some other article of clothing."
Kalkor shakes his head. "In fact, just detain all the refugees one place and don't allow them to go outside."
The Hawk war chief frowns. "The clans aren't going to be happy about treating the refugees poorly."
"This is war," Kalkor asserts in a voice that won't allow disobedience. "They may not be in the wrong, but it's for everyone's safety. Just don't give these refugees any other reason to hate you besides what you must do. Keep them comfortable and well fed, but don't let them outside!"
Kalkor smiles... which is frightening when your jaws are filled with wicked teeth. "The harder we make things for the bugs, the more appetizing the humans are going to look. Plus, everyone already knows that there's another world on the other side of their fortress. Nobody really knows how strong the humans are on the other side, but sooner or later, the Ants are going to want to take their chances on the humans and flee to the Otherworld."
He turns to the Crow war chief resting on his back. "When the ants go for the humans, I want you to gather our collaborated forces and prevent the Ants from escaping or scattering. I want them trapped between us and the Threshold."
The Crow looks a bit concerned at this, "But... what about the humans?"
"What about them?" Kalkor huffs, "They're the ones who woke the slumbering colony when they got greedy and dug too deep into the spirit veins, despite being warned. They started this, so we can let them deal with it. If they all die, then that's their fault."
"…" The dragon rolls his eyes, "Oh, very well. If the bugs have an entire world to feast on, their swarm will grow too large for any of us to deal with. We can't let any of them make it through that world gate. Send someone to inform that human commander.... whatever his name was. Tell him that his world is up next for the bugs' assault. I want the humans to at least have plenty of time to seal off the World Gate.
Thinking of the coming Ant assault, Kalkor looks off into the distance, where the humans are. "Will that one called Haalfrin survive this? Should I feel guilty about sending trouble his way?"
He shakes his head. "No. The death aura on the boy is so thick that he feels more dead than alive anyway. He's the type whose soul already belongs in the realm of the dead. I'm sure it wouldn't bother him if he died."
Well, he's not wrong.