Chp.38: Stealing from the ants

"Guys, it's not that terrible!" Rhaegal said. "The plan is simple: we dragons use the invisibility rune and disappear out of sight, we go there without the ants noticing, we take one of us with you so you can use your small, mobile hands to scoop up that strange liquid, and then we come right back and leave and analyze it away from here"

"That's a bad idea! Don't talk about it!" Lisah exclaimed shivering visibly. It was clear they were never going to get her anywhere near those repulsive insects.

"Beyond personal matters" Sarah interjected. "This plan isn't feasible. Even now that we aren't looking at the mushrooms we are having a hard time resisting their spell. As soon as we look at them we will surely lose our minds"

"Just hold your nose and you won't smell it" Serengal said.

"Let's check right away" Martha replied, putting her fingers to her nose and then turning to the pile of mushrooms. Her body began to shake and her eyes glazed over, and for a moment she seemed to want to run towards the mushrooms, but she held back and with an effort that seemed superhuman she turned away. "Um... it's only partially working. I can't smell it anymore, but I feel the taste entering my mouth every time I breathe. It's less strong and I managed to resist... but I'm not sure I'll be able to bear it as soon as I'm inches away from those mushrooms. Just looking at them makes me feel the urge to eat them"

"Well, no problem then!" Corgorin exclaimed with a smile. "Just keep your eyes closed!"

"What!? This is your solution!?" Martha nearly screamed, finding at least sixty objections to that proposal in just one second.

"No, no, wait! It's brilliant!" Carlos said. "Think about it: this spell works through smell and eye contact. If we plug our noses with balls of wax and bandage ourselves, it will have almost no effect on us! At that point we can get close without problems. Rhaegal, Corgorin e Serengal can guide us and tell us what to do, after all we can still hear"

"Even ants will hear them" Lisah reminded them.

"I don't think so. Ants don't have hearing organs as developed as ears. They're almost deaf" Rhaegal said as they considered. "This plan can work. There are nine of us here; my sisters and I can sneak up on you and allow three of you to do the same, while three others stay here ready to provide support in case something goes wrong. Don't forget that we dragons are very fast, if they notice our presence we can always catch you and run away"

"It's a good plan. I'm in favor of it" Atelas said.

"Me too" Carlos said.

"Me too. We've already done things even more dangerous than this after all" Dyana affirmed.

Seeing themselves outnumbered, Sarah, Martha, and Lisah sighed. "Apparently we really will do it" the latter murmured. "So, who are the three who will come with you? Let me be clear, I'm staying here to support"

"We should keep the wizards for support" Atelas said. "I am suited to close combat, if I stay in the rear I would be of no use. Wizards however can hit targets from a distance, so it will be easier for them to protect us. Therefore, I'll go with Rhaegal"

It was logical: a warrior, unless using a bow, could only fight enemies very close to him. A swordsman like Atelas had no way of helping if he remained hidden behind the lines. Conversely, wizards could strike their foe from a distance, but would be weaker in a close fight, so it was better for them to stay further back. "You're right. In that case, I should go too" Dyana said, since she too was a warrior and not a mage. "I'll go with Serengal"

"Well, two are gone" Corgorin said. "So, which one of you is going with me? Since now there are only wizards left, will you draw lots?"

"No need. We already have a volunteer" Sarah said, pushing Carlos forward. "He will go with you"

Carlos seemed to blanch. "Why me?"

Sarah looked at him with burning eyes. "Because you were the first to approve of the idea, because you had most of the plan, because you are the only man and therefore you should be chivalrous, because you are weak and insignificant and because I will tear you to pieces if you don't do it!" she said accompanying her every word with a stiffening of her expression which at the end of the speech made her look more like a demon than a woman.

Carlos swallowed, then he seemed to reflect. "So… do I go to the death, or do I stay here and suffer a more painful death?"

In response Sarah took a mushroom half her height and cracked it in her hands as if it were made of sugar. "Ok, go to the death" Carlos said seeing that and he quickly approached Corgorin, who didn't seem to know whether to laugh, make fun of him or feel pity for him.

"Well, since we're all in agreement, I'd say we get busy" Rhaegal said trying to bring attention back to himself. "Atelas, Dyana and Carlos, hold on to the thorns on our neck, then hold your nose and blindfold yourself. Sarah, Martha and Lisah, you control the ants instead, and try not to look towards the mushrooms, so you won't fall victim to the spell. Better yet, hold your nose too, so in case you will have the chance to resist"

Everyone nodded and did as they were told. Atelas, Dyana and Carlos clung to the thorns on the dragons' necks, being very careful not to injure themselves with them; thanks to their position it would have been easy to hear their whispers and understand what to do. After that they put some wax up their noses and blindfolded them and went completely blind. "We're ready" they said when they were done.

"Good, let's go!" Rhaegal said, then activated the invisibility rune and disappeared from sight. Corgorin and Serengal did the same, and then set off for the pile of mushrooms, walking slowly so they could sense any traps.

It was unlikely that the ants had surrounded the whole pile with hidden holes, because in that case they would not have been able to approach carrying the mushrooms due to their excessive weight. It was more probable that they had routes made of solid rock that were not in danger of collapsing. And the dragons, thanks to their nose, could follow the scent trail they left behind. In fact, there were several streets where many ants had clearly passed, while entire areas had not even been touched. By following such paths Rhaegal, Serengal and Corgorin were able to avoid the potholes; for greater safety, they also tapped the ground with their claws before placing a paw on it, so as to make sure that the earth was solid and not friable.

By doing so they were able to reach the pile of mushrooms without falling into any traps. The ants hadn't noticed it: they were still stripping the odontotyrannus, and they would certainly have continued for a long time to come. "Okay, here we go" Rhaegal whispered softly enough that anyone more than a meter away from his mouth couldn't hear him. "Now listen carefully. Move forward and then turn your hand so that..."

Following the dragon's directions, Atelas was able to pick up the substance that the ants had sprayed on the mushrooms even though he couldn't see anything. It was a very oily and thick liquid, quite easy to scoop up with a teaspoon and put into a jar (but it was so spread out that it would have been impossible for the dragons to pick it up due to their thick fingers). Serengal and Corgorin also did the same with Dyana and Carlos, who soon managed to fill entire jars with the strange substance.

"Okay, now move a little higher. You just..." Corgorin suddenly froze. Her pupils narrowed and her eyes pointed towards the anthill, but she seemed to be looking at something behind it.

Carlos had remained motionless. He couldn't see, but he could feel the dragon's tension. "What should I do? What's going on?" he whispered.

Corgorin let out a snort. "Nothing. Go back to...". She froze again. "Shit! We have to leave!"

Some ants were starting to move away from the odontotyrannus and towards the pile of mushrooms. It wasn't hard to understand why: they didn't have good hearing and couldn't see them, but they had a very good sense of smell. In fact, it was the basis of how they navigated. And even if they were immune to that spell, surely they must have noticed that the magical smell was diminishing as the substance was removed from the mushrooms. It was natural that they became suspicious and came to check.

Amche Rhaegal and Serengal had noticed them. "Let's go" they whispered to Atelas and Dyana. Even if they were much bigger and stronger than the ants, they didn't want to risk fighting with them: the numerical disproportion was too great. So they moved silently and away from the pile of mushrooms, while the ants began to climb on it and move their confused antennae, clearly trying to figure out what was going on. A couple of times they risked one of them ending up on them since they moved particularly fast and to avoid the traps they had to move on the same areas that the large insects were traveling through, but the dragons managed each time to move just enough to avoid hitting them. They were very careful: they didn't know how deep their hive mind was or if they had any kind of connection like sand sharks, so just bumping into one would alert all the others. But with the right amount of caution they were able to get away from the ant-infested area and safely back into the thick forest of giant mushrooms. There they were finally able to deactivate the rune of invisibility and breathe a sigh of relief.

Martha, Lisah and Sarah joined them shortly after. They had watched the whole scene and were clearly concerned to see the ants approaching, but they had kept their nerve and avoided intervening until it was clear that their friends were in danger, which luckily they hadn't. Walking away without being seen was much better than ferociously cutting your way through. "You look fine?"

"Uuuf! For a moment I really thought they were going to find us!" Carlos exclaimed as he slumped to the ground. "I had one inches from my face! It was right there in front of me waving those nasty antennae and nasty mandibles like it could see me! It was awful!"

"It's done now. We can rest easy now" Serengal murmured. "By the way, sister, what happened? For a moment I heard you fall silent"

Dragons had much better hearing than humans, so even though they were whispering they were still able to hear each other, so Serengal had noticed that Corgorin froze for a moment. "I noticed something" she replied. "I only glimpsed it before it ran off behind the anthill. It wasn't an ant, it looked more like a big spider"

"Well, we've seen ants and other giant insects, so a giant spider doesn't seem so strange to me. He was probably there to hunt some of those nasty creatures, but he gave up after he saw them devouring an odontotyrannus" Dyana said, and everyone agreed with her. "Rather, let's see if it was worth it. We have collected quite a lot of this substance, but is it the right one?"

Sarah took the jar that the lionman was handing her and expanded her perception of the mana towards it, thus feeling its quantity. Once she sensed that she did a couple of calculations in her head and then her eyes widened. "It's this one!" she said with a smile. "The amount of mana is right at the limit!"

"But is it edible?" Atelas reminded them.

In response Serengal licked the strange liquid and savored it. "It is!" she said then. "It's not poisonous or toxic. We did it! We have the material needed for the cure!"

The group let out a whoop of triumph. Finally, after all their effort, they had succeeded! They had found their goal! "I'll contact Haku immediately! He'll be happy to know!" Rhaegal said grabbing the communication device.

Serengal noticed that Corgorin looked rather thoughtful. "What happens?"

Her sister shook her head. "Nothing. It just... that spider was really weird" she replied. "I can't say for sure because it was turned around and I caught a glimpse of it... but it almost looked like it had a torso and head with hair..."

Suddenly Rhaegal's voice interrupted her. "Guys... Haku isn't answering" he said pointing at the communication device with a worried look.

"Well... maybe he's busy" Carlos tried to say noticing the dragon's anxiety.

"No, impossible. It's not long before the scheduled time, he'd already be in an isolated place waiting for my call" Rhaegal said. "Something is wrong"