Chapter 544: 544
The tunnels are a complete mess . Huge cracks run through the stone and sections are collapsing all over the place . Before we even meet up with the main group, I know what's taken place . The moment I came under attack, the message was passed to enact the ambush on the Golgari in the other tunnel .
No point allowing the two groups of rock-people to reunite and fight together . Decisive action was called for . I objected to the Colony going to head to head against such a powerful enemy, but the other members of the council assured me that they had another strategy in mind . Which turned out to be collapsing the tunnel on top of the enemies' heads . Using earth mages and our natural predilection to tunnel digging, the council was able to arrange a fairly broad tunnel collapse in a matter of hours . After the stone came down, the ants moved in to fight whatever they could find, taking advantage of the less than ideal state of their opponents .
The fact that the armoured Golgari, the 'nobles', were in the center of the column would have played to our advantage . They should've taken the brunt of the fall, and been too far from the front to be in a position to fight the ants when they charged . Somehow, I doubt they died . With their Skills, armour and doubtlessly potent true skin, if anyone was going to survive a tunnel collapse it would be them . All the more reason to get ourselves out of here .
"Eldest! What a glorious injury you've received! I'm jealous…"
"Leeroy, you idiot . You're looking disappointingly healthy . "
"I was unable to find an enemy during the battle . I wanted to start unearthing the Golgari but the others stopped me . "
Her antennae droop sadly as she talks of saving the lives of our enemies, only so that she could end them in person .
"I'm tired, Leeroy . What did you want?"
"Right! The others were wondering if you wanted to discuss what was going to happen next? It's a little up in the air, from what I gather . "
Up in the air? Why the heck would it be up in the air? Let's go home! Irritated, I drag my still regenerating backside around the tunnel until I find the other council members gathered in a huddle .
"What the heck is going on here?" I demand . "We need to get away from this place and go back to the nest! Why am I hearing about discussions regarding our 'plans'?"
The others make room for me as I barge forward, my larger frame taking up much of the room . Only the tier four soldiers can rival me for size but even they fall short of my bulk and I loom over the council . When I think about it, my eyes are probably at a similar height level to that of a tall human, my third body segment actually being the 'tallest' part of my body . It's in length that my true mass lies and I'm a fairly chunky ant at this point .
"Obviously the plan is to get back to the nest," Burke explains patiently, "but we need to do it in such a way that we don't get followed . At the very least we need to make tracking us as difficult as possible . The more time we can buy for the Colony to grow, the better . "
Actually, that's a damn good point .
"Doesn't that just mean we keep going without using pheromones?" I ask .
"Look," Burke says, exasperated, "doing that isn't as simple as some of you seem to think . My scouts rely on those trails to move around and ensure that they stay on safe paths! We don't have mind magic to communicate, and it's too risky to drag a mage that far away from the main group . Long range scouting is basically impossible without pheromonal communication . "
Ahh . I'm starting to see the problem .
"So that means we need to move slower in order to ensure we don't take any wrong turns and run into trouble," I say .
"Right," Burke agrees, "but we can't really afford to slow down that much . "
"Not to mention," breaks in Sloan, "that we still don't know how they were tracking us once we ceased using our pheromones . Without that knowledge, it's impossible for us to be certain we can't be followed . "
"Have either of the prisoners said anything?" I ask .
"Nothing!" declares Leeroy . "They won't even fight with me!"
"What about the two new Golgari you brought back with you?" Burke asks .
"How do you even know about that already?"
"I have my sources, Eldest . "
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