“They are taking the wood we need for our people!” Dunther said.
“What you looking for Boy King?” asked Gib. “I say we attack them with our spring loaders and the archers. Use our tunnels to fire off some shots then retreat back down.”
“They've got powerful crossbows,” Alfred replied, looking through the glass. “There! That's what I'm looking for, the big wagon in the center.”
Alfred passed the glass to Dunther. Gib and Pep shared the other one. Looking through the glass, Dunther saw a score of wagons. One in particular, in the middle, was larger and more adorned with what appeared to be reinforced copper bands. It had a sturdier look and was nearly twice the size of the other wagons.
“Is that their war chief's wagon?”
“No, it is the Queen of the ants!” King Alfred said.
“Queen?” Dunther asked.
“Yep, and looky there!” said Pep. “They are warming up more of their wagons. They only warmed up a few of the wagons on us in the first wave.”
“The Queen controls them,” said Alfred. “When you saw the ants wave their antennae in the air, they were getting instructions from her.”
“They are controlled by a witch? Is it her?”
“No, Lord Dunther, not her, not Gorbogal. A queen ant is just a bigger ant. It controls the others. It isn't magical – well, at least not in my world. And we don't have giant ants either. I'm sure that wagon has the Queen, and she controls the ants.”
“We'll just skin up in our muddy coats again and take care of them!” Gib said, high-fiving Pep.
“I doubt that, Gib,” replied Alfred. “They'll have sent info back to her, and she may have figured out what you did. The Queen is much more intelligent than the ants.”
Dunther passed the spyglass back to Alfred, who looked through it again. He looked at Alfred and sighed, “You want to send a party in to destroy the Queen?”
Alfred put the spyglass down and looked at Dunther. “Yes.”
Dunther carried the news to Verboden below. “I shall go with you,” he said.
“It's dangerous, and we'll be exposed,” said Dunther. “If we fail, we'll die.”
“If you fail, we'll all die.”
Dunther strapped on some of the new knight’s armour, the arms and legs.
“Sorry, we haven't finished the rest,” Broggia said, clicking the well fitted steel in place. Dunther was impressed. Broggia and Boggin were busy with the gnome smiths, fixing as many spears and shields as the men, boys and gnomes brought to them. It was a busy affair. The ants had damaged many of their steel weapons. Steel holds up great against other steel, stone and wood, but against chitinous mandibles it is no match. Even the girls asked if their steel arrowheads could be sharpened on the stone wheels. The smithing hall in the Dragon's Maw was a bustling, crowded place.
Dunther noticed that many of the gnomes were scooping hot magma from the lava pool into stone pots. One looked up and noticed his stare. “Upon King Alfred's orders!” he said with a devious smile and ran off.
Hedor rushed in. “The gnomes have encountered the next wave of hormigs. The ants have definitely learned their weakness and are crushing any rocks or mud in their way. The gnomes have to carefully retreat.”
Dunther turned to Gib and Pep. “Can you lead us past the hormig attack?!”
“We'll have to!” Gib said and motioned for them to follow.
They quickly went across the stone walkway, over a temporary wooden connector to the shore. There the ants were expected to charge in again. Gnomes were placing hot magma pots and readying flammable oil bombs. Hedor and his bandits were busy along the Sanctuary’s defensive wall, getting ready for another assault.
“Fire is their weakness now,” said King Alfred. “If they come again, we use fire!”
Nubio and his Khanifian people stood alongside Alfred with weapons, torches and clay oil pots.
“Careful with those flames!” Abedeyan warned as he went up and down the lines.
Dunther, Verboden, Gib and Pep climbed up the tunnels past several mining scaffolds.
“It'd be about here,” Gib pointed up. “That wagon.”
“You ready?” said Pep, smiling as he adroitly climbed up a very small, confining rock shaft.
The gnomes had to use ropes to pull Dunther and Verboden up. Thankfully, Dunther's leg had healed, and his leg and arm pieces were well fitted. As the gnomes hoisted him up, he was able to squeeze through some claustrophobic passages.
“Hold up here,” said Pep. “We have some digging to do!”
Gib unfurled his digging tools. It was such a confining space that Dunther began to hyperventilate. He could feel the stone surfaces constricting him. After all, they were only inches from his face.
“Focus on the light, Lord Dunther, focus on the flame,” Verboden said, his voice slightly muffled since he was stuck behind him. Dunther looked up at the candle that Pep placed on a rock above him. Dirt began to sputter down, making the candle flicker and covering Dunther's eyes. Now, as dirt clods and small rocks hit and piled around his face and neck, he began to feel seriously constricted. Were they going to bury him alive here? As he wriggled, the rock walls seemed to tighten around him.
Verboden touched him and repeated encouragements to remain calm and breathe. But all Dunther could breathe was dirt as the gnomes dug upward. He wriggled to back up and kick Verboden, sweating and gritting his teeth on the edge of insanity. “I can't!”
“Hey hey, ho, ho...” a voice suddenly said. Pep cradled the rock above Dunther, looking down at him. Dunther looked up, stunned and near panic. “We've got an opening. Come quick. Shhhh...” With his gnomish strength, Pep easily tugged Dunther upward.
Dunther's head poked up. He looked about and saw charred remains of burnt charcoal around him. The air was a bit smoky. Above him was the copper bottom of a wagon. Pep pulled him out further, to lie on the muddy ground. Gib lay to one side, looking out from under the wagon.
“We just missed their tunnel,” Gib pointed to a hole next to theirs.
Dunther noticed the twisted opening under the copper wagon – the hole shredded mandibles. He stared up into the dark wagon. Goo and webbings strung across the interior. He then looked about and saw wagons being warmed and hormigs methodically exiting the bottoms. He could hear the battle going on below him. The gnomes, yelling and retreating in the tunnels below, were having a rough time as more and more ants were coming.
“Hey, Dunther, eyes here!” Pep directed, pointing his fingers at his own eyes. “This wagon was emptied. That wagon is the target.” Pep pointed past Gib to a larger wagon nearby. “We were close.”
“Close enough,” Dunther hissed through gritted teeth. He could just see the larger wheels of the wagon beyond their hiding place. He crawled through the mud and smoke next to Gib. Bugbears ran to and fro. They were warming the wagons throughout the camp. Many fires raged as bugbears tossed wood into them.
“More wood, fools! More wood! She wants them all to go!” yelled Wargog.
“Looks like their unleashing the whole nest!” Pep said.
“How do we get over there?” Dunther asked.
Verboden crawled out of the hole with nobody's help. He rolled his eyes as he struggled to get up and out by himself.
Back at the Sanctuary, King Gup yelled, “Here they come!”
Mud-skinned gnomes retreated. Some were severely hurt. The ants bit at anything that moved. This time they flailed their antennae much faster and bit fiercely at protruding stones and mounds of mud. These measures slowed their attack, but the ants’ tenacity countered the gnomes’ camouflage.
“Cut off their antennae!” yelled King Gup.
“Easier said than done!” a stone trooper yelled, doing his best.
Giant ants swarmed from the tunnels into the vast cave of the Sanctuary. One crawled over a small trench that emanated a red glow. As it passed over it, it burst into flame. Its screeching halted the others. At several other openings the same thing occurr
ed. The first ants to come through burst into flames.
Gnomes carried stone pots with hot magma in them. They hurried to the walkway, pouring lava into trenches and then retreating. Others carried small clay jars ready to toss. As ants came from tunnels, the gnomes threw the clay pots at them. The pots burst, splashing out hot magma, engulfing the ants in flames.
King Gup ran to King Alfred. “It's working, but we won't be able to craft enough clay bombs in time! And they are likely to find a way around our lava traps soon!”
“We have to hold long enough...”
Chapter Fifty-Eight: The Queen
“We wait for the signal!” Gib said.
“Another signal?” Verboden asked, crawling up to them.
“Shhhhh...” the other three replied. Verboden shook his head but remained quiet.
Suddenly, arrows flew into the encampment. Small ones hit the busy bugbears on their backs, limbs and furry necks. Yells and barks began to spread amongst them. The arrows caused a few to drop, but many more just got annoyed and pulled the painful needles from their thick furry hides.
“Form up! We're under attack!” Wargog growled. He quickly leapt onto his giant bear, which roared a furious call to arms.
More arrows flew from different directions. Bugbears formed into groups of eight – four with wall shields and four with heavy crossbows. Though beastly men, they seemed well trained in this maneuver. They were being attacked from both sides, causing a fury and frustration amongst them as they charged to and fro in their groupings.
Wargog's bear pounded near where Dunther and his fellow saboteurs were hiding. “Take the Red Claws and go after the eastern wing. Fire into the snow! Black Teeth, take your bears to the West and fire at the mounds. They're but small children! Grind them into the ground!”
The bugbear groups trotted off to their respective deployments. Wargog pulled several arrows out of himself and his bear. He growled as he charged westward.
Loranna and the girls lifted up from their snow mound coverings and fired volley after volley of arrows. Bugbears formed into many groups and advanced toward them. The arrows proved frustrating and accurate. As bugbears lowered their shields for their crossbows, they were met by flurries of arrows. They growled as they lost their aim or cringed at being pinned with needles. A few dropped dead, but most roared in anger, pulling out the arrows.
The bugbears learned quickly to keep their thick wooden shields up and fire the crossbows between them. Their shots weren't accurate or plentiful, but they exploded with force in the snow near the girls.
“Shields!” Loranna yelled.
The gnome teams quickly pulled up stone slabs for shields as the girls lined up behind them to continue their volleys. Crossbow bolts hit their mark. The initial bolts twanged off the stone shields, but it was clear that the shields would not last long. The gnomes stared wide-eyed as the thick bolts cracked their stone plaques. A gnome tapped Loranna and pointed at a crack. She nodded and continued firing. The bugbears advanced.
Volley after volley dropped a bugbear here and there. In their groups, they began forming larger units and more defensible walls. From their massive shields, the bugbears concentrated their crossbolt firing, unleashing dangerous sprays of heavy iron arrows. These blasted areas near the gnomes or girls, rupturing earth and stone.
Then, from between shield walls, Wargog charged forward on his giant bear. He was not concerned by the girls' arrows.
Loranna could see the behemoth bear and its frosty breath. “He's coming. Hurry, down!”
The girls rushed to the tunnel to get in but weren’t as quick as they needed to be. The bear's pounding charge was faster than expected.
A gnome team holding up rock shields saw that the girls were in trouble and quickly readied up their spring-loaded shooter. They fired at the bear at close range. The javelin stuck into its shoulder and made it reel around. The bear chomped angrily at the steel needle. Wargog nearly fell off but clung with his strenuous leg muscles. Then he took advantage of the momentum to leap into the air. He pulled out his giant clawed hammer and came crashing down upon the gnomes’ stone shields, shattering them into many pieces.
When he looked for his enemy, he saw only a small critter drop into a hole. He twirled his clawed hammer and brought it crashing down on the hole. It pierced deep into the tunnel, throwing rock and dirt onto Loranna and the gnomes as they dropped. Loranna screamed as she fell. She received many abrasions.
At a landing, she gathered with the other archergirls. Gnomes scurried in from the caves. They looked up at the light from the tunnel. A giant bear snout thrust in and roared into the hole. The girls and gnomes covered their ears. Some screamed at the horrifying sound. Loranna fired up, hitting the snout with a shot. The bear retracted with a whimper. The girls cheered. Then Wargog's hammer smashed into the hole again, and it became dark. The dim candle lanterns they brought filled the small space with a dim light.
“I hope it worked,” Loranna said.
“Go, go, go, go, go!” Gib yelled as they scurried on all fours out from under the smaller wagon, toward the Queen's. They quickly rolled over the trench of warming embers near the larger wagon and made it safely underneath. Within the smoking charcoal that was placed around the perimeter, they were well hidden
They breathed hard as they crawled to the center of the wagon beneath its copper bottom. Gib and Pep pulled out their pickaxes and gently tapped the underbelly.
“We've got to find the right spot along the copper, the seam or weak point,” Gib said softly. “Here it is.”
Gib and Pep quickly went to work, hammering into the seam and splitting it open. Foul black steam shot forth as they opened it. They wretched but continued working, knowing they needed to make the opening big enough for Verboden and Dunther.
Father of Light,
Give us strength, give us might.
Fill our spirits with courage,
Fill our minds with sight.
Dunther nodded to Verboden as he pulled out his sword. Gib nodded in return. Dunther crawled to the opening and climbed in. Verboden followed, pushing his small staff before him.
Light, light, staff alight!
The wagon filled with light. They saw a giant alien-like ant affixed to an incredible webbing above them. The ant was all slimy and black with a multitude of appendages and giant mandibles that folded under it. It seemed cradled like a newborn within its web of a thousand appendages. Dunther stood on the floor of the wagon, which was covered with a weaving of many insectoid growths. He looked up in amazement at the grotesque nesting. The only things that seemed to move were her antennae. There were fan shaped ones, pointed ones and ones like tentacles, all swaying in a flurry above them – in a strange dance.
“Dunther! Kill it!”
Dunther shuddered. Then he raised his sword to strike at the appendages, to bring down the giant queen. But he stopped and stood frozen. Verboden and the gnomes stared at him. He began to sweat and clench his teeth. Several antennae extended downward toward him. He turned his sword toward Verboden.
“I, I, I can't!”
“The witch is controlling him!”
Verboden raised his staff.
Father of Light give him strength,
Spirit, soul, mind, with your light!
Forsake us not! In this time of darkness!
Dunther collapsed to the floor of the wagon, nearly dropping his sword. Verboden bent to pick him up, but Dunther convulsed with determination. He shook out of it and saw Verboden struggling within his mind. Dunther saw antennae lowering toward Verboden. He quickly sliced with his sword, cutting the tips of the antennae. Verboden dropped, exhausted.
Gib and Pep tried to climb the appendages but were not as adroit on slime as they were on stone. Small ants, servant drones, came out of the webbings to grasp at the gnomes. Their mandibles were small but the perfect size for clasping gnome limbs. If the gnomes struggled, they would sever their own arms or legs.
“Dunther help!”
they cried.
He shook off dizziness and looked up. More and more of the servants crawled out from the webbings and grabbed at Dunther's limbs. Since he was well armoured, he made quick work of them, smashing and squashing.
“Mind control! You control everything, don't you, Queen!”
Dunther leapt grabbing the many appendage supports. He pulled himself up further and grabbed the Queen's cranium. His weight jerked the Queen out of her cradled comfort and shook the whole insectoid harness. She squealed as Dunther yanked himself closer and put his sword under her head.
What he saw next nearly caused him to drop. The Queen's large cranium was like a helm or mask housing a woman's face underneath. There was a woman folded inside the Queen ant's cradled limbs. Her skin and face were oily black with her eyes closed. Dunther glanced closely to and fro in disbelief. She was encased in the insectoid body. Wide-eyed Dunther saw many dancing antennae attached to the woman's greased back hair. The Queen ant was cradling this imprisoned human.
Dunther shuddered as antennae flitted over his head. He blinked into some sort of slumber state but shook out of it and shouted. “I am Lord Dunther, Royal Knight and Servant of King Alfred, Ruler of the Westfold!” With that he deftly circled his sword, severing dozens of antennae. The Queen’s insectoid body quivered. “I'll cut them all off!!” Dunther yelled. He gained strength, gritted his teeth and pulled in closer, angling his sword at the throat of the woman within. “I'll slit your throat witch! Call back your army! Now!”
The woman's eyes opened. They were glistening green.
The ants surrounding the Sanctuary began shoveling dirt over the magma trenches.
“Oh, those rascals are smart!” King Gup said.
“It's the Queen,” said King Alfred, spear in hand.
Everyone watched from the stone walls surrounding the Sanctuary isle. The stone bridge had been dismantled further. The ants would have to build long new bridges across the water to reach them. As the ants gathered in huge masses at the shores, they stopped and waited, slowly waving their antennae.
Alfred 2: And The Underworld (Alfred the Boy King) Page 35