Act IX

by Alexander Gordon

  *****

  Outside the carriage Clover was keeping a careful watch around the area, bow and arrow held in hand and ready to fire at a moment’s notice. The echoes of explosions and tunnel collapses continued sounding off overhead, air traveling through the cavern and nearby passageways let out a hauntingly quiet whistle, and Lucky had returned to his normal form and was grunting softly while hitched to the carriage that was still in one piece. Everything was stagnant and calm around her, something that caused Clover to grow uneasy while at the same time be thankful for another reason.

  “I really hope they don’t hold this against me,” she muttered to herself.

  After a while she looked back to see Daniel and the girls exiting the carriage, all of them taking only a few steps out of the ride before coming to a halt as they noticed the drastic change in scenery.

  “Okay,” Clover said turning to them. “Now, before you freak out-”

  “WE’RE UNDERGROUND!” Falla cried out. “Why are we underground now?”

  “Are we trapped down here?” Luna whined holding onto Daniel. “Are we trapped? I don’t want to be trapped here forever!”

  “You know what, go ahead and freak out. We did already,” Clover sighed with a shrug.

  “What the hell is this?” Alyssa demanded. “How did this happen? Where are we?”

  “Our best guess is some distance below the surface,” Kroanette said pointing up.

  “Did you drive the carriage straight down or something?” Triska asked Clover in disbelief.

  “Not straight down,” Clover pondered as she used her hand to trace how it happened in the air. The group watched her moving her hand around in winding motions while slowly lowering down before she scratched her head and looked up.

  “It was more like all over the place. First we dropped down into a tunnel, and that began to collapse around us, and then we fell down another, and then another, and then we ran for our lives from cave-ins and-”

  “Lucky, are you okay?” Alyssa called out rushing over to her horse.

  “He’s fine, Alyssa,” Kroanette assured her. “He did wonderfully with keeping the carriage from being crushed earlier.”

  “I’d like to point out I was driving the carriage,” Clover mentioned with a hand held up. “I think I did pretty well with keeping us safe.”

  “We’re all the way down here thanks to you!” Triska shouted as she marched up to the elf. Grabbing the girl by the collar she lifted her up with a frustrated glare. “Now start talking, how the hell did this happen?”

  “It was not my fault!” Clover cried out with her legs kicking around. “Like fucking hell I’m taking the blame for this! I never wanted to come down here, I’ve been trying to get us back to the surface all this time!”

  “You said ant girls did this?” Specca recalled.

  “There are ant girls down here?” Daniel asked looking around. “Where are they?”

  “She’s right over there,” Clover said pointing next to the carriage. The group looked to see the longhaired ant girl leaning against the back of the ride with her arms crossed and a curious eye on them. She blew her bangs away from her eyes and squeaked something before noticing Squeak in the group. The two stared at each other in marvel and twitching antennae, both seeming surprised to find one another.

  “Put me down,” Clover grunted as she broke free from Triska’s grip. “They’re the ones to blame for this.”

  “They brought us down here?” Daniel asked as Squeak and the red ant girl approached one another. They eyed over each other curiously then started talking back and forth in their own language, both showing signs of confusion with what they were telling each other.

  “They brought everything down here,” Clover clarified. The group turned to her questionably as she kept a close eye on the newcomer. “Those groundquakes we saw, the way everything fell into Eden like it did, that was them. They have mining tunnels all over the place out here, and they’re using some sort of bombs or something to blow the ground out from underneath. They’re destroying everything around here.”

  “Bomb?” Luna asked. “What’s a bomb?”

  “I’ve heard of such tools before,” Specca mused while the group watched Squeak and the new ant girl talking. “They’re things that explode quite violently. Imagine a ball you could hold in your hands that when is lit with fire it blows up with enough force to destroy everything around it.”

  “I’ve never heard of such a thing,” Falla mentioned.

  “That’s because they’re very rare in this region,” Specca explained. “They’re volatile and extremely dangerous, not many places you can find that are able to safely make them. I’ve only heard stories about what they are, never seen such a thing myself.”

  “They’re expensive to make and hard to find materials for,” Clover added. “Our grove tried to get our hands on some to help with clearing out an old forest for more living space. We couldn’t even afford one from the monster market.”

  “They’re that hard to get?” Daniel wondered.

  “For us,” Clover scoffed before pointing to the new ant girl. “They apparently have tons of the damn things. I mean listen to what’s happening above us.”

  The group looked up and heard booms and thunderous rumbles echoing above the cavern ceiling, the blasts now beginning to happen less frequently and sound further away.

  “Those are bombs?” Triska wondered.

  “Dozens of them,” Clover said shaking her head. “They’re using the things everywhere down here. And you saw what’s happening because of that, they’re dropping entire landscapes down into pits. It’s like they’re trying to bury all of Eden or something.”

  “But why?” Daniel asked looking back to the new ant girl. “Why are they doing this?”

  Squeak and the ant girl squeaked back and forth with one another, with the newcomer showing a determined look and firm squeaks as she seemed very adamant about something while Squeak had a troubled look on her face and was squeaking with growing concern. After a while Squeak turned to the group and tried to relay what she was told by her fellow ant girl, the group watching with blank expressions as she waved her hands around and told a very long speech explaining everything in her own language. Upon finishing the tale Squeak noticed the empty stares she was getting then slowly lowered her head in remorse as she realized not a single word got through to them.

  “You’re never going to learn, are you?” Alyssa flatly stated.

  Falla walked up to Squeak and aligned their antenna while the new ant girl looked around at the group with a slightly curious eye. As she did they noticed that she paid no extra attention to Daniel at all, or even gave him a second glance.

  “Alyssa?” Triska whispered. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t Squeak’s sisters go nuts when they saw Daniel?”

  “Yeah,” Alyssa slowly replied. “Ant girls are normally very interested in finding men, but this one seems like she couldn’t care less about a man being near her.”

  “Alright, you want to run that by one more time?” Falla dryly asked as she held Squeak’s head in the right position.

  Squeak spoke again to her while the group waited to hear what she was saying, with Falla’s expression changing to curiosity then to alarm before showing surprise as Squeak told her everything. After she finished Falla merely looked at the longhaired ant girl in silence before turning to the group.

  “What did she say, Falla?” Triska asked.

  “They’re at war,” Falla explained, with all eyes turning to the new ant girl as she nodded with a solemn expression. “Their people were attacked by monsters and their queen was threatened. They’re defending their home from invaders while trying to fight back.”

  “At war?” Triska repeated. “With who?”

  “She just said monsters. Lots and lots of monsters.”

  “That doesn’t sound good,” Luna worried.

  “How is destroying everything out here doing anything to help with that?” Al
yssa asked.

  “They’re blocking off access to their home,” Falla said with a shrug. “She said they’re collapsing all the tunnels they can while making travel on the surface towards them impossible.”

  “They’re making roadblocks. Literally,” Specca realized.

  “More like landblocks,” Alyssa said scratching her head.

  “How the hell did you get so many bombs?” Clover asked the ant girl. “I saw entire caves filled with those things earlier, where are you getting them from?”

  The ant girl squeaked at her a few times in response. The group looked to Falla who sighed as she realized she was apparently the official translator for them now.

  “I suppose I have no choice but to do this, do I?”

  “I can do it!” Luna cheered. She quickly ran up to the new ant girl and tried holding their antennae together, with ant girl squeaking and flailing her hands around to get her to stop. “Hold still, I’m going to read your mind. It’ll be really neat, we’ll be like sisters.”

  She then showed a deranged smile and started laughing like a homicidal maniac, making the ant girl squeak loudly in distress before she took off running from the butterfly who gave chase.

  “COME BACK HERE! I WANT YOU TO TALK TO ME! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

  “I think we should have Falla translate for us,” Daniel suggested, the girls nodding in agreement to that as they watched the ant girl and Luna run around them a few times. Squeak quickly jumped out and grabbed her frightened kin and started squeaking at her, presumably in an effort to calm her down, while Triska snatched Luna and held her back with the girl thrashing around laughing crazily.

  “Seriously, what happened to her?” Clover asked glancing to Falla.

  “No idea,” Falla dryly replied walking over to the now stationary yet still fearfully trembling ant girl. “Sorry about her, my sister is… special. Listen, I’m going to gently connect our antennae so I can understand you when you speak and translate for everyone here. I’m not going to hurt you, alright?”

  The new ant girl glanced to Squeak who nodded and squeaked at her then slowly relaxed her stance. Falla got in front of her and carefully aligned their antennae while Luna finally settled down in Triska’s arms.

  “How come you’re hugging me now, Triska?” she curiously asked.

  “Because someone had to,” Triska answered setting her down and lightly patting her head.

  “There,” Falla said as she held still. “That’s it. Now, could you say again how you got all those bomb things?”

  The ant girl spoke to her while glancing up to their antennae questionably. Falla listened carefully to the words she was hearing in her head then turned her eyes to Clover.

  “She said they make them in her nest.”

  “Make them?” Clover repeated. “How the fuck do they do that?”

  The ant girl squeaked again with a curious glance to Clover, with Falla listening then relaying her words.

  “She said they mine special rocks that blow up and use them in their digging. They’ve been using bombs for mining ever since she was born.”

  “Rocks that blow up?” Triska repeated in confusion.

  “You’re saying they’re just digging up bombs like it’s nothing?” Clover asked in disbelief. “It would have cost our grove all the gold we had and then some to buy just one on the market, and these girls are plucking them from the dirt like carrots?”

  “Um… I guess?” Falla said with a shrug.

  “That isn’t fair!”

  “That isn’t the point here,” Specca argued. “Clover, we have a monster race who is in trouble. This is exactly another reason why Daniel’s out here. We can help them find allies that they need right now.”

  Daniel walked up to Squeak and the ant girl, a slight smile on his face as he wanted to appear friendly yet with the way the newcomer was now glaring at him he felt as if he had done something to upset her.

  “Why is she looking at Daniel like that?” Kroanette wondered.

  “Hello,” Daniel greeted with a small wave. “My name is Daniel Sorres. Do you by chance have a name?”

  The ant girl merely blew her hair away from her eyes again, causing a slight flinch from Falla in the process, then squeaked at the butterfly with what appeared to be in derision.

  “She’s saying why is our breeding tool speaking to her at all,” Falla relayed with a worried glance at Daniel.

  “Breeding tool?” Kroanette huffed. “How dare she speak, or squeak, with such horrible-”

  “Kroanette,” Specca shushed. “You’re forgetting how ant girls typically view humans. To them men are nothing but breeding tools, remember?”

  “They’re captured and tested for use with their queen in mating dens,” Alyssa reminded the centaur. “They’re not harmed, but they’re certainly not treated like equals or anything close to that. Bluntly put, they’re prisoners.”

  Squeak shook her head and squeaked something while waving to Daniel, doing nothing to elect any interest in the new ant girl’s eyes as she kept looking straight at Falla. After a moment she squeaked a few times and then remained silent, with Falla hesitating at first before shaking her head a little.

  “I think Squeak tried to defend Daniel, but she says humans are just seed sacks in this world. Nothing more.”

  “Seed sacks?” Triska bitterly repeated.

  “That is what some monsters view humans as, remember?” Alyssa sadly reasoned.

  “It doesn’t sound like these ant girls are very friendly,” Luna said shaking her head.

  “You don’t understand,” Falla insisted at the ant girl. “Daniel’s not like-”

  The ant girl squeaked at her sternly while waving off Daniel then pointed to her with narrowed eyes and squeaked with a very stern tone.

  “I’m guessing she doesn’t like Daniel at all,” Specca worried.

  “He’s dirt to her,” Falla remorsefully conveyed. “She’s being very clear that humans are nothing but seed sacks for their kind. And those that think they’re anything but that are fools.”

  Squeak grabbed the ant girl’s shoulder and turned her to squeak loudly with obvious discontent for her words towards Daniel. The two went back and forth in what appeared to be an argument over their view of humans, with each one squeaking loudly and waving their hands around in indecipherable patterns. It wasn’t clear what they were trying to say to each other, until the new ant girl quickly punched Squeak hard across the jaw. A loud smack echoed out as Squeak spun around from the hit before dropping to the ground with a squeak.

  “Squeak!” Daniel called out as the new ant girl kicked Squeak hard in the chest. She squeaked down at her with scornful tones before kicking her in the face then stepping back, leaving Squeak slowly moving on the ground with faint squeaks of her own.

  “Don’t hurt her!” Specca yelled as she and Falla rushed over to Squeak to help the girl sit up. Her mouth was bleeding while she appeared dazed, her eyes rolling around slightly while she kept squeaking weakly with each breath she made.

  “Why did you do that?” Falla shouted at the new girl with anger. “She’s one of your sisters, isn’t she?”

  The ant girl squeaked and waved them off with a scoff before Triska grabbed her hand, yanked her closer to punch her hard in the gut, punched her across the jaw, grabbed the girl’s shoulders and yanked her down to bash her knee into the monster’s stomach, then punched her again right in the face. As the ant girl squeaked loudly while feeling the heavy hits extremely well Triska yelled out in anger before grabbing the girl by the throat and forcing her down to her knees.

  “You are done!” Triska ordered, with the ant girl staring up at her in surprise with blood dripping from her nose. “I can understand you don’t like Daniel, you don’t think humans are special at all. Fine, that’s your way of thinking so far, so I won’t hold that against you. However I will not stand for anyone hurting my family like that!”

  The ant girl squeaked with a bewildered expression before Triska h
eld a finger towards her face in a very menacing manner.

  “In case you’re wondering I’m not human either. At least not anymore. I’m a monster, just like you. So before we go any further with our discussion let me make something crystal clear to you right now. If you touch any of my family again like you just did with her I will make you regret ever being born. You are going to listen to what we have to say, you are going to keep your bigotry to yourself, and you are going to be on your best behavior in front of us and Daniel. Because if you so much as put a scratch on anyone else or refer to Daniel as a ‘seed sack’ again I’ll show you just what kind of monster I have inside of me!”

  Everyone fell quiet as Triska’s voice echoed throughout the cavern. The ant girl trembled and shakily nodded as she stared into the teen’s eyes. She wasn’t sure if it was her imagination but she almost believed they had let off a small cerulean glow from the obvious rage that had been instilled in her.

  “And for once, it’s a good thing she’s always so loud and threatening,” Specca commented.

  After a moment to somewhat calm down Triska let the ant girl go and backed up.

  “Monsters like you think so little of humans, even when there’s one risking his life trying to help you all.”

  The ant girl looked at her confusedly then saw Daniel kneeling down before Squeak and looking her over. He gently wiped the blood from her chin and tenderly held her head while smiling worriedly at her. Squeak nudged his nose with hers and squeaked weakly before he hugged her close, something that brought more confusion to the newcomer.

  “Never seen a human caring for a monster before?” Alyssa quipped. The ant girl looked to her and shook her head before all eyes turned back to Daniel holding Squeak in his arms.

  “Daniel isn’t like other humans,” Triska added, with the ant girl then looking to her curiously. “He sees us as normal girls, he can look past what’s on the outside and see what we are on the inside. He can bring out the best in monsters around him by showing them a better life, a life where they’re not blindly following their inner nature and hurting those around them.”