“What are they saying?” she asked him.
“Mika,” Daemon said looking back to the map. “They’re saying The Sisterhood has already reached out as far as Trixton Pass.”
“What?” Mika exclaimed. She rushed over next to him and eyed the map before gasping in shock. Hollia and Tabitha walked over behind them and looked at the chart before showing surprise.
“Wow,” Tabitha commented.
“Oh my word,” Hollia said in awe.
“What is it?” Scay asked slithering over with the others quickly following. Everyone gathered around the map while Daemon slowly shook his head at the sight.
The chart was seen to be very detailed even with the poor lighting in the cave, showing the locations of human and monster settlements all over their region along with the outline of the ant girls’ nest. The underground monsters had tunnels laid across the entire province, spanning as far as a mere mile short of reaching Ashwood to even going right under others like Rystone and Flairwood without being known to any. The ant girls even had underground routes traveling right beneath the kingdom of Rockhelm and surrounding safe-zone where other monsters dared not traverse. In fact the only places their nest didn’t extend to were a small pocket of land to the northwest where a dark blue crown insignia was stamped, the southern mountains near Red Peak where it was obviously too difficult to tunnel into, the swamplands of Gorgmire to the southeast which wouldn’t be good for underground travel at all, and the barren wastelands to the east where the more savage monsters lived.
“They’re everywhere!” Mika cried out grabbing her hair. “Holy shit, is this right? These ant girls are- fucking hell, they’re right below Rockhelm? You’re telling me ant girls are right below the kingdom grounds? You monsters have been living beneath- you’re even under my home? My HOME?”
She stared in shock at seeing a tunnel leading directly below where a marker was set for a particular human trading post in The Outerlands. Looking around at the monsters she saw the ant girls merely watching her curiously as the hunter struggled to form any coherent words now.
“Mika,” Daemon said, earning a stunned look from the woman. “I don’t believe that’s what you should be concerned about right now.”
“What are you talking about? These monsters are everywhere in Koskaysil! They’re right under our kingdom for crying out loud! Why shouldn’t I be concerned about these ants being literally everywhere in our land?”
“Look closer, dumbass,” Rulo snorted. “Don’t you see something else that’s really wrong here?”
Mika looked closely at the chart, her eye taking notice of several large red drawn lines that appeared to be acting as barriers towards the eastern side. Some were crossed off from being further out east while those behind them had yellow lines slashed through them. One of the red dividers was near where Nibelvale once stood, something Mika’s finger slowly reached out and traced over before she glanced to the ant girls in question.
“That groundquake that swallowed us up, that was you digging out the land in these areas, wasn’t it?”
Saffron nodded and pointed to something on the map. Mika looked to it for a moment before jumping as she realized another detail about the markers. All the gashes through the region being made by the ant girls were dug out in a very specific pattern, they were all facing towards the same location that the underground monsters were trying to block off from advancing further from. Right next to where Green Haven was marked there was a very large orange circle over an area that rested against the forest. Behind the marked location was a trail of orange X’s over various locations and settlements, showing a path of destruction that had been caused by a dangerous force that the human could easily guess as to what it was.
“That’s The Sisterhood?” Mika carefully asked as she pointed to the orange marker. Saffron nodded with a squeak and looked to it with discontent along with the other ant girls.
“That’s… a big army,” Tabitha slowly concluded with a nervous frown.
“It’s the size of Rockhelm,” Hollia noted glancing to Mika. The human held a hand over her mouth as she saw the actual scale of what was coming for their kingdom soon, the size of the enemy forces when grouped together being quite significant.
“Look at all that,” Sasha said pointing to the trail of crossed off locations in The Sisterhood’s wake. “They’re like a plague rolling across the land, wiping out everything they come across like swarm.”
“Ruhelia,” Hollia mourned as she saw her homeland being among many that were ravaged by the vicious monsters.
“What are these marks for?” Tabitha asked holding a finger to a small orange dot among many others littered around the eastern side of the region. Saffron squeaked a few times and pointed around at them before Daemon nodded slowly.
“The Sisterhood has been spotted in those areas lately, either with a few wandering grunts or scouting parties that were crossing through.”
“They’re crawling all over our land,” Forrus growled.
“This can’t be right,” Mika fretted. “When was this recon performed? How current is this?”
The ant girl officers squeaked a few times before Saffron squeaked at them, the girls going back and forth pointing to several places on the map before turning to Mika and squeaking their answer.
“This is the latest info they have as of yesterday morning,” Daemon relayed. “Their scouts haven’t reported any changes since then.”
Mika shook her head as she grabbed the chart, her unblinking eye staring in disbelief at the size of the monster forces congregating in their land and also running through it.
“You might want to warn your queen,” Hollia pointed out. “If this is accurate and we’re unsuccessful with dispatching their leaders then your precious kingdom will fall under siege very soon.”
Mika anxiously looked back and forth between the markers for The Sisterhood’s location and the kingdom of Rockhelm, her eye then stopping between them to see her home having an orange dot placed right on it.
“Oh god, Max!” she cried out. “They’re… they’re already on top of my home!”
“Well, he’s dead,” Rulo simply said with a shrug.
“Maybe not,” Forrus reasoned. “As my lord explained The Sisterhood has only been spotted in that marked area, it’s just considered a danger zone given that their forces are moving through it. It isn’t crossed off like the other fallen settlements, it hasn’t been destroyed yet. You should get going now, if your brother is still alive he won’t be for long if he stays there.”
“She’s right,” Sasha agreed. “If he’s lucky their grunts haven’t come across your home yet. Get your brother out of there and take him to Rockhelm. That’s the safest place for both for you.”
“Might want to start running,” Tabitha advised. “He probably doesn’t have much time before he’s found.”
“This isn’t happening,” Mika shakily said. “The Sisterhood has been creeping around our home since yesterday? Dear lord, my brother could be seeing monsters any minute now!”
*****
“What the fuck is this horseshit?” Grace roared, the elf holding Max in a headlock while throwing a plate of salad across the kitchen into the wall with a shatter. “You’re giving me a fucking salad? I’m starving here, where’s the fucking meat in this place? You humans eat meat, don’t you? Or are you all little pussies that eat grass like stupid cows?”
“Let him go!” Lelu yelled as she tried pulling Max free, the boy coughing while struggling to pry Grace’s arm off him. “You can’t treat him like that, especially after he made you something to eat!”
“I wasn’t talking to you, cow! Go eat that green shit if you want, I want some fucking meat!”
“Cow? Cow?” Lelu shouted fuming with rage. “How dare you, you wretched little devil!”
“Maybe I should butcher you for my meal! You’ve at least got more on you than this little toothpick!”
“It was just something to start with!”
Max pleaded while being pulled fiercely between the two girls. “It’s good for you!”
“Meat! Protein! Fucking food! That’s what I want, that’s what’s good for me! Don’t you dare serve your mistress crap like a fucking salad ever again!”
“You are not his mistress!” Lelu shouted while pulling on Max, with him being held up in the air as the elf had a hold on his head while the centaur was grabbing his waist. “Let him go this instant, you’re hurting him!”
“He’ll get worse if he doesn’t make me my goddamned lunch!”
“I can’t do that if you tear my head off!” Max yelled flailing his arms around.
Grace roared like a lion as she thrashed around in her fit, with Lelu screaming as she desperately tried pulling her friend free from the enraged elf. And Max was hoping his sisters would come home soon and save him from these girls before they killed him.
*****
“I need to get to him!” Mika cried out. She looked around at the map quickly, seeing the distance between herself and where her brother was before she snarled in frustration. “It’ll take too long to get there by horse, and I don’t even have a horse anymore thanks to those bitches. Dammit!”
“Too bad you don’t have a centaur to ride like I do,” Tabitha boasted while eyeing her nails. “Beats riding a horse by far.”
“You do realize I’m not yours, right?” Hollia snapped. “If it wasn’t for you assisting my knight with collecting his key fragments I wouldn’t-”
“And saving your life,” Tabitha added while pointing to her. “Don’t forget that.”
“He saved my life!” Hollia yelled pointing to Daemon. “He’s the only one I’m trying to help, he’s the only one I want riding me!”
“Choose your words carefully,” Sasha hissed. “I don’t care for the way you said that.”
“Can you help me?” Mika blurted out. Everyone saw the hunter trembling anxiously with a frustrated look at the centaur. “Can you… get me back to Trixton Pass? You’re a centaur, you’re faster than a horse by far. Could you do that?”
“I’m sorry,” Hollia mused with a raised eyebrow. “But are you seriously asking me for help? After you applauded The Sisterhood slaughtering my family and people?”
“Please, I have to get back there now! My little brother could be killed!”
“But you were fine with my little sister dying, weren’t you?” Hollia scorned. “Yes, I believe you said my people deserved such a fate, didn’t you? My little sister deserved to die, according to you.”
“Please, I-”
“No!” Hollia sternly yelled. “I’m not running all the way to your little home through dangerous territory simply to help a monster hunter who laughed at my people’s misfortune. I won’t go so far as to say your brother deserves to die, however I’m not going to aid his callous sister no matter how much she begs.”
Mika strained to hold her scream in, the woman looking to the map then around at seeing nobody voicing any empathy for her. Shutting her eye she tried thinking of the fastest way back home, and going by foot wasn’t an option if she wanted to get to Max before any of The Sisterhood did. After a moment she quickly ran up to Hollia and pointed to her broken lance on the ground.
“Then how about a trade? You get me back home and I’ll give you a real centaur’s spear.”
“A centaur’s spear?” Hollia carefully repeated. “And how exactly did you come into possession of that? Or do I already know?”
“You wanted a genuine weapon from your homeland, right?” Mika snapped. “You need something to fight with, don’t you? I have a centaur’s spear sitting at home right now, just like the one you had. Get me to my little brother and you can have it.”
“Now you’re trying to bribe me with a weapon that you stole from my kind after having killed them?” Hollia scoffed. “Do you honestly think that makes your request any better in my eyes?”
“I can give you a centaur’s spear, do you want it or not?”
“As much as I would love to have one I’m not helping you just for that, especially when it has the blood of my kin dripping from it. I don’t care what you try to offer me, I’m not going out of my way to assist you for any reason.”
Mika held in her growl while thinking hard about what she could give them in exchange for a speedy ride home. She then glanced to Sasha and her broken blade as another offer came to mind.
“Velarite,” she said, with Sasha raising an eyebrow in question. “You need that to repair your sword, right? I have that stuff at home.”
“You have velarite?” Sasha asked skeptically.
“Plenty of it, we use it with fixing up some of the more rare weapons we come across. You can have it if you help me. Would that be enough to sweeten the deal?”
“Hardly,” Hollia argued. “Now you’re asking me to carry you and Sasha to your home and then carry her and heavy ore all the way back here. It would involve going through dangerous territory and I only run my fastest when not carrying others or rocks on my back. Besides, Sasha herself isn’t exactly light either you know.”
“What did I say earlier about choosing your words carefully?” Sasha growled with a small blush.
“What else you got?” Tabitha snickered. “I’m curious what all you could offer that you actually think we would want.”
“I’ve got gold to pay you with,” Mika snapped at her. “Isn’t that what a neko like you would want?”
“It had better be an entire wagon’s worth if you plan on paying me,” Tabitha laughed. “I don’t work for cheap after all. Especially if it’s a job from a monster hunter begging for my help.”
Mika yelled and grabbed her head while fearing her brother may be seeing monsters barging through the front door any second now. She thought quickly about what she could give anyone for a ride back while everyone watched her in silence, all the possible offers she could think of not seeming like much as she didn’t know what else these monsters would want from her. A few squeaks then broke the silence, with Mika turning to see Saffron squeaking at her with a curious expression.
“What did she say?” she asked Daemon.
“You mentioned you were a monster hunter,” Daemon relayed. “She’s curious what sort of armaments you have at your home.”
“You want weapons?” Mika asked the ant girl. Saffron squeaked and gestured around at her kin who were all watching the hunter closely.
“They’re at war with The Sisterhood,” Daemon explained. “Anything you have that can be used to kill could be useful for them.”
“We have an entire store setup with weapons and armor we’ve collected with our hunts,” Mika told Saffron. “If you have any way you can get me to Max today then you can take all that you want. Take everything if you must, just get me to my little brother before something happens to him.”
Saffron nodded then squeaked while crossing her arms.
“Deal,” Daemon said.
Mika smiled gratefully at Saffron and nodded then looked at her quizzically.
“Um, how exactly can you get me to Trixton Pass anyway?”
Saffron took the map and showed her while tracing a finger along the tunnel that was laid out underneath the human’s cottage.
“Wait, even if you do have an underground path to my home it’ll take too long to run there,” Mika pleaded. “We need to get there now, we don’t have time to go on foot.”
Saffron shook her head and squeaked while pointing to the tunnel again and again, with Mika watching her with a puzzled expression before glancing to Daemon. The swordsman listened to what the ant girl was saying then shrugged with a blank look at the hunter.
“I’m not sure what exactly she’s talking about, however it seems they have a way of traveling quickly underground. She said she can get you there in a few hours.”
“You can? Really?” Mika anxiously asked the ant girl. Saffron nodded then pointed to her with a stern squeak. She said something harshly before waving her off, with Mika now showing a nervous
frown from that.
“What… did she say that time?”
“You will surrender all your weapons and armor in your home to them,” Daemon relayed. “And you will never again draw your blade against their nest for any reason. That’s the deal.”
“You get me to my brother before it’s too late and I’ll be your in debt,” Mika pleaded. “Just please help me, I’ll do anything to protect him. I don’t give a damn about the weapons we have, I just want my little brother.”
Saffron nodded then started squeaking at her workers, all of them hopping to attention and listening to their commander while Daemon turned to Sasha and motioned her over.
“Go with them.”
“Master?” Sasha asked walking closer.
“You may as well get what you need to repair your sword with since traveling there won’t be a problem,” Daemon reasoned before glancing to Mika. “Provided what Mika said about having velarite being true.”
“She can have it,” Mika answered. “We’ve got more than enough to fix her large sword. And if it’ll help draw more blood from The Sisterhood then it’s a good investment for me.”
“I’ll be collecting my spear as well then,” Hollia insisted stepping forth. “I might as well, better in my hands than the ant girls’ or this hunter’s.”
“Fine, you can take it,” Mika quickly agreed before turning to Saffron. “Can we go then? Please, my brother may not have much time.”
Saffron nodded and squeaked at her then turned to Daemon as she squeaked a few times.
“Sasha and Hollia will accompany you so they can prepare for battle as well. Collect what you can from Mika’s home and assist with finding her brother. When you return we’ll be ready to head out for Green Haven.” He then turned to Mika who was biting her lip anxiously. “I trust when you find him you’ll leave for Rockhelm, correct?”
“Yeah,” she agreed nodding. “We’ll go warn the queen of what’s happening out here. If you’re unable to stop The Sisterhood… then we’ll give it our best shot when it’s our turn to fight them.”
Mika paused for a moment as she looked down before walking up to Daemon with a saddened smile.
Chronicles of Eden - Act X Page 47