by Randi Darren
Chuckling to himself, Vince started walking over to his horse. He was glad they got along so well. Sometimes maybe a little too well. He feared the day they teamed up against him.
Night had fallen quickly without Vince noticing. A good number of creatures and Wasters were crepuscular. Active at dawn and dusk. Having been on high alert for dusk, the change to night had been almost sudden to him.
Now that the light had faded, the list of suspects had narrowed considerably. That or they were waiting at the wrong farm. There was always the possibility that Bellevue wouldn’t get a visitor this night.
They’d baited the trap fairly well, though. Vince had convinced the farmer to leave out a cow as if it had escaped. To not be on guard or have guards out. To act as if everything were on a lower alert status but normal.
He’d even covered the assumptive cost that the animal would be lost and paid out in standards.
Vince was looking to collect his money back. The margin on this trip would be considerably smaller if he had to pay for the damn cow.
Fes shifted irritably, her hands opening and closing twice. Meliae opened one eye, then closed it again after realizing nothing had changed. Vince shook his head and kept himself aware as best as he could.
“This is stupid. There’s no guarantee it’ll even happen,” Fes muttered. Again.
Vince didn’t respond and instead only nodded his head. She knew what his answer would be. He didn’t feel the need to voice it again.
Looking off towards the plains, he swept his gaze in one direction, then the other. His ability to see at night gave him a leg up. A big one.
Not too many humanoid species had developed night vision.
The few that had weren’t the likely culprits here.
Then again, this is the outlier. Probably a wolf or something stupid. More likely—
A shadow flew towards him and his group. It’d simply popped up out of nowhere from a roll in the land he hadn’t noticed. They had maybe ten seconds.
It was big. Big as a Centaur, if not bigger.
“Scatter!” Vince hissed, drawing his saber.
Meliae scurried off towards his right as Fes unsheathed her blade and took several steps to the left.
Armored, armed, and with a height that fluctuated somewhere between five feet to seven feet, Vince couldn’t figure it out.
It wasn’t until it was practically on top of him that he realized what it was. It had antennae and a human torso atop an ant’s body.
A soldier ant, no less. A damn Waster soldier ant wandering around in a field.
The breastplate was flat and colorless, matching the color of the ant’s abdomen. The head was covered in a helmet that covered everything and had two holes for the antennae. Shoulders, arms, and hands were also covered.
He’d have to work hard to get his saber through the armor. Really hard. Or find a joint.
Then the ant was on him, thrusting forward with a spear it had kept close to its side.
Flicking his saber to the side, he deflected the spear and sidestepped the charging ant soldier.
Spinning damn near in place, it turned and slashed at him with the spear.
Dodging the strike with only inches to spare, Vince closed in on the bastard. Looking to lop off an arm and end this quickly, he whipped his saber in a horizontal slash at the hand holding the spear.
Only to have it deflected by said spear.
Then the soldier ant leapt backwards, revealing Fes charging towards its last location.
“Damn him, I’ll kill him!” Fes shouted turning to chase after the soldier.
Vince flanked out to the side of the ant, keeping his saber low and out in front of himself.
Reaching behind himself towards his abdomen, the ant dropped his spear into what looked like a holding cradle strapped to its body. Then withdrew a different weapon.
Fes was on him in a heartbeat, spinning her large blade in a wickedly fast slash.
The ant deflected it lightly and lashed out with a counter. Fes blocked it head on and stared up into the helmeted face.
Two scythe-like mandibles slid out of the helmet.
Realizing what was happening, Vince sprinted forward.
He knew the outcome, though, if he failed. The ant would bite Fes, effectively locking her in place. Then Fes would die, because that was when the stinger would come from below.
A normal every day, ant’s poison wouldn’t kill. Painful, to be sure, but not lethal.
But a Waster ant? A Waster soldier ant? If that stinger landed, it’d be death.
The mandibles came down, snatching Fes’s shoulder, and the abdomen of the ant curled slightly. Then the soldier started to stretch its six legs, giving it additional height and room to spear Fes with its stinger.
As the abdomen shot forward, Vince managed to wedge himself between it and Fes. It slammed into him with the force of a horse’s kick. The stinger embedded itself in his side and he felt the venom as it was injected.
Fes freed herself from the ant’s bite with a blow from her hilt, the mandibles vanishing back inside the helmet. Stumbling backwards, the soldier’s stinger withdrew.
Standing up and charging forward, Vince slashed left, then right. Parrying both attacks, the ant focused in on him even as it was pushed backwards under his attacks.
Vince felt his heart hammer in his chest as the poison flooded his system.
Snarling, Vince went aggressively on the attack. Slashing, thrusting, and slicing at the ant, he kept it moving back.
He had to admit that the soldier was skilled. Very skilled. Vince was only a fraction faster, though the ant was considerably stronger.
Catching a lucky break, the soldier mistimed a parry by only a millisecond. It gave Vince a chance to slap the blade clean out of the soldier’s hand.
The soldier leapt towards his weapon as it bounced over the grass. Vince followed and lunged forward, looking to drive his blade into its abdomen.
As if sensing his attack, the ant sidestepped and surrendered its chance to regain its blade. Instead, it pulled its spear back out and went on the defensive.
Using the spear as a prod, it kept Vince out of reach while continuously retreating.
“Why aren’t you dead?” asked the soldier, his voice deep and hollow sounding from inside his helmet. There was a strange quality to the voice, like the words were being forced through a mouth wired shut.
“Welcome to your nightmare,” Vince said with a grin, and swiped at the spear.
Fes and Meliae were trailing along the sides and a bit to the rear. They were trying to outflank the soldier, but the constant movement made the maneuver take longer and longer.
One of the antennae bobbed once, the other oddly still and hanging limp.
“This one yields,” said the soldier. In one motion, it stabbed its spear into the ground and then held up its hands. With a slow motion, it lowered itself down to a height equal to Vince’s.
“What?” Vince demanded in a heavy breath, his saber hovering point first in front of him.
“This one yields.”
“I heard you the first time,” Vince growled out, unsure.
“Then why do you ask for clarification?”
“I… because.” Vince shook his head, his anger and adrenaline rapidly cooling.
“Because why?” the soldier asked. It settled itself down on the grass completely, its head now barely reaching five feet.
“Because you don’t just yield after trying to kill me,” Vince declared.
In his head, it had sounded better before he said it.
“This one tried. Failed. This one yields.”
Fes came stomping nearby, her sword held at her side and ready to be swung around.
“Fes… hold. He yields. I guess,” Vince said. Not quite willing to accept it, he kept his sword out.
Soft footsteps came up behind him. A soft hum of curiosity announced the person behind him as Meliae. “Yield? I don’t understand.”
; “Nor I, but… here we are.”
“This one yields.”
“So you’ve said. What… what were you doing out here?” Vince asked, licking his lips.
“Hunting.”
“Hunting? The cow?” That didn’t seem quite right to him. A soldier ant was a ferocious thing that could tackle and eat a bear.
“Yes.”
“Why a cow? That seems… below the worth of a soldier ant.”
“One antenna is damaged. This one’s ability to stalk, hunt, and track are… poor due to this,” droned the soldier.
Vince digested that bit of information. Things started to make a bit more sense to him. He’d noticed that one antenna hadn’t moved much.
Ants relied on them a great deal. It helped them scent out other ants, the situation, and those around them.
That was the least of what he could attribute to it. Based on what he was hearing now and what he’d seen, it sounded like they did considerably more.
“Don’t you have a nest? Couldn’t they patch you up? Pretty far afield for a single soldier ant,” Vince said. Lowering his saber to his side, he watched the soldier intently.
“Dead.”
“Dead? An ant colony? I’ve seen several. They’re not easy to exterminate.”
“Dead. Flood. Collapsed many tunnels. Elves came. Killed all remaining and the queen.”
“Clearly not all. You’re here,” Meliae said, stepping up beside Vince. She had her staff out in front of her, the iron shod tip pointed towards the ant.
“Ordered to live. This one lives. This one yields to you. Likely you will kill this one. Order met, loss in battle. Death. Duty met.”
Vince thought on that one. He was sure to the soldier it made sense.
To him, it didn’t.
Then again, a few months ago, I’d have already killed him and moved on.
He could order it away and to harm no other humans. If it swore an oath, he’d believe it. They were notoriously rigid on duty and honor.
Such an oath would be a bit of a death sentence, though. A soldier in this condition without a nest wasn’t likely to survive.
What if I order him to follow me instead?
This would be the test, then, he supposed. He couldn’t stand the thought of putting a collar around the soldier. It would stand against everything Vince believed in. Even when he’d simply killed Wasters, he’d never liked the idea of enslaving them.
The alternative was again a death sentence.
“As the one who defeated you, what if I requested you to serve me?” Vince queried.
“This one would serve you who should be dead.”
“What, your venom? There’s very little in the way of poisons or venoms that would actually bother me. I’m sure I’ll get a pretty bad case of hives and a rash in a bit, but… that’s beside the point.” Vince sheathed his sword and shook out his arms and shoulders.
“You are skilled,” said the soldier ant.
“That tends to be the case when you practice often and live by your sword. Meliae, can you fix his antenna?” Vince asked the Dryad, turning his head to the side to regard her.
“Easily, but… is this wise?”
Vince turned back to the soldier ant.
“I would have you serve me. That, or I’ll grant you mercy and send you on your way east, demanding that you trouble humans no more. I’ll have your decision. Now,” Vince demanded.
The ant’s hands slowly fell to his side, the head bowing under an unforeseen weight.
Its options were clear and simple.
“This one will serve you loyally in whatever way you deem fit,” whispered the ant.
“Glad to hear that. I’d rather not send you to what I consider a death sentence so… that’s a load off my mind.”
He meant it, too. It’d be nothing short of having taken the soldier’s life himself.
“Take your helmet off so Meliae here can fix your antenna. Can’t have you working at fifty percent. What’s your name, by the way?” Vince gestured at the ant with one hand.
Reaching up the ant soldier pulled off his helmet and wedged it under his armpit.
Her armpit.
“This one is Petra, master,” said the female ant soldier.
Blonde hair cut short stuck out in nearly every direction. Plastered with sweat and tangled from the helmet, it looked like threshed wheat.
Human-looking eyes watched him, haunted and a little glazed over.
Crystalline blue in color and utterly unreadable. Her face was remarkably human. She wouldn’t be called pretty or beautiful by anyone anytime soon. She was no Meliae.
Her lips were slightly parted, her face slack and her eyes partially lidded.
Before anyone could say or do anything further, Meliae had stepped up and laid a hand on the damaged antenna. They came out from the soldier’s temples, and this one hung low across her brow.
Several seconds later and the antenna started moving again.
The lack of focus in Petra’s eyes cleared up as the antenna raised to the height of the other. Her brow smoothed and her lips pressed together in the barest of smiles.
Huh. She’s cute when she doesn’t look like a wax statue.
“Are you his servant?” Petra asked, her head swinging towards Meliae, the antennae dipping twice at her.
“Second wife, actually. Fes, the Orc over there, is his first,” replied the Dryad, pointing to the warrior.
The blonde head turned around to regard the Orc. Blue eyes scrutinized and picked apart the Orc rapidly. In return, Fes gave Petra a smile that bordered on a sneer.
Petra dismissed her almost as quickly as she’d put her focus on her. Petra turned her head back to Vince.
“What would be your will at this time?” asked Petra.
Vince took a moment to collect his thoughts before responding.
“We’re on a Ranger contract right now to stop the attacks here in the farmlands. How long have you been out here?”
“This one has been here for two weeks.”
Vince nodded and scratched at his jaw. That left everything still up in the air with the other livestock deaths.
“Alright. We’ll camp out for the night,” Vince said, nodding his head. Turning to Meliae, he gave her a small smile. “Meliae, be a dear, would you please give me your collar? We didn’t bring any extra. You’re the one most likely to be confused with a human in comparison to Fes and Petra.”
Meliae gave him a grin in return. “Oh? Does that mean I get to play the human wife accompanying her dashing Ranger husband? Perhaps I hail from an exotic location in the far northeast?”
Reaching up, she unbuckled her collar and then held it out to Vince.
Taking it from her hands, he turned to Petra again.
The soldier ant regarded him with a strange countenance.
Ignoring that, Vince stepped in close. With a few deft movements, and explaining as he went, he fitted the collar around her throat.
Lifting it once, he let it fall into a normal position.
“Keep it on whenever we’re out and about. You can pull it off when we’re at home,” Vince clarified, stepping back from the soldier ant.
“This is a fake collar?” Petra asked, one hand raising to touch the item in question.
“No, it’s a real collar. I’ve depowered it, though,” Vince explained absently. “This location is good enough for a campsite,” Vince said, looking around them.
Petra nodded at that.
“This one will collect her gear. After that, this one will be ready to serve her master,” Petra said. Her legs extended and she powered straight upwards.
Vince had to look up at her as she now stood six and a half feet tall. Petra then clapped her helmet back onto her head.
Skirting around him, Petra quickly picked up speed and was off and moving away from them.
“Interesting. I hear that they have human anatomy downstairs as well,” Meliae murmured. Vince looked over to her to catch a smile spre
ading over her face.
“Should kill her,” Fes muttered.
Vince sighed and pressed a hand to the back of his neck.
Fes hadn’t beaten Petra. If anything, she’d lost to her. Lost to her and Vince had put himself in a position to cover for her failure. He didn’t have to think very hard on the fact that Fes probably felt angry at the situation.
He could only imagine the soldier ant being female would complicate things further.
“I wonder if it’s true. Do be a dear, husband, and let me know if you find out,” Meliae said with a humming noise. She lifted her staff up and lightly prodded his lower abdomen.
Fes’s face cleared up a fraction, her eyes becoming thoughtful.
Dismissing all of it, Vince took a seat on the grass right there. Most of their gear was stabled with the horses in the farm owner’s barn.
Which meant they’d be sleeping under the stars with nothing but the sky for a blanket.
Vince started to scratch at his forearm, then the backs of his hands.
He was breaking out in hives.
Chapter 10
Under the light of a new day, Vince’s plan hadn’t changed.
Vince set the map down on the grass and smoothed it out. With a grunt, he settled down in front of it.
“Removing Petra from the pattern…” Vince started. He began dropping small stones on each of the locations where attacks had occurred that hadn’t been Petra. “We’re left with the following.”
Placing the final stone in place, the pattern was now very clear. Every location that had been hit was part of the Kingdom of Portland.
There wasn’t a single farm hit in the Kingdom of Washington. There were multiple farms hit right across the border, but nothing in Washington.
In fact…
“If you look at it, it’s almost as if it started at the border and worked its way south, then east, then back north,” Vince said aloud, turning his head one way and then the other.
A Waster wouldn’t care about boundaries. Nor would any normal beast.
“So?” Fes asked.
Meliae pointed at the line separating the two kingdoms. “This is the border?”
