Chapter 670 - The Siege pt 16 (Patreon)

Coolant looked out from her perch next to the upper sally port of the great gate and felt nothing but confusion.

"Do you want to go tell him, or should I?" she said to Sloan who was clinging to the wall next to her.

The general shook her head, bewildered.

"I mean. They have to know, right? There's no chance that they don't know."

"I assume they know. I mean, what are the odds the two forces aren't communicating to this extent?"

"Almost none, surely. Such a lack of organisation in our foes would throw our plans way out."

"Hasn't this thrown them way out anyway?"

Sloan hesitated.

"That's… true."

The two of them looked out in silence for a few more moments at the totally unexpected scene before them.

"What do you think we should do?" Coolant asked, her scent as calm and unruffled as it always was.

"I don't know!" Sloan fretted. Why would these idiots perform this sort of moronic action now of all times? It didn't make any sense!

Once again that strange, undirected mental communication washed out over them, rippling through the ambient mana in the air and into their heads.

[Bring the reincarnated one here, or this one, a friend of that creature, will die.]

Just inside the first gate, a procession of golgari stood with one of their own forced to kneel on the ground at sword point whilst an elaborately armoured figure reclined in a chair next to him, watching all that occurred with an expression of detached boredom. Next to them a trio of mages worked together, supposedly sending out the mind magic communications.

"They have to mean the Eldest… Who else could they possibly want?" Coolant wondered with some interest.

"I have no idea, but the Eldest isn't here. There is almost a zero percent chance that they don't know that! Surely!" Sloan said. "… We have to talk to them."

"What, why?" Coolant asked. In her opinion, if one of the golgari wanted to kill another golgari for some reason, why not let them do it? One less for them to fight when they made a push for the gate.

"If the Eldest is involved, there might be some element at play that we don't understand," Sloan sighed. "Anytime something weird happens, it's usually to do with the Eldest."

Coolant could only nod to that. It was true. For whatever reason, the Eldest gobbled down trouble like a Queen taking in Biomass. The end result was something good, but the appetite appeared to be endless.

"So you want me to reach out to them?" Coolant offered. "I'll need to move a little closer, I don't think I can extend a mind bridge that far."

"I'll arrange an escort."

The general scuttled away and had a thousand ants ready to escort the mage closer to the enemy in a matter of seconds. Coolant had a thought though.

"Do you think a thousand may send the wrong message?"

"What do you mean?"

"They have a total of.." she counted quickly, "eight golgari over there. If we walk closer with a thousand, might they think they are being attacked?"

"You think a thousand is too many?" Sloan rubbed the top of her head with an antennae. A thousand didn't feel like many to her. Then again, she was an ant. "I'll send a hundred."

The mage nodded. A hundred should be fine. Shortly thereafter a procession of a hundred an one ants cautiously advanced toward the golgari delegation, ready to flee at a moment's notice. Sloan had considered things carefully and the delegation contained a healthy mix of mages, for raising shields, scouts, for detecting foul play, and soldiers, to hold the line in the event the others needed to retreat. Once they had covered half the ground toward the first gate, they very obviously stopped and parked themselves for a moment. Acting with great caution, Coolant wove together a mind bridge and extended it toward the trio of mages in the golgari party.

[I greet you on behalf of the Colony,] she started off formally, [I have come to clarify exactly what it is that you want.]

The stone-people all communicated with each other for a long moment before a reply came back.

[The reincarnated ant. We want you to bring them here so that they may duel the High Blade Balta. He wishes to expunge the shame the creature has cast upon his house with his own hand.]

Coolant was rather taken aback by this. This guy came all the way out here chasing the Eldest? For what? Some imagined insult? She couldn't possibly comprehend the meaning behind such actions, but she didn't let her confusion show. True to her name, she remained calm.

[When you refer to the 'reincarnated one', you refer to the member of our family who was captured by your people? Large? Shiny carapace?] Better to be sure.

More conferring.

[That is correct.]

Nice to have that confirmed.

[You are aware that the individual you refer to is currently engaged in fighting your allies on the other side of the nest?]

[We are.]

…

[It will be difficult to bring the one you want here to this place,] Coolant said, which was putting it mildly. There was battle going on! Did they forget that?

[We believe the reincarnate will not want this individual to perish. His name is Granin and he knew the monster we want quite well.]

In all likelihood the Eldest would not want this golgari to die. Surely not even these invaders would be so foolish as try a gambit such as this if they weren't at least somewhat competent. On the other claw, there was precious little chance the Eldest would be able to extricate themself from the battle with the Legion. Feeling somewhat deflated, Coolant bade the enemy farewell and returned to Sloan at the gate. She rapidly explained the situation to the general who pondered for a moment.

"We will need to consult those two. They might know something that can help sort this out."