Chrysalis

The moment this Wallace guy revealed the locations of the gates, the Colony sprang into action. I could hear orders being snapped out as ants began to gather in teams, flooding away towards the fort on the outskirts of the city. Even my heart skipped a beat. This could be a major blunder! We'd anticipated the gates would be here, in the centre, and so they were, but we didn't foresee that there'd be more around the edge of the city! Almost all our forces are concentrated here for the final push! If those gates open and those Legion nutters come pouring out…

"One of us should go," I tell Mother, "those Legion soldiers are no joke, as I recall."

Though I was super weak back then. I have no idea what their relative strength would be now, realistically.

"Which of us should it be?" she asks me. "I'm willing to go where I'm most needed."

I hesitate. I need to stay here to help communicate, but I'm worried that the fort will prove to be the more dangerous of the options.

"Go to the fort," I tell her reluctantly, "as soon as I'm done here, I'll head up there as well, just in case. Make sure you take a few members of the council up there with you. If it turns serious, we'd rather have more firepower than we need than not enough."

The Queen's antennae twitch.

"What about you, child? Will you be alright here?"

I suspect she thinks I'm taking on too much here.

"Not to worry," I assure her, "I alone would be enough."

to leave and rushes to join the flow of ants marching into the distance as I focus back onto the idiot priest and the negotiations taking place with the guard

dismantle that gate as soon as possible,] I urge Beyn, [no

then maybe I'll be able to make it over to that fort in the event something

access to the gate within the next two minutes or we'll be charging over the wall and bringing it

within the wall. The people are unlikely to

less than celebratory, but I can understand what the captain is worried about. If a riot breaks out inside, where I imagine people are densely packed, then the potential for fatalities will skyrocket. I

his people can't control themselves then they become another obstacle that we'll overcome.

Beyn toughens his stance and delivers our ultimatum. Rather than sweat, flinch, or any of the other behaviours I would expect, he looks as if he's about to laugh before he turns back toward the walls. We give him

and I stand around,

think they'll let

if they know what's good for them!" Propellant

brains? Something to chew over later. Just to be careful, I task my sub-brains with whipping up another construct and preparing some gravity magic. Not

appears on the wall and waves us forward. Somewhat trepidatious, Beyn and ten of his followers lead a contingent of ants towards the gates which open wide to allow us inside. Inside we find masses of people, huddling together amongst truly elaborate buildings, terrified of the monsters that they find in their midst. The ants outside the wall move closer, increasing the pressure on those manning the

a mixture of hatred, fear and disgust. Thankfully, a great deal of that emotion is deflected toward Beyn and his robed followers. Nice save, crazy people! Taking all the heat for us! I appreciate your sacrifice. Several large buildings loom within the square but the Captain wastes no time (for

find a horde of enemy soldiers pouring through active gates, but rather three large archways, unpowered and dormant. Enchantments and runes built into the gates appear to be collecting mana and storing

be reassembled and studied back at the nest. Mission accomplished; we turn

when

Mature enough to know that us monsters had done something bad, but not enough to realise what provoking us might mean. I could see his face amongst the crowd, screwed up in anger and frustration, much like many

understand all this, it's common sense for someone who'd been human, like me, to know that a little child isn't going to

who lack my level of understanding, young and