Chrysalis

He sensed them before they came. The Shapers had been ordered to keep their senses tuned for just such an ambush, but the ants were getting clever. They must have placed dampeners or some other form of mana suppression in the tunnels, which meant he didn't have a whole lot of time once he detected the tell-tale signs through the ground.

"Contact!" Granin hollered, "beneath! Above! And in the damn walls!"

His voice didn't carry far above the din, but enough heard him to make a difference.

Shields went up, exploding with shimmering light that expanded to cover the golgari force on the flanks even as Shapers wove together shields. Flares of light arrowed from mage’s hands into the rock around the tunnel, bringing points of illumination to the oppressive darkness.

What they saw wasn't pretty. From well concealed points on the walls and ceiling came a flood of insects, their antennae twitching furiously, lidless eyes staring as they launched their attack. Acid and magic came at the invaders from all sides, hammering into shields and coating them with hissing goo.

"Hold the line!" A voice roared, cutting through the noise. "Nothing here we didn't expect! Push forward! PUSH damn you!"

none of them good. Not much he could do about it now. Granin had known something like this would happen when he sent his triad away. He hoped those two kids were doing alright. More than that, he hoped Anthony was living up to the promise that

golgari hadn't spread to cover that space as

pushing his limits here. Insanity had erupted in the tunnel and there was too much to take in. Mana swirled wildly through the air as hundreds of mages drew on the energy and cast it back out in a

for a slow, grinding battle where neither side wanted to commit. At least, so far. It was only a matter of time until someone

WALL!" Came a deafening

did a double take but forced himself not to turn his attention to the front. He had his own role to play

golgari had been making slow and steady progress toward the ant fort.

trying to wear down their betters. The very idea made Balta curl his lip. The Warriors of House Balta were indefatigable! They would push forward for weeks if necessary! The battle progressed exactly as he imagined it, right up until the ants defending

at the air. From behind those behemoths came a tidal wave of insects, thousands of them, blasting

ruthlessly quashed it. A noble of the Houses wouldn't falter in the face of these damned insects! He gave the orders to hold the line and a host of huge, broad shouldered Warriors stepped forward, massive tower shields