Elves Invasion

26

He had no choice but to call to Lillian and explain what had transpired. She was tired when he contacted her. Her sickness was unraveling her at the very moment she most needed to be whole. Carrick didn’t doubt that she would live to see her plans through, though. And if she didn’t, there was always Ava.

Lillian looked through Carrick’s eyes at the door into nothing. I think they went down there, he told her. I can’t make the jump without your strength, My Lady.

I can fuel you, but once you go down there I won’t be able to reach you to give you more, Lillian replied.

Then I’ll have to be careful with what you give me, Carrick said.

Very well.

Carrick was so consumed with receiving Lillian’s strength, so focused on the fearlessness he felt as he plummeted into the darkness, that he didn’t notice the Warrior Sisters following him.

Ava staggered closer to the Queen, staring at her. Workers were shuttling up and down the Queen’s body, some of them cleaning her, while others marched to her mouthparts and away again, delivering a steady supply of royal jelly. Her gargantuan abdomen heaved, and the Queen’s human hands, claw-like with tension, gripped at the velvet pillows.

“What are you doing?” Una hissed when she saw Ava move closer.

“She’s in pain,” Ava said.

There was no way to read the Queen’s face. Her black faceted eyes held no emotion, and her mouth—a wet, tubular proboscis and waving mandibles—was downright nauseating, but still Ava could tell she was suffering. She stepped forward and took one of the Queen’s human hands as her pale abdomen heaved again.

Ava wanted to comfort her, but she didn’t think spoken words could be heard or understood. She tried to reach out to her in mindspeak and felt a distinct vibration clashing with hers. It was a harsh sensation that made Ava draw back immediately, like ice-cold water washing across a sore tooth. Ava knew what it meant, even if she’d never experienced it before. She looked at her coven, truly afraid.

“She’s someone else’s claimed,” Ava said. “A witch controls the Queen.”

“Grace,” Juliet said, needing to voice it aloud to make it real.

“If Grace controls the Queen, does that mean she controls the whole Hive?” Una asked.

“That’s a good bet,” Breakfast said, grabbing Una and pushing her back toward the bottleneck. “We need to get out of here. Now.”

Ava saw Caleb pull a pilfered steak knife out of his boot. She put out a hand to stop him. “No, don’t! If you kill her, the entire Hive will be alerted. We’ll never get out of here alive,” she said.

“Oh, we’re getting out,” Windyard said. He snatched Ava up into his arms before anyone could tell him not to and started kicking at the wax around the Queen’s belly to get into the room beyond.

“Windyard! Where are you going?” Tristan snarled.

“We’ll never be able to jump up that long drop. We have to go this way,” he snarled back.

The Queen’s belly spasmed next to Windyard’s head. Ava laid a hand on the swollen skin as she suffered through another contraction.

“Poor thing,” she whispered, torn for a moment and wanting to help.

She saw the look of distaste on Windyard’s face as he went back to kicking his way through to the next room. The rest of the coven seemed to collect themselves from their initial shock and joined him. The wax was thick and soft, and it absorbed their blows rather than shattering, making it difficult to move aside.

Ava thought for a moment that the Workers covering the Queen would attack them, but they didn’t. In fact they hardly took any notice at all, and continued on as if blinded by their single task of tending the Queen.

We may not be so lucky with the Sisters, Windyard said in mindspeak, picking up on Ava’s thoughts.

He broke through the wall of wax and put Ava down. Protect Juliet, Ava told them in mindspeak. She’s the only one besides me who can’t fight.

Breakfast, Caleb, and Una formed a circle, keeping her and Juliet in the center as they moved out. The rest of the Queen’s abdomen lay alongside them as they moved forward.

Careful, Tristan warned them all in mindspeak.

There were lines of little Workers scuttling to and from the body of the Queen on the floor and the coven had to tread gently not to step on them. The Queen’s body was at least thirty feet long and ten feet high and supported by wax buttresses that obscured the end of it.

Stop, Windyard said, raising a hand. There was movement up ahead. Windyard looked at Caleb and tilted his head. Caleb slid forward silently at Windyard’s command and melted in the shadows. A few moments passed.

I think it’s safe, Caleb said. Just move slowly.

They came forward and saw Warrior Sisters lined up at the end of the Queen’s abdomen. Ava stopped short when she saw them, and then noticed that these Sisters looked different. They had lighter bodies, wore no armor, and they didn’t carry whips; nor did they seem to see anything but the task before them. With each spasm of the Queen’s abdomen, a translucent white egg the size of a backpack dropped from her tail into the waiting arms of a Sister. After the large egg was birthed, the Sister waited with her other hand held aloft for a drizzle of tiny Worker eggs that she caught and cupped protectively to her chest before hurrying off with the whole clutch.

I think I’m going to be sick, Una said.

Steady, Windyard replied. Everyone stay calm. Act like you belong here and they probably won’t even notice us.

Windyard led them past the docile line of Sisters to one of the less-used hexagonal tunnels that led upward. The passage let out into a storage chamber that had two dozen wax sarcophaguses. As they weaved their way through them, Ava saw male bodies squirming inside. Their pale and heavily muscled limbs were twisted up with black veined wings. She was glad they all had their faces turned away.

Drones, Tristan said. Keep moving, Ro.