Page 27 of Queen Takes Queen
He hopped up into a nearby tree, its limbs heavy with all kinds of birds. More crows, a dozen owls, several hawks and a million or so little ones. I had no idea what kind they were. As long as they were hungry and fast, I didn’t give a fuck what theywere.
I couldn’t see much. Even in broad daylight, my vision wasn’t as sharp as the crow’s would be. I hunted by my nose. But what the fuck did fucking ants smell like? Dirt? Fuckingbugs.
Through our queen’s bond, Nevarre shared a sort of underground map with me. The new trees above ground that Shara had grown with her blood were already impressive, but the underground network of roots was astounding. A sensitive lacy web of roots covered the entire nest now and reached at least thirty or forty feet deep. I felt the horde coming up out of the ground like an oil geyser. In fact, they smelled like some kind of chemical that reminded me of rawpetroleum.
That, I could definitely track if they tried to change course at the last moment once they realized we were ready forthem.
:Are they commanded directly by Skye?:I asked Nevarre.:Can she change the plan when she sees us ready andwaiting?:
:Unknown.:
I drew great gusts of air into my lungs, powering up my internal bellows. I wanted liquid fire, hot molten rock level heat. Crispy critters. No chance forescape.
The smell intensified. The birds all leaned closer to the ground, focused intently, ready to feast. I waited until the stench of petroleum was strong in my nostrils and the ground started to move. Then I let my hottest fire blast, lighting up the ground like an inferno with controlled, long, blasts. I wouldn’t singe the trees my queen had suffered so much to grow. My fire trickled to smoke and I shot back up into the sky, hauling in air for another strike. The birds descended immediately, swooping in to pick at the crispy ants and the live ones stillkicking.
Goddess. The ground was crawling with them. Bugs. Wings. It was definitely the stuff of nightmares. The burned ants smelled more like roasted popcornnow.
I sensed movement several feet off to the side. Nevarre’s underground map flared in my head, showing the dark mass trying to slide through roots to a new safer exit point. Heavy-duty snappers were trying to cut through roots, but it was taking time, and the roots were doing a damned fine job of lassoing ants and crushing them. Fuck. Never in a million years would I have imagined going to battle with fucking trees and random birds. I blasted the ground again, making it steam and smoke, hopefully killing them before they could even emerge, or at worst, keep them down with the viciousroots.
In our bond, Shara felt stronger, a flood of fresh energy surging through us all. Holy fuck, a new Blood.:Find theirqueen.:
The trees responded so loudly in her head that we all feltit.
Queen. Here.Danger.
One tiny ant among the horde. The trees marked her, though she looked no different as far as I could tell. She was still below ground and pushing hard toward Shara, well-insulated and surrounded by her soldiers. While the birds were busy feasting on the ants escaping to the surface, Nevarre tracked the queen ant, scratching at the ground, digging with his beak, trying to find a way down toher.
I circled back around and checked the main group of ants. The ground still teemed with bugs and birds, but the birds had them well in hand, cawing and tweeting at each other in a bedlam of excitement. They’d probably never eaten so many bugs atonce.
Nevarre felt me sweeping back toward the queen’s group and flew up out of the way, making room so I could blast the ground again. I got the top layer of her soldiers. But not the queen. Some of the group swept closer to a tree, sensing that I wouldn’t burn it. The oak had a split in its side, an ancient rotted hole that had probably made a great squirrel or raccoon nest. The ants swarmed up into that crevice, shielded from fire. Old and dry and rotted, the tree looked like a big pile of kindling. Of all the other trees in the grove, it didn’t stir as the ants crossed itsroots.
I thought it was dead, and so did the ants. Until the crevice snapped shut like a giant mouth, trapping thousands of ants in the hollowedcenter.
The ground rumbled, drawing my attention back to the group of ants making a beeline toward our queen. Shifted into the rock troll, Rik pounded the ground with massive fists, shoving layers of dirt and rock tight, smashing ants by thehundreds.
Yet the queen marchedon.
Dragons didn’t sweat, but I didn’t like how close this thing was getting to Shara. Rik didn’t either. He tore at the ground, heaving up giant pieces of sod and roots. Trying to expose the queen where either Nevarre or I could get toher.
:Blast this area again.:Rik ordered me.:Your fire won’t hurtme.:
I wasn’t so sure, but did as he told me, bathing the entire area with fire. Flames licked the ground and up his calves as he stomped and thumped the ground. Ants scrambled up his stony body, snapping uselessly at giant boulders. It looked like some kind of apocalyptic scene, with a giant monster slapping at his body and the ground, killing the ones fire didn’tconsume.
“Where’s the queen?” Rik roared aloud. “Findher.”
The trees lost track of her. That told me she had to be above the surface. Sweeping low over the ground, I scanned the heaving carpet of ants. Many were smoking or damaged, legs twitching uselessly as Rik plowed through them. But noqueen.
We were dangerously close to where Shara waited now. Too close for me to risk burning her or one of the guardingBlood.
I landed, joining Rik in smashing with my huge feet as many as Icould.
With a low rumbling roar, a gigantic grizzly lumbered over and started scooping up pawfuls of ants and eating them. Xin’s wolf materialized and he hopped and smashed ants beneath his paws, making the bear sit up and twitch his ears a moment, before scooping up another pile of ants to munch. Daire joined him, but the disgusted twist of his warcat’s mouth proclaimed that ants were not to his personaltaste.
Guillaume swung around to face the approaching threat, carefully so she didn’t slip, though she was stronger and steadier now. Head low, the hell horse scanned theground.
“She’s not dead,” Shara warned. “I can feel herclose.”
:There.:Nevarre cawed and dove straight down to the ground just feet away from ourqueen.
