Chapter 54: Chapter 54 Exhaustion
"Wait, what do you mean the Dwarven lands?" she cried, "I have a kingdom to run, a child to rescue, ruins to investigate! I don't have time to go travel the world!"
Bob waited for her to finish yelling, then said, "Aella, your whole kingdom has less than a weeks' worth of food left. You don't really have time to do much else."
"Less then a week? Jirga lied to me?"
"Let's just say the information given to her was embellished a little."
"If my kingdom has less than a weeks' worth of food, then I certainly don't have time to travel all the way to the Dwarven lands! I can only teleport to places I've been."
"Aella, I never said the food was in the Dwarven lands, only that I wanted you to go there in payment for the information."
She blinked a couple of times, realizing he was right. "Then when should I go?"
"Obviously, you have to rescue the little girl before she dies from the same plague that killed Alfred's little sister, but after that, I believe you would have time to go. Honestly, you should visit the ruins before you head south. Once you see them, you'll understand why."
"Alright, I'll go to the Dwarven lands and find a new spot for you; what about this food?"
He looked at her for a few minutes, then nodded. "Tell Varnin to send word through her communication network to General Brimsey that the answer to the sphinx's riddle is 4. Then he is to request that the griffons be used to transport mammoth meat to every settlement in the kingdom. When the sphinx questions his request, he is to tell it that there is a mountain to the east, that would make a perfect nesting site, and it would be left alone if it completed the request."
Aella looked unconvinced.
"Finish your drink, pay up, and head off. Otherwise the next wave of ants are going to overrun Alfred and Josephine before you get back."
Tossing the payment down, she downed the drink and teleported to the throne room. The drink hadn't managed to make its way to her stomach before she was hollering for someone.
"Your Majesty?" asked a breathless servant, almost falling over as he bowed.
"I want Varnin and Jirga now!" she yelled, waving at him to go. He didn't waste any time running off.
The two Advisors were there in record time, both still wearing their night clothes. Aella went to say something, and stopped. The sight of prim and proper Varnin with curlers and elderly Jirga in a thin nightshirt was enough to cause her to pause. With a shake she got back to business.
"Jirga, the report you gave me of the amount of food the kingdom had was wrong. Find out who lied and kill them. Varnin, contact General Brimsey at the northern mountains using your communications network. He is to tell the sphinx the answer to its riddle is 4. Then he is to request that the griffons be used to transport mammoth meat to every settlement in the kingdom. When the sphinx questions him about this request, he is to tell it about a mountain to the east that would be a perfect nesting site, and that it will be left alone if it completes the request."
Jirga had nodded, bowed, and gone to turn away when Aella mentioned the communication network. Varnin had stiffened, and was having difficult breathing as Aella finished.
"Your Majesty," managed Varnin, but Aella jumped in.
"Don't say anything, just get it done. If I find that neither of the two of you are capable of these demands, I shall send Firion to kill you in your sleep."
That caused them both to jerk. They bowed again, and beat a hasty retreat, not even looking back. Aella would find out tomorrow, when she returned for an update, what other things they were hiding from her. Teleporting to the cavern she had left the other heroes in, she arrived just as the ground began to tremble.
"We have incoming!" cried Curt, scrambling to his feet.
"Up for another fight?" asked Alfred as Aella drew her sword.
"I've caught my wind, but I'm going to demand a bath outside after we're done here."
As Alfred let out a laugh, the ants arrived, pouring into the room and heading straight for them.
Aella was tired. More tired then she could ever remember being. Even when the counselors had made her fight non-stop for two days, she hadn't felt this tired. The exhaustion dragged at her arms and legs, slowing her movements and causing her to respond slower and slower. Cutting off the head of the ant before her, she stumbled stepping back, and ended up on her butt, in some ant goo.
She wasn't even sure how long they had been fighting. She could see that Josephine was finishing off the last ones on the other side of the room, and Curt was walking among those that were missing legs and couldn't move, killing them. Alfred's light was even growing dim, as he seemed to be exhausted too.
Looking towards the tunnel this last wave had come from, she was startled to see that there were so many dead ants, the tunnel entrance was completely blocked. The exit tunnel was also completely, blocked. Aella wasn't sure she had the strength to stand up. Closing her eyes for only a moment, she woke to Alfred shaking her.
"We need to keep moving, nap times over."
She struggled to stand, and realized she must have slept more than the few minutes it felt like. Despite being sluggish, she was able to move, and picking up her sword, she had the strength to clean it and put it back in its sheath. Stumbling across the dead ant carcasses, she joined up with the others near the tunnel that continued on. Someone had moved the dead ants out of the way, and she could see it angled down. Waves of panic tried to overcome her, as she stared into the darkness, but she ignored them. There wasn't time for panic. She had to find the queen and kill it, so she could return to the surface and feel the fresh air on her face again.
"My arms and legs feel like sacks of rocks," groaned Curt, looking at her pitifully.
"Don't complain," said Alfred softly. "We're all tired and hurting. If we wait though, another wave of ants will come and overrun us. We need to get to the queen now!"
They all nodded and followed as Alfred entered the dark tunnel, holding his lit hand so they could see where they stepped. Josephine began to slip, and caught herself on the side of the tunnel, gasping when she touched the wet goo that covered it.
"They must have spit on the walls," she said, using her water abilities to clean her hand off.
"It's a type of glue they make. It will eventually harden into something tougher than rock," said Alfred, not turning back to look at her.
Ahead of them, there was another chamber opening up, and as they gazed inside, what looked like a giant maggot was laying in the middle of a very deep pit. Small ants, that were cat sized, crawled all over it, keeping it clean and feeding it, as it continually laid eggs. Those eggs were gathered by some of the small ants and carried away down another tunnel.
"Why would this tunnel go straight to the queen's chamber?" asked Aella. Even tired, she couldn't understand why they would allow such a risk.
"Probably because they didn't expect someone to be able to kill all 2 million of the worker and warrior ants that were protecting her," said Alfred, studying the steep drop carefully.
Aella opened her mouth to say something, then shut it with a nod. He had a point. If she wasn't so tired, she may have even come to that conclusion herself.
"So, we just need to kill the queen and destroy the eggs, right?" she asked.
"Right."
"Will those ants that are around her start trying to kill us once she's dead?"
"No, but the moment she's dead, it will cause any queen eggs to hatch in the nursery."
"So, we need to destroy the eggs before killing her?" asked Aella, rubbing her head where a headache was starting to form.
"We need to destroy the eggs and kill her about the same time," said Alfred with a frown. "I'm just not sure how to get down there with everyone. I can get there, with my speed ability, but I'm not sure about…"
Aella sighed and grabbed up Josephine and Curt with a grunt, then jumped off the ledge. Neither of them were expecting it, and both cried out before she slowed their descent, landing softly at the bottom. Alfred appeared next to her with a scowl.
"Next time a little warning!" he growled, turning to the tunnel where the eggs were being taken. None of the ants paid any attention to them. "I'll take Curt and Josephine to deal with the eggs. Count to fifty, then kill the queen."
Aella nodded as they left, and created a fire in her left hand so she wouldn't be in the dark. The moment they were gone, she started counting, but faltered at 23. Had she already said 23? Maybe she should start over and only count to 25? Rubbing her head, she formed a long scythe with her glove. A good nap was in order soon.
Counting to 23 again, she gave up and cut the queen in half. It didn't have a hard skin, like the other ants had, so her blade went through it like butter. None of the smaller ants seemed to notice that it was dead, continuing to clean it and gather the eggs that were sliding out of the sagging tail end. Was it really dead? Cutting it again and again, until it was a slimy mess, her weapon turned back into her glove in protest of continuing.
Why was she struggling so hard? Could she be poisoned? Wasn't she supposed to be immune to poison? What was going on?
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Sdrawkcab
Sdrawkcab So I figured out what was up with my p a t r e o n and you should all be pleased to know you can now find it under Sdrawkcabauthorwriter
Hopefully that will work!
Weekly Power Status
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