Devon sighed, looking over the fields outside the vilge. ing up would take ages, but they had more pressing matters at hand. The Bck Tide had broken upon their defenses, but uhe was dealt with, they had only bought a little time. He turned back to the vilge auro Amilya’s home.
Along the way, Devon ran into the child he saw as he brought Niphru in. They shifted nervously for a sed before calling out, catg his attention. As Devon focused on him, he stated, “I think I guess what is going on, we aren’t safe uhe anthill is destroyed,” and with a nod from Devon, he tinued, “I think it might be worth trying to catch the queen alive. Dawn bonded with a wild fox, maybe she bond with the queen too and make it help us.”
Devon sidered this for a moment, then replied, “I am not sure if we mahat, but it is an iing idea. I will bring it up before we go, thank you for sharing it with me.”
The boy nodded his head, then ran back to the western gate where the others were still unloading the carts for evacuation that luckily hadn’t been needed.
Devon arrived at Amilya’s house, finding her outside among a crowd of vilgers. He leasantly surprised to find her holding her posure, even if it was clearly forced. Eveer, she had begun instrug everyohat they needed a force of voluo head into the woods to destroy the , saving him time expining.
As he watched, about half of the farmers volunteered before heading back to the north, presumably to gather their equipment. Three people he had learned were water mages also volunteered, nodding to him as they passed him towards the eastern gate. Amilya herself indicated she would be remaining, which he uood, but she waved him over before expining that the best hunter in the vilge was already trag down the exact location of the y and would meet them back at the remains of the forest lord they had sin.
Thanking her, Devon headed towards the eastern gate, stopping by the healer’s house to che his injured men. The one who had caught a bst of acid in the face would likely not recover his sight even with the best efforts, but the others who were only spshed were expected to recover, aside from scarring. Unfortunately, one had been too severely maimed and succumbed to their injuries in the hours since he had st visited.
After cheg their health, he headed to the barracks, finding all the men there ready to leave and willing to join in. Devht them along to the gate, finding a few farmers present with the mages, and more arriving from moment to moment. Eventually they stated everyone resent, and they headed into the forest. Due to the ck of vegetation ih the Bck Tide had taken, they made good time, unimpeded by any wildlife, as they had either fled or been ed.
Several hours ter, they arrived at the immense shell of the former forest lord, finding a woman with a sling who introduced herself as Diara. She had located the nearby, and warhem of a fair number of ants still present there, though everyone agreed it was manageable. One of his mages suggested cutting down some of the trees and using fire as a shield in case they got surrounded, which he agreed with. Those of his men with axes began to hack down some of the smaller saplings, with the rest gathering them up as the farmers kept a lookout, holding their scythes at the ready.
Once everyone repared, they followed Diara for a while before they began seeing ants roaming around. As they were spread out, there was no difficulty for the farmers in cutting them down, and they tinued forward. Eventually, they saw an immense mound of wilted foliage, rger than the forest lord had been, sitting beside a much smaller mound of dirt. As they watched, more ants arrived carrying foliage they deposited in the pile, or meat they brought into the anthill.
Ants began closing in from every dire as they approached, and his men began tossing down the saplings. The mage who had suggested the idea walked around the perimeter igniting eae as he passed by. While everyone was stopped, Devht up the idea to capture the queen ant, finding no major opposition, especially when he mentioned only attempting it if they could do so safely.
Finding everyone in agreement, they began advang towards the , throwing down more saplings to the sides as they went, the fire spreading to them from behind. Ohey actually reached the hive, there were hundreds of ants surrounding them from all dires. The fire proved to be a great idea, as it restricted the ants to only approag from the front, allowing the farmers to effortlessly cleave through the swarm while any that attempted to bypass them simply burned.
Having arrived at the anthill, the st saplings were used t around it, preventiurning ants from approag. The warriors then switched to their clubs and stood guard as the farmers ged from scythes to shovels and began digging up the y, occasionally beating the warriors as an ant emerged, spttering it with the head of a shovel.
Nearly half an hour ter, the fire went out, ants swarming them from all dires. Half the farmers switched back to their scythes, rotating in shifts to defend the others. Eventually one of those shoveling shouted, spotting an oversized ant in a chamber they had just breached. Larger ants boiled out of the , only to be crushed before they could take a. Several moments ter, the majority of the ants were dead, and the chamber was fully exposed.
Devon volunteered to take the risk, jumping down and grappling with the queen. Within seds he had mao roll it over, and maintained a firm grasp on its head, keeping it from retaliating. Finding it went far easier than expected, he called several others to assist in carrying it back to the vilge. Before they left, they ighe pile of vegetation, leaving a rising pilr of smoke behind.
As they arrived back at the vilge, one of the farmers offered his barn for taining the queen, expining that they had used enough animals as bait during the attack that one barn could be pletely emptied. After depositing the queen within, two farmers remaihere to e didn’t escape, or produany ants, tossing a small amount of meat into a pile for it to e.
