They dashed straight at me.
I raised my machete and charged.
All three of the Soldiers pounded forward together while the small, unarmed King hung back. Behind me, the Diggers holding the boys cowered into the corners.
I splashed through a shallow pool right at the Soldiers. At the last moment I tucked and rolled to my right, slashing out with my machete. It sliced through a leg of the rightmost Soldier, and sent it toppling to the ground.
My shoulder was on fire where I had landed, but I scrambled to my feet. The downed Soldier was struggling in the pool as the venom from my blade made one side of it go limp. There wasn’t enough to completely immobilize it, but it scuttled in a circle, clicking with rage.
The other two split up, one coming in from each side.
I dashed to the left and scooped up the severed leg of the Soldier, flinging it right at the face of the one coming straight at me. It dodged the projectile and I jumped past it. I hoped to repeat the single-stroke victory I’d scored in the tunnel, but my blade bounced off the hard thorax and I spun around from the force. Its swinging tail just missed me as I tumbled to the ground and rolled away.
The other Soldier was right behind me, waving its sharp pincers my way. I jumped up and ran back toward the Diggers, machete arm tingling from the blow.
Two thick, furry bodies darted past me. The two seals, freed from their parasites, were drunkenly flopping away as the toxin wore off, heading for the sound of open water. The Soldier stumbled over them and crashed just behind me.
“Look out!”
I heard the voice and spun around as the Soldier slid over to me.
My machete found its home. The enemy’s head spun free from its body.
One down.
I realized that the Soldiers weren’t great fighters. There was nothing on the planet that threatened them besides other Hives, and this Hive hadn’t seen battle for decades. It ruled the land for miles. This was certainly the first time these Soldiers had ever been in a real fight.
It wasn’t mine.
The boys were regaining some movement, squirming in the Diggers’ grasp. One had obviously regained his voice and shouted to me a second ago.
“Stay there!” I yelled to them. “We’re getting you out!”
The partially paralyzed Soldier was limping toward me, and the one I’d hit in the chest dashed around to my side. I lurched away from its swinging tail and stumbled into the Digger holding Matthew. It dropped the boy and staggered to the side, spinning around between me and the attacking Soldier.
I don’t think it meant to save my life. It was probably just trying to get away. But when the Soldier’s tail swung with a lethal dose of venom, it hit the Digger square in the belly. It crumpled to the ground.
I launched myself over its back and swung at the Soldier. Its stinger was stuck in the Digger’s body and I chopped down, severing the tail. Acid venom splashed all around and hit me in the left eye.
My vision on that side dimmed and my lips felt fat and heavy.
Hurry. End it before you go down. Save the boys.
“Get out of here!” I called to the boys, but my face wouldn’t work, and what came out was garbled.
The Soldier threw its body at me. Without a stinger it couldn’t paralyze me with venom, but it was three times my weight and plated with armor. It could still kill me with a single blow.
I raised the machete before me.
The Soldier landed on me, machete impaling its chest. It thrashed, grinding my back into the hard stone floor, and was still. Its weight crushed me and I couldn’t breathe. This is it. I hope they get away.
With an agonizing shift, the dead Soldier’s weight was dragged off me. I looked up to see the remaining Digger, heavy claws grasping the dead Soldier.
It saved me!
With an enraged click, it drove a claw right at my head. I rolled away as it crashed into the floor.
Not a rescue. My Queen’s scent was overpowered by theirs. This Digger was no longer mine to command.
I grabbed for the machete and scuttled away.
The venom in my eye was already wearing off, and I blinked to clear my head.
The Soldier that was half-crippled by venom limped toward me. It was slow, but so was I. My blade connected with the legs on its good side, and it went down, tail swinging wildly, splashing up water from the warm pool.
Behind me the Digger raised its claws.
“Look out!”
A rain of glowstones knocked the Digger away. Both boys had dragged themselves around the edge of the room and were pelting the creature with anything they could grab.
Above me, the tunnels filled with scuttling sounds.
All the Diggers and Builders were crashing down the corridors. And I didn’t smell like a healthy Queen anymore.
From the chamber beyond, the enemy Queen’s red rage scent filled the room. She called to her ‘Mites with smell, and they were coming.
She was the cause of all of this.
She had lived too long. When our ships arrived from the stars, she had given the order to attack, to take our people as slaves to the Hive. Because of our labor, she’d grown huge and lived for decades, creating an empire that never should have taken over this land.
She took my childhood. She was killing my friends even now.
She had tried to kill me.
It was time for her to die.
“Get out of here. Run away to the mountains,” I said to the boys. “My people will find you.”
Leaving the angry Digger and the legless, flopping Soldier in the pool, I rushed toward the Queen’s chamber.
The small, unarmed King jumped in front of me and I kicked him away. There wasn’t a true door into the Queen’s chamber from here, but a small crack in the wall, which I slipped through.
She filled the chamber with fury. Eight legs thrashed toward me, her huge, fat tail whipping around. But it held no venom, and she couldn’t kill me with eggs.
I launched myself at her, climbing up her body. She beat me with her tail, but I hung onto my machete. Her body lurched to the side, crushing mine into the wall. A shower of dirt and grime pelted us from above and I slipped back down to her tail.
Outside the chamber, the Digger was frantically clawing at the crack I’d slipped through, trying to dig its way through to us. Great chunks of the wall crumbled to dust.
Do it. Do it now.
The Digger would be through in seconds. When it got to me, it would kill me.
I wouldn’t go alone.
Once again, I vaulted up the Queen’s back, climbing her useless, waving legs. She flung herself from side to side, but I hung on, my fury matching hers. When I reached her shoulders, I clicked to her in a language I didn’t even know if she understood.
“Dead. Now.”
One perfect swing.
The hated Slaver Queen’s head toppled from her body onto the sticky ground below.