In the moonlight, I thought I might have a slight advantage. If Mo was telling the truth, the ‘Mites had no vision, and relied completely on smell to navigate. They were so good at it that I never suspected they couldn’t see. And I had no idea what had changed inside me that I could smell things I never had before, but it must have had something to do with sharing the Queen’s blood. Was my sense of smell as strong as theirs now? No idea, but in the moonlight, I had a gray, dim vision.
I almost wished I didn’t. Soldiers rushed at me from both sides and behind, pouring out of the Hive. I had a small head start, but Soldiers could skitter on their six hind legs faster than I could run on two. In a flat-out footrace, I was outclassed. And there was nowhere to hide. As the algae dried and cracked, the Blue Queen’s angry purple scent filled the night. Every ‘Mite for miles would know where she was.
The ground was rocky as I crested the hillside and flew down toward the grassland. My lungs burned with the effort, and the Queen’s anger at being bounced around was making me nauseous.
You’re a fool. You’ve doomed her.
I risked a peek over my shoulder. Soldiers everywhere, and in front of the pack, the two Diggers that had been the first to realize what I was smuggling under my tunic. They ran faster than I ever thought Diggers could run, outpacing even the Soldiers.
They feel it. She calls to them.
I stumbled at the bottom of the hill and caught my footing, rushing out onto the grassland. Here and there, pockets of trees and brush stood out as black spots in the dim light. Could I possibly hide in one of them?
The smell of water drew me to the left. A large copse of trees was a shadow straight ahead of me. I bolted for it, though I knew nothing there could possibly hide the Queen’s scent, or the trail my footsteps were leaving as I ran. When I reached the little patch of plant life, I pulled up short.
Through a small crack in the ground came the smell of fresh water. I was above one of the many cracks that let light into the underground rivers. This was not a section I had ever dived in before, but there was no doubt that below me was a branch of the river.
The two Diggers crashed into the bushes.
“Dig! Help Queen!” I clicked at them, praying they were among the ‘Mites that understood the language.
They paused for a moment, then tore into the rocks at my feet with their huge claws. Dirt and stones flew as they worked in a fever, spurred by the urgency in my tone. I had no idea what they were thinking. They couldn’t see me. Did they think the order came from the Blue Queen? Did they realize she was just a larva, not even pupated yet? Did it matter?
Soldiers pounded toward us and the crack at my feet widened. Far below, the sound of the rushing water flowed by, echoing in what must be a large, open cavern under this thin ceiling of rock. The hole was almost large enough for me to slip into, but it had to be big enough that the Queen on my belly wouldn’t be scraped off as I squeezed through.
“Hurry! Fast! Help Queen!”
They dug with a frenzy.
As the first Soldier burst into the brush, tail raised to strike, I shoved the Diggers out of my way and jammed my legs into the hole. I turned so that the largest opening was at my front, and pulled myself downward through the narrow crack, rocks scraping skin from my sides. My feet hung over nothing and I shimmied my shoulders down through the hole.
Almost there. We’re going to make it.
My tunic snagged on a sharp rock and pulled over my head.
I dangled there, hung by the cloth, twisting and kicking to free myself. My left arm was stuck in the hole and I couldn’t break free.
One of the Diggers grabbed at me. Did it think it could save me and pull me up? Its sharp claw tore the tunic away from the rock, and I fell.
Images flashed through my mind as I plunged into darkness.
Some of the larger rock caverns were just openings from the river straight up to the ceiling, with plain rock walls and nothing but water underneath. Others had small beaches where the rock curved down to the water’s edge, leaving a flat, solid surface on which plant life thrived. I had no idea which kind of cavern this was. If it was the first kind, I was about to splash into freezing water.
If it was the second, I was about to crush all my bones on the rocky ledge next to the river’s flow.
My brain processed this in an instant’s panic as the light from above dwindled in my vision.
The water hit me almost as hard as rocks would have. All my breath was stolen as the icy splash pounded into my back. My arms were wrapped around the Queen, and I plunged into black water. How deep? Was I about to impale myself on the jagged bottom? I kicked hard for the surface.
The river moved fast here, and as my head broke from the water, my back slammed into a jut of rock. The current held me fast and I scrambled to keep my head above water. I was still in the large, open cavern.
And the Diggers were still digging.
Whether they were trying to get to the Queen for their own reasons, or acting at the behest of the Soldiers, I didn’t know or care. In the moments that I clawed at the rocks around me, gasping for painful breaths, more and more moonlight streamed into the hole.
Shadows covered it, and suddenly it was raining Soldiers.
They dropped into the cavern, heedless of the fact that they couldn’t swim. I darted to the side as the first two were pulled past me, staying out of range of their stingers, carried in the current. More and more piled in, and as they fell, they bounced off each other. There was enough light now to see that the rock I was hanging onto was an outcropping from one of those flat ledges.
Soldiers scrambled out of the water, up onto the ledge and rushed toward me.
I didn’t dare just let go and flow with the current. The water downstream was clogged with drowning Soldiers.
“We have to swim. Hang on,” I murmured to the Queen on my belly. Without the tunic to support her, only the grasp of her mouth on my skin kept her from being swept away. I wanted to hold onto her body, but I would need both hands to get us out of this chamber.
I ducked under the water and swam for our lives. The river was narrow here, water rushing right at me, and as I kicked under the open patch of moonlight, a Soldier dropped into the water right on top of me. Its legs grasped at me and I kicked it away, waiting for the sting that would end this pathetic rescue. But the Soldier’s grip let go, and it tumbled away behind me.
Swim. Swim like never before.
The cavern ended in a black tunnel where the river flowed in. Somewhere up ahead would be another cavern like this one, or an air hole crack to the surface. How far was it? No way to tell.
At the upstream edge, I grabbed onto a lip of rock and took a huge breath, sides heaving with pain.
I submerged into the black tunnel, and kicked into the darkness.