I woke up in the bed where I had slept before. Warm furs were piled around me, and my mouth tasted like sour death. There was no way for me to tell what time of day it was. How long had I been asleep? How long had my Queen been without me?
Mo was there with a hot bowl of something that smelled warm and meaty. “You crazy fool,” he said with a smile. “You got her. You really got her.”
He put the bowl to my lips and I sucked at the strong broth. The flavor was nothing I’d ever had before, red and dark.
“Easy now.” He took the bowl away. “Take your time. No good eating it if it’s going to come right back up.”
I reached out a hand and grabbed at the bowl. He let me have some more in little sips until I’d drained it.
“Where is she?” Her scent was everywhere and I wasn’t awake enough at that moment to track it.
He chuckled. “She’s fine. Happily sucking the life out of that seal, cuddled up with all the rest of them.”
My heart twisted at that. I didn’t want her on the seal. I was her chosen vessel. My body should be nourishing her. But as I pulled the furs off me, I could see that I had nothing to give her. The red, circular welt on my belly was caved in under sunken ribs. I would have died to feed her. The seal would. Did it feel what I felt? Did the bond of blood extend into the seal that now fed her? Was it filled with the glory of her presence, or terrified as its life drained away, second by second?
“Could we get more seals?”
Mo looked at me quizzically. “We can try to trap one. Are you still hungry?”
I shook my head. “Not for me. We don’t eat them.”
He looked at the empty bowl in my hands.
Oh.
“It’s for the Queen,” I said. “And for the other larvae. If we get more seals, they don’t have to die. We could keep moving them from one to another, and let them go before they die.”
Mo shrugged. “Maybe in the future we’ll do that,” he agreed. “The one down there is pretty used up, though. I don’t think it would recover even if we pulled them all off right now.”
I nodded. The Hive was bustling with the smells of newcomers, ‘Mites drawn by her intoxicating scent. I didn’t know them. And from what I knew of the people here, they wouldn’t even realize if any of them meant her harm. I swung my legs off the pile of furs. The room swayed around me as I struggled to my feet.
Mo’s arm grabbed under my shoulders and I leaned against him. “Steady, there. You’ve got a long way to go before you’re full strength, son.”
I stumbled forward. “Need to go see her.” I looked down and realized I had no clothes on. The clothes I had left here were in a heap on the floor, and I pulled on the pants, wincing as the fabric slid over the rough scabs on my sides. “Need more food.”
Mo helped me get dressed. “She’s fine. I promise.” He held the shirt, which billowed around my skinny form.
I had to rest a few moments after the exertion of dressing. Mo sat beside me.
“It was an incredibly brave thing you did, going to get her,” he said. “Stupid, but brave.” He pulled at the hairs on his arms as he spoke. “I know you have some kind of bond with her, and that’s a good thing. But she’s not just yours. She’s the future for all of us. Every person and ‘Mite in this Hive will protect her. When she grows up, she’ll lead an army of her kind, and we’ll be part of it. All those people, your friends still stuck in that Hive? We’ll get them out once we’re strong enough. Our people will never be slaves again. She’s our Queen. All of us.”
I nodded. Of course she would. She could do anything. My Queen would be the strongest in the world. And I would fight at her side to free my friends. We figured it would take a year before we were ready. The Queen would have to grow and molt into an adult, and our tiny band would have to grow, filled with ‘Mites that would be loyal to her. Keeping her safe for all the months before our assault would take a lot of planning and moving. But Mo was sure that every move we made would draw more ‘Mites to our cause. By the time our Queen was ready to lead us, we would have an army to fight.
The Hive was empty as I picked my way down the tunnels, guided by the scent of the Queen. We need to do something about that, I thought. They’re far across the mountains, but they’ll smell her sooner or later. I barely noticed the scent of ‘Mites in the corridors over her beautiful blue smell.
When I got down to the incubation pool, it was alive with ‘Mites. There was barely room to squeeze through them.
“How long have they been here?” I wondered.
Mo chuckled from behind me. “As soon as you arrived, they started showing up. Been coming in droves all day and night. There’s thirty or forty now, mostly Diggers and the ones with the big jaws, but a couple of the Soldiers, too. It’s a motley crew, but our army is growing every minute she’s here.”
They were a ragged lot. Something was wrong with each one of them . . . missing legs, broken claws. Of course. They’re outcasts from other Hives. Broken ones that are no good to their home Hive anymore. Every one of them got my sniff test as I pushed my way through them. None smelled hostile. They were all just waiting. Hopeful. No aggression.
More would come every day. How could they not? And not a single one would get near her until I approved them.
I shoved through the last of them clustered around the pool. Hardly anything was left of the seal. The larvae had sucked it down to just skin stretched over bones. I flopped into the water next to it and laid my hand on the Queen. To my eyes, she looked the same as all the rest, only larger. But to my nose and my touch, she looked like the brightest sunlight rippling on the ocean.
“I’m here,” I whispered. “You’re safe now.”
I lay there for a while, my hand on her slick flesh. When I looked back at Mo, he was shaking his head.
“What do they do to you?” he muttered. “How do they make you slaves like that?”
My jaw clenched. “I’m not a slave.”
He raised an eyebrow. “You’re laying in the water next to a pile of maggots that are eating a half-dead seal. You’re petting the fat one and whispering love songs to her. You almost died getting her here, and you screamed and clawed at us when we pulled her off you. You would have happily laid there and died just like that seal. So tell me you’re not her slave.”
“I’m not,” I insisted. “A slave doesn’t have a choice. A slave is owned. But I’m not owned. I choose to be hers. She’s my Queen. I’m as much a part of her Hive as any of these ‘Mites.” I thought for a moment. “And they’re not really hers. Not yet. Not like I am.” I had shared her blood. The ‘Mites around her were smitten with her scent, but only I was truly part of her glorious self. The roomful of giant insects clicked and whirred. Few of them would understand our language. Only ones from the sickly Yellow Hive where all my friends were captive.
Mo shrugged, looking just like his daughter in the gesture.
Where was she? I hardly smelled any humans in the Hive.
“Where did everybody go?” I asked him.
His face fell. “I sent them all away. We have a lot of camps all over, places we go to stay away from the big Hive’s soldiers. I sent almost everybody up into the mountains in case any of the ‘Mites followed your trail here.”
Of course they would. Without a direct trail to follow, it might take them a while to patrol out to where Sunshine had waited for me. But when they did, they’d track us straight here.
“We need to go,” I said, popping up out of the water. “We need to go now.”
He shook his head. “We can’t leave them.”
I followed his gaze to the larvae.
“But they’ll be here. Probably not for a while yet, but they’ll come.”
Mo crouched next to me. ‘Mites crowded around, over and under each other, each taking a turn to be nearest the Queen. “I know. But we can’t take them. And we’ll need them to take back the big Hive.”
“No, we don’t,” I said. “We only need her. I’ll take her back on my belly.” Where she belongs. “As long as we keep her moist, it will be fine. You just keep feeding me and I can do it. I have strength enough for both of us.”
Mo stared at me for a long moment. “Lexis has been studying these bugs her whole life. She thinks there’s some kind of pheromone, some kind of bonding thing they do to keep the Hive together. How they act like one unit, and will happily die for the sake of the rest of them.” He sighed. “Whatever they use, it’s working on you, too.”
“But not you?” How could he not feel it? She was right here.
“Nope.” He ran a hand through his short gray hair. “And I don’t want to risk your life feeding her, but you might be right.” He looked around the crowded chamber. “If all these bugs found us already, the big Hive can’t be far behind.”
The Queen larva stirred. With a wet plop, she detached herself from the remains of the seal and flopped into the water. I reached for her, but she inched away from me. Using a hundred tiny appendages I hadn’t realized she possessed, she crawled out of the pool. The ‘Mites around us backed away, making a path in the direction she was traveling. She paused at the wall and reared back. Her tiny feet grabbed at the little imperfections, and she climbed. When she reached the ceiling, she stopped, hanging upside down by the hindmost feet.
As I watched with open mouth, she dangled there, wiggling. A thick, silky material oozed out of her head, and her movements propelled it all around her. Every head in the room was fixated on her progress. The scent of the silk was a warm, soft brown, like the beach at sunset.
Long moments passed. The silk flowed all around her until nothing could be seen of her inside it. As it dried from the top down, the shiny surface became dull and hard. The rest of the larvae followed her, dropping from the dead seal and creeping up the walls, spinning their own silken shells.
Finally it was finished. Eighteen hard cocoons hung from the ceiling of the chamber. All the ‘Mites relaxed as one, and my shoulders lowered.
“It’s time,” I murmured. “Now we can only wait.”
There was no moving those cocoons. I would have to be extra vigilant while my Queen transformed within it. She would rely on me to keep her safe from any threats while she was cemented to the ceiling, helpless and immobile.
“Blast it,” Mo muttered. “We’re not going anywhere until that thing hatches.”
As if I would leave her. As if I would ever stray from this room until my Queen emerged from her shell, a glorious adult ready to fight for all of us.
I smiled. “Can you bring my bedding down here? And some more food, please?”
Mo stalked away and I settled down on the hard ground underneath the cocoon to wait.