Chapter 679 - The Siege pt 24 (1/2)
”Something isn't right,” Sloan suddenly scented out loud.
Coolant looked askance at her sister as the two of them continued to hang outside the second gate facing the golgari invasion. She could tell the general wasn't discussing with her but thinking out loud, so she remained silent and waited.
”They've formed up, but they aren't approaching us, why is that?”
One of the two ants most central to the Colony's planning of this siege was more than a little off-put when she saw something so out of her expectations. The force from the Empire of Stone had behaved almost exactly as expected right up until they started demanding honor duels in front of the gates. With the bizarre rituals of their people disposed with, Sloan had expected the golgari to return to their expected behavior and a.s.sault the gate. They were here to exterminate her family, were they not? How was that going to be achieved if they didn't attack? They were on the clock, after all. The entire strategy that Sloan and Victor had hammered out centered on the concept of their enemies working within a limited time frame. If the wave started before they had finished their task, they would be forced to retreat. They couldn't possibly hope to stand against both the Colony and a raging Dungeon filled with desperate monsters? Surely?!
Yet before her eyes, something inexplicable was taking place. Once their leader had been collected and returned to his troops behind the first gate, the golgari had forced the gate open wider and formed ranks, their soldiers imposing in their sheer size and ma.s.s. Not wanting to be caught unprepared, the Colony had deployed their own troops, along with the human volunteers and prepared for the confrontation. Except it hadn't come. According to her understanding of the situation, it should have begun immediately, yet here they were, several minutes later, still waiting for the enemy to take a forward step.
”Perhaps they're waiting for their leader to awaken? They seem quite rigid in their authority structures,” Coolant suggested.
Sloan shook her antennae.
”They are an organised semi-military force who pride themselves on martial skills. I refuse to believe they don't have a second in command willing to issue orders to complete the mission. It would be insane to arrange the command structure in any other way. This is something else…”
The general stared, her twin compound eyes focused on the unmoving ranks of the golgari in the distance as if trying to penetrate their thoughts.
”Do you think their ranks looks thin?” she asked.
Taken by surprise by the change in topic, Coolant could only go still as she tried to a.s.sess the 'thickness' of the enemy soldiers.
”They seem well fed to me?” she said.
”And why didn't they open the gate all the way? Do you see the way it isn't fully open? They could probably fit an extra six soldiers to each rank through that gap if they pushed it open all the way. It doesn't make sense to create a choke point for their own troops there. It only makes it take longer to bring their soldiers to bear against ours. It only makes sense if there's something they don't want us to see. Something that they're hiding, out of our line of sight.”
That made a lot more sense to the mage. She was instantly more alert, scanning the distance with her mind as well as her eyes.
”You think there is some sort of super weapon back there? Something we haven't seen and can't predict?” This was one of the council's greatest fears. They were young as a people and it was certain that those races and groups that had existed for hundreds, if not thousands of years would have innumerable pieces of wisdom that the Colony just hadn't had the time to experience. They couldn't prepare for the unknown, only acknowledge that it existed.
”… No,” Sloan said, her eyes still scanning the distance.
Coolant was confused.
”Then what?” she said.
”… I think we've been betrayed.”
So saying the general turned and dashed back within the nest as if a hundred golgari soldiers were at her back.