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304. Speaking to the Colony
🕑 Added 2025-02-14 15:00:07 +0000 UTCWisp threw a spider thread up to the edge of the cliff, then climbed up, and Ike followed close behind. Mag perched at the edge of the cliff, waiting for them to climb up. They reached the top without trouble, and Ike stretched. “Well, that was weird.”
“They’re pretty weird. Probably one of the strangest mages you’ll ever encounter. They once told me they had existed since ‘before the Heavens,’ whatever that means. No one individual ant is particularly old, but the colony is ancient. Honestly, they’re probably one of the oldest mages alive today,” Wisp said.
“How does that work? If all the ants who are mages… or can be mages, die, won’t the colony… I don’t know. Lose its magehood?” Ike asked.
Wisp spread her hands. “What is magehood, but knowledge? If the colony retains the knowledge, then it retains its magehood, and they share freely within themselves. Even if all the ants die, as long as the knowledge has been passed along to the next ants, the colony remains. Or something. That’s what they told me, anyways.”
“Like if you make a nest, and then fix it up over the years, and slowly replace the old sticks with new sticks… not all at once, but one at a time, year over year—the nest is still your nest, even if it’s not made of the original sticks,” Mag offered.
Ike raised his brows. He nodded, slowly. It kind of made sense to him. Almost.
Having said his piece, Mag hopped a bit, then glanced up at Ike and Wisp. “What are we talking about?”
“Ants,” Wisp said.
Mag shuddered. “Egg-eaters. The bane of a cracked egg. I hate ants.”
Hoofbeats rushed their way. Palio drew up alongside them, straightening up as she stood out of a run. She looked at them and huffed. “Done?”
“We’ve negotiated an exchange,” Ike replied, giving her a salute. “Now, to the city!”
Palio stepped out in front of them. She drew her spear and blocked the way. “I will not allow it.”
Ike sighed. He shook his heat at Palio. “You can’t stop us. Do you really want to die?”
“I am a warrior. Unafraid of death.”
“That’s nice, and all, but sometimes you’ve gotta admit it’s futile. It’s suicide to fight us. You know it, we know it, everyone knows it. Come on, Palio. We’ve had this talk before. Don’t kill yourself for no reason,” Ike said, shaking his head.
Wisp crept away, seemingly bored. She wandered toward the forest, away from the crevasse.
Palio backed away. She stomped her back foot. “I refuse to allow you to do what you wish, just because you have some power.”
“That’s noble and all. I respect that, I do. Immensely. But Palio, come on. Face reality. We’re three Rank 3s. Not low Rank 3, either. I can probably break through within the next few months, let alone these two. You don’t stand a chance.”
Some distance behind Palio, Wisp transformed, vanishing out of sight.
“I must try. I am duty-bound,” she replied firmly. She leveled her spear at him.
Ike sighed. He shook his head. “Palio, come on. I don’t want to kill you. I have nothing against you. But if you point that spear at me, you have to know that I’m going to fight back.”
“Then fight!” Palio whirled her spear, preparing to charge.
“Hi-yah!” Wisp shouted, reappearing behind Palio. She threw a flying jump-kick into the horse’s hind quarters, pushing Palio’s rear over the edge of the crevasse. Palio’s eyes widened. She scrambled at the ground, her hooves scrabbling desperately at the bare earth. Her own weight pulled her backward, and she vanished over the cliff.
Ike raised his brows. He looked at Wisp. “Think she’ll survive the fall?”
“Ought to. You did, didn’t you? The Abyss is way deeper than this.”
Ike considered, then shrugged. Made sense to him. “We’ll come get her on the way out.”
“Or we won’t.”
“Wisp.”
“What? She’s going to attack us. You know it, I know it, we all know it. Why let her out, only to suffer?” Wisp gave him a long-suffering look.
He returned one back to her. “We can’t just leave her in there.”
“Why not?”
Ike opened his mouth, then sighed. He could already tell this argument wasn’t going to end. “Come on. We can figure this out later.”
“Kaaaay.” Wisp walked off toward the city once more.
He peered over the edge of the crevasse. Palio glared up at him from the depths, then threw. Her spear hurtled at him. Ike snatched his head back seconds before it rushed by, then grabbed the spear out of the air. Spinning it around, he tossed it casually back down to Palio. “Bye, have fun!”
“Coward! Come down here and fight me like a man!” Palio snarled.
Leaving her behind, Ike followed after Wisp. Back to the city. To figure out Brightbriar’s plans, and discover why the city was so busy, suddenly, for the colony and for themselves.
He caught up to Wisp in a few seconds and nodded at her. “Why do you think the puppets are up and in arms?”
“Cuz we’re here,” she replied proudly.
Ike gave her a look.
She shrugged. “Who knows? I mean, could be that. Could be they come alive when they sense a mage’s aura. It’s possible.”
“Yeah, it’s true… but wouldn’t they be active whenever the colony got close?” Ike pointed out.
“Maybe the puppets filter them out. After all, they’ve lived here a long time,” Wisp replied.
“I don’t know. It seems like… you know, like there’d be something else to it. They aren’t that simple, usually,” Ike commented. “Or, well, none of the puppets I’ve seen yet just sleep for a while, you know? They’re just… active.”
“Guess we’ll find out,” Wisp replied lightly.
“Guess we will.”
They walked on, retracing their steps toward the city.
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David
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PoeticSaint
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