For the next twenty four hours all mandibles were placed into work teams and we worked like only insects can to prepare ourselves for the inevitable retribution that would come. As of this moment, the termites, and by extension the kaarmodo, don't know that we've arrived, not a single termite came into contact with an ant and lived to tell the tale, but they had to know something was up. Several thousand termites had been killed all up, not a single one who'd been sent out to raid the tree yesterday had gone back to the nest. There would be reprisals, no doubt about it.
This added a new dynamic to the termite/ant conflict. In my mind, it was always the ant who was the aggressor. Termites were basically peaceful creatures who cultivated fungus and herbivores who broke down the sugars in wood to survive. Ants on the other hand are marauding killers who butcher other insects for food, killing more arthropods than anything else on the planet, even humans. There are even places in the world where ants are welcomed by farmers since they know the ants will find and kill every other insect they can get their mandibles on.
In this case, it's the termites who are coming to us.
Eventually we'll turn the tables on them, but not yet. For now, we bunker up as if this were a nest. For my part, I immerse myself into the zen of digging, sinking into a realm of peace that even the meditation skill cannot bring.
I am one with the soil.
The soil is one with the planet.
The planet is one with the universe.
All there is, all there was, and all there will ever be, is to dig, one mandible load of soil at a time.
The calming sense of purpose and oneness that comes from a good dig is a welcome relief from the chaos and turbulence of the last few weeks. Fighting giant lizards and demons? Why the hell have I been doing that? I could have been digging this whole time!
Alas, it's too good to last.
"Enemy spotted! Enemy spotted! Termites are advancing on the fortifications! Prepare for contact!"
A scout rushes through the section of tunnel I've been working in surrounded by my siblings, Tiny, Invidia and Crinis, blasting her warning pheromones at full power. The response is immediate, ants stop their work and scurry back toward the safety of the more established defensive line. Mages cease their work compressing and fortifying the soil and rock and join the rush, a huge train of Colony members flooding back from the work sites here and further out. I wait, holding myself to the side as the rush of my siblings continues to pass by. Only when the numbers begin to ease do I join in, positioning myself toward the back of the retreat.
"Any idea how far back they are?" I ask a nearby soldier.
"Not sure, but I don't think it's that far. The outer line of scouts was only positioned a few hundred metres past the furthest earthworks."
"So we likely don't have much time before they're here."
"I hope not. I'm ready to fight."
"Settle down there, soldier," I caution her, "this is an opponent we can't afford to underestimate."
"… your mandibles are twitching, Eldest."
Dammit!
"I can't help it! Just keep running!"
Indeed, I can see it in all the ants around me as well, the hunger for battle has awoken in them and they won't be able to rest until they've met the termite in battle and annihilated the enemy. Exactly the same as me. Eventually the tunnel merges with another, then another, widening as it goes, the streams of ants merging into a mighty river of insect rage that eventually emerges into an opening on the edge of the main roots. The Mother Tree has been hard at work assisting us, withdrawing her gardens from the front line and helping to position the roots she can move in ways that don't inhibit our work. The result is the beginnings of an ant fortress, a mighty wall atop of which an entire army of my siblings can position themselves to rain death down on the foe.
Without wasting time the workers and I follow the scent trails to get into position for the battle to come.
"Eldest!" a scent reaches me. "Eldest! This way!"
"Advant? What's the story?"
It's difficult to make out individual smells in the crush of ants and overpowering wave of war pheromones wafting through the air.
"There's a spot for you up here!" the soldier blasts at me from nearby. "The generals want you in the centre of the wall!"
"Right!"
[Come on guys, time to roll!]
Given some direction, my companions and I rocket up the wall, Invidia fluttering his miniature wings while the rest of us climb, until we reach the top. Positioned directly in the middle of the wall, I'm surrounded on all sides by ten thousand of my siblings, ready to face off against the invading termites. The energy in the air is electric and up and down the line the uncontrolled snapping of mandibles rings out in a staccato rhythm, the ants unable to control their jaws, so desperate are they for the battle to begin.
What we had so far was just a taste, just a tiny serving of what this war will be. A few hundred termites at a time is nothing! Just the appetizer! No. Bring on the uncountable hordes! Bring wave upon wave of the enemy to crash against our bulwark! Create a fire in which the Colony can be tempered into a machine of war! This hunger has to be satisfied!
In mere minutes, the construction sites have been emptied and the full contingent of the Colony has been amassed here, not a single member absent. Apart from the uncontrolled snapping of jaws, complete silence falls over the line. No sound, no scent, only the tense wait for the first sign of the foe.
It starts slowly at first, a bare whisper, a scrape, the faint tik-tak of claws on compacted ground, but it quickly swells as that same sound is repeated hundreds, then thousands of times. The repeated clacking builds into a crescendo until it almost becomes a roar, echoing through the tunnels like an oncoming tidal wave. The ants around me are practically vibrating, not from fear, but excitement. Come to think of it, Tiny is as well.
Then comes the first sighting, an antenna, darting left and right, followed by the head, those shrunken, useless eyes and long, elongated mandibles emerging into the light. Only two hundred metres across open ground, more and more termites emerge from multiple tunnels, creeping forward, snapping their jaws in our direction, and still more come, the tunnels behind them packed with reinforcements.
They brought a good number this time. Hopefully they can put up a fight!
"For the Colony!" I roar.
"FOR THE COLONY!"
Battle is joined.