Warsinger James Baldwin (read this if TXT) 📖

One by one, we went to each statue, with Karalti mimicking everything from a pure childlike cry she'd overheard in Taltos, to the deep contra-bass of a randy bull hookwing calling for his mate. When we reached Withering Rose, Suri held up a hand, cleared her throat, and let out a pure, deep, but absolutely feminine note: the contra-alto.

The six angular grates in Withering Rose's helmet flared to life, and as they did, the light gathered in each of the statues and then floated up out of them. They gathered together, forming a ball of pure white light.

“Blood of my blood.” a throaty, soft woman’s voice purred in Dakhari, raising goosebumps on the back of my arms. “If you are here, you have come seeking me and my weapons. Return the tools of Queenship to my hands, and you may pass to your final trial.”

The white ball, spitting plasma, streaked off toward the door. It splashed against the metal, but passed right through it. There was a crunch from behind us, and we turned to see a section of floor rolling back to reveal a flight of stairs leading down into the earth. A weird sound pealed out from the depths... a repetitive scraping sound that sounded like someone drawing a knife blade down rough mortar, echoed a hundred times over. Karalti winced and clamped her hands over her ears.

“What is THAT sound?” she said. “It’s awful!”

“Okay. THAT is a Boss arena.” I nodded, pulled the Spear, and took point.

Chapter 50

The sound started to resemble the sound of marching boots as we started down. It was incredibly loud - so loud that I almost didn't see the pair of glossy blue-black insects bumbling toward us down the narrow tunnel. They were lean and leggy, with triangular faces, pinched waists, and bulbous abdomens with pulsing stingers. Small wings constantly flicked along their sides, though they looked too small for them to fly. I tensed, adrenaline kicking up the pair of [Wormhunter Wasps] moseyed around... seemingly disinterested in our presence.

“Oh no,” Rin moaned. “Guys, I’m sorry: I need to nope out of this. I can’t do bees or wasps… I really can’t.”

“No worries. Disconnect for now, and we’ll call you once we’re out of here.” Suri reached for her axes.

[Rin Lu has disconnected from Party Video Chat.]

“Wait. Wormhunter?” I eased down. “You know, there's a bunch of wasps that punch above their weight in the predation department. What if these guys prey on the sandworms?”

“That might explain why there's not a million sandworms rumbling around here,” Suri said. “Kill 'em?”

“Let’s wait and see what they do. I’m not convinced they’re hostiles.”

“Want me to bioscan it?” Karalti asked.

“Go ahead.”

Wormhunter Wasp (Workers)

HP: 500/500

MP: N/A

Weak against Water

A heat-loving underground species of giant wasp. Wormhunter Wasps are so named because they prey on the grubs of Giant Sandworms, dragging paralyzed grubs into to their huge, labyrinthine hives to feed their own ravenous young. They are not usually aggressive toward humans unless attacked, but if disturbed, the larvae will call for help.

“Yeah. Let’s leave these guys alone unless we really need to not.” I stood still as one of the wasps bumped into my boot, buzzing, and felt around with its antennae before turning and tottering back down the hallway.

The corridor twisted and turned, leading us into a room that might have once been a shrine, but which was now a nursery. The scraping sound was deafening, blending with a deep bass hum. The floor, walls, and ceiling were covered in hexagonal cells made of congealed sand, about half of which were full of fat white grubs. Adult wasps crawled over the nest, frantically passing a gooey white paste into each pair of gnashing jaws. The sound was deafening, because the grubs not getting attention methodically scraped their mandibles down the sides of their cells, begging the adults to feed them. The source of the food was a single white sandworm grub, partly eaten and bound with silk to one corner of the nest.

Naturally, the lever we needed to pull was on the other side of the room, surrounded by larvae cells.

“Alright, America, it's time to play everyone's favorite game: The Floor! Is! Larvaaaa!” I jazzed my free hand in the air.

“Do we have to?” Suri surveyed the writhing room with an expression of bleak resignation.

Quite a few of the cells had soft cottony covers mounded over them, while others were sealed over with what looked like a blend of wax and sand. Small white shapes thrashed under the translucent surface, but those cells looked sturdy enough to stand on. I picked my way over, hopping from cell to cell and being careful not to step on anything to either side.

“You know...” Karalti said, once I reached the lever. “These bugs actually look pretty tasty.”

I made a face, judging the distance I had to reach. “Karalti. I don’t care how hormonal you are: do not eat the hot throbbing larvae.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Suri massage her brow and the bridge of her nose. “Hector. I never want to hear you say those words in sequence ever again.”

“Meet new singles in YOUR area! Visit www-dot-hot-throbbing-larva today!” Giggling to myself to stave off the abject terror of being within inches of the wasp grubs’ snapping mandibles, I eased toward the lever, keeping one eye on the bugs, and pulled it forward.

There was a clunk, but not from above. Instead, a pair of long-undisturbed doors behind the wasp nest slid apart, and before I could even scream a horrified 'no!', tore open all of the cells that covered it. A horrendous whistling went up from all of the wasp grubs, and they began to whip from side to side in their cells, gnashing their little teeth and waving their chubby legs.

“Oops! Okay! Time to go!” I dashed through the colony as the adults buzzed angrily, dancing around so as not to step on any more grubs on my way