The Bug in The Cave

Chapter 10:Missing Supplies

Thorax took his leave of Twilight not long after successfully casting the signal flare spell. He had been briefly concerned about it drawing attention, but Twilight had assured him that the flares they had set off had been small enough and close enough to the ground to not attract any undesired attention.

She had then made him recite the process for casting the spell from memory before letting him go. “You have to have it down perfectly!” were her exact words when he had complained that it seemed unnecessary.

But, mercifully, she let him go after that, and he began his return trip to the Hive. All the way, he couldn’t stop grinning to himself. Were he going on hoof, there would be a very pronounced spring in his step.

“Twilight said she’s my friend,” he thought to himself, barely able to keep himself from cheering at the cold night sky. “I have a friend! This is wonderful!”

He kept himself from cheering, but a few giddy giggles did slip past his lips from time to time. It was just such an amazing feeling. He’d sucked up the love of many creatures in his time, most of which had been held in changeling cocoons, rendered catatonic and incapable of feeling the emotions naturally. It made them easy to feed on, but the emotions were often hollow and barely sustaining.

But the affection he was receiving from Twilight? It was staggering. Not only did it taste magnificent, but it was actually enough to decrease the perpetual ache he felt in his belly. It wasn’t enough to totally sate his hunger — nothing could ever truly satisfy the ravenous appetite of a changeling, after all — but it made it less painful. It also filled his chest with this warm bubbly feeling that he never wanted to lose.

After some time, the Hive finally came into sight. Thorax forced himself to flatten his expression and subdue his jubilation. He could celebrate once he was somewhere private. But if he acted too happy around the other drones, it would only draw unwanted attention. “Just go in, report to Pharynx, get to an empty sleeping chamber,” he told himself.

A balcony emerged in the wall of the Hive as he approached, permitting him to come to a landing. Passing through a hole in the wall, he found himself on the edge of a long corridor with many other tunnels branching off of it in every direction. Up, down, left, right, and everywhere in between. One or two other drones were standing around, chatting quietly amongst themselves. They gave Thorax a bored glance before resuming their hushed, chittering discussion.

“Uh, excuse me,” he called out to them, approaching slowly. “I need to report to Pharynx. Do either of you know where he is?”

One of the drones, a female, turned to give him an impatient scowl. “Why are you asking us, pacifist?” she asked.

Thorax flinched from the bitterness in her voice. “...Because I’ve been on lone wolf patrol all night and don’t know where he is?”

“Then try looking in the warrior’s nest,” the other drone, a male, bit back. “And stop wasting our time.”

Thorax shrank back, his ears folding down. “Right… sorry.”

“Tch. Pathetic whelp,” the female hissed under her breath as he made his way farther down the tunnel. The insult stung far more than he was used to, making his expression twist into a pained grimace.

The walls parted around him, allowing him to walk in more or less a straight line for the warrior’s nest. There weren’t very many changelings out and about right now. Mostly guards dressed in beetle-themed dark blue armor. They barely gave him a passing glance whenever they met, but he could see the disapproving glares hidden behind their stoic expressions.

His arrival at his destination couldn’t come soon enough. The wall opened up in front of him, and he was greeted to the same towering chamber where he had found Pharynx before. This time, the chamber was quiet. A few guards were stationed around, some of them standing on the walls or ceiling to get a better look at things, but for the most part, all was quiet.