In the privacy of her tent, Chamelia gritted her teeth as Mirage and Kyria recounted the events at the hive over the crystal.
“How hurt is Thera? And what happened to her guards?” Chamelia asked.
“The shift is missing. As a precaution, we’re implementing a code-phrase system. As for Thera… she needs bed rest. She recognized the poison the infiltrator used and had an antidote ready, but it hurt her before we could feed her it,” said Kyria.
On the other side of the crystal’s link, Mirage took a sip of her cup of water. “Thera told us that the poison was the White Death, which is an annoyingly common poison. It’s not the most deadly poison, but it causes a lot of pain. I suspect that is because the infiltrator simply wanted to get us focused on Thera before heading to the nursery.”
“I concur. I would also like to suggest that it is unlikely that this infiltrator will leave,” said Chamelia. She took a deep breath. “If we want to root the infiltrator out, I will have to return to my own hive and coordinate its members.”
“But can Sarar can take care of the rogue queen by herself?” Kyria asked.
Chamelia grimaced. “Therein lies my concern. We finally picked up the trail of the rogue queen’s forces. It is a large force.”
“How large?” Mirage asked.
“We cannot be certain, but from the number of tracks and the size of the camp, there appears to be eight hundred to one thousand changelings.”
“A thousand? But that means your forces are matched in parity. I -- I would like to respectfully suggest that you only shadow them, Chamelia,” said Mirage.
“But can you deal with this infiltrator and protect my daughters, and Thera, Mirage and Kyria?” Chamelia asked pointedly.
Mirage glanced at Kyria biting her lip. The younger changeling frowned, and gestured to the crystal. So Mirage nodded. “With Facere helping us we should be able to.”
On the other end, Chamelia pursed her lips. “Indeed, but what is your plan to capture or kill this infiltrator?”
Kyria shook her head, her mother had given her basic changeling infiltration and exfiltration tactics but extensive practices to root out enemy changelings? She glanced at Mirage, who seemed deep in thought, probably recalling her officer academy lessons.
“I have a few ideas but they are not yet fully developed. Right now, I would implement identity checkpoints at several locations in the hive to at least slow or restrict this infiltrator’s movements. I would also focus the hive’s garrison at certain points to protect our most important assets,” Mirage said.
“Sound measures, but do you have any long-term plan to root out this changeling?” Chamelia pressed.
“You mean trapping her or him? Isn’t that a bit risky, Grandmother? Especially since he or she is aiming specifically at our mother and aunts?” Mirage asked.
“You could prepare illusions or a substitute, whilst your mother and aunts are hidden away,” said Chamelia.
Mirage shook her head. “And what if she figures out where they are hiding? No. If we know her target, then our best option is to implement stringent security measures and wear the infiltrator down. Even if we send you an extra thousand changelings, we’ll still have two thousand combat-capable soldiers against one.”
It was at that moment that a stray thought passed through Kyria’s head and she put her hoof to her chin. “By the way… do we know why this queen wants your daughters dead?”
“No…we have been preoccupied with more pressing matters,” said Chamelia, but her granddaughter’s question was creasing her brow. “But that is an important question.”
Mirage turned to her sister, her eyes widening. “It does seem ludicrous that a rogue queen would just attack the most powerful hive in the world, and even more insane that an infiltrator would risk detection by staying around.”
Kyria didn’t respond immediately. However, from what Mirage could tell, her sister was deep in thought. She was in fact so deep in thought she had stood up, and started to pace around the table they had placed the crystal, whilst continuing to mutter to herself.
“I mean… killing your daughters would certainly hurt you personally, but it doesn’t affect the strategic strength of your hive. In fact, a far more effective strategy, if they wanted to bring about the downfall of your hive, would be to kill you. That way they would be truly deal a death blow to the hive and is just as equally risky. Besides this infiltrator was nearly able to achieve that by targeting Thera!” exclaimed Kyria.
“Assuming the infiltrator is working with the rogue queen… they must have known you are away from the hive.” Adjusting her tiara, Mirage groaned. “Again, that begs the question of why they seem to be retreating away to lure you away from the hive instead of targeting you?”
Chamelia grimaced, but part of her couldn’t help but nod at her granddaughter’s train of thought. “It could be that the attacks on my daughters are diversions and their real target is me. Armies can change direction after all and other forces can be waiting in wait.”
“Perhaps, but they’ve tried twice to go after our mother and aunts. And that first surprise attack was super risky. If we weren’t there, they might have succeeded,” pointed out Mirage.
Kyria froze in her tracks. “Exactly, they might have succeeded if we weren’t there.”
Both Mirage and Chamelia felt their hearts turn to ice at the dreadful finality of her words.
“Kyria? What do you mean?” Chamelia whispered.
Mirage gasped. “They had enough changelings to pin you down and probably enough to take out the guards. But then we… we arrived and tipped the scales just enough.”
“Oh Creator. That first attack must have been their first plan. Leaving an infiltrator behind and drawing me away from my hive was their backup,” hissed Chamelia.
Mirage’s eyes were widened and it was all she could do to not let her horror fill the room. They’re fully invested in targeting our future.
“It seems the question of why they are targeting my daughters has proven far more crucial than I expected. Kyria, Mirage, review the evidence leftover from both attacks and coordinate countermeasures with Facere. I will ensure that that rogue queen does not lure me farther away from my hive and pin their forced won as best as I can,” Chamelia ordered.
“Wouldn’t you need more help? Your numbers are close,” said Kyria.
Mirage nodded. “As I mentioned previously, it would be a good idea to send more changelings. After all, we will reduce the number of changelings the infiltrator can impersonate and put more pressure on our enemy to achieve results.”
“It would also weaken the soldiers you have in your command,” said Chamelia. She briefly pursed her lips. “But you are not wrong. I would like more soldiers to neutralize this enemy force safely.”
“An extra thousand?” Mirage suggested.
“Yes. And I will send Sarar back-”
Kyria inhaled sharply. “But Grandmother-”
“Thera was just poisoned. She should recover soon enough, but you need an ascended queen back at the hive. I could go back, but Sarar doesn’t have the full trust of my soldiers.”
“Can you not have her call on her hive?” Mirage asked.
Chamelia couldn’t help but muse. There she goes wondering about Sarar... “I am not sure how large her hive is in the future, but in this time, Sarar’s hive is miniscule, and she can field but a squad of soldiers.”
Mirage groaned. “Oh. I see, well then… we’ll get to it.”
Chamelia nodded, part of her wishing she could somehow see her granddaughters right now. “Stay safe, both of you.”
“We will try,” said Kyria her voice trembling with fragile hope.