Another Mother

by Croabadrake

Chapter Eight: Lun, Lod, Trespassers Trod

"So why are we here again?" a pale, bald humanoid with thick teeth asked his brother quietly.

"They're alive," came the reply from the other humanoid, highly similar but with a pattern on his skin similar to that of a leapord and larger fangs. "That means they breed."

The first one recoiled. "What's that supposed to mean!?" he asked louder than he should have, considering they were sneaking. "You don't want to watch, do you?" he continued with a sarcastic smirk.

His brother quickly approached and slapped him upside the head. "It means they have babies you idiot," he said. "I swear, Lun, sometimes..."

He turned to the doorway. It was marked in another language that he couldn't understand, not that he could read in the first place, but it had previously been heavily guarded by two tough-looking changelings, which indicated importance. He didn't figure that something akin to a colony had any sort of treasure room, meaning that there were few other options as to what this could be: a nursery.

Lun rubbed his head for a moment before stopping. "Wait, you're not going on about that dream about being the boogeyman, are you?" he asked. "Lod, you know that-"

"I know!" Lod hissed back, interrupting. "But we don't know if this place has one like back at home. I'm going to be the freaking boogeyman and be feared by kids, alright!?"

Lun stared back for a few seconds. "Lod, why do you want to be the boogeyman? Please remind me."

"It's... just a title I've always wanted!" he stated, glancing back down the halls to make sure they were still unseen. "Besides, you like lamb chops, right?"

"Yeah...?"

"Well imagine that, but with human flesh!"

"...Lod, these aren't Humans."

"I KNOW!" Lod repeated, almost yelling this time. "But it's a start, isn't it!? Now come on," he continued, "Let's get in there while the coast is still clear!"

With that, he slipped in through the doorway. Lun sighed heavily and moved in behind him as well.

The passage beyond was dim and silent. It was a hallway, tinted a darker green than the rest of the hive, and the walls were lined with doorways with cloth hanging over them. Lod smiled as Lun looked around.

"Where did the guards go, anyways?" Lun asked.

"I don't know. One looked like he went to take a break, and the other disappeared when I went to get you. I thought I heard Zan and running as we got back, but whatever."

"The fact that you heard Zan running and a guard disappeared doesn't concern you?" Lun whispered.

"No... now which one should we pick?" Lod said. Lun did a short double-take.

"You're actually serious, aren't you?" he asked.

"Yes, I'm serious!" Lod replied. "If you don't pick one, then I will!"

"Fine," Lun said. After a few seconds of consideration, he pointed to the end of the hallway. "Back-right."

"Why the back?" Lod asked, turning to his brother. "You aren't trying to stall and get me caught, are you?"

"You asked, I picked," Lun said with a shrug. Lod let out a grunt of frustration before making his way quietly down the hallway.

A moment passed as they sneaked to the end door. Lun made sure to get there first and enter, glancing around the room to confirm that it was empty. To his dismay, it wasn't.

Several cribs lined the opposite wall, each with a tiny black form in it. Indeed, the changelings had young: said babies didn't look all that different from a normal changeling, only smaller. And asleep. Lod moved into the room behind him.

"Why were you in such a hurry to- ooh!" he said, grinning as he saw the cribs.

"No," Lun said as he stepped forwards and put himself between his brother and the children. "No, at least not yet."

"And why not!?" Lod asked furiously.

"They're alien to us, how do you know they don't spit acid or something?"

"Then we'll find out!"

"Not like that you won't," Lun warned, stepping towards the cribs. "We'll ask."

"Oh, ask who?" Lod replied sarcastically. "A maid?"

Lun glanced over Lod's shoulder. ".......yes."

Lod turned and immediately dove for the intruder as he saw the shocked female changeling standing in the doorway. She struggled in his grasp, but found herself unable to call for help as Lod placed his hand over her mouth. He'd had experience with silencing those he captured.

"Looks like we do get to ask," he said sinisterly as Lun walked up behind him. "Lun, stand guard outside the-"

*PANG*

*thud*

The changeling maid stared at Lod's unconscious grimace as he lay on top of her. She glanced up and saw Lun holding what looked like a long, flat piece of metal. There was a dim aura of magic that she couldn't recognize around it as well.

"You okay?" he asked, reaching down and pulling his brother off of her. She scrambled to her feet and backed against the cloth of the door, but didn't leave. She hesitated for a moment before nodding.

"That's good. Sorry this had to happen," Lun continued. "He's got some sort of pipe dream about being the boogeyman. You have that around here?"

She responded with a look of confusion, still speechless.

"Boogeyman, real or not, creature or person that comes around and snatches up or eats bad kids?" Lun explained. She answered with a short shake of her head.

"...Dang."

The maid finally seemed to regain her voice. "...you... what was he going to do in here?"

"Try and eat the children," Lun said casually as he glanced back at the cribs. None of the babies seemed to have been disturbed by the commotion as he had expected them to.

The maid recoiled a bit. "...eat them!?'

"Yeah," Lun replied. "Eat them, he fancies being the boogeyman but back home there already was one. He thought that this place was another opportunity for gaining the title."

"...w-why would he want to be the boogeyman?" she asked, feeling a bit silly at saying the term.

Lun shrugged in response. "It's just an obsession he's always had. Wants to compare eating babies to eating lamb chops."

"...lamb chops?"

"Lamb chops."

She shuddered. "Well... if you were going to stop him, why didn't you do it before he got in here?"

"Had to take him by surprise," Lun responded. "He's stronger than me, and you provided a distraction for me to bring out my knock-out metal. You didn't get hit by the sleep spell any, right?"

She shook her head.

"That's good, still sorry he was on top of you when it hit."

The maid glanced out the doorway for a moment before returning.

"So you weren't planning on doing anything, right?"

"I haven't hit you with the sleep spell, have I?"

She gave a small smile. "I... thank you for stopping him. I don't know what I would have done if something had happened to..."

Something seemed to ping in her head. "Were you two the ones that... do you know why the guards that are supposed to be up front are missing?"

"No," Lun answered bluntly with a shrug. "It's one of the reasons Lod brought me back here, though. He wanted me to help him take down the one guard that was here, and he was missing when we got back."

The maid raised a hoof to her chin. "Odd..." She then looked back to Lun.

"You still shouldn't be here. If anyone else caught you-"

"Yeah, I know," Lun said, bending down to grab his brother's arm. "We'll be going now."

She nodded and moved aside, so she could let Lun and his face down brother pass. "Thank you," she repeated as he passed, and he nodded in confirmation.

Lun had just reached the door out when he head a deep, gravelly voice from behind him.

"Out," it demanded in a voice indicating that that was to be the only warning.

"Was on my way, sorry for the trouble," Lun replied without looking back, Lod's head bumping on the door frame. The Devourer stared at the leaving trespassers with no small amount of confusion as the maid approached.

"Lun and Lod, right?" the maid asked. The Devourer turned to her.

"I recall those being their names, yes. I found nothing in the first room here," it said, motioning to the first doorway on the right that it had come out of. "Did you see them before I?"

"Yeah," she said as they disappeared from view. "They didn't take the guards out, they don't even know where they were. Before you ask."

"And what were they doing back here?"

"The sleeping one tried to eat the babies," she said. The Devourer began to recoil but she quickly continued, "but the standing one stopped him by knocking him out, it looked like this was a normal thing for them."

The Devourer looked back at the path they had taken. "If they were not here as guests to the queen, I would have......" it said, trailing off.

"Don't worry, big guy," the maid said. "I get the feeling that the children were safe. It was just... odd."

The Devourer relaxed a bit, though its eyes were still narrowed after the twins. A moment later, a voice reached through the doorway.

"Hey, Cooler? You in there?"

The guard on break had returned, opening the doorway. He jumped when he saw the Devourer.

"...do... you know where Cooler went?" he asked.

The maid shook her head. "He was gone when I got here, and the Devourer noticed the lack of guards and investigated at the same time."

"Weird..." the guard said. "Now what?"

"Just wait here until he returns," the Devourer stated. "Until then you are not to leave your post."

"Yeah, yeah," the guard said as he turned and moved to his post. The Devourer sighed.

"I have to get going. Ichabod awaits me once more," it said, ducking through the doorway.

"You take care, don't hurt him," the maid called after it. It waved over its shoulder back as it moved down the hallway.

When it was completely gone, the guard spoke.

"How are you not scared of it?" he asked. "It's huge and... unnatural for a changeling to be that big."

"I grew up with him," she replied. "While everyone else grew afraid of him, I just sort of didn't for some reason."

The guard shrugged as the maid went back down the hallway to check the other rooms.

---------------------------------------------------------

"Ungh...... my head..."

Lod sat up from the floor, with Lun sitting in a chair nearby. They appeared to be in an empty room somewhere in the hive.

"What happened?"

"Stairs," Lun replied. "A changeling startled you as you went down some stairs. You managed to keep your balance on every step but the last one and hit your head, and you got knocked out cold."

Lod shook his head, and promptly regretted it. "...but... ugh, stupid bug horses."

He sat in silence for a moment, trying to subdue the throbbing in his skull. Eventually, it seemed to start going away.

"Hey Lun," he said as a grin began to form on his face. "Want to help me get revenge on them?"

"Revenge?" Lun asked his brother.

"Yeah..." Lod replied as he stood and held a hand to his chin, facing away from Lun.

"I'll bet that these bugs breed, right? That means they-"

*PANG*

*thud*

Comments

[Prince_Staghorn]

HOORAY FOR CHANGELING BABIES THAT AREN'T GRUBS!!!

[ShadowCelebi]

2445542 THAT IS MY OPINION! HUZZAH!

[Razzy]

... Even younger changelings! *melts from all the cute*

... A few more fixes like that and Lun might get some good brain damage.