Free Nemesis 1: Revenge Is Best Served Hot by Saxon Andrew Page B

arrow in the center of the corridor and it began moving away from them. “Follow the arrow.” Iggy took a deep breath and moved forward.
    • • •
    Ants moved in on each side of the wide path but didn’t move closer. The arrow led them deeper into the forest and after two hours they saw the forest starting to thin out. Grant looked ahead and saw a huge mountain ahead of them that had been blocked from view by the tall trees. They exited the forest and moved directly at it. Iggy said, “That high hill appears to be alive.”
    Grant and Cinny focused on it and saw it was covered with ants. Grant whistled, “This must be their nest.” Cinny could only nod. The size of it was incredible. The arrow finally arrived at the base of the hill and melted into the millions of ants covering it. The ants following them closed in behind them but came no closer than a hundred yards. Grant looked at the huge mound and yelled, “What now?”
    The ants on the mound in front of them began clicking their mandibles. Initially it sounded like a loud mating call but after a moment it started changing tone. The clicking took on a multi-tone and words could be heard. “I’ve been wondering how long it was going to take you to get here.”
    Grant stared at the mound and said, “Who are you?”
    “I am the mother of all those you see around you.”
    Grant looked around and looked back at the mound, “You were brought here from Earth.”
    “I was.”
    “Why?”
    “There was no natural creature to control the birthrate of the eight legged creature with you. I was brought here to insure it did not overpopulate this planet. This place was given to me to be my home and if it was left uncontrolled, this planet would be barren very quickly.” Slick heard the voice and began turning blue. “Tell it to return to its silver color or I will have my children attack it.”
    Grant looked at Slick, “Calm down!” Slick looked at the millions of ants around them and his color shifted back to silver. Grant turned back to the mound, “I am here to take them to attack the ones that killed our home world.”
    “And you need to leave one behind to make sure you don’t lose them in the fight.”
    Cinny shook her head, “How could you possibly know that?”
    “I was also genetically changed by those that brought me here. I’ve been programmed to assist you in your plans but I will not put my home at risk to do it.”
    “That’s why you haven’t attacked my friends.”
    “It is. I was made to keep them in the area they’ve been living.”
    “If I take them with me, will you allow them to continue to live there?”
    “Yes, but they may not hatch numerous offspring.”
    “How many will you allow them to hatch?”
    “I can’t control what happens to the larger of the two but the eight legged being may hatch six and no more.”
    Grant saw Slick’s fear and he said, “Will you allow them to move around the forest?”
    “As long as there are no more than six, they will be given freedom inside my area of control. They will not be allowed to move outside that area. If more than six are hatched, we will enter the protected area and remove them.”
    Grant nodded and said, “We will respect your rules and thank you for allowing us to use your home.”
    “I expect you to make those that killed our species on our home world to pay for their atrocity.”
    Grant heard Iggy snort, “That is our intention. With your permission, we will return to the place you’ve set aside for us.”
    The ants surrounding them moved away and the giant arrow reappeared behind them. Iggy waited for enough room and then turned around and began following the arrow. Cinny looked at Grant, “How did you know?”
    “I didn’t know for sure. I just know they were also a creation from Earth. There had to be a reason they were put here.”
    Slick said, “They were put here to hurt me.”
    Iggy snorted again, “You should feel good that the ones that created us thought it