Let Them Starve ~ GG Onslaught

    They were still transporting the last supply crates when they heard the howl. 

    Not the typical unearthly howl of a starving undead creature– the kind which had been getting hungrier and closer to the Cove each week. 

    No, this was a howl of desperation– of something very much alive, which wanted to keep living. 

    Sí growled, dropping her crate as she yanked her shovel, Butcher, from its sheath. She broke into a dead sprint, ignoring Seelie’s squawk as they nearly had their foot crushed. But, still, a curse or two later, Seelie was running by Sí’s side toward the fight, their shovel, Titania, in hand. 

    The silver lining to the forest burning down was they no longer had to veer around giant trees and tangles of vines or weeds. Sí and Seelie soon heard the tell-tale chittering of a corrupted hatching tongue and saw flashes of bright green kardia clusters. 

    They expected that– the snapjaws had been getting bolder. 

    But they didn’t expect what they heard. There wasn’t the answering roar of orders nor the slashing of shovels against scales. 

    What they heard instead was…

    Buzzing. 

    ‘Very loud, angry buzzing, along with a terrible howling, like a church grim damning the newly buried souls.

    Seelie blinked, nearly pausing– before they dove straight in. Even if it wasn’t folk, whatever put up this much of a fight against a school of snapjaws was an ally, and Seelie wouldn’t leave them to fight on their own. 

    Sí’s butcher axe was already slicing away at the closest snapjaw’s tail, its serrated edge effortlessly cutting through its scales. She was relentless, lashing out with shovel and claws, keeping the predator on its toes, creating openings for the more decisive Seelie to capitalize on. 

    The snapjaw reared, and Seelie ran up and drove Titania into its chest, sinking into the kardia of the once-folk. It twitched once before falling into the mud– its last breath hanging in the cold air. 

    One down, and– Seelie glanced over to see how many snapjaws remained, only to actually stop.  

    When they’d heard that life-filled howl, they’d expected a cornered platoon of folk. If not that, maybe a squimodo, a carton of yogies, or even a swoobus (though that would have been a worse problem than an overconfident snapjaw school). They’d expected to walk into a losing battle, to be the cavalry arriving in the knick of time.

    They weren’t expecting a lone kibbee drone, its iridescent blue carapace covered in pale ether as it turned a snapjaw into a pincushion. 

    And they certainly hadn’t expected the kibbee to be winning. 

    The second snapjaw was nearly down already, the scales around its eyes swollen and punctured, bleeding heavily. It could only lash out blindly, leaving it open to more vicious stings from the drone and slashes from Sí. 

    Seelie blinked, mouthing a silent ‘huh’ as Sí and the kibbee took out the second snapjaw before Seelie could yank Titania from the first’s chest. 

    Alright, that explained the buzzing, though it didn’t explain the howling–

    No sooner had Seelie thought that than the howling started once more. It was a terrible, piercing thing up close– Seelie had to keep themself from stumbling back. Their ears flattened as their gaze snapped up to meet a set of red eyes. 

    There was another kibbee with mud dripping into its big ruby eyes, mixing with its near-white ether. It had managed to drag itself through the muck and halfway up a burnt tree, buzzing its little wings and howling its head off, trying to make itself look like a big, mean, not edible creature.

    But it wasn’t fooling anyone, especially with the mud plastering its fur to its tiny body. It was barely bigger than a kibbten– likely a little worker just out of the hive. 

    ‘Likely a very dumb little worker just out of the hive. 

    Because all it managed to do was draw the third snapjaw’s attention straight to it. 

    The last snapjaw snarled and almost seemed to smile, its tongue darting out to lick its lips as it lunged.

    Sí and the drone wouldn’t get there in time.

    But Seelie would. 

    They lept, landing and planting one foot on the tree and one in the mud. With the kibbten at their back, Seelie raised their shovel in front of them.

    Momentum did the rest of the work. 

    Titania sank into the snapjaw’s stomach– impaling itself on its own hunger, though it didn’t have much time to consider the humour of that before Sí and the drone ran up and dispatched it. 

    Seelie panted, leaning against the tree as their blood raced in their ears, providing a steady backing beat to the Music. It took a long moment, but the beat began to slow, and Seelie could focus on their surroundings again. 

    They very quickly wished they couldn’t. 

    The drone’s compound eyes were right before their face, sharpened into pinpricks yet still impossibly and horribly wide. For a second time today, Seelie squawked, flailing backward. 

    Behind them, the kibbten squeaked like someone stepped on a nudibark toy. The drone’s eyes both widened and narrowed as it began buzzing. As they could no longer flail backward or forward, Seelie sank to the floor, trying to look small and non-threatening, hoping the drone would grant them mercy.  

    Sí, as she often was when Seelie was involved, was no help. 

    “Hello again,” Sí addressed the drone, brushing off some of the snapjaw’s blood from its carapace with her cloak. “Good to see you’re alright.” 

    It took a moment, but it clicked that, yeah, they’d seen this kibbee before– a week or so’s travel from the Cove in a gathering of spirit willows. ‘The same field where they’d found Sí, protected by a lone drone, who’d flown off at their approach. 

    What was that fun fact– that kibbees could remember faces for upwards of fifteen years? How long did they hold grudges then?

    “Say hi to them, Seelie,” Sí said, the words more threatening than friendly (though that was less Sí and more the bug three-quarters of her side standing next to her, staring Seelie down). 

    “Hi,” Seelie croaked, plastering themself as close to the tree as possible. 

    “What are you naming yours?”

    “...What?” Seelie paused, blinking as they tore their gaze from the drone to meet Sís. They blinked again before looking up.

    Above them, the kibbten worker chirped, batting at the movement of Seelie’s lure. 

    “I think it likes you,” Sí said with a smile that was all teeth and no help. 

    “...Shit.”