they screamed loudly enough to blind the stars
Together, they end it. Two queens, a perfect partnership. A victorious crow escapes the horned queen when the final strike lands, when the life finally bleeds out of the strange creature. The haunting note warbles in its throat as that secondary jaw snaps its teeth in delight. If there had been a heart to break over the changes in its prodigy, in the absence of the drone, it had been calloused over with thick chitinous armour long ago. There is no grief to be felt and only the echo of a loss. A hunting partner missing.
But a new one found?
Those dual jaws do not hesitate to join those of the younger queen in devouring the strange flesh of the creature, a meal well earned. It has an odd taste to it - but meat is meat and a meal will not be wasted. The tail flicks lazily in satisfaction, as this queen enjoys the peace that comes after a successful kill. Some of the blood from the beast they have slain drips down a curved horn, mixing with that which coats a strong jaw.
Once it is done, and the horned one inhales, it catches the horse-blood left by the one who fled. For a moment, that is where its black eyes draw first - to the trail left there that would be so easy to follow.
No heart to break, but enough of one to know - as it does when it meets the angelic mare - that there are some horses that are not prey. Not part of the hive but protected all the same.
There is a discomforting tickle at the back of the horn queen’s head when it turns black eyes back to its companion. That tickle is a thought attempting (and ultimately failing) to fully form. The queen chitters in their language, its horned head moving to gesture in the direction of Pangea - indicating that was home, before tilting to the side, wondering why this one had not been with them there all along.
RIPLEY
twenty-eight eaten to date (plus a monster) |
@[Nexu]
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