Chapter Three

The cave spider paused just inside the entrance, hesitant to go further out into the sunlight. It leaned forward, experimentally, then flinched back with a chittering hiss as it’s vision failed in the glare.
With eyes completely unsuited to the task and a mind fizzing with unfamiliar thoughts, it tried to understand what it was seeing.
Chaos.
Absolute disorder.
No roof to be seen, just an expanse of blue and white far above, turning to grey further out. In the far distance, black; Even the air itself looked dark.
In front of the cave, large creatures like the intruders not invading were in a panic. Some cowered under mats of the thickest webbing the cave spider had ever seen, some flailed at the air with branches, two more pounded at an object on the ground with shiny sticks, and all around, filling the air, angry hornets swarmed.
The bees flew in tight groups, intercepting hornets which strayed too close to the cave or to their hive, overwhelming them and bringing them crashing down. As the cave spider watched, a cooperation of sorts began to emerge, the bees intercepting hornets midair, steering them towards the centre of the clearing, and releasing them to drop within striking range of the branch welding creatures.
Unsure of how exactly to talk to the bees, the cave spider lashed out any any hornet within range, immobilising & dropping them into the moss far below to be disposed of. Around it, the other smaller cave spiders started to adopt the same strategy in the face of a seemingly endless supply of invaders actually invading.
Energy from the hornets sparked into the moss, spreading up through the slimes on the walls and into the roof web. Out in the clearing, however, the energy from those hornets killed by the branch welding creatures didn’t flow into the creatures, or the web, or the moss, or even to the hive; It just … Floated in the air.
If the cave spider could have squinted, it would have. It cleaned it’s eyes in disbelief.
“We don’t understand it either.” Said the bee perched on a clump of rock beside the cave spider. “Not invading, not gathering. Makes no sense.”
The cave spider jumped and nearly lost its grip in surprise; It hadn’t even seen the bee land. It turned the jump into an acrobatic ‘swing on one leg to reposition yourself’ manoeuvre.
“Why did they attack the hornets?” It asked. “And … Do the bees know why the invaders not invading are here?”
The bee flickered it’s wings in irritation.
“We don’t know why they’re here. They arrived after the brightness started, but not long after, and we heard them travel through the dark.”
It pointed an antenna at a hornet. Rather than fling a web, the cave spider shot out a leg and knocked the flying insect into the cave wall, where the slimes grabbed it.
“They tried to gather wood, we think, but gathered the tree with the hornet nest on it, and it fell into the clearing.”
“Gathering hornet wood, gathering toadstools.” The cave spider gestured in both directions. “The invaders not invading have no luck.”
“Or aren’t very good at gathering.” The bee agreed. “Good at killing hornets though, with help.”
They watched the scene outside the cave, which had turned into a highly effective hornet killing operation. Bees herded the hornets, branch welding creatures knocked them from the air, and the others crushed them.
“That nest has been there since before the Queen. Before the Queen before the Queen.” Commented the bee. “It’s written into the walls of the Hive. And they’ve destroyed it in less than a day.”
The spider slapped another hornet from the air.
“Does the Hive say anything about Scions? We know that word, but we don’t know why.”
“The Queen said that a spider asked that.” The bee replied. “She says it’s like a Queen for creatures without Queens. But it talks to the One In The Cave, and does things other Queens can’t.”
The cave spider reared up in surprise, then settled back again.
“The One In The Cave must be …” It gestured in the direction that everything, spider or bee or moss or toadstool or slime, instinctively knew. “But … It doesn’t talk. It just … Is.”
The bee made a sort of bobbing motion of agreement and spread it’s antenna wide.
“We don’t really understand all of that. It’s just what’s written in the hive walls.”