Pushed forward by rough hands from behind her, the prisoner was forced forward and then to her knees, but she would have taken to her knees anyway. She didn't need her guards kicking the back of her knees to help in that action, it was a learned and very ingrained action in this place, to drop to one knee. Deep within the Sahel Understory was the home city of the Wasp Hive, and deep within that was the Throne Room of the Wasp Queen. It was here that the trial was about to take place for the traitor among the Wasps.
”Sharifa, you have been charged with treason against the Hive and the Queen, for your role in the failed invasion of the new lands. How do you plea?” A female Wasp asked as he stood between and off to the side of the Queen and the accused, for now acting as the Queen's voice while the Queen watched on.
Behind this prosecute was of course the Queen of Wasps herself. She was a tall female, above average among the tallest of females wasps, who were already taller than even the average human male. Her black skin was shiny and perfect, the black and gold down on her body was perfectly kept, antenna straight, she was the perfect female wasp. She had no equal in the Hive, her proportions were heavier of muscle, not much but enough that she would easily out match any of the other Wasps in the hive. She was the strongest and smartest among the Wasps, with inherited knowledge from her fore mothers spanning centuries. She wore a elegant set of robes that only enhanced her beauty and stately nature and bearing, she was regal in every way, the perfect image of royalty.
From her place kneeling on the floor before her Queen, Sharifa replied calmly, well, as calmly as she could given the situation. ”Not guilty.”
It looked as though the whole Hive was here to witness this trial as the Throne Room was stadium like in its size with the Throne itself on a raised platform at one end. Even some Beetles, a few Mantis and even two Ants, who were of course relaying everything they heard and saw today back to their own Colony and Queen. The Wasps' numbers, while still large, were severely reduced because of the failed invasion, and now Sharifa was taking the brunt of that blame. ”Speak your case, Sharifa.”
Sharifa stood, she wore no shackled or chains, but there were two females wasps larger than herself standing very close behind Sharifa. ”My forces landed on time to the new lands, our goal was to infiltrate the lands and learn as much as we could to send back to the Hive. Over the month that we were there my forces and I sent as much intelligence as we could back to command to review, we learned some of how they use magic, what their weapons and armour was capable of.”
”We all know of your mission in the new lands. But what of the so called deities that were encountered?” The prosecutor injected as Sharifa spoke.
The Wasp woman twitched at being interrupted, but she had somewhat expected it. This trail was formality, she knew she was already judged guilty. When the new lands had been discovered after the Great Quake, the Queen had been the one to form the invasion plan with the other insect tribes and their respect leaders, as the case may be. But the invasion had failed and the Queen wasn't about to take the blame for it, so they found a scapegoat in Sharifa, blaming her poor intelligence, and possible intentional sabotage, for the failure. She would have assumed that any of the other froward scouts that she had been with would have been here, but they were all killed in the fighting, Shar was the only survivor.
”In our time in the lands we started to hear stories of their Gods and what they were capable of. Unspeakable power, both arcane and physical, it was why we asked for more time before the forces landed so we could learn more. We uncovered that they were immortal, with some having been in their positions for some time, and had grown very powerful.” Sharifa explained.
”You speak as though they weren't always gods, is this true?”
Shar nodded. ”As far as we could find out, yes, that is the case. Take the two youngest Gods, both werebears, a man named Zanar and another named Lokir, they were mortal for most of their lives from what I learned, before they Ascended.”
”By this Voice, as it was called?”
”That is my assumption. But it was not until the Voice being appeared during the fighting that we even learned about it. Until that time I had never heard anything of the Voice mentioned, and as far as I knew none of the other scouts had heard of it either.” Sharifa explained.
Too much surprise it was the Queen that spoke next, her voice almost song like, echoing naturally around the Throne Room. ”Where were you when the fighting started, Sharifa? From what I have learned you were not on the front lines for some time. When you were found to be there I am told that you informed our commanders to focus on these gods because they had, somehow, became mortal again, yet, this proved false. Explain.”
Sharifa swallowed visibly nervous to have her Queen speak to her in such a way. All of what Sharifa was saying was known by the Hive already, in one or another, but this was how trials went. ”As the spearhead of our forces came to land and start the attack, I was in a location they call, uh, Mo'Mey Steppes, yes, that was its name. It was there that I witnessed their goddess of death fall dead by a spear thrown by one of our people, I saw her confirmed dead by those around her. Not too long afterwards the rest of their gods appeared by her body, and I then saw the goddess of life resurrect the dead goddess.” Sharifa explained and took a breath. ”I was spotted after that and I was captured, unable to get away as two of them managed to drag me back to the ground before I was high enough in the air.”
”You allowed yourself to get caught then.”
”I was well hidden, but the one goddess sensed me somehow, but it is not something I can prove.” She got a nod to continue. ”I was chained and then taken to a place called Endapano where I was locked up. I learned that it was this Angela goddess that was the one capable of bringing back the rest of their pantheon, at that time I knew I needed to escape and spread the word that their greatest weapons were now mortal and could be eliminated.” Sharifa explained.
”Did they question you after you were captured?”
”Yes, but I gave nothing away willingly.”
”How do you mean?”
”The one god, I believe his name was Xunatar, despite the loss of his divine powers was still formidable on his own right. I am ashamed to say that he was able to pry from my mind what he wanted to know, I fought against him as hard I could but he was stronger than I was.” Sharifa explained.
”The Hive Mind would have helped you fight him back, why did you not use it?” The Queen questioned.
”I found out after I had escaped the distances involved, I was too far from any of our kind for the Hive Mind to reach, my Queen.” Shar explained and the Queen nodded for her to continue. ”I knew at the least I had to find an Ant and tell what I had found out so that it would spread throughout the forces quickly, but I had to escape first. I managed to goad a young human into opening the cell door, making him angry enough to try and attack me. Up until then they did not know of my stingers and had no accounted for them. I killed him and took off with all haste before anyone else saw me leave and raise an alarm.”
”That is well done, Sharifa. What happened next?”
”I made my way to the closest battalion of Ants that I could find and told them everything that had I found out. With that message sent around, I got in contact with the closest Wasps so that I could rearm myself and fight along side them.” Sharifa explained.
At that time the prosecutor turned to face another Wasp close by. ”Is this true, Zahad?”
”It is. Sharifa found our group and joined up with us, she got some food and water and we made available some spare weapons we were carrying. She fought beside us like any true Wasp would until she was able to link up with her own forces to take command.” The male explained, having been one of the few left alive that knew that story.
”Thank you, you may sit. Sharifa, there are still two outstanding issues that must be discussed. You said that these gods were weakened and mortal again, yet, it wasn't too long after that it seemed that their powers had returned, if indeed they ever left. You are, after all, the only one who witnessed the goddess die and then be resurrected. You were those lands for some time before the invasion, away from our kind for that time, the scouts not having contact with each for the sake of secrecy.”
Sharifa narrowed her eyes. ”What are you saying?” She asked.
”Is it not possible that you may have been influenced somehow by those people? That you have become a little too comfortable in those lands?”
”No! No it is not possible! Of that I can assure you! The whole time I was loyal to My Queen, to my Hive, to my mission! Never once did I lose track of what I was there, I recorded and sent back everything that I saw and heard in case it was important to the invasion.” Sharifa snapped back glaring at the Wasp accusing her.
”Then how do you explain the fact that these gods weren't, in fact, mortal?! How did they come to have their full powers, or what we have heard is their full powers, so quickly, or tall, if they had lost them?!” He pressed.
”I, I don't know! I saw what I saw with he goddess' death and resurrection. I heard them saying that they were vulnerable and that there was only one that could bring them back if they fell. It has to have something to do with the Voice, that is all I can tell you, I believe that that… thing is the source of their powers.”
”So why did you not include that in your reports?!” The prosecutor snapped.
Sharfia's eyed widened. ”Because I did know it until it was too late! I have said this already! I, and my fellow scouts, never heard anything about this Voice being until it appeared on the battlefield. I had no idea until then what the sources of those gods' powers were!” She snapped back.
”Or maybe you withheld that information and lied about the loss of their powers in an attempt to sabotage our invasion!”
Sharifa's anger flared! Oh she knew at the start of this she was likely to be found guilt, but they weren't about to drag her totally through the mud without a damn fight! Not after everything she had done for the Hive and their Queen! This accusations was flat out false and she was not about to accept guilt laying down! ”Lies!” She screamed and took one step forward, the guards inched closer but she moved no further so they did nothing yet. ”Everything I sent back to the commanders was as true as I knew it to be! They, lost, their powers and their immortality, they were vulnerable to our weapons and our magic and had only the powers that they had as a mortal. That was all! How could I have foreseen that they would gain their abilities back so soon after the invasion started?!”
”Then why did you kill the one named Jerrik?!”
”For insubordination! He attempted to overrule my command without reason, to usurp my command!”
”You called for a retreat!”
She stepped forward again and was dragged back by the guards and then released again, but she ignored them and spoke on. ”I saved lives out of my people and our allies by calling for that retreat! They had some kind of mechanical things that I had no knowledge of before hand that were slaughtering our people in the hundreds with ease.” She turned to those watching. ”Please, some of you… ahh!” She winced as a headache pounded suddenly in her mind as she reached out through the Hive Mind to her fellow Wasps. But she got nothing in return!
She started to shake, she had been cut off from the Hive Mind!
She turned to face her Queen and dropped to her knees again. ”Please, my Queen, anything but that, anything!” To be cut off from the Hive Mind, a feet that only the Queen herself was capable of doing to another Wasp, was to be, essentially, banished from the Hive. Ants had it worse when it came to being cut off from their power, much stronger hive mind, they could go truly mad and die. Sharifa could still go mad without, it however.
There was silence in the room for a time, the only sound that could be heard was Sharifa's heavy breathing. Finally the Queen stood and walked gracefully to the edge of the platform, her voice once again echoing around the huge room, even though she was speaking normally. ”Sharifa, for the act of treason against the Hive and its allies I find you guilty.”
Sharifa snapped to her feet and took one too many steps forward and guards grabbed her arms and restrained her. ”No! I did everything in the name of the Hive, and for you, my Queen! I am no traitor!” She yelled.
The Queen continued with no visible emotion. ”For your transgressions I sentence you to death. Your stingers will be torn out and then you shall be crucified.”
Sharifa went into a frenzy. ”No, please, my Queen! Please! I did everything for you, for the Hive, please have mercy!” She knew what the crucifixion meant; she'd be nailed by all fours wrists to a post and left there to die, where all could see her, and they would do it in a visible location and leave her to rot until the wood was rotten as a reminder. It was also a show to their allies that someone had taken the blame for the failure.
The guards behind her held her tighter as another guard came over. ”No please, my Queen!” Sharifa yelled as the guard took hold of her left wrist of her top arm and pressed down hard on a certain never. Sharifa yelped in pain as her stinger was forced out at which time the guard, wearing protective gloves, took told and tore the stinger clean out of Shar's wrist, blood flowing instantly. Sharifa screamed in pain, pure utter pain as blood ran freely from the wound. Three more screams came from the Wasp as each of her stingers was, one by one, torn out and the guards released her as the last was removed. With a pool of blood slowly forming under her Sharifa could only drop to her knees and curled up on herself in the utter pain she was in. To have her stingers ripper out like that, it was like getting a finger nail ripped out, only larger, more nerves and a lot more blood and pain.
She stayed there in absolute agony, cut off from the Hive Mind and bleeding, dropping to her side with her arms curled towards her. She wouldn't bleed to death, they wouldn't let her anyway, but they would let her suffer for a bit before finishing the job.
She saw movement and glanced over to see the four armed cross being dragged in.
