THE GIGAS

pg 3

Long chapter alert: contains sequences of violence, profanity, etc. Happy reading!

Basking in the glory of my triumph from the rooftop, I watched the nest movement.

He had returned to the main center eager to share the information about a bountiful source of potential food. I am only waiting for the results here away from unwanted attention.

The nest suddenly and intensely buzzed onto one side more than the other. He must have contacted a member of the inner circle already. The bodies rippled in a wave as the message is being transported by word of mouth toward the queen. The inner nest swirled faster around the center and a deafening hum emanated from them electrifying the surrounding air. They must be talking at the same time with great speed to each other and to the queen.

The humming crescendos to a high pitch before dying out slowly to a deadly silence.

A verdict about the information?

Bodies still in unison as the queen lifts her head and gazes in the direction of the informant. Her head is easily twice the size of the ordinary members of the nest. She slowly unfurled herself revealing her true height which is also double the height of the nearest nest member. She was a sight to behold, the matriarch, even from this distance her power radiates authority.

I cringe as the inner nest opens up a path to the tiny form of the old one. He literally face plants to the ground without hesitation, groveling, when he directly sets eyes on her slightly distant figure in the middle of the nest. He began slowly crawling on his stomach a couple meters, stopping when someone in the crowd hissed. Keeping his face down to the ground he raises his forearms off the ground with hand palms up in a gesture of respect and mercy.

She slowly walks half way to him. Then lifting her chin stares into the distance in my direction. How did she know? I incline my head in respect careful to keep it there. Daring to look up only after a long while, she had already turned her attention to the old one laying on the ground again.

Her melodic voice and scent carried in the wind. It was a mixture of sweet and sour on the senses. The sweetness of her scent soured by the bluntness of her words it made the nest tremble like leaves.

I know the feeling of ecstasy in being favored by such a being and the devastation of abandonment. I bear my teeth remembering the agonizing pain.

********

"Noo!! My brood !!!" I silently cry out.

The eggs and the newly hatched little ones that I had so carefully taken care of destroyed. Their delicate bodies butchered into small pieces spread throughout the nursery. I only left for a moment to bring new bedding and some food to my adorable newborns.

Who was it?! Where is she?!

Seething with the revenge coursing through my blood I storm into my mate's room. I screamed at her......no....them both, enraged further as I find her with a new favored lover.

It was not so long ago she favored me to sire a new brood. I should have known the depth of her fickleness. It wasn't just only me in this nest, there were various males she frequented.

There was not caring to properly take care of the younglings in her charge from other pairings when they were old enough to stay with her. Many of them had died from jealous competitors trying to bluster the survival of their own flesh and blood.