***

Yellow-Spot woke to clear sky above. The frond hideout was gone. She sat up. The trees had moved. Or maybe she’d dreamt the nastiness of the false gods. Electric-Touch lay motionless where she’d fallen. No dream; the nightmare was real.

She stood, looking for danger, looking for the false god. Sweet-Berries lay on the ground but still breathing. Then there was the demon, five body-lengths away and as clear as can be.

“No,” Yellow-Spot said softly, the smell of fear becoming strong. The demon was her true enemy, not the gods.

Sweet-Berries opened her eyes and sat up. Probably she’d been woken by the smell of

fear.

The demon approached. Yellow-Spot quaked, sure somehow that the demon had been responsible for the current horrors. She ran down the hill. As the hill became steeper she turned to see the demon and Sweet-Berries following her.

She stumbled, fell, tumbled down the hill, antennae-tip over heels. When she stopped, she heard the roar of a river.

She stood. Something was wrong. Her leg hurt. She ignored the pain. It was pain or facing the demon.

She stepped into the river. It wasn’t that large, but with her leg hurt it was hard to get any decent footing.

Near the center the water was up almost to her mouth. She imagined the roiling water around her was a placid pond where she could see her reflection. She glanced back at the shore, thinking about turning around. The demon and Sweet-Berries were still following. The sight of the demon threw her off balance and the current swept her off her feet.

Water flooded into her nostril. She tried covering it with her hand, but she was sinking.

“My reflection’s chasing me.”Then the world went dark.

***

“Yellow-Spot?”

She opened her eyes and looked up at Sweet-Berries. She sat up. Her left antenna felt wrong. She reached up to feel and winced. The pain stung her nostril so strong that she almost sneezed at the smell.

“Your left antenna and left speaking arm are broken,” said Sweet-Berries. “And I think so too is your right leg, or maybe it’s just sprained. I bound a wood splint to it, to keep it straight. Too bad Paste can’t soothe broken bones.”

Yellow-Spot made to get up, but Sweet-Berries held her down.

“You’re not going anywhere too soon, sister. But I’m so glad you’re alive.” Sweet-Berries looked down the river, which disappeared over a cliff only a few hundred people-lengths away.

“We were going there, weren’t we? I wished you had told us, so we’d know. Why didn’t you just tell us?”

The demon appeared. Popped into existence. Yellow-Spot pawed the ground, trying to back away. Fear-so common a smell now-thickened the air.

“My gods, sister. What is it?”

“Do…” How was she going to form the other side of words with a broken arm? She thought about using her left gripping arm, but the fingers were all different. The words wouldn’t make any sense. She decided to use her right arm for both sides of words. It’d take longer to speak, but then Sweet-Berries could understand her. She began again, “Do you see it?”

“See what, Yellow-Spot?” Concern showed in her voice, color-face, and smell.

“The demon.” She pointed. “Standing right there!”

“No.” Sweet-Berries looked perplexed.

“You don’t? She … it looks just like me. It’s been haunting me since I’ve been with the false gods.”

“Oh …” Sweet-Berries’ color-face still showed yellow-green concern, but then it softened to a neutral white. “So is that what told you to leave, to violate the Queen’s { } and to found a new colony?”

“Me? Found a colony? Ha!” Laughter mixed with the negative smells.

“Sister, what’d you think we were doing? Why’d you need a Nurse and a Builder who’s not you, and a Drone too, unless you were going to start a new colony?”

Yellow-Spot stared at her sister and tried ignoring the demon. The Drone was busy sniffing around. It walked right into the demon as if the demon wasn’t solid. Even though she’d seen the words, comprehension was slow to register. “So …” she said to the demon, not caring anymore that her words could be seen “Was that the plan?”

“Yes,” Yellow-Spot’s doppelganger confirmed.

Yellow-Spot looked back at Sweet-Berries, who said, “You saw how those soft-bodied false gods … those softstreat us. I can’t imagine spending so much time with them. How’d you cope?” Sweet-Berries looked at where the demon stood. “Ah, I see. Your mind created a false voice to tell you what to do.”

It made sense, or more sense than the gods implanting the demon, anyway. “How do you know so much?”

“Please, sister. The Queen sees several voices. It’s how she partitions all her responsibilities, I think. It’s a secret among us Nurses. Now, come. I think we should { }.” Sweet-Berries’ antennae touched Yellow-Spot’s. She’d expected pain from the broken antenna, but instead felt {

} surging through her, uplifting her, healing her. The person pulled away, and in that brief { } her various pains had abated.

Yellow-Spot looked at the river disappearing over the cliff. Just beyond lay a canyon with several caverns pitting the canyon walls. She knew this because she’d been with several gods …

softs who’d scouted the area. Just beyond the canyon was the southern people’s colony.

Sweet-Berries helped her sister up. When they’d been experiencing { }, it’d felt like Yellow-Spot’s pains had been healed. But now, she winced when she put pressure on her right leg.

Sweet-Berries helped Yellow-Spot walk over to the canyon’s edge. The Drone dumbly followed. Yellow-Spot gasped when she saw the southern people’s colony. Or what was left of it.

Fires blazed through much of it, domes melting and collapsing from the flames. Pale smoke streamed into the sky. She felt red anger. When she looked at the demon, it was becoming less distinct, no longer looking like the blue-furred, yellow-spotted reflection of herself.

“Do you think these false gods will ever leave us?” Yellow-Spot asked.

“They are powerful beyond any words. In a sense, they are gods, just not gods we’d ever want to worship. We’re dumb animals to them.”

“Ironic. They’re soft-skinned like many dumb animals.” Yellow-Spot patted the Drone, as if for emphasis.

“I don’t understand why they’re fighting each other. They’re so powerful.”

“Yes. We can stand here all day trying to figure out what they’re up to, but we need to find a way to get down to one of those caverns.” Yellow-Spot saw the new resolve in her voice.