My Post Infection AU [Hollow Knight]

Part 12: Mantis and Spider

Beth followed through the the promise she made to herself.

After her and Ellie were both awake, she woke one Hive Soldier and brought them with her and the firefly but more as a formality, rather than for protection, seeing as they took the tram to Deepnest and told them of what they were doing. They had been allowed to pass through with ease and help. There was no need for a guard.

A pair of devouts and a weaver had then come when they heard the news. They had been acting as the leaders of Deepnest since the disappearance of their princess. The names they had introduced themselves with were Archmi, Hesmie, and Gildery.
The Hive-dwellers had led them to the gate that blocked the Mantis Tribe from the depths of the arachnid's nest, which had been left open before Vessel had left, but had been closed when the threat appeared in their neighboring state.

This wasn't because they had gone back to their previous quarrel, but more for a precaution. Just in case their neighbor was invaded.

Beth was amazed when Gildery, the weaver, had simply knocked on the gate and then stepped back behind her and Ellie, where the two devouts where.

The Mantis Lords answered the knock with an opening of the gate, with one of the three sisters standing in the arena to see who was there. She nodded to her sisters when she saw the visitors and another joined her, the third staying behind to close the gate if needed.

The beasts did not move, but Beth stepped closer to the gate that divided the two peoples. Ellie and the soldier stayed where they were.

"Are you the rulers of your tribe?" Beth asked the Mantis Lords, who nodded.

"I wish to discuss the matter and state of the Kingdom of Hallownest." Beth asks, "I am Beth, I rule the Hive on the other side of the large kingdom."

"One moment." One of the Mantis Lords spoke, "If we are all to discuss our neighbor, then we shall send for a representative of the Fungal Core." One of them ran to the other side of the room and jumped up, coming back moments later.

The other looks to the beasts, and both nod in unison, coming closer to the borders, but far enough away that neither could put their weapon into the other's territory, and that the Hive dwellers could remain between them.

They all waited in the silence of thought as they waited for the last of the Lords to return.

When she did, the third joined her sisters as the Shrumal Warrior takes their place across from Beth, Ellie, and the soldier between the Arachnids and the Mantis, forming a rounded square of all four of Hallownest's neighbors.

Everyone looks to Beth, and she takes a deep breath and begins, "As no doubt all of us are aware, the division in Hallownest has driven all of us to isolate from them further. But I wish to discuss what happened a few nights ago."

"What?" The Shrumal Warrior asked.

"My companion has been using her incredible gift of social manipulation to discover what these people decide to do next." Beth gestures to Ellie, "She discovered a plot that took place on the night of the day before yesterday."

"What happened?" Archmi asks.

Ellie recounts to them all the horrific scene created by the Kingsmoulds and the poor citizens who attempted to overpower them.
"It was so quickly and silently done that not even the royals knew of it until I informed them about it." She finishes.

"Clearly this accursed rebel has lost the pride of his race." A Mantis Lord says to her sisters.

"What will he do in the event that he realizes his own actions have led to his failure in that large kingdom?" Hesmie asks.