Never

Chapter 44: Rescue Operation

The mantis heart beat like a small drum in her chest, the tension she endured was tremendous, fear and emotion danced together inside her, stirring her mind and shaking her determination. She was betraying Big and Hollow's trust, but she hoped they would forgive her, they more than anyone had to understand her feelings of love for her family and her desire to protect them.

She devised a complete escape and rescue plan in one afternoon, which she put in place that same night. At bedtime, as usual, she had a cup of tea with her partner, but in Hollow's she poured an infusion of herbs to sleep, so that he would sleep until the next day, when he had to get up to go to war.

As always, Hollow stayed with her in her room and as soon as he fell asleep, Orchid got out of bed, grabbed her clothes, and slipped away from the palace. She already knew that enclosure like the palm of her claw, so she knew where to flee without being detected by the guards, the palace had the peculiarity that it was more difficult to enter than to leave.

Once outside, she made sure to hide her identity and consulted the map that she had brought with her, she managed to obtain one in the palace library, she hoped that was enough not to end up lost in the intricate network of tunnels of Deep Nest. But since her first stop was located in the civilized area of that kingdom, she took advantage of the comforts that she offered and took a stag to a Distant Village, fortunately they had night service.

Once there, it was her turn to find out where the prisoners' cells were, the map she had was not so detailed as to include information of that type, and for strategic reasons it was not something they would tell the general public, so she had to find out on her own.

But how to obtain such information? Sometimes the most obvious answer was the correct one and there was no better way to find a place than to ask, but for someone like Orchid that was a little out of her possibilities. Deep Nest was a few hours away from going to war with the mantis tribe, any insect of that species was not welcome, so she would have to use alternative methods.

As soon as she got off the station she was faced with her first problem, the place was being guarded by a overlooker. After a glance she noticed that he was not a very strong individual, it was probably a weak but fast spider, with the task of raising the alarm in case of seeing something suspicious and thus ordering to bring in guards with true power. But Orchid was confident in herself, not only was she strong, she was also fast, so as soon as she got off her transport and the bug approached to question her, she practically disappeared from her sight and then appeared behind him and knock him out.

Once that problem had been overcome, it was time to find out which direction to take. She hid between the shadows and the thread of the villa's dwellings, stalking the perfect prey that would aid her in her mission. She first passed a very robust devotee, he looked like a great rival to fight with, but it was not what she was looking for. After a few moments another possible candidate came into view, a fat and somewhat older spider with a severe aspect, the mantis thought for a few moments and discarded it, she seemed too stubborn.

It was a long time before someone else passed her hiding place, but it was worth the wait as this time it was the perfect prey, a drunken spider staggering home. She might have had the bright idea to have a drink before the next day's battle, but whatever the cause of her condition was, Orchid was not interested, she just wanted to get all the information that this individual could provide.

She tensed her muscles and crouched in her hiding place, waiting for her prey to get close enough, her staggering made it difficult to plan an effective attack, but she could deal with it.

The spider got closer and closer letting out some strange screams that she called a song, the uproar she made was such that no one would be surprised if she screamed, but that did not happen, only a soft moan was heard before giving way to silence.