Mildred went around the entire settlement with Rain Flower, gathering any meat from the houses, as well as the offal and rotting carcasses from the village midden, dragging the stinking mass of pork, beef, monkey and dog along the same trail, to the same place as the honey.
Krysty went quickly through the forest with Ryan, establishing a base at the center, where the plan would be carried out. Doc followed at a slower pace, accompanied by several of the older warriors, who were to carry out the finer details of the scheme.
J.B. and Jak took all of the other males, and some of the young women, directly to the ruined army base. Itzcoatl went with them, explaining that the fear of the place as the abode of hostile spirits meant that there might be a reluctance on the part of some of his people to go near the military complex.
Particularly at night.
RYAN WIPED SWEAT from his forehead, straightening and looking toward the east. “Not long,” he said.
Already there was the first lightening of the sky, heralding the arrival of the false dawn. In less than an hour it would be full light, and the column of ants would be on the move again, heading directly toward them.
“You sure that this guy Leiningen was telling the truth about what he did?” Krysty said, addressing Doc, who had wandered up to join them, the ferrule of his swordstick rapping on the soft red sandstone.
“I had no reason to doubt him.”
Mildred joined them, looking exhausted. “The smell of some of that meat would have made a gator puke,” she said. “Still, we’ve built it. Now we wait and see if they’ll come.”
Eyes wide with exhaustion, Dean walked unsteadily to join the others on the rim of the basin. He was licking his fingers, and his face was smeared with a layer of honey. “Ready as we’ll ever be,” he said.
Krysty glanced across to where Itzcoatl was deep in conversation with his council of priests and elders. He was waving his hands vigorously, constantly pointing toward the east. The chief caught Ryan’s eye and broke off from the talk, walking slowly to join the Anglos.
“We have done all you said.” He glanced toward where Jak Lauren was still at work, shepherding the natives who were responsible for the first wave of gasoline. The albino’s hair flamed like a beacon of snowy fire in the predawn gloom. “If the gods labor with us, then we cannot fail.”
Doc patted the native on the shoulder. “The plan worked before. And I vow that it will work again. How can it fail with such an effort from everyone?”
“I hope the forest gods are not pissed at us for doing this thing.”
Doc laughed, his voice booming into the stillness, attracting glances from everyone around the rim of the basin.’ “The ants will come this way. They will find the trail of wild honey that has been laid out near where they have stopped for the night. They will follow that and then catch the odor of the rotting meat. As sure as mighty Phoebus Apollo drives his chariot on the heels of the goddess of the moon who’s called I disremember that. It matters not a jot nor a tittle. The ants will be lured here into this basin of rock, where they will discover the feast of a lifetime.”
“And they will all come to dine,” Itzcoatl said excitedly. “They will come.”
“Sure,” Ryan said. “And then all the carrying of gas across those miles of forest’ll be worth it. We pour it down on them and then” He clicked his fingers.
“Wop bop aloobop, a wop bam boom !” Mildred sang, clapping her hands.
“And it’ll be over,” Ryan said confidently, managing to hide his serious doubt that Doc’s plan would really work.
THE THING THAT EVERYONE noticed first about the break of dawn was the stillness. An oppressive silence hung to the tops of the trees behind them like an almost palpable entity, a silence that clung around the waiting men and women like an unwrapped shroud.
“The ants are still there,” Ryan said, speaking for the sake of breaking the quiet.