Whilst Seth had been having a very polite, and absolutely not passive aggressive, conversation with the woman of the trees, the Ant Queens corpse had been busy. Naturally, being a corpse it was much like a platypus, in the way that it didn't do much.
Strangely, also like the humble platypus, it was also prone to leakage. But while the duck-billed mammal leaked milk from its pores like it was sweating, a corpse took the much less disgusting option and simply leaked blood instead.
Leaking, or perhaps oozing was the right word considering its gloopy, tar-like texture. Yes... Oozing from the stump of the Queen's neck, where a perfectly maintained blade had cleanly severed her head, was a steadily growing puddle of vile, green blood.
