The nights were getting shorter. Not by much, but noticeably enough to make it clear that it was not early summer. The summer solstice was probably a few weeks past, at least.
Unfortunately, a calendar wasn’t one of the things Regina had thought to ask Tim and Bea to look out for. It was one more thing for the list. She was already planning on making a trip to the elven city herself, but before that, she needed to know that she could leave her drones by themselves if necessary.
Tim and the others left with two War Drones the day after he returned. There was no hurry, so she’d told them to go slowly and be careful. There might still be stronger monsters around. Ace had a detection ability that increased his hearing, which should help them avoid monsters, along with their keen sense of smell, but it was better not to be reckless.
Regina sat on the roof of their newest completed hut, looking out over the forest. It bore her weight without any complaints, a sure sign that her hive had gotten better at construction. The wooden shingles had been fixed in place with the Workers’ Ability. The wind rustled through her hair, which was still short, but had grown a little in the last few weeks.
She wondered if she should feel more reluctant to send her drones out like this. It might be a risk, but she felt it was worthwhile, so she hadn’t dithered. They hadn’t hesitated or shown any reluctance to take on the mission, either. And why would they? They’re my drones.
Regina sighed to herself. She tugged at her mandibles, then glanced down at her body. She took in the chitin-like shell, which had darkened slightly since her hatching, the vague outline of the wings folded against her body. It was easy to see why some people might call her a monster, although the real qualities that might evoke that term were mental.
After her first few days, she hadn’t felt like she had many problems with her Hive Queen instincts, or at least with integrating them with the human knowledge and impersonal memories she had. But now, this side of her felt more … prominent. That might be because she no longer had to focus on protecting her life against the monster horde or humans. It might also have something to do with establishing a proper hive. Or at least something close to it.
Even now, she couldn’t bring herself to be very concerned with the idea that she might be a monster. She was obviously sapient, a person, and it wasn’t like she remembered a different existence to compare it to. However, the possibility that her Hive Queen inclinations might make her act in less than optimal ways was worrying.
It was subtle. But whenever she thought about her little village and its surrounding territory, she’d inevitably feel possessive and inclined to fight whoever might try to take it from her. Actually, that feeling wasn’t so different when it came to the drones. Although the very idea of someone trying to subvert them or lure them away was ridiculous. Still, she was probably a little more okay with the idea of making beings that were beholden to her than she would if she was still human.
She still had some lingering attachment to the idea of humanity. Maybe it was that she knew how great they could be, capable of terrible yet also wonderful things, no matter how little the humans around here seemed to live up to that. But it was also quite easy to see them as enemies, or at least a threat. They weren’t her people. And pretty much the same went for the elves.
Regina shook her head again, then stood up and climbed down from the roof. She wasn’t getting anywhere with these musings. She’d just have to keep them in mind and monitor her own condition and mentality. She didn’t want to endanger her hive with some misplaced attachment to humans, but she also didn’t want to restrict herself from what she might otherwise have or invite unnecessary problems.
She focused on her connection to her hive’s drones, checking up on them. Tim and his group were walking through the forest, not having encountered any monster that would be a concern to them yet. The rest of her drones were hard at work, for the most part.
Regina paused as she looked through the War Drones. She’d posted a few of them at various positions to keep an eye on the hive and its surroundings. Now, she realized that one of them had moved. It was the one she’d posted the furthest from the hive, though still inside her control radius. It was at the edge of the forest where it opened out onto fields closer to the human castle and village. She’d given it pretty detailed instructions. Now, after looking through its senses for a bit, she realized what happened. There were groups of humans around, ranging farther from the castle than before.
Regina pulled back and glanced around. She mentally tabbed through her contacts until she reached Ada, then told her to Come to me.
It didn’t take long for the Scout to show up. Regina stood at the edge of the village outside a clear yard where the warriors usually trained, from where she had a good view of both the recent construction and most of the drones that were here.
“My Queen, you summoned me?” Ada asked, coming to a stop near her.
Regina nodded. “The War Drone closest to the human settlements shows that there is increased activity there. Obviously, I only got a short snapshot of it, but it seems like there might be something more going on.”
Her eyes widened. “You think they might be preparing to send troops into the forest?”
Regina shrugged. “I don’t know. What would you think about sending you there to find out more?”
Ada chewed on her lip for a moment. “It would take me quite a while to get there, my Queen, even if I traveled as quickly as I can. I’m also not quite sure what I could really do. In fact, it might be best to recall that drone, too.”
Regina frowned. “You think that they might discover you, or it?”
“I’m afraid so. They must have high-level people with powerful Abilities. If they’re sending teams into the forest, or just near it to watch it more closely, it would be hard to hide.”
“Agreed.” Regina rubbed at her temple and sighed. “Alright. I’ll order it to come back as stealthily as possible. However, I’d still like you to go out a bit. Not too far from the Hive. But take a look at the area facing Cernlia, and keep alert for any signs of visitors.”
“Of course, my Queen, right away.”
Regina shook her head as she watched Ada go. Left unsaid was that they couldn’t hope to hide their presence here if it came down to it. If the humans actually started looking, they’d find them.
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She checked on Ada frequently as the young scout moved out. Ada traveled in curves and meandering paths across the forest and around the lake, in the general direction of the human castle. She didn’t seem to find anything out of the ordinary, just the usual monsters going about their business. Even the stronger ones in the area seemed to have learned not to come too close to the hive by now.
The rest of the day, Regina found it hard to focus as she kept checking on her drones outside the hive. Luckily, there wasn’t much for her to do. She mostly observed the warriors’ training and sometimes participated a bit herself.
They’d found out that training did help you level, just not as much as actual combat for your life. Still, she usually sent out a Warrior with a group of War Drones to level them up fighting weaker monsters, although she decided to keep them nearby for now.
The Swarm Drones were usually too weak to take on even a low-level monster individually, but as the name implied, they worked in groups. Regina had done some tests over the last days and realized that the way they shared experience in a group differed from the other drones. As best she could tell, a War Drone would get experience from a fight its group was in even if it didn’t fight at all itself, like a party experience share mechanic. They still wouldn’t get as much experience if they took down a monster as part of a group as if they did it alone, but it seemed like there was a mechanic that would grant War Drones (and possibly other types of Swarm Drones once she had them) some bonus experience from others. That made it easier to level them up than she had feared.
A smaller group of War Drones kept fighting monsters through the night, since Regina didn’t want to lose any time leveling them. She woke up once in the middle of the night and checked on Ada, who had holed herself up on a good perch in the crown of a tree a few kilometers away. She’d leveled up again at some point, reaching level 8, probably from fighting a few monsters during her trip.
The next morning, Regina checked the hive’s tunnel system. It was growing quickly and Tia had even started working on the tunnel that would lead back to the center of the village, although that would take some time to complete. It also needed careful thought, since they wanted it to be hidden, as well as protected against flooding and other problems.
The sun had only just started getting some distance from the horizon when her newest Scout, Ash, came to find her. He looked like he had run the whole way there from his patrol. On the training field not far away, Max immediately stopped what he was doing and started heading over.
“My Queen, there are people coming,” Ash gasped.
Regina paused. She glanced in the direction he came from, but couldn’t see anything else yet, just forest. “Really? Where? Who?”
“Roughly the direction of the human land, my Queen. At least five humans, maybe more. I think they saw me.”
Regina cursed. She closed her eyes for a moment and focused on Ada. The other Scout didn’t seem worried, but kept walking through the forest, looking around.
Ash says humans are coming. Did you see any sign of them?
Ada stopped and she could feel her surprise. “Humans at the hive? No, my Queen, I didn’t see anything. The animals might be a bit more agitated than normal, but I thought that was just my presence. They must have passed me.”
Regina shook her head and suppressed another curse, then turned her attention back to her surroundings. She noticed that Max had already sent a War Drone to the other drones in the tunnels and called the warriors to assemble.
She picked out a few Warriors, the two younger Workers and some War Drones and told them to hide in their buildings. The last of them barely got inside before the humans arrived.
They traveled so quickly that Regina didn’t have much warning before they’d emerged from the trees and were almost at their houses. She shook off her surprise and stepped towards them, Max at her side and the other warriors clustered around them while the workers stayed back.
There were eight humans, most of them wearing some kind of armor and all of them carrying weapons, from swords to pikes to warhammers (small looking ones, so they couldn’t have absurd strength). They had different classes, mostly ones Regina hadn’t seen before. There were only two people whose level she could see. One of them was a level 12 Rogue, but it was the other one that captured her attention for a moment, a young man in cloth armor with a patchy blond beard.
Gavin Barkle — Level 13 Cleric of Alianais
One of the human men stepped forward, and her attention returned to him. This one seemed to be the leader. He was massive and had what looked like half an armory slung across his back and on his belt, above burnished plate mail.
Ulric — Level ? Weaponmaster
“Hello,” she greeted him carefully.
He nodded at her, sweeping his gaze across them. “Demihumans,” he greeted them curtly. “As you might know, there is currently a war between the local elven tribesmen and the kingdom of Cernlia. We answer to the lord of the local lands, Marquis Lyns.”
“Nice to meet you,” Regina answered. “We did hear about that, however, we’re not involved in this war.”
The man frowned. “If you’ve settled here, you must have made agreements with the elves. Additionally, you apparently use some goods of elven make.”
Regina blinked and then looked at her drones. Some of them were holding the tools they’d gotten from the elves as improvised weapons. Then there was a bundle of cloth still lying at the entrance of a house, and some of their clothes made from rough cuts of it.
“And what if we had?” she asked cautiously.
“I must inform you that you are occupying a spot of strategic importance,” he informed her. She had the impression he wasn’t used to speaking in that way. “Furthermore, this place, like the surrounding area, is claimed by the kingdom, which means you are squatting.”
Regina frowned. “Oh, really?” she almost growled.
Some of the humans moved their hands to their weapons. Others already half-drew them. She took a deep breath and made herself calm down.
“Yes. Really,” he drawled.
“We didn’t see any indication of that,” she said in a more even tone of voice. “In fact, there hasn’t been a human within kilometers of here at all, as far as we know. If this place was so important to your kingdom, you’d think it would be secured in some way.”
Ulric frowned thunderously. “I assure you, this is the case.”
Regina cocked her head. “Why should we believe this?” In fact, she was pretty sure the elves could produce some kind of claim on the area, too, though they had obviously given it to her hive. She didn’t think mentioning that would help, though.
“Are you calling me a liar?” The human pulled a sword half out of its sheath.
Regina shrugged, trying to appear calm. “I’m just saying that this is an easy claim to make. I don’t mean to question your word. It’s not personal. But anyone could come and say something like this.”
The humans muttered, clearly not mollified.
“You do not intend to leave, then?” he asked.
“No.” She stared at him, not saying anything else. Inwardly, she raged. How dare these idiots come and try to chase me out of my territory?!
“I see.” He met her stare for a while longer, before he looked aside and turned, holstering his weapon again. “You will be hearing from the kingdom again.”
Regina released a breath she hadn’t known she was holding as she watched the humans turn to leave. Most of them didn’t release their grip on their weapons, though. She could sense her drones behind her relaxing, content the threat to the hive had been driven off for now. She turned and met Max’s gaze, sharing a look.
Then suddenly, something prickled at the back of her neck. Regina whirled around again, just in time to see that the humans had turned. One of them - a higher-level Shaman, she vaguely remembered - had his hand raised and was clearly using some kind of Spell or Ability.
Then she grew dizzy and her vision spotty. Regina inhaled to shout a warning to her drones, but she couldn’t seem to get enough air. She lost her balance, blinked and tried to stand up, but the ground rushed to meet her. Darkness crashed over her.