The queen landed on her hated enemy as her hive stung him. She stirred up her mana and stung him with all she had. Then she did it again. And again. And again and again and again until he stirred no longer. Most of her remaining workers were spent on the task but she had no regrets. Her purpose had been achieved.

She danced upon her fallen foe.

“That was for worker! And Hive-Builder!”

Then, and only then, did she take stock of the situation. Unfortunately, she had spent most of her hive on that one enemy, so she wasn’t sure what she’d do about the…

She found herself staring at a swarm of bees. A swarm of bees beyond anything she had seen, save in her visions of the Queen of All Bees. Even the smallest of the bees were larger than her, larger than any bee she had ever seen. The largest of them…were comparable in size to hive predators or even the humans.

And now she found herself in their territory. With only a handful of workers of her own. She began to slowly crawl backwards when one of them began flying right towards her. She braced for the worst but then the big bee stopped right in front of her…and began to dance.

“Queen mother?”

The queen was confused at first…until the bee’s mana touched hers. The moment it did, she knew, and she began to fly.

“WORKER!”

“Queen mother!”

She flew to her worker and began to crawl all over her.

“Worker! It’s you! Found you!”

“Queen mother! How get here?”

“Queen of All Bees helped! Told come with evil humans, so did!”

Her worker then stopped.

“Right, need to sting the rest. Hang on.”

Her worker began to beat her powerful wings. The queen took a moment to look around her. The rest of the evil humans…were no more, slain by a hive more powerful than she could have possibly imagined.

The only humans remaining were the two waiting in the tunnels. The queen began to dance on her worker’s back.

“Ah…that one, not evil. Helped get here, gave water.”

Her worker stopped.

“Really?”

The queen confirmed. Her worker hung in the air for a moment. The other bees had begun following her, but stopped as she did.

“Hang on, need to ask King.”

The queen paused at the unfamiliar dance.

“King, what that?”

Her worker began to zip around in the air.

“King is best king! Leads hive of hives!”

The queen was now thoroughly confused. The dances held meaning, but none she had ever encountered. But as she slowly parsed the meaning…her wings began to buzz.

“King…is like queen? Worker’s…queen?”

“Yes!”

Her worker…had been taken by a new queen? A new hive?

The queen began extending her stinger.

“Who?! Who took worker?! Show me!”

A short while later, the queen was frozen solid.

“This is…?”

He was here. The Hive-Builder lived as well!

Her worker danced as she contemplated the sight before her.

“Queen mother! Niobee’s old queen!”

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The Hive-Builder’s eyes grew wide, and then he broke out into a wide grin.

“Then that means…you were one of my old bees?!”

The queen’s mind was barely working at this stage, but she believed the Hive-Builder was asking if she had lived in one of his hives…so she danced the affirmative. The Hive-Builder then held out his hand. Mana stirred and twisted and grew so dense it turned visible…before turning into glistening honey pooling in his hand.

“Here, come on! I’m so glad to see you!”

Instinct took over where conscious thought failed, and she climbed onto his hand to begin drinking the honey. It was sweeter than anything she had ever tasted. She barely noticed as she was lifted into the air.

But…the evil humans were dead, both her worker and the Hive-Builder were back, and now she had the sweetest honey before her. For the first time since her home burned, all was right in the world.

----------------------------------------

Belissar was giddy and nearly skipping. One of his queen bees was here! He had worried they all had died when the village was set on fire, but they had survived! And not only survived, but came all the way here! He needed to build her a hive right away and…

“Um, Sacred Den Master?”

He turned to find Chief Rohsuak with a complicated look on her face.

“Yes?”

She pointed towards the Dirt Tunnel.

“What would you like us to do about them?”

Belissar tilted his head before looking down the tunnel…and seeing the two men and wyvern pairs still standing there staring at the soldier bees hovering before them.

“Ah…right, them. Um, Niobee, you said the queen said they aren’t evil, or something?”

Niobee danced the affirmative.

“Queen mother said helped her, gave water on trip here!”

Belissar frowned. On the one hand…those were men who traveled with the Tower Lord’s son. He guessed they would have been part of the group that burned his village…and they had attacked his Tower. His heart twisted in his chest as he remembered the bees that had fallen once more.

But…apparently at least one of them had helped this queen arrive here. He had saved one of Belissar’s bees and helped them reunite. Did that make up for everything else they had done, today and before?

Belissar furrowed his brow before sighing. Honestly, he couldn’t decide right now. And he didn’t really want to think about humans any more.

But there was nothing for it, so he stepped forward. The two mens’ eyes widened. The younger one bowed his head.

Belissar raised an eyebrow.

“What are you doing?”

The man looked up and sighed.

“Awaiting execution, sir.”

Belissar turned to the queen in his hand. He pointed towards the young man.

“Is that the one? The one who helped you?”

She danced the affirmative. Belissar nodded.

“In that case…I won’t kill you.”

The man’s head shot up.

“Wait, what?”

“I said I won’t kill you. You helped the bees survive.”

The man’s eyes widened and quivered.

“That’s…are you sure?! I…I recognize you. You were one of the villagers, right? The village we burned.”

Belissar froze.

“You…remember me?”

The man’s head and shoulder fell.

“I…remember them all. I see you all every night. I don’t deserve to live.”

Belissar tilted his head. The man…felt bad? About burning the village? Belissar…had no idea what to make of that. His chest burned and his head spun as he thought of that day…so he focused instead of the bee lapping up honey in his hand.

“Look, I don’t want to think about that. You saved the bees, so you get to live. Let’s leave it at that.”

The man frowned.

“You’re just going to let us go? We’ll have to report to the Tower Lords, you know?”

Belissar froze.

“That’s…a good point.”

He furrowed his brow and grunted for a moment. Chief Rohsuak stepped forward.

“If you wish to spare him, Sacred Den Master, we could take him into custody for you?”

Belissar’s face lightened.

“Ah, thanks. Let’s go with that then.”

Belissar turned to face the man.

“How about I imprison you, then?”

The young man hung his head.

“…as you wish.”

Chief Rohsuak nodded.

“Of course. And the other?”

Belissar turned to look at the old man. He said nothing, just hung his head low and stared at the dirt with unfocused eyes. Belissar shrugged.

“…might as well? Um, unless he causes any trouble.”

Chief Rohsuak nodded and motioned to the karnuq. Metsaitti and the others approached the two men. The wyverns growled at them but the young man turned and calmed them down, leading them out of the cave. Belissar asked the bees to assist, so the soldier bee army surrounded the two men and wyverns as the karnuq led them out.

Belissar heaved a sigh. What a day it had been. He glanced down and found a corpse at his feet. If he wasn’t mistaken, this was one the Tower Lord’s son.

He gulped, and found his body began to shake. His stomach churned and he began to sweat. Now that he had time to think, he had really done it. By his command, the bees had ended a fellow human life. Several of them.

He took a deep breath and looked up, then shook his head. Fellow humans who had not hesitated to invade his home. Fellow humans who had not hesitated to burn his old home and kill both him and all the other villagers. Belissar wasn’t close to any of them but that didn’t mean he enjoyed watching everyone he had ever known put to the sword. If anyone deserved this fate, it was the men at his feet. He would not grieve their demise.

He just wished he hadn’t had to lose bees to do it.

But more than any of that were the implications of this day. The Tower Lords had found him. They had arrived in force and acted as Belissar feared.

And his bees, with the help of the karnuq, had overcome them. The same group that burned his village had come to kill and destroy once more…and instead had met their fate. The bee army defeated them as it had an invading shade. The karnuq had stood by his side and struck down the humans that wanted to kill him.

They could do it. They had done it. They had beaten the Tower Guard. They had defeated a Tower Lord’s own son. They had stopped him from burning their homes.

Belissar gripped his free hand into a fist. Niobee landed on his head and tapped out a dance.

“King ok?”

He slowly nodded.

“…we have a lot to do now but…yes. I think I will be. Let’s just make sure they can’t hurt the bees anymore.”

“We will! King is best king! Bees will sting all intruders!”

Niobee began dancing on his head. Belissar felt a smile grow on his face, and his heart untwisted just a tad.