The Bee Dungeon

The Dragon Banner Army took the rogue Tower Lords and their army into custody. General Rippotis forced the lords to surrender their Towers to the most trustworthy of their subordinates, then locked the powerless former lords behind the deadliest rooms his Tower had available. From there, General Rippotis explained the situation to their former Tower Guards. It did not take much to convince the guards, given the presence of monsters, the fact that they were clearly besieging a Tower of a High Councilor, and the cowardly surrender of their lord without a fight. General Rippotis had them swear oaths to resist the traitors and support his side from now on, then sent them back to their Towers.

General Rippotis took oaths from the new Tower Lords to voluntarily relinquish their positions when he requested it, then let them return to watch over their Towers for the time being. He did not want to lose his own trusted subordinates watching over the surrendered Towers while the war raged but likewise did not want to leave those Towers defenseless against the Hunger. Queen Vanieskon agreed to postpone claiming her sides’ Towers for the time being and even helped close potential loopholes in the oaths.

The monster army, though, would be pressed into service against the rest of the rebels. Raklasi the true dragon easily suppressed the weaker dragonkin and made them his subordinates, a task made easier since their former Tower Lords had clearly surrendered to his power. As long as General Rippotis didn’t order them to attack their own Towers, they’d be as loyal as any wild dragonkin could be.

And with his Tower secured, General Rippotis prepared to march for the City of Light. But before he left, he had one final task, the most pleasant one of this whole affair.

“Queen Commanders of the Tower of Fire, you all have done well and will be rewarded for your service. Remain here, continue to grow your hives, and continue your vigil over our home.”

Dozens of monster bee queens from the new spawners General Rippotis had added all danced a coordinated salute.

“Yes, General!”

General Rippotis could not help a smile at the sight.

“Additionally, I would like you to meet the representative of the Tower of Bees, our allies in this conflict.”

The bees that had accompanied him from Belissar’s Tower happily zipped forward and danced with his queen commanders.

“Hi new bees! Nice to meet! Come from Fourth Queen of First Dynasty of Seventh Spawner of Bee Tower’s hive! Want join hive of hives?”

The biggest and oldest of General Rippotis’ queens came to greet them on behalf of his own bees.

“Hi, am Queen Commander of Second Hive of Dragon Banner Army. Nice to meet General’s allies. Hive of hives, what that? Going to join Dragon Banner Army?”

The Fourth of the Seventh’s bees happily danced about.

“Hive of hives amazing, incredible! King wanted all bees work together, so did! Don’t compete, don’t fight, all help each other work for King!”

The Queen Commander of the Second Hive buzzed her wings.

“King? Work for General, no one else.”

The Fourth of the Seventh’s bees calmed down at that response.

“…won’t work for King? But then, can’t join hive of hives?”

At this point, General Rippotis decided to intervene.

“You both have different chains of command and answer to different authorities. However, know that I and Tower Keeper Belissar are allies. I would like you to cooperate as best you can. I’m sure Tower Keeper Belissar would wish the same.”

The Queen Commander of the Second Hive danced a salute.

“Ok! Won’t work for King but will help bees that do.”

Meanwhile, the First of the Fifth’s First Daughter’s communer flew in and danced with the Fourth of the Seventh’s bees before replying.

“King and flower one’s bees work together. Empress mother’s Third Daughter works for flower one now but still part of hive of hives. Empress mother says can still join hive of hives even if don’t work for King, as long as help King.”

The Queen Commander of the Second Hive paused, lightly buzzing her wings. She turned to General Rippotis.

“General, other bees’ mana makes want join, but want to work for General and General’s Tower, no one else! What do?”

General Rippotis considered it. His immediate impulse was to decline and keep the chains of command separate. The hive of hives that Belissar’s bees participated in was a very close thing from they had told him, a mental link between different hives. Part of him could not help but acknowledge the danger of letting his bees, who were now actively defending his Tower, participate in such a link that was ultimately loyal to someone else. Of course, he had no desire to make war on Tower Keeper Belissar now or in the future…but he could not know for certain what the future held.

But…the God of Light’s words came back to him again, her desire to see all living things in World One unite against the Hunger. Tower Keeper Belissar had done better at that in less than a year than General Rippotis had in over a thousand.

So, he decided to take a leap of faith.

“First of the Fifth’s First Daughter’s communer, you said it’s possible to join the hive of hives while ultimately answering to an authority other than Tower Keeper Belissar?”

The communer danced the confirmation.

“Is!”

General Rippotis smiled and turned to the Queen Commander of the Second Hive.

“Then I have no objections. Work together with Tower Keeper Belissar’s hive of hives, learn from them and grow with them. Do whatever you can to help them, so long as it does not threaten our home.”

The Queen Commander of the Second Hive danced a salute.

“Ok! Will join hive of hives if hive of hives helps General.”

The Fourth of the Seventh’s bees started dancing happily once more.

“Amazing, incredible! Can’t wait tell queen mother!”

The Queen Commander of the Second Hive gingerly hovered towards Belissar’s bees, while the First of the Fifth’s First Daughter’s communer extended the mana of the hive of hives towards her.

The Queen Commander of the Second Hive paused, then began a slow dance.

“Can feel…many bees. Powerful bees…amazing…incredible…”

General Rippotis smiled as the bees began to fly together and rub antennae, exchanging mana and pheromones. And so, the Queen Commanders of the Dragon Banner Army allied themselves with the hive of hives…and learned of a bee army far greater than their own…

***

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Queen Vanieskon, meanwhile, stood apart from the Dragon Banner Army as they handled things with the general’s Tower. She, instead, stood in front of several Tower Guards from the enemy force who were currently in a magical slumber. These were the scouts of the enemy force who Vanieskon had quietly incapacitated while she kept the Dragon Banner Army hidden on its approach.

She approached one of the Tower Guards and connected her mana to his own, reading his emotions as only a pixie could. She stepped up to him with a gentle smile and woke him, caressing his cheek with her hand as her eyes lit up with a soft glow.

“You long for love, you long for a family, don’t you? Listen to me and it shall be yours. The girl you dream of, I will help you make her yours. I will help you find the key to her heart and together you will build the family you’ve always wanted…”

The man’s eyes quivered…but he glanced away.

“Stay away from me and stay away from her, witch!”

Queen Vanieskon snapped her fingers and the man fell asleep again. She frowned and then moved onto the next Tower Guard, a woman this time. Queen Vaniekson read her emotions and then woke her up. She crossed her arms and frowned at the woman.

“Look at me.”

The woman snarled and glared at her. Queen Vanieskon met her gaze.

“They mock you. They look down upon you, they did not want a woman among them. You’ve had to fight for every last scrap of respect, you’ve had to fight harder than anyone to get where you’ve been, and still they disparage you. Still they claim you are worth nothing more than your body and spread the vilest rumors about your success. Still they do not acknowledge you. You know that they never will.”

Queen Vaniekson stepped forward and placed a hand on the woman’s shoulder, her eyes glowing once more.

“But I will. I know that you have worked harder than anyone and that you’ve earned every bit of strength you possess. I will always appreciate your strength, I will always acknowledge your efforts and reward you as you deserve. Come with me and we will show them once and for all who you truly are.”

The woman looked into her eyes…and then tried to bite her hand.

“You think I am so easily broken, enchantress?! Hunger take you!”

Queen Vanieskon snapped her fingers again and ground her teeth. Why?! Why couldn’t she charm mere humans that held but a fraction of her powers?! All of her other powers worked! She could see their desires, she could read their emotions! She could put them to sleep, she could poison them, she could make them ignore an entire army by all that is fair! And yet, they just would not be charmed! She had tried subtle suggestions, she had tried seduction, she had tried appealing to both their deepest desires and greatest fears. She had even acted like a barbarian and attempted to simply overpower one of them with all of her mana and even that had failed!

She glanced over at General Rippotis’ Tower rising in the distance and snarled.

“It’s the gods after all, isn’t it?! Hunger take them, Hunger take them all!”

She was running out of options. She was forced to play the subservient ally and obey a human, all because the gods were subverting her charms! If she didn’t find a way to charm Tower Guards soon, the Compact would end up as the junior partner to the Conclave, likely for good.

Her treacherous thoughts began to whisper to her, taunting her. They told her that…if she wanted to retake control of this situation…she would have to consider the unthinkable. That she had no other choice.

Queen Vanieskon gripped her fists and trembled.

***

In the Tower of the former lord Starami, a group of Tower Guard captains gathered in a meeting room, sitting around a table. All of them wore frowns on their faces and crossed their arms. One of them asked the dreaded question.

“What are we going to do?”

Lord Starami was dead. Starami’s Claw and the true dragon had been with him, so chances were they were gone too. Even if anyone had survived, they were far from home and would not return for some time.

In the meantime, the remaining Tower Guards had been ordered by the gods to defend the Tower until a new master could be found. But…every captain had already tried to become the new Tower Lord and the core had rebuffed them all. They were now trying the rest of the Tower Guard but having no luck with them either.

“…we need a Tower Lord. There’s no choice about it. We can’t change the rooms or improve the defenses. We can’t command the monsters our late lord left everywhere. And we don’t have the Claw or the true dragon anymore, if we get hit with an emergency purification…”

The Tower Guards all made grim expressions and fell silent. They could handle the ongoing purifications, but the Tower was missing its most powerful trump cards. If an emergency purification hit at the peak strength the Tower could previously manage…none of them were optimistic about their chances.

The one piece of good news was that the monster spawners Starami had hidden from them had begun respawning the monster army, and since Starami had revealed them before leaving the monsters were now spreading throughout the Tower. The bad news was that those monsters were under no compulsion to obey anyone but the Tower Lord. Fortunately, it seemed they wouldn’t attack fellow sworn defenders unless provoked…but neither would the proud dragonkin consent to listen to them. The Tower Guards had wrangled a few, but only those weaker than themselves. The rest were doing as they pleased, eating, fighting each other, and making themselves at home in whatever part of the Tower they fancied. The Tower Guards could not assemble them into an organized defense, only use them like an occasional environmental hazard…

“There’s no choice. The gods clearly don’t approve of any of us anymore. That should have been obvious when the God of Dragons stopped offering or strengthening blessings. We need to try someone who wasn’t a Tower Guard, maybe we should start looking at the peasantry.”

And that was the greatest shock of all. Shortly before Starami’s death, the God of Dragons had stopped blessing the Tower Guards, whether prospective candidates, or older guards looking to advance. The Tower Guards could not grow their individual strength or their overall numbers…they were stuck with what they had. And stuck with the implication that their patron god had found their entire Tower wanting, perhaps for their failure to protect their lord? Or maybe it was because of the gods’ displeasure with him for raising a monster army? Either way…the Tower Guard knew they could not hold the line alone. Even if they held out in the short term, they would eventually be worn down simply because they could not replenish their losses. To say nothing of it the Hunger escalated its efforts…

“Preposterous. Why don’t we send word to another Tower? Surely the others have prospective Tower Lords they could send, ones that are worthy of the honor.”

“Haven’t you heard the rumors? There’s apparently been a coup and it’s turning into an all-out civil war! Who will bother listening to a lordless guard?”

“You believe those rumors? You believe the High Council, which has led for over a thousand years, would let the Conclave fall apart, just like that?”

The captains fell into another fruitless argument. With no clear leader among them, none was willing to back down.

But then, something happened that put an end to their argument…

Warning! Corruption levels surging! Emergency purification required!

Time was up. The captains all grimaced, but they solemnly left the meeting and gathered what Tower Guards they had. They had no illusions that this battle would go well…but the gods had demanded that they fight, so fight they would. If the Tower fell, no one would survive. Not them, not anyone in the Tower, not anyone who lived in its entire area of influence…

But as they passed through shortcuts and reached a room on the main route to the Tower’s entrance, they felt the ground rumble. They hurried, fearing the purification had already begun, but when they reached the next shortcut they found a surprise.

There, a horde of dragonkin were pouring through the shortcuts. Kobolds, drakes, and wyverns were all marching side by side, their previous territorial battles seemingly forgotten. It seemed like every monster in the Tower was trying to push through the shortcuts…

And all of them were marching straight towards the entrance of the Tower, where the Hunger approached.

The captains glanced at each other, their confusion slowly turning to relief. If the monsters of the Tower would all go to fight on their own…then maybe, just maybe, they might hold out after all.

***

In the Underway, a growing force of Tower Guards made their way back towards the Conclave. They had managed to meet with the next incoming supply convoy, who turned around and joined them on the way back. They were making good progress, there were surprisingly few monster or Hunger attacks compared to when they first mapped the path.

In the small tunnels above the Underway, a group of spiderkin bombarded a shade with arrows. The spiderkin queen nodded at their success. The Sorcerer Kings would find their path clear once more.

“Well done.”

The spiderkin queen jumped as a quiet voice spoke behind her. Her warriors spun around, drawing their bows, but the queen held up a hand to stop them and then bowed her human torso. She felt the raw mana coming off the newcomer and knew it could only mean one thing…

“Daughter of Liberation, it is an honor…”

Another spiderkin had appeared right behind her, but the queen could barely make her out. She seemed to blend into the shadows of the cave, even to another spiderkin’s nocturnal senses. The spiderkin’s eyes lit up and that was the only way the queen could tell that she gave a nod.

“So, it’s true. You did find humans.”

The queen kept her head low.

“Yes, we are tracking them back to their home.”

The Daughter of Liberation glanced down towards the Underway.

“I can see that, you have done well. We will continue your work, my queen is on her way. Once she arrives, you will be rewarded.”

The light in the spiderkin’s eyes cut off and the raw mana coming off her vanished all at once, causing the queen to lose all trace of her. The queen couldn’t help but exhale her breath.

She knew it was coming, but meeting a daughter of the Queen of Liberation was still nerve-wracking. As was hearing that the strongest of the spiderkin, the one who freed them from the Sorcerer Kings all those years ago, was on her way here…

She spun around and immediately barked at her warriors.

“Redouble the patrols, make sure nothing gets between the Sorcerer Kings and their home! The Queen of Liberation is coming, we will not fail her!”

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