The Bee Dungeon

The former queen of queens, now the First Stingless Queen of the Flower Tender’s Realm, flew at the head of her army. Her one hundred soldier bees, the veterans of the hive wars, the subjugators of the Flower Tender’s realm. The army she once thought invincible, a force no other hive could match. And now their numbers had swelled, doubling from their previous peak. The gifts of honey offered by the Flower Tender’s newest queen had dramatically expanded what the First Stingless Queen could afford.

And yet, their buzzing seemed soft and sparse to her, especially as they were overtaken by the Third Daughter’s own bees. The heavy wing beats of the lancer and archer bees drowned out the smaller soldiers, the giant bees a power the First Stingless Queen had never imagined was possible.

The Third Daughter approached, flying alongside her and dancing in the manner of her people.

“Hi, First Stingless Queen! Ready fight?”

The First Stingless Queen’s antennae bowed.

“Third Daughter, Flower Tender’s First Honeybee Queen, thanks for coming. Will need your help fight.”

The Third Daughter happily zipped around.

“Ready fight for new home, new hive of hives, and flower one!”

The First Stingless Queen put aside any misgivings she once had about the new queen, as well as her envy for the Third Daughter’s army. Because today, she simply needed all the help she could get.

The two of them led their armies through a shortcut…and found a force that even her and the Third Daughter’s armies combined could not compare to. There, in a field surrounded by shortcuts, the Flower Tender’s true army assembled. Flowers of all shapes and sizes covered the ground. There were flowers with maws that could swallow entire hives, flowers surrounded with toxic clouds that even bees could not endure, and flowers that commanded the very elements. Added to them was an army of Flower Tender-things, a hive of Flower Tenders working great magics the likes of which she could not conceive.

The First Stingless Queen saw the truth now. She had never subjugated the Flower Tender’s realm to begin with. No, she was but the least of the Flower Tender’s servants. She had never even seen the Flower Tender’s true army in action because she had been too weak to fight alongside it.

And it made her crimes all the greater. Because she had suppressed the other queens and forbade them from raising soldiers, her paltry force of a two hundred represented the entirety of what the Flower Tender’s bees could muster in her defense. The Third Daughter could bring them up to three hundred, but she had not been raising new soldiers, instead working on expanding her honey production. The hive of hives of the Bee Realm, on the other hand, could apparently field an army on a similar scale to the Flower Tender’s, an army that could defend entire realms. They worked together to field more soldiers than any one hive could afford and so they were not left behind when their realm came under attack.

But the First Stingless Queen could not change the past. All she could do was move forward and do her best on the Flower Tender’s behalf. Today, she would have the opportunity to do so. Today, the Flower Tender had called for her. So, she gathered what forces she had and begged the Third Daughter for help. She knew not what their meager force could accomplish, but she would do everything that she possibly could…

Then she heard more buzzing through her rearguard. She turned attention back…and nearly dropped out of the sky.

More stingless queens were flying through the shortcuts…each escorted by soldiers. Each queen only had a few soldiers…but together, they added up to over a hundred, an army that could have matched hers. First Stingless Queen’s antennae twitched as the queens approached her.

“Other queens…coming fight?”

One of the queens, the deceiver who had intentionally withheld reports about the Third Daughter, buzzed her wings.

“All bees Flower Tender’s bees, all bees help defend Flower Tender. Third Daughter too, gave honey and helped raise soldiers, so will fight for. And…First Stingless Queen was evil, but stopped killing hives, let raise soldiers, let forage from flowers. Still don’t trust…but if fighting for Flower Tender, then will help.”

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It took First Stingless Queen a while to respond. She glanced around in silence, taking in each of her former subjects. The queens she had conquered and robbed, her own daughters she had kept from growing into threats, all the enemies she had defeated. Each of them now flying before her, offering what they could, and together adding yet another army to her own.

The Third Daughter had danced many dances regarding the hive of hives, but now the First Stingless Queen could see it herself. Together, with the help of the Third Daughter, she and the bees of the Flower Tender’s realm had assembled an army four times the size of the queen of queen’s all-conquering force. They were still but a pittance compared to the Flower Tender’s might, but perhaps they were now strong enough to contribute.

The First Stingless Queen…released submissive pheromones.

“Thank you, all of you. Let’s fight for Flower Tender.”

All the Flower Tender’s bees buzzed, then, together, they flew to find the one who called for them.

The Flower Tender stood at the center of the army, directing flowers and Flower Tender-things as queen directed her workers. The stingless queens flew before her and released submissive pheromones, while Third Daughter danced what she called a salute dance. Flower Tender noticed them and smiled.

“Ah, my bees. Good, you made it.”

First Stingless Queen buzzed her wings.

“Ready to fight for Flower Tender. How help?”

The Flower Tender waved towards the flowers all across the field.

“I got some new perks from the God of Bees! All of my flowers will grow stronger for a bit after being pollinated. I need your hives to visit as many of the monster flowers as you can while the battle is ongoing. The gardeners especially!”

The First Stingless Queen nearly fell out of the sky. The Flower Tender…didn’t need her soldiers to fight. She needed her gardeners to tend to the flowers. They were not to add their meager might to her army…they were to help her empower it! She needed them to join in her work, as the First Stingless Queen had only recently managed to do. As before, the answer was not to be an all-conquering queen of queens who fought with the strength of her soldiers. The answer was to grow closer to the Flower Tender and to follow in her path.

Once again, the First Stingless Queen had to thank the hive of hives for showing her the existence of monster bee gardeners.

But then she felt the uncertain pheromones from the queens around her.

“Gardeners?”

“…don’t have any. Can raise but…wanted raise soldiers…”

“Any queen has? Know Third Daughter does but…”

The First Stingless Queen turned around and beheld the other stingless queens, her former rivals and subjects. They, like her, had been enamored by the strength of soldiers. They, like her, had focused on raising strong hives. They, like her, had missed what the Flower Tender’s true purpose was. They, like her, would not be able to help the Flower Tender in her true work.

The First Stingless Queen could take this moment to set herself apart. Only she had realized what the Flower Tender really wanted. Only she had raised gardeners that could participate in the Flower Tender’s work. Only she could answer the Flower Tender’s call. She could establish herself once more as the greatest queen in the Flower Tender’s sight.

Or…she could try something new. She looked to the soldiers, to the grand army the queens had assembled together, and made her choice.

“Have raised gardeners. Can teach other queens how. Can give Nature honey, will help workers evolve to gardeners.”

All of the other queens froze, then slowly turned her way. Suspicious pheromones fill the air.

“Why First Stingless Queen help? What want?”

She turned to glance at the Third Daughter as she released her response pheromones.

“Want all Flower Tenders’ bees help her. If all queens raise gardeners, can raise more than any one hive. Not strong enough protect Flower Tender by self, no hive strong enough, but if work together then can help Flower Tender’s true army. Will do anything help Flower Tender, even help rivals.”

Suspicion still hung on the air, but was slowly joined by understanding pheromones. The deceiver queen’s pheromones grew stronger.

“Then…ask First Stingless Queen to help. Help raise gardeners quickly.”

The First Stingless Queen glanced at the Third Daughter…then tried to fly in that salute pattern. It seemed appropriate.

The Third Daughter responded by zipping around at maximum speed.

“Amazing, incredible! Flower Tender’s bees building hive of hives!”

The First Stingless Queen disagreed, for now. They were no hive of hives, not yet, not as the Third Daughter described it. There was too much suspicion, too much bad blood between her and her former subjects, they did not trust each other and would not for some time. But…what they all could acknowledge is that they were all the Flower Tender’s bees. And if it was for the Flower Tender’s sake, they could work together.

Still, the First Stingless Queen began to see a vision, a vision of an army of bees filling the skies. A swarm of more soldier than any one hive could ever support, a force that could fight alongside the Flower Tender’s true army. A vision that could only come to pass if the Flower Tender’s bees could overcome their past conflicts and create a true hive of hives. If that vision was ever to come to past, then as the former queen of queens, the queen who had done the most harm, it fell to her to take the first step.

The First Stingless Queen, like the queen of queens she once was, didn’t hesitate.

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