The Bee Dungeon

Belissar furrowed his brow, but the shade continued its advance in the meantime so he tried to think as quickly as he could. He ended up sighing and shaking his head. At the end of the day, it was just too risky. Why would he allow the lancers to jump into a literal fire, or for the wounded and immobile lightning bees to face a fire breath, when he had another option. He opened his eyes and turned to ask Chief Rohsuak to intervene.

Until he caught sight of the bees.

The First of the Fourth was dipping, her wings beating slower and slower the longer he remained silent. She was about to land on the ground at this point. The other bees were faltering as well, all of them either hovering as motionless as they could or else slowly dropping from the air. Even Niobee was uncharacteristically still, with only a slight sway to her hovering. Belissar frowned.

He recalled the past few weeks. He recalled how subdued the Firstborn and the Flower Meadow queens had been after the emergency purification. He recalled how hard Beero and the others had worked just to take part in the fighting once again.

He now thought of how they all would feel and act should Chief Rohsuak handle this purification as well. The bees who had made it their main mission to defend the Tower from intruders, who devoted all of their efforts to strengthening their army…held back from the fight without even deploying the newest bees.

He held his tongue and rubbed his chin once again. What was the right move here? Should he protect his bees no matter how it made them feel…or should he let them face unnecessary danger and harm so that they could feel useful? He closed his eyes and grunted to himself.

Well, the truth was he already knew the answer. He had had this argument with himself before, after all. He already knew what the bees wanted. He already knew what the God of Bees wanted. He already knew what he was supposed to do. What the master and defender of a Tower had to do. He just didn’t want to do it.

He opened his eyes and turned to his bees, looking over the First of the Fourth. Her drooping paused at his attention. He took a deep breath.

“…do it. Send in the lancers. Second of the Sixth, get your medicinal workers ready, we’ll probably need them soon. Niobee, ask Beero if they can prepare their spell ahead of time. If so, have them get started.”

The First of the Fourth immediately shot up into the air, her wings once again beating fast as she quickly saluted and began relaying commands. The Second of the Sixth did likewise and then began arranging her workers. Niobee was already dancing with a communer. Belissar slowly exhaled his breath.

At the end of the day, the only reason not to use the lancers was his own desire to avoid seeing bees hurt. Chief Rohsuak may have gotten a new blessing but she also hadn’t gotten any younger, so she would strain herself if she had to keep handling purifications on his behalf. Likewise, there was no guarantee her fire would even work this time…and no guarantee the shade wouldn’t attack her in the meantime. Additionally, it was important to find out exactly how strong the lancers were, and to allow the soldier bee army to continue fighting and growing.

And well…would he depress the bees for his own desire? Would he prioritize his own wants over the wants of both the bees and their god? Was it truly kinder to hold them back from the fight they desperately wanted?

Was it that he was worried for the bees’ sake, or was it that he just didn’t want to lose anything more himself?

So, he gave the order. He had told himself he trusted in his bees, so that is what he would do.

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Behind him, Chief Rohsuak made a sad smile and whispered to herself.

“Well done, Sacred Den Master. Not everyone can bear the burden of leadership.”

The bees soon responded. The Second of the Sixth led her medicinal workers closer to the battlefield, while the Orchard hive’s soldiers carried trays of medicinal honey for them. Beero and the lightning bees began their dance, holding a comb of lightning above their heads as they paused on the final step.

The lancers, meanwhile, flew high into the sky, with the soldier bees clearing the area so they could get an unobstructed view. They looked down with their large eyes to observe their target’s location, size, speed, and direction, as well as how quickly it could turn. They swayed about in the air, testing how it moved against their wings and chitin and checking for wind. They then began to dance to one another and arranged themselves into a cross formation centered on the target. One bee in the center, aiming directly at the target’s core. Two bees in front and behind, two bees to either side, all aiming at an angle.

With all calculations concluded, the bees turned so that their abdomens faced down and their wings and heads were up and far away.

And then, as one, they stopped beating their wings. Their wing joints twisted to reverse the wings’ angles, and then they swung them in the other direction. The five lancers plunged from the sky, beating their wings in reverse to increase their speed further. The air blew past them like gusts of wind and the view from their main eyes became a blur of golden light from the sun, blue skies that reflected it, and yellow and black streaks as they rushed past their smaller sisters, until special plates of chitin extended out to protect the big eyes. A small protrusion extended on the back of their heads, holding two smaller eyes held just above the rest of their body. These eyes focused in on the shade, allowing them to adjust their aim. Their legs pressed tight against their bodies, but sometimes shifted and extended out, causing them to change angle as needed.

Down, down they dove as the smoke from the fires rose into their path. They ignored it, their antennae already safely tucked into special grooves on their faces to protect them mid-dive. Smoke burned through their trachea but their speed was such that it left as quickly as it came, and they had all taken a deep breath before the dive began in any case. They did lose sight of the target but mana helped them stabilize their path, ensuring that they would not drift off-course so long as the target didn’t either. ℟АɴỐ฿Èṩ

A moment later, they passed out of the smoke. The target had shifted slightly to the right so all the lancers spread out their legs to tilt in that direction. Another moment later, they felt heat flicker against their chitin as they passed the first tongues of fire, but warm mana rose within them to counteract it.

And then, they struck.

The lancer to the left could not change her course quickly enough and overshot the shade. The lancer to the right overadjusted to avoid colliding with the center bee, and so fell short of the target. Both of these plunged into the ground. But the three bees on the center line all struck true. Their stingers plunged deep…and then out the other side of the shade. One in the center of its torso, one where the tail connected to the main body, and one right on its neck.

The shade didn’t have time to even let out a sound as it crashed into the ground from the impact.

The lancers had no time to even verify the effect of their attack, however, for fire burned all around them. And this close to the center of the blaze, neither their thick chitin nor the warm mana within them proved a sufficient defense. The two side lancers pulled out of the ground fairly easily and took off quickly, with only minor singes and ash on their chitin.

The three center lancers found it more difficult. Black flames surged around them from the shade, engulfing and lashing at their bodies. The warm mana concentrated on their wings and faces, leaving the rest of their body dependent solely on their chitin. They scrambled to take off again, but the shade dispersed underneath them, giving them nothing solid to push off of. They slowly rose to the air as a result as the flames assaulted them, leaving parts of their chitin black and smoking. Every inch of their bodies burned.

But, they pressed on, beating their wings as quickly as they could. Slowly, ever so slowly they rose, but bit by bit they gained a bit of speed. And then, all of a sudden, they broke out of the flames and back into smoke-filled air. Their bodies now burned from the lack of oxygen as their pre-dive breathes began to run out, but they had passed out of the fire.

They had made it.

And if the black fires dying down were any indication…they had won.

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