The Bee Dungeon

After that, Belissar and Chief Rohsuak discussed further details. Peace and trade was great and all as an overall goal…but it turned out there was a lot more to be considered for a discussion like this than Belissar thought.

First of all, there was no guarantee that King Ratuatapi would agree to that sort of relationship. If he refused to trade, would Belissar try to convince him or let him be? If he made demands of his own, would Belissar consider them? If he claimed the Underway beyond the rot cap field, what would Belissar say? What if he claimed land above ground that Belissar’s Tower had purified? What if King Ratuatapi demanded access to Belissar’s Tower? What if he wanted to become a sworn defender as well? What if he claimed authority over Belissar’s Tower?

And if none of that occurred and King Ratuatapi agreed to trade…then there was whole new set of questions. What was Belissar willing to trade? What would he never trade even if asked? What prices would he accept? How often did he want to trade? What would he do if King Ratuatapi attempted to cheat them?

And then, finally, the question arose of what Belissar would do if the talks broke down and came to blows. If this King Ratuatapi became hostile, how would Belissar respond?

Belissar could listen in and even speak with the karnuq when they went to talks, but Chief Rohsuak pointed out that most of this should be determined ahead of time. It would leave them at a disadvantage in the talks if they had to stop and discuss everything that occurred…and they may not have the chance. In the case of trade, it would be wise to bring some samples of what they could offer, which therefore needed to be prepared ahead of time. And in this case of talks breaking down and turning violent…well, the karnuq wouldn’t have the chance to calmly ask Belissar what he wanted them to do.

And, of course, while Chief Rohsuak was willing to offer advice, it was ultimately Belissar that had to answer all of those questions.

They managed to answer enough of them to proceed with the negotiations tomorrow, but Belissar found himself utterly exhausted. That had been a lot of decisions to make for someone who spent most of his life being told what to do. And even the Tower rarely presented more than a few options at a time.

Speaking of which…he had over four-thousand DP at the moment. It had slipped his mind, but he was ready to purchase a new monster or room or room feature at any point. Which he would do…later. He had just finished the long meeting with Chief Rohsuak, after all.

Belissar instead set to work prepping some more mead jars. He had plenty of mana honey, the limiting factor was the number of jars that came with the Apiary farmhouse. He thought about trying to make some barrels…but he wasn’t particularly an expert on that. Funnily enough, barrels were one of the few things the village had been willing to give him in both numbers and good quality…probably so that he’d have mead for them to take later on. He could probably work something out with wax and propolis, which he’d try later on. For now, he just wanted something to do that was simple and straightforward.

For not only was he exhausted, but he was distracted by his thoughts as well. He could not help but worry about this new development. He had been fortunate so far in that the karnuq had been very friendly…but there was no guarantee that would be the case with these new people. There was every chance that tomorrow could end up in a fight…or even a war. Belissar knew very little of war, besides the general war against the Hunger. Even that was taken care of by the Tower Lords back when he was a peasant, so war was something distant and unknown. Tower Lord doctrine stated that humanity had experience countless wars with itself in the days of the wicked kings, but had since united after the Hunger appeared. He had no idea if that was true or not but he did know that he had never experienced war between people himself.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

What would he do if it came to that? If his bees had to start killing people…or if people started killing his bees? He knew that if he ever encountered the Tower Lords he would have to face that scenario…but in recent times he had grown less worried about them, since Chief Rohsuak seemed to indicate they were far, far away. But now, the possibility had suddenly become very real. More real because Chief Rohsuak had asked him what he would want to do should it happen.

Making decisions that could end the life of people and bees both. Belissar was once again reminded of how woefully unqualified he was for the job. For the first time in a long time, he even wished he was a Tower Lord, or that one of them were here. They might have been terrible people, but at least they were prepared to deal with such matters.

He finished his mead work all too quickly, and so turned to his tower sight, just letting it wander through his Tower. He watched as gardener bees flew among the flowers, guiding and directing the other workers to the various flowers. He watched the bumblebees spin about and cover themselves in pollen before flying to the next flower. He watched the First of the Fifth conferring with her daughters as her workers crawled and flew in neat lines. He watched as soldier bees lifted wooden planks onto the roof of a stone house as the karnuq finished the walls. He watched Juosiutik talking quickly to a worker bee while she stirred a pot. He watched the First of the Fifth’s First Daughter dancing with a drone of all things as the joint hive spread across the trees of the Orchard. He watched the Second First of the First greet the first squad of bumblebee soldiers as they flew to the battle meadow, the entire soldier bee army pausing for a moment to gaze upon their newest, giant sisters. He watched lancers dive, soldiers fly, and sprayers spray all while communers flared their mana and a queen danced commands. He watched Beero lead the wounded soldiers in yet another lightning dance. He watched the burning bees happily flying amongst the ash and flames of the lava field.

He took a deep breath and frowned. No, no he did not wish a Tower Lord was here. He had a feeling that no Tower Lord would have built a Tower like this. And perhaps they would have made something better…but it would not have been the Bee Tower he had grown to love. This was his Tower, his bees, and his people.

His heart settled. Because Belissar now knew what he wanted and what he would do. Come what may with these new people, he would protect this Tower and all who lived in it.

The next day, another karnuq expedition made their way to the Underway, this time led by Chief Rohsuak herself. She was accompanied by a squad of soldier bees and sprayers, each of them accompanied by a digging worker bee. Unfortunately, the digging queen had only recently begun delivering honey to the battle meadow queens, so there were no digging soldiers just yet. Chief Rohsuak, however, had pointed out that this could work in their favor, as people living in the Underway might perceive digging soldiers as a threat. They had even ruled out bringing lancers or bumblebee soldiers for that very reason.

The bees hovered close to the karnuq and their light crystals…which upon reflection Belissar realized he should have asked about. For now though, it was the only source of light to help the soldier bees fly, though the digging workers riding on their backs would help them if they got separated from the group.

The group made their way to the rot cap field once again, where, thankfully, the stink bug numbers had not recovered from yesterday’s sweep. This time, they found people waiting from them in the field proper, around a stone table flanked by light crystal tipped poles. Most of the people were dressed like the one from yesterday, completely wrapped in black cloth save for their eyes. However, there was one standing before the table who dressed differently, giving the group and therefore Belissar their first glimpse of who exactly they were meeting. She was a woman wearing a blue dress made of silk. She had pale skin, black eyes, and round ears on the sides of her head covered in black fur. Most striking was her hair, which blended into fur going down her neck and back and under her dress, until it emerged against as a large and bushy tail. Most of it was black, but the hair on the top of her head was white, splitting into two strips of white fur down her neck and shoulders, until the white and black blended together on her tail.

Belissar tensed and narrowed his eyes. It was a color pattern he could not forget. More than once he had driven away a skunk trying to feast on his hives…and suffered the consequences whenever he did so poorly. And as the karnuq approached them, he could only hope that these skunk people did not take after their animal counterparts when it came to bees…

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