Belissar called for an emergency gathering of his council. All the bee queens and notable karnuq, along with Sehfitis and Hirkolos. Tarwantrad was dealing with some sort of issue in her own dungeon, so for now Belissar just informed the flower monster stationed by the nexus door that they had been attacked and were planning a response.
Paloiku reported the attack to everyone, after which Chief Rohsuak shared what she knew on the spiderkin. Sehfitis’s eyes widened.
“I know of who you speak. Those beastkin were perhaps the ones most commonly encountered by the Tower Guard.”
Chief Rohsuak frowned.
“That is deeply concerning. No people we knew of had encountered your Tower Lords for as long as we could remember. Could the spiderkin have truly spread that far?”
Sehfitis hummed to himself before shaking his head.
“They wouldn’t have needed to. A single spiderkin can raise entire new bands with frightening speeds. So long as there were spiderkin in both areas before the Hunger cut us off, then it is not strange we have both encountered them.”
Metsaitti crossed his arms.
“More importantly, how did your people deal with them?”
“Well, they were…removed, wherever encountered.”
Belissar’s expression darkened. His stomach boiled, but he held in the urge to immediately refute anything related to the Tower Lords. Since they had been attacked, he may indeed have to do something like the Tower Lords would.
He thought of the wounded karnuq, and what else might occur if he let the spiderkin go unchecked. He took a deep breath before staring intently at Sehfitis.
“And…do you know anything about those…removals that might help us drive them off?”
Sehfitis slowly shook his head.
“I…was not privy to details of those campaigns. I am sorry.”
At that moment, Hirkolos interjected with a frown.
“I might, though. I never fought with them, but we did train to handle common adversaries, spiderkin included. The Tower Guard taught to follow the webs back to the nest and kill the queen, after which the remaining spiderkin would scatter.”
The Fourth of the Seventh zipped down from where she was flying around.
“Wow, spiderkin have queen too?”
Hirkolo rubbed his chin.
“It’s different from bee queens, I think. Something like, the strongest spiderkin runs the band and lays the eggs? The Tower Guard recommended killing as many of the strongest spiderkin as possible along the way, otherwise they might take the queen’s place.”
Chief Rohsuak nodded.
“That is consistent with what we know of their culture. Striking a nest, though…we never had the strength to do that after our exile.”
She glanced over at Belissar and bowed her head.
“I apologize, but we would need to borrow the might of the bees to do so.”
Belissar shook his head.
“I didn’t expect you to fight alone.”
He turned to the queens.
“Do we have enough bees that can fight in the Underway to help?”
The queens all began a buzzing salute dance. The First of the Fifth’s First Daughter came forward to dance addition detail.
“Have ten squads of digging soldiers now, three squads of blinding soldiers too. Can fight in dark, underground. Thermal mining hive only has workers, but can help fly in dark too.”
The Firstborn joined in.
“Have light bees too? If light way, rest of army can fight too.”
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Metsaitti nodded along.
“That should work, we’ve always used light crystals to fight. If the bees can light up their surroundings, then the ones that can move in the dark can focus on scouting.”
The Firstborn danced a salute at that and then turned to Belissar.
“King wants army fight? Will start training in Dirt Tunnels.”
Belissar furrowed his brow.
“Hm, yes, that sounds good. Not the whole army, though. We need to keep some at home in case there’s an emergency purification.”
He then turned to Hirkolos.
“You said the Tower Guards follow the webs to the nest?”
Hirkolos slowly nodded, though he ended up frowning.
“Yes, supposedly the spiderkin leave webs around their territory as traps and to warn them of intruders. I…don’t know that much more than that, though.”
Metsaitti narrowed his eyes.
“Unfortunately, we do. We can confirm the web traps, as well as the fact that the spiderkin always attack if you so much as breathe on a single web strand.”
The Fourth of the Seventh began zipping around again.
“Oh! Trapper can help! Sends mana into silk! Maybe can with web?!”
Metsaitti began rubbing his chin…and then his eyes began to widen.
“That might work. And even if not…spiderkin webs are much larger than those made by regular spiders. Some of the bees might be small enough to slip through and follow them without being caught or noticed. The workers for sure, maybe the soldiers for the larger webs.”
The Fourth of the Fifth flew forward to join in.
“Digging bees burrow underground? No webs in ground?”
Metsaitti shook his head though.
“There may not be webs underground, but anyone who lives in the Underway is prepared for tunnelers. I’d be cautious about relying too much on that. Would be a good option to escape if caught, though.”
Belissar nodded along.
“So…digging bees should be able to follow the webs without getting caught and find the nest? The soldier bee army can train in the meantime, and then we attack once we know where the nest is?”
Chief Rohsuak and Metsaitti glanced at one another, nodded, and then both turned to salute Belissar. Hirkolos did likewise, with Sehfitis following. The bees, of course, had immediately started salute dancing the moment Belissar finished speaking. Chief Rohsuak spoke for them all.
“By your will, Tower Keeper. We will start preparing at your command.”
Belissar took a deep breath. He had already made the decision, so he did his best to steel his expression and calm his beating heart.
With that, the council scattered to organize the hives and hunters for the task ahead. Belissar was considering what he should do to help when he noticed something strange. Niobee was not dancing about with the other bees as she normally would during times like these, she was standing still on top of his head instead. Belissar frowned.
“Are you ok, Niobee?”
She slowly tapped out her response.
“Web dangerous. Bees get hurt.”
Belissar’s heart clenched, tightening his chest. That’s right, since he now knew that Niobee truly was the same bee he had spoken to for all those years before, that meant that she was also the bee he rescued from a spider web when he was just a boy. And now…they were about to send the bee army into a nest of humanoid spiders.
He reached up and gently brushed Niobee’s back.
“I’ll protect you again, Niobee, and as many of our bees as I can.”
Niobee’s dance picked up just a bit.
“King is best king, always saves bees.”
Belissar smiled at her and continued brushing her back. In the meantime, he considered what else he could do to keep the bees safe from the spider webs…
The Second of the Sixth continued to monitor the wounded karnuq under her care, using her communers to focus her hive’s mana for closer observation. What she learned…wasn’t good.
The medicinal karnuq seemed to agree as he furrowed his brow. She didn’t like that expression when the King made it and she didn’t like it now.
“Juosiutik, did the antidote potion work?”
The dangerous one snarled.
“It did…but the arrows spread the venom into his blood while he got here.”
The medicinal karnuq grimaced.
“So, the damage was already done, and we’ve already given as much bee medicine, honey, and potions as is safe.” The medicinal karnuq let out a sigh. “It’s up to him now…”
The dangerous one gripped her fists until her knuckles changed colors. The medicinal karnuq stepped over and patted her shoulder.
“You’ve done everything you can, Juosiutik. Metsanak’s a tough one, he may pull through yet.”
The dangerous one, though, did not relax. She scowled as her eyes narrowed.
“Not yet, I haven’t. They’re going to pay for this. They’re going to pay for everything.”
And with that, she stomped out of the house. The Second of the Sixth buzzed her wings. Those who harmed the hive of hives certainly deserve to be stung, but the Firstborn’s group would handle that. She, instead, would focus on her role.
And she refused to let any of the King’s hive die under her watch. She evaluated the karnuq once again. The medicinal karnuq was right, the wounded karnuq had as much medicinal stings in his body as he could handle. Any additional stings would start to hurt him instead, her hive was relegated to monitoring his condition for the time being. But the Second of the Sixth questioned if that was all she could do.
No…she knew, somewhere deep down, that it was not. The First of the Fifth had created a new kind of honey not by imbuing it with more mana, but by manipulating the mana already within it to achieve a greater effect. The Second of the Sixth wondered now if she could do something similar with the medicinal honey and stings within the karnuq’s body. If she could, then perhaps she could boost the karnuq’s recovery without adding more stings…
She gently reached out to the mana of her hive within the wounded karnuq and tried to move it. The karnuq’s own mana got in the way and broke the connection almost immediately. She buzzed her wings and tried again, this time thinning her mana down like her medicinal stinger to try and pierce through the karnuq’s mana.
Her mana just barely made it through and contacted the mana from her hive’s compounds. But she did not celebrate her success, for this was only the first step. Now she would have to try and manipulate the mana while it was working on the karnuq’s body, all while the karnuq’s own mana tried to eject hers. And she’d have to be even more careful and precise than the First of the Fifth had been, lest her efforts harm the karnuq further.
And so, a long night began for the medicinal queen…