The daily purification went off without a hitch, which brought Belissar to the purification celebration. He…hadn’t realized it until now, but this would be the first meeting between the spiderkin children and the karnuq unless he was willing to exclude one of them. He was not, and so that brought him to the present situation.
The karnuq were setting up food as usual, but with none of the usual chatter and cheer. The spiderkin children were helping the bees carry trays of honey and the karnuq were staring at them silently. Belissar frowned, but at least nobody was fighting, so he didn’t say anything. He cleared his throat to grab everyone’s attention.
“Ok…everyone. Let’s celebrate another victory and welcome our new sworn defenders.”
The karnuq hesitated at that but Chief Rohsuak, Metsaitti, and a handful of the karnuq like Tyghak raised their cups. Some eyes widened as Juosiutik did as well, though she had a bitter look on her face. And so, one by one, the others followed along.
And so a quiet and tense victory celebration…did not begin. Instead, the spiderkin children all scampered towards the table.
They all rushed towards the various rabbit and wolf-mole dishes the karnuq had prepared. The karnuq tensed, but Metsaitti and Chief Rohsuak moved in between the spiderkin and the nearest karnuq. Chief Rohsuak smiled kindly at the young newcomers.
“Now now, settle down and line up. There’s plenty for everyone.”
Belissar watched the spiderkin closely to see how’d they react. He and the soldier bees were on standby to stop any fights…but the spiderkin immediately went silent, their large eyes widening. The first spiderkin pointed at the two karnuq in front of her.
Belissar, Chief Rohsuak, and Metsaitti all blinked blankly as the spiderkin immediately switched focus from mobbing the food to crowding around the two karnuq.
“Queen mother said strong one killed lots of warriors! Can you teach? Make us stronger?”
“Hive of hives said karnuq queen makes big fire! I want to see!”
“Not just that, said karnuq queen trained King! Must be really strong!”
Chief Rohsuak snapped out of it first and chuckled. She shook her head and placed her hands on the heads of nearest two spiderkin, flaring her mana just a bit.
“Settle down, there will be plenty of time for that. Lets eat for now, ok?”
The spiderkin children all backed off and performed a salute dance.
Chief Rohsuak then asked the karnuq to help her dish out food for the spiderkin. They looked uneasy but followed her lead until each spiderkin had a plate of food. The spiderkin stayed glued to Chief Rohsuak and Metsaitti’s sides for the rest of the celebration, asking them countless questions about their battles and abilities. The two karnuq obliged, trading off answers so they could get a bite in here or there.
The other karnuq tried to keep their distance at first…but tales of Chief Rohsuak’s old exploits began to draw them in. Before long, several of them were seated by the spiderkin, listening intently. They weren’t talking with the spiderkin yet…but they had at least stopped glaring at them from afar.
Belissar smiled off to the side. He’d have to thank the chief and Metsaitti for this later. With the situation under control, he told the soldier bees to join the banquet, then did so himself.
As the celebration died down, Belissar walked over to Chief Roshuak and Metsaitti.
“Thank you both, I’m glad it seems to have gone well.”
Chief Rohsuak smiled and shook her head.
“Think nothing of it, Tower Keeper. I must admit, I was surprised the spiderkin knew who I am. I am honored the hive of hives considers me that way.”
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Belissar made an amused smile.
“Well, you are really strong, in my opinion.”
Chief Rohsuak let out an exasperated sigh, though she still had a smile on her face.
“Our hunters clearly need more training if they’re still relying on my old bones . Metsaitti, inform them to be prepared.”
Metsaitti chuckled…though a bead of sweat dripped down his brow. Meanwhile the first spiderkin, who was still nearby, began waving her hands around.
“I want be trained by karnuq queen!”
Metsaitti started, but Chief Rohsuak silenced him with a raised eyebrow before smiling at the spiderkin.
“Perhaps I shall. If only our hunters had such enthusiasm.”
Metsaitti kept quiet, not daring to say a single word in response.
Eventually, Belissar and his council gathered to check in. He was going to invite the first spiderkin…or spiderkin queen now, he guessed? In any case, she moved to join them without any prompting, apparently very excited to join the “King’s meeting” as she called it.
So, bees, karnuq, humans, and spiderkin joined to discuss the Tower. Belissar even let Sehfitis join in now. Not only had he behaved himself this entire time, but a bunch of gods helping Belissar against an incoming Tower Lord had apparently resolved any doubts the augur may have had. Belissar figured that if he was trying to get the spiderkin and karnuq to get along, he may as well do the same with Sehfitis.
“Hi everyone, so I think we’ve all met but this is the spiderkin queen…?”
The spiderkin’s hand shot up.
“First Spiderkin Queen! I think, I’m first in the hive of hives right? Maybe First Daughter of…don’t know what number daughter queen mother was, sorry. I’m…several thousandth and something of her line, I think! Um, I didn’t come from a spawner dynasty, so is that it?”
“…several thousand? That’s…several thousand generations of spiderkin?”
The spiderkin nodded repeatedly.
“That’s how many queen mothers before her queen mother knew about! She and old queen mothers think there might be more before, but very first queen mother didn’t remember and Sorcerer King didn’t tell her. We forgot a bunch who didn’t do much so not sure, but first queen mother thinks she was the first spiderkin so I think she counts as first!”
“Did you say…Sorcerer King?”
The spiderkin innocently and cheerfully nodded.
“Yes! The one who made first queen mother and all the spiderkin!”
Sehfitis’s eyes went as wide as they could go and the old man began to tremble.
“You…remember the wicked kings of old? The ones who made the beastkin?”
Chief Rohsuak and Metsaitti both locked their eyes on the young spiderkin queen, who continued on without missing a beat.
“Some! Queen mothers stopped following and started forgetting, so don’t know. But all old queen mothers said don’t follow if find again, make sure to kill.”
She then frowned and turned to Belissar. She pointed to Sehfitis and Hirkolos.
“King, those look like Sorcerer Kings, but also look like King. Queen mothers said kill if Sorcerer Kings, but my queen mother said follow King and hive of hives said only kill things if King says so. King looks like too but my queen mother said to follow King so I think King isn’t Sorcerer King even though you look like? Don’t know so…should kill? Are they like King or like Sorcerer King?”
Belissar was busy gaping as he had realized just who the spiderkin queen was talking about. Sehfitis was swaying on his feet at this point and Hirkolos had to help him sit down. Chief Rohsuak and Metsaitti’s gazes didn’t move from the spiderkin girl even an instant. The word “kill” though managed to bring Belissar to the present enough to respond.
“Ah…no, don’t kill anyone, please. We’re not the…Sorcerer Kings, was it?”
Belissar glanced over at Sehfitis, but the augur was violently shaking and holding his head.
“A mana-based method of passing on knowledge to the young before they hatch…so…a chain of memories that is not broken even if the parents die young. A direct link…to the time of the kings of old…”
It appeared it would be some time before Sehfitis could help. Belissar…well, he couldn’t speak for the Tower Lords given all their lies but he could say with certainty that he knew nothing about the wicked kings of old in his own lineage. Not that he knew his own lineage past his own parents…
“…right, let’s just not kill anyone in the Tower, please.”
Fortunately, that was enough for the spiderkin queen, giving Belissar a bit of time to gather his thoughts…as best he could.
“So…you know about the wicked kings of old? From before the Hunger?”
The spiderkin queen hissed.
“Wicked kings is right! Sent lots of old queen mothers and spiderkin to fight Hunger, but all died! We hate them now!”
Belissar turned to Sehfitis as the augur interjected. He was pale and his voice was weak…but he managed to voice his question.
“…do you know how the Hunger came to be?”
The spiderkin queen clacked her mandibles with another hiss.
“Wicked sorcerer kings said it was the rebels and light cult’s fault, but they lied! It was wicked sorcerer kings’ fault! They caused the Hunger and then sent us to die to it! One queen mother found out after her sorcerer king died, so killed other wicked sorcerer kings, freed sister queen mothers, and then ran away.”
Sehfitis took a deep breath and shuddered once more.
“Light cult…could that be High Councilor Heigiosa and her followers? Then the rebels would have been General Rippotis and High Councilor Konilias?”
“No, that can wait. More importantly…do you know what exactly the sorcerer kings did to bring about the Hunger?”
All eyes turned to the spiderkin queen, but she just shook her head and hissed yet again.
“Don’t and I don’t want to! Queen mothers forgot as much about wicked sorcerer kings as they could, except to kill if we ever found any!”
Sehfitis let out a deep sigh. Belissar did as well. He guessed they wouldn’t hear about the secret origin of the Hunger today. He wasn’t sure whether to be disappointed…or relieved.
But one thing was for sure…they had a lot to talk with the spiderkin about.