Path of the Hive Queen

Regina hadn’t expected things to turn out like this, but she wasn’t about to complain.

It had taken a lot of her mental energy to try and help Iseis and Anuis. They were far away from her and even from any drones, and all of the minds around them were alert and in the grip of strong emotions. She had flexed her powers perhaps more than ever before by trying to grasp and manipulate some of these minds.

In a way, it had been a great learning experience. Actually trying to take over or shove illusions into the brains of enemy soldiers during a battle was mostly a step beyond what she’d done so far, especially at this scale. But Regina also found it easier than perhaps it should have been.

Madris was right, probably; she did have an innate talent for this sort of thing.

It helped that the men she targeted were raging fanatics who hated everything the Empire represented (and sometimes hated elves on principle, too), so she didn’t feel too bad about it. Even when she got many of the fighters killed by making them attack their fellows.

In comparison, the psychic illusion, using one of her Spells channeled remotely, was almost easier. It had at least kept her allies safe for a bit, even if Regina knew it wouldn’t have held forever. And then, of course, things were taken out of her hands as Alianais deigned to intervene.

She’d been basically kicked out of Anuis’ head as soon as the goddess started her choosing, or empowering the woman, or … Regina wasn’t sure about the terminology. It was still very interesting to witness, even if she only got the beginning stages and then a vague impression from her own psychic senses and Iseis’ distracted watching. She probably could have tried to hang on to a more direct connection to Anuis’ mind, but it felt like that would have been a bad idea.

At least now they’d decisively turned this confrontation around, and probably won the whole battle.

Regina didn’t even have to do anything, except metaphorically lean back and eat popcorn as Anuis dismantled the people sent against her. She felt almost high off the ‘empowering’, but her mind was also sharp and clear, and Anuis was clearly more powerful than anyone else present. Presumably, one of her new Abilities was active right out of the gate. She killed her first Champion and someone else Regina wasn’t entirely sure about (possibly a Champion, probably just high-leveled elite) without any of her weapons, then took a bow and arrows from another elite she killed and nailed the next Champion’s head to a piece of wagon with three arrows fired in a single breath. It only got worse for her enemies after that.

Iseis helped, of course. The two of them worked together easily, and the old priestess managed to prevent anyone from escaping; she herded them together for Anuis to snipe them. It’s quite cool to see what she can do with a proper heavy-hitter to back her up, Regina mused.

Then they must have killed or destroyed whoever or whatever had kept the area locked down, and Iseis teleported both of them to the hill where the general had retreated with his elite bodyguards. Anuis resummoned her lance of divine light, Iseis unrolled another plane of distorted space that scythed through them, and they worked their way through the leadership of the enemy army. Two more Champions (or so Regina assumed) tried to stop them. One of them at least managed to get the elf duo to pause before he was killed. Then, with their strongest protectors dead, there was not much left to save the rest of the army brass.

Granted, that might have been because a lot of the soldiers were already running. Witnessing enemy Champions decimate their own Champions and their leadership was clearly too much for them; even the guards the general had tried to scramble to defend himself were clearly affected. Some of them just fled while others were clearly too terrified to fight effectively. Some tried their best, but were no match for their opponents. It got worse after Iseis, following a nudge from Regina, teleported straight into the path of the fleeing general and cut off his head, only for Anuis to put it on another pike she’d liberated.

It was grisly, of course, but Regina appreciated their skill at inspiring fear. She was still helping it along with her own efforts, using her psychic abilities to effectively spread a low-level ‘aura of fear’ over the area — though it was hard to tell how effective it was exactly, under the circumstances. Regardless, their combined efforts bore fruit. They were still only two people in the middle of lots of enemy soldiers, but those men weren’t thinking about it like that.

And, of course, they weren’t really alone. The other elven (and allied) soldiers were getting closer, as they pushed forward from the city, taking the opportunity to strike deep into the enemy lines.

After making sure Iseis and Anuis were fine for now, Regina changed her approach and went for anyone who seemed like they were trying to rally the Westerner army. With their entire central leadership suddenly gone, the Westerner soldiers were effectively aimless, unable to act as a proper army — for now. Killing their leaders had disordered them, now she just needed to make sure they didn’t reorganize.

The battle was bloody and chaotic. Regina tried her best to make sure the various elven and Imperial commanders were pointed in the right direction, but combined with her efforts at striking enemy leadership — either by directly attacking them, or, more often, directing Imperials to do it — she couldn’t do much. However, the elves were good at this, anyway. They had a clear chain of command, a catalog of signals everyone knew, had battle plans prepared and also options to adjust them on the fly, and they were motivated to defend their homes. The coordination with the dwarves was sometimes a bit rough, but overall, it worked.

After a few hours, Regina took a mental step back, exhaling heavily. She opened her eyes, stood, stretched, and gulped down two glasses of water. Her normal schedule for the day had been completely obliterated, and there were probably a few officials angry at her. Well, they could contain themselves; this was vitally important.

Still, she did have other responsibilities as well, so Regina quickly checked on other areas of her Empire through the psychic link and read through a few reports.

The portal Iseis had made still stood. The Westerners had scrambled some troops to attack it once, but it had clearly been simply whoever they’d had in the area gathered for a hasty strike, and the attack had been beaten back easily. Now the Empire had transferred enough troops, and they’d come far in enough in building fortifications, that it would need a much bigger attack to threaten the site.

And the reinforcements they’d sent had also helped take the pressure off the local Imperial forces. They’d reestablished communication with Ada, even if it was still by messenger rather than by the psychic link directly, and they’d got updated information. Ben had adjusted their force distribution accordingly. Regina only looked far enough to be sure that they had things under control, but it didn’t seem like something was on fire that she had to pay attention to right now. She was confident the senior drones would be able to handle it. Though she did make sure to read Lily’s messages, as well, to keep up to date on other aspects of the situation. According to her, the city of Pesiten was still a pressure cooker of anxiety, resentment and discontent, but at least some of the pressure had been let out. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), Honor Sazatore hadn’t been seen again.

Personally, Regina was more interested in Anuis right at the moment. She’d been expecting Alianais to choose a few Champions sooner or later — and had thought the goddess might have already done that, and that she simply hadn’t heard of them — but Regina had to admit, she hadn’t expected her. Which was probably her own fault. Anuis was a capable soldier and officer, she was politically connected in more than one way, she’d been part of the southern expedition, and she was just about the best pick if Alianais wanted to choose an elf from Ariedel without ruffling feathers in the Empire, or among Regina’s inner circle.

Now both Leian and Alianais had chosen an elven Champion. Regina had not heard of or seen any of the opposing gods making anyone but a human their Champion, but they were probably constrained in their recruitment pool. Maybe they would if they could? Regardless, she made a mental note to consider the point in more depth later — there might be something philosophically important here (a point about diversity?), if it wasn’t just because they wanted agents with more experience.

Regardless, it was with a bit of trepidation she’d rather not admit to that Regina contacted Anuis again psychically.

You don’t need me to tell you this, but you did fantastically, she said. Congratulations. I hope Alianais is treating you well.

I can hardly complain so far, Empress Regina, Anuis responded with a bit of amusement. She was clearly exhausted, and lightly injured, but otherwise she seemed to be in good spirits. But thank you.

You’ll be busy, so I won’t take much of your time, Regina continued. I just wanted to let you know that my door is always open, metaphorically speaking. I have to admit that I’m curious. If there is anything you need, don’t hesitate to ask. And thank you for protecting Iseis in the fight.

Of course, the elf said seriously. She risked much to help me escape. I owe her. And thank you, too, Your Imperial Majesty. Your help was much appreciated.

But Anuis didn’t outright say that she owed her, too, Regina noted, feeling slightly amused. Clearly, Anuis was aware of the political implications of her words and was considerate of them. Unsurprising. Anytime, she answered.

Regina hadn’t pushed too deeply, both because it would have been unethical (and impolite) and because she didn’t know if this bond (or whatever) came with psychic defenses, but even just connecting to Anuis’ mind showed Regina a few things. It was similar to Iseis, but a bit different, of course; just like Alianais was different from Leian. In both cases, Iseis and Anuis, their minds were still clearly their own; it supported the idea that any indoctrination enemy Champions showed was just that, mundane indoctrination with propaganda, social pressure or emotional manipulation. They weren’t being directly controlled by the gods. There was clearly some kind of channel that gave the Champions divine mana, but it only had a very faint trace in their psychic signature; probably more of a dim mirror image. It was also clear the gods would only know what Champions were doing when they paid attention to them. Alianais was not currently focused on Anuis, or at least, Regina was pretty sure of that.

She let the conversation end there and moved on. Iseis was also exhausted, and didn’t manage to suppress it as well as Anuis did. Well, she was an old lady. Regina urged her to get some rest, tabling a few questions she had for later. The rest of her drones in the area were doing well, coordinating with each other and with the dwarves and elves to shore up their communications. The battle was winding down, more or less. Many Westerner soldiers were running. Chasing them down would require a lot of effort, too.

After making sure nothing else was on fire, Regina withdrew from the psychic link and visited the bathroom. After after adding a few more eggs to the nursery (well, technically her drone attendants carried them to the nursery, but still), she skipped the long bath she would have preferred to take for a quick shower, before she quickly scarfed down the meal a servant had brought up. Then it was time for one more meeting she wanted to have today.

It was hardly the first time she’d had such a meeting with Icnes Oliren, to be fair, but it had been a while since the last one. And Regina hadn’t heard anything from Madris (or Armin or another dark elf) in a while. She was curious if there was news.

“Unfortunately, the war is still raging,” Icnes replied with a sad shake of her head.

They were meeting in a private meeting room, mostly alone. Regina hardly thought the dark elf ambassador would try to knife her. There were still a few guards outside, and Ira was sitting with Regina, too.

“But have you heard from Madris?” she asked.

“I’ve received a message from the border outposts, who’ve sent on reports of troop movements,” Icnes said. “No letter from my sister yet, since the last one I showed you, Your Majesty. But by now, she should have reached the Governance and Reform Council. They might have already clashed with the Loyalist army.”

“Yes. It’s frustrating to have to wait for information,” Regina admitted. “I can’t imagine how it must be for you.”

“Well, one does learn a little patience, in time,” Icnes smiled, and Regina reminded herself that she was probably a few centuries old. “But it’s not easy to know my home is being fought over.”

Regina nodded cautiously. “And yet you’re here.”

Icnes sighed. Some of the courtly mask dropped as she let the tiredness and resignation she felt peek through. “I’ve thought it’s the best I could do for my people, but I must admit, I have started to reconsider that,” she said. “Perhaps I could be of help. I have considered leaving.”

“I’d be sorry to see you go, but I would understand,” Regina said. “I also hope you understand that given the current situation and the ongoing war, I can’t send troops to the Eternal Dark, no matter how much I sympathize.”

“That is understood, naturally,” Icnes said.

Regina knew that she was still a bit disappointed and would have liked for the Empire to offer more, but Icnes was also enough of a realist that she didn’t really expect it.

Regina still suspected that the Western Confederation and Esemen had deliberately instigated this civil war to keep the dark elves from intervening in their own war. Icnes had probably had the same thought. Neither of them could do much about it right now, though; the move seemed to have succeeded, as galling as it was.

But if the tide were to turn against the Reformists in the Eternal Dark … Regina would have to put more thought into what she would be willing to give them. The Empire didn’t exactly have a lot to spare, but in such a case, she would send troops to assist them.

For the rest of the meeting, Icnes subtly steered the conversation to more technical matters and dropped some hints about the technical help the Empire could give her side of the war. Regina didn’t mind, it was to be expected. Obviously, trying to squeeze help out of her was why Icnes thought she could help her people by being here. She didn’t make any promises, though. It was easy to agree to something while speaking privately with someone she liked, but that didn’t make it the best choice strategically.

Although they were already putting together some schematics and educational materials, and maybe they could throw in some defunct or outdated tech, as samples.

If nothing else, the recent battle had reminded Regina of the value of having allies.