Path of the Hive Queen

For once, it was very easy to track down Galatea. Mostly because she had been looking for Regina (and the others) herself already.

They converged in one of the quieter, more private palace gardens. Janis had arrived back at the palace just in time to join them. And good thing, too, judging by how clearly restless Galatea was. Being a mana-form, she didn’t usually pace or give any other human signs of anxiety like fidgeting, but this time, she was visibly agitated. She even floated back and forth, pacing without actual legs, in a way she’d clearly picked up from Regina. She wondered for a moment if she was a bad influence on her friend, before she pushed the thought aside in favor of more important things to worry about.

“How many enemy armies do we have to worry about?” Regina asked. “Elites, Champions?”

Galatea sighed, stopping and bouncing slightly before she settled down. “It’s hard to be certain, but the main … problem is a fleet of ships that have made landfall today. They’ve spread out enough to make accurate troop counts difficult, but there are at least three hundred vessels, maybe up to three hundred and twenty, and most of them appear to have carried fighters. It’s harder to say how many elites they have, but where I looked in, they had a reasonably high proportion of high-leveled fighters — better than the troops Ada was facing, for sure — and there’s probably a few Champions. They’re on the Baltic coast, in about what used to be western Pommerania, east of Stralsund and Stettin by longitude; in today’s terms, between Fertal-on-the-Waves and Estgarrd. Their vanguard has already started moving out.”

Regina pinched the bridge of her nose, taking a moment to just breathe. This was not good news. What it implied was even worse.

“How come we didn’t know about this?” Janis asked before she could. “I know our networks outside our enemies’ territory aren’t good, but we still have a few informants, and we’ve been scrying. You can’t just hide a fleet like that. Can you?”

“At least, shouldn’t we have picked up news of other countries gathering troops?” Max added.

Galatea shook her head. “If you’ll recall, we have heard some hints, it just didn’t seem to be preparations to join our war. They never gathered more than a few ships in one place. Honestly, the logistical achievement they’ve accomplished is pretty remarkable. And they clearly tried to hide their troop buildup. I’ve gone looking and found one training or recruitment camp in a hidden fjord with interesting wards.”

“That’s still some remarkable luck they had,” Regina muttered. “And the fleet itself? Clearly, it did gather together at some point.”

“It did, in the cover of a storm,” Galatea replied. “But that’s not all. You’re right.”

“Then what?”

Galatea hesitated for a moment, stilling even further. “I’ve talked to Iseis, just before I got here; who has communed with Leian. We suspect that Etainas had a hand in this, actively working to shield their preparations from us.”

Regina slumped back further in her chair. That just figures. Having an actual goddess involved probably made large-scale stealth more feasible, she supposed. Even if it just meant she sent priests and Champions to hide local armies.

“And what of other enemies?” she said, feeling tired. “This isn’t the only fleet being assembled, I’m guessing?”

Galatea grimaced. “There are more ships coming from the Atlantic,” she said. “Southern France and northern Spain, I think. It’ll take them a little while longer to get here. Assuming they don’t stop somewhere farther away from us. And I have, at least, found signs of troops being marshaled to the east, too. What used to be Russia is sparsely inhabited, but it’s a very big area. They might also try to bring in fighters from even farther away; it’s not like Europe isn’t connected to Asia and Africa, and we can hardly watch everywhere, anyway. It would take time, but …”

Regina buried her head in her hands for a moment. She felt like this shouldn’t come as a surprise. She’d known most of this before, intellectually. Still, the fact the gods were literally worshiped world-wide — as far as they could tell — had never really hit home like this before.

“So the gods will just keep throwing soldiers at us until they win?” Janis asked quietly.

“They might,” Galatea responded.

“I don’t think we have to worry too much about the really far-away places,” Max offered, sounding like he was trying to stay calm and collected. “By the time they arrive here, we’ll have developed our weapons even further. At some point, it won’t matter how many medieval men they send at us, we’ll be able to wipe them all out easily. If we last until then.”

“Unless the gods meddle again,” Regina said. “Transporting them instantly, or giving them advanced technology, or I don’t even know what.”

Something cool poked her shoulder, and she sat up straighter, raising an eyebrow at Galatea. The mana-form shrugged. She crossed her arms, seeming to become a little more solid.

“Don’t forget the gods are limited, too,” Galatea said. “Even leaving Alianais and Leian out … Well, Leian was their transportation expert, anyway; I’m not sure how good the others would be with portals. And as for advanced technology, can they realistically give the people enough information and infrastructure to matter in a reasonable timeframe? These gods aren’t from a place like Earth, themselves. In theory, they had a thousand years to learn about it, but do they seem like they would have done that? Except for Alianais, who’s fortunately on our side, I can’t really see them studying science and technology in depth, even if they had the resources.”

“And speaking of resources, they’re definitely limited in that respect, too,” Janis nodded. “They don’t exactly have infinite mana, right?”

They were all silent for a moment while they considered the question. Regina tried to marshal her nerves. The war dragging on was wearing on her, she had to admit, and the prospect that they would have to speed it up, that they might be racing against an invisible clock now, didn’t help.

“I hate to say it, but it might be time to consider using stronger measures —“ Max started.

Regina raised a hand, cutting him off. She gritted her fingers for a moment.

“I’m not going to use nuclear weapons,” she stated.

Janis sat up straighter, Galatea flickered slightly as her magic reached out, and Max frowned. “That’s not necessarily what I meant, but — are you sure you want to rule them out, Regina?”

Regina shook her head. Unbidden, her thoughts went back to Neralt’s words, and she clenched her teeth and hardened her mind against hearing them echo through her skull. “I won’t burn down the world trying to make it better,” she said.

Janis and Max exchanged a look, and Janis smiled. “That’s good to hear. For what it’s worth, I agree with the sentiment. We have other options.”

Regina nodded. She knew they would have to revisit the topic of what other dangerous toys they might have to take out of the box later, but for now, she didn’t want to talk about that.

“So we have the first wave of new enemies to deal with now,” she finally said. “How much of a danger are they? I assume they don’t have advanced weapons technology?”

“Yes, I would concur,” Galatea answered. “It would be hard to hide cannons, not to mention that large-scale production of artillery or munitions would need new facilities, which would be harder to hide than just assembling some mercenaries.”

“And the Confederacy and Esemen’s weapons are cruder than ours anyway,” Janis mused. “The main threat from these new soldiers will also be magic and high-leveled Class Skills, plus whatever special abilities their Champions may have.”

That wasn’t something to underestimate, but at least it meant they wouldn’t be facing entirely new threats, hopefully.

Regina nodded again. “Galatea, can you show us their fleet, or the army? Scrying, I mean.”

“They’ll have scrying blocks up, but I’ll see what I can do.”

Regina leaned back and watched while Galatea cast the spell. Regina herself was good at scrying, but Galatea was still much better, and they’d only risk getting in each other’s way if they both tried it right now.

She squinted at the window as Galatea moved it around, trying to get a good spot that wasn’t mostly covered by scrying blocks. Those were clearly very localized, since you couldn’t block out an area this big (at least not for long), but they did cover the most important places. It still gave them a general idea of the size of the army the ships had brought as well as their movements — though, currently, they just seemed to be encamped along the coast, probably preparing to move as soon as everything was unloaded and ready.

Regina made some mental notes in the psychic link, and she felt Max do the same. Janis pulled a piece of paper and a pen from somewhere and took physical notes. Regina glanced at them briefly, glad to see she was organizing information. They didn’t speak much as Galatea slowly panned her view anchor across the sky, skipping some places where the view fizzled out.

Despite being from farther away —apparently, the Nordic countries and mostly, but not entirely, Scandinavia — the army didn’t look that different from what she’d previously encountered. There were men and women, some clearly career soldiers, others mercenaries or adventurers. There were company banners and standards; it wasn’t clear to her which ones might be free companies or the retinues of local lords. Or religious orders. Religious icons and symbols of the gods were also present everywhere, if sparser and more subtle than they could have been.

Regina wondered how many of these people were here for religious reasons, or just because it was their job. She wondered what they even knew about the Empire. Probably not much. She expected the gods had thoroughly poisoned the well against her, and without actual contact, it would be hard to convince them that she actually had good intentions. They’d probably been told stories about how she ate babies or something. The thought was darkly funny, but it didn’t help much when she considered how young some of these soldiers looked.

Finally, Regina leaned back again, shaking her head. “I think that’s enough for now,” she said. “We shouldn’t get caught up in the details right now.”

Janis made a face, but nodded. Galatea kept the scrying going for a few more seconds before she let it dissolve. “Do you have other questions?”

“Well, this is clearly only one army we’ll have to face, but not the only one,” Regina said. “I’d like you to keep an eye out for any other surprises the gods have arranged for us. Especially troops close to our borders. I don’t want to get encircled or anything … although that might be hard to avoid.”

Max nodded. “We should definitely make some plans,” he said. “Also, the threat of this conspiracy isn’t over yet, either. On that topic, am I the only one who’s suspicious that their activity happened to coincide with our enemies getting more armies?”

Regina tugged on her mandible. Both of those seemed like long-term plans, but she supposed they might have been planned together. It would definitely make things easier for their outward enemies to score military victories if the Empire had to deal with internal insurrections at the same time.

“We need to find the people who’ve managed to go to ground,” she said. “I’m really starting to think we missed some parts of their networks. There will probably be some connections to our foreign enemies, too. But I don’t want to leave them in place to sabotage us at a critical juncture.”

Janis winced slightly. “True. There are still a lot of people, not just nobles, who aren’t big fans of the Empire or who want their old nations to be sovereign again. If enough of them are in one place and they’ve done the groundwork …”

“You think there could be actual rebellions?” Galatea asked.

“I wouldn’t rule it out,” Janis answered. “I don’t think any revolt would really have a good chance of toppling Regina, but that doesn’t mean no one will try. And isn’t that why we wanted to act decisively to stamp out this conspiracy?”

“Good point,” Regina said. “Unfortunately, we’re still too reliant on too many people who might want to revolt, just for governance and administration.”

Janis made a face. Regina sympathized, but there was no good solution to this issue. Even if she’d wanted to, and she didn’t, purging the ‘political class’ would be catastrophic for the Empire. And she couldn’t go around checking everyone personally, even with the help of her psychic students.

“There is also rising unrest in the Gnomish Confederation,” Max noted. “We will have to keep an eye on this. I’d prefer not to have to send in troops to keep order.”

Janis’ grimace deepened, and Regina felt an echo of anger and frustration from her. There was an undertone she found harder to interpret, as well.

“Let’s not be hasty, there’s no need for that,” Galatea said.

“I trust Aliekin has it under control, for now,” Regina agreed. She paused. “Janis, did you have something to add?”

Janis visibly hesitated. “Not now,” she finally said. “I did have something I wanted to bring up, but, let’s leave that for later. I guess we have enough to do right now.”

It was only because Regina was paying particular attention to her, and because she knew Janis and had a tight bond with her, that she realized what she was thinking; something like ‘I won’t make demands while she’s feeling like that’, a surface thought that was quickly swallowed up.

Which actually threw Regina a little. Demands? When had Janis ever actually made demands of her? She tried to consider what she might or what Regina could give her, but couldn’t think of anything that felt particularly likely.

“Well, we’re here now,” Max said. “Was it something about the gnomish situation? Any impulse might be helpful. Maybe you can just tell us what you’re thinking of and we can discuss it in depth later?”

“Kind of, but …”

“Oh, I think I see,” Galatea interjected. She smiled. “I wondered what you were getting at when we talked.”

“Guys, let’s give her a bit of room to breath,” Regina said. She smiled at her heir. “Janis?”

Janis’ tension was visible in the way she stood, not just the psychic link. She sighed, then started speaking. “Regina, the Empire is supposed to be a constitutional monarchy, right? It’s in the constitution and in our fundamental laws.”

“… Yes? Of course.” Regina was feeling slightly tense now herself, starting to guess where this might be going.

“You’ve always talked a lot about the participation of the people, about civil rights, equality and justice — and, of course, about democracy. The Empire was always supposed to have democratic components, the way I understand it. Ones that we would strengthen in time, to really make it a government by and for the people, but democratic participation is important.”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

Janis straightened up a little and met her gaze squarely. “Then I suppose I am complaining that this isn’t the way it currently is. The Empire is an absolute monarchy. Your decisions, my Empress, are what ultimately determine everything. I understand why, and I know the centralization you’re pushing is important. There are still feudal and reactionary elements that we need to dis-empower. But the constitution and laws are also written with the assumption that there will be an Imperial parliament. We made some good strides in the beginning, but lately, preparations for this parliament have completely stalled. That is why I wanted to express some concerns.”

Regina pinched the bridge of her nose. I really don’t need this right now. “Janis, you know that under the circumstances —“

“Let me finish, please,” Janis interrupted quietly, inclining her head respectfully. “I’m not saying you have to hold elections tomorrow. But I want you to keep working towards it. The current structure is —“ She visibly paused and decided to switch tracks; Regina was certain that the word promises would have been brought up — “maybe good for now, but it needs to change eventually. Democratic participation is important; for buy-in for the people, for legitimacy, for stability, because it’s what we’re working for. The parliament is important. It’s not something we can keep pushing back. Especially not now. Just consider; the gnomes have a mostly functioning democracy. Half the reason they’re protesting now is because they feel powerless and under the thumb of an autocratic state.”

“Isn’t that putting it a bit strongly?” Max complained.

“Maybe.” Janis shrugged. “I don’t think I’m wrong, though. I think you might have become slightly too focused on the human majority, Regina. And consider our other allies. The elves will be much more eager to join the Empire if they have the prospect of representation and real participation in it. I wouldn’t be surprised if the same goes for the dwarves. And establishing a parliament and regional democratic government structures will do a hell of a lot to take power away from the nobility and to defang the threat they pose, especially in the medium and long term.”

“You’ve argued persuasively, Janis,” Regina finally answered. She mustered her self-control to not glare at the younger woman or show how frustrated and annoyed she was actually feeling, since she was aware that Janis probably wasn’t wrong, per se. “In an ideal world, I’d be all for it. But we’re not in an ideal world. We’re currently at war. We can’t spend the resources and capital — whether political capital, financial, or what-have-you — to establish something like this right now. Maybe once we’re in a better position, we can finally take care of that. Right now, trying to do a wide-spread reform that would redistribute power in the middle of a war for our existence would be stupid. Especially now that the war will ramp up and we have even more enemies to face.”

“I understand, but I think this is the wrong instinct to follow,” Janis replied. She was still clearly trying to speak respectfully, even if she was also slightly riled up. “The war won’t be over any time soon. We haven’t stopped normal policies, or even other reforms, just because of the war. Consider your welfare reforms. And the truth is, we’ll always be in a crisis. We’re never going to have an ideal world. Democratization can’t wait for it, or you’ll never do it.”

“Are you saying I won’t do it, Janis?”

“I think you both have a good point,” Galatea muttered. “But please keep in mind that we can’t afford this kind of fight right now. Take a step back, and remember we’re all working together here, okay?”

Regina shook her head, closing her eyes for a moment before she looked at Janis again. “Galatea’s right, we can’t discuss this now. We’ll speak about this again, Janis, but not now. We have to win a war, and we need to readjust our strategy with this new information. This isn’t the time for this.”

“So, your answer is no, you won’t consider it?” Janis asked tightly.

“No,” Regina answered. Maybe her tone was slightly too snappish, but she found she didn’t care right now. “And I don’t appreciate your implications. This is my decision to make, Janis, not yours yet.”

Galatea sighed and Max put his head in his hands with a muffled groan.

Janis stood straighter and bowed. “Then I’ll see about our scrying efforts for new enemies. Excuse me.”

She walked away, and Regina imitated Max. She had a headache again. Can nothing go right today?

“Don’t worry, she won’t sulk for long,” Max said helpfully.

Galatea didn’t say anything. Her mind felt thoughtful.