Chapter 47: Broken not Bee-ten
Belissar gasped as his mind caught up to the scene before him. The shade was soaring across the Flower Meadow, flying at about the height of the trees as it raced towards the Apiary door. And the flying shade, of course, ignored every single Pit Trap and Sticky Honey Trap Belissar had placed. Not a single one of his preparations would slow the shade down in the slightest.
The soldier bees raced after it. The air buzzed as they beat their wings as fast as they could go. But the sheer size difference between the wings of the bees and the shade meant they couldn’t match its top speed. Now that it had gotten out ahead of them, they wouldn’t catch it.
Belissar’s mind went blank and his expression slowly twisted as he realized that there was nothing to stop the shade from reaching the end of the Flower Meadow. It could tear the Flower Meadow hives to shreds before their soldiers arrived to defend them. It could continue on straight into the Apiary and attack him, or the beehouses behind him. It could even keep going...and fly straight into the core room.
Niobee frantically danced commands in the air while Belissar was stunned, and the soldier bees from the Apiary spawners began to assemble. But the soldier bee spawners capped out at fifteen each and there were only two of them. The small force of thirty soldiers seemed paltry in comparison to the shade heading towards them.
But Belissar couldn’t think of anything else to do. He wasn’t even sure if he should do anything, or if he should run and tell the bees to hide. Maybe the shade would target the core and some of them could survive.
Either way, he was too late. The shade was fast approaching the entrance to the Apiary and did not divert its course. It would fly into the Apiary, and into Belissar, within moments. Niobee was frantically dancing in front of him, but he didn’t notice. There was nothing and no one between him and its snapping beak.
Save one.
The little head of a soldier bee popped up above one of the Memorial pillars, the one closest to the Apiary entrance. One single soldier bee with a missing wing climbed to the top of the pillar. The wounded soldier watched carefully as the shade approached, tensing her legs. She waited for her moment...
And then she leapt off the pillar. She beat her single wing as she glided through the air, willing herself to go even a little bit faster. Hoping that she had timed her single chance correctly...