Chapter 53: Priori-Bees
Belissar cleared his throat and the dancing soon died down. Every bee fixed their eyes on him and he smiled.
“Thank you, everyone. I think I have a good idea on what to do now. Feel free to head back to whatever you were doing...or you can stay if you want. Whatever you feel like.”
A thunderous buzzing accompanied the joint salute of all the queens, and then they began to return to their hives. One of them tried to stay but was dragged away by her workers. Belissar chuckled and then rubbed his chin one more time as he started to walk back to the Apiary, and then to the core room.
At first, he was largely committed to the idea of Dirt Tunnels. Neither the Hedge Maze nor the Orchard seemed like it would help against the flying shade, while the Dirt Tunnels undoubtedly would. But now, his conversations with Chief Rohsuak and the queens had changed his perspective.
The queens had much to say. Some asked for more flowers, others asked for stronger soldiers, others still for beehouses. But none of them asked for more traps, or terrain that would restrict the shades. Belissar had realized at that point that he had been focusing mostly on the latest shade and how to defeat it.
But was that the right way to go about things? Which was more important: defeating shades, or supporting his bees? Again, Belissar remembered that he had defeated the first shade as a beekeeper, not as a Tower Lord or Dungeon Master or Sacred Den Master or whatever else.
Perhaps defeating shades would have been the correct priority if the Tower Lords were coming for him. However, he had confirmed with Chief Rohsuak that the Tower Lords were nowhere nearby. He would have plenty of time to prepare for them if he ever met one again at all.
And in that regard, promoting the growth of his bees was the top priority. It was the soldier bee army that ultimately dealt with the shades. It was the honey traps that had caught the flying shade in the end. It was the God of Bees that blessed his tower.
Besides, thinking about the latest shade might prove to be a trap. In fact, it already had. The reason this shade dealt as much damage as it did was that Belissar’s tower was over-prepared for the shades that came before it. There was no guarantee that the next shade would be anything like either the wolf-shades or the bird-shade, so making choices solely to defeat the flying shade might not help at all against the next foe.