POBee 54.1 - Failure and Victor-Bee
The Firstborn lay still on the floor of her hive. The last few days had been…confusing.
The hive of hives had won a great victory, yes. But once the celebrations came to an end and she had time to reflect, she realized that her hive had not. No, her hive had failed. Her army had been beaten.
Yes, the soldier bees overwhelmed the shade and drove it to flee from them. Had they been facing a normal enemy, perhaps that would have been enough. But these invaders were different. They did not fear death. When they ran, they ran towards the hive, not away from it. Such a foe running away from her army was not a victory, but a failure.
This latest battle the enemy had slipped out of her soldiers’ grasp and there was nothing they could have done to catch it. It could have killed her, destroyed her hive, and slaughtered her brood before her defenders returned. And worse…it could have moved deeper into the hive, where the King and the honey-producing queens took shelter. It could even have reached the core itself, the very heart of the King’s domain.
So, in truth, her army had been defeated. They failed to stop the enemy’s advance. They failed to protect the hive. Had it not been for the extremely fortunate attack by the wounded soldier and then intervention by the King himself, that day would have been a disaster. It was the greatest failure any of the King’s queens had ever suffered. Even the doomed First Dynasty had not allowed the enemy to reach the King before every last bee in their hive had perished. Forget building the greatest army bee-kind had ever seen, the Firstborn had not even built an army sufficient to defend her home. A crippled soldier had done more to save the hive than she.
She had assumed when the King called for her that it would be her end. Workers would fly until they died enroute. Soldiers who could not fight would leave the hive, never to return. So, wouldn't be only right that a queen who had failed as egregiously as she had did the same?
But once again, the King defied all of her wildest expectations. Not only did he not punish her for this failure, he didn’t even mention it. He had instead gathered all of his queens together and then asked for their counsel. As if a failed queen such as she had anything to offer him.
She had spoken up in the moment. She told the King the truth. He needed a stronger army. He needed better soldiers.
He needed a better queen to lead his defense.