Chapter 109: Bee-ting Your Limits!
Belissar awoke to a new day. He walked over to the farmhouse’s table and began a breakfast of honeycomb and a cave potato cake the karnuq had given him. Meanwhile, Niobee brought in a number of worker bees, the ones he had shared his thoughts with. They each reported to him on whatever topic he had asked them to remember, sending his Tower sight around as relevant.
“Fourth of Seventh preparing to build mini-hive for scouts.”
Belissar nodded and turned his attention to the Orchard, where the Fourth of the Seventh was gathering a group of soldiers and workers. He frowned just a little when he saw her leave as well. A queen leaving the Tower seemed a bit dangerous to him, but he trusted the bees to know what they were doing. He knew that ultimately a hive’s workers were even more protective of their queens than he was, so they would keep her safe.
“All wounded soldiers can use lightning sting now, practicing together.”
Over the past few days, Belissar, Niobee, and Beero had finished imparting all the wounded soldiers with lightning. From then on, Beero had begun disseminating her magic to them. Belissar briefly glanced over at the Memorial…then froze and turned his full attention there. He had expected to see a bunch of soldier bees all practicing their magic.
Instead, all the wounded soldiers were now gathered in the field off to the side of the Memorial, and assembled into a circle. Beero lead them in a dance and each of them formed the lightning honeycomb pattern of their magic. But then, Beero had them began moving all in a circle, moving their lightning honeycombs as well. Some lightning trailed behind from each of the honeycomb patterns…and then started to link together, until a hexagon of lightning formed in the air above the soldiers.
Beero then changed the course of the dance. One hexagon became two, and then three, and so on and so forth until there was a larger honeycomb pattern formed from the lightning trails of the smaller ones. The pattern locked into place and then flashed.
A huge stinger of lightning appeared and shot from the pattern into the sky, traveling much further than the individual bee’s versions did…or than even Belissar’s could. Belissar’s jaw dropped.
That…that was an attack that could actually threaten a shade, and at a distance long enough that the wounded soldiers’ lack of mobility might not matter. It wasn’t anywhere near what Chief Rohsuak had displayed just yet, but it was a powerful, magical attack his bees had not yet had access to. It was exactly the sort of thing the Tower needed to expand its options.