Chapter 118: Reject Fear, Embrace Braver-Bee
Belissar furrowed his brow, but the shade continued its advance in the meantime so he tried to think as quickly as he could. He ended up sighing and shaking his head. At the end of the day, it was just too risky. Why would he allow the lancers to jump into a literal fire, or for the wounded and immobile lightning bees to face a fire breath, when he had another option. He opened his eyes and turned to ask Chief Rohsuak to intervene.
Until he caught sight of the bees.
The First of the Fourth was dipping, her wings beating slower and slower the longer he remained silent. She was about to land on the ground at this point. The other bees were faltering as well, all of them either hovering as motionless as they could or else slowly dropping from the air. Even Niobee was uncharacteristically still, with only a slight sway to her hovering. Belissar frowned.
He recalled the past few weeks. He recalled how subdued the Firstborn and the Flower Meadow queens had been after the emergency purification. He recalled how hard Beero and the others had worked just to take part in the fighting once again.
He now thought of how they all would feel and act should Chief Rohsuak handle this purification as well. The bees who had made it their main mission to defend the Tower from intruders, who devoted all of their efforts to strengthening their army…held back from the fight without even deploying the newest bees.
He held his tongue and rubbed his chin once again. What was the right move here? Should he protect his bees no matter how it made them feel…or should he let them face unnecessary danger and harm so that they could feel useful? He closed his eyes and grunted to himself.
Well, the truth was he already knew the answer. He had had this argument with himself before, after all. He already knew what the bees wanted. He already knew what the God of Bees wanted. He already knew what he was supposed to do. What the master and defender of a Tower had to do. He just didn’t want to do it.
He opened his eyes and turned to his bees, looking over the First of the Fourth. Her drooping paused at his attention. He took a deep breath.
“…do it. Send in the lancers. Second of the Sixth, get your medicinal workers ready, we’ll probably need them soon. Niobee, ask Beero if they can prepare their spell ahead of time. If so, have them get started.”