Chapter 332 - Bee Allied!
The next day, two much larger delegations came together in the negotiation area. King Ratuatapi arrived with all four of his queens and his full royal guard, while every one of the signatories of the Calwaskon Compact or an appointed representative sent on their behalf traveled through the nexus door. The fair folk brought not one but two stone tablets on which to engrave the new compact, these ones thankfully much smaller than the giant table-sized one used for the Calwaskon or Estelende Compacts.
Belissar hosted the gathering as before, though he would be involved as an actual party today as well. There was some pomp and circumstance and official greetings and such, a great deal by Belissar’s reckoning but apparently the fair folk were toning it down as they did not want to stay exposed to the Hunger for long. So, before the morning ended, a black elf mason was carving the terms of the agreement into the tablets as Queen Vanieskon infused the words with ancient pixie magics, and then the signing began.
Belissar made available bloodsucking and healing bees to assist with the bloodletting…though not every signatory chose to make use of them. King Ratuatapi, though, took up his offer with a smile.
Belissar was the last to sign, and as he finished writing his name, the tablets flashed. Belissar felt the magic settle upon him as he returned to his seat overlooking the meeting. He remained standing and took a mug full of something special, while karnuq and soldier bees gave each of the signatories and sigmaka their own mug. Belissar lifted his up high.
“Here’s to the establishment of our new alliance! May it make all our peoples happy and safe!”
Human, beastkin, fair folk, and bee all cheered together and took a drink. A drink that caused many of them to freeze. It was the black elf representative who broke the silence first.
“Signatory Belissar, is this what I think it is?”
Belissar couldn’t help a proud smile.
“Yes, it’s mead, made from mana honey.”
Yes, Belissar had enough mead made from base mana honey that he could afford to give each of the signatories here a mug. And that wasn’t all, Belissar now motioned and the karnuq and bees began bringing the food and drink Belissar had prepared.
And so, a celebratory banquet began to the cheers of all present. A banquet Belissar would spend fielding inquiries into his honey and mead…
While the banquet would last well into the afternoon, two participants departed after the initial midday meal. One was Wardmaster Varilold, intending to start work on the defense wards immediately now that the initial defense agreement was in place. Joining her…was Queen Vanieskon. The wardmaster and the rest of the signatories had questioned this at first, but Queen Vanieskon had argued that her glamours would greatly assist the Hunger-focused wards when they needed to deal with other, more civilized threats. The wardmaster and the signatories had reluctantly conceded the point, though under the condition that the pixie queen had to explain to the wardmaster, completely, clearly, and thoroughly, what each of her glamours would do.
And so, the pair, accompanied by the wardens and the Pixie Royal Guard, much to Captain Karpakynne’s dismay, left the banquet early and joined an escort force of subterranean bee types Belissar had provided. Belissar had passed on his scouts’ report regarding the spiderkin webs to the Compact, so they had decided to prioritize setting up defenses in the Underway.
The bees led them down underground and through the tunnels to the large cavern where Belissar and the sigmaka had fought with the spiderkin. The bees stopped there and one of the tunneling nomadic bees began to dance.
“Here, safe, no enemies yet, spiderkin taught trappers how make scout webs so know if enemy comes. Found enemy webs further, so don’t know if safe, King said be careful so haven’t scouted more.”
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Wardmaster Varilold glanced around.
“Understood, thank you. This cavern could make a good nexus point for the wards…but…”
She glanced over at Queen Vanieskon, who shook her head.
“The spiderkin know of this location as a former nest. They will be suspicious if they can’t find it again. We should place our defenses just before it if we want them to go unnoticed.”
The wardmaster nodded in agreement.
“Let’s get started, then.”
The wardens retreated further back into the previous tunnels and began planning out their wards. Queen Vanieskon, meanwhile, had Captain Karpakynne bring out a map of the tunnels in the area, a gift from the sigmaka for the signing of the new alliance. Queen Vanieskon made a satisfied nod.
“This will do. Wardmaster, I need a Ground mage.”
Wardmaster Varilold glanced over and raised an eyebrow.
“So, you intend the misdirection glamour to send them not back, but away?”
Queen Vanieskon made a sly smile.
“An enemy would be a terrible thing to waste, don’t you think?”
Beero hovered up above the hive of the fallen, with the First Dronecaster helping connect her to her hive. She watched as an archer and sprayer both finished sting cast dances. The archer’s created a stinger but flung it far into the distance, far further than any of the fallen’s magic stings had ever gone. The sprayer’s dance, meanwhile, created a sprayer’s abdomen that unleashed a cone of lightning instead of toxins. Battlecasters and drones stood around both the archer and sprayer, then began trying to replicate their dances. If they could determine how the archer and sprayer’s dances differed from their own, then perhaps the entire hive of the fallen could launch far stingers or sprays cones. Beero was pleased, all the bees of her hive continued to strive and grow, even after evolving and regaining their wings.
It was especially important right now, for at the moment the hive of the fallen was one of the few that had not been disrupted by the move to the Beecity. Even though the Flower Meadow they called home had moved and changed, the hive of the fallen remained keeping watch over the Memorial…and so had no need to reorganize or redo their orientation flights. They continued their vigil and their efforts while the rest of the hive of hives adjusted to their new homes, it was for this reason they had been chosen to keep guard over the King’s realm while most of the bee army was protecting King in the Bee-yond.
But that was not to say that nothing had changed for the fallen as a result of the Flower Meadow’s move.
“Fallen ok, let’s go!”
At her dance, the First Dronecaster saluted and let his mana fade, then both he and Beero both dove down towards a group of flowers. A group of flowers that were waving at them.
The venomous slime rose stood tall in the center, Frelis standing amidst its flowers as usual. The rose, in turn, was surrounded by newcomers to the Flower Meadow: the monster nightshade summoners. King had originally placed their spawner in the Apiary, but now that the Apiary bees were foraging from this Flower Meadow King had moved the nightshade summoners there as well.
Frelis danced as the flowers waved vines and branches.
“Beero ready try again?”
Beero danced a full speed confirmation.
“Am! Show new magic again!”
“Ok!”
Frelis tapped a dance on the slime rose, then the slime rose reached out with its root legs to touch the root legs of the nightshade summoners. The nightshade summoners bobbed their flowers up and down and then began to stir up their mana.
Beero and the First Dronecaster gave the summoners their full attention as glowing wasps made of mana crawled out of the flowers and took to the air, waving their stingers around in anticipation of a battle. It had not taken Beero long to notice the new monsters and their new magic…magic incredibly similar to that of the King’s when he created his spell bees. Beero had immediately enlisted Frelis’s help at that point. Beero turned to the First Dronecaster.
“What think? See anything?”
The First Dronecaster stepped carefully.
“…maybe. Not making honeycomb with mana…but mana inside flowers moving? Couldn’t see how, Frelis knows?”
Frelis happily danced about.
“Can try! Will check flowers…”
At that moment, the venomous slime roses’s vines wrapped around Frelis.
“…will ask other gardener to check flowers!”
Beero happily danced about as Frelis and the First Dronecaster began reaching out to the communers and calling another gardener. If the First Dronecaster and the gardeners could learn the difference between the hive of the fallen’s magic and that of the nightshade summoners, then perhaps they could replicate the King’s magic! Perhaps…Beero could make bees of her own, in a way, and truly become a queen. Not to mention…if it went the other way, then they could teach the nightshade summoners their own magic as well. It would strengthen the King’s realm several times over!
And so, Beero watched intently as a gardener arrived, and cooperated with the First Dronecaster to connect with the nightshade summoners and see how they worked their magic…