The Bee Dungeon

Belissar stepped out of the command tent, taking a moment away from the general after their conversation. Niobee, as always, rode along his head, while the First Spiderkin Queen also followed after him. Niobee buzzed again.

“King ok? Want sting?”

The First Spiderkin Queen hissed and clacked her fangs together.

“Will kill Sorcerer King if King says!”

Belissar shook his head, working himself up to refuse the pair, when another voice entered the conversation.

“Now, now, girls, settle down. Beely’s got to work with the old human over there, so he can’t let you sting the man. Even if you really want to. Beely already told you not to, right?”

Finnakynne swooped in to fly by his side. Niobee didn’t say anything but she did stop buzzing, while the First Spiderkin Queen huffed. Finnakynne giggled, then flew in front of Belissar, making a serious expression.

“That said, are you ok, Beely?”

Belissar considered the question. He…couldn’t say he felt ok. Sure, the general said he was sorry, but that wouldn’t bring Belissar’s parents back, or the bees who perished stopping the Tower Lord’s son. It didn’t change the fact that the Conclave had acted the way it had for countless years and the general never had a problem with it until now. Belissar felt his mana start to buzz again…

To distract himself, he began to look around. Bees flew around the area, coordinating with his allies. The Royal Pixie Guard practiced holding lances while riding on the backs of bees, Hirkolos of all people was advising them. Tamosmed was helping the First of the Fifth’s Fourth and Seventh Daughters guide their golems around. Metsaitti and a sigmaka warrior were discussing fighting in the Underway with the green and silver elves.

And then he saw Juosiutik, cackling as she presented a jar of some sort to a dusk elf and a pixie. Behind her…one of the spiderkin children followed, helping her carry more jars.

Belissar blinked a few times, then felt his face warm and his chest loosen. He…had already asked the karnuq to make peace with their greatest enemy, hadn’t he? Perhaps…perhaps he should do the same. General Rippotis certainly bore more responsibility in this matter than the spiderkin kids did in the karnuq’s…but the general did seem willing to make amends. He had brought gifts, he had accepted his guilt, he had given his apology, and now he was fully cooperating even as the alliance prepared to fight one of his Tower Lords. His help…would save the lives of many bees. If he did that…

Belissar took a deep breath and tried to let the rest of his anger go as he exhaled. Then, he gave everyone the best smile he could manage.

“I am…or I will be. Whatever he did before, he’s helping us now, so let’s work with him to protect our home.”

Niobee and the First Spiderkin Queen danced a salute at that. Finnakynne gave him a smile. She flew over and sat on his shoulder, then gave it a couple of pats. Belissar…actually felt slightly better with everyone around him and his smile grew a bit more sincere.

“Now then…while we have a moment, we have some new flowers, don’t we? How about we tell dangerous one and the hive of hives about the super toxic tree we got?”

Niobee danced a happy dance at that, with no further trace of angry buzzing.

“Ok!”

General Rippotis watched as Tower Keeper Belissar left the tent, then let his shoulders droop. It was not only humbling, but even embarrassing to realize to what extent he was controlled by his fear and his past guilt. He had come here specifically to make peace…and yet, since he had arrived, he had mostly been analyzing threats. After all the Conclave had done to Tower Keeper Belissar, after every way they had crushed and harmed him in the name of their fears, the general’s first thought had been concern over how the Tower Keeper’s allies resembled the Sorcerer Kings’ minions.

And it took until now to realize the truth. How in the world would Tower Keeper Belissar have willingly embarked upon the path of the Sorcerer Kings when he knew nothing about them? How could he become a sorcerer when he had been taught all his life to stay away from magic? How would he know about the Conclave’s restrictions on Tower Lords when he wasn’t permitted to set foot in a Tower at all?

No, Tower Keeper Belissar was just a young man deprived of everything and then driven out into a deadly situation he was entirely unprepared for. It was no wonder that he used anything available to him to survive, it was a miracle he had survived at all. That some of the methods and allies he happened upon resembled those of the Sorcerer Kings was pure coincidence. And if he had intentionally rejected the Conclave’s teachings…could the general blame him? The Conclave had done everything in its power to convince the Tower Keeper that they were his enemy and not to be trusted, for his entire life!

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General Rippotis looked up to the ceiling of the tent. His thoughts drifted to the gods and all they had done recently. The God of Bees had tasked him with raising monsters, one of his biggest taboos, with full support from the God of Fire. The God of Light had directly told the High Council they had lost their way with the Grand Subjugations and the beastkin. It was abundantly clear that the gods did not share the Conclave’s views on Towers and how they should be used. Perhaps…perhaps every rule the Conclave had ever made was driven solely by the fears of mortals and by not reverence for the gods. Perhaps the gods had no problem with the Sorcerer Kings’ methods, but rather their intentions. Perhaps he had the wrong approach all along.

If nothing else, General Rippotis knew he had the wrong approach to the Tower Keeper. And it was now on him to make it right, to begin atoning for countless years of wrongs the Conclave had inflicted. For not the first time, he wished that Heigiosa or Konilias was here. One of them might have known better how to make peace with people they had wronged so deeply. General Rippotis, for all his long years, had lived his entire life as a soldier. His was the business of inflicting pain, not healing it.

But well, perhaps that was why he was here. Perhaps if the Conclave was to change its ways and atone, he needed to be the first to do so. Perhaps the man at war for over a thousand years needed to be the first to lay down his arms.

General Rippotis considered now how he should change his approach. First and foremost, he had to do what the Tower Keeper said and put a stop to Starami. He had been considering the incoming battle from how best to subjugate Starami as a rogue Tower Lord and had requested the Tower Keeper and his allies’ help as a result…but subjugating Starami was not the true goal here, was it? General Rippotis began to consider what his true goal should be, and what he should do to achieve it…

Juosiutik and the hive of hives were as excited about the manchineel tree as Belissar suspected. He did find, however, that strangely enough the Orchard wasn’t considered a suitable environment for the tree and would carry a mana penalty for placing it there. In fact, none of his current rooms were suitable save the Fairy Groves that could grow nearly anything. And, unfortunately, the gardener bees couldn’t tell him what the tree would need until he actually planted one.

Belissar went to find Tarwantrad, who had been planting flower monsters and traps around the repaired fortress, and asked for her advice. Fortunately, while she didn’t have the tree herself, she had read about it. Apparently, it preferred to grow on beaches or swamps by salt water. She told him he could likely create a suitable environment by connecting a Bog to either the Abyssal Trench or Muddy Seabed rooms. The source of this content ɪs novel※fire.net

That would be something to try for the future. For now, though, Belissar didn’t have time to wait for a new room, so he placed a manchineel tree in the battle Fairy Grove.

The alliance had a lot to coordinate on, however, so before long Belissar found himself back in the command tent for an evening report on the progress of the preparations.

General Rippotis, however, spoke up first.

“I would like to propose a change in strategy.”

The leaders of the alliance glanced at one another before Wardmaster Varilold spoke.

“Well, let’s hear it.”

General Rippotis obliged.

“When Starami’s forces first break through your wards, my troops and I will confront them. We will hold for as long as we can by ourselves.”

Wardmaster Varilold frowned.

“Is that truly wise? You said you do not have the strength to take this army alone, did you not? What do you hope to achieve with this, then?”

General Rippotis gave her a nod, then straightened his back.

“I do not. But…perhaps a full demonstration of my might will convince Starami of my identity, assuming he has not gone rogue. And whether he has or not, if I can inflict enough casualties, he may be forced to call off his assault altogether. It has come to my attention that it is not necessary for you to subjugate him on my behalf, if he is forced to withdraw and gather reinforcements, the High Council can then deal with him and prevent any further attacks. We’ll have a chance to end this and resume our negotiations with no further losses among your people.”

Belissar glanced around at his fellow representatives, who were doing much the same. Queen Vanieskon frowned and spoke up first.

“A desirable outcome indeed. However…General Rippotis, should you fight alone and fall, we will be left alone with this Starami. He will be the only one who can report back to your Conclave on what occurred here.”

General Rippotis shook his head.

“I’ve already sent word of what’s going on. And besides…”

General Rippotis began to smirk.

“Starami is not going to strike me down. If I am riding Raklasi, there is no Tower Lord that I fear.”

He dropped his smile.

“And it is my responsibility both to prevent his assault and to see these negotiations through. I will do all that I can to stop him without involving you, but I will withdraw once I am at risk of being overwhelmed. I understand it is important for us all that I remain to continue our negotiations afterwards.”

Belissar stared at General Rippotis for a moment. General Rippotis met his gaze. Belissar realized…the general was trying to do exactly what he had told the man to in their last conversation, by facing an entire army on his own. Belissar took a deep breath.

“I think we should let him try. It’s the best case if none of us have to die, isn’t it?”

The fair folk and sigmaka turned to him. Wardmaster Varilold crossed her arms.

“It is, but it’s also risky. You may be confident, General, but you should know as well as any of us that battles rarely go to plan and for our sake we cannot let you fall. We will have to intervene and secure your retreat if we judge you’re going to be overwhelmed. You mentioned you will ride your dragon, should we assume you intend to fight in the sky?”

General Rippotis nodded.

“We’ll strike them as they’re coming up towards the surface, but the battle will quickly move there.”

The wardmaster turned to face Belissar.

“In that case, our intervention would need to employ fliers of our own. That largely means you, Tower Keeper Belissar, and your bee army. They would have to confront the enemy directly, if briefly, and face all the danger that entails. Are you willing to take on that risk?”

Belissar looked General Rippotis in the eyes once more. The general stood resolute, his expression reminded Belissar of Metsaitti and the karnuq hunters when they joined the Tower’s purifications.

“My bees will be at risk in this fight no matter what we do. If there’s a chance we can all survive, I’ll take it.”

And so, the alliance quickly moved to adjust its initial strategy…