Path of the Hive Queen

The next few days went by without incident, although Regina was poised for more trouble showing up, presumably in the form of humans. No more of them approached, though. However, from both her new minion and the drones she’d sent out to scout, she knew that the humans were still sending teams into the forest. Many of them moved deeper in, probably towards the elves.

Bianorn and the other elves didn’t seem concerned about it. They were quiet for the most part, staying at the camp or occasionally going out to scout. A few times, the elves brought back something they’d hunted or gathered, and Bianorn once showed up lugging the corpse of a black bear with fur as hard as steel that had been level 20. Regina appreciated him donating the corpse, although she wasn’t quite sure what to do with it. They didn’t have the right tools for working with that, but the Workers might still be able to do something with it, perhaps turn it into armor for Max or the defense-focused drones.

The other thing she didn’t quite know what to do with was the new Production Drone. It hatched together with her new War Drones about two days after she’d laid them.

That gave Regina another surprise. The new War Drones were all level 2, not level 1. When she first appraised them, she just stared for a moment, confused.

“Well, I guess I still have more to discover about the System and the part of it that governs hives,” she then muttered.

Max gave her a sideways glance, then ordered the drones to various tasks.

“I wouldn’t complain,” he said. “It’s possible we only just noticed that because the level of the other War Drones is higher now than it used to be. Perhaps they start with, like, a fifth of the average level of their type? Rounded down, I guess. That would help to make up for their relatively lacking stats.”

“Possible,” Regina said, shaking her head. “You’re probably right.”

Then she looked at the new drone of her new type, frowning thoughtfully. It looked about the same as the War Drones at first glance. At least, it had the same general size and shape. However, it didn’t have any blade-limbs, and she didn’t think they would be much use in a fight. Instead, its other pair of limbs was shorter and a bit stubby. There were strange ridges and indentations on them.

Regina frowned harder, then looked at Ivy, the Harvester, who was working on the neighboring hut. Yep, there definitely seemed to be a bit of congruity. She wasn’t quite sure about it, but the names alone and how quickly the two types were unlocked after each other suggested there might be something there.

“Maybe I should have expected this, it’s using the term Production after all,” she muttered. “You, uh, produce what you’re going to produce.”

The drone reacted to her order right away, as she could sense through the psychic link, although it wasn’t readily apparent at first. Parts of its body contracted slightly. Then something shifted a little and it started excreting a substance. Regina stepped closer. It had made a greenish black goo that didn’t look like much.

“Well, I guess we’ll have to work on that,” she said with a small sigh. This was only a level 1 drone. “Make another bit of it, I’ll watch more closely.”

This time, she dove further into what she could sense of the drone. Not only did she get a sense of its mind, but also some idea of its body. She felt what happened to some extent. It would need a bit of study and maybe a deeper connection to really understand it, but she was confident she could get there. In the meantime, she already had the impression that it was somewhat adaptable, maybe even modular.

After a while, Regina shook her head and took a step back. She looked around, then called the nearest War Drone that didn’t seem to have much to do, one of the new ones, over. “Eat a bit of that substance,” she told it.

The War Drone complied, and Regina watched closely. This didn’t seem to be very harmful. The drone’s unformed mind didn’t have much of an opinion on what it just ate, but it did seem to curb its hunger slightly.

“Alright, go back to your work. You, stay close to that house and eat some grass.”

They didn’t have a lack of food, but this might still be useful. Still, for now, Regina decided she was better off focusing on warrior types. Though maybe she should take the opportunity to let her mana fill up more and use it for some necessary tasks around the camp first.

About a day later, Regina was trying to help with hanging a real door into the newest house, which had the best doorframe, when she realized that the Harvester egg was cracking. She excused herself. Bea could get this done on her own.

The Worker seemed focused on the task and only nodded. She almost seemed to get it this time, but the hinges they’d tried to carve out of a monster’s bone still didn’t seem to quite get it.

“So, we have a new Harvester,” Bea said, turning to look at her. “What are you going to name them, my Queen?”

Regina started, then turned around. The new drone had just climbed out of its egg and stepped outside. He seemed like a boy, so she decided on, “Zac.”

Bea nodded and smiled slightly. “I’ll get him oriented.”

Regina returned the gesture and left, since they weren’t going to finish this right now, anyway, instead considering the next additions to her hive. She decided to make another two Warrior eggs and four War Drone ones. Those taxed her mana regeneration, but since her levels and mental stats had risen, she could deal with it more easily than before.

Regina waited until she was sure that the elves were away and not paying attention before she did, then put the eggs in a relatively secluded spot in one of the houses her drones used. There probably wasn’t much point, but she still felt reluctant to have them out in the open.

Once she was done with that, she found Max waiting for her.

“We’re trying to adjust the training schedule, but I’m not sure how much time we have left,” he said. He glanced around, then continued at a lower tone of voice, “Has your new scout found more human movements?”

“About the same as before. I sent him out a little further, and he’s able to move much further than Ada and the others, fortunately. We still have to be careful of monsters. But even using Dark only gives me one viewpoint, so I don’t really get a full picture.”

“Dark?” Max raised an eyebrow.

Regina shrugged and smiled a bit sheepishly. “I was considering calling him Shadow, but that seemed a bit cliché.”

“And you think ‘Dark’ is better?”

Regina put her hands on her hips and pouted, no, glared at him. “I seem to remember someone recently saying they would never question me.”

Max grinned and laid a hand on his heart. “I still wouldn’t dare, my Queen. I wouldn’t say I was questioning you.”

“Not me, just my decision.” She crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow, but had to suppress a smile.

“Can you really call that a decision?”

Regina snorted. “Oh, shut up, Max.” She hit him lightly, which at least wiped the smirk and mock thoughtful expression from his face.

“You’re just making it easy for me, Regina.”

She shook her head, then started walking, while Max followed along. “I think we can stick with the current schedule for now,” she said. “If you’re careful, I’ll even let you go out to join the hunting party and bring back some monsters, but don’t go too far from the camp.”

Max nodded seriously. “I’ll take care. Do you want us to look for further monsters for you?”

Regina chewed on her lip thoughtfully, then shook her head. “No, I don’t think so. I don’t know how many spots I have, but it probably isn’t many, and I’d prefer to keep my options open. Besides, having one foreign presence in the hive is already a bit irritating, and I wouldn’t say I’ve, uh, trained Dark fully, yet.”

“It’s probably good to keep him out of sight,” Max noted. “Do you want me to discretely let the rest know about it?”

“Good idea. My telepathic communication is still not completely clear, and it’s probably better not to risk misunderstandings. Just keep it quiet.” She hadn’t told all of the other drones about the bird monster she’d Infected yet, but they probably needed to know, especially if they might run into him out in the forest. At least the elves didn’t seem to have noticed.

Regina had tested out her range with her new mobile minion, and discovered that it had indeed grown. She didn’t have a good way to measure distances, but she estimated that it was at least a few kilometers further than the first time she’d seen the limit. So it did increase with her level. Unfortunately, it would probably still take some more time until it would be large enough to reach the elven city.

Max nodded at her and moved off. Regina looked after him for a moment before she started moving again. She wasn’t quite sure what to do next. So she simply wandered around the edge of their camp, looking around and trying to evaluate it.

She paused when she noticed a drone approaching from the direction of the forest edge. It was Tia, she realized after a moment. She came from where the tunnel system they’d been digging opened. Regina shrugged and turned to meet her.

“Were you in the tunnels?” she asked.

“Yes,” Tia said, “I was just checking to make sure there were no Tunnelers or anything else breaking into it.”

Regina had decided to leave the tunnels alone for now. Especially with posting additional guards, it would simply take more time and effort from her people than they could spare. The tunnels also weren’t likely to be finished in time for another confrontation with the humans, at least not in a way they would make much of a difference. She’d decided to focus on raising their level instead.

“Alright, good thought,” Regina said. “Was there anything?”

“Not that I could see. The tunnels were pretty much the same as before. It’s funny, I didn’t really realize how far we’d come until I was gone for a while.”

Regina nodded. “How are you holding up, anyway?”

Tia paused for a moment, then shrugged. “Pretty well, I guess. You probably didn’t notice it, given the situation, but I think I did pretty well in the fight.”

Regina smiled. “You’re more warlike than half the boys here,” she teased her. “I didn’t have much attention to spare for the details of what everyone was doing, but I did notice you fight. You’re doing really well.”

Tia scratched her cheek, looking a bit embarrassed. “Thank you, my Queen. I guess … I’m not like Mia. I like contributing to our defense, not just building houses and stuff. Actually, I found that I really like working on the palisade and tunnel system, on fortifications and things like that. Maybe we can even make siege engines or more complicated emplacements at some point.”

Regina clapped her on the shoulder. “Good, I’m glad you like that. We can certainly use more structures like that, although it may take a bit until we have the resources and time to really work on such projects. So you don’t just want to fight more?”

“Not really. I still keep up with training and sparring, and I like that, but I’m no Warrior and there’s no point trying to pretend I am, you know?”

“I guess.” Regina frowned.

“I’d miss my work, anyway,” Tia added. “Fighting is all well and good, but I like building things, too. It’s useful, something that doesn’t just give immediate gains.”

“Alright.” Regina smiled again. She was glad that Tia seemed to be finding herself. While Regina was making her decisions based on effectiveness and what she thought was best for the hive, she also wanted her drones to be okay, and she did care for her. “You mentioned Mia, how’s she doing?”

“I barely manage to get a word out of her these days.” Tia rolled her eyes, but she also smiled slightly. “She’s very focused on her work. Not that I’m complaining, my Queen. She’s also reached level 13, too, even though she didn’t get as much from the fight.”

Regina nodded. She had noticed that. “Then I guess I won’t bother her.” She resolved to keep an eye on the other girl, though, if it looked like she was too focused on work for too long. That couldn’t be healthy, even if they weren’t human. “Do keep checking the tunnels regularly, though.”

“Of course, my Queen.”

Clearly sensing that the conversation was over, Tia nodded at her and resumed walking. Regina noticed that she was heading to where they kept the prisoners, to join the drones guarding them.

Regina returned to the center of the village, deciding to check on the elves again. She still felt weird about allowing outsiders into her home, but at least she didn’t seem to feel any violent aversion to the idea. She’d been half afraid her Hive Queen side would act up because of it. So far, it seemed to be in disgruntled agreement over it, though. Maybe that said something about the measure of trust she’d given to Bianorn after all.

Just as she stepped between the houses, a faint burning sensation made her pause. Regina almost stumbled, more from the surprise than anything else. She frowned to herself and closed her eyes to dive into her senses.

It was immediately clear where the sensation came from. Dark had experienced strong pain, and she even suspected the bird might have deliberately sent the sensation to her, or at least pushed it towards her more than normal.

The bird was still alive, thankfully. His left wing had a bad burn, but he managed to tumble out of the air in a half-controlled way and landed on the upper branches of a tree. Regina was more concerned at what had caught his attention in the first place, though.

“Lady Regina?” Bianorn asked, coming up to her. “Is everything alright?”

She gave him a tight smile. “It’s fine.”

She wanted to tell him ‘We’ve got visitors’, but stopped the impulse. Instead, she focused once more on what she could see of the situation, though the group of humans was moving out of Dark’s sight.

They looked different than before.

If Ulric’s team had been somewhat ragtag mercenaries or adventurers, these looked more like knights. Professional, well-equipped ones, with armor and weapons that looked either new or well taken care of, and several pack animals, probably mules. There were a few people who didn’t look like knights with them, though. Regina couldn’t get a good look at everyone and couldn’t see their levels, but they were probably heading for her hive. Still, she wasn’t as alarmed as she thought she’d be. Mostly because of the white cloth hanging from a few of the lances.

She shook her head slightly and returned her attention to the elf. She just had to ask him to keep his fellows close without giving him the real reason.