“Why wouldn’t they choose names?” Stella asked, looking confused again.
“Apis don’t need them. I could identify every apis we’ve met just by smell, though I can recognize their faces, too,” Joy said simply, and grinned as she saw an apis from her storytelling last night, proving the point as she spoke. “Hi, again!”
“Hello!” the apis replied cheerfully, passing at a quick pace, a container under one arm.
They were in the lower levels of the hive now, and the number of apis in the area had increased, making it almost impossible to move past one another without jostling each other a little. It made her friends uncomfortable, Joy noticed, but there wasn’t anything she could do about that. Instead she continued leading the way, having noticed the scent of another attendant in this direction.
“I had no idea you could do that, Joy. Could you tell us apart by our scents, too?” Brianna asked, sounding a little disconcerted.
“Um, maybe? You don’t smell like apis… not many pheromones, compared to us,” Joy said, a little distracted by the thought. “If we were close together, maybe. Or if you used a particular soap, I might be able to follow you. Apis have lots of pheromones, though.”
“Interesting,” Cora murmured, barely audible.
“There’s the attendant!” Joy announced, spotting the woman and grinning.
The apis saw her in turn, and smiled as she spoke. “Ah, there you are! Good timing, we just barely got together the apis you’ll need to take the town.”
Chapter 32
“Wait, what?” Cora asked, her thoughts trying to catch up at the sudden change of subject.
The attendant blinked, looking at Cora in confusion for a moment before she spoke. “You did want help with freeing the town from invaders, didn’t you? We gathered enough apis to assist you that you should be able to. Were we wrong?”
“Um, no, that isn’t what I meant. I’m just surprised. I thought you would be talking to us about what you found in the town, not just putting together a group of apis to help us,” Cora said, looking over at Brianna helplessly. “Bri?”
“Why’re you dumping this on me, Cora?” Brianna protested, looking the tiniest bit exasperated, but the woman quickly straightened and looked at the apis, considering for a moment before asking, “May I at least ask what you found, first?”
“Of course!” the apis replied, her confusion clearing as she nodded, speaking quickly. “The scouts examined the town from the air, and the walls appear to be undamaged, while the people inside town appear to be staying indoors as much as possible. There were a bunch of armed people in town, likely from the Kingdoms of Darkness based on their armor, and the scouts saw approximately one hundred and thirty of them. Based on that, we believe there are about two hundred invaders in the town, in addition to approximately a hundred and fifty that have been exploring the jungle. Sending five hundred apis to assist you is something we can easily do, and they should be enough to overwhelm the guards with minimal losses.”
Cora’s eyes widened at the description, as she hadn’t been expecting to hear the apis indicate that an entire battalion of soldiers had come into the area. Almost worse was how the apis seemed to consider that a minor number of soldiers, and casually offered several hundred apis to help them.
“Um, wow, that’s… well, it’s more than I expected,” Brianna said, blinking a couple of times, then asked, “What level are your apis? The guards we ran into were level ten to twelve, as I recall, so that could change things if you aren’t high-level enough.”
“I’d really rather not have to heal too many of them,” Stella agreed, her voice soft, even as her gaze flickered over the attendant.
“Of course. While the apis I’ve gathered are not all warriors, and they haven’t fought the ants, they’re all level ten or higher and possess wings. I wanted them to be able to go over the walls,” the attendant said briskly, grinning broadly as she nodded to Joy. “We’ve seen how the ants have to climb over their dead to get over barriers we’ve dropped in their way, and don’t want to do the same.”
“I… well, of course,” Cora said, a tiny bit of bile rising in the back of her throat at the thought of apis stacked like cordwood. It was a terrible thought after as kind as most of them had been so far. “It sounds like you’d be able to deal with the invasion on your own, honestly.”
“I doubt it,” the apis said instantly, shaking her head as she grew a little more serious. “I think we could fight them, but figuring out what to do after… the people in your town aren’t apis. We don’t know how to talk to them, and would have a hard time figuring who the enemy was without you telling us. I wonder if some of the hives have allied with the Kingdoms of Darkness?”
“Probably,” Joy said, nodding surprisingly happily, though her smile dimmed a little. “I’d hate to fight other apis, but it’ll probably happen.”
“Agreed,” the attendant said, the certainty in her voice chilling Cora’s blood slightly. She hoped they were wrong, but after seeing how helpful most apis were to those around their hives, she didn’t have much confidence in that.
“Either way, I think that answers the question of whether it’s possible to take the town or not,” Brianna said, looking at Cora as she nodded ever so slightly. “The only question is, do we have time to eat first? I know apis don’t have to eat every day, but we need to eat a few times per day.”
“Oh, sure! The others are just outside, waiting for you, and I need to get another attendant anyway,” the attendant said, smiling broadly. “We’ll get ready soon, then we can free the town!”
“That sounds like a good idea. Thank you,” Cora said, smiling, then paused as the woman left, looking at Joy. “Um, wait… is she coming with us? I thought she was a queen’s attendant. Why would she go outside?”
“Sure she is! She’s probably just following orders, to report to the queen,” Joy said happily, grinning in return. “Plus we have changed, so things are going to be different in the future!”
“Ah. Well, shall we go outside and eat? I doubt we have much time, as fast as the apis seem to move,” Stella prompted, glancing toward the exit. “I wasn’t expecting to even have a report yet.”
“Very true,” Cora agreed, starting for the door at the reminder. “Still, things are looking up! I just hope that this is about it for our encounters with the Kingdoms of Darkness.”
“Agreed,” Brianna muttered, following closely behind Cora as they headed for the exit.
The moment they left the hive, Cora found herself blinking to try to adapt, though, as she’d forgotten how dark the jungle was compared to the hive.
She did feel better, though.
* * *
Damaris watched the soldiers stream through the gate, tapping the horn of her saddle idly as she watched them move. She was taking Ovlin and the rest of her company with her, which would add nearly a hundred soldiers to the search party, which should be enormously more than enough to get to the seal, but she wasn’t going to count on that after the other problems that had cropped up. Shala’s translations had mentioned something about defenses around the seal, so she was trying to be cautious. At least she could guarantee that the seal got back to Lord Alethus once they had it.
“Nervous, sir?” Velk asked quietly, standing next to her.
“A bit, yes,” Damaris said, looking south as she considered, then admitted, “I hate having to move this quickly, but I don’t see much choice. If we’d managed to break the code last week, I’d have taken this more cautiously, but it’s entirely possible someone has noticed that some of the merchants haven’t come into town to get their orders at this point. Every day we wait, things get more dangerous.”
Velk nodded grimly, looking around them as he spoke. “I can’t say that I blame you, sir. Still, unless something goes terribly wrong, I don’t see that anyone can stop us. Maybe if the adventurers rally the apis against us, but I don’t see that happening so quickly.”
“That’s part of the reason I
brought so many soldiers with us,” Damaris said, shrugging uncomfortably. “I don’t see how they’d know what we’re up to, but with close to three companies together, they’ll probably be hesitant to attack. They’d better be, anyway, or I’ll see if we can’t torch their damned hive. Sure, we might die, but most of us should resurrect back home.”
Grimacing, the orc nodded reluctantly at that, speaking slowly. “True, even if I’d rather not risk it. There’s always the chance that we won’t resurrect.”
“I know. But I suspect that Lord Alethus already knows some of what’s occurred, with the deaths already,” Damaris said, taking a deep breath. “If we fail him… the consequences don’t bear thinking on.”
“As you say, sir,” Velk agreed, saluting sharply, his gauntlet clanging as it hit his breastplate.
Damaris reflected internally that the consequences wouldn’t come from their lord, but rather from their neighbors once they’d realized what Alethus was planning. While the Kingdoms of Darkness were willing to unite against the Kingdoms of Light, they also weren’t willing to allow their neighbors to gain power over them if they could avoid it.
If Alethus succeeded, it was all well and good. If he failed, though… the devastation would be terrifying.
It was just another reason for her to not fail.
* * *
“They were killed by what?” Alethus asked, turning away from the parade grounds abruptly.
“An apis and three other adventurers. An elven mage and two humans, one with dark skin, the other with red hair,” Minna said, her eyebrows rising slightly. “You seem surprised, My Lord.”
The parade grounds were filled with his soldiers, most of them preparing for the march. Building up an entire division of soldiers for the expedition had been difficult, and Alethus had no illusions that his realm could survive a determined assault if it was attacked while he was away, but the potential reward was worth it.
His soldiers were varied, of course. A unit of Knights were preparing their horses alongside the Priests and their Acolyte assistants that were packing wagons of medical supplies and tents. Elsewhere, a group of trolls were handing over their weapons to the smiths for final examination, while the spellcasters were clustered together, looking to Alethus like they were adjusting their unit structure yet again. He hoped he wouldn’t have to step in to correct their changes again, but the magi were always prone to experimentation.
The sight of them was a distraction, though, and Alethus shook it off to focus on Minna, who was armored in her heavy black plate, the massive claymore she favored slung behind her.
“I am, since I recognize them. Mostly I’m surprised they were in that area, and because it’s a damned big risk for adventurers of their level,” Alethus said at last, frowning. “I poisoned the elf, so she should have died, and there’s no way that she’s recovered in this amount of time. Moving to an area like Bearton… they have to be interested in the higher-level areas around it, and that’s risking death. I don’t understand why they’d travel there.”
“Perhaps they realized what your goal was, My Lord?” Minna suggested, stepping toward the balcony to look down at the courtyard critically.
“No, that wouldn’t make any sense. They’re level fifteen at most, not even enough to fight Damaris in a head-on fight. No, if that were the case, the duke would have dispatched his own soldiers to help, and we’d have a lot more soldiers resurrecting,” Alethus said, shaking his head firmly. “No, whatever they’re doing they can’t have realized what we’re planning next. The adventurers guild, though… they probably have an idea, and we’re going to be looking at a serious fight ahead of us. Hopefully Damaris can capture the miscreants, but if she can’t, so be it. I doubt that they can affect our plans.”
“If you say so, My Lord,” Minna said, bowing her head slightly. “We should be ready to leave within the hour.”
“Excellent. Clarion awaits us, along with the last of the seals,” Alethus said, straightening and nodding. “Prepare my mount. It’s time to show the Kingdoms of Light that the status quo is meant to be broken.”
“As you command, My Lord,” Minna said, her own smile of satisfaction faintly cruel. “I look forward to seeing my homeland again.”
“Of course you do,” Alethus said, laughing as he leaned forward to give her a brief kiss, which she returned happily.
As she left, Alethus turned back to the view, pondering what he saw before him, as well as the handful of adventurers. They really didn’t matter in the overall scheme of things, but it had been years since someone managed to injure him as heavily as the apis had. That she had overcome such an enormous gap in power between them was remarkable, and he had to admire that.
Not that it’d keep him from killing her if she got in his way. Even if he would prefer to make her one of his servants as well.
Chapter 33
“Um, don’t the walls look kind of… poorly manned to you?” Brianna asked softly, and Joy glanced over at her, a little confused.
They’d made it through the Teeming Jungle easily enough, and in the woods only a single bear had been foolish enough to challenge their group, which had died in moments after the apis realized it was a threat.
Traveling through the fields had been surprisingly easy, with how the apis’s armor blended in with the crops, which pleased Joy and the attendant. The issue was that she didn’t really understand what Brianna meant, since she could see several people on the stone walls around Bearton. Fortunately, it seemed that Cora did.
“You’re right. If they have about two hundred soldiers, I’d expect there to be more sentries than that,” Cora murmured, looking up at the wall contemplatively. “They certainly wouldn’t be spaced that widely.”
“Could they be nocturnal? You did call them the Kingdoms of Darkness,” the attendant suggested, looking at Brianna curiously. “I wondered if they might move at night, since we saw a lot of them.”
“No, both sides prefer the day, by and large. Except for a few species like dark elves or motini, anyway,” Stella explained, shaking her head. “I’m not sure, but maybe they were preparing for an expedition or something?”
“That might be the best explanation. And if they are out, it’s also the best time to take the town,” Brianna said, glancing over at Joy, then shook her head. “I was thinking it might be worth scouting, but even if you blend into the fields well, if you take flight you’re going to be really obvious, Joy.”
“Yup! You talked about my armor before, it’s too dark,” Joy agreed, nodding happily at the human. “Sorry!”
“It’s fine, Joy,” Brianna replied with a wry smile, glancing at the town, then asked, “What do you think, Cora?”
“I think we don’t have much of a choice, not if we want to get out of this intact. Stella?” Cora said, looking at Stella, her hand a little tight around her staff.
“You’re right. If we’re going to do this, we’ll want to do it now, I think,” Stella said, then frowned. “That said, we can’t fly, and the gates are closed. How are we supposed to get in? I’m not that good at climbing, and they won’t just sit there.”
“I can get the gates!” Joy said, smiling broadly at that. “Once we’re attacking, I think they’ll be too busy to worry about them!”
“All we need is for you to tell us when to attack,” the attendant agreed, a broad smile on her face. “We’re ready.”
“Right. Um, just… try not to kill anyone who isn’t in the armor of the bad guys?” Stella said, looking at the attendant. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you scared the people in town, if you appear suddenly.”
“Sure!” the attendant agreed, and looked toward the other apis as she added, “Pass it on, please.”
The other apis nodded, and one after another they began relaying the message through the apis hidden in the field outside the town. From what Joy could hear, they were relaying the message perfectly, including the ‘um’ part.
“In that case, once you’re ready… well
, go ahead,” Brianna said letting out a soft breath as she added, “Good luck, and try not to get hurt, please.”
The attendant nodded, looking at the apis again as she said, “Once I go, all of us attack.”
“Yes, attendant,” the nearby apis replied, and as they laid their hands on their weapons, Joy gripped her hilt, then paused as Cora laid a hand on her arm.
“Cora?” Joy inquired, looking at the elf curiously.
“Be safe?” Cora asked, looking a bit helpless. “We’re doing this to help you, so I don’t want you getting yourself killed. There’s no way to be sure that you’d resurrect.”
Joy blinked, then grinned and decided to do something she’d seen in Irador. She quickly hugged Cora, whose eyes went wide as she did, and the apis spoke softly. “I’ll be careful, promise! You be careful too, though. You died recently!”
“I’ll try,” Cora said, belatedly hugging Joy back, then pulled away as she murmured. “Though you nearly gave me a heart attack. The guards could’ve seen that, you know.”
“Maybe they did!” Joy said, grinning as she pulled away, sniffing the air. “Does it matter?”
Brianna opened her mouth to reply, looking a little amused, but she didn’t have time to say anything, not before the attendant moved. At that point, Joy didn’t have time to worry about how Cora’s pheromones had changed.
* * *
Cork hated being on watch. Not as much as he hated having a partner teasing him about his name, but he still hated it. He also hated… well, most things, but mostly being poor. That was why the short elf had joined the army, only to learn that it led to more jokes about his name. Of course, demonstrating a few of his lessons from the gutters had generally put an end to the worst of the jokes, but it didn’t make him any happier about it.
Webs & Wards (Beesong Chronicles Book 2) Page 21
