When Regina came to, it was like bobbing to the surface in a murky morass of water, still partly submerged. Somehow, she managed to not move and instead try to clear up the murk in her mind. Thinking felt harder than it should be, as if she was still dragged down by the aftereffects of her sleep, but she felt intimately that she was in danger.

Judging by the pressure and temperature she felt, she was clearly lying down, probably outside or in an open room like one of their huts. There were some sounds around her and a variety of smells. In her current state, she found it hard to sort them all out. She tried to keep her breathing regular while she got her bearings, and didn’t open her eyes to look.

After a moment, she focused on the psychic link to her hive that connected her to her drones. She quickly realized that most of them were relatively close to her, and feeling agitated. To her relief, it seemed all of them were accounted for. She checked on those outside. Ada was moving, and a quick dive deeper into her consciousness showed that she was going back towards the hive. Then Regina switched to Tim’s group. They were also moving. The War Drones were with them, and since they were back within her radius, she could sense and control them easily.

Be careful, she told Tim, feeling him freeze up for a moment. There were a group of eight humans coming to the hive, trying to tell us to leave. They attacked us somehow, and seem to be in control of the settlement right now. Make sure that they don’t catch you.

“Of course, my Queen,” Tim murmured. She sensed his heart-rate increase as the others with him sent him concerned looks.

I’ll be in touch.

After that, Regina quickly contacted Ada and told her the same thing. She also gave the Scout her best guess for the position of Tim and the others, although they were probably still a lot further away. Then Regina gathered herself and dove into Max’s mind.

Immediately, she felt the pain he was in, although it only seemed to come from bruises, no serious injuries. Max was with a group of other drones and currently staring at three of the human fighters. Regina recognized the outside of the huts, telling her everyone’s position.

Hey, she whispered into his mind. Try not to react. It’s probably better if you don’t try to talk to me, at least out loud. I just woke up, and I have little idea what’s going on. Can you look around a bit for me?

Max froze and held his breath for a moment as she contacted him, but it wasn’t very noticeable, considering he’d been still before. Then he slowly let his gaze wander around his surroundings, giving her a better view of everything. At the same time, he focused on a few images and concepts. She could almost feel him willing them towards her. It was like trying to read a letter through a pane of milky glass, but Regina still caught some of the emotions accompanying it, at least.

It was clear to her that the humans had managed to take the settlement without much of a fight, probably because of that knockout attack. It had to be either gas or some ability reminiscent of it. It was also possible that it had a shorter range, but that the humans had cowed the hive by essentially taking her hostage. Most likely a mix of both; they’d taken out the ones closest to her, including Max and the stronger Warriors, and made the rest submit.

If Regina hadn’t been affected, if she hadn’t been in reach of the humans, she knew the drones would have fought to the death to protect her. But they weren’t berserkers and could weigh risks and danger. At least the War Drones appeared to have followed the remaining ones’ orders and stood down.

Although, now that she paid closer attention to it, she could tell that three of the War Drones were indeed dead. She couldn’t sense them in her hive, and she caught a glimpse of their bodies piled to the side.

Regina internally shook her head and suppressed the surge of anger she felt, then focused on other drones. She picked out Mia’s mind and dove into it.

It’s me, try not to show any reaction, she thought at her. Please carefully show me more of your situation. Don’t respond aloud.

Mia did the same as Max and moved her head a little, glancing over her surroundings. At the same time, she focused on certain images that explained what happened.

Alright, I’ll be in touch again, Regina said. Be ready to move when I tell you to.

Then she repeated the same with Tia, who had a harder time sitting still and not doing anything. After that, she moved to Dan and the other drones.

Regina was still trying to work her way through the hive and establish contact with everyone when she was interrupted. She was just about to dive into the mind of the next drone, Ina, when she realized that there was increasing noise in her vicinity. She pulled back into her own mind and tried to sort out the sounds and smells, then quickly jumped her focus into Tia so she actually had a view of what was going on.

A small group of humans were approaching her. She was still lying out in the open between their houses, with some of the other drones in her sights if she’d opened her eyes. Half of the humans seemed to be on guard duty, but two of them had turned their heads and were watching. Their leader, Ulric, headed the group, accompanied also by Gavin Barkle and the Shaman Oswald Oak. Under other circumstances, she might have felt sorry for anyone with such a name. Considering he’d knocked her out so they could capture her hive, though, she had to force herself to calm down and not try and jump them.

“She’s still out?” Oak asked. “The effect doesn’t usually last that long. You think their bodies are particularly susceptible or something?”

“She’s probably feigning,” Ulric said with a shrug. Then he kicked her.

It was odd to feel while most of her attention was somewhere else. Regina still couldn’t suppress a grunt of pain. She found her focus jarred back into her own body.

She opened her eyes, blinking once, then sat up slowly while she glared at the man. At least Ulric stepped back to let her up.

“Is this the kind of honor we should expect from you and your lord’s men?” she asked acerbically.

Ulric grimaced slightly and shrugged. “As we informed you before, this land belongs to the kingdom. If you had complied right away, this wouldn’t be necessary. You should be glad we’re trying to minimize unnecessary loss of life.”

“So you didn’t kill any of the drones?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Three of the small creatures died,” he admitted readily. “Their own fault for attacking us. They’re mindless animals, aren’t they?”

Right, they don’t have names in the System, Regina realized. She shrugged. “They’re valuable livestock,” she lied. Considering their appearance and name, it was probably easy to see they weren’t used as normal cattle, but she figured it didn’t matter too much. “Their loss is not trivial. I don’t expect you’ll compensate me.”

He snorted, and she heard one of the men farther away chuckle. Regina looked at them with narrowed eyes. There were only eight of them. She still had about twenty drones here, although admittedly, most of those were War Drones. Still, in terms of pure stats, at least, she was sure they could handle the humans easily if they ganged up on them.

She just didn’t know enough about their Abilities. And they would need a good opening to strike, if that really was the best idea.

“We haven’t been given any real orders on what to do with you,” Ulric said. “Which means it’s up to my latitude. You’re a curiosity, so it might be fun to take you inland and see what the lords and learned sirs have to say. I’m sure the Delvers might express an interest, too. If you behave, I might just set you free somewhere in the southern forest and let you run away.”

Regina glared at him. She was pretty sure he was overstepping his authority, at least in the spirit of his orders, if not the letter. Still, she didn’t know how things worked with them in practice. “You’re just sellswords, aren’t you?”

Oak glanced away, but Ulric just chuckled. “We used to be the Brazen Blades, one of the best adventuring groups you’ll find operating out of the march. The war had need for swords, though, so we found our patriotism and signed up. So, you see, we’re not going to be the last people they send into the forest. You should count yourself lucky it was us that ran into you.”

Regina stared at him, not amused. “I don’t have anything to pay you with, if that’s what you’re looking for.”

He grinned and shook his head. “Let no one say old Ulric isn’t an honest businessman. That’s not really an option, though, is it? We wouldn’t betray our noble lord to render aid to an enemy.”

“Are you sure they don’t have any valuables?” someone else called from a few meters away. A few of the other fighters chuckled.

“Stop messing around,” the Cleric finally spoke up. “We’re here for a reason.”

“Right you are, Barkle,” Ulric agreed. He stooped a little to get closer to Regina’s eye level. “We need information on the elves. Tell us about your dealings with them.”

Regina spoke before she’d made any sort of conscious decision. “Go fuck yourselves.”

There was a moment of silence. Ulric grinned again, but there was nothing nice in it. “Looks like our little lady isn’t such a lady after all. What do you expect from monsterbloods, right?” A few of the others shot him dirty looks, including the Shaman. Ulric either didn’t notice or ignored them as he continued, telling her, “That’s not an acceptable answer.”

He reached out and slapped her. It looked casual, but the force of it wrenched Regina’s head back and stinging pain spread through her face. She could practically feel the bloodthirst coming from her drones. She had to take a moment to dive into the link and order them to calm down.

“Maybe some time reflecting on your choices will do you good,” the man said. “Bel, make sure she’s nice and secure.”

Another man, an Earthen Shield she hadn’t paid much attention to, held up a hand and Regina felt a bit of mana coming from him. Then the ground underneath her wobbled and she felt herself sinking down. She grit her teeth and simply observed what happened as closely as she could.

After a long minute, she was entombed in the earth almost up to her neck. The hole conformed to her body roughly, but still left a gap, so she still had a bit of wiggle room. Not enough to climb out, though.

The humans turned away from her and went back to whatever they were doing. Clearly, they intended to camp here overnight, perhaps for several nights. Regina closed her eyes and conserved her strength. She could be patient.

The sun moved across the sky, while she and her drones stayed put. Regina put her War Drones into what she called hibernation mode, which made them completely still, their minds almost emptying, but not actually asleep. The other drones had a bit more trouble, but at least they were able to move enough to let their blood circulate properly. The humans had tied up a few of them, the ones with the highest levels, but clearly hadn’t had enough rope for everyone. With the drones’ blade-arms, Regina didn’t think it would be difficult to free them. A Drone Warrior was never really disarmed. Well, unless they were literally disarmed.

Then she sensed the slight sensation in her mana that told her another drone was awakening. Regina didn’t move and hoped that their captors wouldn’t notice. Unfortunately, her hopes were quickly dashed. One of the men stood close to the shelters and called out as soon as he heard the egg’s shell cracking.

“Hey, that egg is breaking! I think one of them is coming. Like those lizard monsters, you remember?”

As Ulric and a few others hurried over, Regina sighed. She sent her mind into the new drone’s mind, trying to establish a proper connection.

Your name is Ivy, she thought with all the intensity she could muster. She repeated the thought firmly until she sensed the drone stepping out of the shelter. Don’t struggle, she added.

It seemed to work. There was some back-and-forth too low for her to make out, before the humans returned and dragged the drone to the others. Regina only got a look in passing.

Ivy — Drone Harvester level 1

The Harvester looked a bit like the Workers, but the distribution of her shell seemed to be a little different. She had one scythe-like blade on one of her extra limbs. It looked a bit like the Warriors’, but set at a different angle. After a moment, Regina realized she could adjust it, making the blade have a sharp angle like a proper scythe or be straighter and more of a weapon. The other limb had a more complicated tool she couldn’t make much sense of.

The humans gathered again to discuss the just-hatched drone and what it meant, with some of their posted guards changing. Regina closed her eyes and pretended to ignore them while she actually listened in through the closest drone. They quickly resolved to report their finding to their superiors and Ulric ordered a more thorough search of the camp to find any hidden eggs.

The sun was starting to sink by now, and the air grew slightly chillier. Regina checked in on the progress of her drones. Ada had linked up with Tim and the others by now, and they were approaching the hive. They were pushing heavily, moving at a pace their two War Drones could barely sustain. Finally, Regina made a decision and ordered them to leave those behind and hurry back. All of the sapient drones in the group had relatively high Endurance stats, which meant they could cover the distance quicker than a normal human. The War Drones would slow them down.

The humans started a fire in their fireplace and started drinking some kind of alcohol they had brought. They still kept half of their people on watch at all times, though. By this time, Regina’s legs had started to ache and she wished she could just sit down.

Finally, at least a few hours later, their fire burned down and Ulric and a few others visited her again. It was night now, the air chilly enough Regina wished she was closer to the fire, while her drones huddled together for warmth. But the stars in the cloudless sky, the mostly full moon and the fire provided her enough light to easily see.

“Have you changed your mind yet?” Ulric asked as he stood in front of her. Regina had to crane her head back to look at his face.

“I couldn’t tell you much about the elves even if I wanted to,” she said. “You’re not exactly making a case for your benevolence or trustworthiness, either, you know.”

He sighed and crouched down. “You could either spend the rest of the night and tomorrow like this, or you could have a nice blanket and sleep with your clan, until we let you go far away from this conflict.”

“Oh, this isn’t so bad.”

He stared at her, as if he was trying to intimidate her with his gaze. Regina stared back.

Finally, Ulric shook his head and sat down. He still seemed to tower over her. “If you insist on making this difficult. Barkle, you’re up.”

The young Cleric seemed a bit nervous, but he nodded and knelt on the ground next to his leader. A faint light started to rise from his hands.

“What’re you doing?” Regina asked. She allowed some of the nervousness she was feeling into her voice. If they thought she might crack, they might give her more information.

“Just a bit of divine magic to help you see things clearly,” Ulric said with a smirk. “Why don’t you just start talking?”

“This isn’t going to hurt her, right?” Oak muttered beside them. Ulric shot him a glare that clearly told him to shut up.

The light in the Cleric’s hands intensified for a moment and he leaned forward. But then it suddenly exploded into a bright flash.

Regina winced. She felt a sensation like her ears were popping under pressure, but it had a faint resonance in her mana senses, too. After a moment, she saw that Barkle wasn’t leaning forward towards her anymore. He wasn’t channeling the spell, either. Instead, he had collapsed to the ground, tucked into himself.

“What’s this?” Ulric asked, standing and drawing a sword in the blink of an eye.

“Backlash,” Oak muttered. After a moment of hesitation, he crouched down beside the Cleric. “He’s still alive. But -”

“He messed up the Spell? That kid …”

Regina eyed him curiously. It seemed like her opening would be closer than she’d hoped for.

The Shaman shook his head. “No, his channel was perfect.” He hesitated and glanced at her. He gulped. “From what I’ve heard, this is more like — well, I guess Alianais didn’t approve of what he was trying to do.”

Regina laughed.