By the time Regina finished treated Max and the worst of the injured, Tim had organized the others, and things had settled down a little. She stood up, stretching and cracking her neck, and glanced around. She’d used up almost all of her mana and needed to take a break to let it recharge before she could continue healing. She also finally had time for the System notification waiting for her.

You have leveled up Congratulations, you have unlocked a new Swarm Template: Production Drones

Regina paused to consider the message for a moment, before she dismissed the issue to the back of her mind. Another type of Swarm Drones would be good and she was curious to see what they offered, but she didn’t have the time to delve into it right now. She also didn’t want to impede her mana regeneration with new eggs just yet.

Regina took a deep breath as she stepped back from the injured and took in the situation. She’d healed all of the surviving humans, well enough that they would keep on surviving, at least. It was no surprise that they had been generally worse off than the drones. Still, three of the humans were dead. There wasn’t even a body left of Ulric so much as several pieces.

Regina felt her upper lip lift in a subconscious snarl at the thought, baring her teeth, and smoothed out her expression. Her anger had mostly subsided with their victory, but traces of it still lingered. She could tell it was much the same for the drones. They really showed a lot of discipline in this situation, all things considered.

Tim appeared by her side in an instant, and she smiled at him. “Thank you,” she said. “You’ve done very well.”

“Of course, my Queen. I’m just glad that we won and that you’re unscathed.”

She nodded. “How do things stand?”

Tim looked serious, almost grim, but he met her gaze readily. “We lost most of the War Drones, my Queen. Only six of them are left. I’ve posted them to watch the perimeter. But if they hadn’t thrown themselves at our enemies like that and shielded the others, we would have lost more of them, too. As it is, we have five serious casualties.” His blade-limbs flared out slightly. “And one fatality.”

Regina nodded slowly. She could already sense the diminished number of consciousnesses in her hive, distantly. She didn’t need to ask. “The injured should all recover without major issues, they just need some time,” she said, her voice even and a little detached.

Their little houses all still stood, although some of them had obviously been a bit battered in the fighting. They would need repairs. Besides that, their settlement had survived remarkably well. It was the people who would need their attention.

“Alright,” she said, speaking up a little louder so the drones could hear her. “Everyone who’s injured, wait here for me to get to you. Gather the human prisoners over there. Warriors, it’s your job to watch over them. Get what rope we can salvage and tie up those who look most able to fight. Oh, and the sleeping Cleric as well, no point taking chances. Lay out the dead over there, at the edge of the field. Once that’s done, gather firewood for a pyre.”

The drones sprang into action, following her orders. Regina could see that some of them participated in the work despite having obviously sustained some injuries in the fighting, although they were only lightly injured, with shallow cuts and the like. Anyone with more serious injuries stayed here.

She didn’t make an issue of it. There weren’t enough workers to go around, anyway. So she simply turned back to the injured and continued with her work, trying not to let herself get distracted by pondering of what she should do with their prisoners. There were still a lot of open questions, especially about why they’d acted like this. Max was sleeping at the moment, but as soon as he woke up, she’d discuss things with him, Tim and maybe a few others.

It took her a while to treat all of the injured. Not just because she had to wait for her mana to regenerate, but also because she simply couldn’t sustain intense focus for that long continuously. She took a few breaks, checking on her patients with more mundane methods. They’d all remain a bit banged up, with bruises and scrapes, but she needed to ration her energy. At least there was no injury inherently beyond her Basic Heal. Those were probably the ones that had proven fatal.

After she was done, Regina slowly made her way to the edge of the open field she’d named earlier. Max had just woken up and was dragging himself there, as well. The other drones, those who weren’t assigned to guard their human prisoners, followed.

Tim waited beside the pyre he’d helped to built. It was comprised mostly of scrap wood and branches picked from the forest. Someone had wrapped Amy into a spare sheet of cloth and she was laid out on top of it.

It was quick, but Regina approved. Her instincts said that they should dispose of the dead as soon as possible. That was probably for sanitary and hygienic reason. And there was no point in keeping the dead waiting, or those who would mourn them.

Regina stepped forward, lifted the makeshift covering and looked at the dead girl’s face for a moment.

It was the first real death of her hive, the first time one of her sapient drones died. Regina couldn’t remember what level she had been. Still three, or did she reach four? She shook her head. Too low to be in such a fight, especially as a Worker. A part of her was guiltily glad it hadn’t been someone she knew better, like Mia. Amy simply hadn’t been with them long enough to really form meaningful connections. Regina exhaled deeply and stepped back. She was just a kid.

“She gave her life for the Hive and for our Queen,” Mia said. She’d stepped forward. Her voice was quiet, but in the silence, it reached everyone. “We will honor her sacrifice. We will be worthy of it. She was our sister, and she did not die for nothing.”

Simple words, but heartfelt, and fitting. Regina could tell that the gathered drones approved.

“I will not forget you,” Regina said to the pyre. “I promise you that. I’m sorry I didn’t protect you. I’m sorry you didn’t get to live a fuller life. But Mia is right. It means something.”

After a long moment, she raised her hand and cast Spark. She made the flame hotter than normal fire would be, ensuring that the wood caught fire. Regina moved around it, lighting several spots. The fire quickly grew to consume the pyre.

Regina turned away and walked to the pit they had dug beside it. It was remarkably deep for such a short time, evidence of the Workers’ Ability being used. She carefully took the first of the dead War Drones and heaved it into it.

There was less ceremony for them. These were also her drones, but they hadn’t even had individual names, for the most part. Just a few nicknames the drones assigned. Regina threw the first handful of dirt and the others helped to fill in the grave.

She didn’t do anything with the humans’ bodies yet. She wasn’t sure what they should do, and they would keep for a while. After the short funerals, Regina returned to the survivors, contemplating what to do.

"Am I the only one who thinks something is odd here?” she asked quietly.

Tim shook his head. He and Max were sticking close to her, while Mia and Tia had returned to overseeing the other drones. “No. I’m wondering what’s up, too.”

“I get the feeling these aren’t exactly the most competent soldiers we could have met,” Max said. He was still walking with a bit of a limp, but she wasn’t even going to try to keep him in bed. “And this wasn’t a very big group. I’d guess that they aren’t the only ones in the forest. Still, if you consider the travel times and probably communication times involved, they’re moving quite quickly. I’m not sure how good their communication loop is with their capital or wherever they ultimately get their orders from.”

Regina nodded. “Well, I have a few questions for the Cleric, but that will have to wait until he wakes up. Until then, we should question the remaining survivors. It’s probably best if we speak to them separately.”

They didn’t waste time, but got to it right away. Tim and Max took one of the humans, the Shaman who’d seemed more concerned or maybe more principled than Ulric, and dragged him into one of the houses that were currently empty. They’d have to move the rest of the prisoners into another one, but for now being out in the open meant there were more eyes on them.

Oak had had a few nasty cuts and a few broken bones which Regina had set. He still looked battered and pale. He leaned against the wall of the hut, looking from Regina to her Warriors.

“Oswald Oak, right?” Regina said. “We want you to answer some questions. Don’t worry, we’re not going to hurt you.”

Ethical considerations aside, she knew that torture was not a good way to get information from people. They’d just tell you what they thought you wanted to know. She didn’t have an easy way to check their truthfulness, either. That was why she wanted to question the humans separately.

“I can’t tell you much,” he replied, still looking wary.

“Ulric asserted that this place is claimed by the local kingdom. Is that true?”

“Yes.” He shrugged. “I never saw any official documents or anything like that, but from what I’ve heard, Cernlia claims the edge of the forest up to about the elves’ city, anyway.”

Regina nodded. That was unfortunate, but not a surprise. “Did you plan on gassing us from the beginning?”

He looked at her for a long moment, then sighed. “Well, I suppose there’s no point in keeping quiet about it now. It was a backup plan. We wanted to convince you to cooperate, but if not, Ulric decided on this as the best way to avoid getting anyone killed.”

“What was the ability you used?”

He just looked at her, keeping his mouth shut. Regina sighed. She hadn’t really expected an answer, but she’d worked her way through easy questions successfully. At least it had to have either a high cooldown or some significant drawbacks or limits, since he hadn’t used it again.

“Did you know you were going to find us here when you set out?”

He hesitated, then shook his head. “No.”

Regina frowned. He could be lying, but she was inclined to believe this was the truth. That was interesting. “Did you send a report back on it?”

He didn’t answer again, but from the way he flinched slightly and looked to the side for a moment, she thought the answer was yes. They’d probably sent someone back as soon as they’d found the hive’s village.

“What are you humans doing in the forest? Why are you sending in teams like this?”

He shrugged. “No one talks to me about grand strategy, lady. I just know we were sent here.”

Regina crossed her arms. This was not getting her anywhere. She asked a few more questions, but Oak either didn’t answer, said something that wasn’t helpful, or his answer was slanted in a way he was probably doing on purpose to not give her information.

She nodded at Max and Tim, who dragged the human back to the others, then picked the next one. Over the next hour, she interrogated the human survivors. Two of them were too badly off to be moved, so she talked out in the open. None of them told her anything important. What they did say matched Oak’s answers, but they either barely knew anything or didn’t want to talk, probably both.

After she was done, Regina left the humans and walked out of the village towards the fields, watching as a few War Drones dug another hole.

“What are we going to do with them?” Max asked, stepping up beside her. “We’ll have trouble keeping them, especially once they heal up.”

“I know.” Regina pulled a face. “I don’t really want to kill them out of hand. It feels like a waste. I’m thinking the best thing to do is give them to the elves. If nothing else, they might be able to get more information from them, it would take them off our hands, and it’s probably a good gesture.” Either in the pointed ‘look what your war did to us’ sense, or in giving them potentially valuable sources of information.

“Killing them might help us level up,” Max pointed out. “Then again, we did already defeat them, and I guess killing defenseless beings would probably not give us much experience.”

Regina nodded, but stayed silent. She didn’t know when the elves would send someone by again, but sending the prisoners with some of her drones to the elven city would be risky. If it took too long, they might have to spend more effort on keeping them prisoner or take more drastic measures like injuring them again.

They waited at the edge of the village, watching while the drones cleaned up and started the repairs on the hive. The night slowly turned into day.

“You know I would never question you, my Queen,” Max spoke up. “I don’t like the way this is going.”

“You mean that the humans definitely know we’re here now and we’re going to be on their shit list?” Regina asked, quirking an eyebrow.

Max nodded, still looking serious. “They had it coming. It’s still dragging us deeper into a conflict we’re not really prepared for, or have any real stake in. This isn’t our war.”

“Correction, Max.” Regina looked at the horizon, at the sun slowly climbing beyond the forest’s edge. “This wasn’t our war.”