The sun had already set by the time the elves reached the hive. Regina waited outside to greet them once more, though this time she was not accompanied by as many drones as before, since she needed the warriors to guard their prisoners. She smiled as she saw the approaching group.

She recognized the elf in the lead right away. Bianorn appeared much the same as always, and he seemed concerned as he looked around. He only had two other elves with him, though both of them had a level too high for Regina to read. One was another Forest Scout, the other a Druid.

“Hello again,” she greeted them, nodding at Bianorn and then the others. “It’s good to see you. Unfortunately, we’ve had some trouble since you parted with Tim and Bea.”

She had both of the mentioned drones with her, while Mia and Tia joined in watching the prisoners instead. They seemed happy to see each other as well.

“So I see,” he replied, returning her nod. “We came largely because of the humans’ new movement, but it seems we are too late.”

“I suppose,” Regina said, gesturing for them to come along. “We managed to come out on top, so to speak. However, we lost most of our dumb fighting drones.” She paused for a moment. “We also lost a sapient hive member. One of the youngest.”

“Oh, I am sorry to hear that,” Bianorn replied, bowing his head, while the other two elves exchanged looks that seemed surprised. “Is it appropriate to express my condolences for your loss?”

“Of course, I don’t see why it wouldn’t be. We appreciate the sentiment, anyway.”

Regina guided the visitors to the spot by the fireplace, where they were offered some water and some berries the drones had picked yesterday. She stayed quiet, letting the silence build for a few seconds longer, before she fixed them with a serious gaze.

“Were your people aware that the humans were preparing to push into the forest?”

Bianorn paused. He obviously recognized the importance of the question. “Not until recently,” he replied, meeting her gaze. “The three of us set out soon after. There were deliberations before that, but they did not take too long. If I may ask, when did this fight occur?”

“They first appeared more than a day ago,” Regina answered after a moment of thought.

“Then I doubt we would have been in time to help, I’m sorry to say. Did they attack without talking?”

Regina shook her head. She gave them a short account of what happened, skipping over some things and emphasizing the fact that Ulric had claimed the area belonged to the human kingdom and that they had launched a surprise attack after being refused.

“I see.” Bianorn frowned thoughtfully. “This is truly an unfortunate turn of events.”

“It is,” Regina agreed, narrowing her eyes. “Your people gave us this land, or at least the right to settle here, as I understand it. No mention was made of anyone else owning or claiming it.”

He snorted. “That’s because the humans don’t own it. I take your point, Lady Regina. The situation should perhaps have been made more clear. And I am sorry that you were drawn into our conflict with the humans.”

“Hm.” She shook her head, smoothing out her expression. “I hope you will make sure this cannot happen again.”

He exchanged a look with his companions. “We do want to offer you our protection, rest assured. However, with the current state of the war, our options are limited. That’s why only the three of us could be spared for this trip. Now that we know what happened here and have a better idea of the lay of the surrounding land and the human forces, it will be easier to reach a decision.”

Regina tilted her head. She did want their help, even if she was wary about any attached strings. “What do you intend to do?”

“As I said, I am unsure what we can offer you. Perhaps it might be best to relocate your entire people closer to our base in order to protect you. Failing that, perhaps station some fighters here.”

“I’m not sure I would agree to pack up and go with you, Bianorn. And having elven soldiers here will only make this place more of a target for Cernlian attacks.”

He sighed softly. “I know. I assure you, we will do what we can, but as I said, I cannot promise you that we will protect you completely. In any case, until we know more, my group will stay here. That should be sufficient to ward against any further human raids of this sort.”

Regina leaned back and crossed her arms. This was probably the best she could hope for. And really, she only wanted their protection until she could stand on her own. “We also have some prisoners from the attack. I was considering sending them with you.”

She was pretty sure she could grow her hive faster than anyone expected. She just needed a few days or weeks until then. The elves’ protection was her best shot. As long as she didn’t let them put her in a position it would be hard to get out of.

Bianorn seemed surprised. “Oh, I appreciate the thought, Lady Regina. Who and what levels, if I may ask?”

“I’ll show them to you later. They’re about level 15 to 20, I think.”

“It will not be easy to send them to the city,” he mused. “We will likely have to wait for further communication and for escorts to be sent. In the meantime, we can help you in guarding them, too.” He hesitated. “I take it you killed some of them, then.”

“Hm.” Regina shrugged. She had indeed killed a few people, or caused their deaths, at least, but she found herself surprisingly unaffected by it. It was probably another part of her Hive Queen nature. Even if she’d wanted to, she found it hard to muster much guilt or pity at the notion of killing enemies who’d threatened her. If anything, when she thought about it, she only felt faint satisfaction. And the drive to do the same to the rest of her enemies.

They fell silent for a minute. Regina didn’t feel in any hurry to break the silence. Instead, she just kept watching the elves. The other two started to fidget a little.

“Lady Regina, may I speak freely?” Bianorn asked eventually.

“Of course.”

“I can tell that you’re reluctant to host elvish soldiers or move to our territory - to tie yourself closer to us, perhaps - and your mistrust seems understandable.” He hesitated for a moment, then shrugged with a small smile. “Would it help if I told you that we already know you make new drones yourself within a few days?”

Regina froze for an instant, then leaned back, keeping her posture casual. “How? Did you spy on us?”

He shook his head. “No. Well, not spying as such. Does it matter? I doubt you expected it to stay a secret for long. In any case, I assure you you do not need to feel like you have to hide this from us. If you like, we would be happy to stay away during the birth of your drones or anything to do with them.”

Regina frowned. He was right about her expectations, if she was honest. At least she was confident she still had a few cards he didn’t know about.

“I will have to consider this,” she finally said as she stood up. “For now, you are welcome to stay here as our guests. Let us know if there is anything you need.”

She traded nods with them, then walked away from the fire.

Regina didn’t go far, but around a few corners of the houses towards the edge of the camp. Then she beckoned to Max, who was once again staying close to her.

“Is there something you need, my Queen?” he asked.

“Yes.” She spoke so quietly he would only just make out her words, to keep them private. “I want a bird monster. Preferably one that can survive on its own for a while but is generally unobtrusive. Please get together with the others and see what you can do. Oh, and I want it alive, obviously.”

Max looked at her questioningly, but didn’t say anything and simply nodded. “I’ll get it done.”

Regina turned away, going to check on the Workers. She hadn’t realized it at first, but the Ability description for Infect clearly said ‘creature’. Even normal animals would probably count, and monsters should, too. They might be harder to handle than actual drones or willing participants, but, on the other hand, it was probably easier to control something that wasn’t sapient. While the System screen hadn’t said, she suspected the limitation of hive members not having higher levels than the Hive Queen still applied, but she could work with that.

It took a few hours, during which she checked on the prisoners again. Bianorn left his two companions here to help watch over them while he disappeared into the forest, presumably scouting out the surroundings. Regina had Ada keep an eye, or rather her Life Sense, on him to make sure he wasn’t going after the warriors she’d sent on a bird hunt.

Sometime during the day, she must have passed another threshold with the trickle of experience she was getting from her hive, and leveled up again to level 16. Regina had hoped for another spell, but she didn’t get lucky. It seemed like discovering some on her own did have an impact on the System offering her Spells. Well, her healing spell hadn’t even been on the list, so far, so it wasn’t like she hadn’t gotten something out of her efforts, at least.

She pulled up her status to ponder it again when she had a free moment.

Regina Hive Queen Level: 16 Mana: 43/350 Hive: 13/47, 1 Swarm: 6/51, 4 Con: 13 Str: 12 Dex: 12 End: 13 Int: 17 Wis: 16

She tugged on her mandibles, frowning to herself. She still hadn’t figured out how the cap for her Swarm Drones increased. The one for Hive Drones clearly had been slowed down by the addition of Swarm Drones, but it was still a pretty regular pattern. At the moment, she was far below her limit in both, something she definitely wanted to amend. And now that she’d gotten another level, she could try making another Swarm Drone egg later. Her mana had also dropped with the deaths in her hive, but not as much as she’d feared.

The previous two levels, her stat points had finally gone to some other stats beside the mental ones. She would have liked more of those, but she was also relieved the others wouldn’t fall completely behind. Constitution and Endurance seemed especially important, generally speaking. But for this level, Int had risen again, which was a bit of a relief. She didn’t really need much Strength or Dexterity, especially since she mostly fought with her magic, and she wouldn’t be able to match warriors in those stats, anyway.

Finally, Max returned with the others. He stayed in the forest and sent a War Drone to her. Regina was confused for a moment, but then focused on her connection to her drones and realized what he was doing. She sent the War Drone back to assume a watch post and ambled away into the forest.

Max and Ben were waiting in a small clearing a few dozen meters into the forest. They had a rough, improvised net of knotted Entangling Vines, with a few rocks holding it down on the ground. Regina grinned and stared at their captive for a moment.

Dark Wing — Level 13

It looked like a black swallow, not that she knew much about birds. It was maybe a little bigger than most, but not by too much. Its beak looked particularly sharp and its eyes were like black ice, but it didn’t look much like a monster at first glance. She sensed some mana from it, though. It was mostly unformed and carried a feeling of darkness, shadows and cold.

“Very good work, boys,” she told them. “I hope this wasn’t too hard. Are you hurt?”

“Ben has some scratches,” Max said.

The other Warrior shook his head. “I’m fine, my Queen, they’re barely noticeable. It took us a while, but we worked out a method in the end.”

“Well, as I said, good work. Let’s see if this works.”

Carefully, Regina approached the bound bird monster. Its struggles seemed to intensify, but it was easy to see that raw strength wasn’t its forte. Regina reached through the net, then withdrew her finger, barely in time to save it from a sharp beak. The bird was quicker than it looked.

“Uh, can you give me a hand?”

Max and Tim approached, and after a few tries, managed to pin down the bird well enough that it couldn’t struggle too much. Regina touched it and thought about her newest Class Skill, Infect. She didn’t know if the Ability required physical contact, but that seemed like a good guess.

The bird struggled even harder for a few seconds, then stilled. It started to twitch slightly, then it shrieked, before it got what looked like a full seizure. Regina could sense some mana working into it. Its eyes grew cloudy and its movements slowed.

She frowned. Well, maybe she should have expected something like this, given the Ability’s name. It could be that this actually worked like an infection of some kind. Although it seemed to progress very fast.

After about half an hour, Regina began to feel a new presence in her psychic Hive connection and the bird started moving again. She tugged away the net, allowing it to move freely, while she focused most of her attention inward.

It was a strange sensation. The bird wasn’t sapient, but it also wasn’t mindless, and it arguably had a lot more of a mind than the Swarm Drones. It clearly understood something of what was happening. Still, the bird’s attempt to fight against it was unfocused and didn’t carry much effort. Looking through its senses was strange, and it took Regina a short while to get used to it.

Regina released the grip of her mind from the animal, watching as it flapped its way up and settled on a branch of a nearby tree. It didn’t try to attack them. After a long moment, she dove a little deeper again, nudging it to fly to the west. It resisted at first, but when her prodding grew more insistent, it took off.

“Hm. I think this will work out well, especially once we have a little practice.”

“This is very cool,” Max agreed, looking after the bird.

Regina smiled. She knew she probably had to keep it inside her fifty kilometers control radius — although, hopefully, that one had expanded a bit with her new levels. Still, she had something that should work well as a fast scout and unobtrusive spy now.