The village of Forest’s Haunt, which was the colloquial name of Neralt Village, and Fort Forest’s Watch were actually only a few hundred meters away from each other. That presented both opportunities and problems to any combined defense plan, but especially to Regina and her force’s attack. But the castle still only had a single true entrance, a bridge over the river leading to the small island it was built on. She’d learned that this bridge was usually left down and accessible when there was no major threat like a monster horde going on — and apparently, despite the war continuing to rage deeper in the forest, it seemed not to be considered a major and present threat.

Regina only delved into Tim’s mind quickly, she couldn’t afford to spend too much time with her focus too far from her own body and surroundings. But it allowed her to get a good glimpse of the situation, especially since Tim promptly sent her the equivalent of a condensed status report in a thought bundle when he noticed her attention.

The fight had obviously already started on the island, too, judging by the loud noise and bright flash of light coming from the fort. Tim and the rest of the strike team were running towards it right now, moving so quickly they would be there in just a few seconds. Just ahead of him, an elf in light armor had stopped and held out his hand. Regina realized after a moment that the bridge was being held in place by an Earth Shaper, as discussed, with stone and dark claws made of compressed dirt latching onto it, keeping it in place and covering its surface to provide the attackers passage into the castle. A hail of arrows rained over it, coming from just a few people. Then a few people charged right over the bridge at great speed, using their high stats and Skills to cross it before the enemy could muster a response.

The sound of an explosion closer to her brought Regina back to her own situation, and she switched her focus to her surroundings. The edge of the village was awash in the light of several lines of fire, though they had been placed carefully. They didn’t want to burn down the houses, or their inhabitants. Even for the defending fighters, Regina had impressed upon her side’s people to minimize casualties if possible.

It looks like the Molotov cocktails worked out pretty well, she noted to herself as she kept running but slowed down. Max used his Charge Skill to rush to a warrior who’d kept his feet and was about to charge a War Drone further inside his defensive position. Regina glanced around, launching a Magic Missile at another warrior behind him. At this stage, she knew they needed to prevent the humans from forming an organized defense.

A flash of dark wings overhead let her know that Dark had swooped down further, and she paused to take a look through his eyes, while Max returned to cover her. The fires made for unpredictable and changing illumination, but Regina saw enough to recognize the several groups of defenders in the perimeter of the village and roughly where they seemed to be heading.

There are more further in, she quickly told Tim, and pulled Tad, who was sticking with Bianorn, the leader of their elvish contingent, into the conversation. I think they’re coming towards us, but I’m not sure. They might be assembling somewhere a little further into the village. There don’t seem to be any civilians out and about out here, but farther down, they’re streaming towards the center and even out of the village at the other side.

We need to send someone to cut those off, make sure no messengers or priority targets escape, Ben replied. Tad?

There was a short pause as the Drone Warrior talked to Bianorn, then he replied, He says he’s on it. He’ll take me, Ted and eight of our War Drones along.

“My Queen, we need to move,” Max spoke up.

Regina took a quick glance around, then hurried after Max, who was leading her into the shadow of a pretty solidly built house. Once they had some kind of cover, she took a moment to switch her focus to Tim and the other side.

The battle had engulfed the castle by now. Tim was still standing outside the gates, but only just. He’d just pushed a human fighter into the river and turned around to survey the battlefield. It was chaos. Someone had either brought out or summoned tamed monsters, and they were fighting all over the courtyard and even walls. The roof of one of the houses inside burned. Humans and elves were clashing inside, a few War Drones trying to pile on or harry distracted enemies. The Mana Beast provided a good distraction, throwing balls of fire and demolishing walls.

Tim snuck further inside, sticking to the outside. After a few steps, he paused. A human mage was off to the side, clearly in intense concentration, and as he watched, he saw the stones of the gate swelling closer together. Tim sprang into action and threw one of the daggers he’d brought along.

His aim was a little bit off, and the man twisted aside at the last second, so the dagger only hit his shoulder. The man cursed and turned his focus onto Tim, who was closing in quickly.

Until a sudden push against him almost sent him off his feet. A bluish barrier had risen in front of him. Tim didn’t pause. He set his feet and activated his newest Class Skill. The Cut would go through almost anything, and it opened a rift in the magical barrier that let him jump through. The mage’s eyes widened in fear, and Tim brought his blade-limb forward.

Someone grabbed her arm and started dragging her. Regina switched back to herself and found Max guiding her further into the village. A second later, something concussive splashed against the house’s wall, shaking the spot they’d just been in. She stumbled, but managed to right herself, then launched a Fireball behind her.

A scream of pain showed that she’d hit her target. She cursed as she saw sparks catching on the roof of a nearby house. That was why she’d wanted to avoid Fireball. But then another human from beyond the building appeared to throw a bucketful of water on it before the fire could spread.

That was probably a Spell, and it told her the location of one of their squads. Regina threw a Magic Missile at the prone form of the human Shaman, level 15, who’d attacked her. He was trying to get back to his feet, but the Spell threw him back down again. Then she sent out a call through her hive’s link. Immediately, a group of three War Drones scrambled over another nearby building and launched themselves off it, towards the human squad.

“Fuck!” Regina tugged on Max’s arm and hurried around the house towards the sounds of fighting. When she rounded the corner, she saw that Ace and a few other drones had already arrived and were engaging the humans. They were still some distance away, but Len’s thrown javelin had pierced one of the humans through the side. Then Eva almost flickered and rushed towards them, her Warrior’s Charge’s speed throwing off the lash of water aimed for her. She slammed the presumed magic-user into the side of the building, Strength for the Hive clearly active.

Regina stopped and quickly assessed her options. The tools she’d made with her Conjuration, especially what the drones were calling ‘hydrogen fragmentation grenades’, were too indiscriminately destructive, especially here between buildings. Fireball was also out. So, she sent two Magic Missiles in quick succession, then paused for a moment to see their effects before throwing two more. A small headache started to pound against her temples from drawing on her mana like that, but she ignored it.

One of the humans turned towards her, his spear readied. Before he knew it, Max appeared in front of him, deflecting the thrust with his shield, then his blade-arm lunged forward. Blood spurted from the soldier’s leg and he went down with a cry. Max quickly stepped on his sword-hand and swung the blunt side of his ax into him, knocking the man out, hopefully.

The fight was intense but short, and soon the soldiers all lay on the ground. Eva bled heavily from her shoulder, even as she tried to tie up one of the human soldiers. Regina stepped forward to heal her. Then she glanced at her mana quickly.

Mana: 564/1520

Regina frowned. She should probably conserve her mana better, and try to reserve it for healing.

“Let’s move on,” Max said. He nodded at the others. “Ace, I think you should take two of the War Drones and circle around to meet the other team. The rest of you, stay with us.”

Ace nodded and turned away, while the others immediately fell into a rough formation around Max. Regina noticed that they placed her in the center, with Eva guarding her back, but didn’t comment. They started advancing through the village, moving slowly and making sure they weren’t walking into any ambushes. Mindful of the lesson she’d just learned, Regina limited her peeks into drones through the hive’s link to short glimpses, which let her move unhindered but still gave her some idea of what was going on. She was getting a lot of practice in parsing snippets and putting information together like this.

The village’s center was essentially encircled now, and it didn’t seem like there were any human fighters outside left. Bianorn and the others had their hands full dealing with villagers that had wanted to escape, but it actually hadn’t come to a real fight there, yet. At the same time, the assault on the fort was proceeding, but a bit trickier. One whole wall had fallen down, rubble littering the courtyard and the island outside, but a few War Drones climbed over the stones and used it to attack enemies from above. Tim was hurriedly conferring with Anuis, while it seemed like a core group of humans had hunkered down in the keep, which had a few small breaches but had clearly not been taken yet.

Regina quickly turned to Ben, who was a little further inside the village, to her southeast. We’re ready, he reported as soon as he felt her presence in his mind. The strongest fighters have set up in the town square, around the large stone building, with what remains of their forces. I would gather our own forces before we engage them.

Alright, Regina agreed. Let’s do that. She quickly cast her mind further out, jumping to one drone in each group and relating the order. All the while, she kept slowly advancing with Max and the others.

The village wasn’t that big, and it didn’t take long to reach its central part. Fires flickered here as well, illuminating their surroundings. At the same time, the sky had brightened from the east, the light of dawn painting the scene further away. The sun must have started to crest the horizon, though she couldn’t see it from here, since her line of sight was obstructed.

It was clear that their attack had surprised the human fighters. Some of them looked like they’d thrown on their gear in a hurry, with a few buckles loose or pieces of armor slightly askew. They still seemed ready to fight. Regina’s gaze lingered on the strongest among them, the ones most likely to be a threat. Some of them were familiar.

Elric Neralt — Level ? Master of the Earth Marianne Neralt — Level ? Lady Alan — Level 23 Guardian

There seemed to be a few people in at least the second tier of Classes, Regina noted, and the baron and even the older lady were probably in the third. There were also a few who didn’t sound like they had actually combat-oriented Classes, but they would at least have the stats to be helpful in a fight.

She could tell they were tense, even if they stood with their weapons and shields raised and ready to defend their home. She could understand that. Her own forces were converging here as well, spreading out in a bit of a half-circle to face them on the town square. There would be a few ranged fighters in the nearby house, the home of the baron, presumably. But her side still had the numerical advantage. She had dozens of War Drones, some sapient drones and some elvish soldiers. They were coordinating well, the bit of joint training they’d done clearly helping.

“What is the meaning of this?” the baron bellowed, taking a step forward. “Hive Queen! We had a truce!”

Regina stepped forward as well, wordlessly urging her drones to let her through, though she didn’t step out of the group itself, and Max remained at her right side.

“We did have a truce, but it expired with this day,” she responded, pitching her voice to carry well through the square. “Besides, it was you who broke it first. Human soldiers attacked us. Delvers went after us, attempting to kill our people unprovoked, and soldiers of Nerlia attacked our settlement, sneaking in under the cover of a storm like thieves in the night.”

He didn’t respond for a moment. She could see that her words had given him pause. “I am aware of no such thing, Lady Regina,” Baron Neralt finally said. “My only wish was for us to coexist peacefully.”

“That might be true, and clearly, you might not have been the one who ordered these attacks, but you didn’t stop them, either. I expect you were in no position to do either of these. But your village is part of Cernlia, and I am sure at least some of the people who did attack us used it as a base.”

He took a small step backward, probably readying himself in case violence broke out. “So, this is how it is to be, then? You threw your lot in with the elves, and are now coming to attack us under cover of night like thieves?”

Points for picking up my phrase, but the drama of it wasn’t quite on target, I think. Clearly, he’s not that much of a public speaker. Regina inclined her head. “Our friends in the forest have graciously lent us some aid, since we are combating a common threat. But I have no wish to assault or kill you or the people in your care, Baron. I implore you to surrender.”

She gave a short dramatic pause and softened her tone. “I would much prefer to settle this with little bloodshed. In truth, I still want to come to a peaceful, beneficial arrangement with you and your superiors.”

It seemed like Janis or the marquis’ daughter weren’t here in the village. That was a shame, but Regina hadn’t counted on it, anyway. She hoped they’d come once they heard what had happened here. After all, the truce she had brokered was at issue. But she had plans for what to do if they didn’t.

What she’d told the baron was the truth, or at least most of it. Regina’s strategy was pretty simple. She’d considered three things she would have to do or use: making a show of force, carrots and sticks. This was mostly the former. Her knowledge of advanced technology and what you could do with it could serve both for a show of force and as potential carrots. The elves, of course, were more to do with showing strength.

Baron Neralt exchanged a look with Lady Neralt. Judging by their respective ages, she was probably not his wife, but his mother.

Regina used the opportunity their hesitation provided to check in on Tim and the other side of this battle quickly. It was almost disorienting at first. The air was chocked with smoke and dust, screams and the clanging of metal came from everywhere, and Tim was moving quickly. They were fighting in the main keep. Tim paused right away, standing still, and Regina saw that his attention was on a fight between Anuis and a tall man clad in plate mail, a Champion. He only stopped for an instant, before he bolted into motion again, appearing in the blind spot of the human and thrusting the sword the elves had given him into his side.

“And what does the other party involved in this say?” the baron asked. “Honored elves, does your apparent new ally speak for you? Do you also desire to leave us in peace?”

“Indeed, Lord Elric,” Bianorn answered, taking half a step forward and inclining his head gracefully. “Our grievance is with Nerlia, and with those invading our domain seeking to kill our people. This war may have disrupted the peaceful and amicable relationship we had before, but it is not forgotten. This does not rest on our opinion, however. The Hive Queen is leading this enterprise, and we have agreed to give her our support in this, in seeking to secure the safety of her hive and people, and a favorable arrangement with this local territory and its lords.”

Neralt simply looked at him for a few seconds, the two of them locking gazes and perhaps measuring something.

Then he turned to her. “If this is the case, I see little choice. I will not risk my people against a superior force and see them die needlessly for this.” He bowed. “I surrender to you, Lady Regina.”

Regina had to work to control herself and not let any of her surprise show while she replied with a nod. That actually worked?

In the castle, the Champion was just falling, while Tim staggered away from him, clutching one of his blade-arms to his torso and stemming the flow of blood out of it with one hand. Anuis knelt in the center of the room, the light coming through a hole in the ceiling or upper wall painting weird shadows over her. A cheer went up from some soldiers standing outside of Tim’s field of vision.

Regina smiled, and motioned her drones to disperse while she walked towards Neralt. The battle was over. She’d taken the first step.