It was time to head to the meeting in the Empress' hive.

Compared to the first time I used the stairs, it was so much easier. Even if I am still injured, my growth over the years meant I was the height of a normal man by default. And, if I still didn’t want to climb the stairs, I could just fly.

When I walked through the door I could see a table in the middle of the open floor. There were a bunch of chairs arranged carefully around the long table. At the far end, the Empress sat in her gigantic form.

Most everyone was already there. The chiefs and elders from dozens of the various villages and towns sat about the massive table. Aside from two humans and one dwarf they were only elves. I suppose I’m an exception as well.

I plopped down in a stool and folded my claws. The others looked at me oddly. I had met most of them, and they all knew about me, but I guess I’m still considered odd. I suppose that anyone who thinks a giant deadly praying mantis is normal is the odd one.

The last few members of the war council trickled in. The atmosphere was solemn. Even ignoring the impending war, no one wanted to seem disrespectful in front of the Empress. I was at least ten times stronger than I was when I first met her and she still scared me.

“Very good, now that everyone is here we can begin. Alexander, if you would?”

One of the humans stood up and bowed to the giant ‘elf’ before speaking to everyone.

“I managed to catch wind of some troop movements recently that line up with Grice’s large scale smuggling of alchemical ingredients. Our analysts have gone over the information and believe that Macedor is being used for another attack on Honeywood.”

The people weren’t particularly surprised. Apparently, the Gricean empire had been using Macedor to try to acquire the Honeywood forest for years. Tiny nations used by large ones as pawns was common practice here as well.

“We believe they will be using mass-produced quantities of the insect repellant used during the kidnapping incident. Their goal is, as always, the Greenbul clan and the Empress’ hive.”

I had been really surprised when I first heard that Macedor thought they could take on the Empress. I asked around and it really was a case of ‘bad intel will get you killed.’ They simply didn’t know about the Empress in the first place. The elves hid information about her by her own request, and everyone assumed the beastmasters of the Honeywood forest were the reason invaders got stung to death.

The Empress would wipe the floor with them, even with the repellant, but the problem is, she can’t leave the hive. So the enemy army would deal quite a lot of damage in the meantime. They might only enter the hive because they assumed some sort of control center or artifact existed there.

The insect repellant is a major problem since the forest’s greatest defense is and always will be the Empress’ swarms. It even worked on me. If an army had enough of it they could march straight to Honeywood city and burn it to the ground.

Alexander droned on a bit, talking about the details of the impending invasion. He was the Empress’ spymaster and was really good at his job. Between the information brokers and his own spy network, he knew exactly what was going on in the surrounding nations.

Afterward Hafnir the dwarf stood up and reported on the progress he had made on producing an antidote to the repellant in large enough qualities to be useful. Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough to go around. The sheer number of mother bees that would need a dose meant that even the Honeywood forest’s herb production would be strained.

There was enough made to protect several large swarms from the effects of the repellant. They would be dangerous, but they wouldn’t be enough to take out the army. The general would be sure to have other countermeasures lined up as well. Nothing they had tried had worked before, but they wouldn’t be dealing with the same unstoppable tsunami of bees that they had previously.

“We need to draw them in and use or guerrilla tactics to whittle down their mages while forcing them to use up the repellant. Once they have been softened the bees can clean up…”

“No, we need to force them to fight the bees immediately. If we use the untreated swarms to make it appear that the repellant isn’t working then we can force them to retreat.”

“If they have any brains at all they would see through that. Our only choice is to rely on our allies to act as support. Without them, we will be overrun.”

“Are you insane? Besides the political position that will put us in, letting the world know our defenses aren’t invincible will just open us up to more attacks!”

“Getting defeated will do the same thing idiot!”

“Don’t call me an idiot! At least I’m trying to find a solution!”

Man, it didn’t take long for them to start yelling at each other. I know tensions are high, but you would think they would stay calm in front of the Empress. As it was, people were just short of swearing and throwing things. A few of them stood up in their chairs and were turning red as they worked themselves up for their shouting matches.

Then the Empress cleared her throat. The noise echoed out through the hive like it was being made right next to my ear. I don't even have ears... From their reaction, everyone else had the same feeling. The room went dead silent except for the buzz of distant bees.

“We are aware that the current situation is stressful. Even so, we ask all of you to keep level heads.”

With just those words the council resumed strategizing but in a more calm manner. They were considering using guerrilla tactics and abandoning the city. They could harry the enemy to nothing. And if the army was dumb enough to attack the Empress’ hive, well, they deserved what they got.

I didn’t like it. It was too reactive. Most of the plan relied on us behaving passively. The Empress seemed to notice because she looked at me and asked:

“Manto, do you have anything to add?”

Everyone quieted down and looked at me. Great, no pressure or anything…

“Uh, yeah. I was thinking that we need to rethink our reaction to invasions like this. The strategy that worked before won’t have the same effect. What we need is some real psychological warfare.”

“How so?”

“Well, until now everyone knew that entering the forest without permission meant basically drowning in bee venom. Now that the repellant exists it isn’t so clear cut. We need them to remember that they are in constant and mortal danger before they even enter the forest. If we can manage that then the guerrilla warfare and bee swarms will have a much bigger effect. We need to crush their morale and slow their progress.”

Everyone looked thoughtful. They knew that morale was a huge part of warfare. An army that thought they were invincible usually was, and an army that thought they had already lost usually had.

The invention of the insect repellant that could affect mother bees would have raised the enemies morale to the peak. As far as the enemy knew all they had to face was a few elves and tamed magic beasts.

It was hard to be nervous when you knew you outnumbered your enemy at least ten to one. The idea of a trump card was very uplifting too.

“First, we subvert their expectations, I can do that by attacking them outside the forest. Then we destroy their sense of invincibility, that will be from a short attack from the swarms. Finally, we harass them with guerrilla attacks, that will keep them on edge and unable to rest.”

“It’s a nice plan, but how are you going to attack an army by yourself? They’ll kill you in seconds.”

“Actually I think Manto is perfect for a preemptive attack.”

“Huh? what do you mean Hafnir?”

“You know those new armors and weapons Brokkr has been making? The main material in them is exoskeleton from Manto.”

Maybe three-quarters of the elves stared at me oddly. I suppose it was surprising, especially considering that I was still alive. Normally donating one's shell was usually lethal.

“Manto possesses the ability to reshape and regrow his exoskeleton. It has already been tougher than magic steel for a while now. If your scale mail is enough to deflect arrows from mid-strength archers then you can imagine what the real deal can stand.”

I made sure to nod thankfully to the dwarf before continuing.

“Not only that, but I can fly quite fast and dig fairly well. I should be able to ambush them and escape easily. I want to see how well they sleep when I pop out of the ground in the middle of their formation and dice up a few soldiers before disappearing again.”

Everyone seemed to brighten up. Knowing that I could cut down the numbers and lower the morale of the enemy even before they reached the forest was great for the mood. Even so, they all knew that no matter how durable I was, if the big names ganged up on me I was doomed. My ability to flee meant that it wasn’t a big problem though.

“Okay, I think the preemptive attack will work, but what about the rest of the plan? What do you mean when you say destroy their sense of invincibility?”

This time Alexander answered. He muttered thoughtfully while staring a hole in the table and rubbing his chin.

“They don’t know about the antidote. Once they know that the bees can still attack they may panic, perhaps even flee.”

My mouthparts warped into an insectile grin. A few of the elves leaned away from me nervously.

“Indeed. As long as we keep the attacks short we can constantly keep them switching between fighting us and the bees. The mages will run out of mana and the rest won’t be able to fight the bees properly. Eventually, only the powerhouses will be left. Without the fodder, they will be vulnerable. Then we divide and conquer.”

The Empress shifted of her throne and smiled. Her smile was a lot less inhuman than mine.

“It needs work, but I think this is our best plan.”

She had a twinkle in her eyes as she looked amusedly at me.

“That isn’t your whole plan, is it? I can tell there’s something else.”

Man, she read me like a book.

“The nobles, the greedy ones who keep pushing these sorts of attacks, they need to pay too. I think after this battle we need to remind them of the consequences of attacking us.”

I paused theatrically and dropped my voice an octave.

“The personal consequences.”