The gnomes, to Regina’s muted relief, didn’t seem like they were about to crash out of their mountain caves and go charge into Nerlia to join the fracas. At least for now. The way things were going, she wouldn’t be too surprised if they showed up. Everyone else seemed to be on the move, figuratively or literally, after all.

Even the elves. She’d gotten news from Ariedel that they were putting their forces into a state of alert, a step before the mobilization of their army. Regina supposed she couldn’t blame them with everything else going on, though she’d rather not have to worry about them joining the war as well.

Although they would presumably fight on her side. That would be a nice change.

Still, with Galatea occupied keeping tabs on both the Delvers and their actual enemies, as well as trying to find out more about the Esemen’s movements, she wouldn’t have the capacity to do much else to help Regina. Regina had told her she understood that, and privately felt a bit guilty. For now, however, she refocused her efforts on what her hive could do.

Their scouting was running into increasing problems. Besides a steadily growing number of flying beasts, she suspected her enemies’ growing awareness of them was responsible for it. They could still not do much against the hive’s flying drones, of course, but some were starting to make increased use of shields or other means to block their sight, and a few smaller forces raised by local lords had even started to take a page from the hive’s books and dig underground spaces.

It wasn’t at the level where she would really be concerned, yet, but Regina didn’t like the trend. Especially in conjunction with the defensive ritual the Nerlian army had shown.

There’d been some debate in the psychic link about that. Some drones, including Tia, had advocated for simply playing for time and letting the ritual’s effects run out. Tia had argued that they didn’t know the details of that ritual for sure and there could be other effects, perhaps even more dangerous ones. Regina had to admit she had a point, although she still wasn’t in favor of just sitting and waiting.

Her own opinion was perhaps the deciding factor, but most of the hive’s military commanders were also in agreement. Without being able to counter the Esemen, and with the Nerlian-Cernlian combined army still on the move, they couldn’t afford to get stuck. There was no point rushing headlong into battle, either, though, Ben had said, so they reorganized before trying another assault.

Well, it was true that the plan still didn’t call for them to just storm the Nerlians’ fortifications. They’d already started the strategy of wearing them down by making noise during the night and harassing them with the occasional Winged Drone flying overhead, dropping explosives or even just rocks, combined with a few potshots from Shooters and Witches. Hopefully, it would begin wearing on the Nerlians’ morale and work against whatever boost that had gotten from ‘repelling’ the hive’s first foray.

They didn’t want to spend too long on minor stuff like that, though, or Regina might as well have gone with Tia’s idea. In a way, she supposed fighting while the hive’s forces would be under the effect of the Nerlians’ ritual might actually be a good thing. It would be an experience they might need more badly at some point, and good practice even if they never encountered stronger suppression.

So, the hive stepped up its efforts gradually. They started at dawn, just when the humans were hopefully feeling relieved at having gotten through the night, with a quick raid. Ben mostly used Winged Drones for that, with a bit of ground support from higher-level drones. The objective wasn’t to breach the Nerlian defenses, just to shake them up a bit.

They still created some breaches in their fortifications, even if it wasn’t the goal. A few enterprising drones went through and sent units of War drones to rampage in the area behind the outer Nerlian line. By the time the soldiers mobilized to stop them, they were already retreating. The Winged Drones continued their activity for a bit longer, harassing them with projectiles and the occasional dive. Those cost too many drones their lives, though, and Regina made a note to talk to the commanders about it. The Nerlians would only get better at this, and she didn’t want to just throw drones’ lives away, even if the hive was still growing its numbers steadily. On the other hand, they had probably diverted fire from the other drones circling higher up.

It was only the beginning. Regina talked with Ben for a bit, discussing their plan, before he gave the orders to another section of the hive’s growing ‘officer cadre’. At some point, Regina figured they would have to formalize it more, perhaps even introduce an official rank structure. For now, it worked smoothly, with the drones getting their assigned units of Swarm Drones into position and pushing another attack.

Regina paid close attention, trying to gauge the effect of the Nerlians’ ritual and what differences there were. It was hard — the very thing she wanted to assess was hindering her efforts at trying to gain understanding. It didn’t help that she was still some distance away from the location, a distance that almost felt longer under these conditions. An interesting side effect she noted, but unfortunately not much help in figuring out its limits. Fortunately, she was not the only one. Regina still connected to the minds of her drones both inside and outside of where she guessed the affected area to be. She could also talk to ones who had crossed it or sent in Swarm Drones they were focusing on, gathering more information.

The ritual certainly made things harder, but it didn’t completely cut off the hive’s connections. After a while, Regina thought she was beginning to understand what Galatea meant; this really could be much worse. As it stood, it allowed them to adapt. Even if it was very annoying.

Tim led the next attack on the Nerlians’ positions, which used more sustained pressure rather than the quick and disruptive strikes they’d tried before. They sent in more War Drones, but went more slowly. The hive also relied on other kinds of attacks from Skills and the occasional explosive, churning up the ground and damaging their fortifications. Good luck trying to repair them while you’re still under attack, Regina thought with a small smirk. And they weren’t restricting themselves to the outer line, either, they were doing some damage to all of the Nerlians’ fortification. That should also make reinforcements trickier to handle for them.

Regina once more extended her senses over the Nerlian positions, trying to get a feel for the effects of their efforts. It was hard, and she entertained the thought of moving closer again. But she wasn’t sure it would help much. The psychic blocking field, or whatever their ritual did, was definitely having an effect. She could sense the general state of the army, though. I suppose having that many people together in relatively tight quarters makes it unavoidable, she considered. At least with her recent improvements.

So, she could tell the Nerlians were starting to falter. Or perhaps that was an optimistic assessment, but she knew that their morale situation was bad. Perhaps they’d stabilized after digging in here, perhaps it had only gotten worse. She hadn’t searched for it before and didn’t know. But their soldiers, most of them relatively new and some of them conscripts, were clearly uncertain. The hive’s efforts were having an effect, and even beyond that, she knew they had to be questioning if they could even be stopped, after their relentless, seemingly unstoppable advance across the country.

And, fair’s fair, they would be right to wonder; they really can’t stop us, Regina reflected with a small smile. Even if they somehow manage to hold us off, the situation is still in our favor in the long term.

But she quickly turned serious again, her face sobering into something closer to a frown. There was a reason she did not want to drag this out. There was a reason she was fighting this war like this, instead of trying to industrialize as rapidly as she could and sweep them away, or even just build an unstoppable horde first.

The Nerlians might still hold for a while, she didn’t really know how long. The hive needed to win here before the overall situation of the war got worse. She just wished she knew how much time they had.

Regina breathed out deeply, checking in on her own forces. Ben was already preparing for another push. They’d give the humans an hour or so to stew, and strike when they were relaxing, and perhaps switching out or reassigning units. They might not be able to come too close, but Winged Drones up in the sky still provided them with very good information on the Nerlian forces’ positioning.

But she didn’t linger on that, and instead found her attention called southward, to their other main problem. The second - or first - and considerably larger enemy army. It was that one that had fought against Marquis Lyns in Cernlia, although they’d managed to leave him behind for now. It had also been harassed by hive forces and Whitor’s soldiers, although they hadn’t sought a battle. Still, this had slowed the allies’ pace to a crawl. From what Regina could sense, their morale was at least as bad as the other army’s, probably worse. However, it also felt like it hadn’t really grown worse in a while, like it had just hit bottom and they were too exhausted, and maybe even getting used to it, to devolve further. Unfortunately, the army hadn’t broken. It still maintained remarkably good discipline under the circumstances, actually. Ben and the other commanders had hesitated to face them in a real battle with an army of their own, considering the changing situation. And the increased demand for troops elsewhere and with the growing monster problem had made things worse, too.

She was just considering calling another meeting over the psychic link to discuss their strategy when Janis reached out to her. Regina paused for a moment, surprised. She hadn’t heard from her in a while, since Janis was focused on that theater of the war. Now, she felt an urgency and tension from her that raised alarm bells in the back of her mind.

What’s up, Janis? Regina asked.

Janis hesitated for a moment, then wordlessly invited Regina to come closer. She followed her invitation, reaching deeper into the psychic link and forging a closer connection to Janis’ mind. Then Regina took a moment to take in what she was seeing.

A large number of soldiers were gathered in the distance. Colorful banners of Nerlia and Cernlia were waving in the wind, proclaiming their allegiance at a glance. The army had stopped moving. Well, they still moved, but instead of marching forward in a great column, they were milling about and spreading out, clearly organizing to concentrate their strength in one place. They were situated on top of a clear hill, with a brook at the side giving them access to water. Janis was watching from the back of a Winged Drone Mount some distance away, but she could just barely see soldiers starting to put up fortifications.

Well, that’s a bit surprising, she commented to Janis, keeping her tone calm. You don’t think it was your efforts that led to this?

We did do pretty well, Janis said with a ghost of a smile. But they almost pushed through, Regina. They have to know we’re preparing to face them, but they’d presumably still be in a better position once they reach Nerlia proper. No, this is something else.

She gave another tug on the psychic link, the mental equivalent of pointing a hand in another direction. Regina followed her nudge, turning her attention to other drones further away. She quickly found what Janis did, watching through the eyes of several Winged Drones.

The Esemen are coming, she said.

That’s what I think, Janis agreed. They may have spread out and I’d bet there are other troops they’ve managed to hide somehow, but they’re definitely turning here.

Regina was quiet for a moment. How would they hide from our drones?

Skills or maybe magic, Janis answered. I’m not very familiar with Esemen magical practices, but they do have a few weird traditions. I don’t think it’s going to last long, though. They probably just want to buy some time to get into the north of the county before Whitor can mobilize to meet them.

Regina sighed. I assume you’ve told him?

Dan is handling that right now, Janis said. I’m considering how to reorient the troops we have here, but I wanted to talk to you right away.

I see. Good work, Regina told her. Ben will know what to do on an operational level better than I do.

We might have to abandon this area. Janis was clearly unhappy to say it, but Regina could tell she was determined to handle whatever was coming.

Regina fell silent again and considered the balance of forces in the region. They’d been focused on the southwest, on the enemy army. They’d even been gathering an army of their own to face it when it was needed, but now it was even further from where the Esemen threat would come from than the Nerlians. Whitor had stripped the currently safer parts of his province almost bare of soldiers as well, sending everyone he could to work with the hive’s forces.

They should still have enough time to pivot and mount a defense against the Esemen, even if not directly at the border, although that would make things tricky with the Nerlian-Cernlian army behind them. Which had clearly figured out what was going on, or at least that something was, too — another question she would have liked answered. Was their scrying just better than expected?

Still, all in all, this didn’t seem like the worst move the Esemen could do, for the hive. Northern Cernlia was basically a sideshow at the moment. Plus, the Esemen had invaded Nerlia, so Regina hadn’t been worrying about them working with the Nerlians or their Cernlian allies in any way. Although I suppose they might still team up temporarily to deal with us if they see us as the much bigger threat. She frowned.

Can we expect reinforcements? Janis asked.

Regina grimaced. I’ll see what I can do, she said. But we want to deal with the Nerlians on our end as quickly as we reasonably can. We’re too far away to send you many reinforcements quickly, they’d be in danger of being caught by the Esemen.

I get it, Janis said. We’ll just do the best we can. Worst case, we’ll fall back to the Hive’s territory.

Let’s hope it won’t come to that, Regina said. And let’s get Ben involved.

She took a moment to sigh, roll her shoulders and shift her posture before Regina dove back into the psychic link to talk to Janis, Ben and probably a few other people. She knew that she shouldn’t be panicking yet, far from it, but she still didn’t like the way things were developing. It seemed like things were going off the rails.

For now, she’d have to bear with it, though.