Janis stifled a yawn, lifting a hand to her face and cracking her neck. She hadn’t slept in quite a while, and only for a few hours the last time. The lack of sleep was starting to catch up with her. But she made herself focus on the situation, anyway. She couldn’t go to sleep yet.

The Esemen had crossed into the border of Cernlia already and swept through the upper part of Whitor’s earldom, taking several villages in quick succession. It was only the beginning. Looking at them from a high vantage point, through the eyes of a circling Winged Drone, Janis wondered if they might be using a ritual similar to the Nerlians, or had just picked men with the appropriate stats and Skills to move quickly for this.

She was inclined to think it was the latter. There was no cause to panic. Their main army remained behind the vanguard, even if it was clearly a decisive and powerful vanguard.

Regina had also told her that Marianne Neralt was still with the main part of this Esemen army. She still hadn’t been able to sense Ria, who the Esemen must have taken much deeper into their own country. Not that Regina would risk flying much closer to it under the current circumstances to try and sense her.

Janis wished she could do that sort of thing herself, but unfortunately, psychic power did not seem to be among her talents. She was limited to what she could get from the psychic link and what Regina told her. Not that it would probably make much of a difference in this situation, she had to admit.

“How far into the country have they progressed?” Whitor asked, breaking her concentration, as he paced back and forth in short, jerky steps.

Janis glanced at him. “About twenty kilometers or so, Lord Whitor.”

The earl frowned. “That means …”

“Yes, they’re still a fair distance away from us, but they are in position to cut off our access with any forces we may send right now,” she said.

He didn’t reply right away, and Janis sighed and rolled her shoulders again, glancing at the other people nearby. They were outside, for once, standing on the most elevated position they’d been able to find near where they had hurriedly gathered troops. That meant a small hill with a few holes where drones had quickly pulled out trees, overlooking a low valley where the army the hive had been slowly gathering moved through.

“And I assume the same goes for any reinforcements of yours from Nerlia,” he stated more than asked with a resigned air. This wasn’t the first time this had come up.

“We’re getting some Winged Drones, they’re already on the way,” Janis said. “I just don’t think sending them all directly at the Esemen would be a good idea. Any other forces would not stand up to the Esemen, and they’re unfortunately between us and the Hive’s troops.” Unless they took the Hive’s entire army, or close enough. But she knew that wasn’t going to happen. This simply wasn’t important enough, strategically. Not compared to pushing deeper into Nerlia, or rather, the risk of giving up all the progress they’d made on that.

Whitor’s frown deepened, and she wondered if he’d guessed what she was just thinking. But if he did, he chose not to press the issue. Instead, he only gave a stiff nod.

“As always, I am deeply grateful for your Hive’s assistance,” he said.

“Of course, it is our honor and pleasure,” Janis replied, but she was already a bit distracted, focusing on the psychic link again. One of the drones had called for her attention. There was suspicious movement to the west.

That’s just another pack of monsters, she finally concluded, before she reached for other minds in the psychic link and passed on her assessment to Dan, adding that he should send a party to check it out. Only a small one, though, they couldn’t spare the drones to respond to every possible threat in force. That was just one more issue with this situation, and turning their attention to the Esemen invaders while also having to keep an eye on the Nerlians and Cernlians made it more likely they’d miss something.

“Maybe we should simply talk to the Nerlians,” Whitor mused after another minute, breaking the silence.

Janis glanced at him. “Oh? What do you mean?”

He shrugged slightly. “Well, they evidently knew at least something was happening, Lady Starlit. I would be curious to find out how.”

Janis frowned, but paused before answering him. She supposed he did have a point. The Cernlian government was still their enemies, and the Nerlians weren’t exactly likely to respond favorably to the Hive after invading their country. But the Esemen were invaders as well.

“I suppose there’s a chance they might want to talk,” she said doubtfully. “I wouldn’t count on it, though. Still, if you’d like, you could, of course, send someone as an envoy to their army. I’ll send a few drones to keep an eye on them.”

He nodded, looking thoughtful. “Perhaps after the situation has become clearer.”

Janis looked at him for a moment longer, resisting the urge to react further. He only allied with us in the first place because he thought we were the winning team, she thought. Well, maybe that’s not giving him enough credit. Still … his first priority is obviously going to be saving his own county. I need to keep that in mind, if there’s a chance it might put us at odds …

She was distracted from those musings by yet another call for her attention from the psychic link. This time, it was Ben. Janis straightened up a little and dove deeper into the link.

How are things going, Janis? he asked.

Oh, you know, about as well as could be expected, she said. That didn’t change since the last time you checked in.

She sensed a bit of chagrin from him through the psychic link. Sorry, he said. I don’t want to seem like I’m constantly looking over your shoulder, but we do need to coordinate closely.

I know, she assured him. I was just giving you a hard time, don’t mind me. But did you have a reason for wanting to talk just now?

Just to see how things are going, he said. We also need to settle on a route for the Winged Drone reinforcements soon.

Well, you can see the Esemen forces as well as I can. I’d rather the drones steer clear of them, even if it means they take a bit longer. Maybe following the river for a little bit before going east?

That’s what we were thinking, he agreed. Alright, we’re putting together a second wave of reinforcements, but you can expect most of the drones we’ve scrambled to arrive before the Esemen reach the heart of the province.

That’s good to know, thanks, she responded. How goes the assault on the Nerlians?

Even before he answered in words, she could tell from the impression of his feelings which the link carried that he wasn’t entirely happy with it. It’s going, he said. They’re pretty stubborn, I’ll give them that.

Janis tried not to sigh again. The Nerlians were clearly learning quickly, figuring out how to deal with the Hive. She knew it still wasn’t at a critical point, but she also understood Regina’s concerns about the larger picture. And while the Hive might have great potential, they still only had their current numbers to work with. Those had not increased very much, since drones kept dying in the war even as new ones hatched.

And what do you think about the Cernlians and Nerlians? Janis asked.

Ben sent the mental equivalent of a shrug. At the moment, the combined army is a bit of a secondary concern, although I agree that could change quickly. Has there been any movement from them? You are still dangerously close to it at the moment.

I don’t think so, she replied. Janis didn’t really feel comfortable sitting little more than a few kilometers from the largest enemy army, but they had clearly decided to hunker down and build up a defensive position.

She shot another look at Whitor, then stepped a little away from him, pacing up and down in the space the others cleared for her. There were only a few of Whitor’s men and a few drones up here, but she knew a few other sapient drones were probably watching through the psychic link.

“I trust you will inform me once we have any news?” Whitor asked, raising his voice a little.

“Of course,” Janis agreed. “Although there is not much news yet. Our reinforcements are on the way.”

She fell silent for a bit, chewing on her lip. It felt like the most she could really do right now was wait for more information, which got on her nerves quite a bit.

Do you think we need to keep a closer eye on Whitor? she asked Ben.

There was no answer.

Janis frowned. She stopped moving and tried to reach out to the psychic link … but it was like it had suddenly been moved out of reach, and she scrabbled uselessly against it. She couldn’t feel anyone else’s mind — She wasn’t even sure if she could feel the link’s existence itself, or was only imagining it because she had grown used to the subconscious sensation of its existence.

“Fuck,” Janis cursed.

She looked around. The Swarm Drones nearby seemed to have frozen. Their blade-limbs trembled slightly in what was probably an indication of distress. She couldn’t really sense them, though. The camp below had fallen silent, although now noise was starting to rise up; chaotic clamoring, shouts and thuds or the screeching of metal.

“Lady Janis,” Whitor asked. “What happened?”

Janis ignored him. Instead, she started running down the hill, trying to find out more about what was happening. Were they under attack? She’d heard of the Nerlians doing something like this to defend their position in the north …

Several drones turned to her as she arrived. There were a few sapient drones, and she saw a brief flicker of relief on their faces as they saw her. Janis looked past them, trying to take stock of the camp and the army assembling beyond them.

“Everyone!” she bellowed. “Calm down! Remain in your positions! We will get to the bottom of this, and we will not fall to chaos!”

That seemed to work, at least a little. She even noticed a few younger sapient drones who looked like they’d been starting to rush to her suddenly stop, hesitant. Janis waved the closest of them to her.

Then she closed her eyes and focused on the psychic link again. This time there was more of a response … but it was thoroughly unpleasant. Janis grunted and bent over, her hands automatically going to her head as if she could suppress the pain taking hold of her. She’d had headaches before, but this one was particularly brutal, although it subsided quickly.

At least she’d gotten a brief glimpse, distorted though it was. The psychic link was clearly still there, it was just … not working properly due to outside interference. Is something overloading it? Suppressing it? Projecting noise? she wondered. Effectively, I guess it could be all three.

“Lady Janis!” Whitor called again, more insistently. She glanced over her shoulder to see he had followed her. “What in the gods’ names is happening?”

“The Hive’s connection is under attack somehow,” she told him.

Whitor frowned, his eyes darting all around. “What - Who could be doing this?”

Janis forced herself to breathe in and out deeply, shoving down the mounting panic and ignoring the tightening in her throat.

“The Nerlians did something similar to our other army,” she said once she was calmer. “It was weaker than this, though.”

“So either the Esemen have copied their tricks, or the Nerlians are doing it again, with more power,” Whitor concluded.

Janis exhaled deeply again and rubbed the bridge of her nose. “It has to be the Nerlians. Distance is clearly a factor, somehow. And I suppose they have more mages here than their militia up north.”

Whitor’s face cleared slightly as he nodded. “That would make sense, yes.”

Janis started walking deeper into the small, temporary camp, hurrying to get through it and to the core of the army. She’d already wasted enough time here. She could worry about the larger implications later, for now, she needed to do damage control.

At least the Swarm Drones hadn’t suddenly started rioting and attacking everything in some mad rampage. Thank the old world’s god for small mercies. They even seemed to listen to her commands still … hopefully.

But there were thousands of them, and she could only reach so many with her voice. At least their enemies didn’t seem to be attacking them yet. Janis almost reached out to check with a flying drone, before she cursed again, realizing that her means of surveillance were completely cut off.

She stepped out of the tent area and approached the War Drones forming the bulk of the army in the deeper reaches of the small valley. They milled around, seeming just as lost and confused as the other drones. A few sapient commanders were trying to impose order, and getting in each other’s way in a few cases — it looked like one wanted them all to stop, while another officer was ordering them to spread out and scout the perimeter for potential hostiles.

Before Janis could attempt to establish order, her attention was caught by something dropping towards her out of the sky. She almost flinched. Then she took a step back to make space for the Winged Drone Mount to land, and watched as the rider quickly hopped out.

“Janis, I see things are mostly under control here,” Ace said.

“Ace,” she greeted him. “The psychic link is suppressed or manipulated. What’s the situation further out?”

“I haven’t gone too far, but it’s the same for the flying drones,” he reported. “They still follow my orders, if they can hear them, but they’re pretty much useless otherwise.”

“Alright, then —“

“There’s more,” he interrupted. “There’s a column of Nerlians moving around. Not more than a few hundred, I think, maybe a thousand. A small vanguard. But they’re closer.”

Janis rubbed the bridge of her nose again. There might be mages who cast this ritual, I guess. But maybe this is something else.

“Alright,” she said. “For now, we need to restore order here. Get back up and try to link up with any sapient Winged Drones or other riders around.”

Then she turned to look at the army again, and suppressed the urge to swear viciously. This was a disaster of a sort she hadn’t even considered.