The Bee Dungeon

Chapter 30: The Epipha-Bee

Belissar thought and he thought and he thought some more, even as Niobee buzzed around him. Eventually, she got his attention by landing on his hand.

“King, ok?”

Belissar sighed and shook his head.

“Not really. Just...give me a moment, please?”

Niobee buzzed her wings but said no more. She took off again, hovering a short distance away from Belissar. He sighed and began walking, heading over towards the farmhouse. He went inside, got a bit of honeycomb to snack on, and sat down at the table.

This was all way above his station...or would have been, were he not a Tower Lord now. Or...maybe it wasn’t? Because if the tales of the demi-humans were wrong, then what else might be? He, a peasant, had clearly stepped into and been placed in control of a Tower, and didn’t end up getting smote in the process. Maybe he had been wrong all along, and the gods didn’t mind peasants in Towers either. But if that were true...then what made the Tower Lords and the Tower Guard special?

Or...were they special at all? If Belissar, of all people, could do the job of a Tower Lord well enough to earn the patronage of a god, then did the job truly require someone greater than other men to pull off?

Or...was the case that it wasn’t those chosen by the gods who became Tower Lords, but those that became Tower Lords that were chosen by the gods?

And if all that was the case...then what of everything else he had been taught? Magic and potions being harmful to peasants? The Tower Lords requiring tribute to offer to the gods? Peasants naturally being beneath those the gods had chosen? The will of the gods being to obey any and all Tower Lords without question?

Belissar remembered going hungry in the cold of winter when the tribute cut into the rations on a particularly bad year. He remembered the villagers raiding his mead on orders of the village elder, for the local Tower Lord had requested it.

He remembered begging for help as his parents came down with the plague. A plague he later heard had been cured in the Tower cities by the fantastic powers of the Tower Lords.

He remembered the old beekeeper coughing in the night, believing there was nothing he could do. Even if he had magic or potions, he believed they would kill her as quickly as the pneumonia.

But if everything he had been taught was wrong...then all that pain...all that suffering...

Had it been for nothing?

Belissar groaned and clutched his head...

Ultimately, Belissar could not come to that conclusion on his own. He felt he needed more information, more confirmation before he could accept such a thing. He rose to his feet with his eyes narrowed, heat swirling in his chest.

“Niobee...ask the queens to send out the scouts. I want to know more about our visitor.”

Niobee flew a bit unsteadily.

“Ok...King, ok?”

Belissar shook his head.

“I don’t know. But I need to know more before I can do anything.”

Niobee hovered for a moment before dancing a salute and flying off to relay his command. Belissar crossed his arms and frowned.

Honestly, he wanted to see things with his own eyes...but that wasn’t an option right now. If the tales of the demi-humans were true, then they carried a deep hatred towards all of humanity that had not shared in their fate and would attack on-sight. Belissar had a feeling that would not be the case, but he wasn’t about to bet his life on it. Besides, the last few times he had dealt with people they had either confiscated his mead or else tried to kill him, so he wasn’t exactly excited to meet more.

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Likewise, Belissar was not particularly good at sneaking, nor was he a hunter. So, he had little confidence he could spy on the demi-humans without being noticed. And this was doubly true for demi-humans, since the tales stated they also tended to have better senses than the average human. Well, again Belissar didn’t know how much of any of his knowledge he should believe at this point, but after seeing what the monster bees could do compared to their mundane cousins, Belissar decided it was best to assume the demi-humans were more capable if anything.

So, he would have to rely on the scout bees. The demi-human hadn’t attacked them on the way to the Tower, nor did he fight with the soldier bees inside, so Belissar believed they could observe him peacefully. The only problem was that the monster bees, while more intelligent than normal, were still ultimately bees, and focused on the things that bees cared about, such as when they found the mana flowers and completely ignored the nearby ruins. Even their initial reports of the demi-human were limited to “an animal is approaching,” with detail being limited to colors and shapes.

Belissar wanted to know a bit more than that. He wanted to know how the demi-human acted and talked. He wanted to know if this man acted more like a beast or like a man, if he used tools and tents and fire or if he simply lived in the wild. If his spear and his shield were something he intentionally made himself or something he simply picked off a human he had slain.

Getting a good sense of all that off the bees’ reports would be a challenge, but what other choice did Belissar have? If only he had a way to use his Tower sight outside of the Tower...

And, of course, the moment he thought that his Tower sight rushed from his body and thought the Tower, heading to the outside world. It turned out he could do just that, he just hadn’t had any particular desire to do so until now. Even when the bees reported the mana flowers, they had asked him to come personally so he hadn’t thought of checking from afar. With the ruins, on the other hand, that had been a personal curiosity and he had not intended to distract the bees from their work with it.

He quickly tested the limits of what he could do. He was limited to what his bees could perceive with their senses, though he could move his attention from bee to bee, or even get a vaguer sense from several of them at a time for a bigger, less detailed picture.

All of which was perfect for his current purposes. Belissar looked through the sight of different bees until he found one that was following the bear man. The man trekked through the forest until he was close to the edge of the Tower’s influence. There, he arrived at a large hole in the ground, and walked down inside of it. The bee watching him hovered at the edge of the hole. From what Belissar could tell, her night vision wasn’t great, so she was uncertain of entering the dark hole.

Belissar tried to send some intentions to her like he could with the bees inside the Tower and found it worked. He let her know to remain outside and keep watch over the hole. She danced a little salute and then flew towards a nearby flower, gathering some nectar while she waited. He then checked which bees were closest to the hole and directed them to reinforce the lone scout.

Now, he had to wait until the demi-human returned...

Fortunately, Belissar did not have to wait for long. The bear man soon returned...and he was not alone. Several more armed bear folk exited the hole and set up a perimeter around it.

And then after that...came a whole tribe.

There were unarmed men and women carrying bundles and backpacks and even pulling carts. There were children and mothers carrying infants in slings. There were old men and women being supported by the young. Maybe a hundred or so demi-humans in total exited from the hole, all with brown fur on any part of their body not otherwise clothed, and round ears on the top of their heads, all standing tall above a normal human. Even the women would tower over Belissar, and some of the children could match his height. The armed ones wore armor of leather and bone over their torsos and extremities, while the others were more lightly clothed, revealing more of their brown fur.

And then, they began to make camp.

The man from before led them to a spot nearby where the bushes weren’t as thick, and the tribe got to work. They began to chop away at the trees and bushes with axes and set up tents in the cleared area. A group of them got a fire going, and even hung a large iron pot over it.

And most of all, the entire tribe was exchanging conversations throughout the whole process.

One of them, a wrinkled and hunched woman holding a large staff with all sorts of trinkets and decorations hanging on it, turned towards one of his bees. She smiled and inclined her head.

“Thank you, for allowing us here. Please excuse us, we will visit shortly.”

Belissar ordered the bees to fall back and then withdrew his Tower sight. He staggered back and held his head, his heart pounding in his chest.

There was no mistake. There was no denying it.

The demi-humans were acting no different than humans would. Everything Belissar had seen pointed to them being, well, normal people all things considered.

Which meant...

The tales were wrong.

All of them.

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