Hive Queen

by Sinclair, Grayson

  The horde moved at a snail’s pace, and there were pockets of open areas in between some of the larger groups. Giving me plenty of room to work with. Go in from the left, where the horde is the weakest, and work my way through. I’ll only deal with a few handfuls at a time. Best plan I had, at any rate, and considering what I was up against, I wasn’t too worried.

  I gave Raven a few minutes to change, and she coughed softly when she’d finished. She now wore a nearly skin-tight cotton shirt and pair of pants in mottled hues of dull black and gray under leather armor, dyed a midnight black, with thick padding over her chest and thighs. Any vital spot was covered with leather, but still allowed mobility. As she turned around to grab her bag, two slits stood out from the back of her armor. It was stitched so there was no fraying; her shoulder blades moved under the holes. Are those for her wings?

  Whatever, don’t really care. She handed me back her pack, and I stowed it away. “Don’t you have a weapon?”

  “Don’t need one. So why are we doing this again?” she asked.

  “Because I said so. You can either help or stay here. What’ll it be?”

  “I’ll help.”

  “Then let’s go, follow my lead.”

  I vaulted the sand hill we’d been on and slid down the steep incline. Using the built-up momentum, I hit the ground running and drew my new sword in the process. The black metal gleamed, its maiden bloodletting at hand.

  My charge led me right where I wanted to go, and I plowed into a small group of five roamers. Each of them wore Alliance breastplates, and they stopped, turning as my lifeforce washed over them.

  They let out haunting groans of hunger. The closest one lurched at me. Half of his face sloughed off as he whipped around and opened his rotting mouth to assault my nose with a miasma of decay. Before he could bring his arms up, I sliced my sword through his neck, and as his head sank into the sand, I stuck my blade through it, splitting the weakened skull.

  One down.

  The others took their time and stumbled to me in blind hunger. Rotten flesh dripped, and their milky white eyeballs told me they wanted nothing but to taste my flesh. One of them was close enough to grab my armor. His thin, bony fingers gripped as tightly as his failing muscles would allow. I severed his hand at the elbow and whipped my sword back to slice through his head.

  That makes two.

  One of them tripped over the supine form of his dead-undead friend and met the tip of my sword as I shoved it through his brain.

  The remaining two were close now, forcing me to take a step back and goad them toward me. When they moved parallel to each other, I moved. I ducked under their outstretched arms and shoving them into one another, causing them to crash to the ground together. One quick adjustment later to line them up, and my sword slid through the nose of the top roamer and out the back of the head of the second.

  Two for the price of one, and that makes five.

  Raven gave me an exasperated sigh and shook her head as I pulled my sword free.

  I wiped the rotten and blackened brains from the steel. “Got something to say?”

  “Not at all. Far be it for me to tell you when you’re being impetuous.”

  I tossed the torn and now soiled piece of cloth from the roamer. “Good, because I don’t need another nag in my life. C’mon, we’ve got some more zombies to slay.”

  “Zombies?” she muttered as we edged toward the rest of the horde.

  I’d created a gap to start whittling away at them from the side, but we would end up biting off more than we could chew if we strayed to close and the others sensed us.

  There were a small group of six or seven farmhands that were the closest to us. I slunk along until I was as close as I could be from them without straying into the horde itself. My lifeforce tempted them, and they turned, coming for me, and breaking away from the oblivious horde as I kited them back a good ways.

  I was about to engage when a ruffling came from behind me and a shadow passed overhead. Raven floated about fifteen feet in the air in her human form, her black wings stretched out and flapping in lazy rhythm as she stared down the horde.

  “Can I take them?” she asked.

  I thought about it and shrugged. “Be my guest.”

  She nodded, and I danced out of range while they shuffled after me. Raven flapped her wings harder and rose a few feet more before bringing her wings down sharply. Dozens of heavy feathers shot out from her wings, spinning end over end like throwing knives as they descended on the unsuspecting horde. She’d put enough force behind them to cause major damage to the seven roamers. A few missed or landed on the soft feather side, but plenty struck properly, sinking the entire shaft into the undeads’ soft and weakened bones.

  A few took out eyes and hit the brain, killing them instantly, but she’d only managed kill shots on four of the seven. Huh, not bad for one attack, though. Raven glided back over to me and withdrew her wings, dropping to the ground. “My apologies. I wasn’t able to get them all.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” I said, raising my sword. “I’ll finish them off.”

  I ran forward, and with a few quick slashes, I slaughtered the remaining three. That makes eight.

  One of her feathers stuck out of the sand. I crouched and picked it up. It was heavier than any feather I’d ever held before. I prodded at the tip of the white shaft, drawing a bead of blood. Holy shit, that’s kind of impressive.

  Though sharp, they lacked the heft needed to perform as a true weapon, but Raven had bypassed that by using extreme force. Damned impressive.

  Before I could do anything else, the feather disappeared, fading away to nothing along with the rest of the ones that lingered over our small battlefield. Faster than a corpse, but I guess they operate similarly because they’re organic.

  I stood up and walked over to Raven. “How many times can you use that trick?”

  “Only a few times in short bursts. My feathers grow back quickly, but if I lose too many, I won’t be able to fly properly.”

  “Well, then ballpark it for me. How many times can you use that again right now?”

  “Twice more, at best.”

  “All right,” I said, pointing at the largest groups of roamers. “Fly over and see how much damage you can cause.”

  She nodded, unfurling her wings. “What are you going to do?”

  I smirked and summoned my Chitin Shield. Thankfully, I had the wherewithal to unbuckle the vambrace and push the leather higher on my arm. I stowed the armor piece away just as the inky darkness slithered out from my pores and coalesced into a round shield on my arm. The shield was muted tones of black, rough, uneven, and the edges sharp as shale. Wonder if I can take a roamer’s head off in one swing.

  “I’ve had a lot put on me the last few days, and it’s only going to get worse from here, so I’m going to go blow off some fucking steam.”

  Instead of pushing my anger down and letting it fester, I let it come to the surface and boil over. I let out as loud of a war cry as I could, and I charged into the mass of undead.

  My shield raised, I barreled into the nearest roamer. I shoved it with enough force that it toppled over into the crowd and took half a dozen out like a row of dominoes. Two walking corpses were right in front of me. I bashed one with the edge of my shield, sinking it just under its nose and crushing its face in until I hit its brain and it stopped moving.

  The other tried to take a bite of me but chomped down on my sword instead. With a flick of my wrist, I filleted its skull open. It spilled rancid gray matter and viscous black blood to the sand.

  I wiped my blade with my finger and shook the gore from my hand. I turned back to the set of undead dominoes which had forgotten how to stand and crawled toward me, eliciting an unholy chorus of groans. I curb stomped each of their heads to vile pulp, staining my new greaves and boots with filth and rot.

  That makes thirteen.

  While I took out the group, Raven flew overhead and rained her razor-sharp feathe
rs down on the zombies. I couldn’t tell how many she took out, but she attacked, glided out of the horde before rising, and dropped once more.

  When she could do no more from above, she circled and dropped next to me as I bashed my emerald pommel into the side of a zombie’s face, crumpling the weak bone. It dropped, and I crushed what remained of its skull under heel.

  Another rushed us, stumbling over the corpse of its friend.

  “Allow me,” Raven said and struck with what looked like a finger jab to the roamer’s eyes.

  The roamer stopped dead, falling lifeless to the sand. When Raven withdrew her hand, she had sharp talons instead of hands. Her fingers were longer than a human’s and had glossy black claws where there should be fingernails. I whistled.

  “Neat trick. How many more are left?” I asked.

  With a flap of her wings, she rose to survey the battlefield. “About eighty, give or take.”

  “All right, can you fight by yourself or do you need backup?”

  She scoffed and flicked her eyes down. ”I’ll be fine.”

  “Whatever you say,” I said and didn’t bother waiting for a reply.

  There’re zombies to kill.

  Between the two of us, we cleared out the shambling horde in under two hours. It took a lot of patience and hit and run tactics to whittle them down, a handful at a time. I had to be careful of my battle fatigue as the fight wore on, so Raven and I took turns when it neared max.

  I went through thirty of them just fine, but my sword slipped off a particularly brutish roamer’s face and let him get close enough to bite me. It wouldn’t have gotten through my armor, but Raven crushed its head before it could even try. She didn’t even gloat about saving me as she helped me to my feet.

  “Thanks,” I muttered and picked up my steel.

  She nodded and flew into the air to begin her aerial bombardment.

  As the hours ended, I buried my blade through the skull of the last roamer and sighed in relief.

  I was utterly exhausted, but I still had the strength to smile at the mound of corpses in our wake. I looked around and spied a large dune to our right. The shadow stretched far and offered a much-needed rest from the sun’s beating gaze. I pointed to it, and we both went and sat down, nearly collapsing.

  “Godsdamn, but that was fun,” I said, pulling out two waterskins and handing one to Raven, who was currently using my shoulder to rest on. I was so tired, I couldn’t muster the strength to shove her off.

  “Get off me,” I snapped.

  “Sure, sure,” she said and didn’t budge but to uncap her water.

  Whatever. How close did I come to maxing my fatigue during that last pass?

  I opened my interface to look at my battle fatigue meter. Huh, I still have a little bit left in the tank, but why am I so fucking tired, then?

  I lifted the waterskin to my lips and drank deeply, my muscles quivering. Ah, my armor is heavier, my sword too. The shadowsteel plates were much thicker than even my own set back home; it added more than a little weight to myself, and with my stat penalty, I wasn’t used to the difference yet.

  As my fatigue wore down, my strength returned, little by little, and I leaned back, basking in the soft wind that carried a nice breeze and gusts of sand towards us. That fight did its job. I feel better. My head feels clear, even with all that Magnus dropped on me.

  I was a fighter; my clarity came at the end of my sword.

  While I had the time, I decided to sort through my notifications. I knew after a fight like that I had more than a few waiting for me.

  Combat Results!

  48 Killed (Roamer): 14,400 Exp!

  4 downed: 1200 Exp!

  Mercy Penalty: -400 Exp

  Total Exp Gain: 15,200 Exp!

  Exp: 5100/5100

  Level Up! (x3)

  Exp: 3700/5400

  Level 54

  30 Stat Points Available!

  Less than I was expecting, actually. With how much Exp Ouroboros has been throwing my way, these numbers look almost normal. Still more than I should get for killing a bunch of roamers, but for what’s coming, I need all the boost I can get.

  With my stat penalty from being so far away from Eris, putting my points into my main stats would most likely be a waste. Need more Durability for sure. Maybe more Attack Damage as well.

  I put twenty into Durability and ten into Attack Damage, which brought Durability to thirty-five and Attack Damage to forty. Not bad. But I’ll need to keep working to get stronger.

  “You ready to move?” I asked, tipping the last of my water into my mouth.

  “Yeah.”

  Raven used me as a crutch to help her stand, and I was about to shout at her when she offered me her hand. Still a little pissed, I took it reluctantly.

  She walked a few feet out of the darkness, and the sunlight caught her face. She closed her eyes as the wind swept her inky hair back. “The heat feels wonderous, though I bet I’ll be cursing those words in about ten minutes.”

  “Yeah, probably. Hurry and shift before we─!”

  I tackled Raven to the ground as my instincts screamed at me and a blast of hellfire scorched the sand to glass where she’d been standing a second before.

  The hell? Who’s throwing around black magic?

  I scanned the area, nothing but sand and dunes in all directions. There was nothing that I could see.

  “Ruined!” a sudden voice shouted.

  A figure wreathed in darkness appeared from the shadow of one of the larger sand dunes. It was incredibly well-camouflaged, and if I hadn’t been searching for the voice, I’d have never spotted it. Inside the shade, a darker shadow told of a hidden doorway in the sand itself. Is that one of the entrances to the Nymirian Dungeon?

  I held off that train of thought and stood, pulling Raven up along with me.

  The figure stalked toward us, tall, his stride purposeful, yet heavy with rage. Though he stood under the blinding light of the sun, shadows clung to the figure, bathing him in midnight. He wore a cloak so dark, it obscured his physique, shrouding him almost completely.

  Only his chin and mouth were visible under the shadows that covered his eyes, his lips set in a ferocious snarl.

  “Ruined!” he shouted again, his voice young but tinged with maturity and anger that far outshone any mere teenage angst. “Do you two know how long it took me to raise and lead those roamers all the way out here? And you two fucking waltz in and ruin everything!”

  From within the folds of darkness, he withdrew a dark wooden stave, unadorned and plain but oozing wicked intent.

  My sword was useless at this distance, but I spied a knife in a leather sheath at Raven’s lower back. “Mind if I borrow your knife?” I asked.

  “Help yourself,” she said as the hooded man approached.

  “I’m going to make you pay for crossing me. I’m the Shadow King’s chosen. I am Ja─”

  Whatever he’d been about to say was suddenly cut short by the knife now lodged firmly in his trachea. My throw had been perfect, and I’d aimed at the only unprotected spot he had.

  He gasped and bled his life out on the sunbaked sand, the blood mixing with the grains of sand and clumped as it dried.

  “Rule number one: never monologue in the middle of a fight.”

  That earned me a snort from Raven. “You ready to set off?”

  “One sec,” I said, and went over to the dead man and stole all of his stuff.

  I didn’t bother cataloging the items, I just quick looted him and jogged back to Raven.

  I handed Raven back her knife and quickly sorted out the combat results from that encounter.

  Combat Results!

  1 Killed (Human): 1500 Exp!

  Total Exp: 1500 Exp!

  Exp: 5200/5400

  “All right, let’s go.”

  She shifted, and I climbed atop her. We set off, and I was grateful to be out of the intense desert heat. The wind tore at my face as Raven put a burst of speed into her wings, b
ut I enjoyed the rush as we soared high above the desert. The shift in temperature was enough to make me shiver, but after sweating bullets minutes ago, I wasn’t about to complain.

  We flew for another hour or so, but the sun was getting low by then, and Raven had slowed considerably, prompting me to lean down and ask to find somewhere to make camp.

  “Absolutely, I’m worn out,” she said, her voice clear despite the howling wind.

  About twenty minutes later, we passed by a high cliff formed of red rock. It was tall enough that nothing I knew of could climb it, and unless wyverns or dragons roosted there, we’d be safe from attack. I nudged her with my foot and pointed toward the cliff. She got the message and swooped down to land.

  I took a few tentative steps to make sure the ground was solid everywhere, and when nothing crumbled or moved, I was satisfied and pulled out our packs, trying to get the camp set up.

  “Anything I can do to help?”

  “Sure,” I said, tossing her the pack after pulling the tent out. “Knock yourself out.”

  We got to work in silence. By the time I set the tent up, I was furious, and Raven had a fire lit and dinner going.

  “Give me the bag.”

  Raven did so at once, and I rooted through it, getting madder by the second. Knowing I wouldn’t find anything, I pulled out Raven’s and gave it a cursory look, not finding what I was looking for.

  “Godsdamn it.”

  “What?” Raven asked, looking up from her preparations.

  “There’s only one tent.”

  “Oh,” she said, not at all looking concerned about the fact. “Maybe they did it that way to save space?”

  “No, I’m pretty sure it was just to fuck with me,” I grumbled and pulled out the one thing that would make the situation bearable.

  Whiskey.

  I took a long pull from the frankly oversized travel flask Magnolia had procured for me and went to help with dinner.

  “What are you making?”

  Arrayed on a long strip of cloth were salted vegetables and meat, each separated by individual strips of cloth. Instead of dried meat, we had fresh meat with a fine layer of salt over it to allow it to keep.