“I’m…I’m sorry,” he managed to squeak out.
Evelyn smiled a frigid smile. “I’m not,” she said and produced a small thin knife from out of nowhere, placing it against the man’s heart and slowly pushing in.
Blood began to trickle down his chest before increasing to a stream, and it poured down his chest as the blade struck his heart. He struggled in pain but could do nothing against Evelyn and succumbed to death a moment later.
Evelyn withdrew her knife, wiped it on the man’s shirt and tossed his corpse aside before going and lounging in the only open table available. The entire inn dead silent, the beating hearts and gulps of fear from men three tables down were audible to my ears as we followed Evelyn and took out seats. Gil gave her a shake of his head and a chuckle, clearly less perturbed about her casual murder than I was.
“Was that absolutely necessary?”
“Of course not,” she said with a grin. “But word will quickly spread, and we won’t have any more trouble. I’d say that’s worth the life of one lowly pickpocket.”
Makenna sat down with a chuckle. “I won’t complain. Besides, if it keeps the rabble from getting handsy with us, then I say it’s well worth the price.”
I disagreed wholeheartedly, but I couldn’t speak up about it, not when my own hands were stained with blood. I killed because I had to, because Sam or myself would have died otherwise, but that was murder. Something I wasn’t comfortable with at any level.
Sam himself was a murderer, but he always had a good reason for killing. Evelyn may have had a valid reason, but there were other options available that she could have done easily.
I sat down heavily, the chair groaning as I dropped my weight on it. Evelyn and the other looked up, saw my face and frowned. Evelyn picked up a fork and jabbed it at me. “Don’t even think about it, little queen. You’ll just waste your breath.”
“But…did you have to─“
“Yes. Now I don’t want to hear about it again. I’ve already forgotten it.”
With that, she tuned me out and whistled for the barkeep, who had been nervously eyeing us since she’d killed the man. He came over, tray in hand close to his chest like a shield, and tried to put on a fake smile, but it slipped every other second.
“What can I get for you today?” he stammered.
It seemed everyone deferred to Evelyn as she ordered for us. “A round of drinks and steak, and it better be fresh.”
He jumped at her tone and nodded before scurrying back behind the bar. Adam looked over at his sister with a sigh and reached over to flick her lightly on the nose. “Your evil is showing, dear sister of mine.”
She laughed. “And your point being?”
“Nothing,” he said, grinning. “Just being a dutiful brother and pointing out your shortcomings.”
Evelyn laughed and began toying with the fork still in her hand, making it balance on the tips of her fingers, looking over at me and my sullen face. She sighed.
“All right, little queen. Because I actually like you and it seems not everyone agrees with my decision, I’ll stick to clear, justifiable murder going forward, fair?”
It was probably the best I could ever hope for, so I nodded. “Thank you, Evelyn.”
After that, the mood lightened around our table. A few different conversations picked up between the guild. Gil and Makenna talked to themselves, discreetly holding hands under the table, which I thought was the cutest thing I’d ever seen. Tegen and Cheira were sitting together on a chair, each of them fighting for more room on the small chair until I picked up Cheira and put her in my lap.
She smirked at Tegen and leaned back into me. “See, told you Eris loves me more.”
“She does not,” Tegen retorted. “Right, Aunt Eris?”
I reached over and patted his head. “Of course. I love you both equally.”
Cheira’s hair was windswept, so while we waited for our drinks, I combed through her hair with my fingers, untangling the knots.
By the time I’d tamed the chaos of her hair, the barkeep returned with an even larger tray filled with glass mugs brimming with a deep brown and red liquid. “Far Trips specialty. Blackberry mead. On the house,” he said, setting the drinks down and leaving, going through a door on the back wall that led to the kitchen, from the scents of food that wafted out.
I picked up the glass and savored the bittersweet aroma that drifted to my nose. My mouth watered at the prospect of drinking it, and I was about to take a sip when Cheira grabbed my arm.
“Can I have some?” she asked.
Tegen perked up at that as well and raised his hand. “Me too, me too!”
Should I give them some? It seemed harmless enough, but I wanted to make sure it was okay before I let them have any. I took a sip and marveled at the sweetness of the blackberries before I reached the small bite of the alcohol. It was sweet and smooth, and if they didn’t drink too much, I figured it would be fine to let them have a taste.
They each took turns after I warned them of only a sip, and they both delighted in the taste, lighting up and reaching for more, but I took it from them.
As the barkeep passed by our table, I waved him down. “Can I get two small glasses of watered-down mead for the children?”
“Right away, Miss,” he said and quickly brought over two glasses.
Soon after our food was ready and we dug in, each of us delighting in the fresh meat and drink. I joined in the conversation with Gil and Makenna when they brought up Sam and Aldrust. They were trying to figure out how Sam could possibly complete his task, but keeping the specifics vague since there was a chance we could be overheard.
I had never been to the kingdom of the dwarves, so I was useless in providing any help, but it was interesting to listen to them talk about it. I knew that most of the city was deep underground, but from the way they were talking about it, it was far larger than I originally thought.
“So you think he has a chance?” Gil asked.
Makenna thought about it for a minute before sighing and shaking her head. She was about to say something, but I interjected. “Of course he does. He’s the most stubborn man I’ve ever met. human or Hive. He’ll be fine,” I said, putting as much hope that I was right into my words.
Makenna smiled and patted my shoulder. “You’re right. He’ll be fine.”
We ate, drank, and talked for another few hours, enjoying resting after several days in the saddle. Eventually the number of patrons started dwindling, some heading upstairs with a number of women after exchanging coin. It seemed a strange practice, so I asked Adam about it.
He was taking a sip of mead at the time and coughed and spluttered when I spoke up, causing everyone to burst out laughing.
“Uh, those are…um…prostitutes, women who exchange sex for money.”
“What a strange practice,” I replied. “Though humans and entomancers view sex differently, so that’s probably why.”
“What do you mean?” Makenna asked.
“In my culture, because of the way women were treated, sexual intimacy was traded rather than bought. Especially between the nobility. It was used as a way to further secure favors or trade agreements.”
“Hold up,” Makenna said, setting down her mead. “So your people just passed the women around whenever it was convenient for them.”
“Essentially.”
“Fucking disgusting,” she said, draining the rest of her ale.
“Were you ever treated like that?” Evelyn asked out of the blue, eyeing me intently.
“Oh, um. No. No, I wasn’t,” I said, blushing. “I was the heir to a powerful family, even before my mother became queen. My purity was too valuable to waste.”
“That means our dear guild leader was your first,” she said, smiling.
I nodded. “He was.”
“I admit, he’s pretty good in the sack, right?”
Before I could respond, Gil slammed his mug down. “All right, that exceeds the amount of girl talk I can
handle for the evening. I’m heading to bed.”
Evelyn and Makenna just laughed, but Adam held up his hands in prayer and mouthed, “Thank you.”
The inn only had two rooms available, so we were forced to bunk together, Gil and Adam in one room, with me, Evelyn, Makenna, and the children in the other. Our room was the last door at the top of the stairs and could barely be called a room. It was cramped with two small beds and a nightstand in the middle. From the darkened window, I could just make out the light of the moon reflecting off the bog water in the marshlands in the distance.
Makenna complained about the heat, so I opened the window, letting in the humid night air and chattering of insects. On reflex I opened the Hive Mind and spread my consciousness throughout the little ones while the other two got undressed and Tegen and Cheira crawled over the bed and under it. Despite the rambunctious nature of the children, they were barely making a sound as they chased each other over the covers.
I turned back to the window, leaning out and letting the thick, moist air lick at my sweat-stained skin. It was lovely while I pushed my consciousness further, trying to build my magical tolerance. It was only thanks to this that I got a look at something that made no sense.
There were people out in the marsh, a lot of them. Well over three dozen, and as I pushed my reach, I found they were even more, circling the town. I don’t know what they’re doing, but it can’t be good. I need to warn the others.
“There are a lot of men in the marshes surround the town. Dozens of them, maybe more,” I said, turning to the others.
As a credit to both women, they were up out of bed and alert in seconds, throwing on clothes and drawing weapons. Makenna pulled a handful of her needles free and started dipping them in some sharp, noxious-smelling liquid from her belt. “I’ll go wake the others. Eris, can you use your magic to control the insects in the marsh?”
I caught her meaning at once and nodded, pulling my consciousness to the most potent of my little ones. “You want me to attack them?”
“Yep, slow them down and kill a few if you can.”
“What if they’re good people?” I asked.
“Kill or be killed, little queen. I believe this counts as justifiable murder to me.”
I knew her words were the truth, and I had no reason to expect the people in the marsh harbored anything but ill toward us and the town. Last time we were ambushed, we nearly died. I won’t hesitate like that again.
With my mind made up, I focused every facet of my being into my creatures. There were simply too many men and women hiding in the swamp lands to get them all, but it seemed they were just waiting for orders, so I went looking for the leader but quickly realized I would never find them just by their attire alone. Okay, so new plan, I guess. Let’s go after the biggest ones, the ones that look the most trouble.
They all looked like trouble, but there were plenty of large men who oozed danger. There were fewer venomous spiders in the swamp, but I took what few I had and had them crawl up the men. It took a few minutes to get the thirty or so to make their way to my intended targets. When the last crawled up, I gave the order to attack.
Using all the stored-up venom in the spiders, they each bit down on the necks of the brigands. A few pained shrieks slipped from the marshlands, but they quickly quieted. The venom was lethal over time in small doses, but by pouring every last drop into their systems. Their nervous systems would soon seize up and begin shutting down their bodies, paralyzing them and killing them quickly after.
The insect bites were noticed but brushed off as just being outside, near insects. Only potent antivenom would save them, but it was far too late for that.
Gil and the others came into the room, and I released the control of the Hive Mind. One look at me and Gil pulled a mana potion from his inventory and handed it to me. I hadn’t noticed, but I was a little shaky, and I greedily drank down the potion, sighing as energy flooded into my muscles.
“Thank you, Gil.”
“Don’t mention it.”
“I managed to bite about half their number, but depending on the individual people, they might still be able to fight even with the venom in their system. Thought the majority should start feeling the effects any moment now.”
He walked over to the window, peering out at something, and nodded. “All right. I bet when they see their men go down, they charge ahead and surround the town. That or call off the whole thing, but when has our luck ever gone that way?”
“What do we do?” I asked.
“We get set up, c’mon,” he said and left the room.
I followed after him, and we headed back downstairs to the bar. All the tables had been overturned, and Adam had summoned the shades again. They were in the process of dismantling the chairs and turning the chair legs into miniature spears.
Evelyn pulled out a few weapons: a shortsword, two daggers, and a longsword. She was in the process of deciding which one to go with, taking practice swings with each of them. A barbaric yawp sounded in the distance, followed by a war horn. Guess the venom finally took effect.
The others tensed at the sound, and Evelyn quickly chose her shortsword.
I looked around, finding one missing. “Where’s Makenna?” I asked.
A chuckle from above drew my gaze, though I didn’t see anything at first. It took me a second to spot Makenna hidden in the shadows on one of the support beams. What was even more surprising was that Tegen and Cheira were up there as well, grinning down at me.
Both of them had a singular dagger in hand, and I was terrified for them but wasn’t going to dissuade them of helping. They’re fast, faster than almost any human. I trust them if they think they can help. I didn’t like it, but if they could help, then let them.
The thudding of boots got louder until a mixture of new sounds joined the pounding feet. High-pitched screams and the clang of clashing steel. A battle raged outside, and too soon it reached the inn.
Pounding loud enough to wake the dead assaulted the door in front of us, and it was strong enough to force the cheap metal hinges to bend inward. Less than half a minute later, the door cracked and was forced out of the doorway. It crashed down to the floor, and half a dozen men and women flooded into the space.
Before they even took a single step further, Makenna attacked, flinging out with her poisoned needles. Four of them hit their targets, but the rest pinged off armor or missed and thudded into the soft wooden floor. While the enemy tried to figure out what had attacked them, Makenna withdrew a small knife with a curved blade and dropped from the support beam, slashing out with her knife as she landed in the center of the mob.
One of the men who hadn’t been hit with her poison dropped to the ground with his throat slashed open, spilling a fountain of blood across the floor. The others turned to engage Makenna, but she simply flowed around their weak strikes and consumed their entire attention.
Which is when Cheira and Tegen struck from behind. They were smart and aimed for the ones furthest in back and killed them with brutal efficacy. They dropped, killed their targets, and darted away in three seconds.
I was immensely proud of them.
The men poisoned by Makenna dropped to the ground, lifeless, and she deftly slipped back around our makeshift barricade. In ten seconds, we’d killed the opening wave of invaders, but there were still many more outside to deal with.
“Shades, scout ahead,” Adam commanded.
The three wispy doppelgängers marched outside and joined in the fray. A minute went by before a sharp crack of glass shattered through the sounds of battle, and the crystal flew back to Adams outstretched hands.
He sighed and pocketed the crystal. “That’s what I get for sending the newbies.”
Evelyn sauntered out from behind the bar, drink in hand as if she didn’t have a care in the world. She knocked back the liquor and smiled, her golden yellow eyes glinting in the firelight. “Let’s go join the fun, shall we?”
We exited the inn to a blood
y victory. Even with their decimated numbers, the gang of bandits had made short work of the town. A few villagers who’d fought back were dead, slaughtered like livestock and left where they fell. No building was left unbroken or unlooted, and the few villagers who were left alive were huddled together in the center of a mob.
More than twenty bandits surrounded the inn, the last building standing. All of them had their weapons out and were half a second away from engaging. Gil, Makenna, and I went out first, and the leader of this gang of bandits stepped forward.
He was tall, burly and brutish with hair the color of fresh straw a day after harvest that trailed down to his lower back and a thick beard that obscured half of his face, though his hazel eyes were alight with bloodlust. He wore heavy plated armor and carried a giant sword that was bigger than I was.
He swaggered over to us and laughed. “Couple of fighters, eh? Well then, you’ll have the pleasure of facing Bandit King Cassimere in combat,” he said with a wide grin. “Who’s going to be my first victim?”
“I believe we’ll take you up on that offer, Cass,” Evelyn said, walking out with Adam by her side.
One look at Evelyn, and Cassimere deflated. His entire personality shifted, and pure and utter terror paled though him. His eyes widened, and his sword fell from his grip.
He dropped to his knees and held up his hands. “I didn’t know. I swear, I didn’t.”
Both Evelyn and Adam’s personalities shifted slightly. They gained an air about them that I couldn’t identify, but it stopped me from speaking up. I settled back and watched as they approached Cassimere.
“That is a shame, Cass,” Adam said. “You were always my favorite, too.”
One of the men, a younger man with hair spiked in every direction, marched over, cocksure as could be and loudly proclaimed. “I don’t know who the fuck you are, but you need to show King Cass some resp─“
Before he could finish his speech, one of the other men ran him through. The man didn’t have time to scream as the blade pierced his heart and he dropped to the ground. The man who’d killed him dropped to his knees and bowed low to Adam and Evelyn.
Hive Queen Page 16