by Unknown
“Sure!” she chirped, wiping off her rapier, then sheathing it again while the three calmed their horses.
In short order she was flying again, and they made their way to the edge of the jungle where the light was much brighter, then out into the broad, grassy field that separated it from the neighboring forest. When they did, Stella let out a sigh of relief.
“I’m so glad to get out of there,” the human announced, looking back at the jungle distrustfully. “While I’m usually okay in the dark, there’s something unsettling about the darkness of jungles. I can’t quite explain it; it’s just… it’s completely different than mines, or being under the open sky.”
“I think it’s that you know that you aren’t alone, and there are creatures that’d love to eat you. With a cave, you generally can see where the danger is coming from. You don’t necessarily have that with a jungle,” Cora said, dismounting and calming her horse again as Joy descended, setting down on the ground almost silently aside from her buzzing wings.
“Ooh, that’s what it is? I don’t like it in there much either, though the other apis seem like they don’t mind,” Joy said, grinning as the others dismounted as well. There was plenty of space around them, making it hard for anything to sneak up on them, though she was certain some creatures could use the long grass to their advantage. “I just thought it might be me, and—”
The buzzing sound near her ear snapped Joy’s attention away from the conversation, and she spun, her rapier clearing its sheath almost faster than she could think. It flashed through the air brightly and barely slowed as it cut into her target.
Two halves of the inch-long wasp fell to the ground with the softest of sounds, while Joy’s breathing came hard and fast. She glared down at the wasp venomously, then cleaned it off the rapier. She’d borrowed one from the Adventurer’s Guild while she made a new one, and something about the rapier felt wrong, somehow, but she was determined to return it in good condition. A moment later she spoke softly. “I hate wasps.”
“Um, I don’t really blame you… but do you really need to cut it apart for coming near you? That was tiny,” Brianna asked, looking at the wasp, then at Joy again, a slight smile tugging at her lips. “Though I have to say, that was a really good strike. Most people wouldn’t be able to hit an insect.”
“It doesn’t matter how small it is, it’s still a wasp,” Joy replied stubbornly, stepping on the still-wriggling insect firmly and grinding it into the dirt. “I might leave a spider alone, but a wasp? Never.”
“Remind me to steer you away from wasp nests,” Cora murmured, looking at Joy with a gentle smile.
“Okay!” Joy said, cheering up at the comment. Then she noticed that Stella was watching the forest, her head tilted. Joy listened, and thought she heard the sound of hoofbeats coming closer. “Oh, is that them?”
“Most likely. I’m not sure how many of them there are, but…” Stella began, and let her voice trail off as people came into sight.
There were a bunch of them, Joy noticed in surprise. More than she’d expected to see, truthfully, as both Silverhoof and Abigail led the group, closely followed by James and his friends. Behind them, though, were five soldiers in heavy metal armor, though the leader’s armor was gilded in gold, and a quartet that were evenly split between magi and priests. They were all riding horses save for Silverhoof, who broke into a trot as he spotted them.
“Ah, there you are! Did you send the message already? I thought we might be relying on Abigail to lead the way to the hive,” Silverhoof boomed, grinning down at them. The bronze-skinned centaur didn’t look much different to Joy than he had before, with a sable lower body and his dark hair still in braids, but the fine leather armor which covered most of his body, as well as the halberd stowed behind his back showed that he was ready for war. Which was good, with army ants involved.
“Yes!” Joy said enthusiastically, grinning broadly. “I found a worker, and she took the message to the hive. We thought we’d wait for you here, since the leopards wanted to eat the horses.”
“Ah, a reasonable concern. A worker, though? Will they listen to her?” Silverhoof asked, rubbing his chin thoughtfully as the others caught up.
“Definitely,” Brianna chimed in confidently. “The apis don’t seem to care about what role one of them has in the hive, at least when it comes to getting information. They’ll listen to her when she gets there. I wouldn’t be surprised if an attendant comes to meet us.”
Abigail nodded, the red-garbed blonde looking at Joy thoughtfully, but she spoke after a moment. “I agree with them, based on my interactions with the apis who helped us. The attendant was very straightforward about what she was allowed to do.”
“Hm. Well, then we’d best be moving,” Silverhoof said, looking ahead of them as he rubbed his chin, then glanced back at the ornately armored man. “Sir Wilbert? How would you like to handle this?”
“You’re the ones who’d be doing the difficult work, so I think you should take the lead,” the man replied in a voice so deep Joy thought it should shake the ground beneath them. He paused, then added, “I see what Abigail meant about the jungle, though. Let’s leave the horses here with some guards. Once we have a plan, we can worry about getting the warhorses to the ants.”
At his words, the other soldiers began dismounting, and a moment later James and the other adventurers followed suit, gathering their equipment as they did so. Joy found it fascinating how they had special sheaths for their staves and the like to keep them on hand. It was mostly interesting since she hadn’t had the chance to ride a horse yet. They got nervous around her, and she didn’t know how to ride them, anyway.
“As you wish,” Silverhoof said, glancing at the jungle again as he grimaced. “I hate going into places like this. Give me a nice open plain any day. Hills are nice, too.”
“We were just discussing how unpleasant that was ourselves,” Cora said, smiling marginally as she bowed her head. “Do you wish for us to lead the way?”
“Please,” Sir Wilbert replied, nodding to her as his gaze drifted over Joy and the others. “You’ve been to the hive before, and your assistance might be crucial.”
“Alright!” Joy chirped, bouncing on her toes as she grinned. “If it’s to get rid of the ants, I’m sure the hive will be happy to help!”
“If you say so,” Abigail replied, her eyes slightly narrowed. At her reaction Joy’s smile faded a little, as she wondered what she’d ever done to the Guildmaster to make her dislike her so much. Then she decided it really didn’t matter as Wilbert turned to the soldiers.
“You four, take care of the horses and keep an eye out for trouble,” he ordered, looking at them levelly.
“But sir, you’ll be on your own!” one of the men protested, glancing at the jungle nervously, only for Wilbert to laugh, a deep, booming sound that impressed Joy still more, and made her think better of him.
“On my own? I’ll have Abigail, Silverhoof, and ten adventurers with me. I’ll be fine,” Wilbert said, grinning at them.
“Well said! I wouldn’t mind going into the jungle on my own, though I prefer not blundering around aimlessly,” Silverhoof agreed, adjusting his halberd. “Ready to go, James?”
“Yes, Guildmaster,” James said, the blonde human grinning broadly as he nodded to Joy. “Hey, how’re you four doing? Maybe we can catch up on the way in.”
“I’m doing good! It’s nice to see you guys!” Joy said, smiling back at him and the others.
Abigail’s eyebrows rose as she looked between James and Joy, then asked, “You know one another?”
“Let’s discuss this on the way,” Silverhoof interjected, glancing at Abigail in amusement. “I’m sure that you’ll find the story interesting.”
Joy nodded and grinned. “Well, in that case, the hive is this way!”
She was practically skipping as they headed into the Teeming Jungle again. They’d met old friends, and they were going to be killing army ants. What could be better?
Chapter 2
“…then she just stabbed him in the eye, and got thrown across the cave. I thought she’d bring down the ceiling, she hit the wall so hard!” James explained, gesturing upward.
“I missed,” Joy corrected, flushing as she looked around nervously. “I didn’t hit his eye.”
“That doesn’t mean you didn’t get close,” Jean murmured, her hands on her daggers. The blonde had gotten nicer armor since the last time Joy had seen her: leather with a faint set of runes engraved into its surface and filled with some sort of blue metal. It made her harder to see, which Joy thought was an interesting effect. “The rest of us didn’t manage to scratch Alethus. You sent him running, after drawing him into the mink nest.”
“He didn’t know minks didn’t like the taste of apis. I didn’t know for sure, but they didn’t like bees, so I thought it was worth the risk,” Joy confessed, a little nervous due to all of the attention she was getting, with almost everyone looking at her. “He wouldn’t do it again! Well, I don’t think he would. He seemed smart.”
“It sounds like you did good work both times you ran into his plots, even if he succeeded at his main goal both times,” Wilbert murmured softly, looking at her in consideration. “When you’re up against someone as powerful as that, even surviving is a victory in itself. Managing to injure him was quite impressive, and if nothing else you’ve cost him over four hundred soldiers for a month, unless he’s willing to risk them dying permanently. I don’t think he is, from what I’ve heard of his reputation.”
Joy paused at a familiar scent, and started to the right, explaining. “Spider lair. Not sure if it’s alive or not.”
“Right,” Silverhoof said, following her and frowning. “I wouldn’t have noticed anything.”
“You didn’t fly right into a web in your first visit,” Cora interjected, looking at Joy in amusement. “She specifically asked how to spot the spiders after that.”
“That would do it,” Eda murmured, smiling slightly as she looked around. She hesitated, then admitted, “I’m surprised you can see anything here. It’s so dark…”
“You can get used to anything, given enough time,” Abigail said, her tone much friendlier as she spoke to the young woman. “As an adventurer, it’s vital. Though, truth be told, I didn’t adventure for that much longer than I’m sure you have. I was offered a position with the guild, and I took it. I’m thinking about getting back into adventuring, though… I didn’t like being captured.”
“Ack, not you too!” Silverhoof protested, his head whipping around to look at Abigail in betrayal. “You wouldn’t believe how many people I’ve heard that from over the last few days!”
“May I ask why? Brianna asked, blinking at Abigail in confusion. “I mean… I’ve heard that you have a lot of benefits as a Guildmaster.”
“I do. You get access to additional training and equipment, and can order gear that’s higher level through the guild’s network, which is quite useful,” Abigail acknowledged, glancing at Wilbert, who looked more curious than anything else. After a few seconds she continued. “The thing is, I know that several people on Bearton’s guild staff took the positions because they were tired of risking their life all the time. I’m among those, and I settled into the position fairly easily. However, when someone attacks in the middle of the night, and they’re strong enough you couldn’t even really fight back… it’s one of those things that shakes you up. I suspect that a couple of them are going to retire to someplace farther from the front lines, and maybe even take up a job as a Farmer or craftsman of some type. Others are like me, and the attack served as motivation. If we’re going to be in danger either way, we’d rather get strong enough that we stand a fighting chance.”
Joy nodded vigorously as understanding washed over her, grinning as she spoke up. “I agree with that! Sure, I wouldn’t hesitate about sacrificing myself for the hive, but I’d rather fight and win. I think most apis feel the same way.”
“Mm… I don’t blame you. Either of you,” Wilbert said, frowning thoughtfully as he looked at Joy. “I’ll admit I’d prefer to have Abigail stay in her position, but it’s not my place to try to keep her in place if she doesn’t want to do the job.”
“Agreed. It’ll just leave a lot of holes in the guild to fill, and that means even more paperwork. I’d rather wear lead horseshoes,” Silverhoof groused, prompting a chorus of laughter from around them.
“Hopefully it won’t come to that. I…” Abigail began, only for her voice to trail off as she looked ahead of them and frowned. “What’s that light?”
Ahead of them the jungle wasn’t as dark, with lights visible, more of them than Joy had expected, and she blinked, tilting her head as she narrowed her eyes… then smiled. She could just barely make out the shape of the Shadebough Hive, but against it were hundreds of tiny dots of golden light, as well as the main entrance. She didn’t see much in the way of apis from this distance, but she could smell their pheromones on the wind.
“It’s the hive!” Joy exclaimed excitedly, clapping her hands together. “They have lots of lights on the outside, like little lanterns! I wonder why?”
“You’d have to ask them,” Cora said, smiling back at her. “Though I’m not looking forward to going inside.”
“Oh? Why’s that?” Silverhoof asked curiously.
“Everything is yellow, and rather brightly lit. I started getting headaches and had a hard time judging distances,” Cora explained, but Joy wasn’t paying much attention, instead watching in fascination as they drew closer to the hive, and she started seeing more details, and curiosity welled up inside her.
The exterior of the hive didn’t look much different than it had before, as she could tell that sections of the paper covering it had been removed to allow light from inside to radiate outward. Joy might not understand why, but it was pretty, and she liked the look of it. More surprising was what else she saw and smelled, though. There were thousands of apis outside the hive, more of them arriving with every passing moment. She had no idea why so many of them were assembling, either. It took the others a little longer to notice, but there was enough movement that almost anyone would notice eventually.
“Uh, are there supposed to be that many apis around the hive? It wasn’t attacked, was it?” James asked hesitantly, peering forward warily.
Stella paused, then glanced at Joy and shook her head. “No, I don’t think so. If that were the case, Joy would’ve smelled it and told us. After the greenhouse incident… well, you’ll know if the apis are upset, believe me.”
“Yup! I’m not sure what’s happening. There are a lot of them outside, but they don’t seem upset. Maybe… nervous?” Joy said, sniffing, then shrugged. “Not angry, though!”
“Well, I suppose we’re about to find out what’s going on,” Wilbert said, a hand resting on his sword hilt. That made Joy a little nervous, but not too much since there were enough apis ahead of them that he probably couldn’t do too much damage if he attacked them.
All around her, Joy saw the others tensing, all but Brianna, Cora, and Stella. And her, of course, but Joy didn’t mind, instead moving forward until the apis swirled, and an attendant stepped out of the crowd to meet them.
“Welcome to the Shadebough Hive. Hello, Joy, as well as to your companions,” the attendant said, nodding politely as she looked the others over with interest, pausing before she asked, “May I ask what the big one is? We’ve not seen his kind before. He is male, yes?”
“He’s a centaur!” Joy volunteered promptly. “He’s Guildmaster Silverhoof, and his hooves aren’t silver. They were just white when he was young.”
“Ah!” the attendant said, looking down at Silverhoof’s hooves closely before nodding in satisfaction, while Joy heard Marilyn make a soft, choking sound. “Having silver hooves would probably hurt.”
“Ah, might I ask who you are? Our company is made up of Guildmaster Abigail the Red, Sir Wilbert the Lion, and the adventurers Eda, Helen, James, Jean, and Mar
ilyn,” Silverhoof said, pausing before adding. “Obviously, you’re already acquainted with Joy and her companions.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you. However, I am one of the queen’s attendants, and this day I am tasked with defending the hive itself,” the attendant said, laying a hand on her chest and bowing slightly. After a moment she straightened and smiled at them, though there was a nervousness to her actions that puzzled Joy.
“You don’t have a name?” Wilbert asked, frowning slightly, and the attendant blinked at him, then laughed and shook her head.
“No, I do not. While I find the idea interesting, we have no need for them,” the attendant replied, smiling broadly at him. “We can tell each other apart by scent.”
“I only have a name because Brianna, Cora, and Stella wanted to give me one,” Joy volunteered, smiling broadly at Cora. “I like the name, but I don’t need it. I know who I am.”
“It helps us tell who you are, Joy,” Cora replied, shifting from one foot to the other. “While you may be able to tell each other apart easily, it isn’t quite as easy for us. Why—”
At that moment a stir rippled through the apis, and a faint scent caused Joy’s eyes to go wide, and she gasped as a tall figure stepped out of the hive entrance. The apis queen was taller than anyone else in the area, even taller than Silverhoof, but what startled Joy was that the queen was outside. She wasn’t in the safety of the hive, and suddenly the presence of so many apis made sense to her.
“Analyze,” Joy heard Abigail murmur, then the woman inhaled sharply and spoke. “Level thirty-six? How did she manage to reach that level here?”
“Ah, my queen has arrived to meet with you,” the attendant said, smiling broadly at them as she added, “Please don’t attack her. I would regret having to stab you. Really, I would.”
“We… didn’t intend for anything of the sort,” Silverhoof said, and paused before asking, “Is this normal?”
“No,” the apis replied, turning to lead them through the other apis, toward where Joy could see a pile of cushions had been set. The other apis weren’t silent, as they spoke among themselves quietly, but they were paying close attention to the group, even as the attendant explained. “Normally, you would not be allowed to meet with the queen, but we’ve been raising a replacement, so she can risk meeting with outsiders. Especially if you can help us get rid of the ants… then we might be able to raise two queens, and found another hive! That would be good.”