Hives Heroism by Benjamin Medrano (z-lib.org)

by Unknown

  “Were you trying to say something?” Joy asked, tilting her head as she looked at Cora. “I couldn’t understand you!”

  “I was saying that I couldn’t breathe!” Cora said, blinking and levering herself upright, feeling decidedly off-balance.

  “Oh, I’m sorry, I was just so excited to get started for the day that I didn’t think about it!” Joy apologized, bouncing backward, and in the process showing Cora that for once in a long while the apis wasn’t in her armor, and she wasn’t in her dress, either. Instead, she was wearing a yellow silk blouse and black trousers, neither of which Cora remembered seeing before. Cora blinked again, then her gaze drifted to the apis’s bed. At least Joy had learned not to jump into Cora’s bed for company every night.

  Next to Joy’s bed was something that looked incredibly odd to Cora. The apis’s rapier was covered in a thick layer of wax, and next to it was a pile that looked suspiciously like Joy’s armor, also covered in wax. Cora blinked and yawned, shaking her head to try to get rid of the remaining cobwebs.

  “It would’ve been nice to be able to sleep in for once,” Cora said, untangling herself from the blankets and wishing that she had it in her heart to stay angry with Joy. Some days she liked being able to hold a grudge, but she couldn’t with the apis. Instead, she asked, “What’s going on with your sword, and I’m guessing your armor? And why are you excited to get started?”

  “I did let you sleep in! I woke up when the horizon got brighter!” Joy replied, her grin huge, then she looked at her bed and added, “But I decided to fuse my equipment! It’s odd, seeing it sort of melt into each other, but now it needs a few hours to settle in together. Maybe most of a day.”

  “Ah, I suppose that explains it. I wondered how it would work…” Cora said, her thoughts moving slower than they normally would, then shook her head firmly. “Anyway, why are you so excited? We’re stuck here until the military figure out where the enemy army is.”

  “Because you said we could look for books today!” Joy said enthusiastically, her eyes sparkling brightly as she smiled even more. “The ones about flowers and buildings!”

  “Um, I thought it was Brianna who said that we could look for books,” Cora said, resting her feet on the floor. The inn was at least warm enough that the floorboards weren’t too cold, so it wasn’t that uncomfortable. Nowhere near as uncomfortable as the smile on Joy’s face fading, making Cora feel like she’d kicked a puppy or something.

  “You don’t want to come with?” Joy asked plaintively, her eyes wide as she stared at Cora.

  “Ah… I didn’t say that, Joy. I just said that I thought Brianna was the one who told you that, not me,” Cora said, shifting in place uncomfortably, then winced as she realized that one of the muscles in her back felt like she’d pulled it or something. She slowly rolled her left shoulder, trying to work out the kink as she continued. “I’m willing to come with, but give me some time? My back is a little sore, and I do need breakfast.”

  “Yay!” Joy said, her smile returning fully in an instant, which prompted a smile from Cora, even as she wondered if Joy had been manipulating her.

  Likely not, but it made her wonder.

  Joy thanked every one of the gods that breakfast was over and that they were out of the inn. She normally didn’t enjoy the smell of the meals that Brianna, Cora, and Stella ate, but this morning’s meal had been absolutely terrible. Worse, they didn’t seem to be aware of just how foul cheese smelled to her… and apparently Clarion’s goat cheese was considered a specialty. It horrified her, though she didn’t tell them that.

  Now they were out in the clean air of the city streets, and she took deep breaths of the air, thankful that the prevailing wind was blowing the air from the smithing district away from them. She could just barely catch the scent of flowers on the wind, and she perked her antennae up, trying to figure out where the flowers were coming from.

  “Where’s the Shimmerwood?” Joy asked, after a moment.

  “It’s north of us. Northeast, really… it stretches from the edge of the Iron Hills to the northern border of the duchy, and is contained by the gorge along the Mantis River,” Brianna replied, gesturing to their north idly. “If it weren’t for the land on the other side of the river being pretty infertile, I suspect it would’ve spread even more.”

  “Right! Then I can smell its flowers, barely. They smell a little different,” Joy said, sniffing a little more, then shrugged, considering what she knew about the forest. It wasn’t much, unfortunately.

  “They probably would. I’ve heard that the entire forest is filled with illusions, making it difficult to navigate even for people who know it well, and that the flowers have a scent that disorients a lot of people,” Cora said, looking around the street with a frown. “It’s part of the reason that a lot of adventurers don’t go there, even when they’re close to the level of the creatures inside. It’s far too easy to get lost, and that can be bad when you’re pushing your limits.”

  “Oh!” Joy said, adding the information to what she knew. It fit rather well, though it did make her wonder if the local apis were different. Or perhaps apis were immune to the illusions, which would be interesting. “I wonder—”

  Before Joy finished, Stella cleared her throat and spoke apologetically. “Sorry, Joy, but I think that store sells the sort of books you’re looking for.”

  Joy looked in the direction Stella was pointing and her eyes lit up. The sign proclaimed the store the ‘Clarion Book Emporium,’ and even from outside she could see shelves upon shelves of books, their spines gleaming softly in the light.

  “Ooh, yay! I hope they have the sort of books I want!” Joy said, starting forward, but Cora caught her arm, laughing as she kept Joy from rushing into the main road.

  “Careful, Joy. There’s a wagon coming,” Cora said with a smile. “Besides, I think we should warn that books are pretty expensive. There are a few spells that help copy them more quickly, but by and large they’re written by hand the first time, so you’re probably going to have to pay a lot for anything useful.”

  “Oh? How much is a lot?” Joy asked, waiting as the wagon passed, the draft horse’s hooves clip-clopping on the cobblestone road. She also was mentally going over the number of coins she had, since she’d paid for a quarter of the costs from the previous day. It’d been only about thirty-five hundred coins, since the others had insisted on splitting the cost evenly. That left her at about thirteen thousand coins, between their expenses and various rewards.

  “What… two thousand coins for a book?” Cora asked, looking at the other two.

  “Don’t ask me!” Brianna said, raising her hands and shaking her head quickly. “I haven’t dealt with books very much.”

  “Mm… that sounds right to me, at least for tomes that are useful to their readers. The ones that cover rare subjects, like advanced magic or high-level creatures, tend to cost significantly more,” Stella said, tapping her belt idly. “Some of the more common books can be as little as a thousand coins, at least where I came from. Holy texts and more basic books… I’m not sure what Joy’s books will be considered.”

  “We can find out!” Joy replied, pausing impatiently, and asked, “Can we cross now? I don’t see any nearby wagons.”

  Cora laughed, letting go of Joy’s arm, and they crossed the street. This was a little nicer than some of the other areas of the city Joy had seen, with smoother roads and buildings that had better materials, which she took to mean it was what the others called an ‘upper class’ neighborhood. Not that Joy really understood what that meant.

  She reached the store door and paused, examining the iron bars on the other side of the glass window in the center of the door, then shrugged and opened it. There was a tinkle of a bell from above her, and Joy glanced up to see the bell just above the door where a protruding bar would tap it when the door opened. That was interesting… but more interesting was the store itself.

  The front room wasn’t quite as large as Joy had thought i
t was from the outside. Several bookcases surrounded the room, with a couple of them in the center, making efficient use of the space available. She approved of that, even if she didn’t necessarily approve of the smells. The oil wasn’t too bad, nor was the ink, but the leather wasn’t a scent she was fond of. The smell of paper was overwhelming, though, and that wasn’t too bad, as she looked at the leather-bound books and stepped deeper into the shop, which was virtually silent aside from the sounds coming from outside.

  Until a human woman poked her hair around a corner, anyway. The woman had brown hair pulled back into a messy bun, which was held in place by what looked to Joy like an ink pen. She had brown eyes and a small, upturned nose, while she was wearing a tan dress and an ink stained brown apron. As the woman smiled warmly at Joy, a hint of confusion in her gaze, Joy noticed that she had numerous ink stains on her hands as well.

  “Welcome to the Book Emporium! I’m sorry, but I just have to ask; are you an apis?” the woman asked, looking Joy over with interest.

  “I am! My name is Joy, and I came from the Tulip Hive!” Joy replied, smiling broadly at the woman.

  “That’s in the Flower Forest,” Brianna interjected, smiling as she added, “Remember, Joy, most people have never seen an apis yet. That’ll change over time, but unless a lot of apis start traveling, I doubt it’ll change much.”

  “Oh, of course!” Joy said, nodding in understanding.

  “Well, it’s good to meet you, Joy. I’ve only heard a few rumors about the apis north of here, so I wondered what your people were like,” the woman said, then shook herself as she clicked her tongue chidingly. “Ah, but where are my manners? I’m Angela, the current manager of the Book Emporium! Here we have the finest collection of books in all Clarion! How can I help you?”

  “I heard there were books about flowers, and… what did you call it, Brianna?” Joy asked, looking at the human, flushing in embarrassment. She knew she’d learned the word, but it slipped her mind at exactly the wrong moment.

  “Architecture,” Brianna said, an amused smile on her face. Stella cleared her throat and spoke up gently a moment later.

  “To be accurate, Joy is looking for books on how to cultivate a variety of flowers, as well as a basic book regarding architecture. She’s built things as a giant bee and as an apis, but normal architecture is unusual for her,” the priestess explained gently. “I don’t know if anyone else is looking for anything, but I’m curious if you have any holy texts regarding Mother Moon. I have one from my homeland, but I’m curious if there are any regional differences between here and there.”

  Angela nodded, tapping her chin as she thought for a moment, then answered. “Yes, that helps, as there are an enormous variety of books regarding flowers and architecture. Narrowing it down to cultivating… there are three that I can think of, and one architectural book. As to your request about the holy text, I believe we have one, but I’ll have to check in the back. Tomes regarding the less commonly worshipped deities are kept in the back rooms.”

  “Excellent,” Cora said, looking at Joy as she added, “I’m afraid that I don’t need anything, and I doubt Brianna does either, so… could we see the books in question?”

  Once Brianna nodded her agreement, Angela smiled broadly and spoke. “Of course! If you’d follow me? Each of the books I have in mind has their own advantages and disadvantages, so it’s mostly a question of your personal preferences which will be the most useful.”

  Joy nodded, though she was curious what the woman meant. Angela quickly circled one of the bookshelves, obviously knowing exactly where she was going, and pulled three books off the shelf, and as she did, Joy’s eyes widened. The smallest of them was about an inch and a half thick, and the largest was two inches, making them rather weighty when she considered that they were about as long as her forearm.

  Angela carried them seemingly effortlessly as she pulled another book out of a separate section, asking, “If you’d follow me? We have a few book stands over here to let you look at them before making any decisions. Be aware that I insist on being present if you’re examining a book, as we’re not a library.”

  “Of course,” Cora murmured, smiling wryly as they followed. “Alas, adventurers move often enough that paying for access to libraries isn’t very effective.”

  That was an interesting comment, making Joy wonder what the mage meant, but she was quickly sidetracked as they entered a room with several chairs, as well as a couple of odd desks at angles, with a raised ledge near the bottom. Angela set one book on a desk, the raised ledge holding it in place, then placed the others on a shelf to the side.

  “So, this is the first book, and the shortest. It has basic information on cultivating flowers, but it doesn’t have as many details about the properties of the different flowers, and it has relatively few illustrations for demonstrating the techniques. It does have some, but it’s not as detailed,” Angela explained, opening the book and carefully turning the pages, showing that it had been written in a careful hand, each page holding a fair amount of text, and with occasional outlines of flowers or diagrams on them, ones which Joy quickly realized were supposed to be showing garden layouts. The problem was that she wasn’t sure what some of the symbols meant, and Angela turned the pages quickly enough that she didn’t have time to puzzle them out.

  “What about the others?” Cora asked, looking at Joy as she added, “Do consider which one will be most useful for you, Joy. I’m not sure how well you’d learn from descriptions.”

  “Me neither!” Joy admitted cheerfully, looking at Angela enthusiastically. “Sorry, but I’m not used to books. I haven’t had the chance to go through one before.”

  Angela smiled warmly as she nodded. “To be honest, most of the common folk haven’t, either. They cost enough that some families don’t own any, or if they do, they’re handed down through the family. Now, on to the next one. This one has less information about cultivating, and more about the properties of flowers and where they grow, along with more numerous sketches to help identify them.”

  The shopkeeper closed the first book and set it aside in favor of the next book. This one immediately intrigued Joy, since it had text, but almost every page had an illustration of a flower. Each of them was set up so that it had a picture, then a full description of the plant that flowed onto the following page. She quickly identified the different sections the author used to describe the environment the plants were native to, what uses they had, and what dangers often surrounded them before Angela closed the book and set it aside to pick up the third book, the one that was much larger than the others.

  This one she opened, and Joy’s eyes went wide as she saw the first part was a detailed description of different garden styles, complete with illustrations and diagrams. Like the others, it wasn’t in color, but it showed a lot of how things were put together, and after that it had gardening techniques, also with numerous examples, then it was followed up with descriptions similar to those in the second book, save that they stated which garden types and gardening techniques worked best for the style… Joy fell in love with the book almost on the spot, and was terribly disappointed when Angela closed it.

  “As you can see, each of the books addresses different aspects of flowers and gardening. Personally, I suspect the second book is more useful for adventurers, simply because it can tell you what sort of dangers might be in the plant’s general area and allow you to identify those which are poisonous,” Angela said, and smiled wryly as she picked up the book on architecture. “On the other hand, this is a little simpler, because it addresses building things of stone, wood, and even sod or clay. While techniques may vary at the more advanced levels, you’re wanting a basic approach, which this can provide.”

  She opened the book, and while it had diagrams and the occasional illustration, it was largely filled with descriptions of techniques with diagrams and formulae accompanying them. It took Joy a few moments to understand what different bits talked about, then she felt
it falling into place, mostly due to her background building things in a hive. What she often did by instinct, the book described in a formulaic way… and it also had approaches that might be useful.

  “Neat!” Joy said, her eyes bright as she looked at the books, torn between which ones she wanted. She was about to say more, but Stella interrupted smoothly.

  “May I ask how much each of them costs? Also, what of the book regarding Mother Moon?” the human asked politely, a warm smile on her face.

  “Ah, of course. I’ll tell you the prices, then leave you to discuss while I see if we have the holy text in question.” Angela said, smiling warmly as she closed the book on architecture. “This one is eight hundred coins, the first two books on gardening are each one thousand coins, and the last is one thousand five hundred coins. Now, I’ll be right back. Please don’t touch the books, or if you do, be gentle.”

  “Sure!” Joy said, watching her go, then looked at the books closely, her thoughts moving rapidly, and once the woman was out of the room, she spoke. “I want all of them. But I don’t need them all.”

  “No, you don’t need all of them. Spending over four thousand coins on books that aren’t going to be that much of a benefit for your current job seems like you’re going a bit overboard,” Cora replied dryly, folding her arms as she watched Joy in amusement. “It’s your money, though. I don’t have any right to tell you what to do with it.”

  “The question is what you’re going to do with your money. I’ll admit that we have a lot of coin for our levels, but we spent a fair amount getting more equipment. You definitely don’t want to go below the two thousand mark, in case we reach level twenty,” Brianna added, tapping her chin thoughtfully.

  Stella cleared her throat, speaking up in a chiding tone. “Pardon me? Joy is the one of us who burns through the least money. If I still have eight thousand coins, I’m certain that she has much more than that.”

  Joy giggled as Brianna flushed, and the human shifted in place looking away in embarrassment. “Ah, that… is a definite point. And one I hadn’t considered.”