The Bee Dungeon

Chapter 371 - Bee-lieving the Enemy?

Belissar tilted his head. For some reason, it felt like something was jabbing the Tower’s mana in the Hall of Purification. He turned his attention there...and found one of Starami’s Tower Guard trying to talk to him. Offering...to surrender.

Once Belissar had overcome his surprise, he sent word to his allies of the new development. As the sun set, he gathered together in the nexus door room with Wardmaster Varilold, Henilett, and Fourth Queen Pezuya. Wardmaster Varilold and Henilett glanced at each other, the pixie giggled.

“Trap?”

Wardmaster Varilold hummed.

“It’s certainly possible.”

Belissar blinked.

“A trap?”

Henilett smirked.

“Imagine this, Tower Keeper. You managed to repel your enemy’s assault, wounding and killing some of his best troops. Then, all of a sudden, only days into the assault, some of his troops offer to surrender. You accept this and create a shortcut for them past your death room and your army. Then, once they’re through, they attack, now safely behind all of your defenses. And while you scramble to deal with their treachery, their main army launches another assault and moves past your death room without any resistance. It’s a classic tactic, poorly executed in my opinion. The surrender should at least be believable!”

Belissar frowned.

“That’s...”

Belissar couldn’t refute the possibility Henilett had raised, it did sound like a good way for Lord Starami to deliver an army past the Abyssal Trench, maybe past all of his battle rooms depending on where he let them.

Wardmaster Varilold took her time, rubbing her chin before replying.

“On the other hand, the Tower Keeper already reported there was some dissent and even an execution related to the gods when they first entered his tower. Humans always did take their theology more seriously than most fair folk, so perhaps it’s not unthinkable.”

Belissar’s eyes widened as he realized what he wanted to say.

“Ah, yes I think it’s possible. The Tower Lords lied to me all my life, I found out the moment I met the karnuq and realized they weren’t mindless monsters. Hirkolos said he joined the Tower Guard because he thought he would be defending people, not burning villages down. Even Sehfitis has been surprised to find out the Tower Lords have not been following the gods’ will and figuring out their will was his job! I think that maybe the Tower Lords lied to the Tower Guard too...if they found that out then maybe they’re upset too?”

Wardmaster Varilold and Henilett glanced at one another and at Fourth Queen Pezuya. When none of them replied, Wardmaster Varilold spoke up.

“We could take precautions, set up a prison room and prepare contingencies for treachery. If it works, either splitting the enemy army or wiping out a secret assault force would be an excellent result. But that would take time and resources, both from you and me, Tower Keeper, that we could spend improving our main defenses, I can only make so many wards in a day and you only have so many rooms and features. These are your people and you’ve been watching them since they’ve arrived...do you feel the chance is worth the risk and the resources we will have to spend?”

Belissar considered that. Would he rather Wardmaster Varilold spend her time adding more wards to his battle rooms, each of which could potentially save the lives of many soldier bees? Or did he want to believe that there were more Tower Guards like Hirkolos? Was it worth the risk? On the one hand, even Sehfitis turned around when he realized he had been opposing the gods. But on the other hand, even Hirkolos had burned down Belissar’s old village...and these Tower Guards had all been working to destroy his Tower up to now. Would it be worth losing more bees to give them a chance?

Belissar considered asking Velebee...only to find that she was currently sleeping inside a sealed wax cell. He was briefly distracted by the thought of Velebee evolving before bringing his mind back on task. It seemed he would have to make this decision himself.

He thought back to the day his village burned and he nearly died, forcing himself not to turn from the memories. He thought of Lord Starami’s son killing them all just for happening to live near a new Tower that none of them knew would be there. He thought of Lord Starami doing nothing as his people died of a plague, including Belissar’s parents.

And he remembered the sheer fury he felt when he met the karnuq and discovered all the lies. His mana started to buzz as his chest burned...if anything, perhaps he still held his anger in back then, when he thought the Tower Lords were chosen by the gods and when he lacked the power to ever oppose them. Now he knew otherwise and he and his allies had already struck down a veteran Tower Guard. Now there was no reason for him to hold himself back.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from novelhall; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

And that is how he made his decision, even as spell bees began to form around him.

“Let’s do it. Every Tower Guard we don’t have to fight will help. Our defenses held and my bees are ready to do their part if Starami attacks again. And...I will not be another Tower Lord. I will not wipe people out if I don’t have to.”

Henilett quirked her eyebrow.

“And if they are planning a secret assault?”

Belissar narrowed his eyes.

“Then we deal with them.”

Wardmaster Varilold cracked a small smile.

“Well...an ambush anticipated will be repaid with interest. If they want to send a force into a place of our choosing, I won’t complain. Let’s discuss what we would need to handle what they might send.”

And thus began some...surprisingly vicious preparations for accepting a surrender. But that didn’t disturb Belissar in the slightest. If these Tower Guards, like Hirkolos, had realized their faults, then Belissar would do them no harm. But if this was a ploy to attack him...they had already claimed too many bees as it was. Belissar would not permit them to harm any more.

That plan, though would have to wait. As the next morning dawned, the tunneling nomadic bees near Starami’s subterranean camp reported movement. A big chunk of Starami’s army marched back onto the surface...and started marching away from Belissar’s Tower, in the direction of the fortress the fair folk had refurbished.

The alliance thus went back to battle footing, Belissar gathered back in the nexus door room with the commanders of the various forces on his side. He tilted his head as he watched Wardmaster Varilold and Duke Turuhavare of the silver elves barked out orders.

“We’re trying to defend the fortress? I thought we didn’t need to anymore with the Hall of Purification?”

Wardmaster Varilold finished her latest order before replying.

“We’re not going to hold it, but we aren’t giving it up for free either. It’s a good chance to bleed our foe from a good position, as long as we’re careful.”

Belissar nodded and then fell silent, letting the fair folk focus on their work. They would be taking the lead for this battle, the bees likely wouldn’t be involved unless there was an emergency. And since the battle was only intended to weaken Starami’s forces, Wardmaster Varilold preferred that he keep his forces in the Tower and keep building them up for more decisive battles ahead.

And so, the Compact deployed for a siege. Silver elf archers lined up on the fortress walls, their silver armor shining in the morning sun like a silver crown on top of a stone head. Behind the fortress’s main gates, the black elves’ golems stood at the ready holding swords and axes and hammers that were larger than Belissar, while silver elves with spears gathered by their feet. Some golems gathered in an open courtyard within the walls, loading rocks covered in wards into wooden contraptions Belissar hadn’t seen before. Wardens rushed through the halls of the fortress, adding last minute touches to the wards they had spread throughout the structures...preparing surprises for the enemy after the fair folk withdrew, according to Wardmaster Varilold.

Meanwhile, silver elf cavalry gathered by the external shortcut exits Belissar had added to the nexus door room. The area around the fortress was open farmland, so they would wait within his Tower to remain hidden from view. The Royal Pixie Guard, however, along with a handful of green elf rangers, hid amidst wheat fields and empty farmhouses to cause mischief once the battle began.

They kept their heads down for now, though, because Starami’s true dragon flew overhead, unleashing a roar across the entire countryside. Starami’s wyvern riders flew in formation high in the sky, so high above the fortress they looked like a flock of birds from the eyes of the bees Belissar had scattered around the area.

And then came Starami’s army, emerging from a new tunnel to bypass the angry forest around Belissar’s Tower. A screen of unhappy kobolds marched ahead, clearing out any remaining traps and wards across the purified area with their bodies. Behind them, the Tower Guard marched in force, four thousand soldiers in metal and dragonscale armor, each a blessed champion of the God of Dragons, and accompanied by all sorts of drakes. The same ground drakes that had featured in previous battles, but now joined by drakes and even small dragons in all sorts of colors. Some with red scales and smoke wafting from their breath, others with green scales and dripping sickly green saliva from their mouths. Smaller dragons with white scales flew just above the army and larger kobolds with wings and proper equipment marched in formation with the humans.

Starami had deployed about half his remaining force for this battle, which now took up positions in front of the fair folk’s fortress once the kobolds had cleared the area. They formed a half circle around the half of the fortress facing the direction of Belissar’s Tower, armored soldiers forming a wall of shields and mana across the fields. Yet, they hung back, not approaching the Tower too closely, and left the entire back of the castle open.

Wardmaster Varilold had set up some clairvoyance wards around the fortress, so back in Belissar’s Tower she and the other leaders could see what was going on. Duke Turuhave frowned.

“What are they doing? They’ve only formed half a siege and they’re too far back. Their formation won’t constrain our movements at all. Are they that frightened by our archers? They cannot hope to assault a fortress if so.”

Wardmaster Varilold furrowed her brow but did not reply yet. She just continued to observe quietly, but Starami’s army did not change its formation, nor did it move to prepare for an assault.

Instead, a single man stepped out of the line and walked towards the fortress. He was dressed in heavy armor made from dragonbone and dragonscales and had a cape with Starami’s insignia embroidered upon it. As he stepped forward, mana began to condense and grow visible around him, slowly shaping into the form of a red dragon, holding its head up high as it marched at a measured pace.

Every Tower Guard stood at attention as the man stepped closer to the fortress. Drakes lowered their bodies down to the ground while wyverns angled themselves towards him. Every eye in the assembled army was fixed upon him, watching his every move. Even the true dragon stopped circling overhead, hovering in place over the army as if waiting for the man to act.

Belissar and his allies fell silent. Somehow, they all knew exactly who the man was. Lord Starami had taken the field.

The Tower Lord inhaled deeply...and then unleashed his dragonfire towards the fortress.