The Bee Dungeon

Side Story 375.6 - Don't Bee Scared!

Blazing meteors rained down from the sky all across the battlefield. Stadvolous barely had the presence of mind to throw up a barrier over his camp as he stared up at the bright sun of pure Fire mana that seemingly appeared out of nowhere. The Tower Guards and magically inclined dragonkin in his army followed suit, but most of their barriers were woefully inadequate compared to the giant meteors falling on top of them. Most of the barriers vanished without even slowing the meteors down, even Stadvolous’s developed a crack as a meteor exploded against it.

The rest of the meteors crashed down on his army, shaking the very mountains with the force of their combined collision. The entire mountain pass exploded into a sea of fire, flames that burnt through Fire-type dragonkin and Tower Guards boosted by Fire resistance potions with ease.

As Stadvolous beheld the carnage, only a single word came to his mind.

How?!

How had this happened? What had happened was unfortunately, undeniably clear: there was only one man powerful enough to do this. General Rippotis had returned.

The Dragon Banner Army let out a shout and began an all-out assault against Stadvolous’s disoriented forces. The sea of fire did them no harm, instead the flames empowered the Dragon Banner Army as they struck down scattered survivors. They focused the fire their general had created into even stronger attacks. Stadvolous watched even a Fire dragon burn to death. The fight in the sky went no better, smaller and faster meteors rained on Stadvolous’ flying formations as well. They scattered trying to dodge the barrage, leaving them isolated and vulnerable when the Dragon Banner Army’s wyvern riders dove upon them.

This...was impossible! General Rippotis could not have made it back this quickly! Even if he found a way to travel even faster than his famous true dragon partner could already fly, he could not have slipped past all of Stadvolous’ subordinate Tower Lords without being detected! So...how?! How had he made it back?! How had he snuck past every scout, spy, barrier, and spell put in place to catch him?! And how had he arrived on the battlefield and gathered the mana for such a powerful spell without Stadvolous noticing?!

Even as Stadvolous raged in his mind, the second sun descended upon the battlefield, allowing Stadvolous to make it the details of its form. General Rippotis indeed stood on top of his true dragon, the oldest and most powerful dragon left in the world as far as the Conclave knew, the both of them sheathed in a cloak of white hot fire so bright even Stadvolous’ dragon-blessed eyes could hardly bear to look at it directly. General Rippotis stepped off of his dragon, forming bright wings of fire on his back so he could hover above the battlefield on his own, took a deep breath, and then let out a bellow that echoed through the mountains.

“STADVOLOUS! FACE ME, YOU HUNGER-BITTEN TRAITOR!”

Stadvolous grimaced. This was the reason he wanted to separate General Rippotis from the Dragon Banner Army. This was the reason one scenario he wanted to avoid most.

A direct challenge on an even battlefield.

A dragon worth the name would not refuse such a contest of power. Could not refuse. If Stadvolous refused to step out now, he’d be admitting in the sight of his entire army that he feared General Rippotis’ power, that it was superior to his own. Any naturally born dragonkin could then submit themselves to the greater power, the spawner monsters bound to him would become unruly even if they could not betray him. And the Tower Guard...his trusted elites aside, the rank and file Tower Guard were already questioning what was going on and why they were fighting a fellow High Councilor’s forces. If Stadvolous were to act unbecoming of a disciple of Dragons and lose their respect...he may quickly lose their loyalty as well.

The God of Dragons himself would be greatly displeased at such a display. He might even decline to punish oath-breaking Tower Guards if they chose to submit to the greater dragon, should their leader flee in cowardice.

If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

If the Dragon Banner Army had already been defeated and General Rippotis had been alone, Stadvolous might have been able to decline the challenge and crush the man with his army, wiping away any dishonor with victory and overwhelming power. But now, with both their armies present and Stadvolous’ reeling from the general’s surprise attack... he had no choice. He could not use his monster army, his elite Tower Guards, or his true dragons, he would now have to duel the greatest warrior in the Conclave in single combat. And he knew that General Rippotis, the man who taught the Conclave how to raise dragons, knew that too.

But he had no choice but to grit his teeth and do it. Stadvolous steeled himself for the fight of his life. He had great power but he knew General Rippotis was far and away the more experienced warrior. He would just have to hope that the general was fatigued by his long and impossibly fast trip...

“GAH!”

But then, sharp pain stung Stadvolous’ neck. He whipped around...only to find nothing there. He used every heightened sense for mana and matter his blessing gave him, but he only saw his own Tower Guard.

Just as he was wondering if a spark of General Rippotis’ flames had managed to pierce his barrier...pain shot through his entire body. Stadvolous hunched over, coughing and hacking. His eyes went wide as he coughed up blood, his throat burning near the part of his neck where he had felt the sharp pain.

His body was under attack by a deadly toxin, one empowered by great magic. The sharp pain was no fire at all, but some sort of unseen assassin...one that he still couldn’t detect. He curled upon himself and created a dragon cloak, whipping his head around every which way.

What in the gods names had just happened?! Where in the Hunger’s stomach did General Rippotis get an assassin that could slip past a dragon’s senses?! Since when had the hotheaded Tower Lord of Fire started resorting to poisonous backstabbing?!

“STADVOLOUS, WHERE ARE YOU?! ARE YOU A COWARD AS WELL AS A TRAITOR?! IS THAT ALL A HIGH COUNCILOR OF DRAGONS AMOUNTS TO?! FACE ME NOW, IF THE GOD OF DRAGONS HAS GIVEN YOU EVEN A SCRAP OF COURAGE!”

Stadvolous looked back up towards General Rippotis, that blazing sun of mana that burned brighter than Stadvolous had ever thought possible. His face paled, his eyes quivered as he imagined trying to fight such power while poison ravaged his body, his mana split between holding back white hot flames and regenerating damage from within...all while General Rippotis’ unseen assassin lurked for his next opening...

Stadvolous, High Councilor of the Conclave, one of the most powerful Tower Lords of the God of Dragons...fled the battlefield. He took with him his elites and his reserves...though one of his true dragons refused and remained to fight to the end. The Tower Guards and monsters on the field...were left to their fates. Those that managed to survive the meteors and the flames could only watch, wide-eyed, as their mighty master fled in the face of General Rippotis’ challenge.

It was not long before they all, Tower Guard and dragonkin alike, lowered their arms and claws and surrendered to General Rippotis and the Dragon Banner Army. In the end, General Rippotis was reunited with his army...while High Councilor Stadvolous had just lost most of his.

And Queen Vanieskon watched it all with a frown on her face. Thanks to a nomadic monster bee assassin, hidden and empowered by her magic, she had managed to make some impact on this battle. Yet, she was now left pondering how exactly she and her allies were going to take control of all the dungeons General Rippotis had promised them if she could not charm their current defenders...

Meanwhile, the bees responsible for bringing the general back were spinning around up in the sky above the battlefield.

“Hive burners fighting other hive burners!”

“New big lizard things! Fighting other big lizard things!”

“Is all new! Should tell queen mother and empress mother and battle meadow queens!”

“Lots of fire rocks! Amazing, incredible! Empress mother can tell Third of Sixth!”

With the exception of the First of the Fifth’s First Daughter’s communers, all the bees present were the Fourth of the Seventh’s children. While the soldiers and assassins went off to join the fight, the workers happily watched a battle unlike any they had seen before, excited to share the new experience with their queen mother and the hive of hives. They spread out across the area, each flying around to see as many new things as they possibly could, just as their queen mother would.

The breeze bees mostly stayed with the beeswax golem, keeping it aloft, so they kept watch on the battlefield itself. The nomadic bees, with their greater range and senses, moved out a bit further. Some of them even started to fly beyond the battlefield, exploring the surrounding mountains...and foraging from any flowers they found to replenish their honey stocks.

One of them, however, found something that wasn’t new at all when she went to forage from a field of flowers. As she dove down out of the sky, she realized that she wasn’t alone.

Mundane honeybees zipped around the flower patch. And the nomadic bee worker did exactly what she knew her queen mother would have.

“Hi new hive! Want join hive of hives?”