Path of the Hive Queen

It started to rain the day after Regina reached level 10. A light drizzle at first, that slowly turned into a pounding rain pouring down on them as the day wore on. Regina and her drones gritted their teeth and continued with their work.

Lots of animals seemed to seek shelter from the rain, and it hampered visibility as well, so Regina kept the Warriors close. With the additional help, despite the weather, work on their log cabin proceeded quickly. They cut down trees and prepared logs to use in building it. Max and Tim’s higher Con stat seemed to have made their blade-limbs tougher, tough enough that they could use them to chop down trees relatively well.

The rain continued through the night, but their shelters kept the worst of it off them. Regina heard the wind howling through the branches of the trees, but it never quite turned into a real thunderstorm. By the time the sun started to rise, the rain was tapering off, and the clouds parted to let some sunshine through. The western horizon showed a truly breathtaking rainbow that made Regina wish she had a camera to capture the sight.

Their meadow had turned to mud in a few places, but overall, it was in pretty good shape. They were far enough from the river not to have to worry about any flooding, and the little lake wasn’t going to be much of a problem even swelling with runoff water. Regina told herself that it could have been a lot worse. She wanted some proper walls by the time a real storm came, though.

She took a break from working in the woods to go to the lake and try to catch some fish with Tia and Tim. It turned out that her Magic Missile worked just as well underwater, so even without proper equipment, she could contribute. Tia used one of the crude spears they’d fashioned, while Tim preferred to dive. He was really good at crouching at the bottom of the lake’s shallows, still and hidden, then pouncing on an unsuspecting passing fish. His stats probably had something to do with it.

“My queen, maybe we should start trying to smoke some meat or fish,” Tia suggested. “Winter is going to come eventually, and there might be times when we don’t have time or opportunity to go hunting.”

Regina nodded. “That’s true. And we can’t rely on just meat for long. I don’t want to overhunt the area. Or even on the greenery. We don’t know if we can really sustain ourselves on that long-term.”

Tia cocked her head, looking thoughtful. “Do you want to start cultivating crops?”

Regina sighed and shrugged. “We’ll have to. I just wish we knew how best to do it or had some seed grains. Maybe we can gather some wild grains, but I’m not sure how well that’ll work.”

“Is it even the right time of the year for that?” Tim asked.

“I don’t know. I’m sure there are some crops that you can plant in the summer.”

Regina stretched where she was sitting on the grass, glancing around. It was a nice day, even with the smell of rain still in the air. She couldn’t bring herself to be too worried about food or crops. They’d get by, and they were still only starting out. Besides, she was sure she could trade something with the elves eventually.

Then she made herself get up. She ripped out some grass and ate it, just to try it out. It tasted surprisingly bitter and she had to chew it a bit, but it wasn’t so bad overall. Regina started walking up and down the lake, assessing her surroundings. The lake wasn’t large, but it would let them build and test boats later on, and the connection to the river would be useful for transport.

Just as she returned to the spot closest to the forest, Regina paused. She felt something shift again. The sensation was different from last time, but she still had an idea of what it meant. Although it had only been two days, not three.

She briefly dipped into the connection she had to her hive as she turned and walked back, checking on everyone’s position. Max and most of the others were still working in the woods not too far from the shelters, though Ben as well as Ace and Ada, the two new Scouts, were out patrolling.

By the time she arrived, the new hatchlings had apparently managed to free themselves of their eggs and stepped out into the open. There, they simply stood, still except for the way their eyes, antennae and occasionally heads tilted to take in their new environment.

Regina paused, coming to a stop a few meters away, and scrutinized them. The War Drones were clearly smaller than the other drones, and built somewhat differently. While their upper limbs had blades similar to the Warriors, their middle ones seemed to be designed to let them walk on four legs as easily as two. They had something resembling hands, though they were stubby, covered in their shell material and four-fingered.

But the most significant difference wasn’t in their physical appearance, but in their minds. Since she picked her Class Ability, Regina had been more aware of the drones’ minds and found it easier to sense them. She didn’t even need to try with these Swarm Drones; they didn’t seem to have much of a barrier and almost automatically linked with her. And what she found was both easier and harder to interpret. They had the same senses and carried information just as easily, but the drones’ own cognitive processes were basic.

Frowning, Regina picked one at random and dove deeper into it. She sensed what it sensed; the wind, the ground under its feet, the movement of the leaves of the surrounding trees, and more. But its feelings were erratic and transient, and barely went beyond hunger, warmth, companions — and something she found hard to put into words, but the closest would be duty. There was no real, higher-level thought. No awareness of itself as an autonomous entity.

Regina gathered herself and took a step closer. “Move forward,” she told them.

At once, the War Drones obeyed her command, walking a few steps forward. All of their attention was on her.

Regina frowned. This was quite interesting. Then she focused and sent a mental command to the left-most drone. On cue, it started stepping back, then circling the others, then jumping into the air and finally cutting down a thick branch from a tree.

She took a moment to direct her attention to her telepathic sense again and focused on Max, sending a short message. She couldn’t really communicate with actual language and detailed thoughts, not yet. But it worked for simple ideas like ‘Come here’. Sure, she could have just called him over the normal way, but she was trying to practice.

In the meantime, she focused on one of them again and tried to focus her attention in a way she’d come to associate with accessing the System. Right away, its status screen appeared.

Regina frowned. It looked like they had considerably lower stats than other drones, or people. Forty in total instead of sixty. And obviously low mental stats, although that raised the question of whether they could get smarter if they leveled up. Still, they weren’t so weak that they couldn’t be dangerous with superior numbers.

“My queen?” Max asked as he came to a stop beside her. “So, the new drones hatched. You called for me?”

Regina nodded and glanced at the Swarm Drones. “Order them to do something.”

Max frowned, but he turned his attention to them and took a step forward. “War Drones, form up in two ranks,” he said loudly.

The War Drones immediately formed two lines, although they were a little uneven since they were an odd number.

Max looked back at Regina, who shrugged. Then he continued, “Stand on two legs and jump into the air. Alright. Uh, patrol around this clearing in pairs while one of you stays here.”

That took a moment longer, and Regina felt an echo of more frenetic mental activity, but in the end the middle War Drone stayed in its place while the other four walked off straight away from it.

“It seems like that’s about the limit of what they can handle,” Regina noted.

Max looked thoughtful. “They’re not like us, are they?”

“No. They don’t seem to be sapient, as far as I can tell. And, well, I can definitely tell, with the telepathic connection. To be honest, I feel like maybe I was supposed to get access to them first and your kind of drones later, but who knows.”

“What does this mean for us?”

“For starters, I’m going to lay another five of these eggs as soon as my mana refills.” Regina shrugged. “I think this development increases the hive’s strength a lot.”

Max nodded. The two of them turned and slowly started heading back towards the others through the trees. They paused as they passed two of the War Drones patrolling in a rough circle around the clearing, walking side by side on four legs.

“Forgive me if this is out of line, but you seem pretty happy about this,” Max observed.

Regina blinked and looked at him, then shrugged. “To be honest, I feel a little relieved. They’re quickly produced and don’t take as much mana out of me, and, not being self-aware, they’re expendable combatants. More expendable, I mean. If we have to fight, I’d rather risk some of them than one of my Warriors.”

Max nodded. They’d stopped, close enough to hear the others at work, but still surrounded by trees. “All of us would gladly risk our lives for you and the hive, but I definitely agree, for what it’s worth.”

Regina ran a hand through her hair, which was still little more than stubble. “I know.”

They stood there for a few seconds, looking at the War Drones and listening to the sounds of the others. Regina wasn’t in a hurry to move. Instead, she tuned in to their minds with half of her attention.

“It seems a little weird, doesn’t it?” Max finally said. “To me at least. I can’t imagine how it must feel like to you.”

“It does feel odd,” she said. “I mean, I laid their eggs.”

“They’re your children,” he said, tilting his head.

“Yeah. Although it feels really weird to think of them like that, having children that are non-sapient.” She exhaled and shook her head. “I mean, I know I haven’t been the best mother, but …”

Max shifted uncomfortably. After a moment, he laid a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t be too hard on yourself, Regina.”

She looked up, met his eyes. “That’s a case in point. You’re calling me by name because I’m not comfortable being called ‘mother’.”

Max winced a little and withdrew his hand, but he didn’t look away.

“There will be too many of us, there already are, for you to act like a parent in your human memories,” he said after a moment.

This time it was Regina’s turn to look away. “I know,” she said quietly.

The underbrush rustled as Max stepped forward. “The knowledge you have and that our hive has is a huge advantage, and I’m sure it colors our view of the world. But presumably our species must do things differently.”

“I know,” she said, looking back at him.

In his eyes, she read an unspoken question. Do you know? But Max was too respectful to say it.

“When did you grow up so much?” she said with a light smile, breaking the tension. “Come on, let’s join the others.”

They resumed walking, while Regina tried not to dwell on the conversation. She focused on the link to the Swarm Drones in her mind and called them back. She should probably feed them first, and then they could be useful and help with the work.

They reached the other drones quickly and caused a bit of a stir with the arrival of the War Drones. Regina watched with a smile as the work got abandoned and they started admiring and testing out the new troops.

Then she glanced at her status screen to distract herself.

It now showed not just her sapient Hive drones but also her Swarm Drones. Her mana had also increased a bit with the new drones' hatching. It could still rise further, although Regina wasn’t quite sure how many slots she wanted to fill in the hive. She’d probably level again before she could reach the limit, anyway.

Regina shook her head and mentally ordered the War Drones to get to work cutting down trees and hacking off branches. She’d have to experiment to see how detailed her commands could and would need to get, and how well her other drones could mimic it. They were presumably supposed to lead parts of the Hive’s Swarm.