Sting & Song (Beesong Chronicles Book 1)
Sting & Song
Benjamin Medrano
Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Epilogue
Webs & Wards Preview
Sting & Song by Benjamin Medrano
© 2019 Benjamin Medrano. All rights reserved.
Contact the author at BenjaminPMedrano@gmail.com
Visit the author’s website at benjaminmedrano.com
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Editing by Picky Cat Proofreading
Cover Art by Domina Art
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
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Prologue
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Xinra said, the disbelief in her voice almost palpable. “A deific flush?”
All the gods stared at the cards laying on the table in front of Yonra. The deity was sitting back, grinning like a loon as he replied. “What? I told you that my luck had to turn eventually.”
They all looked at Besalk, and the god of luck quickly raised his hands defensively, protesting. “I had nothing to do with it! Yonra’s luck may have been abysmal every other game, but I’ve never used my powers for or against him.”
“In that case it means that Yonra wins,” Assyran said evenly, and he smiled as he added, “According to the rules laid down before this millennium’s contest, a deific flush means that all participants owe Yonra a major boon.”
Everyone was silent briefly, and they stared at Assyran for a long moment. He was the Balancer of Scales, which was why everyone was happy to have him judging their contests, at least most of the time. Then they looked at Yonra in trepidation, seeing the grin on the bearded, blond deity’s face.
“Uh-oh,” Fayliss murmured, the goddess of beauty eying him warily.
“Oh, don’t get your panties in a twist, Fay. I’m not going to ask you for anything you’ll object to. As a matter of fact, I know exactly what I want, and it’s a minor price to pay for all of you,” Yonra said, rolling his eyes, and all the others tensed more. Yonra was a god of chaos, and they never trusted him when he smiled like that.
“What might that be?” Xinra asked warily.
Yonra snapped his fingers, and a sheaf of paper popped into existence in front of each of the gods, including Assyran, who took it with a raised eyebrow and slight smile. The various deities picked the pages up, reading them as Yonra spoke.
“The world’s gotten too boring, so I want a new species. Nothing that will break the balance that you so desperately adore, but something interesting,” the deity said, grinning broadly. “What I want is—”
“Bee-girls?” Demask demanded, his deep voice filled with shock.
The others stared at the papers, then at Yonra. After a moment he replied mildly. “Yes, bee-girls. And bee-boys, but considering bees, they probably won’t be as common.”
“Why? What do you have planned?” Fayliss asked suspiciously.
“I don’t have anything planned, I just want to have some fun. I very carefully made sure the proposal won’t have anything that any of you object to,” Yonra replied, buffing his nails on his robe. “In fact, as long as you all agree to it, I’ll consider the favors… spent.”
Everyone looked at Assyran, and the deity smiled slightly. “The favors he’s owed are his to call in, not my own. The proposal appears to be within the bounds of merely two greater favors, let alone as many as he has won.”
“See?” Yonra said, and grinned. “Look, I’ll even agree to allow you to fix any problems that arise afterward, as long as the changes are kept to the minimum necessary to fix the issue. I just want my bee-girls, damn it.”
Fayliss looked over the papers, and after a moment she nodded slowly. “In that case… I will agree to this.”
The other deities hesitated, then voiced their own agreement as Yonra’s grin widened still more. And as their agreement was voiced, the world beneath them remained unaware of how much things were about to change.
Chapter 1
The giant bee quickly circled the rose, humming happily to herself. Half her inventory was full already, which meant that she was making good progress. The queen would likely be pleased with her. Still, it wouldn’t do to wander into range of a wasp or spider in her eagerness, so she examined her surroundings carefully.
The rose was large and attractive, and she practically salivated at the nectar she could smell from within. It would likely finish filling her inventory, and she didn’t see or smell any signs of danger. Not even from the fleshy creatures that occasionally hunted her kindred.
So the bee headed into the flower, her humming growing still happier.
The adventurers had cut their way deep into the hive, and many workers had fallen trying to block their advance. The attackers were two humans, a dwarf, three half-elves, and an elf, all of whom had taken precautions to protect themselves from the venomous stings of the workers. They’d taken some injuries so far, but in return they’d felled dozens of workers, and at last they’d made it into the queen’s chambers.
A swarm of workers, including several of the queen’s attendants, descended on the intruders desperately, and they could see the hulking figure of the queen past the attacking bees.
With a yell a human warrior waved his shield and stomped, creating a shockwave that knocked the insects back. The elf chanted briefly and extended her staff, and an eruption of lightning blasted through the bees, stunning them as they twitched and fell to the ground.
“Quick, get her while they’re stunned!” the dwarf called out, her voice clear.
The group charged into the chamber, all the wax cells around them glistening with honey and pollen, and the queen began to bite and sting as she tried to defend herself. They surrounded her quickly, though, and she began flagging as they landed several telling blows, including one of the half-elves burying a dagger in one of her wings to keep her from flying.
She staggered to the side as a hammer cracked her abdomen, and the attackers exclaimed in excitement as the other bees were starting to come to their senses. The queen felt the faintest sense of regret, wishing she could do something to protect her hive. In that moment she felt the offer, and she instantly seized the chance and agreed.
Evolve Hive into Apis Hive?
Evolving into Apis Hive
A flash of white light blasted through the hive, blinding the attackers as they recoiled in surprise. As the light faded, the queen found herself changed. Echoing in her mind was a statement, but she ignored it,
instead looking down at herself in surprise at the same time as her attackers looked at her in shock.
The queen’s body was now more like that of her attackers, similar to that of a human, and with vision that focused forward. Her body was sheathed in black chitin armor, much like their warrior wore plate, but it had multiple yellow stripes across its surface and was cracked where she’d been injured. In one hand she held a rapier made of black chitin which shone with a layer of green liquid along its length. Beyond her attackers she could see her workers and drones, and they were slowly standing up again in shapes similar to her own, disoriented. Their eyes were black, with gold irises that looked faceted, and black pupils within, while each bore a pair of antennae. Most were workers, all of which were female, while the drones were male, as they should be.
“What the… bees don’t do this, do they? Could it be a curse?” a human asked, looking at one of the half-elves. “Don’t tell me we did this for nothing?”
“No, this isn’t something normal,” the half-elf replied quickly, her voice perplexed. “I’ll Analyze her—”
“For the queen!” one of the drones called out, raising his rapier high, and he charged the elven mage in the back.
“What—” the elven woman began, looking stunned, but she reacted a little too slowly, and cried out in pain as he buried his blade in her stomach.
The others swarmed forward, brandishing their weapons as the intruders struggled to react, trying to rebuild a defensive line.
“Royal Command, defend the hive!” the queen said quickly, her amazement turning to anger, and she felt mana surge, and a golden aura radiated from her, causing her subordinates’ speed to increase as their attacks hit harder.
“What in the hells?” the dwarf yelped, but at that moment more bees entered the chamber, all of them in their new, humanoid form, and each of them grew stronger as they entered the queen’s aura.
The attackers quickly fell under the flood of attacking bees. Their mage fell first despite the efforts of their priest to save her, then the bees focused on the lightly armored priest and rogues, until at last only the dwarf and heavily armored warrior remained. Even they fell, though the cost was another two dozen bees. At last it was done, though, and the queen took note of the message in her mind.
Evolution Complete: Apis Hive
Evolution Complete: Apis Queen Level 10
Level Up: Apis Queen Level 17
She considered the message for a long moment, then dismissed it with a thought. It didn’t matter, not really. Instead she looked at her hive and considered, then spoke firmly. “Deal with the fallen and the intruders. Keep their equipment; we have need of it.”
“Yes, My Queen,” a surviving attendant said, the woman curtseying deeply, a diaphanous golden gown attached to her armor.
“My Queen?” one worker said, kneeling and lowering her head. “Might I request thy wisdom?”
“Speak,” the queen ordered, feeling somewhat impatient with the woman. The number of dead she’d seen so far horrified her, and she wanted to know the full extent of the damage to the hive.
“I have been offered the chance to evolve into an Apis Warrior or to remain a worker. What would best serve the hive?” the worker asked respectfully, her head bowed, and the queen’s anger eased as she realized that the interruption was of use.
“Evolve, and secure the hive. Ensure that all intruders have been dealt with,” the queen ordered and scowled at the attackers. “We are displeased by this assault.”
“Yes, My Queen,” the worker replied, and quickly stood, a soft glow enveloping her body.
The hive set to work, and the queen smiled in satisfaction. Even if most of the hive had lost their wings, save for her and the most powerful workers in the room, she believed that the risk had been worth taking. After all, otherwise she’d be dead.
The bee unsteadily struggled to her feet and held on to the edge of a petal as she glanced over the edge of the rose. Only minutes before she’d been happily harvesting nectar and pollen, and now… now she was different. She swallowed hard as she saw the long, long fall to the ground below.
Then she asked plaintively, utterly confused by her situation, “What happened to my wings?”
Chapter 2
The apis worker waited hopefully for nearly an hour, thinking that maybe another member of the hive would happen by and might be able to help, or even summon help, but none of them came into sight, despite being near the edge of the hive’s territory. While a tiny part of her was tempted to risk jumping, the sheer distance to the ground dissuaded her, and worse, the only other stems she could potentially reach were covered in thorns, which dissuaded her from trying to climb down.
She licked her lips again, irritated by her new situation as she glanced up at the sky worriedly. The sun was sinking toward the horizon, and she really didn’t want to try making her way back to the hive in the dark. She wasn’t certain how well she’d be able to see in the dark and didn’t want to be out at night anyway. It’d be too easy to wander into a web, after all.
So instead she took stock of what she had, frowning as she settled down in the fragrant rose. She was wearing yellow and black chitinous armor, and she had a sheathed rapier at her side, made of the same material. Her inventory was almost completely full, with four of the six slots filled with pollen and nectar, twelve stacks of each in those slots, and the last two slots only had seven portions of nectar and three of pollen at the moment.
She hesitated, then tapped on her rapier curiously, wondering just what it could do. As she did so, she felt like she heard its description in her mind.
Worker’s Sting (Level 5)
Attack Power 8, Venomous
Crafted by the Apis to defend themselves, these weapons are made only by their wielders, and are destroyed when others use them to attack.
The worker’s antennae drooped, and she muttered dispiritedly. “Drat, that won’t help me get down. Maybe my armor can help me fly…?”
Tapping her armor, she got a similar description, though it didn’t improve her mood any.
Worker’s Chitin (Level 5)
Defense 7, Self-Repair
Crafted by the Apis to defend themselves, these armors only fit Apis, and quickly decay if their maker is slain.
“Well, isn’t that just terrible. Like finding a giant patch of clover and all of its nectar was harvested,” the worker muttered, shaking her head despairingly.
For a long minute the worker just sat there and moped, but she couldn’t manage it for long. Her instinct to do something was just too strong. After a moment of hesitation, she pulled out the pollen in her sixth inventory slot, leaving it empty for the moment. It took a little work to set the pollen in a spot where it wouldn’t blow away, but the worker didn’t mind. She just needed the inventory space for a little while, after all.
“Let’s see, this is a little different than I remember, but I think it’ll work,” she murmured, settling down cross-legged beside the pollen, then began rubbing her hands together quickly. For several seconds there wasn’t any result, but slowly the worker began feeling small, soft fragments forming between her hands. She paused, seeing the bits of wax taking shape between her hand, then smiled happily as she murmured, “Good, I can still do it! I was worried for a bit, there.”
She went back to work, and over about a quarter of an hour the amount of wax grew, until finally she finished it. The wax formed a hexagonal disc about an inch thick, and she admired it for a moment, smiling to herself. Then she put it in her inventory and started on the next one. If this was like before, she’d be able to make three pieces of wax each day.
It took a bit less than an hour, though not much, until she had three pieces of wax, and she couldn’t make any more. Perhaps others would be upset, but mostly the worker was relieved, since it meant that not everything had changed for her.
“Good, now that I have those… containers. I’ll make them to store the nectar and refine it into honey,” she said
, nodding as she pulled out the last piece of wax and began rubbing and massaging it, kneading it almost like it was dough.
Slowly the wax took the form of a hexagonal wax jar about six inches on a side, then into a second jar. When she finished after another quarter-hour, she pulled out the next piece of wax and repeated the process, continuing to turn each of them into jars. Only when she had all the jars complete did the worker relax, letting out a happy sigh as she smiled, then quickly filled each with nectar. Each of the jars took four stacks of nectar, and she nodded happily as she put them away, the jars vanishing into the pouch on her belt as they took up an inventory slot, two slots now empty, though she quickly put the pollen she’d set out away, then harvested the rest of the pollen and nectar she could get from the rose. It filled up the two slots which had been partially full, which was both good and bad, from her perspective.
The good part was that she had the nectar stored, and had more inventory space now. The bad news was that she still hadn’t so much as heard another bee, which was worrying… and the sun was starting to set.
Glancing up, the worker frowned unhappily, then murmured, “This is going to be a long night… maybe tomorrow? Please, my queen… I don’t want to be stuck here.”