The Bee Dungeon

Heigiosa stepped out onto the platform near the top of her Tower. She walked up to the edge and looked down. The mountain was covered in lights, countless homes covered its slopes from the base of her Tower all the way down to the foot of the mountain, even extending into the valley beyond. The City of Light, the last bastion of humanity. The largest existing human city in the world, as far as Heigiosa knew.
Her city guards were already evacuating the city’s denizens to her Tower…but it would take time to move that many people. Time she didn’t have, as monsters already filled the skies overhead. Dragons and dragonkin of every shape and size.
A Tower Lord riding a dragon broke off and approached her Tower, alone. She had no desire to speak with him now, of all times, but every second she could buy was precious. So, Heigiosa stepped out to meet the man behind all of this.
“So, Konilias, you have become a Sorcerer King once more. Perhaps I should have expected this.”
Konilias guided his dragon mount to hover just in front of Heigiosa’s platform, so he could face her directly. He shook his head.
“No, Heigiosa. My goals have not changed, I still hold to our cause.”
Heigiosa raised an eyebrow.
“Really, Konilias? Then tell me, what is all this? Why do you besiege my home with an army of monsters?”
Konilias grinned and spread his arms.
“This is not a siege, Heigiosa. This is a demonstration. I wanted to show you, firsthand, your mistake.”
Heigiosa just stared at him with her eyebrow still raised. Konilias took the cue to continue.
“Heigiosa, I’ve realized that we’ve been holding the Conclave back, holding humanity back. Every single rogue Tower we’ve ever faced uses monster armies, creates immortal followers. How many Tower Guard have to die to subjugate even a single one? How many Tower Guards perish with each purification our Towers conduct, while the rogue Towers simply respawn all of their losses a day later? And for what? The will of the gods? Hah, Heigiosa, the gods are the ones who gave us the Towers!
were the ones who gave us the ability to raise monsters! They even used to reward us with monsters before they realized we weren’t using any of them!”
Konilias locked eyes with her as he dropped his smile.
“No, Heigiosa, it is solely because of our fears that we chose not to use the powers granted to us by the gods. It is disrespectful to them to scorn their gifts so. It is wasteful of human lives to send young men and women to their deaths when we could save them. It is a failure, simple as that. Think of how many lives could have been saved if we used this army against the Hunger and the rogues. Think of how far we could have driven back the Hunger if we didn’t hold back.”
He held out his hand.
“Come, Heigiosa. It is time to atone for our mistakes. It is time to stop letting our fear hold the Conclave back. It is time to truly fight the Hunger with everything we have, to honor the gods by using everything they have given us. Lend us your voice and no blood shall be spilt. Let’s save this world, together, as we always have.”
Heigiosa blinked at Konilias’s outstretched hand. And then…she burst out laughing. She threw her head back, then bent over as she held her stomach.
Konilias frowned, but he could not get a word in until her laughter quieted down several minutes later. Heigiosa wiped a tear from her eye.
“I am sorry, this is just too funny.”
She shook her head and took a deep breath.
“It is hilarious, really. After all this time, after all this scheming, Konilias, you will fail because you let your desire blind you to reality. You seem to have forgotten that it was Rippotis who trusted you, who convinced me to trust you. It was he who you might have convinced on the grounds of military necessity.”
She suddenly glared at Konilias, all hint of mirth gone from her face.
“As for me, your actions reveal your true intent, Sorcerer King. If your purpose was truly the good of humanity, you would have brought this up in the High Council and convinced us to work together. Instead, you are moving to seize power for yourself with threats and treachery. I have seen what the Tower Lords under you think of their people, your goal is not humanity’s salvation. Your goal is power, as it has ever been for the Sorcerer Kings. So, I say to you: I will never join you, Sorcerer King. No, I will resist you with everything I have, as I did in the days of disaster. I will fulfill my duty and bring an end to the last Sorcerer King.”
Konilias’ face turned dark.
“Look around you, Heigiosa. You are surrounded. You are alone. We have Rippotis’ Tower under siege, his armies cut off, and the man himself is now facing an army alone, too far away for anyone to reach him, he will be defeated too. If you won’t be convinced by words, at least realize that resistance is pointless. I don’t wish to destroy you, Heigiosa.”
Heigiosa replied with a chuckle.
“That makes one of us.”
A massive magic circle appeared behind her, glowing as bright as the sun. Konilias shielded his eyes before shouting and smacking his dragon mount. The dragon spun around and took off, flying away as quickly as it could.
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It was not quick enough. A giant beam of light shot from the circle and engulfed both man and rider. It faded to reveal Konilias still intact, though scorched all over as the last remnants of a magic barrier faded. He now flew with magic, as the dragon below him was gone entirely.
Heigiosa sighed and shook her head. She was giving into her desires too, apparently. Konilias loved to talk, she could have stalled for a lot longer if she had managed to put up with it. But well…to be betrayed by one of their comrades from the very start…perhaps it was impressive she held back as long as she did.
Then, her expression turned grim. Konilias was not wrong about one thing, her situation was dire. The City Guard could not stand against the monster army for long, certainly not long enough to complete the evacuation. But her Tower Guard…her Tower Guard had to remain at their posts. Hers was the oldest and largest Tower in the Conclave, possibly in the world itself, the purifications she faced these days were truly dreadful. If the defenses within her Tower broke, anyone who had managed to evacuate would perish at the hands of the Hunger.
As it was…she would have no choice but to accept that the evacuation could not be completed. She would save as many of her people as she could…but she could not save all of them. She likely couldn’t even save most of them. Her evacuation plans had been premised on the rest of the Conclave collapsing first, with ample forewarning that the end was near. With a monster army already overhead, she just didn’t have enough time.
But what could she do? She just didn’t have the forces to hold the enemy back. Call for reinforcements? Rippotis had problems of his own, and all the Tower Lords loyal to either of them had deployed their armies on the Grand Subjugation. She would have to make do with what she had…
Heigiosa blinked, then smiled as the God of Light lit the way once more. Only to frown as she considered her words. Yes, Konilias was right about a second thing: Heigiosa had indeed made a mistake banning monsters altogether. The time
right to correct that mistake. But…would it help? Heigiosa had scarcely any monsters available to her, all of which she had received in the earliest days of her Tower. Konilias had prepared for a long time, he had thousands of dragonkin at the ready. How was Heigiosa supposed to raise thousands of monsters in a mere…
Heigiosa’s thoughts came to an abrupt halt, and her eyes grew as wide as they could go. There…was a way, wasn’t there? There was a way she could deploy thousands of monsters…and it was already present in her Tower!
As if waiting for that precise realization, a message arrived to her from the gods. Not an oracle from the God of Light, but a mission offered to a Tower Lord. A non-patron god acknowledged her achievements in their domain…and offered her Tower a blessing in response…
***
The bees, fairfolk, karnuq, and sigmaka guards all relaxed slightly once it was clear General Rippotis’ ire wasn’t aimed at their leaders. Belissar, however, wasn’t relaxing in the slightest.
“A coup?”
General Rippotis paced around, snarling all the while.
“An entire faction of Tower Lords has raised a monster army in secret and deployed it now. My Tower is under siege while my army is away…I’m getting vague reports that my army is under attack as well. And now Starami’s actions make sense. Starami hasn’t gone rogue at all, he’s part of the conspiracy. He’s trying to keep me trapped here.”
Queen Vanieskon rested her head on her hand with a bored expression.
“Well, that sounds unfortunate, General. But…what does that have to do with us? If Starami’s target is you, then you being here puts us all at risk. Perhaps even unnecessarily.”
General Rippotis turned and glared at her. A moment later, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. The fires surrounding him faded as he inhaled, he exhaled a small puff of smoke, then opened his eyes and turned to face the leaders of the alliance.
“Indeed, the situation has changed dramatically. I must return to the Conclave as fast as possible, I will leave immediately. And I must request your help in doing so.”
Forgemaster Ughlarer crossed his arms and glowered at the general.
“So, Butcher of Blackwood, instead of apologizing and atoning as you claimed you were going to do, you’ve gone and brought a new war to us. And now you want
to join
Conclave’s war, all while you leave the Tower Lord
brought here at our doorstep for us to face alone?”
Queen Vanieskon raised an eyebrow.
“We don’t have to side with him either, do we? We could simply apprehend this man here and hand him over to the other side. It would be a simple matter to do so.”
General Rippotis began to heat up again but managed not to burst into flames. He took another deep breath before replying.
“Try it, and I will burn myself before you can move, and you will have nothing. Assist me, and I will be entirely in your debt, along with all the Conclave that remain loyal. I am aware I am asking a great deal while I have outstanding debts I have yet to pay. So…name your price.”
Wardmaster Varilold furrowed her brow.
“Before that, tell us everything you know about the situation. I cannot permit the Compact to commit to your side in this war if you cannot win it.”
General Rippotis kept his mana moving as he began to elaborate.
“A coup of this scale must have had the support of High Councilors. It is likely…”
He paused and made a pained expression.
“It is likely that High Councilor Konilias is a part of it, so the coup likely consists of all the Tower Lords loyal to him, but he’d have had to pick his collaborators well to hide the plot from the rest of us, so most of the Conclave is likely not involved. High Councilor Heigiosa cannot be on their side, else a coup would have been unnecessary. If High Councilor Heigiosa stands opposed to them, all who revere the God of Light will as well, while any Tower Lord not already part of the coup will hesitate to turn against her. If you include my subordinate Tower Lords as well, the coup will be outnumbered. They must capture me and High Councilor Heigiosa, or else eliminate our Towers and armies, or the war will turn against them.”
General Rippotis focused and wiped the pain from his face.
“All I need to do is to fend off this initial attack on myself and High Councilor Heigiosa and show the Conclave we are not beaten. From there, the war is ours to win, no matter long it continues afterwards. And this monster army must have been ready for a while. Yet, they specifically waited for me to leave and for the Conclave’s armies to deploy on the Grand Subjugation. They are not confident in defeating us outright. If I can return to take command of my army sooner than they expect, it will throw their plans into disarray.”
He took a moment to look around the room, looking each leader in the eye.
“Your help could tip the scales of this battle and thus the war. So, once again…name your price. And keep in mind that my patron and High Councilor Heigiosa’s have both asked us to make peace with you. Konilias’ has not.”
Silence hung over the room as everyone considered the situation. Belissar, however, wasn’t paying attention at that stage. Something else of even greater importance had drawn his attention while the general was talking…