Path of the Hive Queen

“How long do you think it will take until we’re through?” Anuis asked.

“Past this mountain, or reaching our goal?” Tim asked with a glance to the side.

They were currently gingerly picking their way over the mountain. Specifically, they were climbing a slope somewhere near the peak. It wasn’t too bad, compared to some others, but the loose stones and hidden crevices in the rock made it treacherous. It was also cold as hell, with the wind whistling into their ears and chilling them to the bone. Hivekind were usually resistant to high temperatures, but Tim really found himself wishing his chitin was thicker, and maybe had some heating elements. He didn’t think he’d ever bundled up this much in his life, and the thick clothes made him feel ungainly. But at least the sky was relatively clear. Small blessings.

“Either would be nice to know,” she grunted. “But I was asking about the mountains as a whole. I can see we’re almost done with this one.”

They weren’t going to the actual top of the mountain, but their scouting had revealed that the ridge in front of them should provide a good way down on the other side. It was also on the edges of the territory of a dangerous monster, as best they could guess. This deep inside what remained of the Alps, that was a good thing: it was either be in the middle of such a territory or at the edges.

Of course, the group had also sought out some more monsters to kill than they’d strictly needed to to get through. But that was the point, they were not only scouting a path, but securing it as well. Already, Tim could tell that this part wasn’t going to be feasible for a regular route, at least not without a very strong escort for any weaker travelers. But they’d gone off the best path several times already, to deal with threats in the surroundings, and sometimes to find said best path in the first place.

“Past this one, we’ll definitely have crossed the halfway point,” he answered. “We most likely already have. I would estimate just a few more days until we’ve reached the outskirts of the mountains on the other side.”

“How specific,” Inaven grumbled as he climbed up a particularly large rock behind him.

Tim ignored him. He’d learned that the dark elf occasionally liked to complain, but his heart wasn’t really in it. Just like how Anuis generally kept her criticism quiet and had to be coaxed a little to share it. They’d been traveling together for days now, it was easy to pick up things like this. At least no larger fights had broken out within the group. Considering the strong personalities involved — you didn’t reach high levels without being determined, at least — that was something to be thankful for.

“Come on, we’re almost there,” Tirias called from further up ahead. He looked back up the mountain, then at the rest of the group. “Also, I think the local monster might be coming by for a visit.”

Tim kept any further questions to himself until he’d climbed up far enough to reach his companion’s position, then glanced around. He had left the last of the Swarm Drones behind days ago. That meant he could no longer rely on their scouting to get the lay of the land or detect monsters nearby.

He still reached for the psychic link on instinct, reeling a little mentally when it wasn’t there. Well, it wasn’t gone, exactly, it just felt like a gap had opened up between him and everyone else, like the part that should connect him with the greater Hive was empty. It wasn’t a pleasant feeling. It had been days and he still found himself reacting like that. It would probably take a while until he stopped reaching for it out of habit. At least, he thought he was handling it pretty well otherwise. Being suddenly cut off from everyone, especially his Queen, was disorienting, but he’d known it was coming and had prepared himself. He didn’t think he was showing any negative mental effects, either.

For now, he focused on the immediate problem. Even without additional eyes to use, it didn’t take him long to find the monster Tirias had mentioned. Considering its bright red scales and the heat almost visibly coming off its body, it was hard to miss. Some monsters adapted to the cold by embracing it, like Ice Chamois and White Bearkin. Some  instead went for the ‘fight ice with fire’ approach, sometimes literally. Considering this part of the mountain was mostly clear of ice and snow, it shouldn’t be a surprise this was one of them. Tim hadn’t seen this specific species before, but it looked like some kind of Salamander variant.

“Fire Salamander of some kind a hundred meters east-northeast,” he told the others to make sure. “Take a fort formation. Eduard, try to manipulate its fire. Nucme, get ready to root it. Archers, prepare but hold your fire for now.”

The others quickly moved into position as directed. “Yes, sir,” Eduard muttered, frowning in concentration. The young Nerlian was a recent recruit to the Delvers, but he’d earned his place. He might not be one of the Hive’s, but he was a good Archmage, with a particular knack for the elements and a fondness for fire.

The lizard’s fire seemed to flicker for a moment, before it noticeably dimmed, but kept burning. It roared and spat a globe of fire at them, faster than most Fireballs. The attack still slid off a magical barrier that had quickly appeared around the group.

“Proceed,” Tim ordered quickly.

A moment later, tendrils of shadow grasped the monster and anchored it in place. Some burned away but were quickly replaced with others. Meanwhile, a hail of arrows started hitting the monster, several of them carrying special effects. Tim readied himself, but it didn’t look like his blade would be needed for this encounter.

A minute passed with an exchange of ranged attacks. The salamander got free once, but Inaven quickly rooted it again. Tirias muttered something and a blade of light shot from the tip of his sword, joining the other attacks.

Then the monster roared again, more high-pitched this time. Tim staggered as the sound assaulted his eardrums, sending the world spinning around him with dizziness. It passed quickly, but when it had, he saw the fire lizard had freed itself and seemingly grown another half a meter, with burning flames licking at its body to form an outer casing. A stray arrow caught fire as it fell down on it.

A quick glance showed the others had also been affected by the sonic attack and were recovering. The mages, as those with the lowest Con, were worst off. But they’d all kept formation. “Brace,” he told them, moving his sword into position.

The salamander reached them, but the melee combatants in the front held firm and didn’t buckle under its charge. Tim swiped low, stabbing with his blade-arms, while Tirias went high, Anuis and Oliren flanking them. He blinked against the heat, stepped half a step to the side and then stabbed again, finding a weak spot in the joint of its shoulder. Its blood bubbled as it streamed onto the ground.

The salamander turned and tried to lunge for Anuis, but the elven ranger nimbly stepped back, and the rest of the party attacked. Tim watched as Oliren got a good swipe into its elbow joint, buckling its leg. From there, it was only a matter of a moment to stab up and open its throat.

He stepped back, then sheathed his sword and held his mouth under the steaming wound, drinking from the bloodstream. Over the last few days, he’d lost his caution with things like that. If any of his companions still had issues with it, they didn’t say anything.

“Let’s start butchering the kill,” Tirias said.

Tim withdrew and nodded. “Good work. Let’s be quick about it.”

They were far up in the mountains and had little provisions, so there was no point in wasting it. Given their practice, it went quickly. Tim knew he, and the other drones, wouldn’t be able to digest the scales, but he still took the innards and some of the bones. Eduard used the fire to char some of the salamander meat to take with them. There was no source of water here, though, so they would move on quickly.

Tim looked around as well as he could, despite the biting wind that started to rise. They had a good vantage point currently. He mentally marked out the demarcations of the local monsters’ territories, absently lamenting the absence of the psychic link again. But they should be pretty safe for now.

It took another few minutes until they got to a sheltered spot where they could take a break and discuss their next moves. They’d made a habit of not lingering unnecessarily at the spots they killed a monster, but right now, they were still close enough to tell if another showed up. Or more than one, although the monsters up here seemed to be solitary for the most part. They also had pretty large territories from what he could tell.

“There should be a good path down the mountain over there,” Ash noted, sounding almost cheerful.

“Good, let’s continue,” Tirias said, to the approval of everyone else.

As they started walking again, Tim looked at his brother, evaluating how he was holding up. Ash seemed to like the expedition, the challenge of it. He also didn’t appear too concerned with their separation from the Hive, except for a certain tightening around his eyes and the occasional pauses when he probably tried to check the Hive link, too. Subtle things like that.

It was good, and put Tim’s mind at ease a bit. They didn’t have many people who’d interacted with outsiders without support and were in a senior role and strong enough to send on an expedition like this. Ash’s previous experience in a party fighting monsters and finding elementals in the mountains had made his inclusion obvious. Although Tim would have honestly preferred to have Ria, but he understood why Regina hadn’t wanted to send her. She was concerned that the other drone might still be affected by being forcibly moved out of range when she was a hostage to the Esemen and that sending her might exacerbate any remaining issues.

In a way, this expedition was a test for much more than just finding a good way south, or even working together with Nerlians, Cernlians and guests.

As he was lost in thought, they moved a good distance down the mountain, on a reasonably even slope with hard-packed snow that was easy to traverse. They took a corner around a large rocky ridge leading up to the top, and he almost missed what they found. He would have if the others hadn’t paid more attention.

“Is that a path?” Oliren asked.

Tim blinked and looked at where he was pointing, squinting against the glare of the snow. He was right. There was a depression, a darker shadow, winding its way past a few rocky outcrops into a forested part. “Let’s check it out,” he decided.

As they approached, it quickly became obvious this was indeed a path. Not a very big one, probably no more than a route that had been trod a few times. But still clearly not a game trail. “Those aren’t animal or monster prints,” Anuis noted, crouching down to peer more closely at the ground and walking for a few steps, as the rest of the group followed. “Here, the impression of someone taking a step just a bit to the side, already half-crumbled, but it’s clear. Booted feet. And there, something else I can’t quite identify, but it’s not a hoofprint and there are no talons or claws. It might be a race I haven’t encountered before, or unfamiliar footwear. If I had to guess, these are relatively recent. Certainly since the last snowfall, but no more than a day old.”

Tim nodded. “Good, thank you, Commander,” he praised absently. Then he glanced at the others. “Thoughts on how to proceed?”

“Let’s check it out,” Ash said promptly.

“I suggest caution,” Oliren said, still examining the trail critically. “They may be hostile.”

“They appeared to move almost perpendicular to our path, following them would be a deviation we don’t need,” Eduard said. “It’s probably just a group of adventurers, anyway.”

“If they are, chances are good they’re coming from the south,” Tim pointed out.

There was a short silence as everyone digested it. Then Tim’s eyes caught a faint rumble, and he jumped back a meter, drawing his sword on instinct.

“Does that mean you are not originating from the south?” a voice rumbled, accompanied by the shifting of rocks. “Rarely get visitors from further north here.”

Tim stared for a moment as the rocky outcropping he thought was just a feature of the terrain, a few meters away, shifted to reveal a humanoid form. It was like parts of the rock melted into the body, but it kept its rocky exterior, with gray stony skin. Then they shifted a bit and he realized there was a second one behind them.

“Who are you?” Tirias asked, grasping his sword.

“Steady,” Tim muttered. Despite the surprise, they didn’t seem hostile so far. He didn’t want to start a fight with the first locals they ran across.

Their status didn’t reveal anything strange, except for their unfamiliar names.

“We should be asking you that,” the first one, the Paladin, said, crossing his arms and staring up at them. It might have seemed more intimidating if he stood over one and a half meters. It was more like one meter forty, really. “When we saw another party was coming, we didn’t expect people like you.”

“So, you hid here to see what we were like?” Anuis muttered. Her eyes narrowed as she examined them, then she nodded slowly. “You’re dwarves.” There was something in her tone he couldn’t quite place. Probably not a simple emotion.

“We are,” the second one answered brightly. He watched them until Tim sheathed his sword and got Tirias to do the same with a pointed look, then turned to shout into the forest. “Come on out, they seem friendly enough.” He turned back to them with a wink. “Rest of our party’s not as good at hiding in plain sight.”

The rest of their party, it turned out, were much less of a surprise. There were three humans, all dressed in clothes a bit different from what Tim was used to but similar enough in other ways, clearly suited for adventuring in rough conditions. They all had combat-focused Classes and weapons.

“It is a pleasure to meet you,” the apparent leader called out. “You are from north of the Great Mountains? Nerlia or Cernlia, I think?”

Tim took half a step forward and bowed his head politely. “Well met,” he greeted them. “We are indeed from the north. We are an expedition sent by the Central European Empire to find a way south, to establish more regular contact and perhaps trade.”

Lucian frowned. “Central European Empire? I haven’t heard of that nation before, and I thought I was familiar with the geography beyond the peninsula.”

“You wouldn’t have,” Inaven drawled. “It’s new.”

“It was recently founded,” Tim agreed. “You are adventurers, I take it?”

“At present,” he replied with a slight smile. “My day job is in the City of Veragles.” He seemed to consider them for a moment, then nodded. “If you were sent to establish diplomatic relations, I assume it was on your itinerary? Perhaps even at the top?”

“Yes, it was,” Tim agreed with a smile. From their information, mostly gathered third-hand from merchants who’d traded with the southern lands, the city was a major hub in the northern part of those lands, probably the closest to the mountains.

“Then perhaps I should escort you,” the archmage decided. “I rather doubt whatever the omens sent me to find is half as interesting as your arrival.”

Tim managed another smile. “We would be glad to have your company and guidance,” he agreed.

It wasn’t how he’d expected to start that part of his mission, but running into some adventurers and an apparently powerful man wasn’t a bad thing. It would hopefully allow him to learn some more information before they actually encountered any settlements. Plus, he had to admit he was curious about the dwarves, he hadn’t heard much about their race before. He only knew that they were classified as demihumans, like most called the Hivekind now, but unlike elves.

“Good. Will you accompany me, good people?” Lucian asked, turning to the other adventurers.

“We will, Sir,” another man answered. The rest nodded, including the two dwarves.

Tim hid his expression by looking at the rest of his group, making sure they were all up for it. This was going to be interesting.