Path of the Hive Queen

Regina was relieved to find that her gnomish contacts, for lack of a better word, kept their word. They weren’t really allies, she felt, at least not yet. But over the course of the next few days, several gnomes showed up carrying bits of information for them. Mostly they were captured gnomish prisoners or civilians in occupied areas. They clearly had ways of communicating, but Regina supposed she didn’t have enough soldiers to watch them closely, so there were lots of opportunities to pass messages. There were also ways to communicate quietly — she should know. She hadn’t felt any psychics in her sweeps, but that didn’t mean much. The System could grant adjacent Skills even if people didn’t have much talent or training.

More important than the question of how they conveyed the information, though, was the information itself. Regina immediately set her hive’s Keepers to storing and analyzing it, roping in trusted humans from her new government apparatus as well, where appropriate. So far, none of this information required an immediate response, but it still helped. It gave them pieces of the puzzle, to a more complete picture of the Gnomish Confederation.

For example, it bore out her suspicions that some of the opposition was probably being left alive on purpose. Some information contained insight on gnomish politicians, leaders and higher-ups in smaller factions, who were nominally against the Historicals, but didn’t really seem to be doing much against them. Regina wouldn’t accuse them of being plants or collaborators without further evidence, they might just be too frightened of being next on the chopping block to make a move. And to be fair, some of the gnomes I want to be working with probably appear not to be doing anything on the outside, too, she reminded herself.

For now, there wasn’t much she could do with any of that intel. It wasn’t really actionable at present, she just needed to give them some time, for the situation to develop and the gnomish leaders to turn to her. They were still laying the groundwork.

The war was continuing in the meantime. Janis had left her current corps to visit the others and take a brief trip back to the city to check in with the garrison, then gone back to the front lines. Regina tried not to feel too anxious about that. Janis was a capable commander and a powerful mage, even if she was young and her level could be higher, and she knew what she was doing. Regina had also made sure she was well protected.

They were advancing cautiously, in the more thickly populated interior of the Confederation. Several cities would have to be taken before they could really push deeper into it, and Ben and the others wanted to prepare thoroughly. In the meantime, Cernlia was still building up its defenses along its southern border. Regina hoped that pressuring the gnomes would stop any attempts at a counterattack into the Empire there, but they couldn’t rely on it. It meant many of the new soldiers being raised had to be diverted to that area instead of just being sent as reinforcements to the main army.

Luckily, the Empire proper wasn’t very affected by the war itself. Most people didn’t seem very concerned with it. They were more interested in the new ministries and departments Regina had created, and the work they were starting to do. Plans were already in the works for much-needed projects like a full census, as well as minting new coins and introducing early versions of paper money, promissory notes and banknotes. For obvious reasons, Regina wanted them all issued by the Empire directly or a national bank they set up, but there was still debate about how they should be backed by gold and how much was necessary. Counterfeiting would be a major problem, too, so she wasn’t going to throw out coin money any time soon.

Regina had been going over their finances, and she was optimistic. While they were still in the red and would be for some time, without using Conjuration, that was inevitable — their expenses were too high, considering the various projects and the war. But she expected the Empire’s income to rise sharply, as soon as they actually got more of the taxation money they were theoretically owed, and especially once the economy grew.

Their schools were already shaping up to be a major success. While they were still setting up new ones — an effort now mostly delegated to some officials, with June’s help — the existing ones had already produced some valuable insight, particularly the institutes of higher learning they were setting up. So far, there was still not much distinction between them, but that would come with time. For now, they were helping with copying and distributing books.

Now that she’d finally established all of the ministries and agencies she’d wanted, and at least gotten a start on properly staffing them, Regina was starting to have a bit more free time. The things that needed doing hadn’t decreased, but she had more subordinates now to take some of the load. Her personal staff had kind of grown around her and her projects almost by accident, but they were competent and she trusted them to handle matters that crossed their desks and alert her to anything she needed to know. Ira in particular had really come into her own, although of course Regina had always known she was a great aide.

This meant that Regina had more time to devote to her studies and training, in particular her magic. She wanted to take advantage of it while Galatea still stayed in the city. She’d also found she really enjoyed it, and it gave her the opportunity to spend more time with June, teaching her as she was supposed to instead of just sending her on tasks across the Empire.

It was as they were developing another scrying ritual and June asked a theoretical question about what they could find that she realized she’d missed an opportunity.

“It’s much easier to scry on a fixed location,” she was explaining. “Finding objects, or persons, without knowing their location isn’t possible with just standard scrying. That’s one of the advantages of more complicated rituals, or advanced scrying spells like the ones Galatea has started to teach us. So, say I wanted to find someone and I didn’t know where to look, just maybe the general area …” she trailed off.

“Yes, Master?” June asked after a moment. “What would you do?”

“Well, I’d enlist your help and then set up a scrying ritual to check out where he is,” Regina continued. “In fact, please go get some materials for one, you should know which are required, or tell me what to Conjure.”

June gave her an almost suspicious look, but did as she was bid. “I take it you actually want to find someone?” she asked after she’d returned with some materials and started setting them up in a ritual circle.

Regina sighed. “There’s one lord who’s apparently gone missing or rogue, and I would like to know where he is,” she admitted. “I was just too busy with other things to think much about it.” And she’d completely missed this possibility.

June nodded, and fortunately didn’t comment further on it. Instead, she asked a question about the Conjuration of gold for the ritual, and they continued with setting it up. Regina would have waited for Galatea, but she knew her friend was busy. She’d been working off and on with some of the people in the city, including some drones, trying to figure out how to recreate some modern inventions with contemporary tools. Also, Regina kind of wanted to prove that she could do it herself, without help. Well, not counting June, but she was her apprentice.

She’d chosen to use a slightly more complicated version of the ritual, so setting it up took longer, and she had to Conjure gold, silver and platinum. But it should allow them to view the projection created by the ritual’s magic for longer, too. She double-checked everything once it was finished, and then nodded at June and started pouring mana into it.

Regina had been concerned that she wouldn’t be able to tell where John Cern was even once she found him, but as it turned out, that concern was unfounded. The image stabilized like a projection from a modern AR interface in the air, and she thought it seemed familiar right away. Cern was sitting on a terrace, clearly enjoying the sunshine, and behind him was a garden leading into a plaza with fancy buildings around it. Across from his position, she saw a tower, or maybe an obelisk, reaching into the sky, made of dark stone and with the glimmer of flames coming from it in points regularly spaced along its length.

“That’s John Cern. And that’s the Dark Finger of Leberg, in the central plaza of the city,” June commented. “I’ve seen drawings in books. He’s in Liongen?”

Regina leaned back against the table, crossing her arms as she kept watching the image. She had tried to read up on the countries west of Nerlia once they became relevant, and vaguely recognized the description as well. “The Western Confederation,” she mused.

June glanced at her and frowned. “It might be better than the Esemen?” she suggested cautiously. “I don’t know exactly what happened with him, but if someone is trying to meddle with Cernlia, they might be worse.”

“They could still be involved with the Esemen,” Regina pointed out.

“But the relationship of Liongen and Esemen is pretty bad,” June noted. “They were almost at war twice in the last fifteen years. There’ve been trade disputes and succession issues with one of their provinces. I don’t think they would willingly work with them.”

“True, but Liongen is part of the Western Confederation now. And we don’t know how closely tied they are. They might have chosen Liongen as a location because people wouldn’t expect them to be involved with Esemen. But I suppose you’re probably right.”

June pulled up a chair and sat down, looking thoughtful. Regina spared a moment to be thankful that she had a thorough education and knew enough about the political situation and history — probably more than Regina did.

“Do you know if they were involved in whatever he did at all?” June asked. “Or did he just decide to flee to this city?”

Regina frowned. “I’m not sure,” she said. “At this point, I’m not sure it even makes that much of a difference. Once he’s there, they’re going to try to use him, anyway. If they weren’t, they wouldn’t be keeping him in style in the center of Liongen’s capital, would they?”

They both fell quiet as another man appeared in the projection. Regina had noted that Cern appeared to be well-dressed, although it was a style she wasn’t very familiar with, favoring wider trousers and a weirdly shaped sash. The other man was dressed in the same style, but more ostentatiously, with what looked like gold edging on his jacket and belt.

They started talking, but Regina couldn’t make out what they said. She leaned forward, listening intently and watching the projection. The lip movements were obscured, she noted, just enough to make it hard to make out what they were saying even if she’d been better at lip-reading.

“What is this?” June asked.

“A protection against eavesdroppers, most likely something passive, carried by an artifact or Skill, or maybe a spell, that works against scrying,” Regina explained. Galatea had told her about those. She’d been practicing them herself.

“How hard is that?” June asked, apparently following the same line of thought.

Regina shrugged. “It depends,” she said. “You generally can’t keep it up all the time, but it could be anchored to locations. We’ll have to see …”

She fell quiet and watched in silence as the two men kept talking. Cern was growing a bit agitated. Then he fell silent for a second and continued in a softer voice, seemingly deflating. The other man nodded, clapped him on the shoulder, and turned to go.

“The distortion seems to be moving with him,” Regina noted. Then she clamped her mouth shut and leaned forward to catch what he was saying.

“… what a waste of time,” Cern was muttering. “When will I be able to go back?” He sighed, leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.

Regina exchanged a look with June, then finally stopped the mana for the scrying and let the projection dissolve. They couldn’t have kept it up for much longer.

“Do you have any idea what they are planning, Master?” June asked.

“A few,” Regina said, standing up and starting to pack up the remains of the ritual. “I’m not certain.” She sighed. “I need a better intelligence network abroad.”

June was frowning as she stepped closer to help her gather up and separate the burnt remains of some herbs she’d brought. “Haven’t you been working on that? If I’m allowed to know,” she added quickly.

Regina chuckled. “You’re my apprentice, June, even if you don’t have an official position in the Empire. And you’re crown princess of Cernlia. You’re allowed to know pretty much anything I’m doing.”

“I’m honored by your trust, Your Majesty. And maybe I can help. I’m sure Cern has friends or contacts in Cernlia.”

“And you think they’d talk to you?”

June smiled, clearly looking as innocent and angelic as possible. “But I’m only a sick little girl,” she said softly. “What could I possibly be up to that would hurt them? Everyone knows I have no head for power plays and politics, only magic.”

Regina laughed. “Alright, I suppose it can’t hurt.” She reconsidered for a moment. “Be careful, though, June.”

Her apprentice smiled. “I won’t get myself hurt,” she promised.

Regina nodded and turned back to her task. Despite June’s assurance, she wasn’t sure how successful she would be, but Regina also wasn’t planning to rely on it. Instead, she mentally revised her budget to allocate increased funds to their intelligence service — which she really should get around to properly formalizing soon. With two parts, one for domestic and one for foreign intelligence, for best results.

And she was going to start using her psychic powers, though sparingly, she decided. In most cases, it wouldn’t be able to help her goal, but she could test some people, make sure at least those in key positions were trustworthy and wouldn’t deliberately hire the wrong people or manipulate reports. For people in this kind of service, a measure like that should be more expected and acceptable, and they’d hopefully be better about staying quiet about it. They should be accustomed to keeping secrets relating to their work, she could just add this one to the operational details not for general circulation. That way, it would be easier to catch attempted infiltrators trying to get in, too. They’d at least drop out before they learned anything important if they were scared off by having to undergo a screening, assuming they didn’t try to cheat their way through it.

It would mean more work for her, but at least Regina could use it as training, she supposed.