Chapter 59: Chapter 57: Boosts and Brooding

By the time they made it back to the hive, the sun was almost setting. Regina had gotten tired of flying and was now on the ground again, walking. She’d discovered that using her wings drained a bit of her mana, or rather, reduced her mana regeneration. Since she needed all the mana she could get for healing right now, she’d reluctantly grounded herself. The fact that her wings were new and untrained, and she’d discovered they could feel sore from being used too much, also played a role.

Zoe and Ace were carrying the human they’d taken captive, while the others and the surviving War Drones ferried the corpses of the Delvers that hadn’t made it. Regina was pretty sure that none of them had escaped. Even in the chaos of the fight, she’d remained aware of how many there were. Of course, there could have been someone who’d stayed in the tunnel, watched or listened from a distance and then retreated. She couldn’t rule that out, although she had sent a few War Drones back into the tunnels after the fight to take a look.

Her thought process was interrupted when she almost stumbled over a root, and Regina forced her thoughts back on track.

“Leave me some space, Max,” she said irritably. “I can walk on my own.”

The boy backed off a bit, though he kept walking beside her. “Sorry, my Queen,” he muttered.

Regina sighed and shook her head. She could tell Max felt bad about only arriving once the threat was over, especially since she herself had been in danger, too. She debated telling him that she didn’t expect him to be there whenever something dangerous might happen, but she didn’t think that would help. Especially since she knew he’d been unhappy about not being allowed to accompany her to the cave entrance they’d found in the first place, anyway. Regina simply hadn’t wanted to concentrate all of their strongest fighters in one spot. Or the de facto leadership of her hive.

Then they finally left the trees behind and walked across the field to their little village. Regina felt some of the tension drain out of her. She glanced around, quickly taking stock. She’d lost too many War Drones, but the force remaining here at the camp was still considerable. Most of the Workers and the two Harvesters were also here.

Regina paused as she saw two new drones among the group coming out to greet them. Right, the Shooters had finally hatched today. She’d have to take a closer look at one later. For now, it looked like they had two different weapon-limbs as well. One of them was mostly smooth and a bit bulky with a kind of hook at the end. After a moment, she realized it was one of those spear thrower things. What was the name? An atlatl, right. The other limb seemed to be mostly a narrow cylinder. Probably a blowpipe or something similar, given the name. They also had strange sections of chitin on their torso. Maybe those would help with shooting some weapon?

Most of the drones present rushed out to help the returning group deal with their cargo. Tim directed them to place the bodies in a convenient location and tie up their prisoner.

Regina stretched, grimacing. She hadn’t realized it at first, since she’d been occupied with other things, but something was going on with her. Her mana, and maybe her body, were slowly changing. It felt like her mana was condensing, and of course her body had finally finished growing its wings. Regina flapped them weakly, craning her head back to look. They looked delicate, like an accident or misplaced sharp implement could rip right through them. They also felt sticky. At some point, she’d gotten some blood on them, and she didn’t like the way they poked out of her back. She tried to fold them back in, but it didn’t quite work.

“Damn it,” Regina grumbled, trying to reach back and failing to accomplish much.

Luckily, she didn’t have to deal with it alone. Mia, who’d come out with the others, was eager to help. She dragged over one of the amphorae of not-wax they’d made to store water, then used a rough piece of cloth and the water to help Regina clean up. With her help and a bit of fumbling, Regina managed to fold the wings neatly against her back, covered by the shell plates. That gave her the full mobility she’d gotten used to. Her shirt, which was ripped and had only hung on barely, seemed like a total loss, though.

“Thanks,” Regina told Mia with a smile.

“Of course. Can I do anything else to help?”

Regina shook her head. She sat down on a log someone had dragged out at some point, glancing at the crowd. Then she turned her attention to the System notifications she’d received, reading them again.

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