Chapter 99: Chapter 95: In the Southern March

In Janis’ opinion, traveling with the army was one of the most boring things she had ever done. It wasn’t quite as bad as lying in wait when she had hunted in the forest, or even a few of the chores she used to do. But it still felt like time dragged on interminably.

At least she had people to talk to. Tim was surprisingly good company, and she had gotten along very well with Tia even back in the village. Ada and the other drones were a bit harder to talk to, but still friendly. Still, none of them had many stories to tell that the others had not been there for as well, and the drones in general had not experienced very much. They did not even have any songs to share, although, on second thought, Janis might be thankful for that.

Then there was Lady Kiara, of course. Janis had talked to her a few times, but it always left her feeling a little awkward. She just did not know what to say. Kiara did not seem angry at her for what might be perceived as a betrayal, but she clearly was not entirely happy with Janis leaving. Not that Janis would prefer for her former liege to be happy to get rid of her. So, although Janis was tempted to spend more time with her and talk of many things, for the most part, she kept her distance.

They did not have far to travel. Janis was still getting the hang of the psychic link the Starlit Hive shared, but she was aware of the Hive’s drones scouting further south, observing the settlements along the northern border of Relains March. The army reached the first village in the evening, the light of torches and a few lamps sparsely illuminating it. Janis knew her eyesight was better than the average human’s, but she still wished she could see in the dark as well as her companions.

“We are definitely beyond our Queen’s range now,” Tim murmured as they approached the village, him walking beside her horse. “She hasn’t contacted us in a while, and we’ve all been attempting to reach her, but none of us succeeded.”

Janis nodded. She hadn’t tried it herself, but she saw no reason to question him. “Don’t fret. I’m sure she is already sending those attacking the village fleeing in terror.”

Watching the settlement grow closer, she recalled Regina’s orders to stop any mistreatment of the locals and grimaced to herself. Janis and Tim had both emphatically advised the other commanders of her words, and she trusted that they had accepted them. But she was unsure how long and how strictly the humans would heed them. Too many of them still looked down on the Hivekind, believing themselves the far superior part of their forces.

“Where is the gnomish group your scouts had located earlier?” Lady Kiara asked. She had nudged her horse closer towards them and was now scanning the houses of the village with narrowed eyes.

“At the back. We already have several drones keeping a close eye on them,” Tim answered.

The villagers were clearly aware of their coming. The few people with weapons, mostly older men who might have once been soldiers, had gathered in the village square, but they made no attempt to use them. Instead, the village headman, an elder with gray hair and a stooped back, bowed to Lord Cern and Lady Kiara and assured them his village would be honored to host their soldiers. He even offered them food, perhaps to prevent them from forcibly taking more of it.

Ada remunerated him with a few small grains of gold. Janis hadn’t known that Regina had given her gold to spend in the place of currency, but it made sense. The Hive Queen could easily Conjure it - pure metal was apparently relatively simple - and they could use some money to spend. They simply had to be careful not to show too much of it. Janis didn’t want John Cern or any of the others to raise questions about it.

She slipped away from his group at the first opportunity and went to see the gnomes instead. Their wagon was pushed against the wall of an outer house, standing in what had to be a dead end. Several of them were sitting on it, none looking particularly happy. A male and female pair, presumably the leaders of this group, talked to Tim. When Janis joined them, Kiara also approached from the main street.

“We are simply merchants,” the male leader insisted. He had a level too high for her to read and an overly poetic Class, like the other gnomes she had seen. Gilded Door, in his case. “We received permission from the local authorities to be here, and we are simply pursuing our trade, looking for opportunities for buying and selling goods. We are not involved in this local war that is happening in this country.”

“And you just happened to ride along with the Marquis Relains’ army?” Kiara asked, crossing her arms.

The two exchanged a short glance, and the female piped up, “Soldiers and lords are customers, as well. We were unlikely to be accosted by any bandit or ruffian following along, you see? Armies are often in need of supplies, even some more exotic ones, and besides, most of the leadership of this province were gathered here.”

“Which political faction do you belong to?” Tim asked, raising an eyebrow.

They paused for a moment. “The New Tunnels,” she answered, “not that I see why it should matter to you.”

“And what are your wares?”

“We already sold most of them,” the male gnome replied. “We have a few bolts of sea silk left, as well as some pottery and a few more common household stocks. We were hoping to pick up new cargo to continue our tour.”

Janis leaned against the wall of the nearest house and listened. The conversation continued for a few minutes, but nothing of interest and no important information came up. Finally, Tim gave her a meaningful look and guided Kiara away from them.

“What are we going to do?” he asked.

Lady Kiara frowned in thought. “Lord John might simply confiscate their wagons and belongings and drive them out. But we have no grounds to accuse them of anything, and I think I also speak for your Hive Queen when I say that punishing them regardless would not sit well with me. I suggest we simply deny them permission to remain in this land and turn them south.”

“I suppose that’s the best we can do.” Tim sighed, glancing at Janis, who gave a nod.

Kiara quickly talked to several more nobles and gained their support, so their plan went surprisingly smoothly. Janis suspected that they simply blindsided John Cern, and by the time he might have decided to object, it was already too late for him to keep face. In any case, the gnomes’ wagon trundled off the same evening.

They spent the night camped in a field outside, but most of the leadership and nobles received a quarter in the village. Janis was apparently counted among them, and she received a bed in one of the houses she suspected had been quickly cleared, together with several of the drones. Sleeping in a real bed, even if it was narrow, made for a much better night than the previous one. Although Janis couldn’t help but shake her head at the drones, who pushed a few mattresses and blankets together on the ground and slept curled up together like they preferred.

They set out at first light the next day, marching more quickly after a decent night’s sleep. A few soldiers and drones stayed behind in the village, and after some debate, they detached another company to march on and take the next village, which was in roughly the opposite direction to the nearest real town. That was where the rest of the combined army headed.

Janis found this day much like the previous one, and just as boring. She talked to Tim and the others, and then ambled her way to the humans to look for new conversation partners. Uncle Rich was mostly busy, but he did have an hour to spare for her. She enjoyed catching up with him, even if she had the impression that he was leaving some things out when telling her of his time fighting in the war. The one in the forest, that was - he hadn’t had much opportunity to fight for his lord yet.

She was riding back to the group of drones she’d been talking to earlier, who’d broken away from the main column a bit, when Janis realized another horse was coming toward her. She hesitated for a moment, then slowed down, glancing around. The terrain was uneven, hills covered in scraggly grasses and the occasional bushes and clumps of trees. It made it hard to see everything nearby, but also offered some privacy.

“Lady Kiara,” she greeted, dipping her head. “It is nice to see you again.” Well, we have seen each other recently, that was a stupid thing to say. “How can I help you?”

Kiara smiled, although Janis knew her well enough by now to see the hint of uncertainty in her expression. “Hello, Janis. I simply wanted to talk to you. I hope that’s not a bother.”

“Not at all,” Janis said hastily.

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She slowed down and let Lady Kiara catch up to her. They were riding a short distance apart from anyone else, close enough to keep them in view, but far enough that their conversation should be private. With a start, Janis realized that this was the first time they would be talking in private since their parting.

“I hope you are doing well,” Lady Kiara said. “Not that I would malign this hive or your new mistress, but they are … different. I imagine it was an adjustment, if nothing else.”

Janis smiled. “That it was,” she agreed. “They are indeed different from humans, but that does not make it a bad thing.”

“So, you are happy with them?”

Janis tilted her head, taking a moment to consider the question with the seriousness it deserved. “I am,” she said. “Certainly happier than I was at the village, before.” Then she smiled slightly, glancing at her. “But I was happier than that time when I was working for the march, for you, as well.”

Kiara smiled at that. It was not one of the polite smiles Janis had seen her giving other nobles and commanders, and it made Janis want to return it.

“What about you, Milady?” Janis asked. “How are you doing?”

To Janis’ faint surprise, that seemed to sober the young lady. A faint shadow flitted across her face, and she shook her head slightly. “I cannot complain,” she said. “The war has led to an upswing in my family’s fortunes, and I am reaping some benefit of it. My father also allowed me to accompany this army, to see its battles.”

“But it is still war,” Janis said cautiously. She knew she was not very good at reading people, and at this moment, she wished she was better at it. But it helped that she was somewhat familiar with her conversation partner. “Whatever the cause may be, it also means carnage, blood and death. It is naturally … distressing.“ She shrugged slightly. “Regina called War one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse once, and while I am not entirely sure what that means, I think I understand the sentiment.”

Kiara raised an eyebrow. “Did she? That sounds interesting.” She shook her head as if to clear it. “Thank you for the kind words, Janis.”

“Of course, Milady,” Janis said lightly. “I’ll freely admit they were for myself as much as for you.”

She chuckled at that, and Janis smiled again, relieved that they appeared to have managed to lift the tension. She still couldn’t suppress a faint, lingering disquiet, though. One raised by what they had just been talking about.

The recent battle was not the first time she had seen blood and death, although its extent had been shocking. The Hive’s drones all seemed to cope with it quite well, and, of course, many of the human fighters were professional soldiers and veterans. Janis herself wasn’t as bothered as she silently acknowledged to herself she should perhaps have been. After all, the dead were her countrymen, who simply had the misfortune of serving the wrong lord. But that is just the way it goes, I suppose.

It appeared that neither of them was much in the mood for talking after that. They were saved from any potential awkwardness by the riders ahead of them slowing down. At the same time, Uncle Rich and a few other knights rode closer to the two of them.

“We will reach the town soon,” he explained when he noticed Janis’ questioning look.

“Alright, I’ll go find Tim and the others and see if there’s any more preparations that need doing,” Janis said. She hesitated for a moment, then bowed to Kiara. “Please excuse me, Milady. And thank you for the insightful conversation.”

Lady Kiara smiled and nodded. Janis resisted the urge to look back as she nudged her horse into a canter and caught up to the group of hive drones riding further ahead.

They talked about what they could expect for a minute, but it was hard to reach any conclusions, since they didn’t have many concrete points to go off of. She also didn’t think the drones were very worried about it. They would just have to see how the locals reacted, but based on their reception in the other village, she supposed they had little to worry about. Even if the townspeople were hostile, there would be little danger to them or the army.

“You’re a little distracted,” Tim noted, dragging Janis from her thoughts. He gave her a look. “Was it Kiara?”

“No,” she quickly replied. Then she hesitated for a moment and shrugged. “Not really.”

He grunted and didn’t answer, apparently content to leave it at that. Janis glanced around, taking in the landscape. The other drones were scattering, going about various tasks. After a short silence, she found herself speaking up again.

“The battle, it was the first time I had ever killed someone.” She remembered it very well, a young man little older than her, who’d looked quite different after catching a Firebolt. She paused, gathering her thoughts, and gave Tim a sideways glance. “What about you?”

“Not my first time, no.”

“Oh.”

They continued in silence for a moment, before Tim sighed. “Don’t feel bad about this. It’s probably to your credit that you’re thinking about this and feeling emotional.”

Janis nodded and tried to figure out how to phrase what she wanted to ask.

Before she could, Tim continued talking. “It’s not that it doesn’t bother me.” He frowned and ran a hand over his head. “I just trust my Queen to make the difficult decisions, to make sure that - well, all the bad stuff - is worth its price. And maybe she’ll make mistakes sometimes, but that’s only natural, and life isn’t perfect.” He shrugged. “Besides that, I have to admit that killing humans doesn’t bother me much, at least on a visceral level. Maybe if I had to kill a foreign Hivekind drone, it would be different, who knows? Or maybe not.“

“Hmm.” Janis pondered that, then shook her head. “Well, thank you for telling me this.”

He nodded, and they continued on in silence. She felt like she still did not really understand the Hive, although she was probably getting closer.

In any case, it was probably good to sort out her feelings, because this was unlikely to be her last battle.

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