Khit’s ran west on his spidery exoskeleton, and Vella followed on his heels. On the way, she observed an unexpected help, the Beauhemians. They’ve concluded that an environment where kinetic projectiles were making craters a hundred yards wide and beams of light burned all around was not the safest. Gathering all together, they plunged obliquely into the warbeasts army exposed back, discharging their rifles. Crushing under their horses' hoofs all that stood in their way, they broke through the warbeasts, then divided into smaller units and lost themselves into the woods. The red warriors' machines went immediately into the opening, attacking the warbeasts from the back and the flanks. That would have been their end if...

Columns of insects burst in the air like geysers, all over the mountain. Earth was trembling, holes opened, then closed again, closing all access to the hive. In a matter of seconds, loud splashes noises followed, green blobs of acid dropped from the sky. The machines responded with beams of light and machine gunfire. One on one, they would have prevailed, but they were doomed with both the wasps and the beasts against them.

Vellantina and Khit’s kept running. To spite them, as they’ve reached the main tunnel’s entrance, it collapsed under their eyes. Khit’s became even more hysterically agitated, talking a lot, showing things, showing places, talking to other red furry imps, but she could not hear anything. Her mind wad in a haze.

If I don’t act soon, my friends will die... Providence… What… can I …do? What’s happening to me? I cannot breathe… I cannot think… What should I.. do? Breathe, Vella… be zsen… breathe...

She felt helpless, afraid not for herself but for the others. Her friends' lives were in her hands, and it was nothing she could do. This battle felt different from any other, and she understood for the first time what real struggle meant. She always had the scales tipped in her favor. The training, the numbers, and the knowledge of the enemy, in the exam, Estella’s time-stopping spell, in the village. Every time she had fought, she had the advantage. Safe now.

Please, Providence, help me save them... The other me… said I have… some magic powers… to enhance myself… but… how?… I cannot do magic, I…. DO IT! JUST DO IT!

She roared. Furious. Ashamed. Desperate. Her hair rose on her head. Her senses enhanced. She ran back toward the tower, listening, seeing, analyzing.

Here!

She stomped the ground and fell through in a tunnel. A few workers rushed her, but they died in seconds.

It cuts well.

With a knife in her left hand and her gun in the right, she ran faster than ever. On her path were guards, here and there, maybe a dozen in total. Too few. She took a right, then straight, then another right. She let her instincts guide her, her smell, her hearing, and arrived around the room, guarded by four guards. Shot two, beheaded the others, ignoring the few claws which managed to hit her.

And suddenly, she found herself face to face with the queen. The giant wasp sat awkwardly on a throne, the stare in those black eyes and the long pointy face. Aiming, with the finger on the trigger, she stared back at the wasp for a second.

“The master will prevail!”

The voice was buzzy but understandable.

“YOU TALK?” she exclaimed. “Surrender, and I’ll spare you!”

“Not… surrender… Master…must prevail!”

The wasp jumped at her, lightning-fast. So fast that the old Vella would have been killed. The new Vella shot the insect in the head while it was still in the air. It collapsed at her feet, dead.

Silence fell; only now she realized how intense the wasps' noise had been outside and in the hive. Going back to her entry point proved tricky; there were tens of wasps that had tried to run to the queen's help, lying dead everywhere; she had to crawl over them several times.

They died when I shot her... Brr! Suicide? Or maybe they are just made like this, not to survive without their queen? I understand them... I couldn’t live without Estella... she’s my queen and my real BFF; I would take a bullet for her on any day, at any hour... I love her with all my heart.

Finally, she reached her entry point. To get out, it was impossible. The earth was crumbling, and there were twenty feet to climb up. Khit’s, though, had followed and waited for her outside. A ladder later, she could breathe the freshness of the open air. All-around on the hill, bodies. Countless warbeasts, countless wasps, broken machines, small curved in a ball spider exoskeletons, red dead imps who valiantly fought hand to hand. Like a wave retreating, the remaining warbeasts were going away.

Her friends met her on her way up to the tower. Estella was crying with joy, Ulius pretended to cry, trying to get a much closer hug than decency allowed, which he was denied, and Sirinn was genuinely happy, and his hug was warm and sincere. She, on the other hand, felt numb. It was a long time she didn’t sleep, and the emotions and the fight had drained her of the last drop of energy. On the other planet, it would have been night time. She was exhausted.

“I have to sleep!” she said, collapsing.

As she laid on the ground. Estella kneeled and took her head on her knees, caressing her hair gently. Sleep overcame her, sweet and deep.

She woke up in a hammock, inside a container. There was light from a small window, and it fell directly on her face.

“Good morning, sleeping beauty!” said Sirinn softly. “You owe me; Ulius had this theory that his kiss would wake you up. I discouraged him with some slaps over his head.”

“Where am I? Where are the others? What time is it? Aouch!” she rushed to ask, hitting her head on the ceiling when she rose brusquely.

“In a lodging unit, the little monkeys had installed a container city around. The others are at the tower, talking stuff. The warbeasts retreated to the north, the Beauhemians fled to the southwest. It’s morning; you slept almost a day.”

Vella sighed.

“I need to use the cloakroom. Is there any?”

“Oh, indeed, there are plenty! One is just outside. A masterpiece of civilization, I’d dare to say. You’ll have a nice surprise.”

She went outside but stopped after a few steps, aghast. The cloakroom complex, made of three interlocked containers, was indeed amazing. One unit had showers on all its walls and the ceiling, the water following the body's movement. Another was an exquisite sauna. A little farther, the toilet, looking otherwordly complex, yet invitingly comfortable.

The only problem was that every single wall on those containers was transparent glass. A few red engineers were showering, splattering water playfully, others were enjoying the sauna, looking at the mountain view, and there was one on the toilet, reading a newspaper. Obviously, it was in no hurry, but even if it had been, there was no way she would have used the facility as is.

Sirinn put the finger on her jaw, helping her to close it.

“Just in case you don’t appreciate the full intensity of our hosts, we’ve built an outhouse just to the north of our container. I would never have guessed that the half-dozen tarps Ulius still had in the backpack, and his portable shower would be handy. I’d say that he deserves a kiss for that; what do you think?”

“I think you talk too much!” she replied, extracting a roll of toilet paper, her towel, and her toothbrush from the backpack. “I’ll be back in five.”

When she got back, Khit’s was there. It was clear that he was their attaché.

“Miss Vellantina,” he bowed. “I come to ask you to come to the tower. There are some developments. Somebody wants to talk to you.”

“Somebody who?”

“It’s better you see for yourself.”

She followed him on the streets of the newly constructed town. The reds had even paved the roads with cobblestones. The tower had a large plaza around it now, and in front of it, a score of newcomers was waiting. Warbeasts carrying an improvised white flag for which some underwear of dubious cleanliness had been sacrificed. One advanced and addressed her.

“Mighty one who vanquished the wasps' queen, please receive our salute and respect! We ask you politely to be our queen!”

Vella did not believe her ears.

“Whaaaaat? They talk too? Every monster around talks common language today!”

“We all had learned the common language from Alienor’s mind when we were connected,” explained Khit’s.

“You’ve said they are mindless!”

“I did not; I said they are not bright. Do they strike you as geniuses?”

“Please, mighty one, be our queen!” asked the beast again, kneeling. “We will serve you well!”

“Rise!” ordered Vella, and rose he did, maybe because she did have a commanding voice. “You want to tell me that the first thing you ask after you got liberated is to be slaves again?”

“It’s not slavery, but an honor to serve such a big, great warrior.”

She was relatively short for a big warrior, but she didn’t object to the idea of greatness; it had a nice sound to it.

She sighed and looked at Khit’s.

“Her highness the Seer said it’s ok. We could use an extra hand,” he encouraged her. “There are lots of things to do that our machine can’t.”

“Look, if you insist, I’ll modestly take the title of Honorary Queen of the… how are you called?“

“The Kheakapotlechiret’nk, your mightiness.”

“Goodness! So be it. For the sake of bragging around at school, I will accept the title of Honorary Queen of Chirpchipotle here. I delegate my trustworthy attaché, Khit’s, to be your... err... viceroy, for now.”

“I’m most obliged, my liege. Might I humbly ask you to provide some food for us?”

Suddenly confronted with the weight of leadership, Vella’s jaw dropped again.

“Errr…” she started to say something, yet not knowing what.

“We’ll do it,” assured her Khit’s. “Let’s go up, please! There are other things to discuss.”

In the elevator, Sirinn expressed his curiosity.

“How will you feed them? And shelter them?”

“Lots of wood for construction around. Food, we now have plenty, our mobile factories are working around the hill as we speak. Here, take some samples.”

He dug his hand into the paper bag.

“Hm… this yellowish meatball is very dry… but the other is nice… It tastes like chicken.”

“Yes, isn’t it?” the engineer appreciated the compliment. “Recycled warbeast. The insectoids are dry indeed. We’ll try combining; we have plenty of resources now.”

“If you barf on me, I’ll kill you!” warned Vellantina, seeing his expression. “Take it like a man, how you like to say!”

In the lighthouse command center, her friends, some red people in smart uniforms, plus Sem and Fits, were gathered around a large screen. Estella rushed to hug her friend, Ulius made a gesture, but her eyes killed it before it became.

“I need your opinion on something,” said her BFF. “Look at this.”

On the screen, an aerial view of their surroundings.

“You launched a satellite?” asked Khit’s, a little incredulous. “So fast?”

“A drone, my esteemed colleague,” explained another engineer. “It crashed after a few minutes, though; those magical ley lines are making a number on electronics. We still got a good image before.”

“Do you see this?” asked Estella, pointing to a shade.

“A blimp,” stated Vellantina. “Hidden among some trees, but unmistakenly a blimp. Do you think it’s her? Alienor?”

“We don’t know,” said the engineer. “We would prefer to wait another day before the next launch to adjust for the interference. Or we’ll lose drone after drone.”

“Estella? Don’t you see anything?” she asked.

“Nothing, I’m sorry. I see a faint scent of Alienor to the south-west, in the woods, but it can be just the Beauhemians that fled there. A residue of her plans.”

“I don’t think it’s her,” said Fits. “Looks like it’s quite far away.”

“Fifty-seven miles to the north,” elaborated the drone scientist.

“Why would she go there, instead of coming here to take back the army?” asked the beauhemian.

“It can’t be Alienor,” stated Vella. “If she arrived before we did, it makes no sense to go so far. If, on the contrary, she arrived after us and saw the fight, it makes no sense to hide so near. I mean, we have all the cards now. She would have run far, far away.”

“Yet, it’s our only clue. What should we do?” asked Sem.

“We should inspect. If it’s Alienor, we can… capture her,” she hesitated a bit. “If not, well… we can still use the blimp. We can reach civilization in no time and let our folks take care of the rest. Estella, any advice?”

The princess tilted her head, dubitative.

“Not really... I see a very optimistic landscape now, and that’s disconcerting.”

“That blimp is our only chance to return home fast,” said Ulius. “Our friends will not be able to put together a proper flying transport for a good while. At least not one with decent survival chances.”

“Electronics,” said the drone engineers. “Very problematic here.”

“Well, then I’d say we go for it. Khit’s, can you arrange for transportation?”

“But of course, oh mighty Queen of the Kheakapotlechiret’nk” replied the imp with a bow, which made them realize he had a perfect sense of humor. All laughed, safe Vellantina.