Regina wasn’t entirely sure what Lyns and his people would do about their opponents’ situation, but it wasn’t really her problem. She was just happy to find out that they had a new advantage and would hopefully not need more help than she could give. So Regina turned her attention back to the south and southwest. She had only so many Winged Drones, and only so many other drones who could supervise them. That was getting to be the real bottleneck of their reconnaissance efforts, she suspected.

Her hive was still growing in heaps and bounds, although she could see a bit of a limit on the horizon. She was relying heavily on Drone Breeders, which were also leveling up at a satisfying pace. But Drone Breeders couldn’t hatch any other Breeders themselves, only the other Swarm Drone Templates she’d unlocked. Of course, she was concentrating on War Drones and Winged Drones and had barely made any Aquatic Drones at all since she unlocked them.

Right now, she was just telling all of the Drone Breeders as they hatched which type to produce and basically left them to their own devices. It had been working well so far. Even newborn Swarm Drones’ instincts ensured that they wouldn’t just kill themselves in random accidents, and Regina was taking care to keep the ‘hatcheries’ protected from monster attacks. Training was a bit of a different matter, though. They could level up a little by hunting or practicing on their own, but she really needed sapient drones for coordination and to integrate the drones into a real fighting force. Regina wanted to be able to use tactics a little more sophisticated than ‘form a horde, run that way and attack everything’. Luckily, Ben and the others were on top of things, although he’d requested more sapient Warriors to help.

Her hive had changed recently, in a way that went beyond the influx of new hatchlings. Regina found it hard to put a finger on it, but she was coming to realize it might just be the way the drones approached what was happening. It felt like they’d found a purpose, or at least intensified part of their shared purpose. It didn’t seem to matter that they were going to fight an enemy with larger numbers and a lot more experience. And once the initial anger and rush of bloodlust abated, the reasons didn’t seem to matter that much, anyway. Regina suspected that if she’d just pointed everyone at Cernlia, it would be almost the same.

It was a bit concerning on an intellectual level, but Regina found it hard to care about that as much as the issue probably deserved, because it was also kind of exhilarating. Maybe there was a little megalomaniac in every Hive Queen, but seeing, feeling, her hive forming a weapon ready for her to grasp and wield against her enemies … it was really something. Maybe Hivekind weren’t meant for long stretches of peace. Or maybe a war was just a simple, convenient goal, and they could achieve as much or more if they had another driving aim. Like scientific inquiry or space exploration or whatever. Who knew?

She was still only a few months old. Regina supposed that more answers would come with time.

In the meantime, their preparations continued quite well. Neralt was working on their main fortress close to the gnomes’ territory, raising walls, subtly shaping the landscape and conferring with the sapient drones Regina had sent with him. They were making good progress. In light of the attack on their main base, Regina had nudged them to go over their plans again and make adjustments. Among other things, they had expanded their chain of outposts and lookout spots, to make it easier to catch any gnomes trying to slip by it. They could still pass the base by if they went completely around it in another direction, of course, but that should still make things more difficult for the gnomes. The plans for the fort itself were also redrawn, with their defensive emplacements strengthened and more emphasis on protection against flying enemies, as well as several escape routes.

Janis had returned to the main base and stayed there for now. She was working on developing her magic, experimenting with Conjured material and trying to tweak her Spells, as well as taking lessons in ‘unstructured’ magic like scrying when Regina had a free moment, or studying it with some of the Attendants and Witches. Regina guessed that she was preparing for her next Evolution. Last she knew, Janis was still shooting for Archmage, but it probably helped to take advantage of her current Class’s inclination more. Regina had considered sending her back to talk to Volance again, but decided to only do that once she truly had something to say.

What might elementals want? Janis’ grandmother had very explicitly hinted that she could be persuaded to help the hive in exchange for something, but Regina wasn’t sure what she should try to offer her. Certainly, her old knowledge would probably be of interest to the elemental, but she wasn’t sure about sharing that. And which parts of it would interest Volance, anyway? Regina didn’t think she was getting very far with those considerations, so she decided to put them on the back burner for now.

The Drone Keepers were really proving their worth, as well. From ‘storing’ tactical information to just serving as sounding boards and even helping with mana lessons, they were pretty handy for the hive. It might be due to their help that she felt the magic-using drones were getting better. By now, they had almost a small catalog of Spells that Attendants and Witches often got, with more variation in the next Tier and various Evolved Classes. Fewer people than she’d wanted to could learn Conjuration, or for that matter Basic Heal and its successors, but Regina suspected it was probably still a lot more people than in most other groups. They were her own two most powerful Spells, given her knowledge from her past, but any Conjuration Spells, at least, had to be really rare on the outside. Good healing Spells also didn’t seem that common, considering the plague in the Cernlian army’s camp.

No one else had yet managed to learn scrying magic well enough to use it, so it still fell to Regina to scout out the gnomes with it. She did that regularly, even if it drained her mana more than she’d like.

All in all, she was almost relieved when she finally saw the gnomes mustering in her latest scrying attempt.

At least, it seemed like they were doing that, although she couldn’t be entirely sure. There were more soldiers in the city she’d been paying the most attention to. She also managed to check on the neighboring city, which her drones hadn’t entered in person, but she’d had some Winged Drones overhead closely and often enough to get a good image of it. It was the same thing there.

Things were clearly organized. The soldiers moved and acted in units, the gnomes had what looked like dedicated supply and logistics people and buildings, and the citizens of the city switched between gawking, cheering them on, and trying to stay away. Unfortunately, Regina couldn’t really get close enough to tell what was in most of those covered crates their logistics efforts used, but she watched them managing uniforms, what had to be rations, and weapons — everything from knives and swords to crossbows to muskets, and also a few things like spyglasses that would be useful for an army to have, as well.

To the gnomes’ credit, it looked a lot better organized and more modern than the glimpses she’d gotten from the Cernlian armies.

She wondered where they’d stationed these soldiers before, probably a tunnel or several behind these outer cities. Why only move them forward now? Well, the obvious answer is that they didn’t want me to see them, she reflected. Which also means that if they were still just building their forces up, they wouldn’t have bothered moving them around. So they’re probably pretty close to actually marching out - or whatever they intend - and this is just the last stop, maybe setting up a new base for them to operate from while they’re out campaigning. Regina frowned. She didn’t know these things well enough to tell if the activity she saw matched an army just preparing to move out or settling in for the long haul. Although that didn’t seem likely.

Either way, it was probably best to proceed on the assumption that the gnomes would go on the attack soon.

Then Regina realized she was being stupid, and she reached out to Ben. After a moment, she also connected to Tim, Ada and a few others. Take a look at this, she told them, then shared what she was seeing.

The others watched intently, and Ben gave a few suggestions on where to look. After a while, Regina also switched to some of the Winged Drones and got a few different viewpoints.

I think you’re right, Ben concluded after a while. They probably are preparing for an attack of some kind. This could just be defensive, if they expect us to attack after their raid, but it doesn’t seem like that to me.

Everyone was quiet for a moment while they considered what they saw.

Well, this is a good thing, isn’t it? Tim asked. Better than us having to go into their tunnels, for several reasons. Now they’re coming to us, to ground that we have prepared. And we can probably meet them on ground of our choosing, right?

Regina smiled slightly. He wasn’t wrong.

We need to be careful not to let them know that we’ve seen them, Janis said. From everything I’ve heard, knowing what your opponent is doing but keeping them in the dark and not letting them know that you know is, like, the biggest advantage you can have. Or something like that.

Regina’s smile widened. How well you put that, Janis, she teased her. But you’re right. I don’t pretend to be a master strategist, but knowing their army is on the way and being able to watch its movements has to be a big advantage. It means we can plan what to do about it, anyway.

No plan survives contact with the enemy, but not having a plan still means you’re screwed, Ben agreed, sounding amused. With your permission, my Queen, I’m going to talk to all of my commanders and fill them in so we can get started on that.

You do that, Regina said. Let’s meet and discuss what you’ve come up with and what we may need to adjust after that. Tia, do you think our defenses are ready?

Tia seemed thoughtful, almost subdued. She’d been very busy over the last little while, planning and overseeing the hive’s fortifications and also working on their weapons production. Regina could tell she was feeling a bit nervous now, not because she thought she’d screwed up, but just because her work would soon be put to the test. I think so, my Queen, she said after a moment. I would have liked more time to work on everything, but I think what we have is pretty good.

Great. Regina nodded to herself. Then let’s all get started making sure they’re walking into the dragon’s maw without knowing it.

After the meeting, she stood up from where she’d been sitting on her bed and stretched. Regina winced slightly at the crack of her neck and took a few careful steps. Her recent expenditure of mana was draining, as were all the eggs she had to produce for the hive. She’d gotten used to feeling a little bit hollow. Right now, she headed to the bathroom, since she had time before anything major would happen and a good soak usually helped. The Attendants had taken to always keeping things ready for that, which Regina appreciated, even if it did feel a bit like she was taking advantage to indulge in personal decadence. She knew the drones wouldn’t see it that way, though.

Once Regina was in the hot water, she closed her eyes and just let herself relax for a moment. Then she idly reached out through the psychic link to check on her hatchlings.

There were a lot of eggs developing for the hive, most of them by the Drone Breeders, by now. Several eggs of that Template were also still incubating nearby, along with sapient drones and some other Swarm Drones. They were up to several thousand new drones every few days now, and Regina wondered how big a growth they could sustain before they hit their limits. Or her limits, probably.

Her mana was getting drained pretty fast now. It wasn’t just the eggs, but all of the scrying and other magic she did. She could try to cut back on that, but Regina couldn’t help but think that would be sacrificing long-term for short-term gain. Training in magic was important, especially with her magic-using drones. Not to mention that her surveillance of the gnomes was one of the main advantages they had in intelligence gathering.

She barely had enough mana left to get any real progress with Conjuration magic as it was.

Regina held up her hand, focusing for a moment and watching as a small drop of liquid formed, then dropped into the bathwater below. Conjuring water wasn’t particularly hard, and her Water Manipulation might even help. She still didn’t have nearly enough to flood the gnomes’ tunnels, even assuming they didn’t have defenses against that kind of thing.

Which they probably had. It was also why she wasn’t going to rely on any ideas about gassing them or trying to smoke them out. If they lived underground, they had to know the importance of clean air, and it would be stupid to assume they didn’t have air mages, or even just people with specific Skills that did things like filter air or even increase its oxygen content.

Granted, increasing the proportion of oxygen wasn’t going to do all that much in the face of carbon monoxide poisoning, since it had a much higher probability of binding to hemoglobin than oxygen did.

Regina submerged her hand in the water, then focused again for a moment and watched a bubble of gas rise to the surface. She leaned her head back, even though she knew it wasn’t dangerous for her like this.

Yes, there are probably a few options I do have, she decided, smiling slightly to herself. It just needs a bit of luck and maybe some trial and error.

Her smile faded as she considered that. She should probably test how well her drones stood up to things like this, although deliberately gassing or poisoning her hive’s drones, even Swarm Drones, felt like it would be going a bit too far.