Janis had been happy to finally establish some kind of contact with the hive’s leadership, although she hadn’t waited for it to act. She’d shouted herself almost hoarse and used the sapient drones to try and instill some kind of order within the mass of Swarm Drones suddenly cut off from the hive. The news of Nerlian forces moving towards them had given them an even greater urgency than just losing the link would have.

Right now, though, as she looked at the visitors that had suddenly appeared in front of her, she missed the psychic link even more acutely. She had no idea what to say and desperately wished Regina was available to deal with it.

Janis considered what she knew. The group of Delvers around the dark elf Madris were clearly high-level, and the Hive had already assumed she must have a teleporter with them. Probably also a good rogue or thief — considering how they had seemingly just appeared here, which couldn’t just be actual teleportation, but probably also a Skill to evade notice. Madris herself was what Galatea called a very powerful psychic, which should give anyone pause.

She was the first person Janis would think of who might be able to shut down the psychic link even partially.

“I was not expecting to see you here,” Janis said, scrambling all of her composure as she stared at the dark elf. Hopefully, she couldn’t tell how quickly her heart was racing.

Madris inclined her head. “I apologize for dropping in unannounced,” she said, just a bit of irony in her tone. Her gaze flicked to the blades she had thrown down at her feet, then back up at Janis.

The gesture was clearly symbolic, since she had no way of knowing if Madris had other weapons hidden away in that coat she was wearing. And besides, a sword or dagger obviously wasn’t the most dangerous thing she could use. Although restricting magic was a bit harder, and Janis had to admit she hadn’t expected the Delvers to go even this far, voluntarily surrendering their weapons, and before they were even asked. She turned her head toward the other man, who was now coming up behind Madris, and raised an eyebrow slightly.

Armin niz’as Ulaven — Level ? Shadow of the Blade

The man pressed his lips together for a moment, but then shook a knife out of his sleeve and took two others from his belt, throwing them to the ground as well.

“Thank you,” Janis simply said. She turned back to Madris. “Do you have anything to do with … this?” She gestured around her.

Madris pursed her lips, glancing around quickly as well. “Your link is entirely suppressed?” she asked.

“Not quite,” Janis said. “And you didn’t answer my question.”

The psychic sighed. “Of course I don’t. I wouldn’t be coming here if I was. Although I have no idea why I should do anything this idiotic, anyway.”

Janis narrowed her eyes. She’d hardly expected her to admit to anything, but the look in the psychic’s eyes now gave her a bad feeling.

“Then why are you here?” Dan asked, crossing his arms and glaring at her.

“I am here to help, actually,” Madris stated calmly.

Janis was almost surprised she wasn’t surprised at this declaration. Given what just happened, she supposed there were few other answers she’d give.

“Are your powers suppressed by this as well?” she asked.

“You’ll forgive me if I don’t quite trust you enough with the answer to that question.”

Janis narrowed her eyes. “I still don’t understand why you’re here, then.”

Madris sighed again, sounding almost like a put-upon teacher having to deal with unruly children. “I want to know what idiot is responsible for this … idiocy,” she said. “And make sure they are swiftly taken care of.”

That surprised Janis, although she tried not to let it show. She hadn’t taken Madris for the type to be concerned by something like this. Or offended? Or maybe this really was more of a danger, not just to the hive, than she had realized?

Madris seemed to pick up on the direction of her thoughts and shook her head, crossing her arms. It was an oddly defensive gesture. “I understand if you do not have the highest opinion of me, Miss Starlit. But when I speak about the use or abuse of psychic power, I take it seriously. I have taken a certain responsibility upon myself and I will not have it be said that I shirked it.”

Janis’ eyes widened slightly before she could stop herself. So that’s an actual thing? Does she have an agreement with other powerful psychics or something? Are they policing it with unofficial rules? That might put their previous encounter into a new light, at least a little. Was she evaluating the hive’s psychic link for some kind of danger to others? Or just as a threat?

“I understand if you feel the need to question me, but for now, it appears you have an urgent situation to deal with and time is of the essence,” Madris continued. “Have you established communication with your Hive’s central leadership already?”

Janis narrowed her eyes, but decided to accept the shift in conversation. She wasn’t wrong, after all. And for now … she would accept whatever help Madris offered. I clearly can’t trust her, and we’ll need to keep a close eye on her and keep the possibility of betrayal in mind, but it would be foolish to turn her away in this situation, or worse, start a fight.

“Yes,” she said. “We’re sending some drones across. Can you help?”

“Perhaps, but it would cost me a significant amount of power,” the dark elf admitted. “Have you been given your orders?”

“I’m in command,” Janis said. Although that should be obvious already. “We should try to move our army out of this zone. The Nerlians appear to be trying to attack, though, and if we can’t get out in time, we’ll assume defensive positions.”

Before they could continue, Madris turned and Janis realized Earl Whitor was approaching them a second later. The nobleman hurried towards them, frowning as he looked at Madris and her companion.

“I see we have guests,” he said tightly. “You did not think to inform me?”

“Believe me, I was just as surprised as you, Lord Whitor,” Janis replied. “You might say they invited themselves. But they have offered to help, and under the circumstances, it would be stupid to just turn them away.” Assuming they even could.

Whitor’s frown deepened, but he nodded and inclined his head at Madris and Armin. “Then I thank you for the offer; Mistress Ulaven? Is that correct?”

“Technically Eminent Mistress, Lord Whitor, but let’s not stand on formality,” Madris replied. Janis could see her smile slightly, though. She was clearly pleased he was making an effort, or that he knew a bit about her culture. “Are your men prepared?”

“We are ready,” he confirmed. “I do not suppose you could shatter this — I believe you called it ‘disruption field’, Lady Janis? -- that is keeping our allies hobbled?”

“I do not think so, unfortunately,” Madris replied. “Please gather your troops. The sooner we may move, the better. My companion will help in covering your backs.”

Janis glanced at the others briefly, before she turned to the drones. “Move out, as discussed!” she shouted. Their discussion should have given the other sapient drones enough time to prepare. Right now, the few who’d been with her moved off to repeat her order, although Dan stayed with her, still eying the Delvers with poorly concealed suspicion.

Janis turned back to the others just in time to watch a short exchange between Madris and her companion. She nodded at him, and he gave her and then Janis an ironic salute before he vanished. Or close enough, she could actually see a shadowy blur moving south. Presumably, he was going toward the enemy army. He must be trying to stall them, Janis concluded. Let’s hope there’s something he can do.

Whatever you wanted to say about the Delvers, they clearly weren’t lacking in bravery.

“Janis!” one of the drones called to her, although she didn’t recognize who right away. One unfortunate side effect of them all coming from Templates with ultimately very similar forms meant their voices were quite close. Usually that wasn’t a problem, with the psychic link, since she could always just check and would usually know who was talking to her anyway, probably from the subconscious shift in attention.

“Yes?” Janis asked, turning around. Now was not the time for her sleep-deprived brain to go off on weird tangents.

“We’re all ready, but it might be better if you lead the way,” Inu said. “I think most of the Swarm Drones might just follow the horde, anyway.”

Janis nodded, took a quick look at the non-Hivekind around, and then turned and jogged away to do that. She still took the opportunity to shout at a few drones and generally try to drive them to move in a semi-ordered manner in the direction she wanted. It was …. possibly easier than chivvying human troops, but still profoundly odd.

She’d barely decided on a good position for herself and checked that everyone was moving properly before Madris joined her again. This time, the psychic just walked up, dodging around passing drones with an agility that reminded her she was a type of elf, and very high level.

“You know,” Janis said, cutting her off before she could start, “You never actually said why this was such a big issue for you.”

Madris narrowed her eyes. “I thought I was rather clear on where I stand, Miss Starlit.”

“Call me Janis, please,” Janis said. She still wasn’t quite used to being called that, and had the impression that informality would be easier with Madris. “And I’m not questioning your attitude, just wondering what about this effect makes it dangerous enough to step in?”

“Ah.” Madris was silent for a moment, clearly weighing things in her mind. “It is, of course, a potentially dangerous technique to me and people like me — or your Hive Queen. That would be enough reason to investigate, I admit. But I have a hunch that it is even worse than that. Ritual magic effects like this need a power source. The mana needs to come from somewhere. Or, in this case, perhaps, be somewhere.”

Janis frowned. She wished she could contact Galatea to ask about her take on this. But she did pride herself on being a good mage as well, and it wasn’t too difficult to follow where Madris seemed to be leading. “You’re saying it’s drawing on the ambient mana here, and perhaps using it in a dangerous fashion?”

Madris nodded. “Perhaps. It is not about using ambient mana, really, I doubt this effect is strong enough to be a true problem, and it is most likely built off mana invested into it in the casting. But the ritual does need to define an area for the effect to take place, as well as a vehicle for its action, and anchoring it using mana is the obvious solution. This is not like a ritual to reshape the earth — there is no physical matter to work with. At the same time, this clearly requires an ongoing effect of some kind.”

“And not a static one,” Janis said, eyes widening as she realized what Madris was saying.

The dark elf smiled briefly. “Yes. If there is anything I got from my attempts to analyze it, it’s that this is not just a static suppression. Not a boulder pressing down on a sheet, if you will. Instead, it is clearly trying to scramble any psychic connections formed in the area. If it was simply, let’s say a sound emitted at a certain frequency constantly, I, and most likely your Hive link, would subconsciously adapt to it over time.”

“Wait, the psychic link would subconsciously adapt?”

“Or rather the Hive Queen,” Madris answered, waving a hand dismissively. “There’s rather little practical difference in this case. But to get back to the point, I do not like the effects this might have on the fabric in general.”

“Like rolling rocks over your sheet,” Janis mused. “Eventually, they might wear through the cloth at some points to create rips and tears.”

Madris nodded. “Exactly. Well, this is perhaps an inaccurate metaphor. I do not know what such tears would look like, and there may be more of a general corruptive effect, for lack of a better term, to worry about.”

Janis pinched the bridge of her nose. She thought back to the corrupted, for lack of a better term, mana the hive had encountered underground. That had been affected by the chaotic and disruptive effects of the Cataclysm, as she understood it. And at least one god was clearly perfectly happy to work with it, she thought with a grimace. If Regina hadn’t taken risks, Galatea might have died there.

“That would be … bad,” she said. “We should definitely ask Galatea as soon as we manage to get in contact.”

Madris’ eyes narrowed slightly, presumably registering the fact that Galatea was still in contact with the hive, but she only nodded. “Her opinion would be appreciated,” she said. “I doubt there are any more experienced mages around. And if there were, they would likely be working for your … our enemies.”

Janis sighed again, shaking her head. She was briefly distracted by some shouts further ahead. The rather unordered army of drones was moving pretty well now, although she could tell there were problems with wrangling every drone. It would be much easier with a psychic link, but it also didn’t help that the average Swarm Drone had low levels and pretty bad physical stats. They wouldn’t be able to move as fast as a strong human force.

And now she might have to worry about the effects of a large battle involving magic happening in this area. The hive didn’t have that many magic-wielding drones here, but their enemies certainly did. Well, there was herself and Madris. And she might be worrying about nothing. They’d have to win such a fight or it probably wouldn’t matter, anyway.

“There is a reason I called this idiotic,” Madris said seriously.

And suddenly, Janis was almost glad to have her here, even if she still wasn’t sure she could trust her. Funny how that worked.