"But please, don’t let this stop you from exploiting them, Grand Commander! They are like an usnea tree—only dangerous when you don’t know how to deal with them. Or let them out of your sight. But at other tis, they can be very useful. They know local roads and pathways even better than our scouts, who have mostly seen them from far above..."
Before Malevolence could reply to this claim, Ramwill bowed his head and said sothing again. The bees were really talking with each other for too long.
"’Beautiful spirits of the plains and fields, you promised and my people food for our service. Please, give so to us now—my boys have been running hungry for days. Mother-Nature wasn’t rciful to us then,’ he says, Grand Commander. It’s not a lie, his people were desperate."
Malevolence nodded.
"Tell him that they will be fed as much as other humans in my army. And that they will get extras if they can lead us on the other side of the river ahead faster than within a week a normal route will take. Try to trick us, and ten thousand stings will fall on your head until you lt in our venom."
Humans were beasts like any others, and beasts were always trained with a mix of punishnts and treats that depended on their unique personalities.
Eloquence nodded and smiled, confirming that Malevolence’s approach was a correct one.
Another exchange of words ensued. The man looked sowhat intimidated, but Malevolence wasn’t going to approach him to see what was going on in his head. She had Eloquence for mind-reading.
"He knows another path, Grand Commander, and can lead you to it. It’s not a bridge, but a place where the river is so shallow that even after the storms, we will be able to walk over it. And it will only add around three days of detour."
The corners of Malevolence’s lips turned up the smallest bit.
She was glad that her decision to take these people in was already turning into honey.
"Good. Get the information about this route and start teaching these people genuine respect for the Bee Empire, Agent Eloquence."
***
The army set out on a new route, and the storms started exactly when predicted.
The bees huddled inside their forts, barely appearing to fly near their humans anymore—even when the droplets of water didn’t push them into the ground, they just got too cold.
Only astral projections of Agents and Commandos kept check on what was going on outside of the mobile forts.
This annoyed Malevolence even more than storms themselves did. At this ti, when her army was joined by a new group of humans with their own beliefs and reasons to be hostile to other humans, it was especially important to keep an eye on them all.
But her people couldn’t do it physically. Telepathic interventions worked on the loyal humans—mostly—but Wildn were less used to it and often ignored the bees’ words or reacted oppositely, thinking that the telepathic ssages were the whispers of "devils".
Of course, Agent Eloquence sent so of her own humans to explain the bee worship to Wildn, but they listened to their leader more than to anyone. They were outright worshipping him...
And Ramwill didn’t worship anyone except nature itself, although Eloquence was working on changing that. Which was going to take much more ti than a day or even several.
Add to that the general miserableness of walking under a storm, and it would beco inevitable that there will be argunts and even fights between humans in the army.
Eloquence and her Agents did their best to stop them, but Malevolence readied herself—and Beemarines—for a possible fight between the factions.
At least Wildn led the army where they promised. Three days later, they approached the river and moved off the road to trample over water-soaked forests.
Another day and a half later, as well as many tis they had to pull carts out of dirt, the army reached a place where the river beca shallow. Shallow for humans, at least—bees could still drown in it easily.
The weather eased a little, and the storm turned into ordinary rain that didn’t prevent bees from flying (although it still made everybody miserable).
It was there that Chief Commando warned Malevolence:
"Enemies in the water. Dozens... A hundred and a half, maybe. Large, long beasts with mandibles that stretch forward and short feet. I rember similar ones near ho."
Upon hearing this, Malevolence told her signaller, "Ask Eloquence if the humans know what beasts might live in this water. Give them Chief Commando’s description."
A minute later, an answer ca—the beasts were very common ones, called "crocodiles", and they were ferocious (but dumb) predators. And Ramwill genuinely didn’t expect so many of them to be here, claiming that there were usually only a few that were easy to scare away.
"’At least, before Mother-Nature went mad with anger,’ Eloquence says Ramwill says," the signaller finished.
Malevolence let out a breath.
From the army’s current location, a detour will take even longer than it would before. But trying to cross a river full of hungry beasts was a good way to get her people killed.
Fighting through them would be very hard, though—neither bees nor humans could fight underwater effectively.
’Father once said, "If you can’t co to the opponent’s field, make him co to yours",’ Malevolence thought. ’We must lure the crocodile-beasts out of the water and kill so many of them that the others will be scared away.’
After this, the plan was ready.
***
The next day, the army—both humans and bees—surrounded an area on the shore. Several of Malevolence’s bravest humans carried bloody pieces of freshly cut at attached to a long rope. The at belonged to a beast her Commandos tracked and hunted for an entire day, so it could be used as bait.
Now the humans threw pieces of at on ropes into the water and began shaking it, attracting the attention of the dozens of crocodiles underwater...
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