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Hive
© 2022 by Walter Reimer
Thumbnail art by
Ahro
One of Sir Gerhard’s retainers escorted Meredith to the edge of the forest near the skunk’s estate. “The flowers are that way, and I’ll be leaving you here,” the fox said.
“What?” the paladin asked.
“More than my life’s worth, wandering around in those at night,” he said as he shouldered his spear, “but you seem to know what you’re doing.” He loped off before she could say anything further.
The golden palomino mare grumbled as she set about collecting wood to make a torch. A few minutes later she used her tinderbox and, the lit torch lighting her way and her drawn sword in her other paw, she set off into the woods.
A steady glow of magic-lights could be seen after a short while, and she paused at the edge of the large clearing.
The flowers were huge, towering well over her head, and in the dim light she could see that they were being tended by a pair of bees. The bees were about a meter and a half tall, with swollen abdomens banded in black and yellow chitin. One spotted her, and waved its antennae to get their partner’s attention. “Who are you?” the one who’d seen her asked.
“I’m looking for someone,” and Meredith described Varan.
“Oh, her,” the other bee said. Their compound eyes and complex mouthparts made reading their expressions difficult, but they seemed dismissive. “We don’t cotton to strangers, so we stung her a couple times. She’s in the Hive now.”
Meredith raised an eyebrow. “What will happen to her there?”
The bee who’d first seen her fluttered their wings. “We don’t like strangers, so we make strangers friends.”
“And where is this Hive?”
One bee pointed.
“That’s all I needed to know,” and the paladin raised her sword.
***
The Hive was as tall as a ten-story building, with a main gate guarded by two bees armed with spears. They started as a severed bee head came sailing toward them, bounced along the ground twice and came to rest facing them as they brought their spears to the ready.
An ichor-spattered armored mare came striding up to them, a bloody sword in her grip. “Not going to let me in, eh?”
“Halt, stranger!” one guard trilled.
“Didn’t think so,” and Meredith came at them.
Leaving the gate strewn with body parts, Meredith walked into the Hive and grabbed the first worker unfortunate enough to be a little slow in getting away. “I didn’t do it! I wasn’t even there! The sheep are lying!” the bee screamed.
The golden palomino held the point of the sword against the bee’s throat. “Where’s the stranger that was brought in earlier? Tell me, and I might let you live.”
“She’s in there,” and the worker pointed up at an elongated structure made of beeswax.
Roughly the right size for holding a vir.
“Thank you,” and the paw holding the sword drew back.
“WAIT!” the bee cried. “You said you wouldn’t kill me!”
“I said I ‘might’ not kill you,” and the blade descended.
The pod, for want of a better word, was suspended from the ceiling. Meredith found a few paw and hoof-holds to get close to the base of it, and hacked at the wax until it fell to the floor below. The mare sliced the honeycomb open and recoiled.
Varan gazed up at her with two huge compound eyes, her fur patchy and largely replaced by chitinous plates and her tail ballooned to resemble a bee’s abdomen. Her wings were still vestigial.
Meredith looked down at what had once been her companion. The mare served Purity, and was sworn to fight against the land’s corruption.
Varan had become corrupted.
The logic was simple.
“I’m so very sorry, my love,” and the consecrated sword came down hard on Varan’s neck.
When the mare left the Hive, she left heaps of dead bees behind her.
So the paladin became a living weapon, dedicated to purging the land of anything and anyone that dared reveal any corruption, until her crusade corrupted her . . .
GAME OVER
***
“What the hell?” Meredith asked incredulously as the game asked her whether to return to the last saved point or quit the game. Fuji looked up from bottle-feeding Jinzi and his mate related what had led to the game reaching a bad end. When she was finished, the Komodo monitor shook his head.
“That’s one hell of an ending,” he said. “I never would have expected the game to cause your characters to kill each other.”
“Top level,” she reminded him. “I wouldn’t put anything past the designers.” She frowned. “But something was affecting my character. She’s not usually that violent.” She went back to the last saved point and started scrolling through her character’s various attributes. “Wait a minute, what’s that?”
“Find anything?”
“Maybe. It’s in my inventory, a little doll . . . Avril Makenzi?” Meredith blinked.
“Who?”
“Good question.” She opened an inquiry window on her padd and entered the name. “Zhang-Avril Makenzi . . . she was Mad Markus’ favorite general . . . mare, complete psychopath, finally captured and tortured for a week before she was finally killed.”
“A week?”
“Yeah, a day for every decade of her military career.”
“Holy Gaia,” Fuji muttered as he burped his daughter. “Think that’s what’s affecting your character?”
“Don’t know, could be.” She closed the game and sat back. “How’s she doing?”
“She didn’t throw up all over me this time,” her mate chuckled. “Going to send that on to Varan?”
“After I get this latest problem figured out, yeah.”
© 2022 by Walter Reimer
Thumbnail art by
AhroOne of Sir Gerhard’s retainers escorted Meredith to the edge of the forest near the skunk’s estate. “The flowers are that way, and I’ll be leaving you here,” the fox said.
“What?” the paladin asked.
“More than my life’s worth, wandering around in those at night,” he said as he shouldered his spear, “but you seem to know what you’re doing.” He loped off before she could say anything further.
The golden palomino mare grumbled as she set about collecting wood to make a torch. A few minutes later she used her tinderbox and, the lit torch lighting her way and her drawn sword in her other paw, she set off into the woods.
A steady glow of magic-lights could be seen after a short while, and she paused at the edge of the large clearing.
The flowers were huge, towering well over her head, and in the dim light she could see that they were being tended by a pair of bees. The bees were about a meter and a half tall, with swollen abdomens banded in black and yellow chitin. One spotted her, and waved its antennae to get their partner’s attention. “Who are you?” the one who’d seen her asked.
“I’m looking for someone,” and Meredith described Varan.
“Oh, her,” the other bee said. Their compound eyes and complex mouthparts made reading their expressions difficult, but they seemed dismissive. “We don’t cotton to strangers, so we stung her a couple times. She’s in the Hive now.”
Meredith raised an eyebrow. “What will happen to her there?”
The bee who’d first seen her fluttered their wings. “We don’t like strangers, so we make strangers friends.”
“And where is this Hive?”
One bee pointed.
“That’s all I needed to know,” and the paladin raised her sword.
***
The Hive was as tall as a ten-story building, with a main gate guarded by two bees armed with spears. They started as a severed bee head came sailing toward them, bounced along the ground twice and came to rest facing them as they brought their spears to the ready.
An ichor-spattered armored mare came striding up to them, a bloody sword in her grip. “Not going to let me in, eh?”
“Halt, stranger!” one guard trilled.
“Didn’t think so,” and Meredith came at them.
Leaving the gate strewn with body parts, Meredith walked into the Hive and grabbed the first worker unfortunate enough to be a little slow in getting away. “I didn’t do it! I wasn’t even there! The sheep are lying!” the bee screamed.
The golden palomino held the point of the sword against the bee’s throat. “Where’s the stranger that was brought in earlier? Tell me, and I might let you live.”
“She’s in there,” and the worker pointed up at an elongated structure made of beeswax.
Roughly the right size for holding a vir.
“Thank you,” and the paw holding the sword drew back.
“WAIT!” the bee cried. “You said you wouldn’t kill me!”
“I said I ‘might’ not kill you,” and the blade descended.
The pod, for want of a better word, was suspended from the ceiling. Meredith found a few paw and hoof-holds to get close to the base of it, and hacked at the wax until it fell to the floor below. The mare sliced the honeycomb open and recoiled.
Varan gazed up at her with two huge compound eyes, her fur patchy and largely replaced by chitinous plates and her tail ballooned to resemble a bee’s abdomen. Her wings were still vestigial.
Meredith looked down at what had once been her companion. The mare served Purity, and was sworn to fight against the land’s corruption.
Varan had become corrupted.
The logic was simple.
“I’m so very sorry, my love,” and the consecrated sword came down hard on Varan’s neck.
When the mare left the Hive, she left heaps of dead bees behind her.
So the paladin became a living weapon, dedicated to purging the land of anything and anyone that dared reveal any corruption, until her crusade corrupted her . . .
GAME OVER
***
“What the hell?” Meredith asked incredulously as the game asked her whether to return to the last saved point or quit the game. Fuji looked up from bottle-feeding Jinzi and his mate related what had led to the game reaching a bad end. When she was finished, the Komodo monitor shook his head.
“That’s one hell of an ending,” he said. “I never would have expected the game to cause your characters to kill each other.”
“Top level,” she reminded him. “I wouldn’t put anything past the designers.” She frowned. “But something was affecting my character. She’s not usually that violent.” She went back to the last saved point and started scrolling through her character’s various attributes. “Wait a minute, what’s that?”
“Find anything?”
“Maybe. It’s in my inventory, a little doll . . . Avril Makenzi?” Meredith blinked.
“Who?”
“Good question.” She opened an inquiry window on her padd and entered the name. “Zhang-Avril Makenzi . . . she was Mad Markus’ favorite general . . . mare, complete psychopath, finally captured and tortured for a week before she was finally killed.”
“A week?”
“Yeah, a day for every decade of her military career.”
“Holy Gaia,” Fuji muttered as he burped his daughter. “Think that’s what’s affecting your character?”
“Don’t know, could be.” She closed the game and sat back. “How’s she doing?”
“She didn’t throw up all over me this time,” her mate chuckled. “Going to send that on to Varan?”
“After I get this latest problem figured out, yeah.”
Category Story / General Furry Art
Species Horse
Size 71 x 120px
File Size 40.8 kB
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