20

The Hornet Queen

“If I can be honest, Your Highness, I’m a tad frightened,” Apple said.

“Would it be due to the fact the shop looks like a massive hornet’s nest?” I asked.

“Or maybe it’s because we’re in the middle of a run-down city where death could be around any corner?” Kimi asked while all three of us stood outside the gunsmith shop Ms. Maman told us about. We’ve been standing there for a good minute.“Being stung by a hornet isn’t that bad you know,” Kimi added.

“Have you been stung by a hornet the size of a person?” I asked.

“No, but it works the same.”

“Maybe if you were getting an ear pierced,” I retorted.

“Well, Apple? Go in!” Kimi said. “We’re only here so you could buy your toys.”

“Your Highness?” Apple pleaded.

He clearly didn’t want to be the first to go in. I found it kind of adorable and the fact that he was half-horse made my heart melt a little. I cleared my throat and hardened my resolve before walking toward Death’s Nest. I mean the… get stung by man-sized hornets and die shop. It wasn’t so much a walk in the park for Mr. Bark as he had to stay outside and guard our escape, I mean our ride home.

“Let’s not mention Maman by the way,” Kimi said.

“Mmm… I’ve read plenty of books where problems could be resolved with words.” I said.

“Cute,” She said. “When you’ve been in politics as long as I have, you learn to keep a few bits of information to yourself in order to see people’s true colors.”

“Not if you can’t keep your tail to yourself,” Apple said, noting Kimi’s tail hooking around my hip.

“He brings me comfort,” She said nonchalantly.

“You lost such privileges when you attacked innocent men, women, and children.”

“I’ve never killed the young, nor did my people.”

Kimi’s gaze on Apple became intense, though somehow it wasn’t threatening like Alais, but more… fearful of something? That conversation ended then and there though I made a mental note to ask her about it later. As we stepped inside, there was a long hallway, leading us deeper into the nest.

“It’s… much better inside,” I said. We walked down a smooth round hallway with a flat floor. “So far, nothing like the inside of a hornet’s nest,” I mused.

“You’ve been inside one before, Your Highness?”

“Uhm… no… but my chambers have a few books on hornets.”

“Did you know this breed of hornets rape humans?” Kimi asked.

“Why is all that spills from your lips, gutter talk?” Apple asked.

“It’s the world we live in. Back in the day, the Hornet Queen was skilled in capturing human men. I’m pretty interested in seeing how the kingdom has been holding up.”

We finally stepped from the hallway and into a well-lit chamber. The dome-like walls were lined with interlocking hexagons and inside each one were products of all kinds with price tags. This round room reminded me of the place where I saw the Owl people. But without the hole in the ceiling… nor the screaming. In the middle of the room sat a round desk made of… Hold on, let me see if I can explain this properly; It’s as if someone built a perfect hexagon table out of… any material really, and carved perfect tiny honeycombs on top AND THEN, gave it a two-inch thick coating of honey to create a very beautiful desk where a service bell sat on it. At the time, I didn’t know what a service bell was but my curiosity got the better of me and I tapped it. The bell made an interesting chime, a sound that I’m sure might mean nothing to you, the reader but to me was absolutely amusing. Aside from catering to my childishness, nothing happened, so I tapped it a few more times.

“Here, let me try,” Kimi said after she peeked over the counter.

Plucking the bell up, she chucked it behind the counter with a clang.

“Welcome to the Queen’s Nest, where everything goes boom! How may I help you?!”

On the other side of the counter stood a massive hornet with a bunch of eyes, arms, and legs all over the place… At least that’s what I was prepared to see and with a bit of thought on evolution, that’s what I expected to see; Instead of a normal human-looking girl with two antennae, pretty wings, and a hornet’s abdomen with a large stinger. It was then I realized with my understanding of biology, something… grandiose was at play here. I made a mental note to keep that to myself, lest Elyon makes me study the probability of my own reality and quiz me on it, just to fail me because I didn’t explain why I love boiling-hot baths and the smell of lavender even though it wasn’t even apart of the quiz! But… I digress.

The hornet girl had a knot on her head thanks to Kimi throwing the bell. The more I stared at her, the more I felt like questioning the biology and evolution of her kind. Sadly none of the books I’ve read go back very far in history; Hmm…

“Hello, I’m Adam, this is Kimi and Apple. We’ve come to purchase a few things for my friend here. But first, if I may ask, are you a Queen?”

The hornet girl perked up at the question. “Yes, I am! Queen Frelon.”

“So… does that mean you’re my aunt?” I asked ignorantly.

“What?”

She stared at me with a look of confusion as Apple stepped closer.

“Lady Frelon, this is His Highness, Prince Adam of the Hall Kingdom.”

“Prince, since when? Where’s your proof?” She asked.

I noticed fear and confusion wash over her.

“Uhm… I… suppose I don’t have proof,” I said.

Frelon calmed down and gave a calm smirk.

“Alright, you little bastards. Coming into my nest and trying to trick me can get you killed. But… because two of you are cute, I’ll let you off the hook if you become my concubine.”

I wanted to chuckle, after all she was making our trip out of the city a bit more interesting. Although I kept my amusement to myself lest she follows through with trying to kill us. My amusement of this misunderstanding faded when I heard a horrible sound coming from outside. The horses were being spooked by something and I wasted no time running in their direction. When I reached the entrance I could see a large group of cloaked figures having circled both the entrance and the carriage.

“You’re pretty strong for a piece of meat.”

A large dark-skinned woman said as she swung her heavy-looking axe into Mr. Bark’s spear and shield. Landing one relentless blow after another, still he managed to not lose his footing. Squinting my eyes, her axe appeared to be made of a large bone. Seeing this, I couldn’t help but wonder what kind of beast did she kill to get such a thing. I pushed that to the back of my thoughts. There was no way Mr. Bark was stronger than that large woman and I’m sure he knew that as well. That must have been why he either dodged or redirected the force of her attack as best he could. The woman was as big, no bigger than Alais. But she wore beautiful white furs with what little leather armor she had on her mostly nude body. With padding only on her legs and arms, I failed to see even the point if the whole body isn’t protected. I mean, she wore cloth underwear and a belt. But while I can see the use of a strong bra while in combat, it’s all pretty pointless if only a few parts of the body are protected. Mind you, leather isn’t even that strong in comparison to metal, but I digress… again.

“Ah, wow, look at that! A real live Chaton. I thought you little fucks were killed off after the war?”

The woman said as she stopped her attacks. She held the massive bone axe in one hand, looking it over, without a care in the world as if she wasn’t in the middle of a fight.

“They weren’t strong enough to kill a Queen,” Kimi said nonchalantly.

“My mother always said the Chaton were a bunch of selfish, argent pricks. But were our greatest allies.” She spoke as if she’d lost interest in why this fight began in the first place.

“Pardon me, ma’am?” I raised my hand. “Allied with the Chaton? Does that mean you’re an Orc?”

“Ma’am is it?” She mused. “I stand above your common Orc,” She gestured toward the cloaked figures.

“Oh! I’m sorry. Your Majesty, it’s nice to meet you. My name is Adam.”

I gave a bow but received a long confused stare before she and the cloaked figures started to laugh.

“I like you, kid. How about I keep you as a pet? I’ll only be sure to eat off your arms and legs.”

I let go a nervous chuckle, scratching my cheek as I said, “You remind me of Alais.”

“Heh, as if a human child knows Orc history,” She laughed.

“How could I not?!” A smile was glued to my face as I went on to say; “Orcs and the Chaton brought the world to its knees, winning one battle after another. While stopping to fight each other to help weed out the weaker members of their two armies. While I don’t personally condone killing, the history is a very interesting one that I feel every man, woman, and child should know in hopes to learn something new. Specifically how to be a strong joint nation like the mighty Orc and fearless Chaton.”

I finally noticed everyone staring at me, although Mr. Bark had his eyes glued to his opponent.

“Alright, make way for the Queen!” The shop owner, Frelon yelled. She came walking past us with a rifle in her grip. “Don’t care how strong or fast you are, you can’t dodge a hot piece of lead to the brain. Wh, what the… Orc Bitch, why are you here?! And whose big ass carriage is this?! Compensating for something if you ask me!”

“Sorry, Frelon. Just a small job and we’ll be out of your hair.”

“A job huh?” Frelon mused. “This one here claims to be a prince of that capital. Scared the hell out of me for a second until I asked them to show proof. Little fucks couldn’t even do that.”

“A prince you say?” She shouldered her bone axe, stepping in my direction. “I heard royal blood is the best in the world.”

Perhaps that’s why Alais bit me, I thought to myself before going to say;

“Is… that so? Then perhaps we could arrange a deal?”

Mr. Bark sidestepped between me and her. I glanced over at Apple who seemed to be wanting to say something while Kimi seemed a tad unfazed. A bit too relaxed if you ask me.

“A deal? I don’t think you’re in any position for deals,” The mysterious Orc said.

I didn’t personally believe that. After all, I had full faith in, Mr. Bark, Kimi, and Alais to come through wherever she may be right now. However, my biggest concerns were Apple and the horses, who were defenseless.

“If I allow you to taste my blood and you enjoy it. Would it prove I am royalty?” Her silence gave me my answer, but I didn’t wish to be too obvious. “It would allow Queen Frelon to forgive me and sell me her product at a reasonable price.”

“They are reasonable,” Frelon said with a smug grin. “See that Mor, even a child can see my prices are fine.”

“No one likes a kiss ass, boy,” The Orc woman, apparently named Mor said stated. She grunted while slamming her axe into the ground. With her other hand, she removed a thick curved blade all in one smooth motion.

“I don’t know, it feels pretty good if you ask me,” Frelon mused.

Mr. Bark slowly stepped back in front of Apple and partially shielded me, but without warning, I stepped from behind him and approached her. I could hear his armored footsteps following behind.

“Well never in my years has a little human approached me,” Mor said.

The Orc woman glanced over at Kimi who walked next to me.

“That’s because he likes big strong girls, don’t you Adam?” Kimi teased.

“I…” I began. “Believe without warriors, the world could fall into chaos from unforeseen circumstances. And the strength of Orcs is a true representation of this fact for all other species. Those who are ignorant of this shall fall.”

As I spoke, I held out my palm for her to make whatever cut she needed, however, she stopped and put the blade away.

“I think I heard enough. Give me all the coin you have.”

“Oh… uhm… of course,” I said feeling a tad confused.

I turned and gave Apple a nod who trotted over behind me. Shivering slightly, he pulled out my purse from his satchel and handed it to me. In return, I smiled at him before turning and handing Mor the orc woman the bag. She turned and began to walk away.

“Hey! If you take their money, I can’t get paid!” Frelon yelled.

Mor flicked a single platinum coin into the air and it landed at my foot in the dirt. I picked up the coin, and they were gone when I straightened my back. I scanned the area before quickly turning.

“Mr. Bark, are you okay?! Are you hurt anywhere?!”

“Just a little bruised, Your Highness. No need to trouble yourself,” He said while relaxing slightly.

“I’m relieved.”

“If I may speak freely, Your Highness.” I gave him a small nod, bracing myself. “While brave, I think it was very foolish for you to walk up to the enemy like that. Just because you may have honor, it doesn’t mean your opponent does as well.” I felt my heart sink into my stomach. “With that being said, I believe you might have left a strong impression on her.”

“You… think so?”

“Orcs are known for their strength and only respect strength. Strong words sadly don’t count. However, whatever you said made her reconsider taking more than your coin, Your Highness.”

In my opinion, it seemed to be more about what I didn’t say, but I didn’t wish to ponder it for much longer. I glanced into the sky to see Neve still circling up above. I assumed her job was to be my sister’s eyes. While I feel safer, I’m quite happy Violet didn’t land here with her dragons, causing unneeded bloodshed. Still, I was well aware I couldn’t talk my way out of everything.

“You can’t talk your way out of everything.”

Kimi reiterated my thoughts out loud. My gaze was still fixed on the sky for a long while. Perhaps long enough for Neve to notice because she made two loops before going back to riding the strong winds in the sky

“You’re not a mind reader, are you?” I asked.

“I’m… sure there’s a spell for that somewhere.”

“… Do you think it’s possible to win all my battles… without killing anyone?”

“That childish way of thinking will get you killed… or worse.”

“I just don’t want people to die… at least not because of me.”

Unless said person threatened to take Alais’s life that is.

“What would you do if someone wanted to die?” Kimi asked.

My gaze finally fell on her as she was also looking up at the sky.

“Are you that someone?” I asked.

Kimi shrugged, glancing at me for a second before going back to staring up.

“A little… I’m still haunted by thoughts of waking up… however… not so much now. Living forever may seem nice at first… and back in my day I would kill for such immortality… but now I just… wanna roll over and… never wake up… just a little.”

We stood there in silence for a little while before I felt her paw interlace with my fingers. Standing there for a bit longer, staring into the sun-setting sky, Kimi turned and looked off to the side. I looked after her, noticing Alais resting with her back against an old tree. She was using my bed’s blanket as a cloak. And for a moment, I wondered if Alais felt the same way. My gaze scanned around, seeing Mr. Bark check over the horses and Apple showed off his platinum coins to Frelon who seemed to be drooling before pulling him inside the shop.

“You know if you die before me, I’m bringing you back as a zombie,” Kimi quipped as we turned and made our way into the shop. “Or maybe I’ll stuff your soul in one of those two haunted dolls I saw while we were going through the market.”

“Why not both?” I playfully mused.

“Because that would be stupid.”

I chuckled before giving it a bit more thought before it dawned on me.

“I’m sorry but… did you say, zombie?… Haunted dolls?!”