The Bee Dungeon

Chapter 155: A Bee-utiful Name

Chapter 155: A Bee-utiful Name

Ok, so Sehfitis the augur was now his sworn defender. That was nice and all, but now that this affair was handled there were some wyverns Belissar and the karnuq needed to deal with. So, Belissar just gave Sehfitis as serious a look as he could muster.

“Stay here for now, and don’t do anything again. I’ll be back when I have time.”

Sehfitis bowed his head.

“As you will, Tower Keeper.”

Belissar gave one last glance to the man before turning and leaving. Once he left the room, Metsaitti followed.

“It seems it went well, Sacred Den Master? Should we continue guarding him?”

Belissar paused.

“Oh, right, you couldn’t understand most of that, right?”

Metsaitti shook his head.

Belissar blinked.

“Ah, right.”

Then he rubbed his chin.

“…yeah, I think we should keep an eye on him for now. I’m…still not sure about him, even with the oath and all that.”

Metsaitti nodded.

“I understand.”

Metsaitti gave orders to the karnuq hunters at the door, and then he and Belissar made his way over to the larger building next door. There, they found the wyverns now with their mouths and limbs free, though still with ropes tied to their harnesses and the walls. The young human was calming them down. He turned and bowed his head.

“Ah, Tower Keeper, sir. We were just finishing up here. Thank you for preparing a space for them.”

Belissar’s eyes widened a bit.

“Ah…um, you’re welcome? You…managed to get them inside all right? I thought you couldn’t speak with the karnuq.”

The young man and the karnuq hunters with him both shook their heads.

“We couldn’t but…we managed to work it out somehow.”

Belissar nodded.

“I see. Oh, um, what’s your name, by the way?”

“Hirkolos, sir.”

Belissar rubbed his chin.

“I’m Belissar. So, Hirkolos…do you want to join the Tower?”

Hirkolos froze.

“Um, sir?”

Belissar shrugged.

“Your augur friend just swore himself to the Tower. Figured if I let him, then I should let you too. You cooperated and helped the bees, after all. It would let you speak with the karnuq, too.”

Hirkolos stared out into space.

“The augur did? How did that happen? …please forgive me for saying this, sir, but it’s hard to imagine an augur joining a Tower with…beastkin.”

“Spoke with the Oracle of Bees, apparently that convinced him.”

Hirkolos blinked at that.

“Huh.”

Belissar shrugged again.

“So, how about you?”

Hirkolos focused back on him…and then began to frown. Eventually, he hung his head.

“I…don’t know, sir. I’m just…confused.”

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Belissar didn’t know how to respond to that so didn’t. While he tried to figure out how to respond, Hirkolos continued.

“You see…when I was chosen to train as a future Tower Guard, we all thought it was a great honor. I was going to be a hero, to fight against the Hunger and the subhumans and witches and anyone else who threatened us. I was going to keep my home safe and serve the gods both, right? But then…my very first mission was to burn down your village.”

Belissar narrowed his eyes as unpleasant memories came back unbidden. Hirkolos looked off to the side.

“…is that really what the Tower Guard are like? How are we supposed to protect villages by burning them down? And if that’s what we do, then just what exactly were we fighting for? Was that really the will of the gods?”

Belissar growled and shook his head.

“No. The Tower Lords lied about a lot of things.”

Hirkolos slowly nodded.

“That must be true if even an augur is having second thoughts now.”

Then he hung his head again.

“But…I’m sorry, Tower Keeper, sir. But I can’t join your Tower Guard. Not again, not after…that.”

Belissar narrowed his eyes.

“I’m not going to be another Tower Lord. My Tower Guard’s going to be different.”

Hirkolos slowly nodded.

“I…believe you. But…I just don’t know what I should do, anymore. I’m sorry, Tower Keeper, sir. I can’t swear to anyone, not right now.”

He closed his eyes and bowed his head.

“I’m sorry. Take my life, if you must.”

Belissar shook his head.

“I’m not going to do that, I already told you. Look…I’m not going to be like them, alright? So, just…do what you want, and let me know if you want to join. I just…if that guy wanted to join, I wanted to let you if you wanted to, since you helped the bees. If you don’t…then that’s fine, we’ll try to take care of you anyways.”

Hirkolos slowly lifted his head and nodded.

“As you will, Tower Keeper, sir.”

Belissar heaved a sigh as he turned away. Talking to these humans was proving…exhausting and bringing up a lot of memories Belissar would prefer to forget. But now, it was finally over…sort of. Now that the augur had sworn to help, Belissar probably should talk with him and figure out what exactly he could do. He knew vaguely that augurs were supposed to divine the will of the gods…but this one had apparently had some trouble with that? Besides, the God of Bees hadn’t had any trouble making her will known to Belissar thus far, and he certainly didn’t trust someone from the Tower Lords to take up that job. Which left a big question of what augurs actually did and how this one could help his Tower.

Belissar didn’t know and couldn’t think of anything in particular, so he decided he would handle that later. After all, right now he had thought of something far more important to do. Something in line with the very will of the gods themselves. He turned to Niobee, and the oracle queen on her back, and gave them both of smile.

“Shall we check on your hive?”

The oracle queen paused, and then began to dance rapidly.

“Yes! Hive-builder check hive!”

Belissar chuckled at that and then turned to Metsaitti.

“Could you let Chief Rohsuak know to gather everyone who wanted to learn beekeeping? It’s a good opportunity to show them what I do with an occupied hive.”

Metsaitti saluted.

“Right away, Sacred Den Master. Or…should I call you Tower Keeper?”

Belissar shrugged.

“Either or, as long as you don’t call me Tower Lord it’s fine.”

Metsaitti nodded and set off. Belissar then did his best to push Tower Lords out of his mind and focus on his bees. He made his way to the oracle queen’s hive…and then looked at her.

“Niobee…your mom doesn’t have a name, right?”

Niobee danced the negative.

“No name! Not from spawner, either.”

Belissar turned his gaze to the queen herself.

“Would you like one, a name?”

The queen danced unsteadily.

“Name is…what Hive-Builder calls worker? Worker has one?”

Belissar nodded.

“Yes, I call her Niobee.”

The queen’s antennae twitched about.

“Why?”

Belissar opened his mouth, but then paused.

“Um…because she’s my friend?”

“Friend, what that?”

Belissar had to rub his chin for a bit at that one.

“Um…it’s because I like her and want to distinguish her from other bees, so I gave her a name I can call her.”

“But can call worker worker already?”

Belissar shook his head.

“There’s other workers, though, right? So, I gave her a name that other workers don’t have. That way…she knows when I’m talking to her and not another worker…or something?”

The queen stood still at that for a long while before slowly starting a dance.

“I…see. Worker is special, so not just worker. Niobee is name for special worker?”

Belissar nodded. He thought that was right?

“And you’re a special queen, since you’re Niobee’s mom. So, do you want a name, too?”

The queen stood still for a moment before breaking out into a quick dance.

“Ok!”

Belissar let out a sigh and then chuckled.

“Got it. How about we call you…”

He paused. He now realized that in his efforts to explain what exactly a name was in the first place that he hadn’t given any thought as to what Niobee’s mom’s name should actually be.

“Um…let’s see…”

The queen danced.

“Um let’s see is name?”

Belissar blinked and then quickly shook his head.

“Ah, no, I was still trying to think about what your name should be. It, um, generally is a unique word that doesn’t refer to something else…sometimes.”

The queen just looked confused again so Belissar decided to just think of a name instead of trying to explain. What should he call Niobee’s mom, who was also the Oracle of Bees?”

“How about…Velebee?”

Smashing together part of a famous oracle’s name and Niobee was…pretty much in line with Belissar’s naming thus far.

“Velebee?”

The queen danced around once with unsteady steps and then stopped. A moment later, her eyes burst into golden yellow light that flooded the area, forcing Belissar to shield his eyes. When the light died down, he found the queen bee dancing about rapidly.

“Queen of All Bees says she likes!”

Belissar smiled at that. Niobee began dancing around as well.

“Niobee likes too! King is best king! King’s names best names!”

Belissar chuckled and was about to respond when…

You have performed a service for the God of Bees: Naming the Oracle of Bees.

Reward: +500 DP!

Oh, it seemed the God of Bees really liked it.