Queen Gambit

Despite trying to stop her, she seems sure of herself. At the very least, she shouldn't go alone. You quickly approach behind her, lifting your wing above her once more to shield her from flying eyes. She doesn't acknowledge your presence, instead sneaking closer and closer to the hive.

"The queen will be underground, at the deepest point of the nest. With things like dragons and long-range magic, it's the least likely region to be attacked directly from the outside." She stops around a hundred feet away from the nearest guard.

"Okay, how are we going to get that deep?"

"Remember when I said my brother studies magic?" She sets down her spear, turns around, and reaches into the food pouch, digging around before lifting out a glass bottle that looks like it's filled with water. "You'd normally have ten minutes, but I only have one potion." She pops the cork, downing around half of the mixture before handing it to you. "Drink fast and don't let go of my hand." She takes the hand that's holding the sack as her form seems to fade. You quickly down the potion before rearranging everything so that the bottle is in the bag and the bag is around your shoulder. Just as you feel ready to go, you feel Camilla's hand tug on yours, pulling you to your feet as you run forward to keep pace.

You run past the guards and into one of the holes that dots the tower. You're unsure where you're going, but with Camilla leading you downward through the maze of tunnels, you're confident you'll eventually reach something of importance. You pass a multitude of hornets, each of which you assume are doing some kind of task for the hive and pass by with barely a glance at you. Going deeper and deeper, you eventually come across a much larger cavern, filled with several large stationary grubs. Each one of them has a pile of leaves and...meat...in front of them.

"The nursery. We're close." Camilla's whispered observation is matched by a hornet on the other side of the room carrying another grub in its forelegs and resting it near a pile of leaves. "That one'll lead us to the queen." You saw her point to the hornet that was leaving the room...

You saw her... You squeeze her hand as she becomes more visible. "We're out of time!"

"It doesn't matter, we're too close, now!" She pulls free of your grip, rushing after the bug. You frustratingly groan before rushing after her, noticing your own hands becoming visible.

You catch sight of her just around the corner as she's rounding another into a straightaway, where you're easily able to catch up to her before another turn leads you both to a relatively large chamber. In the center is a larger hornet, with a thorax bigger than the rest of her body. She's laying on her stomach on a raised platform with leaves and brush to cushion her, but pushes herself up when she notices you.

"How did you get in here? Guards!" In a similar annoying, bug-like voice to the one you heard the previous day, what you assume is the queen shouts forth. Two armed hornets from the sides of the room scurry over with their lances, stabbing toward both you and Camilla.

Camilla deftly deflects the blow with her shield, and you do the same with your bare hand, barely pushing the polearm into the wall next to you. Taking the opportunity, you draw your sword and swipe at the queen's guard, only to have your own blow hit their shield. Using the momentum of the deflected blade, you make another swipe at the one fighting Camilla, striking true and ripping off it's shield...arm? You didn't really think about it before, but now wasn't the time. Camilla quickly dispatches of the dis-arm-ed hornet with a pierce through the abdomen. The second one has recovered by now, taking the opportunity to stab your chest. Luckily, it missed your heart, leaving you to momentarily wonder if your heart was even in the same place it normally was. Reacting once more on instinct, but now with purpose, since you know what's happening, you cast recompense, completely consuming your attacker in darkness and knocking them back.

By the time both guards are dispatched, the queen lifts herself up, standing much more upright than her guards did. "You will pay for this insolence!" She lifts a slightly fancier shield and a sword and she swings, breaking Camilla's spear with a single strike before performing an upswing that the captain can't block in time before slashing across her torso. Not trying to take a risk, you launch a light elemental bolt, but the larger hornet blocks with her shield. Camilla's recovered and draws her sword, going in for a strike while you do the same. The queen blocks each with one hand, you with her shield and Camilla with her sword. While her focus is split, you launch another bolt point-blank, scorching the queen's side as she howls in pain. She shoves Camilla back with her legs, immediately swinging and carving into your shoulder. Once more casting recompense, the queen is staggered, giving Camilla enough opportunity to slice off the queen's head.

You both heave, the battle temporarily over, before Camilla speaks up. "We need to leave. The stench of **** will get around sooner than our own." She holds her gut with her shield arm, clearly in pain as she moves back the way you came. Before you leave, you decide to grab the queen's shield and sword, noting that even if it's not particularly strong, it seems like the kind of loot you'd gather from an RPG.

You rush after your wounded companion, feeling the pain of your shoulder in particular catching up with you. "You doing okay?" You reach her as she kneels over one of the piles of leaves in the nursery, clacking two rocks together.

"I'll be fine until we get back..." Her breathing is heavy, and her attempted fire-starting is clumsy.

You pull her up without much resistance, sending a fire bolt that lights the nearby food pile. "You said it yourself, didn't you? We need to get out of here." You tug her along, trotting through the tunnels that you barely remembered how to maneuver and launching radiant bolts at hornets that happened to get in your way. More and more hornets seem to rush into the tunnels each taking a swipe at you and Camilla as you both killed and climbed higher and higher. You eventually see the light of day, only now noting the brightness of the cave system. Unfortunately...

"It doesn't look like we're getting out of this, Private..." Camilla stares in awe at the number of hornets lined up in rows and columns from the ground to the air, all facing you. She raises her shield, leveling her sword to be able to strike the first enemy to approach.