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BD - POBee 302.2 - The Conspira-Bees of a Mad Queen
🕑 Added 2025-07-28 20:05:01 +0000 UTCThe First Queen of the First Dynasty of the Eighth Spawner, the first of her line, stared at a cell of her honey. It…was time for her to change.
Once upon a time, she held a unique and favored position within the Apiary. The First of the Fifth was the most productive among them, this no bee could dispute. The Second of the Sixth was the healer of the hive of hives, the one who tended to the hive of the fallen. But the First of the Eighth…the First of the Eighth had been the only of the Apiary queens to defend the hive of hives. She had been the only one in the Apiary who held to that original, innate mission of all monster bees. The only one in the Apiary to recall their true purpose, the reason the King had raised them.
For she was the first maddening queen and it had been her honey that filled the deadly traps of the King. It had been her honey that evolved the bee army’s maddening soldiers and their variants, the deadliest warriors in the hive of hives. It had been her hive’s efforts that had halted the invader. Neither the First of the Fifth, the Second of the Sixth, nor any other queen of the Apiary had been able to claim that.
And she had been rewarded in turn. When the First of the Fifth changed her ways, she had used her apparent value to claim a huge portion of the First of the Fifth’s resources. The honey and flower access she gained allowed her to expand beyond even a single hive, raising daughters to make a hive of hives of her own. As such, when the King rebuilt their magical palaces into massive complexes that could each hold many hives, the First of the Eighth had been granted one all to herself, filled solely with her and her daughters. Between the size of her hive, the favor bestowed upon her by the King, and her connections with the Flower Meadow’s bee army, she had grown to the point that even the First of the Fifth appeared within her reach. She began to dream that one day the Apiary might have a new ascendent queen…
But no longer. Now, the First of the Eighth could claim no unique duty at all. At this point, many other queens had evolved into new and powerful forms…and with new and powerful venoms. The First of the Eighth’s honey and venoms could unsteady invaders or even make them fall down in large enough doses. The toxic bees could kill an invader outright. The First of the Eighth had to watch as the King ordered her honey replaced by theirs during the great expansion battle. Her honey was no longer the deadliest. Her honey was no longer sufficient for the most important of battles.
And the toxic bees weren’t the only ones. There were bees whose venom made invaders fall asleep, bees that could make them fall down with a single sting, bees who could burn them, bees who could shock them. The King had any number of honeys he could use for his traps. The First of the Eighth knew that the King only continued to use hers because of the sheer amount she had stockpiled…but the others would catch up soon enough.
Her honey no longer evolved the deadliest warriors either. The Firstborn, the bumblebees, the new butcher and stingless bees, all of these bees had grown powerful without any special venoms at all. And all the bees with special venom types could evolve warriors too. What was a sprayer that made invaders unsteady compared to a sprayer who could blind them outright? What about the digging assassin bee that could wait underground and slay an invader with a single sting? What about the Third of the Sixth’s hive, that was learning to channel the same power as the karnuq queen?
And she couldn’t even claim to be the only Apiary bee defending the hive of hives. All the new queen types contributed their honey to the army and the defense, the same as her. And…the First of the Fifth’s children, who lived within their queen mother’s hive, were building the new moving hives. The ones the same size and shape as the King himself. If they proved able to fight like the King did…then the First of the Fifth’s hive could fight directly in the amazing and incredible manner of the King himself.
But the First of the Eighth did not panic. Her hive had lost its unique advantages, but it had not lost any of its strength. She still had one of the largest and most productive hives in the Apiary, with several of her daughters working under her. She just had to find new ways to grow, new ways to use her honey and her venom, new ways to leverage the bees and resources she had available. As long as she did that before the others could catch up to her scale, she could retain her edge. She could once again find her way into the King’s sight.
And thanks to the First of the Fifth, she had an idea. The First of the Fifth had evolved and so put herself outside of the First of the Eighth’s reach once more…but had also shown the First of the Eighth the path forward. The First of the Fifth had done something to her honey to make it…more. More powerful, more nutritious, more tasty. A honey that, despite being made from the same flowers as before, could now fuel new and powerful evolutions among the bees, that had the new small-King things laying their own flowers at the King’s feet and sending their soldiers to fight at his command.
So, what if the First of the Eighth figured out how to do the same with her own honey? Honey that could harm invaders directly, honey meant not merely for consumption but for battle? If she could learn the secret to the First of the Fifth’s method, perhaps she could make a poisonous honey deadlier than even the toxic bees’. She could once again become THE supplier of poisonous honey for the King’s traps and the army’s evolutions.
And, fortunately for her, the First of the Fifth had not bothered to hide her secrets. She had shown the First of the Eighth what she did, even gave her a sample of the swirled honey. The First of the Eighth observed the mana within the First of the Fifth’s honey, how it elevated and amplified its physical characteristics beyond the mundane. She turned back to her own honey, mundane and plain, relying solely on the toxic compounds from flowers and bees. It had mana within it, but that mana just sat there. Doing nothing.
It would do so no longer. The First of the Eighth stretched out her own mana and reached for that of the honey as the First of the Fifth had instructed. Her mana…then dissipated against the honey without doing anything. She buzzed her wings. She knew the First of the Fifth wouldn’t give up the secret that easily! Her supposed benevolence still didn’t stop her from keeping the best of her resources to herself!
But the First of the Eighth would not give up! The First of the Fifth may not have given her much, but what little she had was enough! The First of the Eighth was the first bee to take harmful compounds into her body and attune herself to them! She was the one who had turned the honey traps into weapons that could harm invaders directly! She was the first one to evolve soldier bees into something better! She would figure this out and show the First of the Fifth that she was not the only bee that could make honey the King approved of!
She stirred up her mana once more and was about to focus all of her attention on the honey again…when one of her communers started dancing.
“Queen mother, First of the Fifth’s First Daughter’s communers say King planting new flowers in dangerous one’s room. Asks if want come see and check if new flowers good for hive?”
The First of the Eighth buzzed at the interruption but she considered the situation as a good queen should. New flowers? On the one leg, new flowers from the King were always a priority, to all bees. On the other leg, her hive ultimately converted all nectar into the same type of honey. New flower types not only didn’t help, they could actually be harder to utilize if her workers had to reprocess compounds in the nectar into maddening ones. The only beneficial flowers were those that held the same kind of compounds or that had greater mana density in their nectar…so were new flowers more important than figuring out the First of the Fifth’s secrets.
The First of the Eighth decided not.
“Tell First Daughter to go check and report back. Then, do not disturb unless really important, working on new kind of honey.”
Her communer saluted and began relaying her instructions to her hive. Then, the First of the Eighth returned to her task of utmost importance. Figuring out the First of the Fifth’s secrets could restore her hive’s role among the King’s queens. New flowers, even planted by the King, could not.
Or so she thought at the time.
***
A short while later at the Apothecary’s Hut garden, the First of the Eighth’s First Daughter buzzed her wings and zipped about in a frantic dance.
“Flowers…are poisonous? Force invaders to dance?”
The small-King thing explaining the flowers crossed its upper legs over its torso.
“That’s right!”
The First of the Eighth’s First Daughter nearly dropped out of the air. She zipped down to the flower as quickly as she could. She rubbed her antennae against its pollen. She extended her proboscis to take a sip of its nectar.
Even that small taste resonated within her and she immediately knew. This flower…was compatible with her hive’s honey.
Her queen mother needed to know…or did she? Her queen mother had specifically ordered them not to disturb her for the time being. And beyond that…the First of the Eighth’s First Daughter knew that her queen mother was overly focused on her hive’s role in the hive of hives, as well as on the First of the Fifth.
The First of the Eighth’s First Daughter, on the other hand, knew that every bee was important to the hive of hives, even if their role ended up changing. Her queen mother’s hive only grew as powerful as it was because the First of the Fifth chose to help them as the King helped all bees. The very role her queen mother was so concerned about was specifically to help the Flower Meadow bees!
But she was a part of her queen mother’s hive and had to follow her lead. It was not her place to question her queen mother…or was it? The First of the Fifth’s First Daughter, on the other hand, had ultimately diverged from her queen mother in location and role. And nowadays…it was the daughter directing the distribution of her queen mother’s honey, not the other way around.
So…what if the First of the Eighth’s First Daughter managed to accomplish something her own queen mother had not? What if she created a new type of honey, a new role for her hive? And what if she did it not by herself but with the hive of hives’ help?
Perhaps then, her queen mother would come to truly understand the hive of hives.
The First of the Eighth’s First Daughter made her choice and turned to look at the other bees around her, the queens or communers sent in their place to investigate the new flowers. She flew over to the First of the Fifth’s Third Daughter, whose antennae twitched at her approach.
“Hi, you are…from First of the Eighth’s hive?”
She brushed antennae with the other queen to let her confirm the pheromones.
“Yes, am First of the Eighth’s First Daughter. Have request for First of the Fifth’s hive.”
The Third Daughter replied with an encouraging dance.
“Ok! How can help?”
The First of the Eighth’s First Daughter could not help a little happy spin. As she had thought, the hive of hives was always happy to help. And if she was right about the new flower, maybe she could help her queen mother see that too.
Author’s Note:
Oh no, it’s begun. One of the daughters of all the other queens besides the First of the Fifth has screen time. First Daughter no longer refers exclusively to the First of the Fifth’s First Daughter. The moment is upon those who use silly non-bee languages.
…well, not like the First of the Eighth’s First Daughter is about to embark on an important evolution for the maddening bees that will bring them back into prominence and so earn herself a bunch of screentime and direct interactions with the First of the Fifth’s First Daughter, right? Because that would be confusing for the silly non-bees, haha.
Which isn’t any of us, right? We all, of course, can identify any given bee by an elegant dance and the pheromones and mana that immediately proclaim her hive affiliation and lineage, right? None of us are silly, right?
Anyways!
Can the First of the Eighth uncover the First of the Fifth’s secret methods? Can she restore her hive to its rightful place? Or will her First Daughter put her plan into action first? Tune in next time, to find out!
Comments
Book-Wyrm
I wonder if the dancing flowers could be used to make king-things understand bee dances?
Fernando Oliveira
Thanks for the chapter. I adored this chapter. Lol. 1st of 8th our lovely mad queen is unfortunately a little "mad" lol. I'm sure her first daughter will be able to help her learn that they already have a place in the hive of hive. Tho. If she manages to swirl the mad honey that would be really impressive. Can't wait to see what they come up with next.
