The entrance door was a slab of stone that spanned for hundreds of meters toward the sky. From up close, I couldn't even see the top of it, and of course, there was no way for us bees to push it open.
We just walked through a meter-sized gap between the door and the doorway; except for team three, which stayed outside to look out for enemies.
Inside was much darker, and the potent smell of herbs and humans was overpowering whatever else I could scent around. In front of us was just a rocky plain of the floor, with nothing but an occasional boulder or a dry leaf making it less empty.
In the distance, I saw massive shapes that must've been furniture, and a rectangular window which let in light and fresh air.
To my relief, there was no one inside except for some gnats mindlessly flying in the distance—but I heard distant rumbling sounds from the side. The light from the window let me see a door—a door that must've been a kilometer away from us. But behind it certainly was someone—a human.
We were safe in this place, at least for now. But the prisoners could be *anywhere* here!
I thought for a moment. Well, if I was a village apothecary who caught some pixies in a glass jar, I would want to put it on a table, or a shelf at least. Perhaps inside a cupboard.
I turned to Hound-Solo, silently asking for directions. Hopefully, she had a better idea where to go.
The Beehound waved her antennae, turning around and frowning. Now that she had work to do, she looked much more self-assured than earlier.
"It's hard to smell much here, but I smell something… bad." Hound-Solo waved her antennae again, walked in a small circle, then pointed toward a table towering five hundred meters away.
The second team's Beehound did the same sniffing ritual and nodded, confirming Hound-Solo's words.
I frowned. What exactly did the "bad smell" mean? I had some ideas, which I determinedly refused to entertain.
"Since we are alone in the room, we will fly there. Keep pointing the way, Beehounds."
Flying was much faster than running, but much more nerve-wracking. Whenever I heard another distant rumble from the other room, I froze in fright. What was the human doing there? When would he come over, and what would he do if he noticed us?
He won't be able to do much, but still.
The closer we got to the target, the darker the faces of the two Beehounds became.
"Death," Hound-Solo said. "It's weak, but I smell death, Father."
"Fly faster, everyone!"
The girls didn't need my urging.
Soon, I smelled it too—a faint whiff of rot and blood.
When we finally approached the table and began flying up, I was mentally prepared for what I might find above—and it *still* became a shock.
The table's surface stretched for dozens of meters in all directions and was cluttered with various jars and tools I barely paid attention to.
My focus was on a row of corked glass vials with girls inside.
The lost Beemarines! They looked terrible—all banged up, bruised, visibly exhausted and dirty. It didn't look like they were fed during their time in captivity: two days of travel and one day before the rescue teams came for them in the village.
A quick glance at their status confirmed this.
〔Beemarine〕 〔Ally〕 〔Progeny〕
〔Active title〕: Warrior Bee
〔Beemarine〕 〔Ally〕 〔Progeny〕
〔Active title〕: Warrior Bee
〔Beemarine〕 〔Ally〕 〔Progeny〕
〔Active title〕: Warrior Bee
There were seven bees in total, and none of them saw their rescuers yet. They were too focused on what they were doing—hitting the walls of their prisons with hammers over and over.
A few hammers must've broken in the process, and their owners now just smashed the glass with rocks.
Each bee was turned toward the nearest wall and away from us—probably to hide the damage they made on their glass vials from the humans. Even from afar, I could see that there were at least some cracks.
I grinned, feeling elated and immensely proud. Ambrosia was right—Beemarines could take care of themselves. Even despite their wounds and exhaustion, they tirelessly kept working their way out! Wilderness doubtlessly wouldn't have stopped them, either.
"Father," Destroyer whispered. Her voice sounded off. "Look there."
She was pointing toward the opposite side of the table. I turned there and immediately wished I didn't.
I should've continued to ignore the smell of death I felt. A few more seconds of ignorance would've been great!
At the other side of the table was a stone board—small compared to most items here. On it was lying a dead bee, pierced by a spear-sized metal needle.
Pinned there like a specimen, lying there only a few dozen meters away from her sisters! At least they could work on their escape while looking in the opposite direction, but…
"The man who did it will pay for this. He had no right to treat my girl like that! None of them had."
The system wasn't showing the dead bee's status anymore, but I knew that if I flew close enough to see her face, I would recall who she was.
And I would, just like I remembered names of humans responsible for this.
There will be more fear in my diplomatic approach than I originally planned.
"But first, we must free my daughters. We came after every one of them, and we will bring them *all* back," I announced. "Squad, ready your pickaxes! Except you and you—take the body off the spike."
I accompanied my orders with gestures, and the Beemarines swiftly obeyed.
When we flew closer to the glass vials, the bees inside finally noticed us and froze in shock.
I couldn't hear their gasps through the glass, but their usually stoic faces were full of sheer disbelief and joy.
Now I couldn't contain my emotions either. My eyes were getting misty.
"You can rest now, my girls. Help has come! Let's get you out of here."