When Given a Lemon

Part 7

The battle that ensued was terrible, and terribly bizarre.

If a battle was even an adequate description. Grown soldiers with full length weaponry slashed against the weaving and darting of the buzzballs, several dodging then taking aim with their stingers and jabbing their attackers in one fluid motion. It looked unreal, with an unfair advantage for the humans though the little menaces had managed to ding quite a few soldiers before getting taken out. The majority of the creatures had been knocked from the sky when the remaining few buzzed away into some unknown of the woods.

“Is this it? Do we get to go home?” I asked Lemon in a whisper. They shrugged in response. If this threat has been eliminated, I doubt they'd be sending anyone further than the barracks back in the floodplain. No point in losing cheap labor until you really had to. For my part, I had ended up knocking a few of the creatures out of the air when they decided to divebomb me, otherwise I avoided the worst of the confrontation by being behind everyone else. If anyone asked why I hung back I could say I was protecting the supplies, or their backs, and my full cart is right by me. It's possible they might question why both Lemon and I were needed to guard the cart though.

I was forced to help the medics when all the fighting had been concluded. Several soldiers had to be treated for the terrible stings. I could only imagine how bad it must feel getting stung with a bee stinger the size of my pinky finger! Only one soldier had been lost due to having an allergy to the stingers and went into shock while another was in critical condition from falling down a steep, rock strewn hill when trying to dodge one of those gastly things. On the bright side, for everyone other than the guy who was allergic, the stingers didn't seem to contain anything terribly toxic.

In fact, the very plant I had been in the middle of harvesting was what they were being treated with! The prickly leaves were picked from the fronds and boiled then sifted before thickening into a paste to liberally coat their wounds with.  I would have to go back out for more soon with how many stung were coming into this tent. However, if I was to be expected to return to that very same place to harvest the plant, I would most certainly want to have a few others go along for protection!

At the end of the day I was wiped and barely had enough in my reserves to make it back to my tent. Lemon showed up a short time later and snorted at my unkempt posture before nudging my boots which I had forgotten to take off.

Acquiescing, I removed them and climbed all the way inside my bedroll, as ever trying to not think about its previous owner.

“Captain wants to see if we can get them to lead us to their queen,” Lemon provided as they stripped down to their long underwear. It was far too cold to sleep without added layers and I didn't understand how they could go without more than one to fend off the chill.

“What makes him think they even have a queen?” I curled up, facing Lemon. “Sure, they kind of remind me of a bee and, after the first, swarmed us the way aggressive types of bees do, but what if other than that they are nothing like bees? What if there's a king or no ruler at all or they live in little family units but all inhabit the same area? Who knows how they work!”

“True,” Lemon agreed, climbing into their own bedroll, leaning on their elbow with a hand propping up their chin while facing me. “Maybe they're mountain spirits and don't need to reproduce at all, or perhaps they do so by splitting themselves apart.”

I shook my head at Lemon, who never seemed to take anything seriously. Or they were completely serious and that was equally as concerning.

“When are they planning to go?” I changed the subject.

“You should already know this, being the lead hunter,” they teased. “ Tomorrow there is a meeting to go over the plans and I think we're to head out first thing day after tomorrow. They'll be setting lose the ones we had captured to see where they buzz off to.”