Chapter 3
Ever knew he didn't have time to save the flailing bug. His eyes softened with regret. At least it was one instead of all of them, haplessly waking up at the sound of lightning, but not fast enough to get away. Water dripped over his face, blurring what looked to be a small brown form which hurtled underneath the falling tree.
Bark cracked, shedding damp splinters as it hit the ground. Ever turned to leave, his duty as an absol done, for now.
"Are you crazy?" He thought he heard, through the ringing in his ears. He started, looking over his shoulder. Sopping wet, Bandit stood two tail-lengths away. In his paws was the bug with a gem in its forehead, its lame wing still fluttering.
"You saved it!" Ever exclaimed. "Wait, you followed me? What about my sis—"
"No time for that," the sentret snapped, dropping the bug, who squealed in complaint. "We gotta go."
"Wait," the bug said, voice squeaky and somewhat feminine. "The queen should know you saved us."
"Come on," Bandit murmured, before setting off into a patch of tall grass. Confused, Ever followed, but not before he glanced one last time at the female bug lying in the mud, slowly being surrounded by her fellows.
A shudder ran through his shoulders. Ever finally noticed that cold water had soaked down to his skin. The forest was dark and unfamiliar as he followed the sentret, hopefully back to his warm burrow. At the same time, they questioned one another. "Why did you follow me?"
And, "How did you know that would happen?"
"Err, go ahead," Ever said.
"You were gonna get lost. Jewel is fine, the forest is safe."
"You've told me there's a war going on, how could she be safe?" he tried not to growl, grudgingly grateful that the sentret would help him.
Bandit sighed, before saying in a measured tone, as if speaking to a cub. "The Honey War is between two species of bugs, one of which you met. Those were combee back there. It's a long story, but we are safe as long as we don't get involved. Which… you almost did."
"I need to understand all this soon," he muttered under his breath. Louder, he said, "I am an absol, seeing disasters are what my kind is cursed with. I saw the tree fall; it would have killed most of those combee. I had the chance to stop it and I did."
"How do you see disasters?" the sentret asked, doubt coloring his tone.
"My horn," he said. "It vibrates and I see what will happen, with a vague sense of when and where. Sometimes there's enough time to divert the problem, sometimes not. I always try."
"That's… amazing," Bandit murmured.
They walked the rest of the way in silence. Ever didn't want to point out how "amazing" it was that humans attacked his kind, believing they were evil and brought disaster. There was so much he needed the sentret to explain tomorrow, when it didn't feel like Ever could fall asleep mid-step.
When finally they reached Bandit's burrow, he noticed Jewel and the babies were still asleep, exactly as he'd left them. Cherry's tiny eyes gleamed as she padded forward silently, grooming some of the water out of her mate's fur. The two of them conferred quietly, stealing glances at Ever as he picked the mud out from under his claws. His motions were lazy, something to keep busy as his eyelids grew heavy.
Sometime later, Ever awoke to tiny claws poking at his belly. He grumbled and lifted his head slightly, just to freeze in surprise. Three rattata babies, small enough that he barely noticed their weight, were sprawled across his damp fur. He knew he was the last pokemon on earth they should trust. Yet here in this burrow, he was a guest, a friend, even.
"You're awake!" he heard Jewel say. Shaking from his reverie, he looked up to see her holding up one paw, a giggling sentret child dangling from her claws. Bandit and Cherry were curled up together, watching both absol intently.
"Unfortunately," he said. One by one, he noticed aches and pains. His paws were sore and still crusted with mud, head achy, fur dried in haphazard clumps. Long runs were usually no issue, but over unfamiliar terrain in the dark, he felt like he'd cut his face multiple times, likely from whipping branches.
Paw steps sounded at the entrance to the burrow. A rounded brown face peered inside, nose sniffing intently. "Uncle Rouko!" the sentret baby Jewel was playing with cried. As one, Bandit and Cherry's children swarmed the newcomer.
Relieved of the three who'd been snuggled up to him, Ever sat up, studying what had to be some sort of sentret evolution. Rouko had a long body, striped brown and cream in the same colors as Bandit's fur. He was of equivalent size to Ever, which meant that his addition made the burrow quite crowded.
"Heya bro, Cherry," Rouko said, then glanced around. "And heya strangers. I'm Rouko. You must be the absol everyone's been talking about."
"Everyone?" Ever echoed.
"Word travels fast 'round here," he replied with a wink.
Bandit cut in as he stood up. "Thanks, bro. They've been dying to see you again."
"You don't say," Rouko said. "Just let me know what happens. Ol' Maddie thinks she's got all the good gossip nowadays."
The sentret leveled a disapproving look at him, but all he said was, "We'll see." Seemingly understanding the hint, Rouko nodded and bounded out of the burrow, speaking in merry tones to the children following in his wake.
"Now then," Bandit said, breathing out a sigh. His shoulders relaxed; it was the least tense Ever had seen the sentret. "We had a visitor this morning. You've both been invited to join the Honey War."
Ever shook his head. "Just because I saved some combee, doesn't mean I want to fight for them."
"It wasn't a combee, it was a beedrill, that invited you," Cherry piped up. "Why don't you explain why they're fighting?" she continued to her mate.
Bandit nodded. "This is a little long," he warned. "But first let's talk about the combee. The species is almost all male. Males are called drones, and live very short lives. They do everything their queen tells them to do. Females usually live for a turn of the seasons, and they have red gems in their foreheads."
That explained why Ever had only seen one combee with a red gem, and she'd been crippled. He nodded along, stealing a glance at his sister. She sat up straight, an enraptured look on her face. "So the female combees rule a subsection of the hive, taking orders directly from the queen and relaying them to the drones. Every year, one female will evolve into a vespiquen and challenge the current queen. To ascend, she has to beat the current queen in combat. It's not a fight to the death, but the loser usually dies. The old queen from old age, or the challenging vespiquen from having no support from her hive anymore."
"It might sound brutal," Cherry said. "But the species lives exclusively short lives."
"Except for one. The current queen is named Xerzaz. She's very old now, but she's figured out how to stay alive and in charge of her hive." Bandit froze, as the sound of humming wings started up nearby. They waited in silence for it to pass, and then he said in a quieter tone, "the combee are looking for you, too. But they're afraid of going underground.
"Anyway. In her first season as queen, Xerzaz found out that if she fed her female children beedrill honey, they would grow up with twisted bodies and deformed wings. Most don't evolve, and the ones that do are too weak to defeat her."
"But won't she die someday, and naturally get succeeded by one of the females?" Jewel asked.
"Yes. We've all been waiting for it to happen. But it hasn't yet. The beedrill started the war between the species because Xerzaz steals their honey. Beedrill honey is rare and also poisonous, meant only to be fed to their young. They've been trying to kill Xerzaz for seasons, yet each attack doesn't work because of the sheer numbers of drones that are willing to take poisoned blows meant for her."
"I definitely don't want us involved in this," Ever said.
Bandit looked grim, "I don't think you have a choice. You said you two want to live here, right?"
"You said the forest was safe!" he retorted.
"It is," was the reply, though hesitant. "As long as you don't pick a side. Combee only attack if Xerzaz wants you dead, but she's so preoccupied with getting beedrill honey that she commits her drones to that. And the beedrill… well, I think you need to talk to them."
"You said they are poisonous."
"They are," Bandit confirmed. "But. But! They've never asked one of us to join the war before." He seemed to hesitate on saying more, before Ever growled.
"They probably think I can kill Xerzaz myself," he said. "But I won't—"
Another pair of buzzing wings approached, followed by more, though it seemed to be coming from sets of larger wings. Two spindly legs landed outside of the burrow, and the fur on the back of Ever's neck lifted. "They know we're here," he said, ashamed he hadn't realized this would happen. Bandit had even mentioned a beedrill visitor.
"Stay here," he said to Jewel as he ducked out of the burrow. Three insects stood there waiting, he assumed they were beedrill. Instead of forelegs, they had sharply pointed singers, and another down their striped abdomens. One stood flanked by the other two, and was larger than the others. It was this one he addressed. "I am not interested in your war."
It cocked its head to the side, regarding him with red eyes that produced his reflection in each tiny facet. "Pity," it said, its voice harsh. "There is another of your kind here, and he swore you would want to help him, at least."
Ever glared. "Absol don't go this far north."
"Really?" the beedrill said, its buzzing wings sounding like laughter. "I see two right here. And a third is waiting for justice back in my hive."
Two? He thought, glancing over his shoulder. Jewel's face disappeared back into the burrow with a squeak, while Bandit and Cherry continued eavesdropping. He growled under his breath as he considered what the bug had said. "This other absol," he said finally. "He knows me?"
"Oh yes. He asked for you by name… Evernight."
His fur pricked with unease. "And his name?"
"Brinewater."
"If I'm not back by nightfall, you go back to the tribe. Run back. Understand?" Ever said quietly to Jewel as he prepared to take the first steps in beedrill territory. The air was heavy with a sweet scent, laced with notes of toxic bitterness. His fur fluffed, feeling the promise of death mere meters away. But the beedrill had known information about him that would be impossible, unless they somehow had captured his friend. He wouldn't leave Brine here alone.
Jewel raised her chin. "Cherry and Rouko will keep me safe," she said. "Don't worry so much." Cherry had promised to find his sister a safe place to hide, a place where she'd never be found.
"Come. The queen does not enjoy stragglers," their beedrill escort said in that harsh voice. Ever flinched inwardly, but stood strong and nodded to the bug.
"If your friend is in beedrill custody, it's probably because he hunted in the forest," Bandit said as he bounded through the undergrowth, keeping pace with their escort.
The absol barely gave him a glance as they approached a massive orange structure surrounded by the hum of many wings. Beedrill and their preevolutions were everywhere—eating leaves, hanging from trees, or coming back to their hive with legs laden with pollen. Curious eyes turned towards the two outsiders who were escorted directly into the hive. "Relax," Bandit murmured. "They won't attack us."
Ever was still walking stiff-limbed as he took in the structure. It was much larger inside than it appeared, with a hollowed-out interior and funneled towards the top, many holes peppered in its walls for easy access from the air. It was a home built for those with wings. Tiny ledges and grooves where some of the insects perched, those red eyes fixated on him, made him think they must sleep in here with little comfort of a personal nest or burrow.
He broke into a run when he spotted a flash of white fur. The beedrill weren't lying—they had Brine, and he lay sprawled on his side. A puncture on his shoulder weeped trails of blood into his coat, but otherwise the absol no longer had broken legs. "E-ever," he murmured, head twitching but not rising from the ground.
"As you can see, we've administered some paralyzing toxin," said another harsh beedrill voice from behind him. "Evernight and his sentret guest, welcome to my hive. I wish we could have met under more… pleasant circumstances."
"Bow your head, it's the queen," Bandit advised under his breath, having moved next to the two absol. Grudgingly, Ever mimicked the slow head tilt the sentret made towards the largest beedrill yet. Her wings seemed to be dwarfed on a body swollen. She was missing the stinger on his abdomen, but flanked as she was by two of her kind on either side, she had a distinct advantage if it came down to a fight.
"I hope you can understand, it is my kind's duty to see justice done in my forest," the queen continued. "And your friend broke our most important rule."
"He's never been to the Sweet Forest before. He did not know the rules. I almost broke the same one yesterday," Ever said.
"I know," the queen said. "Which is why I am willing to overlook this transgression, if…" her wings buzzed as she took a few paces towards him. Her guards moved with her, like a living shield.
Leaning closer, she murmured, "you help me train the next combee queen. When Xerzaz dies, your friend is free to go. Otherwise, the punishment for him is execution."
Ever looked up into all those reflections of himself in her eyes. How could he say no? Brine was probably here because of Ever. "Is the combee here?"
"Oh yes," she said, rubbing her wings together. The screech of sound meant something to the other beedrill, as one of her guards hopped away.
It took a few minutes, but the insect came back holding a female combee with one crumpled wing. Her three faces seemed to brighten upon seeing Ever. There was no doubt in his mind that this was the same combee Bandit had saved this morning. "And if she fails to kill Xerzaz?" he asked quietly.
"She won't, not with your help," the queen answered. "So, do we have a deal?"
He glanced at his paralyzed friend, who blinked at him trustingly, and then to Bandit, who nodded discretely. "We do," he said.