"What is it, scout?"
Instead of a reply, the scout silently pointed above us.
Puzzled, I raised my head, squinting against the sun. At first, I saw nothing wrong—then I choked on air.
In the slightly cloudy sky above us, a dragon was circling! And unlike all the other times I saw flying beasts in the sky, it was definitely watching *us*.
It was also flying low enough that I could make out details of its appearance, but not low enough that I could see its status.
The majestic, if terrifying, creature was covered in glossy black scales all over. Technically, I supposed, it was a wyvern, not a dragon—it only had the back part of clawed feet, while the front one became its wide wings. From here, it looked small, but I was sure it was at least a dozen meters long, even without the tail.
The dragon’s snout was long and narrow, almost disproportional at first glance compared to its wide chest—the body shape wasn’t like that of dragons from an average picture. But I knew that the chest *had* to be wide to keep those wings beating. I had powerful pecs myself!
"This hunter was there for some time. Too long," the scout next to me said. "Others thought it would leave already."
"But it didn’t, no? Damn, I was thinking that the army of us can take even a beast like that, but that doesn’t mean I *wanted* them to attack us! Especially now… That smell of dead hornets *really* attracts every hungry beast in the area, isn’t it?"
The scout nodded, as if my question wasn’t rhetorical.
With a huff, I turned to look again at how the fight against the hornet defenders was going.
The battlefield was a complete chaos. Everybody was shouting, the smacking of hammers and chitin was louder than the remaining drums, and overall, there was no way to give orders to more than the nearest bees in this mess.
I could barely make out Bloodimina, being in the fray of all this, shouting her orders almost right at the next commanding officers. She was thoroughly busy.
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’Fine. This is fine! I came here in case there’s something she can’t deal with on her own. Something unpredictable. And this is it! And it was actually predictable, and I am prepared. Plus, this thing clearly doesn’t intend to attack *yet*. If it could wipe us out easily, it wouldn’t be just watching instead.’
With that thought, I turned back to the scout.
"Find Chief Foreman out here and bring her here," I waved at the ’civilians’ nearby: Foragers, Foremen and other non-combatants.
Although some of them were still looking out for danger, a large part became thoroughly distracted by the distant fight. Whenever another hornet fell dead, those bees erupted in cheers for their sisters, like spectators in a football match.
I sighed and waited for the Chief Foreman to arrive while watching the dragon above.
It wasn’t attacking, but I knew it could be just waiting for an opportunity. Probably not to snatch a lone bee—I suspected it was more curious about the hornets’ nest.
After all, it was full of their eggs and larvae, and as I knew, those were much tastier to predators than adult insects. Like chicken eggs were delicious, because they were full of nutrients for a future chicken.
Not to mention, caterpillar steak, yum!
Thoughts like these made me hungry. I shook them off—just in time to see Chief Foreman Hammerwork land nearby.
"Father, you need something? About that thing above, yes? The scout told me. The bait is ready when you ask!"
I smiled.
"Great! Right during a battle is not the best time for this, but I’d rather deploy countermeasures too early than too late."
Hammerwork nodded eagerly and pumped her fists in the air.
"I get it, Father—can’t wait to see that vile hunter die! They and their kin have to *pay* for all my sisters they had harmed." The last words were almost a growl.
"Well, let’s not be too enthusiastic—I just want this threat dealt with. Bring the bait! Somewhere out there should be good," I pointed to the sparse forest away from the hornet nest. "And take some Warriors from the reserve to guard you, there might still be hornets around!"
"Yes, Father!"
Hammerwork dashed away, and in no time at all, several hundred bees separated from the main group of the civilians. Besides Warrior Bees from the reserve force, there were Foremen and Foragers, all of them carrying heavy sacks and wax jars.
The dragon lowered its head, and although I couldn’t make out much from below, I was sure it was curious.
I flew to the top of a tree at the very edge of our army for a better vantage point. This was as close as I could get to the dragon without being away from the army and unsafe.
From here, I saw my Foremen find a meadow several hundred meters away and empty their containers there, revealing loads of food.
There was cooked meat, dried meat… All the best meats, actually, gathered in large chunks. There was some pollen bread, too—actual bread, not the saliva-laced stuff.
An entire pile of food, enough to feed perhaps two thousand bees for a day! I was ready to swear that when the wind blew my way, I could smell the deliciousness.
The haulers hurried back and returned without incident. Soon after, I saw the dragon take interest.
Instead of circling above us, it swooped closer to the pile of bait food and landed a hundred meters away with the thunderous flapping of its massive wings. Its head on an elongated neck rose above the tops of the trees, some of which it carelessly smashed with its landing.
On the dragon’s black-scaled head was a pair of almost round, equally black eyes. The beast tilted its head, pointing one of them toward the food, then hopped closer.
How good were its senses and brain?
’Beast, will you eat this tasty-tasty bait instead of us? Please, please do!’