Chapter 1: The Bee-ginning

Chapter 1: The Bee-ginning

A young man stood in a dark cellar, holding a small candle for light. This was Belissar, a man well past his second decade, dressed in the well-worn tunic and pants of any other frontier peasant. He was surrounded by barrels. He opened the top of one barrel and scooped out some of the liquid contents into a jar. Then he closed the barrel and walked towards the rickety stairs leading out of the cellar. He extinguished the candle and then climbed back up.

He made his way across his apiary, where wooden boxes stood in rows. Bees buzzed all around, climbing in and out of holes in the boxes. Belissar smiled and watched them work for a second, before making his way to his house.

Once inside, Belissar poured a bit of the golden liquid from the jar and took a drink. He held it in his mouth, tilting his head before he swallowed and smacked his lips.

“Hm, a bit too many juniper berries, I think. I’ll have to tone it down for the next batch.”

He heaved a sigh as he put away the jar. That was the last jar of the batch, so it would take some time before the next attempt. Apparently, the local Tower Lord’s son was coming to visit their little village, and every household was required to donate tribute for the welcome banquet. Losing entire barrels of mead for free would not help him survive the winter, so he’d have to stick to tried and true recipes he knew he could sell for the foreseeable future.

And, of course, the date for the visit had come and gone a week ago, and the Tower Lord’s son was nowhere to be seen. And, of course, the village chief hadn’t returned any of the tribute, just in case the noble scion decided to show up at his own convenience. Some of the villagers had raised eyebrows at that, but Belissar just kept his head down. It wouldn’t help for him to complain; it never did. So, he just sighed and shook his head.

He stretched and walked over to the window, where he had a few flowers growing in pots. A bee was hovering around the pots and flew to him when he walked over. He held out a finger, the bee obliged and landed on it. Belissar smiled as he noted the bee’s lost antenna.

“Working hard, huh? Great job today.”

The bee buzzed and spun around. Belissar had saved a bee with a lost antenna once, freeing her from a spider’s web. He knew it was silly, but he liked to imagine it was the same bee that visited him, and that they were friends, even. Well, he knew the bees landed on him because he had coaxed them by dipping his finger in honey, but it didn’t hurt anyone to pretend.

It was then that Belissar heard shouting and screams.

Belissar frowned and grabbed his spear by the door. Their village was at the very edge of the local Tower’s influence. Attacks by the Hunger were rare, but not unheard of. Belissar peaked his head out the window in the direction of the scream...

And he gasped.

The village was on fire.

Armored soldiers marched through the town, right over the bodies of the village chief and those who had gathered with him. Hooded mages were setting fire to the buildings one by one, while the soldiers cut down the villagers trying to flee. The soldiers each bore the crest of the local Tower Lord on their armor, and a young man in plate armor and a cape rode atop a horse at the center of the formation.

Belissar turned and ran out the back door. He had no idea why the local Tower Lord would do such a thing, and he was of no mind to ponder it. He ran past his beehives, towards the tree line at the edge of his home.

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Running off into the Hunger was not exactly a great idea, but Belissar was barely thinking at all at this point. All he wanted was to get as far away as possible.

And he felt a sharp pain in his back and stumbled to the ground. An arrow lodged itself in his back. He fell into some overgrown fields leading to the forest.

It was then that the augur gasped. Before Ruckanos could react to the interruption, a bright column of light shot into the sky from behind one of the houses.

“We are too late, it has already begun!”

Ruckanos dug his heels into his horse.

“Move, you fools! Whatever’s happening there, stop it!”

Ruckanos and his guard rushed towards the house in question. His horse galloped around back. Ruckanos arrived just in time to see a dirty peasant lying on the ground with an arrow in his back...and surrounded by the column of light.

Then there was a crack of thunder, and a bright flash of light that blinded the Tower Lord to be.

When it faded and his eyes could see again, the peasant was gone, and the column of light with him. The augur turned pale.

“We...were too late, My Lord. The Tower has been born...and the bindings were not prepared.”

Ruckanos narrowed his eyes.

“What are you saying?”

The augur gulped.

“If the bindings are not in place for the Tower’s birth...then we cannot adjust its course. We...have failed, for the first time in my career. For the first time since my grandfather’s grandfather...”

Ruckanos’s eyes widened as he processed those statements.

“I-It was only moments ago, surely there is something you can do!”

The augur slowly shook his head.

“The Tower has been born and moved beyond my sight. I know not where it has gone...and I can no longer bind it to you.”

Ruckanos turned pale. The Tower...was gone? It...was not bound to him, and they didn’t know where it went?

But that meant...that he would not ascend today. And his lord father...would be most displeased...