39. The Hive

Novum climbed up on Noctis and reached down offering Jane his hand. She went a little red in the cheeks but he ignored that pulled up up behind him with one hand. Everyone had a look of disbelief since he did it with such ease. She dropped one of the gloves trying to hold everything with only one are. Emily ran over and handed it up to her. "Thank you Em make sure and listen to Ms. Mary and I will be back soon."

"Okay momma, be safe." Emily skipped towards Mary without another thought. Jane gave her a look and Novum noticed it over his shoulder.

"Hold on to me with one hand please. Don't worry Noctis will go slow." With a little nudge Noctis started off at a slow walk. Once they were to the garden where no one could hear he asked about Emily. "If you don't mind what was with the look that you gave Emily?"

"Oh well it is the first time since we were taken that she has let me out of her sight without screaming and crying. Not sure what changed. And to be honest this is also the first time I have been alone with a man for more than a few minutes that she has not asked," she changed her voice to very closely match Emily's, "is he going to be my new daddy?" Novum was still facing the front but he could feel her temperature going up in embarrassment. Had he turned his head just a little he would have seen that even the tips of her ears were bright red.

"Glad she feels comfortable here. That is good. Only been a day and she may freak out later but today she feels safe and that is important."

"It is very important. It has been two years since she has not asked that question and she has not let go of me in the entire month that we were taken."

"If you don't mind may I ask what happened to your husband?"

"He was a guard in the small town that we lived in. There was an attack by orcs and goblins and even an ogre. But it was to late. He tired and fought well and a random man showed up with a few men and killed them all. He came and apologized to me for being late. He was a knight leader from a city to the south. He even offered to bring me down to work for him if I needed it. He was a great man. You remind me a lot of him."

"Sounds like a good man. I may have to go and meet him one day." Novum flashed back to the ten years that he spent writing and he knew that she was indirectly involved in the story that he wrote several years ago. His pen had killed her husband. He also knew the man that she was talking about saving her and offering her work. He was a creation of his own making. And one of the few characters in the book that was bigger than he was. As he thought about it he might have to go and pay him a visit.

Novum was a little lost in his thoughts when he saw the first bee in front of him. This one was a little smaller than the big ones but it showed they were getting close. He was not worried about him but Jane had no protection yet. "Ms. Jane there are bees starting to appear it might be best for you to put the suit on now."

"Then could you help me down?" He reached back and lowered her down with one hand as easy as he picked her up. She started looking around and realized that she had a problem. "My lord I have a small problem. I assumed there would be a bush or something from me to change behind."

Novum hopped down and pulled and extra blanket out of his bag. He gripped it so that the blanket was behind him and held it up at shoulder level. He was facing away from her with a blanket between them. "You go ahead and I will not peek. You have my word."

Jane quickly started changing. She knew that he would not turn around an peek but this was still and embarrassing situation. She was mostly undressed when she thought about it and realized that had he simply turned around right now she would not do anything. She was actually intrigued and maybe a little excited about the idea of him turning around. She quickly shook that thought out of her head and finished getting the bee suit on. "All done sir."

Novum dropped blanket and when he turned around he could still see some color in her cheeks. If he had known that it was not from the idea of changing behind the blanket and more for her thoughts then he might have been a little red himself. "Okay then we will head closer on foot."

"But my lord you do not have any protection."

"When it is just the two of us you us and Emily could you just call me Novum? All this lord and sir stuff is already getting old. I have only been a Baron for like a week and I hate the title already."

"Of course Novum." It was a little forced and he noticed but he appreciated her effort. "But you should not get close without protection."

"I will be fine. I got a lot closer than this earlier and was fine. I knew the distance I was and nothing happened. I will not let you go alone in case something goes wrong. So just follow me and I will show you the way."

Jane did not look happy with his answer but she knew that there was going back now. She nodded and fell into step behind him. As they got closer the bees started getting bigger and there were a lot more of them. They got close to the same area that Novum was at before and he pointed towards the bear that he laying beside the hive. He heard a small gasp from Jane. She had never seen bees aggressive enough or numerous enough to kill a bear. This was something new and terrifying.

Jane had the suit but she was not sure that it would be enough to stop the stingers of bees this size. She took a deep breath and stepped a little closer to the hive. She took one step at a time until a few of the smaller bees got aggressive with her. Two steps later and the bigger bees started getting aggressive. She only felt the one sting so she took another step. That next step a group of bees came tearing out of the hive that were even bigger than the other ones. The first one attacked her and she felt the sting through the suit. She let out a little yelp and stepped back. The bees were not having it and followed her.

Novum heard the yelp and saw her step back and saw that the bigger aggressive bees were not going to let he go. He broke the smoke stick that he had ready and threw it at her feet. In just a few seconds she was completely surrounded in smoke. A few seconds later he saw her stepping back out of the smoke with no more bees on her.

Jane knew that she was in trouble and was about to turn and run but then a stick landed at her feet and started to let out smoke. She took a deep breath and held it right before the smoke got to her face. She felt a few more bees hit her and she grimaced in pain but then they started falling off of her. She held her breath for as long as she could and then slowly took a few steps back until she was out of the smoke. Once she was clear she looked down and saw that there were only a few small bees on her. She gently brushed them off as she kept walking towards Novum.

"That is the most aggressive hive of bees that I have ever seen and they are way bigger than average. Something is not right."

"How do you think we should proceed?"

"Well it is weird but I think that I saw a young queen on the outside of the hive when I was first getting close. If we could capture her and a few of the smaller workers we might be able start a new hive in the boxes that you bought."

"So now we need to set up the boxes and find kidnap a queen."

"Before we do that could you perhaps help me out?"

"I got stung a few times by the bigger one through the suit and a few of them still have the stingers in them and I need to get them removed but I am not sure that I can do it by myself."

"Then lets get back to Noctis and we can get them removed." They moved a lot quicker back to Noctis than towards the hive. Novum was about to grab the blanket.

"Novum that is going to be a waste. The ones that I need taken out are where I can't reach them and those areas would be covered." He noticed that she was bright red again.

"Oh. yeah of course. I will still turn my back until you are ready." He could feel the blood in his face as well. He heard the suit coming off and some fabric sounded like it was gong back on.

"I am ready for you. There are two in my back."

Novum turned around and saw the stingers were big enough that he would be able to grip them with no problem despite his huge hands. He also noticed that while she was covering her front with her shirt she was not doing a great job on one side and he could see way more than she intended. He quickly took in the view and then moved forward and pulled the stinger out of her back. He heard her grunt in pain as they came out but then blow out a breath of relief as the pain went down. He quickly turned around but not before chancing one more glance at her.

Jane felt the stingers come out and blew out a breath as the pain went away almost immediately. She heard him step away and then put her shirt back on. She wondered if he chanced a glance at the side she left open for him to look but she was to embarrassed at her own boldness to ask. She picked up the suit and picked some of the stingers out of the fabric as she folded it up and made sure that they had everything.

Novum mounted Noctis and then rode beside her and offered her his hand. "Let's ride around the area and see if we can find a spot to set up the boxes before we come back and take care of this one. If would do us no good if we do not have them up."

Jane grabbed his hand and was again amazed at the strength that he showed as he picked her up with one hand. She sat on the back and wrapped one are around him. With a thought he removed his armor. "Sorry about that. I did not think about how uncomfortable that armor would be for you." Jane could feel he muscles under her hands and was thinking that maybe she should be bolder next time.