"Thank you, Erelta. I will return,"
Kreelos says as he takes his apprentice sword and cuts a hole
in the bark to the outside. Still holding onto his parents' gift
in his arms, he jumps down to the ground below and begins running.
Knowing he won't out-run the putsifa swarm, he heads for a cave
his brothers used to speak of.
The putsifa bees pour out of the tree to find out why they cannot
enter their hive. Their swarm casts a shadow, as every one of
their two-hundred-sized swarm is eager to strike. They quickly
sense the young prymarian running through the brush.
Kreelos frantically looks for the cave's entrance, but since
it looks like no one has been here in many cycles, the entrance
must be covered in an mixture of overgrown weeds, leaves, and
vines.
The bees' collective hum vibrates every leaf, every blade of
grass, and every tree around them. It gets louder as they hone
in on their prey.
Feeling their presence on top of him, Kreelos turns around, places
Ereltas helmet on the ground, and pulls out his apprentice
sword one more time this time to repel the aggression of
the putsifa swarm.
The first putsifa bees dive in at Kreelos. They rattle off Kreelos'
blade and land on the ground aside of him in a daze. Dive after
dive, the bees plunge from out of the sky and down upon Kreelos.
They glance off the young man's blade to the left and to the right.
Putsifa bee after putsifa bee tries until the entire hive is diminished
the queen bee remains waiting in the sky above.
A drop of rain is heard on a nearby leaf.
She looms. All the queens children have attempted to strike
at the boy and failed.
Angrily, she dives from out of the sky and knocks the sword from
his hand. She flies back up into the clouds and turns around for
a final plunge. For a sumi, Kreelos looks for his sword in the
weeds, but only manages to tip over the helmet he is defenseless!
A drop of rain is heard on a nearby leaf
then another.
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