luck of the woods

part 8: how do you sneak with bees?

Oliver and Lila glance at each other again as Lila wonders how long it is going to take for them to reach the bees. She opens her mouth and begins to ask before the blue seems to get whiter in front of them. Glancing to look at it she sees the door shape of an armoire and braces herself for the impact, as it feels as though they are traveling fast.

Oliver begins to walk on nothing, giving Lila the idea that she should do the same. As they approach the door shape their feet make contact with the inside of the closet, and they walk out of it, stepping down on the ground.

Lila begins to glance around, they seem to be in some sort of large building, mostly wood tones with lots of candles all over the walkway, there are a few small windows which overlook a large forest and many different meadows.

"Welcome to the Land of the Many Realms, we are currently in the wizard realm in the wizard force building. All the buildings appear much smaller on the outside than they actually are, thanks to magic, so that's why we are on a small hill."

She stares out the window, looking at all the small cottages that each share the same wood tones and earthy look. This place feels like a fairy tale, and she hasn't even seen most of it yet.

Oliver glances around the room they had stepped into, "The bees must be around here somewhere, you can hear the buzzing, but for now we need to disguise ourselves. Lady Blackmoore has realized we are gone and most likely sent the entire force after us." He then recites something latin and points to Lila. She feels a weird sensation all over her body for a few seconds, as if one hundred tiny brushes were swiftly painting her. Oliver does the same thing to himself, but after a few seconds he looks the same.

Lila scrunches her eyebrows, "You look the same, did you run out of magic?"

Oliver then looks at her and chuckles, "No, it worked I can feel it, but you are a friend to me, so you can see my true state, just as I can see yours."

"Oh okay, well if we are disguised we should get going, the bees need us." Lila says and turns toward the closed door. "I think I can feel where they are."

Oliver chuckles again and grabs her arm as she begins to walk towards the door, "Easy there. We have to come up with a plan to get the bees back to the Bee Realm. They are too loud to sneak out, and too large to fit through an armoire. I could use a mass teleport spell, but it could take anyone within 50 feet of me with us."

Lila looks at the floor, "You said I could summon creatures right?" She asks as she glances up at Oliver.

He brushes the back of his neck with his hand, "Theoretically you can, but it requires a lot of practice and at least a year to master. So I wouldn't recommend it, besides, it would be really hard to summon all those bees."

She shakes her head, now maintaining eye contact, clearly excited about whatever plan she has come up with. "I don't need to master it, I just need to be able to move them from wherever they are to here, in small batches. Then you can send them through the armoire in small groups."

He shifts again, and sways back and forth, lost in thought. "I guess, but you need to practice summoning something else before we do that."

She jumps up and down in excitement, "thank you, thank you, thank you!"

~

After summoning in 2 crows and a wolf successfully Lila was sure she was ready for the battle, but Oliver was a bit more worried. "It's going to be high stress, they will notice the bees that are missing and will most likely track us down before you are done, then what?" He questioned seeming to grow more and more anxious over the potential conflict.

Lila turns to him with a careful expression on her face, "We will be fine, besides this is the only option, you said so yourself."

"Okay, okay, let's just get this over with, and you have to be in the corner so I can protect you when they find us." Oliver notes, looking dreadful.

Lila sighs, turning towards the corner, "I'm not a damsel in distress, but fine if it makes you feel better."

He nods his head, "It does in fact make me feel much better, and remember, only bring small sections, if you could, tell them not to sting me that would be great too."

She chuckles "Sure thing," and faces the room with her back against the cool wall. She then gathers all her might, focusing on a small chuck of bees that she visualizes in her head, "Voco Compello" she says, loud enough to be heard throughout the room, but not too loud.

A small group of bees appeared before her, swarming together as if confused, she turned to them, and whispered, "Hi there, I'm Lila your queen, and I need you to go to that man over there and listen to him, we are going to get you home, and remember, no stinging."

They flew over to Oliver, stopping in front of him and appearing to listen, Lila then turned back and concentrated on summoning another group, making it slightly bigger, "Voco Compello." Once again, another group of bees appeared in front of her, and she told them to go to Oliver and not sting him.

They repeated this four more times, and Lila was beginning to feel drained, she heard Oliver say, "There can't be much more of them, I've seen how many there are, and we maybe have 2 more groups."

She nods her head, exhaustion evident in her face, as she pictures the bees and mutters, "Voco Compello," and continues to instruct them.

Suddenly, a guard opens the door, and looks in. His eyes land on the pair, who had just finished ussering through the swarm of bees, he turns and calls out, "IN HERE!"

Lila attempts to ignore him and concentrate, picturing a larger group than last time so she can get the rest through, she then says, "Voco Compello."

The large swarm of bees appears before her, clearly agitated, she glances over at where Oliver once was and panics to find him slamming the door shut. Knowing that she has to take care of the bees now, she turns and tells them, "Follow me, we are going to get you home, all you have to do is go through the closet and picture home." As she gestures to the closet the bees hesitantly fly in, and as the last one disappears, she closes the door and turns around.

Her eyes land on Lady Blackmoore materializing right before her, looking very angry and with that she gulps, hoping the bees all got out of here.