Honeycomb

Assassin stepped over the body of his target. Too easy really, the merchant had never seen it coming. Time to do part two of this job. Assassin looked around the merchant’s bedroom for the safe. After a few moments, he located it behind a painting of a royally dressed frog. Some people had strange tastes, but who was Assassin to judge.

In mere moments the safe was cracked open and Assassin was staring at a decent haul of treasure. The merchant had been a busy fellow. A pot of gold, a divine mask, and in the back a golden honeycomb. The pot of gold and the divine mask Assassin immediately pocketed for himself as payment for the job. But he took a moment to study the second request of his client, the honeycomb. It was surrounded by a glowing forcefield in blue and green light, emitted by a small contraption apparently powered by essence of starlight.

Assassin studied the mechanism for a few minutes to see if he could spot the trap waiting for him, but it soon became clear that the forcefield was simply a barrier, which oddly enough could be turned off by a simple switch on the outside. Not sure why the merchant had gone through the bother of setting up a defense mechanism that could be so easily circumvented, Assassin turned off the field and scooped up the honeycomb. Job was done, time to return to his client.

Assassin made it only a few paces before he stopped cold. What was that sound? It was like a faint buzzing. His hair stood on end. Had he been discovered after all? Out of the corner of his eyes he noticed what looked like a pair of bees dancing on the window sill. What are those doing here?

With the source of buzzing identified it was time to get out of here. Assassin made it another few paces before stopping again. There was a metallic taste on his tongue and the air smelled like a rainstorm had just passed. What in the hell? The buzzing got louder and some of the items in the room started to vibrate. Assassin started to feel dizzy and could feel sweat on his skin.

BOOM

Assassin lay starring up at the ceiling. His ears ringing. His arms and legs numb. His heart beat running wild. He could see steam rising from his body. As he lay there confused, a bee-headed figure leaned over him.

“Damn lightning. Makes yah feel weird doesn’t it.” said the figure, it’s many faceted eyes staring down into Assassin’s face. “Names Rim, the elder. People call me the Bee Shaman.” Fighting to stay conscious, Assassin watched as the figure slipped open Assassin’s bag with a staff and then bent down to pick up the honeycomb. “Been looking for this. Thanks for finding it.” Assassin felt consciousness and reality slip away. He watched robed figures with deer antlers burst into clouds of bees and swarm over 100s of honeycombs, unable to discern where reality stopped and dream began.