The train of the Gunari’s small army cut a swathe through the trees, trying to stick to what little dirt road there was. They formed a colorful line between the viridian canopies and blue rivers of the jungle and, even though they were all heavily armed, the train could be mistaken for a festival parade.

At the front, riding the largest ant of the column, was the Gunari himself, surrounded by an honor guard of six Giya mounted on smaller ants, each plated with extra carapace to protect them from attacks. Trailing behind them were a hundred unblooded soldiers, that were singing marching songs or chatting merrily about the upcoming slaughter of the rebelling peasants. Finally, a group of six hornet-mounted cavalrists flanked the military parade on either side. The only ones with combat experience and the only part of the group not discussing an upcoming easy victory.

Their seventh, the captain, had flown ahead to scout the enemy forces and had yet to return even though they had expected her back an hour earlier. There was some concern that a lucky peasant arched had managed to knock her off her hornet, though others were half-joking that she had decided to wade through the peasant army by herself.

One of them was about to speak when they saw a hornet approach. She was about to wave to their captain in greeting, then realized they came from the wrong direction and there were two of them. Neither of the riders showed colors or slowed down. They swept past the column and landed in front of the Gunari.

“Oh,” one of the cavalrists said, “It’s Nana and Rei.”

Hands that had been reaching for weapons relaxed and they brought their mounts down as they saw that the newcomers would hold them up.

The Gunari smiled, then quickly hid and bade his army to halt and his relief at seeing the woman. He dismounted and paced until he found a stick he could break from a tree, which he then planted in the dirt.

Nana dismounted, gave the reins to Rei and frowned at the man’s odd behavior.

The man pointed to the shadow, and comprehension dawned on Nana’s face.

“Three hours past noon,” he said, “I do hope you have a good reason for disobeying a direct order, Lady Hoshitentou.”

“Well,” Nana replied, unable to resist a smirk, “My mother always taught me to finish one thing before starting another.”

The Gunari patiently waited and listened as Nana explained how she had spent her morning in Choukishi. He made no comment, positive or otherwise, but simply mounted up when she was done explaining.

“For your next orders,” he continued, “I needed you to scout the enemy forces and if possible get some more information, but I unfortunately had to send captain Kaiko now…”

“Shoko?” Nana asked, mounting her hornet as she already knew what was coming, “Are we sure there will be an enemy when we get there?”

“She had no orders to engage, but she has not returned yet.”

“We’ll go see what happened to her sir,” Nana sighed, “That said. Do I have permission to punish…”

“No, Nana, go.”

Nana hit her left chest with her left fist and took the air. Rei followed a moment later.

They found the castle, breached by heavy artillery that no peasant would have been able to construct. It was surrounded by men displaying the colors of the Dekamu domain, who were either dragging corpses to a funeral pyre or collecting spoils after the battle.

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Rei frowned, sniffed at the air, then flew closer to the white smoke of the burning corpses. It smelled of the spiritual cleansing herbs that were used in any funerary rite, but there was something off.

“That’s odd,” Rei said, sniffing deep, then it hit her.

“What?”

“They’re not using red shihana.”

“What are they using?”

“Purple…” Rei said, leaving the conclusion hanging in the air.

Nana frowned. She wasn’t a priestess, but she knew well enough which herbs would be used for a funeral. Red shihana was to guide them safely to the afterlife. Purple was a very grave insult to the surviving families, as it was to make sure the spirits would not find rest in either the heavens or hells, but doomed to wander forever.

“Any sign of Shoko?” Rei wanted to know.

Nana shook her head, scanning the area, then suddenly pointed to a group of soldiers that waved at them in greeting.

“Do you see that?” she asked.

“What?”

“Everyone on the pyre is wearing armor.”

“So…?”

“So, have you ever seen a peasant wearing armor? And look over there.”

She pointed to a pile of weapons that were being claimed by the soldiers, most of which had stopped working to look at the two hornets buzz above them.

“That’s just swords and spears. Not a sickle or pitchfork among them.”

“Would it be worth keeping those?” Rei said dubiously, “Maybe they’re on the pyre.”

“Only if they want to get their soldiers sick of burning Carapace,” Nana said, shaking her head.

She considered her options for a moment, then pointed away from the castle.

“You go that way,” she commanded, “I’ll go that. Maybe they’re crucifying the rebels on a nearby hill. Be back here as soon as you can.”

Rei nodded her assent and sped off. Nana took a last look at the burning corpses below her, then took off.

“My lord…?”

The Lord Dekamu looked up from his map, which displayed the Kuwagata domain and the surrounding fiefdoms. He had been painting the Kuwagata domain red to match his own that bordered on the south of it.

“I told you,” he said to the soldier that interrupted him, “The girl is mine. I won’t have the common soldiery touching her.”

“Not what I’m here for,” the soldier said, biting back an annoyed sigh at her comrades, “I’m here to report we’ve seen two hornets hover the castle. They left in different directions.”

“What about the third. Have we seen it go back yet?”

“No sir,” she said, then hesitantly added, “The new ones bore no colors. They’re probably dragonflies.”

Lord Dekamu nodded, cleaned his brush and dismissed her.

“Wait,” he called when she was about to close the door, “Send out some runners to find out how the executions are going.”

The soldier nodded and closed the door.

Rei was the one to find Shoko, and the answer to the Lord Dekamu’s inquiry. She had not been noticed by the people below her and had used the distraction to plunge her hornet deep into the bushes and watch the proceedings.

A group of Dekamu soldiers was manhandling a long parade of peasants, fencing them in with spears to make sure none would run. They would’ve been making good time, were they not stopped by a lone warrior. She was mounted on a hornet, carrying the banner of the Third Wing of the Gunari’s cavalry on her back and preparing a lance to cut through the men blocking her way…

The Dekamu soldiers nervously waited for her to make her move.