Chapter 11 - Specialist Kiriko, Mantid Infiltrator of the Green Scarab

At the last sign of sunlight, I raise my right claw and signal a halt.

We’ve been crawling through the grass for hours and nobody complains. Even experienced scouts such as myself need rest. My team behind me is flagging. They wouldn’t have lasted much longer anyway.

“We’ll camp here. Pitch tents. No fire. No smoke. Full concealment!”

I’m accustomed to working alone, but looking over the four males in my team, I admit having a team has certain benefits. With a twitch of my antennae, I consider telling one of my more attractive subordinates that he doesn’t need his own tent tonight.

On the other hand, command will complain again if I keep beheading my own troops. Besides, we’re deep in enemy territory. We can’t leave bodies for them to find, headless or not. Too bad. Maybe when we return home on leave!

Even now, I can smell the scent of their salty sweat and their male pheromones from all the way across the camp! They each smell so healthy… and tasty! My stomach growls. I need meat! Something to distract both my hunger and my other hunger.

I sigh as I pitch my own tent, then break supplies out of my pack. It's going to be another cold, lonely night. Cold rations. Dried root vegetable chips?

I can’t survive on this! I’m a mantid! I need meat even if I have to kill it myself! In fact, that would be preferred. My mandibles grind together in frustration.

“Specialist, the opposite hill would provide an improved vantage point.”

I look up at the corporal. He’s polite. He’s eager. He’s beneath my command. To top it all, he’s pretty cute. Later! Later!

Refocusing my attention, I follow where his hooked forelimb is pointing. The hill across the way is covered with tall green grass and even has a few small bushes for cover. Most importantly, it’s a taller hill.

“You are correct, corporal, but there is a distinct disadvantage there.”

“Yes specialist,” he responds and turns back to his tasks.

I click my mandibles in frustration. I find myself displeased with his lack of curiosity. A better soldier would ask for clarification. I hadn’t said WHY that location was inferior. I had wanted to teach him a lesson. First here, then later, somewhere else. Yes. Later.

Males are so hard to understand! They barely speak before I chew off their heads. How would I ever know their thoughts before their juicy brains are consumed beneath my manipulators? Sometimes, I hear the goblin soldiers speak of romance. The idea is so intriguing, but so impossible!

I sigh out through my spiracles. Surely there is something better out there?

The moon is rising. I don’t have time for such thoughts. Camouflage comes first!

My tent is low to the ground, but I can’t use that to survey the surrounding terrain. Instead, I climb a tree. The chromatophores dotted all over my carapace provide the correct coloration, but taking on the texture of your environment is just as important. Using some sticky glue from my pack, I attach several tufts of leaves to my body before I settle down for the first watch.

Far to the north, I can see a burned out town behind us. As I recall, wasn’t that destroyed by the legion several years ago? But now, with the Grand Kingdom pushing back hard, the site is once again behind enemy lines. Even from here, I can see that a new guard tower has risen. Underneath, the frames for what will be the new town wall grows each day. We should have burned that town more thoroughly! The lumber that we left will now be used against us.

There are no civilians there yet, but in time, those too will come. Then, industries and commerce. When enough requirements are met, the magicians and priests will arrive. Time is short, we must win this war before they spread and extinguish us!

Far to the south, further into the enemy territory, I see plumes of misty smoke rising from the nearest enemy town. The forges of war are hot and hungry. That banner in the sky heralds the birth of a new army. Now, my job is to determine their path. If they go north, we can ambush them here before they reach the front lines.

I watch, but nothing changes. This part of the countryside is peaceful. The grass does not remember the centuries of battles fought back and forth across these hills. The soil drinks in the blood, rusts the iron, and then returns to its empty slumber.

When my watch ends, I scramble down the tree and switch with the corporal. By this point, I’m too tired to think of other activities, so I head to my tent. Unfortunately, the corporal stops me to ask the question I expected of him before.

“Specialist. If I may ask, why is this hill superior to the other?”

I wave my antennae in his direction, acknowledging my approval of his question. However, if I simply told him the answer, what would he learn? “What do you think?”

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“I have considered it for the last hours, but have reached no conclusion.”

“Well then, imagine that an army from the Grand Kingdom comes this way from the south. Where would they camp?”

“Oh. Naturally, they would choose the best spot.”

“Correct, right on top of that hill. Our concealment would be broken. Our subterfuge would end in failure. At best, we’d send off a bat messenger before we fled or died.”

“Then this hill is the best vantage point?”

“It is! Suppose they did camp there? We could observe their position and activities until they moved on. Maybe we could even sneak into their camp to collect intelligence.”

“I see.” He bows to my experience. As he should. As part of his display, he waves his delicious antennae my way, as if asking me to reach out and take a bite. In effect, this demonstrates that he believes that I am worthy of giving his head. Later! Later!

“So, now that you know we are safe here…” Suddenly, I don’t feel safe at all! No! I feel a chill! My mantid-senses are tingling!

I turn around to look, but I see nothing but grass! What IS this feeling?

Suddenly, a pair of bright lights appear out in the dark grass. They gleam like eyes watching our every move. As I look closer to discern what they are, I realize that they are getting closer, as if creeping right up on us.

It is then that I hear the call that heralded the destruction of our army’s other regiments. It is the rumored roar that begins the sad tale of so many of our lost battles.

“BEEP BEEP!”

Before my eyes, the bright beams of doom slice through the darkness, gaining speed, and rushing out toward me. It is so fast!

I gasp out in horror and shout aloud to alert my sleeping men.

“It is the hero! We cannot hope to face it! Split up! Run!”

My men are accustomed to waking instantly. As a result, we all flee in different directions. No matter its speed, that thing can’t catch all of us!

I don’t make it more than a few steps before the corporal’s tasty head is detached from his beautiful body. It is an awful sight, and ironic since I had been considering the same action myself. Behind the dead corporal, I see the golem swing around on its axis with the knife aimed for my own neck as well.

But I didn't earn my nickname, "Kamakiri Nitosai," without cause!

A cloud of grass and dirt spray into the air from the power of her spinning feet, but I duck backwards just in time. Although one of my antennae is lost, my life is not.

With some flash of instinct, I jump and spread my wings. My people are quite agile gliders. Not true flight, but we are capable enough to escape a melee brawl like this.

Given no better target, I land up in the tallest tree, but even further up than before.

The golem circles around the base, roaring the whole time. The ghastly smell of burnt tar rises to my spiracles. Despite this, I am still safe in my high perch.

Frustrated, the steel chariot instead turns its attention to my fleeing companions. One, too slow to rise, has already been crushed within his tent. My corporal still struggles onward sporadically, but without his head, he won’t go far. The remaining two, even though they flee in opposite directions, simply aren’t fast enough.

The golem chases down one, slashes through his thorax with that terrible knife. But, its ghastly job is not done.

The beast spins around in a tight circle and runs down the other before he can find a place to hide. He dies, still fleeing, stabbed from behind by the same blade.

I watch, cursing, as the thing pauses there, but then, it returns again to me. As it approaches, its blurred legs churn up the grass and soil, raising a cloud behind. At the conclusion of the charge, it slams directly into the trunk below me.

The limbs shake, the twigs break, the leaves fall, but I hold on tightly with my four legs. In the meantime, my front claws have found the messenger bat inside my belt pouch. As soon as it unfolds its ears, I scream out my message. “Final report from Green Scarab infiltrator group! Hero sighted south of the old burned town. Position is lost. Glory to the legion!”

The bat flies away, completing my mission. Still, the golem repeatedly smashes into the tree. This time, I hold on with all six limbs. I will not fall until the tree does!

When there is a lull in the assault, I gaze down to the beast and engage in the most ancient tactic at my disposal. “Nya! Nya! Nya! You can’t get me!”

The golem’s head is not mobile. It cannot turn its eyes up to glare at me. Even so, I feel the murderous aura expand around it. Good! The more time it wastes here, the fewer of my allies it can kill.

Now what is it doing? A small chain has whipped out from its left arm-appendage, wrapping around the tree. The right arm-appendage catches the tail end, twisting it into a knot around the knife. Will it pull down the tree?

I spread out my wings, ready to fly away. Even so, I continue to observe. I have no more bats, but there may be some way still to return more information to the legion command post.

What strategy is this? I observe as the beast approaches the tree at an angle, so that one of its feet makes contact with the trunk. After that, I hear it roar, and I see the front wheel push down against the bark. In moments, the bright, shining eyes are slanting upwards along the line of the tree.

How to resist that paralytic power? I find myself frozen in fear and wonder.

Shortly after that, the rear legs also make contact, and it begins climbing slowly, gaining speed.

I barely even have time to react as it races upwards, shearing off limbs as it goes.

“BEEP BEEP BEEEEP!”

At the last second, I leap free of the tree trunk, spread out my wings and glide away. However, I saw how it ran down my companions. I need a different strategy if I want to live!

Concealment? No, it already saw me, so it knows where I am. Climb another tree? All the others nearby are small and fragile. Its charge would break them off at the base! I need something else!

At least for the moment, I can turn to look back. Strangely, the golem continues to climb up the tree. It makes a horrid noise as it tears off the bark to go higher into the canopy.

“What are you doing, you idiot? If you goes too high, the tree will bend under your weight. Ah, yes, exactly like that!”

The tree bows over sideways in the opposite direction, and the chariot stops climbing. Instead, it detaches the chain and pauses. That’s when the tension in the tree’s trunk rebounds, snapping the whole thing back toward me.

Without the chain to hold it on, the golem is suddenly airborne. Flipping end over end, it hurtles straight through the sky. The whip snap of the tree sent it off with a monstrous force, just like an arrow shot from a bow.

My last moments are filled with the sound of its battle cry.

“BEEP BEEEEP!”