Kaiko Shoko, captain of the third wing of the Gunari’s personal cavalry, lowered her lance and pushed her hornet’s sides with her knees. The animal started to move.

Knowing Shoko had a temper similar, or possible even worse, than Nana’s, Rei rushed out from her hiding spot and waved at the mounted warrior to stop her from charging.

The woman pulled up her face plate and frowned at the girl, then grinned when she recognized her.

“Rei!” she called, “Keeping the Lady Hoshitentou out of trouble?”

“Hopefully,” Rei replied, then added sotto voce, “And hopefully you too.”

She looked from the mounted warrior to the soldiers escorting the peasants.

“What’s going on?”

“The lad won’t let us do our duty to our lord,” the leading of the guard stated, “He’ll have our heads.”

Rei nodded sagely, then turned to Shoko.

“That would be correct,” she said calmly, “Because they won’t tell me who their prisoners are.”

“We don’t have to tell you anything!” the leader of the soldiers threw back, “You’re just a soldier like the rest of us. You have no authority.”

Shoko opened her mouth, as if she was about to tell the man every way she was better than him, but Rei hastily interrupted.

“Fortunately,” she said, “I do have the authority.”

“And who might you be?”

Rei turned so the man could see her painted lips and she smiled wider, “Dragonfly. Now...who are they?”

“Just rebels,” the man sputtered.

Rei studied the prisoners. They were healthy, well-fed and none of them showed signs of having been hiding in the woods for weeks. There was one reason she decided that the man was not telling the truth and she simply turned to him to tell him what she thought.

“You lie. Release them, or give me a good reason you’ve arrested them.”

“Our lord told us too,” the man stammered.

“Which lord?”

“Dekam,” the man started, getting a kick against the ankle from one of his companions.

“The lord Kuwagata,” he corrected hastily.

“And does the lord Kuwagata suspect infants of rebellion?” Rei asked, fixing her eyes on a terrified woman that clutched a baby to her chest.

“Seems like that one definitely isn’t ready to rise up against the lord. Must be hard holding a weapon at that age… Who are they?”

There was a brief moment of hesitation from the man, then finally a decision.

“Kill them!” he cried, “Just kill them! Put them full of arrows!”

Bows were drawn and loaded, sidearms taken in hand and peasants roughly told to stay put as the soldiers prepared to fight the two women....Which was when the screaming started.

Shoko closed her face plate, lowered her lance and the hornet fell into motion. It all happened at once and the man who had so defiantly tried to resist the women was the first to fall. He toppled backwards with a lance in his chest and the next victim was torn to shred by the hornets mandibles.

A third was the first to taste Shoko’s blade, which she used to wade through the attacking enemies.

She let go off the hornets reins, dropped herself to the ground and gestured for the first of her enemies to come to her.

Rei, as much as she enjoyed a good fight, decided on a more pragmatic approach. She stepped next to one of the archers that was about to loose his arrow and simply drew the blade from his belt.

He looked down, then up when she cut through the bowstring. His arrow limply fell from his hand and he was about to bear down on her, when she finished the short encounter by ramming the sword in his throat.

There was a last splutter of disbelief, but as soon as she retracted the blade he crumpled down to the flavor.

She turned to the terrified peasants and lazily started to herd them away from the orgy of carnage Shoko was demonstrating.

“Go back to your homes,” she called, “The Gunari will be here soon to settle this mater personally.”

Some did as told, stumbling away from the battle, while others, afraid of what the soldiers would do to them if they ran remained rooted to the spot. Two of the peasants drew Rei’s attention. A boy and a girl, identical twins and not yet of age. They were using a rope to strangle the nearest guard and Rei could not help but appreciate the display of teamwork.

She made a mental note of the two, then looked up when she heard a rapidly approaching buzz.

One of the archers tried to take advantage of the distraction, but Rei was ready for her. She blocked a clumsy sword coming at her neck and with a clever twist of her wrist turned the woman’s weapon back on her.

She looked down, gaping at the large Gash had caused in her belly.

Rei gave it a sideways glance, smiled at the twins, then pulled the sword back, giving the woman’s guts room to spill to the dirt.

She nodded to Nana when she landed.

The third hornet was too much for the soldiers. They dropped their weapons and broke. … As did the peasants.

Shoko pulled off her helmet and glared at Nana.

Nana, still dismounting, ignored her.

“Report?” she asked Rei, before her feet had even touched the dirt.

Rei, who knew what was coming, neglected to answer and watched Shoko stalk over to them.

Even in her fury, Shoko lived up to her famed beauty, which she had cleverly accentuated with the family’s colors and personal heraldry marking her face, painted on so thin as not to rob anyone of the chance to gaze on her face. The only visible flaw on her was the milky white left eye, which was the subject of as much rumors as the fact the legendary beauty served so closely to the Gunari.

“Hoshitentou,” she snarled, “You let them get away.”

“Did I?” Nana said airily, knowing it would annoy the woman, “I’m sure there’s more pressing matters, Shoko. We know you’re good, you don’t have to bring a pile of heads every time.

For a moment, Shoko seemed ready to strike at Nana, but in the in the end, she simply removed the blood from her sword with a wild sweep, making sure to hit Nana’s bare leg, then sheathed the weapon and returned to her hornet.

“How far is the Gunari out?” she asked over her shoulder.

Nana ignored her.

“An hour at most,” Rei offered, “Not long anyway.”

“I don’t know why he called for you two,” she said, “Even somebody without a nose can see this whole mess stinks.”

Rei saw a sparkle in Nana’s eyes and she knew she was about to say something about the woman’s missing eye. Rei shot her a warning glance. Nana just raised her eyebrows and gave her an amused smile.

When Shoko took to the air, she returned to the business at hand.

“Report?”

Rei sighed, “Can’t make much more than guesses at the moment, Nana. Looks like we’re dealing with a faked rebellion. Probably Dekamu attempting to add Kuwagata’s domain to his.”

“So we should assume Kuwagata is dead,” Nana said to herself, “Let’s hurry before Shoko costs our lord the element of Surprise.”

“I think you’ve already taken care of that.

“Hm?”

“They soldiers she was fighting will probably report what happened. You scared them off.

“Or run all the way home.”

Rei threw her a dubious smile, “That sure of yourself?”

She didn’t wait for an answer, discarding the sword she had ‘borrowed' to the dirt and whistling for her hornet.

As she mounted, she saw the twins circle the weapon, as if it were a mythical weapon that bestowed skill on the bearer.

“Don’t play with swords, kids,” Nana said, then kicked her hornet into motion, knocking the children over with the beating of its wings.