Ira was supposed to stay in the red forest, that was how she was raised. To hide in the canopy, where she could fade into the foliage in case of any humans.

Not that she minded staying in the red forest. Back then, when Ira was younger, there were many children to play with, to swing from branches on their silk threads, feeling the whip and rush of wind on their faces. Those were the days when she could discard a half eaten fruit without punishment, without those painful lashes that wore into the present as scars. And the canopy. Oh, the canopy. It was a rippling, red sea that stretched endlessly into the horizon. Back then, it was impossible to conceive of the world outside of the red forest, which was all right. Rocks grounded down as fine as dust, lands so cold it froze the water as far as her great canopy, she was content with them being far off places, almost fictitious.

Now though, her home was no longer the vast body when she looked out from atop the canopy. Axes cinched their forest ever smaller. Fewer fruits on the branches, emptier baskets as seasons passed. Playful laughter was scarcely heard, and the birth of a child was something to covet with joyful tears.

The elders warned her to never leave the red forest, yet home was a dwindling place and the outside world was becoming harder to ignore. Her home, her kind, they were facing a slow, de-sanguinating extinction and those fictitious places that she dreamed of in her youth became more appealing with each passing day.

That was why when Ira saw the shots fired in the Common House, she forced her limbs to leave the safety of her familiar, bone-white giants and venture into the settlement.

That was why when the Hospitallers shot at her with their thunderous rifles, she gathered the resolve to stay in cover behind the pillar on the roof rather than fleeing over the wall with the rest of the insectoids. Ira had to face this brave new world head-on. There had to be a way to save her home somehow, or at the very least her kind.

“Please, hold your fire! She’s friendly,” shouted a friendly voice.

Pyrik!

“Where’s the beast?” It was another voice, a man, one that she did not recognize.

“On the roof, captain. Hiding behind that chimney,” somebody said.

Ira placed a hand on one of the coarse stones that made up this pillar. Chimney.

“I told you, Cutter, that’s not just a beast. Her name’s Ira, and she can help you with exterminating the insectoids,” Pyrik said.

“That’s true.” Ira came out, away from the protection of her chimney. She felt incredibly naked, vulnerable; she had to remain steadfast for her village. “I can help you. My village can help you. Our kind has hunted insectoids for generations,” she said, trying hard not to stumble her words in a nervous stutter.

Their faces were metallic and impenetrable, hardly a friendly visage except for Pyrik, who was decidedly not in her usual coat. The only Hospitaller who did not hide their face was a man in finely decorated armor, a bandaged head, and a sort of riled disposition with little patience remaining, likely the Captain Cutter. He carried no rifle, and was painted in splashes of yellow blood. Suddenly all those guns were not as intimidating.

“I would like to parley with you on level ground if you do not mind,” Cutter said. His voice was restrained, wore awfully thin.

Ira came down from the roof quickly, their rifles following her as she went.

“Good. Level ground. Now would you please enlighten me with your... expertise?”

“Well, um, whenever the hunters and I went out to look for insectoids, we’d wait in the trees for them to come out of the burrow at night. They usually hunt the animals that wandered into the forest, only retreating underground with its catch when the sun rises.”

“A network of tunnels?”

“Mmhmm! Insectoids live deep underground. In vast networks of tunnels.”

“How… How many do you reckon are living underground?” Cutter was hesitant to ask.

Ira sucked in a breath. The captain might not like the answer and she was afraid to say, yet Pyrik urged her to respond honestly with a firm nod.

“The insectoids that come to raid the settlement at night, those are warriors, and the only reason that this place continues to stand is that they don’t usually leave the forest to hunt. A large number of them remain in the forest, more underground where they protect the tunnelers who harvest sap from the trees. But with all the trees getting felled, the insectoids are forced to... hunt elsewhere for food.”

The captain frowned, or at least it looked like he did. The man appeared to operate in small increments. “Is there a way to flush the lot of them out?”

“Flush them out?”

“Yes.”

“Hmm… then I suppose the only way is with fire.”

At that, Cutter chuckled as though she told him a fine joke barbed with irony. “All the barrels of kerosene we have are all nicely smashed up in the basement…” He muttered quietly.

“Kerosene?”

Cutter stared at her. “Do you… not know what that is?”

She shook her head.

“Kerosene is an accelerant, a substance that burns when ignited.”

“Hmm… kerosene. We may not have that exact thing in our village, but the witch may know how to make such a substance like that.”

Cutter turned to Pyrik, cautiously intrigued. “A witch?”

“I'm just as astonished as your are,” Pyrik said.

“I can take you to her,” Ira offered, "and meet the rest of my kind too."

“Is there truly a way to my men and I to enter the red forest?”

“There is, yes…”

Cutter blinked. “But?”

“...But, it would be safer if I took only you to the village. My folks may not take too kindly to the lot of you, not all at once. Think of this as... uh... a show of good faith.”

An outbreak of murmurs erupted within the ranks.

“Don’t do it, captain!”

“It’s a trap!”

“Don’t trust the wretched beast!”

“QUIET!” Cutter commanded. His men mashed their mouths shut immediately. With their full attention, he said to them, “Beast or human, an ally is an ally, no?” None dared to contradict him so he continued. “Moreover, Haldane and his merry band of mutineers had smashed up a majority of our store of kerosene. Working with the beasts may be our only chance to effectively eradicate this insectoid threat. That is why I will go to their village, however, if an agreement cannot be made or I do not return by sunrise, I want you all to scrounge up the last of the kerosene and set this forest ablaze. Hopefully, the fire will get large enough to consume the whole damned place. Am I understood?”

“Yes, captain!”

Cutter looked at Ira. “I consider them fair terms, no?”

Ira nodded. Fair enough.

She held back a grin. Her village might still have a chance in this world... if her village could be convinced.