The dog demon ducked at the entrance of the huge hole. Right at the center of the woods, the centipede's den was surrounded by the bones of small animals and a strong smell, very similar to the one that had been on his sword.
"Man, I really don't wanna know where you have been", he said, looking at the weapon at his waist.
He took a handful of earth and took it to his nose. There was certainly something more there, besides the bug's smell. Carefully, he walked down to the bottom, looking at the roots of the nearby trees that sprouted from the den's walls; one of them crumbled between his fingers, dry.
Just as he had thought; first, the mark at the demon's corpse, now that. Someone had set the lair on fire, forcing the centipede to go out during the winter. But to what purpose? If it was meant to attack the village, it'd had been a hell of bad luck doing so exactly when Oda was around with his soldiers. And why would someone want to hurt the villagers?
He crawled out of the hole, looking at the sky; it was already dark. The burning smell was recent; whoever had done that, they were certainly close. A careful search around the den led him to a pair of footprints, which guided him to the edge of the forest, not far away from the road to the north. He stopped to check the smell on the trail; away from the bug's stench, it wasn't hard to sense it. Someone had burnt their boots while setting the lair on fire. Or…
Laughter. Ichimaru's ears couldn't fool him; he sneaked closer, keeping himself hidden amongst the trees. Carefully, he chose the tallest tree around and started climbing it, hoping to get a better view from above.
"Where's Seikku?" he heard one of the men asking after a long yawn.
"He went checking if the soldiers are still in the village."
"You think they killed the bug?"
"I don't know. It was really pissed the last time we saw it."
Ichimaru took position right above them, over the tree's highest branches. The moon barely shed any light, but he was careful enough to remain at the shadows.
"Damn, I'm freezing here!" the first one grumbled. "Let's light a fire, already!"
"Man, you two sure sound like old ladies." The dog demon hid behind the tree when a third voice sounded. "Nobody lights anything. Do you want them to find us?"
"So the patrol's still there?"
"It looks like some of them were injured while fighting the centipede. They're not going anywhere", Seikku said. "The castle's close. By tomorrow, we'll meet the chief."
It took long enough, but Ichimaru finally realized it. There was no bonfire, but the smell of ash reached his nose anyway; the same stench he felt on the footprints that guided him there.
Fire demons.
He gulped and slowly started climbing down the tree. The demons stopped talking, and that wasn't a good sign. He peeked on them, still covered by the tree's shadow; it seemed Seikky was whispering something to the others.
"Where?!" The same man that had been complaining about the cold looked up suddenly, his right hand bursting into flames.
"Crap!"
Night turned into day for an instant when the explosion flew at him; a bang echoed throughout the woods as the tree was shed in half.
