"These are worth ten times your yearly wage, so don't lose 'em."
Konrad distributed the last of his kitsune coins.
It took a few seconds to enchant each, but that was already too much.
"When you see the target, squeeze it three times," he said. "That'll tell us to be ready in a minute. Once you're about to shoot, two squeezes."
Timing was everything. Twelve telepaths. Four companies.
Two and a half miles to catch up with the last as the crow flies.
Well, they would have moved by then, too, so one and a half.
Still a lot.
"Count to ten, squeeze when you reach five, and release when you shoot—and all fires at once."
"Then what?" Bor asked, flipping his coin between his fingers. "Run and hide?"
"Yeah, we'll mop the footmen up when our reinforcements arrive," Konrad nodded.
He couldn't say this was a good plan, but they were in too much of a hurry to make a better one.
"Bor stays with a group, Kade takes one to the next ambush. Welf—hope you're good with long runs. Third point is yours," he distributed his men next. "I'll take the last one myself."
That was the most important one after all.
"What about emergencies?" the blacksmith asked. "How do we signal then?"
"Please, don't have any," Konrad groaned. "But I guess, squeeze the coin in short bursts to abort."
"We must not fail," Vargas said. "So I'll go with you, too. We have some crossbowmen to spare."
We, as in the Aset Defenders.
He was such a glory hound since he returned to Lord Schwertburg.
Konrad couldn't imagine how much the duke must have paid him.
But with the odds stacked against him, he'd take everything he could.
"I've only eight coins, so each group gets two," he finished the briefing, knowing better than to waste time. "We'd better hurry. Some of these shortcuts look rough."
And they were.
They descended a cliff to bypass a switchback.
Took a narrow trail with terrible footing to cut a corner.
There were even caves that someone, some time ago, decided to dig through to the other side.
One and a half miles on that terrain, while the closest company of nomadic footmen only had to walk one. On a well-travelled road. And Konrad was already panting half a mile in.
He ran his way to Vargas, too.
"Take that position," he pointed at a boulder as Kade's group peeled off. "Keep an eye on your coins. Be ready when it glows—you might have to find another spot at the last moment."
His champion-turned-lieutenant nodded with a grunt.
As tall as he was, Konrad could no longer spot him by the time they reached the next turn.
He spotted the first of the companies instead, marching up the road.
"So they advanced half a mile at the same pace as us," Vargas noted. "And we need to trek another one before they reach their designated killzone. Which is another half a mile up."
If it sounded like the numbers didn't add up, that's because they weren't.
"Come on, through this cave," Konrad urged him, conjuring a tiny orb of light. "I'm sure we'll make it somehow. As long as you don't let them spot us here."
He aimed that last part at his tall, redheaded friend, sticking out like a sore thumb.
"Whose idea was to drag me along anyway?" Welf groaned, keeping his head down.
He looked like a torch, but unlike Konrad's floating miniature suns, he didn't emit light.
"You peel off after this cave, then walk a hundred yards until the switchback. Hide well, and remember to take out every single horseman," he whispered, his voice echoing.
The cave gave him the creeps, even though it was much warmer than the rest of the mountains.
It might have been the echoes, water dripping from the ceiling along their way.
"What did you say? Where do real-life Griphlets live?" he asked halfway through, terrified of the thought that they might run into one. Not that he was afraid of the monsters themselves.
But when he was counting every second, he couldn't stop for them.
"Their territories are further south," the blacksmith muttered, stumbling in the dark. "But it's not rare for them to show up here. Some of your merchants even complained about them."
The orb of light flickered, then he cranked up its power, hoping that would scare the beasts off.
They made it through that claustrophobic passage without running into one, though.
"This is us," Welf noted as soon as they saw the light on the other end. "And no sign of the nomads yet. Do you think you'll make it?"
Konrad was out of breath and sweating, burning precious mana to enhance his endurance.
And now the blacksmith wanted him to take a guess?
Not like he had to. Maple was reporting on everything in real time.
'They're still two corners away, and their distance is consistent, too,' the dragon said. 'It's a good idea to take 'em out at the same time. I'm almost sure they're always in touch.'
Good. But that didn't exactly answer his unasked question.
'Can I make it in time?'
There. Now he asked it, too.
'You could if you flew,' Maple teased. 'And I can see you're about to tap out. Not the only one.'
That's when Konrad noticed how much Vargas was wheezing.
He called him an old schemer for a reason.
While he wasn't ancient, he was way past his prime, and now out of breath, too.
"You can stay here and rest," Konrad offered. "But I can't have you slow me down."
Said the guy who already burned fifty mana only to prevent himself from collapsing.
The adamantine coin started flashing in his hand.
One minute left. He couldn't wait for anyone.
"What would you do without us, kid?" the captain panted. "As if you were so great with the bow."
Not only him, but his men were on their last legs as well.
Good thing they volunteered—after they already fought two battles.
"How about a lightning bolt?" he snapped back. "I could throw at them hundreds—if I make it."
He could've used Gabrielle's skill right now—if only he could move inside her bubbles.
"Go, then," Vargas breathed out, pushing him along. "I'll still report that I helped."
Had he got any air in his lungs to spare, he would've laughed. But his coin lit up again.
Two blinks. Ten seconds left—and he was still far away.
As a last resort, he infused his blood and muscles with his mana. A whole hundred points at once. He grit his teeth, sprinting through the final hundred-or-so yards.
'Okay, yeah, no,' the dragon's voice rang in his mind. 'Not even close. Thought you were faster.'
He took a corner and spotted the last group of soldiers.
Still far beyond his spell-casting range—and all his men had fallen behind a long time ago.
The coin in his palm started glowing again, nonstop.
Five, four, three—
'So, do you want me to take care of them?' Maple asked, her voice excited.
No. He didn't. But he had no other option.
The coin's light gave out. It was now or never.
"Do it," he yelled, falling on his knees.
And a majestic beast dove from the skies, engulfing the entire mountain road in flames.