He was moving at breakneck speed and could go over areas that no other mounts could. Well, except flying mounts. In about half an hour, we were at the Junkers section. It was an area where many war machines from a previous dwarf's war had been discarded.

I pointed to a path clinging to the mountain between snow-covered peaks.

“She must come over the pass there!”

“Should we not go there and intercept her sooner?”

“No. This is a good point for an ambush. If we go there, we are closer to the sorceress.”

“As you say, you are the boss. I'm only interested in the... Sorceress? What sorceress? Has this something to do with her?”

“What did you say? What are you interested in?”

“You mean that sorceress? From up there in the mountain?”

“Yes!”

He sighed.

Whilst talking with him, I prepared my equipment, keeping an eye on the road.

I had now over my left shoulder a massive shoulder piece that had three big spikes and several small and could protect me from direct sword hits. It was sturdy and heavy and had an added flexible covering for the upper left arm down to my elbow and another one for my forearm down to my wrist.

I could raise my forearm and put the two parts, one near the other, overlapping a little. Kind of a shield replacement role. That came over my leather suit, but it had several leather bindings that I was now struggling with.

I need something that straps itself magically, not this damn thing for masochists... but once on, it was handy.

I put on a helm. I do not really like helms, but it adds protection to the brain, and I plan to keep mine as much as possible intact. It was a funny 'Viking' helm that I had from a raid on that northern folk... the thorianer, I think.

The helm was very sturdy, had two horns, and was fixed with a buckle under my kin with two cheek coverings.

I was armed with two katars. These are like long, straight, partially retractable short swords that I could control with my hands. The partially retractable part was not the standard katar, but I chose these for this fight as they could be fixed to my hands. It enables me to fight, handle something and continue to fight if needed. It was not that I could continuously retract them or shoot them; they had two fixed positions and a spring that I had to compress to retract them. Once elongated, they stayed in that position until I turned the switch off and pushed the sword back in. I could do that by pressing the blade against a hard surface like a stone or even against the other with the trigger held until it clicked. The spring was strong enough to skewer somebody if the push came to shove.

“You are crazier than I sought”

He was not referring to my weapons. I guess he does not like that sorceress and was even less happy to antagonize her.

“Thank you. So you said you were only interested in...?”

“I would have been interested in eating the horses, but I think I lost my interest in these circumstances. Frankly speaking, I am now only interested in escaping alive...”

“Oh, I think I see the carriage!”

“Yes. Two firesteeds. I told you I lost interest. Those are not eatable. A firesteed-coachman. That is a very dangerous person riding that coach. A golden empire coach with Styxa's coachman driving it. That's not good. Oh, and from the other side, an escort is coming”

I looked on the right side. The Golden Empire side. Yes, indeed, a group of ten imperial riders was approaching.

“So what do we do, Cala? Do we run to intercept the coach before it meets the escort?”

“If we run in the open, everybody will see us. They have plenty of time to react. Besides, we do not know if the escort is for that coach or not? We stay here put; once the coach comes, I'll attack, escort or no escort.”

“It is for that coach. I'm not feeling good about this. They are going to meet just here!”

I still decided to wait. This point was closer to the border, both the republic and the denikan kingdom and further away from the domain of the sorceress. Yes, it was inside the empire, the realm of the emperor, and I knew I was going to have trouble with the Golden Empire after this. I hoped I could avoid having the sorceress also hunting for me. Well, maybe not immediately.

The coach must have stopped. It had disappeared behind a peak and did not appear on the other side where the road continued. I was starting to get concerned. It was even worse when the riders passed by us. I tried to gauge them passively; it is a method to estimate them by their aura, with no active push on my side. It is not as precise as a push, but they do not feel it. It told me they were between level 50 and 75. This is the disadvantage of the passive estimation, a broader range. OK, the task will be still doable.

I watched them as they continued at a trot and disappeared behind the peak from the other side. What were they doing there? I almost wanted to go to check when they finally appeared back.

And just like that, the Lynx wondered:

“What if it's not the coach that we are waiting for?”

I filled my lungs with air. Deep. And exhaled. Well yes. What then? What if the information is wrong?

“Are you here, White...”

“Call me Terri, please!”

“Even when we are alone?”

“Here, you are never alone.”

“So, Terri, what do you say? You have been very silent in the last time?”

“I agree with the Lynx. You are crazy. Even if I understand the reason why you are doing this.”

I was glad to hear her confirmation, but when she continued...

“Even if I am not sure that this thousand gold is worth the trouble you will get yourself in...”

“It is not for the money that I'll do it!”

“Really? Then why do you do it?”

“To free that girl!”

“Sure? What is so special with that girl?”

At which the Lynx interrupted me brutally, bringing me back to reality

“They will be here in one minute. What do I do?”

“I'll say darkness, then they must stop. The darkness will allow me to eliminate the riders, one by one, and then I'll have to deal with the coachman.”

It sounds exaggerated, but there were reasons for my confidence. I can see much better than anybody else in the darkness created by my spell. In addition, I was planning to use the speed spell, which would allow me to just appear and disappear at different points in fast succession. That would confuse them and allow my plan to work. I had already my 'trophy list' of coach attacks; it was not my first one.

I was higher level and could kill them one by one; their only chance would be to gang on me.

“What do I do?”

“Stay out of trouble. Be ready to sprint once we get the girl!”

“Sure.”

“Terri, would you be able to feel what's inside the coach? I know f...”

“By all the treants! Don't say what I am! I'll try to help you gauge them, but I need you to do it.”

My heart was ticking faster and louder in my chest. This is not well prepared. I had no knowledge of the riders, the coachman, or what could expect me inside the coach.

The coach that was approaching us like a rumble of rolling thunder. I judged my moment to be here:

>

The horses neighed in the darkness, the cavalcade interrupted abruptly with horses pacing in place on the stone-covered road, riders trying to orient themselves.

After the first moments of confusion, a strange light appeared. It was limited to a small area around the coach, a magic light held in the coachman's left hand, enough to push back the darkness 4-5 meters around.

Fuck, I will not have full advantage of the darkness. This coachman has some countermeasure. I sent a full probe to gauge them.

>

“Attack!” The coachman screamed, pointing in my direction.

Double fuck. He was about level 87. The ten riders were level 63. There was something else inside the coach, one high level and one or two low levels, but those auras were masked by the coach itself. The coachman shook the reins in his right hand, screaming, pushing the horses, telling them to run.

“There is a girl inside the coach and... a boy and...”

I did not hear the rest because I'd said my speed spell, and the sounds came distorted.

I needed to act quickly: I needed my speed spell. I needed to be as fast as possible.

The speed spell is scalable. The more you concentrate, the more power you put into the spell, the faster you get, but the more it consumes you. Nothing is for free. I tried to put the maximum power I could into it:

>

The world slowed down. Horses sauntered slowly with dancing steps. Little stones were lifted in the air and flew slowly to the sides like butterflies.

The coachman stood on his feet, and his mouth opened in a never-ending scream. A sound as deep as a rumble. A bubbling underwater.

He and the four horses started to light an internal red light, like some demons from hell. It was probably a buff spell that, at a minimum, made the horses immune to the anguish and fear that comes with the darkness. They'll run blindly through it. That's when I saw the Lynx jumping towards the horses on my left. He understood the danger: once the coach is out of the 'darkness' zone, it becomes a race deeper and deeper into enemy territory.

I ran full speed towards the coach's door, but the damn riders were spread around it. For a second, I thought about going with the shoulder full speed against a horse. That would probably mortally wound the horse, maybe even topple it, but it would stop me, and I'll have to fight them all in the coacher's light.

I think I was never as fast as now. I must be at about three times the average speed or even more, and my heart in my chest must be even quicker. I heard the rumbling beatings like a drum beaten by a crazy drummer.

Change of plan: I won't fight them all; I'll only take the girl and run.

I jumped, and the rider saw me when I was in the air. He tried to turn but was much too slow, his sword moving so slowly I could even dance on it. My left shoulder hit him while the left hand triggered the katar skewering his belly. My right foot hit the horse, propelling me further, disengaging my left shoulder from his skull and toppling the horse in the other direction.

My left foot hit another horse on the head, but the push was insufficient to propel me higher, and I fell to the ground.

I rolled under another horse and made two steps, then I jumped, hitting the coach's door with the left shoulder. The door exploded into smaller and bigger fragments, and I saw Thiara watching me with big round eyes...

Suddenly everything was covered in a grey matter. I felt a terrible pain in my head. I fell down as I could no longer control my limbs. It was a slow flight towards the bottom of the coach as one foot was still hanging in the broken door. It was a slow and continuous pain as if somebody was pushing a needle in the back of my head. Not a needle, a whole pickax.

I don't know how long it took. To me, it was an eternity. Was I already dead? I was so cut off from reality that I even considered the possibility that I was finished, a ghost already. But what had killed me? How? Why couldn't I move? As a ghost, I should be able to move!?

What was there inside the cabin that could kill me in the blink of an eye? My thoughts started to get confused when an intense flash of light suddenly blinded me. It was as strong as a nascent star. It was behind my back, yet it was so intense that I could barely discern the coach's floor slowly coming towards my nose: it was too white. Everything was white. Was there an atomic explosion behind me? At least the light from one.

Then suddenly, I became again aware of myself as my nose hit the floor, the coach shaking and creaking from the hit. Well, not only my nose hit but my whole body. No, there was something else that was shaking the coach. Or the coach has hit something?

Strange low frequency sounds added to the cacophony of low-frequency noise around me:

“IIIIIIIIIiiiiiiikkkkiiiiiiiiiiilllllllllllleeeeeeeedddddddttttthhhhhhhhhhheeeeeeeeegggggghhhhhhooooooosssssssttttttt”

I had no clue what she was yelling, the goo surrounding me as I turned to see a kid or something that was looking like a kid trying to skewer me with a dagger. He was chained to Thiara, his left hand to her right hand, whilst Thiara was still sitting there, shocked, in whole bride garment.

I did not have time to think things through; I reacted on impulse, rolling on the left as much as it was possible inside the damn coach, my right hand's katar cutting through the kid's right hand. I was still under the speed spell. I was fast.

Blood erupted from his partially severed hand. I pulled my right knee to push me up under a rain of blood. The coach must have hit something as it suddenly stopped and began to topple; the kid and Thiara started flying towards me.

I need only Thiara; I have no need of the kid. I don't know if it's a kid or what this messed up situation is. My katar hit the chain, but as expected, it resisted. I could possibly break it with a hammer against an anvil. Possibly. But no way to cut it here. I tried to cut his hand, but it did not work either. Interesting, I've almost severed his right hand, but now the left hand seemed to be protected by some kind of spell.