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“But you’ll need us,” insists Jorry.

“One more sword won’t make any difference,” he explains. “Besides, Uther couldn’t defend himself now even if his life depended on it. And in a little bit, it may. You two follow along behind as best you can and then head back to The Ranch.”

Glancing back to his friend who’s sitting askew in the saddle, he says, “I hate leaving you.”

“I know,” James says in understanding. “But at times, circumstances dictate for us to do that which we don’t want to.”

“You be careful,” Jorry tells him.

“We will,” he assures him. “You just take care of him.”

Jorry nods then returns to the side of his friend.

Once Qyrll has assisted Jiron in mounting another horse, they all mount and get going. When the others notice Jorry and Uther not moving to keep up with them, James explains the situation.

Making good time, they reach the shore of the large lake. The sun is almost down but no one even thinks about stopping. It’s going to be another clear night and they would rather travel slow than possibly allow the soldiers to get any further ahead of them. But they’ve all been up for over twenty four hours now as it is.

James calls for a brief rest so they can all get a little sleep. Catching them quickly will do them little good if they’re all so tired they can’t take them on effectively. They don’t stay very long, merely five hours or so before they’re off again.

Another couple hours finds them approaching the first river they encountered after leaving the mine area on their way to the ruins. Qyrll takes them upriver until they reach the ford then crosses over. On the far side, he stops and gets off his horse.

The others come toward him as he bends over and examines a pile of horse manure. Standing up, he says, “Looks like they camped here last night. Might not be more than a couple hours behind them.”

“Then what are we waiting for?” Fifer says as Qyrll gets back in the saddle.

Turning his horse to head downriver, Qyrll leads them on.

As he follows behind Qyrll, James continues to ruminate about Dave, their life together and the tragic end of it all. His anger, which at first had burned like a white hot sun, has cooled a little and he can approach this in a more rational manner.

Last night he was all for razing the entire Empire to the ground, destroying all its cities and citizens. But now his need for vengeance is more directed against the ones responsible for this, the leaders behind the Empire. He feels slightly ashamed of himself for wishing harm on the innocents; the women, children, those who are not part of the war machine.

Once they return to the lake, the going becomes steadily easier and they’re able to increase their speed. The foothills afford much more gradual terrain than the hilly, forested region they just came from.

“The mine we passed on our way out is just ahead,” Qyrll announces after the lake is an hour behind them.

“Good,” says James. “If the mine is just ahead then we’ll be on roads from this point and may have a chance of catching up with them.”

It isn’t long after that when through the hills ahead of them the road leading from the mine to Ironhold appears. Qyrll moves onto the road and then breaks into a gallop as he turns in the direction Ironhold lies. The others follow suit.

Riding hard it takes a little over an hour before they crest a hill and Ironhold appears below. “There they are!” Miko cries out.

Just entering the town are over two dozen riders, and they’re riding hard.

“Heya!” James says as he kicks his horse and races down toward the town.

“James!” Jiron cries out as the rest gallop to keep up with him.

Not heeding Jiron’s cry, James races at breakneck speed down toward the town. All he can think of is Dave and the Empire’s role in his demise. Red begins clouding his vision as the pent up rage begins to take control.

The soldiers have disappeared among the buildings before James even closes half the distance. Which way they went is hard to tell but only one road leads out of Ironhold to the south