Dio

That wicked girl just wouldn't give up.

The blue-haired devil wounded Fang and Bastion and chased us the entire night. She didn't care if it was a three-on-one. The beastman was seriously out of shape when he rejoined us and the ogre was slashed badly while carrying the Princess. On top of all that, this royalty was way more difficult to handle than I expected.

She thrashed, screamed, and clawed into the poor ogre, capturing her became the easiest part of the mission. If only we still had our wyverns, they would fly her home, but ironically it was thanks to the incident where we lost them that we got here this early.

"The boy ran away, but the knight is still after us," Fang reported, fighting for air. "How can she keep up in armor?"

"If my memory serves, she's the Captain of the Guard," I told him during a short break. "Maybe we let our helper go too early."

"Just be thankful your gamble worked," Fang noted, shaking his head. The silver hair was messy from the fight, his nails broke and his fingers bled.

"I have my way with people," I claimed, but he was right. "Well, I'm sure if she realized we lied to her, we'd be dead already."

"You are dead indeed. So-so dead." The Princess joined in, still hanging below the ogre's arm. "Cath will catch up and slice you in half."

She did not appreciate that we snatched her away, she wasn't even scared, just fumed with anger all the time. Bastion pulled the shortest stick among us since he had to carry her, and it didn't help that he was wounded. He was out of breath, and I hadn't heard him utter a single word all day.

"Well, only if she catches up, your Highness." I agreed. "But I won't wait for her. We'll reach the pass soon and it's an open country beyond that, swarming with monsters. We won't be bound to the road any longer, plus our reinforcements are on their way."

That last one was only half a bluff.

Omerta did not rush to help us in the mountains, probably racing for the Princess all this time. We ought to run into them sooner or later, then we could all return victoriously, riding the wyverns home.

We reached the pass itself by noon. If my calculations were correct, they had to catch up to us by the next day at the latest. We were all but staggering at this point, which raised another question.

Omerta could just beat us, and take the Princess for herself. She wanted to wrestle command from me, I could tell, from the moment she joined the champions. It wouldn't make a difference for the Princess, but I was not ready to jump this hurdle in our current situation. We were just as much the hunters as the hunted.

If at least we got our weapons, or a loyal wizard with us.

I wondered if the orc witch or the blue-haired devil was the worst opponent. I was hungry, beaten badly, and ran for a good sixteen hours. A stronger wind could have knocked me over.

I almost saw the old capital from up here, at least the place where it used to be. That was still a few days' worth of walking which was out of the question unless the paladin stopped. Otherwise, we could not evade her long. A single day at best, if we were lucky, but she must have taken a break too, at some point, she was only human.

"Stop right there." I heard an angry voice, just to prove me wrong.

I couldn't believe it when I spotted her barely a hundred yards away. She climbed over the pass and with a last sprint, she could be on us. Fang assumed a defensive stance, but his face was distorted from the pain. If only we had a rope to tie up the Princess so the ogre could fight too...

"You sure are tougher than you look," I admitted, formulating a plan. The terrain was rather difficult at the highest point of the pass, we couldn't just rush down the steep road, risking rolling to the bottom. "What can I offer you to let us go?"

"Hand me the Princess, and I'll promise your death will be painless."

"Don't promise something you can't provide," I answered with a laugh, forcing a smile. "This chase was already more painful than I'd like to admit so it won't happen."

"Hah, I told you, you won't get away from her." The Princess thrashed twice as hard, seeing her bodyguard catching up. "She isn't like that coward Lambert. Even if you killed her, she'd keep fighting."

"I'm pretty sure the Inquisitorias doesn't employ undead though." I protested, just to stall for time. For some reason, the paladin was not advancing either. Maybe she was out of breath too. "Look, the Demon Lord wants her Highness alive. If we were to engage here, someone might fall, and neither of us wants that, right?"

"The Demon Lord?" The girl asked. "I thought the Goddess of Luck sent you. So it was the Demon Lord all along?"

"That's impossible." The Princess yelled, sounding very offended. "I felt her, she was right here. I wouldn't make that mistake."

"Wow, so you are not just a royalty and a mage, but a seer too?" I was surprised. Our intel might have been off. "It's funny you should mention, but we did run into her. Not that we had anything to do with the Goddess, but she aided us, unknowingly, so we will be forever grateful for her."

"Why do you always give away all our secrets, Captain?" Fang complained, still ready for battle.

"Shut up. As long as I'm the commander, I can make all the mistakes I want." I answered. Each of these sentences gave us just a little extra time to recover. "Hey, Bastion, come and switch with me. If the Princess tries to escape, I'll push her down. But I need you to fight."

"No, you are not." The paladin shouted and dashed towards us.

This was all the time I could secure for us, but it was better than nothing. Fang braced himself for the impact while I backed away to make the switch I suggested, but I wasn't fast enough.

This blue-haired devil ran like the wind.

Regardless of her armor and the heavy sword, she jumped over the beastman to attack the ogre directly. That hundred yards between us disappeared in a blink. I had to step in, throwing myself in her way with my buckler, or as the Princess promised, she'd cut him in half.

I took the brunt of her attack, my shield shattered from the enormous force, pushing me back together with Bastion. We all fell on the steep slope and started rolling. I could see from her expression, that the paladin did not expect this outcome. And I tried to warn her, but now we probably had the same thoughts: save the Princess.

Her options were to be crushed under the ogre or to fall to her death. Fang rushed to help, but I didn't think he'd make it. I couldn't even give orders to Bastion, things happened too fast for him to react.

The paladin kicked herself off the ground, throwing her sword away, and smashed her small, armored body against the huge rolling monster. This altered our trajectory by a hair's breadth and I reached the Princess. I yanked her hand with all my might before she was flattened.

This time she didn't resist.

We still roll on the slope though, so I desperately looked for something to hold on to. The rocks below were too slippery, and the skin was gone from my free hand in a second. But once we reached the edge of the road Fang finally caught up to us. He grabbed me with his scarred hand and braced himself against a lean mountain pine. The Princess was already falling, but I strained all my muscles harder than ever to hold on to her.

She dragged me over the edge too, and we dangled above a thirty-yard-deep chasm. Fang did his best to keep me from falling, but his hand bled just as much as mine. His lips moved, but I couldn't hear what he was saying, just the loud thud, as the ogre reached the bottom.

The paladin landed on top of him, and neither of them moved.

"That stupid woman." I cursed her, holding on for dear life. "I didn't know she was a magician. She turned me into a rope."

"Don't you dare to release me!" The Princess screamed, now grabbing my arm with both hands. She suddenly didn't want to get away from us anymore. "I'll pay you in gold if you pull me up. Please!"

"Now that is quite the offer, your Highness," I answered, as my small body was about to be torn apart. "Just wish your bodyguard negotiated too, instead of jumping to her death. Fang, pull me up already."

The beastman's arms glowed, he must have requested the aid of the spirits because his strength quickly multiplied. He cried out at the top of his lungs and slowly pulled me up. We dragged the Princess back up together once I got hold of the trunk he used as an anchor.

After that, we fell to the ground and fought for air.

This was too close for my liking.

Not even the Princess tried to run away now, her body shaking and her purple hair was a mess. I smelled ammonia and had no idea how long we remained like that, but in the end, I was the first to stand up.

I glanced over the edge. The ogre's huge body was still on the bottom, and the paladin's armor rested on him. They were both motionless, with no snow to dampen the fall this time.

"Crazy woman," I mumbled. "She almost killed us all."

"She sure didn't know when to give up." Fang agreed, slowly gathering himself. He inspected his strained arms, and they didn't look good. "I hope that the other guy didn't follow us, I couldn't win a fight against a rabbit anymore..."

"Talk about giving away our secrets." I scolded him, patting his shoulders. As I looked over to the Princess, she was out cold. "Let's see to those wounds, and head out before someone does show up."

"What about Bastion?" He asked, peeking over the edge too.

"Do you think he survived?"

"He did survive a fall from even higher the other day," Fang said, but I couldn't share his optimism. We had no way to get to him regardless.

"I wish he did, but we have to move out..."