We ride for Thatcham!

"Move!" I shouted right as I barged back into the barn, catching Nay and my brother right in the act.

While I was pressured by how our tail was now only an hour away, and that was already within the margin of error of the old man's senses… The two of them were peacefully drinking some thin soup and snacking on some coarse bread!

Nay froze for but a second before calmly putting her food down.

"Wha…at…" the kid grumbled in between the bites of the bread. "Wake up and eat, now get up and move, what are you going to order when I will…"

"We have an hour lead on our pursuers," I cut right into the kid's words, ignoring whatever complaint he had the guts to raise. "We need to get moving, and we need to do it now."

Just like before, I had no plans of wasting my time on this kid. He only had to shut up and follow my orders… or leave. Either way, I couldn't really care less.

"Go get the horses ready," I called out to the girl while heading to where we stored all of our luggage away.

Within mere two minutes, I moved all of our sacks back to their rightful spots at the backs of the nine of our horses, spread more or less evenly between all of our mounts.

"How much advantage did you have when you left the city?" the old man asked while appearing in the doors and resting his back on its frame.

"I hoped for at least a day, but that would be pretty much wishful thinking," I replied, momentarily stopping by the man.

Judging from just the tone of his voice alone, he was about to drop a hint I was better off not ignoring. It was just a feeling… but a voice at the back of my head somehow kept insisting for me to calm down.

Cold rationality of the seasoned mercenary who spent years learning all the tricks he could take advantage of when out in the field.

"We crossed the city at night, departing the second the sun rose," I changed my answer while caressing my chin. "So I would say between five and two hours."

"Assembling a huge host like that would take some time, even if they knew where you went right away," the old man picked up on the clues I revealed as he sank into deep thought. "They wouldn't make it in less than two hours. And that means," the old man turned his glance to the north.

A sudden idea popped into my mind.

"Hey, old man," I suddenly called out. "How much would it cost for all the horses left to suddenly catch ill?"

The old man's face froze for a while. His eyes then slowly moved to lock on my face while a small, amused smile appeared on his lips.

"I'm sorry, but Imperial Express has to ensure a fresh mount to all the customers," the old man said while shaking his head.

"How many horses do you have left, after we take ours back?" I changed my question again, unwilling to let go of this opportunity.

Every second of talk with this man was a second my pursuers would gain back on us.

Still, this short discussion was an investment that could potentially buy me not only more time… but also a few more options!

"We will have twelve ride-ready horses and then further twenty a few hours from now, once they start to wake up."

A short answer. Exactly what I needed with the massive pressure of time hanging over my head.

"Then, would it be possible for us to rest two more horses each?" I moved on to the core part of what I wanted to talk about. "I would also be happy to hire some… guards…"

My pursuers had an obvious numbers advantage over me.

But what the old man's words made me earlier realize, was the only possible timeline in which they could sneak up so close to us.

Even assuming they knew of my whereabouts right away, they would still take at least two hours to organize the host and send it out. And those two hours made the difference between my group that spent the night in the Inn and our pursuers that… That actually couldn't even sleep at night at all!

With the two short hours of difference, they could catch up at most an hour by traveling through the darkness of the night. And that would come at a hefty cost to their supply of torches and other sources of light, raising the risk of their mounts injuring themselves the lower their supply of fuel ran.

An entire night of arduous travel just to catch up a single hour's worth of horse's trot.

And now, those people were only about fifty minutes away from reaching the relay station, getting fresh horses before rushing down after us.

'But what if there won't be enough horses for them to go on?' I couldn't help but ask. 'What if there will only be six fresh horses left, while our number could rise to five or six at a relatively low cost?'

"I'm sorry, but we do not house any local mercenary unit," the old man's statement suddenly put an end to most of my hopes.

But not to all of them.

"I could rent two more horses for each of you, though," the old man added before raising his hand and gesturing at one of the handy boys busying themselves with their jobs in the background.

"Let's do just that, then," I agreed, nodding my head.

Then, I sharply raised my eyes and put a wide smile on my lips.

"Would it be a problem for you to rent one or two of your stable hours to help us herd our horses together?"

There were only two directions we could take from here. Either south, towards the perilous turns and twists of the highway, or move straight as an arrow east instead.

'As long as I manage to get them to think we want to move south, that alone should suffice to get them off our back,' I thought.

Then, my smile mellowed down.

"Also, knowing how things might easily take a bad turn, I don't really mind if the news of our whereabouts spread," I added.

The old man squinted his eyes, only for two of his underlings to come, each leading three fresh mounts in tow.

"When would my boys return, then?" the old man asked.

"Before an hour will pass," I replied, my smile returning to its former glory. "Oh, and make so that those additional horses are for a short-term rental only," I added before uprooting my legs and taking a step past the doors and the wise, old man.

"I see," the Imperial Express official nodded his head with a knowing look all over his face. "I wish you safe travels, then."

The wind danced on my face. Stepping out of the barn, I somehow felt as if I could sense a distant rhythm, a strange vibration softly reverberating in the air.

'I wasted a lot more time with that guy than I expected.'

"Haaa…" A deep sigh followed my thoughts, only to then serve as a kick in the ass I needed to start moving. "I've delayed already," I announced, putting my left foot in the stirrup before stepping on it and pushing my right leg over to the other side of the saddle.

"We ride for Thatcham!" I called out, turning over my shoulder to look at the two stable boys the old man rented. "Don't stray behind!"