“That should buy us maybe twenty minutes if we’re lucky,” she said.
The smiths gathered in the street, looking at the pass and murmuring amongst themselves.
“All of you, there is no time to waste!” Sofia called out. “Our runners have gone; our job is done! It’s time to go. There is an attack force headed here now. We need to put distance between them and us.”
Panicked whispers began to spread among them.
Some shouted for clarification; others shouted that there was no way they would survive. Some simply shouted.
But all of them got on Sofia’s nerves.
“Oi!” Sofia shouted. “There ain't time for any of that! Soren did not die so we could stand around and get ourselves killed because we were too frightened to move! So, get your asses in gear and move south now!”
There was a stunned silence and a stillness in the air.
“Yes, Alpha!” The first of the smiths to recover shouted. Soon the others joined, and within moments they began to run south.