"Be ready for the jump!" Carrion shouted from up on his sable. At the same time, he pulled out his sword and swung it to the side, keeping it still like an extension of his arm to the side.
Their horses were exhausted.
Even though they only made them walk through the night, just like people, horses had to take a rest. A rest that they couldn't grant them.
Forcing their way through the night with nothing but the light of torches to light the way ended up costing them eleven horses. A fortune that many nobles would be ruined by losing.
But their orders were simple.
'Catch up with the runaway champion and make sure he is dead, regardless of the cost.'
'That bastard…' Carrion thought, gritting his teeth in powerless fury.
He could still see the emptying eyes of the horses they had to put down when they broke their legs on some unevenness of the road that they couldn't see in the flickering light of the torches.
He could still see the expressions his men made when they were forced to bring about an end to their trusted mounts.
'No matter the cost, my ass,' Carrion thought, gripping the handle of his sword even harder. 'As if you were the one paying it.'
Carrion would like nothing more than to just ignore the mission, waste some time and then report the failure… But with that damn noble's spies present in the unit, he had no other choice but to follow the orders.
Carrion took a deep breath before raising his sword diagonally to his upper right. And then, after giving his troops a few moments to adjust, he brought his sword-bearing hand up, as if preparing to swing his blade down.
Then, the commander of the cavalry unit locked his eyes on the horizon, judging the distance that separated them from the relay station.
The sun was only now raising up. Maybe a single quarter of an hour passed since the first light of the day shone upon the world, allowing his unit to actually mount their horses and speed up their travel.
But they were still too far when the sun started to rise. And that's why, for unbearable fifteen minutes, they had to keep on moving at a speed of a crawl.
'That just be close enough,' Carrion thought a few moments later, before finally releasing the suspense and dropping his sword down.
There was no enemy for his blade to cut. No obstacle stood in his path to justify the attack on it.
No.
With all of their emblems and communication flags confiscated before the mission, Carrion's only means of effectively relaying his order was by moving his sword around, as no voice was capable of cutting through the noise made by sixty men and a bit more than a hundred horses!
Following the non-verbal order, the whole unit started to speed up. The well-trained horses stifled after an entire night of doing nothing but walking and taking short rests, finally could make use of the energy brimming in their well-developed muscles.
It took them about a minute to move from a simple walk to a hasty trot.
A few minutes later, once they got close enough, Carrion swung his saber again, pushing his unit to jump into a slightly relaxed canter, nearly doubling their speed.
The distance separating them from the relay station started to decrease at the same rate at which adrenaline started to stock inside Carion's veins.
'That guy won against a rank ninth noble, so this is going to be one hell of a fight,' Carrion thought, gritting his teeth as he prepared to swing his saber once again.
The leader of the unit raised his sword once they neared the relay station, ready to jump into a rushed gallop and catch anyone trying to escape from the station…
Only to hold his weapon in place for a while before reversing the movements he was prepared himself to execute. He then raised his sword again… Only to reverse the order once again.
'No one is rushing out,' Carrion observed, right as the unit slowed down, seconds before bursting between the buildings of the relay station and instantly crowding all the open areas within the compound.
Bit by bit, their mounts came to a halt, as the unit crowded every free area within the Imperial Express relay station.
And the only person to come out… was an old clerk in charge of the place.
'Did they already leave?' Carrion thought, gritting his teeth as he looked around. 'Even if he was quick to leave the city, wouldn't he take at least some rest in the station? He could've expected us to travel overnight just to catch up with him!'
"Excuse me, but could you please order your men not to crowd the area?" the old clerk somehow sensed who was the leader of the group and approached Carrion directly. "I know it's stupid, but our policy states we shall always be ready to help our customers, but with how things are right now…"
The old man looked around before turning his eyes back to Carrion and leaning his head over his shoulder with a slight, mocking smile.
"Right now, our customers wouldn't be even able to make it to the stables!"
"It's not like anyone would dare to approach this place with all of us here," one of Carrion's soldiers muttered, clearly trying to make fun of the old man and his rules.
"Shut it," Carrion cut the chatter of his men before turning his attention back to the old man. "We are in a hurry to catch up with an extremely important person. And we have reasons to believe they were here just recently," Carrion explained as he jumped down his mount and approached the old man before leaning over his ear.
"I know you shouldn't answer my following question but I also don't want to use my authority to force you to do so," he whispered, covering his mouth and the old man's ear with his hand to prevent any of his men from hearing his words. "So, can you do me a solid and just tell me which direction they went?"
The old man squinted his eyes and took a step back.
He then looked around the area, clearly aware of how close all sixty of Carrion's men were from drawing their iron and forcing the confession out of his lips if he were to deny the request.
Imperial Express authority was great… but in such a remote station, what good could come from denying the wishes of such a strong, armed host?
"I can't tell you where they went," the old man announced, instantly causing Carrion's lips to twist in an ugly grimace. "But I can tell you that the group that was here before…" he hesitated a little, "they were asking a lot of questions about the road east…"
Carrion took a deep breath.
"We would like to change our horses, then. I'm willing to pay double for…"
"I'm sorry, sir," the old man nodded his head. "But it's impossible for our small station to provide enough horses for all your men."
Carrion squinted his eyes.
"Then, how many horses do you have available?" he asked, grabbing the reins of his mount and already pulling it in the direction of the stables.
"I'm sorry sir, but right now," the old man lowered his head as if to hide his expression. "Right now, I can only provide you with six fresh horses."
Carrion turned silent. He stopped in his tracks, suddenly giving up on the idea of leaving his horse at the station.
As unlikely as it was anyone would come by to rent it, this wasn't the risk that he was now willing to take.
Not after seeing how the imperial express obviously cooperated with his target!
"Forget it, then," Carrion announced before jumping to his saddle and pulling on the reins of his trusty mount. Following the physical command, Carrion's horse reared for a bit, forcing all of his men to look at him right as he drew his blade and used it to order everyone again.
And just like that, rather than catching up with his target in the station, Carrion ended up pulling his entire unit back to the road. Yet, after traveling east for a mere few minutes, one of his officers used their authority to put the entire unit to a complete stop.
"What's wrong?" Carrion asked as he rode to where his officer gave the command from, only to find the man kneeling on the ground with his eyes locked on some small detail of the road.
"Their group split here. While I can't judge the numbers, those who turned south were in a great hurry, as opposed to those traveling further east," the officer reported before raising his eyes at his superior.
Finding out clues was the hunter's job. But deciding what to do with those clues, that responsibility rested on Carrion's shoulders.
'That sly bastard…' the middle-aged soldier thought. 'I knew he was cooperating with them, but to think that…'
For a moment, Carrion's head clouded with anger. Yet, after breathing in and out a few times, he managed to take the reins over his emotions and calm down.
"He directed us east to make us lose time," Carrion decided before hopping right back into his saddle. "So let's not waste even a single second more!" he ordered before unsheathing his blade and slashing with it in the direction he suddenly decided to turn the entire unit to.
"We ride south!"