Progress was slow, though. Jason was obviously doing his best, but even an easy pace was giving him trouble. Kira let him take brief breaks, but got him moving again each time before he could stiffen up. Despite some ugly looks, Jason always got back to his feet. At least the road, slightly rutted dirt that it was, offered an easier path than striking overland, and despite swings to either side to avoid natural obstacles, was clearly tending north.

They reached a place where the road met another going east to west, a low bluff defining one corner of the crossroads. As they paused to let Jason rest again, Kira heard something. "Jason, we need to get off the road."

"Why?" He didn't get up.

"Because there are horses approaching! Can't you hear them? And they're being ridden pretty hard. The riders are trying to get somewhere fast." Kira grabbed Jason's arm and tugged him to his feet. "Up on that high ground! Fast! We have to hide!"

Too shocked or scared to complain, Jason hastened along with her up one side of the bluff and into the thick grass on top. Kira pulled him down next to her and then tried to calm her breathing and her racing heart. Insects swung lazily down to land and crawl across her skin. "Don't move," she whispered to Jason. "No matter what." She could catch glimpses of the road through the grass, its hard dirt surface not showing obvious signs of their recent footsteps.

The riders came up out of a dip in the road to the west, moving at a canter in a cloud of dust and sweat. There were a half dozen of them, Kira saw, one with a Mechanic rifle, another with a Mechanics Guild revolver, and the rest with swords and crossbows. As they reached the crossroads, the leader slowed the group to a halt, the horses hanging their heads and blowing heavily.

The leader swung his arm toward the south, along the road that Mari and Jason had just come up. "I'll take Ivor along the road. The rest of you string off and go overland, you two to the west of the road and you two to the east. Stay in sight but spread out."

"We ought to walk the horses a while," another suggested.

"Yeah. She can't have come this far yet, not dragging that whelp from Urth with her, so we can afford to go a little slower now. That Confederation cavalry looking for her is still off to the east near the rail tracks."

"What if we see her?" one of the others asked in a voice rendered hoarse by dust.

"Yell to alert the rest of us, then wait for us so we can rush her all at once. We want her alive, but if we can't do that I'll take her dead."

Kira heard Jason's breath catch and hoped he wouldn't betray them.