[This post is from Marin’s point of view.]
The trail was also muddier than I’d anticipated, though the scouts had warned us. Even that would be to our advantage, though, especially if Orcus tried to send forces after us once he realized what was going on. I was hoping by the time he did that it would be far too late for him to do much damage.
Everything was based on timing and luck and our being able to pull off an element of surprise because numbers were not something we had working in our favor.
Trees lined the steep pathway, trees that shielded us from the view of all but the most keen of observers, and the rise we were climbing to the top of was between us and Orcus’s army camp. Hopefully there would be as much cover as I expected there to be when we reached the top.
Back to the hopes and fingers crossed.
For a second, I squeezed my eyes shut.
This has to work. I’ve seen too much that comes after this moment for it not to. It has to work.
I wished I didn’t have to cling to that knowledge to keep going.
Don’t let them know that you’re as freaked out as the rest of them. All of us are putting on a brave face for the rest. We’re all terrified. Can’t come apart. Not now.
I looked up the trail. It was maybe another hundred yards to the top.
Probably.
