We were up before dawn, breaking camp, and were back on the road well before the sun crested the peaks. Mud from the previous day’s rain made the going slow, but now we could see well enough to avoid the worst patches. We still had to use the mechs to free the wheeled vehicles several times.

The first group of retreating soldiers we passed were all wounded. They kept their heads down and didn't look at us too closely as they hurried by. I called out, trying to get what intel we could, but they ignored us.

The next group was larger, and some of the men didn’t seem to have any injuries at all, but here they were, walking the wrong way. I grabbed the wheel and swerved the car across the road, forcing my driver to slam the brakes and bring it to a halt, and then I jumped out and confronted them directly.

The first man was clearly wounded. Him I ignored. The next guy in line tried to keep his head down and dodge past me. I grabbed him by the tunic and yanked him nearly off his feet, pulling him up and grabbing the next one as he came by as well. I transferred both men to one hand as I reached for a third before an NCO yelled, "What are you doing?”

I pushed the two men I had my hand down so they stumbled and fell, not to be mean but just so that they wouldn't scamper away, and then I grabbed the NCO, a junior sergeant, and pulled him to me. "Get your men under control, or I will. I want them right here, in front of me, lined up now."

"You can't do this. You're not even Hungarian..."

I bent my bicep and lifted him completely off the ground. Only a couple of inches, but it got his attention. "But I can do this, which right now means I can do anything I damn well please. We are under the same orders as you. This pass will be held, or you will all be written up for desertion. If you don't like my fist around your neck, you can try a noose on for size. Or you can do as I say."

I dropped the man and took a step back. “Now listen up! We are the 32nd Polish Hussars! We came over here on a little friendly mission. But when we were at a party a couple of nights ago in Budapest, a bunch of Russian assholes tried to mess things up. Too bad for them, we messed them up harder and better.” I was speaking Hungarian, and I had their attention. Now to see if I could keep it. I was gambling that word of the party had spread and they would be curious. “We are here at the personal request of the Regent of Hungary to secure this pass. I’m mighty glad to meet you boys! Because you can do us a favor and point us to the enemy. Now, I know you boys weren't thinking of running away just because a few Russians came over to say hi. I see some of you aren't wearing any bandages, and I expect you'll be perfectly happy to turn yourselves around and help us find the enemy and show him what happens when he messes with Hungary!"

The sergeant was trying to get his bearings, but I had him thoroughly befuddled. "We've been overrun, and we're falling back per our orders to the secondary line of defense."

"Secondary line of defense. And where would that be? Budapest?"

A couple of the soldiers chuckled despite themselves. Somebody in the back said, 'You don't understand! They have ghosts!'"

"Ghosts?"

"Shut up!" the Hungarian sergeant ordered. But the fearful one didn't listen. "They came in at night and killed all of our sentries! By the time we woke up, there was nothing to do but run."

"Are you talking about wraith troopers? We met those motherfuckers at Ducla Pass a week or so ago. I was sitting up on the battlements, having a chat with a pretty girl, and a bunch of those assholes came out of the walls, waving their knives around. They thought they were pretty scary."

"They are! You can't shoot 'em!"

"True. I found that out the hard way. Put a couple of rounds with my Steyr Hammer right through their faces. Didn't do a thing. But you know what does work?" I drew my big combat knife and waved it right in the face of the sergeant. The man's eyes got wide, and he took a step back. "Cold steel does a number on ‘em. Everybody knows what iron does to witches. Isn’t that right?”

“Oh yeah, I guess that makes sense," somebody off to the left said.

As I'd been talking, more and more Hungarians trooping down the road stopped in front of our convoy and were standing there, listening to my little show. "Eight inches of cold iron stuck through their liver takes care of a wraith same as anyone else.”

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

There were nervous chuckles at this. I took a moment to glance over my shoulder. Frank was standing off to my left, arms folded. His posture was relaxed, but he was radiating intimidation. I didn't think he spoke Hungarian, but he could see the score and was backing me up. The girls had all brought their mechs up and spread out in a line across the road. The road could only hold two abreast, but they had crowded up in an intimidating bunch behind me. I don't know which of our crew understood what I was saying, but a glance at their expressions told me that they had my back.

I turned back to the crowd in front of me. We were going up this pass with a minimum of gear and no intelligence whatsoever. We weren't going to hold it alone with a handful of mechs with autocannons. A bunch of Russian infantry would just swarm over the hills all around us, and we'd run out of autocannon ammo long before they ran out of troops. Mechs were a force multiplier and a shock weapon, but they did not take the place of masses of infantry. We needed riflemen backing us up, and this group was going to be a start of that. I had their attention. Now I needed their support. I kept talking. That’s the key to a good con. Don’t let the marks have time to think, so I channeled this one asshole I met when I was just out of basic training. I went to buy a beater car and ended up with a Mustang at 27% interest.

"Those wraiths? No big deal. A couple of knife-shaped holes in their little cloak, and they settle down real nice as they bleed to death." That got a laugh. "Did you guys hear about the party in Budapest the other night? We were there. It was a real mess. You might have heard some Russian mechs crashed the scene, but it wasn't just them. We got a couple of those wraith assholes too, coming right through the walls. One of our girls back there is a Cossack. You wouldn't believe what she can do with a saber." I waved my knife around in front of the sergeant, miming a bit of blade dancing. "And what her sword does to those wraith guys is positively obscene. There's a bunch of Counts and Dukes that were at that party that are still trying to wash the Russian witch blood out of their fancy uniforms." Another round of laughter greeted this.

Oh yeah, they were eating this up. “Now, like I said, we're under orders personally to help you guys out. The Regent of Hungary sent us up here to lend a hand! But we're just a bunch of Poles with some walking robots. We can't do it by ourselves. That's why you guys are going to help us out." I jabbed a big finger at the sergeant, and then waggled it at the men behind him, then I jabbed a thumb over my shoulder. "You know who we have here? That's Captain Angelica. She's fought the Red Widow twice, and both times sent her packing." I exaggerated more than a little, but it was working. A couple of the men who had been slouching were standing straighter now, and fingering their rifles.

"That's right. We're going down there," I pointed up the canyon behind them, "and we're going to set some traps. We're going to get the jump on those wraith soldiers, and we're going to make them wish they had never put on their silly little cloaks. We're going to drop cannon fire on Russian peasants and make them regret ever coming up this pass. By the time we're done with them, they're going to go straight back to Romania, and they won't stop running until they get to St. Petersburg."

The Hungarians were laughing and smiling now, even some of the injured.

"Now, I'm pretty happy we met you boys, because you're just the folks we need to give us a hand. You see, when a big mech like my friends here have stomps up to the Russians and makes them crap in their pants, nothing turns them around and sends them packing like Hungarian rifles and bayonets.” I raised my voice to make sure everyone of them could hear, then fixed my gaze on their sergeant, so he understood fully that this was not a question or a request. I was giving him orders, whether he liked it or not.

"This is how it's going to go down. We're going to march down there, and we're going to break them, and wish that they’d never been born. And you're coming with us to get them pushed in the right direction and send them packing."

"We just came up from the valley, and the Colonel there told us that some of his boys were up here, and would give us all the help they could." I slid my knife back into its sheath and held up my hands. "Now, I see some of you guys thinking, 'Who the hell is this golem, talking to us like a real man? Who does he think he is?' Well, I'm not a real man. I'm a MOTHERFUCKING SERGEANT, AND YOU MEN WILL STAND AT ATTENTION. DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?"

There was a snap of dozens of pairs of boots, and the rustle of uniforms being straightened. "Yes, Sergeant!"

I snapped to attention myself, and turned to Captain Lewis. I gave him my best salute. "Captain Lewis, we have a detachment of Hungarians reporting for duty!" Lewis stepped forward and returned my salute in a crisp fashion. He surveyed the men as if he had just noticed their existence. "Excellent! This is just what we needed, Sergeant!"

"Yes, sir!"

Lewis pulled himself up to attention, and turned to the mechs behind us. He snapped off his own salute. "Captain Angelica! Our sergeant has found a group of Hungarians who are volunteering to help us in our mission!" He was speaking Polish, and I doubted most of the Hungarians could understand what he was saying, but they got the gist of it.

Angelica, atop her mech, was a good foot shorter than Frank. But when she stood up on that giant robot arms folded, surveying the crowd, she was damn intimidating. "Good work, Sergeant! Get them formed up and moving! We don't have time to waste!"

I turned back to the Hungarian sergeant. "You heard the captain, Sergeant. Your men will form up and fall in with our column." I leaned closer and lowered my voice. "Break out the wounded and send them on back the way we came. We're going to the front line, Sergeant, and everyone able-bodied is coming with us. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Sergeant."

"Good. And I'll be checking. Anyone that falls behind of that big truck back there better damn well be wounded, or I'll make sure they are."