“It’ll be dark enough in a few more hours. Last time to change your mind.” John stepped up beside Sheriff Blackwood who was watching the forest from the roof of the saloon.

The man just snorted. “You’re as mad as our resident artificer if you think that’s happening.”

John shrugged as Wyatt watched him from the corner of his eye. “I trust you have it handled. But I’ve been around long enough to see people I thought were stronger than me buckle at the last moment. Best to sort that out before the mission.”

“Have you spoken with Seline?” the grizzled veteran asked in concern.

John nodded.

“And?” the man prompted when John didn’t answer.

“She’s scared, but she is ready to go.”

“She said that to you?” Blackwood asked skeptically.

“No. But I could tell. The fact that she isn’t allowing it to stop her is all I need to know.”

“I guess that just leaves the supplies we are taking with us. I have Sally, two more Pneuma pistols, and a scoped rifle. And as much ammo as I can carry without it becoming cumbersome. Are you ready?”

John nodded again. “I have my revolvers, two Pneuma pistols, and my rifle. Travis also made me this.” He pulled out a long blade. It wasn’t quite a saber but it was close.

“You plan on getting into a lot of close combat? I thought the whole goal was to stay as far away from Hensley’s men as possible?”

“Fail to be prepared, prepare to fail. It may be completely useless, or it may save our lives.”

“Fair enough,” the man relented. “Not like I don’t also have a knife. I’m sure Seline will be the most prepared out of all of us.”

John chuckled at that. “I had to talk her into leaving some stuff behind. She wanted to bring traps and other things. While they might be useful in some situations, I doubt they will come in very handy tonight. She also finished another rifle, similar to Sally. I think she called it Bertha. I didn’t get a good look at it, but what I did see looked impressive. It may even be strong enough to penetrate the suit armor.”

The Sheriff just shook his head. “Just what the world needs, more weapons. I guess as long as they are on our side, I shouldn’t complain. Let's head over to Travis’ compound and get everything situated before it’s too dark to see. I don’t want to be fumbling around with saddle packs in the dark and I somehow doubt you’ll allow us the luxury of a lantern or torch.”

“Not if we plan to stay out of sight,” John admitted as he followed the man down from the roof.

An hour later they sat atop the automatons, ready to go. “Leave some space between us as we ride. It’s going to be a new moon tonight and hard to see, I don’t want us running into each other. We’ll take it slow until our eyes adjust and then we can pick up our pace. I want to get to the farm we picked before midnight.”

He got nods of confirmation from Seline and Blackwood, he nodded back and the three rode out of town under the cover of night.

The old man who had been watching the far side of town had been replaced by a young boy. The kid looked wide-eyed as they rode past, but knew better than to call out. They had passed the message that more trouble was approaching from the east and that they were heading out to stop it.

Despite that assurance, some people panicked when they heard the Sheriff, his main Deputy, and the town’s only gunslinger were leaving. It didn’t help things that they had to requisition a few guns from people who could use them.

It took Wyatt and Madam Cassandra hours to quell the unease. That was good because they couldn’t afford for people to panic and flee.

Could they have stayed in Ember Creek, sure. But that meant giving the enemy an advantage. With the Harc’otti in the forest to the west and north, having another force come at them unopposed from the east meant they would be mostly surrounded.

If these two forces put aside whatever grudge had popped up between them to deal with the townsfolk, that would be bad news all around.

John led the three along the road. Calling it a road was being generous though. It was a dirt path trampled by the passage of horses and the occasional cart, leaving three distinct trails.

It wasn’t much easier to see the cleared dirt in the deepening darkness, but it was easier. It also helped that with three trails, they were all on a separate one. It meant they didn’t need to worry as much about running into each other in the night.

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The quiet of their passage was only broken by the soft puffs of their machines, the sounds of owls hooting in the distance, and the occasional howl from a wolf or coyote. While running into a pack of wolves would be bad, he was glad to hear the sounds. It meant Hensley’s men weren’t yet disturbing the forests they rode past.

That was one of the biggest unknowns about his plan. He didn’t know how long the airship had been hovering in the distance or how fast the people Hensley brought with him would move. Before the light faded too far to see, he did see the ship had looked larger.

If it was trailing the ground forces, that could be an issue. Regular ships were armed, what was to stop them from mounting cannons or something else on the large airship? The answer was nothing.

After ten minutes, the first farmhouse came into sight. It gave him a general idea of how fast they were moving. According to locals, it took twenty minutes by horseback if you pushed the horse the entire way. He doubted that was true. Anyone dumb enough to push a horse for that long would have killed it. Unless it was specifically bred for endurance. More than likely, that time assumed you were riding at a fast trot.

Either way, that meant they were going about twice the normal travel speed for a horse along this road. And they weren’t pushing the ostriches that hard.

Even with his enhanced eyesight, he wouldn’t have wanted to push much faster. Things came out of the darkness like wraiths, popping into his field of view and vanishing just as quickly. He could react to them, but he was sure he was pushing the other two to their limit. He couldn’t afford to look back and check on them though.

Another five minutes later, the second farmstead whizzed by on the right. Much like the first house, this one was dark. A rider had been sent to alert the surrounding farms of the Harc’otti attacks days ago, and the people packed up and headed into Ember Creek for safety.

He doubted that would have happened if it was a normal raid by the barbarians. The farms were simply too far from the cover of the forests that the Harc’otti liked to use as cover. But for something like this, there was safety in numbers.

Two more farms whipped by before they finally arrived at their destination. This was the largest farm in the area, and also the farthest east. It was not run by a single family. The owner hired workers to help him farm, to manage the horses and the dozens of cattle as well as the other animals he had.

The trio rode through the open gate and toward the large barn on the far side of the property. It was an impressive operation and John could hear the animals in the large fenced-in pastures.

He picked this place specifically because of the barn and the animals. The barn would hide their presence and the animals would alert them if anyone approached. Much like they were now as the cows mooed and other animals grunted loudly at having their sleep disturbed.

The barn had been left open for the animals to come and go, but they all ran outside when the three machines rolled up. It was for the best, he couldn’t afford for them to give away their position. John dismounted the ostrich and shut the barn door, locking the animals outside. They would survive one night.

“Take your pick of a window in the loft, I’ll be right back.” He headed over to a wall of tools.

“Where are you going?” Blackwood asked quietly.

“I’m going to put out some bait. If anyone was close enough to hear the animals, they might come looking. If they do, I want them to go where I want them.” John grabbed an oil lamp from the wall and hurried out the other barn door.

He could see the dark silhouette of the main house nearby so he made his way over there. The porch stairs were conveniently placed to face the barn. John set the lantern on the top step and lit it before hurrying back to the barn. It didn’t give off much light in the darkness, but it would draw people to it instead of the barn. And anyone approaching it would stick out like a sore thumb. Those were targets because anyone out here at night was up to no good.

After returning to the barn, he shut the door, but not before he removed the crossbar that acted as a latch on the outside. Getting locked inside the barn would be very bad.

John climbed into the loft and found the window facing the house was unoccupied. “Figured you might want it for yourself,” the Sheriff spoke quietly.

John nodded his thanks to the man and made himself comfortable by the window before he swapped the firing mechanism out on his rifle to the pneumatic one. Then he made sure that a replacement magazine was easily accessible. Seline had tweaked the gas chamber to allow for a few more rounds, but they would be slightly less powerful. For tonight, that would be fine.

The animals were the first to alert him of their company. He glanced back into the barn to get the attention of the others, but it seemed both the Sheriff and Deputy had heard the racket as well. John pressed himself farther out of the window, making sure he didn’t present an obvious silhouette as he watched the house.

It took time, whoever was approaching, was doing it cautiously. But soon enough, he saw shadows cast by the weak lantern in the darkness. He could count five individuals approaching the house. John waited as they cautiously moved forward.

Then he heard the crunch of something loud in the distance. His eyes darted toward the sound and landed on a dark shape outside the eastern gate. John could barely make out the walker in the darkness but it couldn’t be anything else. He should have heard the distinctive hiss of steam coming from it, but it must have been quite a bit quieter because the sounds of the disturbed animals covered it up.

He saw one of the people near the house flash a lantern with red glass in it toward the walker. The lumbering machine approached after the signal, sending the animals into a panic. He was glad he had locked them outside.

It seemed whoever was in charge of these scouts decided that stealth was no longer an option. John was annoyed that they had spotted his trap for what it was because that meant these people weren’t stupid. That didn’t mean he couldn’t get some use out of it. John aimed and fired in rapid succession, downing three of the five figures before they realized they were under attack.

The first to go down was the signalman, he didn’t want him alerting the walker anymore. Seline picked off another as the man bolted toward the side of the house and into view of her window. The fifth man ran for the house, kicking in the front door before John could get a bead on him.

John tsked at that as the walker stomped into the yard, smashing through the gate sign without slowing. He groaned when he got a better look at the automaton. It was one of the armored ones. And he could see people sticking rifle barrels out the slits as the man’s yells from inside the house alerted them to the attack.