Lun's chest heaved from his exertion, not that it affected his mental voice as he shouted, "Leap!" Two seconds passed as a hundred and one men hung in the air, then they crashed down, taking one step before the centurion mentally commanded again, "Leap!"

  While the legionaries were lifting their bodies off the ground, that was far from the end of the matter. Their movements were assisted by a tug of psy, guided by Lun and powered by the collective will of a hundred others, each competing not to be the first to falter.

  In short, there was plenty of willpower within the casting, and the tribesman tugged slightly up and forward on the mental rope formed from a hundred tendrils, greatly assisting with the one-legged jumps. The result was that he kept the men moving at a pace that few of them could manage, even while sprinting.

  Every step was using a collective orb of psy, and they had roughly eight thousand collective orbs. An assumption the centurion made because the Average Tier of the psy scale was between sixty-one and a hundred orbs. Given that the average psy reserve level was called average for a reason, assuming everyone had eighty orbs was reasonable, so eight thousand total seemed right.

  It was also a damn lie that Lun shouldn't even consider as a relevant fact. That number was the optimal amount of orbs his century had.

  You know, the amount he would expect to have after everyone woke up from a long night's sleep, well-rested, not having marched for three hours and then triple-time marched for most of another hour. Then again, the exact amount of psy they had remaining didn't matter, as they would run until they ran out, and hopefully that would be enough.

  "I hate to say this," The knight terra sent into the union to Lun, his head turning to sweep their surroundings, "But are we perhaps running from nothing?"

  "Honestly, we could be," Lun admitted, but as he glanced to the side and felt Leeroys' unease in the mental network, he only found his confidence in their flight strengthening.

  "You don't sound all that convinced."

  "That's because I'm not. I followed Leeroy's direction from the Twins to the Northern Holds, and we avoided all patrols and detection. We even managed to throw off a scout tracking us for a couple of hours. Just because we haven't seen anything doesn't mean that it's not there. And honestly, at this point, I feel that Leeroy has proven himself enough to allow some level of trust."

  "You are correct, and I did not mean to insult or question his abilities. And that is why the squad of knights and another three centuries are coming to intercept us. Still, I can not help but have some doubts lingering in my mind, as we haven't seen any sign of danger."

  "I know what you mean," Lun sent back, an amused, but tense, chuckle in his voice. "But that just means everything is working out well for us."

  "For now… though I guess that is as much as you can expect in battle." Lun agreed with the sentiment, and the pair quieted as both focused on their movement. Half an hour passed, and Lun felt a wave of relief wash through him at the sight of another column of legionnaires moving to intercept them.

  Except the centurion wasn't the only one to have spotted the reinforcements. Howls and screeches filled the air, and moments later, Lun received reports of hundreds of Kin appearing from nowhere. There were three groups of them, arranged in an arc to their backs and sides.

  As they saw their prey escaping, they acted like the group hunters they were. The two packs on their flanks turned forty-five degrees and rushed to cut them off from their escape, and the one behind picked up their pace, rushing to complete the envelopment.

  "Full burning of psy!" Lun shouted into the union and wasted no time before taking action. With the next leaping step his century took, he more than doubled the amount of psy he was guiding. Like they were a sheet caught in the wind, they blasted forward, the legionaries' heads and limbs being forced backward from the force.

  Some of the legionaries could not reposition their limbs, and when the century landed, they stumbled and fell into their brothers. In that moment, the option was there. They could leave the seven legionaries behind. It was a pitiful number, both in terms of the legion and in overall loss of psy.

  Except no one even considered it. Hands snapped out, grabbing hold of the armor and pulling them back into balance. Where that wasn't enough, legionnaires stepped out of formation and ran into their companions with their shoulders.

  Despite everyone's efforts, the best they could do was keep the stumbling men on their feet. And the cost in psy to lift everyone into the air for another leap doubled again, costing somewhere above four hundred orbs. It might not seem like it, but there was a massive difference between lifting someone up while they were already on the ground and when they were mid-jump.

  What made it worse was that the amount of energy was at a level that Lun was struggling to control. No, he failed to control it, and his failure resulted in more psy being lost. Not that he was allowed to dwell on it long, as they could not stop moving, and ensuring his men were ready for the next leap was taking all of his attention.

  The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  While moving this fast wasn't something they had practiced… more than once, a fact that would change soon, the desperation made everyone a fast learner. Within three strides covering dozens of feet, they had found a rhythm as everyone focused ahead, blocking out all else. Except that Lun was monitoring the emotions of Leeroy, and his anxiety was only growing.

  The distance between the groups closed, and soon, it became clear that they would not escape being enveloped. With their reinforcements almost a mile away, Lun's mind shifted to considering if they could form up and hold until recused. And then he nearly staggered as a wave of relief washed through the union.

  Before he could ask what was happening, explosions of fire bloomed into the air on the right, throwing back the front line of Kin, and on the left, a forest of stone spikes sprang forth from the ground. Only a handful of Kin were ungainly enough to run into the spikes, though killing them wasn't the point of the attacks.

  The knights that fell from the sky and crashed down a hundred yards in front of the century had stalled the Kin, buying time for them to slip through the closing gap. Without hesitation, they blasted through the line of knights and continued sprinting at full speed.

  However, it wasn't like they were anywhere close to safe. Sure, being within the ranks of legionaries, who were now splitting up and forming a hollow square, would do a lot to fix that… But they had to get there, and it would only be temporary safety. If there were this number of Kin appearing on the Second Step after almost a week of only spotting flyers, then that meant there would be far more Kin appearing soon enough.

  The Kin were not so stupid as to show their presence before they could ensure the legion couldn't stop their advance. Lun found it easy to assume that the next hours and days would be quite the heart-pounding mess, but he had to get there for it to matter. So he ran with his men, the occasional spear being thrust up to ward off the few birdkin circling overhead, and a psy shield forming to block their fireballs.

  Within three far too long minutes of a side pinching spirit, the century thundered up to and past the line of waiting legionaries, entering through a section of the line that was closed as soon as Jankens, who was taking up the rear, passed them. "Spread out and fill the hole!" Lun mentally shouted into the union as he accepted the tendril probing him.

  "Good, you already gave the order," said the clipped, dry mental voice of Tribune Tererak. "Sorry to have to put you right back onto the line after your little run, but needs must and all that."

  "Don't need to be sorry, domine, we were just out for a little light jog. A good warm-up that you and your boys might be jealous of in a few minutes. Right third century?" At Lun's prompting, every man within his century sent emotions or said something into the union that reaffirmed they weren't tired, some even throwing out jibes to the other centuries of their mental network about how delicate their constitutions were.

  Of course, all of that was done while they were nearly doubled over, some hacking out their lungs, and most of the others sucking down air like they had never had a full breath before. Facts that were pointed out by those standing in neat ranks, which caused Lun's legionaries to straighten up, and Mikile to shout, "At least we weren't standing in place so long as to start growing moss!"

  Admittedly, not the best comeback, but no one in their third century so much as batted an eye as they started expanding on Mikiles' comment. After all, there would be plenty of time to berate the man for saying something stupid, but showing a united front was far more important.

  The union banter was dropped to a lower priority, making it easier to ignore, leaving only the centurions and tribune in the main channel. "What's your situation, Centurion Lun?"

  "My century is tired, less than half our psy reserves are remaining, but we are still battle-ready."

  "Good. Now, care to explain how we ended up in this situation?"

  "Ahh, well. We umm—

  "Do not worry about revealing information about Legionary Leeroy. It was made very clear to me the extent of his abilities. I was even told that if only one person was to come stumbling back into camp, it is to be him."

  "In that case," Lun sent back, mentally shrugging and deciding to just be honest, "Leeroy detected something and said that we should run. Until we saw you and the wolves appeared, no one saw anything to justify his words."

  "That's it? Nothing else?"

  "We found another location for the knights to check out, but other than that, no. That was everything. Though he still doesn't seem comfortable with our situation. If I had to make a guess, more Kin are coming and will show up soon."

  "Well, I guess there isn't anything more that I could hope for considering what I'm dealing with. And given the apparent proof of Legionary Leeroy's instincts, I can't say following him is wrong. Anyway, we are performing a controlled retreat back to the legion on our own. Even for an idiot savant, the legatus isn't going to send out any more troops."

  "Understood." Lun said, "Are we repositioning the centuries?"

  "Not yet. However, your men will be placed wherever the fighting is least, so be prepared. Knight Terrance, can you and the other knights take up position in the center of the square? Most of your efforts should be for covering us from above."

  "It will be done," Terrance replied. "Think of it no more."

  "Good." Then he shifted the union, silencing the men who were in the middle of throwing insults at each other, and talked to them all at once, "Men, we are marching back to the legion in a shuffle, and nothing is going to stop us. Is that understood?"

  "Yes, domnie!" Everyone roared back in response.

  "Excellent, now—

  "Domine?" Sent a silence, but an insistent mental voice.

  "Yes, Legionary Leeroy, you have something to say?"

  “Yeah… we ahh, we have to move faster."

  The tribune wrestled with the statement and interruption for a moment, then a calm clarity radiated from his mind. "You heard the man, boys. We are moving at a double march back to the camp. Is that a problem?"

  "No, domine!"

  "Good lads. Now march!" Ordered the tribune as the slightly over four hundred legionaries stared down the Kin circling a hundred yards from them, daring the beasts to attack as they ran home in formation.

  patreon.com/Kronos179