The relay point was still several hours away.
The fox slowed as the afternoon went on, and it wasn't because she was tired. Her head lowered, her ears kept moving, and her tails stayed closer behind her.
Luna noticed too.
Her hand moved nearer the strap of her claymore.
The fox stopped near the edge of a shallow ravine.
"From here, no talking unless necessary."
Luna looked at the translator.
"I assume whispering works."
"It does."
The fox narrowed her eyes.
"You speak too much."
"You've known me for half a day."
"It was enough."
I looked at Luna.
She looked at me.
I decided the argument could survive without my help.
The fox moved down into the ravine.
We followed.
The next part was slower.
She checked the ground often and changed direction twice.
The second change took us far enough east that Luna touched my arm.
"Is she taking us somewhere else?"
The fox heard her.
"No."
"I wasn't asking you."
"I am standing two metres away."
"Then stop listening."
"I have ears."
"Yes. Large ones."
The fox turned.
I stepped between them.
"We're changing direction because?"
"Old scent."
"Whose?"
The fox lowered her head again.
"Orc. Two goblins. Something heavy."
"How old?"
"Several hours."
Luna looked south.
"Patrol?"
"Maybe."
"Maybe?"
The fox showed her teeth.
"I was a scout, human. Not a god."
"Pity."
I put a hand on Luna's shoulder.
"That is enough."
She looked at me before I removed my hand.
The fox continued east.
Another hour later, we found tracks.
Luna crouched beside one of the deeper prints.
"Four?"
"Three," the fox said.
"This looks like four."
"One is carrying weight."
Luna studied the marks again and nodded.
I watched the two of them manage an entire exchange without arguing and decided not to ruin it by mentioning anything.
We moved again.
The relay point was hidden inside an old human weather station built into the side of a hill.
At least, that was what the fox called it.
There wasn't much left of the original place. A rusted communications tower leaned behind the main building, and several smaller structures had collapsed.
The main building was barely still standing.
We stopped behind a rocky ridge overlooking it.
The fox lowered herself beside me while Luna crouched on my other side.
"How many?" I asked.
The fox's nose moved.
"More than before."
"That number is useless."
"Wind is wrong."
I looked down at the station.
There were three visible entrances.
The front entrance had been widened, probably for larger monsters. The second was a loading door on the eastern side. The third looked like a hole made through the rear wall.
Movement near the front entrance caught my attention.
Two goblins came out carrying wooden crates and loaded them onto the back of a large four-legged beast I didn't recognise.
Another monster followed them.
It was tall and thin, with grey skin, and carried a sack filled with papers.
The monster walked toward a metal drum burning outside the station and threw the sack in.
"Shit," Luna whispered. "They're clearing the place."
The fox's ears shifted.
"Yes."
"You said this was still active."
"It was."
"When?"
"When I used it."
Luna stared at her.
I kept watching because arguing about old information wouldn't restore burned paper.
Another group came out.
Two orcs, three goblins, and a smaller creature with thick brown fur and arms long enough to nearly touch the ground.
They were carrying supplies and getting ready to leave rather than preparing for a fight.
"How long?" Luna asked.
"Until they're gone?" I asked.
She nodded.
"An hour. Maybe less."
The fox watched the station.
"They know."
Luna looked at her.
"Know what?"
"That the scouts were captured."
I glanced at her.
"You think this is because of you?"
"Maybe."
"Could be normal movement."
"No."
She sounded certain.
"Why?"
"When scouts fail to report, the nearest relay waits. After that, someone checks the route. If the scout is still missing, the relay moves."
"How quickly?"
"It depended on who was in charge."
"That still doesn't tell us if this happened because of you."
"No."
At least she admitted it.
Luna shifted her weight.
"We hit it now."
The fox looked at her.
I didn't answer immediately.
Luna glanced at me.
"We're watching them destroy intelligence."
"I can see that."
"We wait much longer and there'll be nothing left."
The fox spoke quietly.
"If you attack, someone will escape."
Luna looked at her.
"Then we stop them."
"You cannot see every exit."
"We saw three."
"So did I."
Luna's jaw tightened.
I kept watching the station.
The easy choice was to teleport into the middle, kill anything that resisted, take prisoners, and grab whatever hadn't burned yet.
The problem was that Khan had been building this network for more than a year.
Taking one relay might give us something, but following whatever came next could give us more.
Movement near the rear wall caught my attention.
A small figure emerged from the broken opening.
It wasn't a goblin or one of the blind digging messengers. This one walked upright, wrapped in a dark hooded coat that covered most of its body, with a leather pack strapped tightly against its chest.
The creature didn't join the others.
It looked around once, then moved away from the station alone.
The fox went completely still, and I followed her stare.
"What?"
Her eyes tracked the creature.
"That one."
"What about it?"
"I know what it is doing."
Luna looked at her.
"Then speak."
The fox ignored the tone.
"When a relay moves, someone takes the current orders and delivery records."
"Where?"
"To the next place."
I looked at the hooded creature.
"How far?"
"I do not know."
"Of course."
"It may go to another relay."
"Or?"
"A staging site."
Luna's attention shifted from the station to the creature moving away.
"How sure are you?"
"I have carried the same kind of pack before."
"You?"
"Yes."
"What was inside?"
"Reports. Orders. Routes. Names of groups waiting for supplies."
Luna looked at me.
The monsters at the station were still loading equipment while the drum continued burning.
We could take the station or follow the pack.
I hated choices that looked this obvious because they usually weren't.
Luna whispered, "We should follow it."
I glanced at her.
She kept watching the courier.
"The station is already compromised. We might recover something, but whoever ordered this evacuation is somewhere else."
The fox looked at her.
Luna noticed.
"What?"
"You wanted to attack."
"I changed my mind."
The fox's ears moved slightly.
"Humans do that?"
Luna stared at her.
I had to look away before I laughed.
"We follow," I said.
Luna nodded.
The fox immediately started backing away from the ridge.
I caught one of her tails before she got far.
She turned and bared her teeth.
"Don't."
"Wait."
"The courier is leaving."
"I know."
"Then release my tail."
I did, mostly because there were seven others and I didn't feel like finding out how quickly she could hit me with all of them.
Luna moved beside us.
"What about the relay?"
I pulled one of my needles free and held it between two fingers.
"I'll mark it."
I threw it toward the station.
The needle disappeared into a crack in the damaged outer wall, and the location settled into place in the back of my mind.
Luna watched the station.
"They'll be gone before soldiers arrive."
"Probably. The place won't."
"So we let them go."
"We let them go and see where the courier takes us."
The fox tilted her head.
"You dislike that."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because they're enemies."
"So were you."
Luna turned toward me.
The fox also looked at me.
I kept watching the station.
"I'm not touching that conversation."
Luna gave a quiet laugh before I checked the courier again.
It was moving southeast through the dry brush.
"We need distance."
The fox nodded.
"It will check behind itself."
"How often?"
"Depends on who trained it."
"That's helpful."
Luna looked at me.
"You mean the opposite."
"I usually do."
The fox looked between us without saying anything.
I pointed toward the courier.
"Move."
We left the ridge behind.
The first part of the pursuit was simple.
The courier moved quickly but not carefully, which bothered me. It checked behind itself twice in the first hour but otherwise kept moving at the same pace.
The fox kept us well behind it.
Distance wasn't the problem for me. Whenever the terrain opened up, I could see the courier clearly, but the hills, trees, and overgrown vegetation kept blocking the view.
The fox handled the rest with scent.
We crossed two dry riverbeds and passed the remains of a small village.
The buildings had been stripped of doors, roofing sheets, cables, and anything else useful.
The courier didn't stop.
The sun dropped lower.
Luna moved beside me while the fox stayed ahead.
"How long are we following it?"
"Until it stops."
"That could be tomorrow."
"Then tomorrow."
"We didn't bring enough food."
"I did."
She looked at me.
"How much?"
"Enough."
"You always carry food now?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
I thought about Lina, then Nyx stealing from my plate, and Artemis pretending she wasn't stealing from my plate while doing exactly that.
"Experience."
Luna looked at me strangely.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"That sounded like something."
She shook her head.
We continued.
The courier turned south again near sunset.
That was the first real problem.
The relay point was already farther south than most of the incidents marked during the archive search, and the courier was moving deeper instead of turning east toward one of the known monster routes or west toward the old settlements.
It kept going south.
The fox slowed.
I moved beside her.
"Problem?"
"This is farther than I expected."
"Good farther or bad farther?"
She looked at me.
"What is good farther?"
"I don't know. I was hoping you did."
Luna joined us.
The courier was now moving between low hills ahead of us.
The fox watched it.
"I thought it would turn."
"It didn't."
"No."
"Where does this route go?"
"I don't know."
Luna's hand settled near the strap holding her claymore.
"You brought us here without knowing?"
The fox turned toward her.
"I knew the relay. I did not know where every courier walked after leaving it."
Luna looked ready to answer.
I stopped her.
"She's right."
Luna looked at me.
"I don't like saying it either."
The fox's tails moved, but I ignored her.
I took out the compact communicator from the observation post.
The signal was weak, but usable.
I sent a short update.
Relay evacuating.
Courier identified.
Continuing pursuit south.
No engagement.
I waited.
The response came several minutes later.
ACKNOWLEDGED. CONTINUE AT DISCRETION. REPORT EVERY TWO HOURS.
Zelda.
Efficient as always.
I put the communicator away.
"We continue."
Luna nodded.
The fox looked south.
"We should wait until dark."
"Why?"
"The courier will move faster in darkness."
Luna frowned.
"Wouldn't that make it harder to follow?"
"For you."
Luna stared at her.
The fox turned toward me.
"I can track the scent."
"I can teleport."
"Yes."
Luna crossed her arms.
"And I can set both of you on fire."
I looked at her.
She shrugged.
"What? I felt left out."
The fox gave a low, irritated huff and turned away.
Luna looked at me.
"Was that a laugh?"
"No idea."
"I don't like this translator anymore."
The fox glanced back at her.
"Too late."
We continued south until darkness covered the hills, and the courier started moving faster.
The fox had been right, which was becoming annoyingly common.
We followed.
Hours passed.
The observation post disappeared far behind us while the communicator signal weakened further.
The terrain changed as the dry open ground became rougher and thicker vegetation filled the spaces between the broken hills. Old roads disappeared completely.
The courier never stopped.
Near midnight, the fox raised one tail.
I stopped, and Luna halted beside me.
The fox moved forward alone.
Several minutes passed before she returned quietly.
"The courier stopped."
"Where?"
"Small hollow between the hills."
"Alone?"
"No."
Luna unslung her claymore.
I touched her arm.
"Wait."
She looked at me while the fox continued.
"Two others met it."
"What kind?"
"One orc. One smaller humanoid I do not know."
"Did they take the pack?"
"No."
"Talk?"
"Yes."
"What did they say?"
"I was too far away."
The translator at Luna's collar gave a slight crackle.
Luna adjusted it.
"What happened after?"
"The orc gave the courier water. The other gave it something wrapped in cloth."
"Then?"
"It continued south."
I stared into the darkness.
Luna spoke quietly.
"This isn't a short delivery."
"No."
The fox's ears shifted.
"There may be another site."
"How far?"
"I don't know."
Luna looked at her.
The fox showed her teeth.
"I still do not know everything."
"I'm starting to notice."
I stepped between them again before we lost more time arguing.
"We keep moving."
Luna looked south.
"We've already gone beyond the original mission distance."
"I know."
"Our support is far behind us."
"I can get us out if it gets that bad."
"The communicator barely works."
"That's annoying, not fatal."
She looked at me for a few seconds before finally nodding.
"Fine."
The fox watched her.
"You trust her."
Luna looked at the fox.
"Enough."
I turned toward her, but she kept looking ahead.
The fox glanced between us again.
I pointed south.
"Walk."
She did.
I followed, with Luna moving beside me.
We continued after the courier deeper into territory none of us knew.
The relay point was behind us, and whatever waited ahead had to be connected to something larger. Couriers didn't walk for hours through hostile territory carrying records to nowhere.
Someone was waiting for that pack.
We just had to find out who.