The huge, steep mountains loomed over Cinder's army, but she didn't stop or stall for a second. Nothing was going to keep her from wiping that Lich off the face of the planet. The terrain would be easier if she went around the mountains, but that would take several more days, and that was time that she didn't want to waste.

There was something off about them, though. She could tell that something was not quite right. She could hear echoes from miles away, and they sounded suspiciously like voices. She knew that there had to be more traps along the way, but the Lich was a fool if he thought that mere humans were a threat at all anymore. She would beat them off like the insects they were, then crush them under her heel. It would be one of the most enjoyable things she had done.

It was with the utmost confidence that she continued walking up the steep path, hooves starting to clack against the exposed rock. The air was starting to grow cold, and as they got closer to entering the mountain pass, she heard the echoes stop.

Her eyes narrowed, and she stopped walking. The others started to come towards her to ask what was wrong, but she held up a hand to stop them. It took several moments for the huge group to come to a complete stop, but once they did, Cinder turned her head back towards the mountains and listened as closely as she could.

They were still there, but now they were like whispers, barely making their way through the wind and rock of the mountains. It was hard to hear, but it was most definitely there.

She smiled. If they thought that they could stop her, it would be an even greater experience to twist them to her ways.

She started to walk again, now with a new vigor, and the others followed behind. She could hear every single footstep, and cast her eyes up to the cliffs. Somewhere up there, someone had it in their head that they could hurt her. Somewhere up there, there were fools who didn't know how horrible their lives had been all this time. She was going to show them the most wonderful things they could imagine, and they would praise her like a god.

The thought got her smile to widen even further across her face, and she took the first step into the mountain pass.

For a few seconds, it seemed like nothing was going to happen. Then, like a distant clap of thunder, a deep noise started to roll towards them. Her eyes immediately homed in on its source, and she saw what looked like an artillery shell screaming towards them.

Her smile widened, and she laughed. If they thought something so primitive was going to stall her, they must've been more desperate than she had thought. The shell wasn't even going to hit close enough to do any damage. They could certainly stand to work on their aim.

She could see every spiral of the shell in the air, and, more importantly, she could see where it had come from. She didn't have to speak to command her followers to go there and destroy the cannon. Her thoughts were like screaming in their heads, and they couldn't ignore her.

Those of her people who could fly took to the skies, huge wings flapping powerfully, pushing the air away from them as they lifted off the ground. Cinder watched as they took to what narrow space was allowed by the mountains sheer cliffs. Cinder was sure that it wasn't going to be a problem, though. They were all more than agile enough to make do with what space they had.

About twenty of the more capable flyers kept tightly together in the sky, almost within arm's reach of one another, their shouting and laughing echoing out through the mountain for all to hear.

She was sure that they would be able to destroy the gun nest, but she was somewhat surprised by what happened next.

Weapon fire other than artillery started to rip through the mountain pass. It was a rapid, sharp thudding sound, and Cinder could recognize it as the combined fire of rifles. She could see the dust-propelled rounds zip through the sky. Most of them missed, but those that didn't started to do visible damage.

Cinder growled as she saw holes blown through the wings of her followers, and they started to lose height. It seemed that there was more of a trap than she had initially thought. The cramped flying conditions would make anyone flying too vulnerable. Cinder's pace quickened as the nature of the trap became more clear. If they couldn't fly, they would be like sitting ducks for the artillery, even if their accuracy was awful.

The echoes of the rifles in the rocks made it difficult to tell how many people were up there, but it seemed like their position made going after them far more trouble than it was worth. She hated to leave anyone in the dark about what they were missing, but it they were going to be this difficult, then she didn't have a choice. It would take far too much time.

The artillery shell flew over their heads, and slammed into the side of one of the cliffs. It exploded almost immediately, and twisted shrapnel was thrown down towards the group. They all had faster reflexes than a normal human, but it didn't help when there was simply nowhere to go.

The sound of bodies being torn apart was drowned out by the enormous concussive sound of the explosion, but Cinder could see every casualty the thing had caused. Yes, it was a much more devious trap than she had anticipated.

As if to add insult to injury, the rocks of the high cliffs started to crumble down, only causing more damage as they did so, while at the same time serving to seal them in the path that she had chosen.

There was no option other than to push forwards.

She broke into a run, and all of her followers did the same. No cowardly trick was going to stop her. She would join her master, and she would have the world under her hoof. There was nothing else that she could allow to happen.

More shots from artillery cannons rang out from different positions all around, and her eyes flicked to every single one, trying to create a mental map of where each cannon was. If they could find even a single safe spot, it would allow them time to figure some method of approach, if they needed it. The mountains were tall and wide, and Cinder didn't like the prospect of being shot at the whole time they traveled through them.

The demons who had flown up finally hit the ground again, and Cinder saw their wings immediately start to heal the damage they had sustained. They wanted to fly up again, and try to capture those people who had shot them, but it would be a waste of time and effort. She had counted at least five gun batteries so far, and there could easily be more that had simply not fired yet.

More shells careened towards her, and she noticed that they were much more accurate now. Had they intentionally blocked the path? They were getting more and more irritating by the second. Still, the vibrations she felt through the rock that traveled through her body every time a shell exploded was a very pleasant feeling.

The dust-powered explosives were hitting closer still, but she didn't feel threatened by them. The damage one could do to her was almost nothing, even if she was directly hit. Most of the shells hit behind her anyways, and she knew that her demons would be able to dodge them easily, just like she could. She started to slip into a different frame of mind, where her body started to move on its own, and her mind wandered in her own thoughts.

Once she got out of the mountains, what would the next trap be? If it was the undead, she would find it quite a relief to destroy them. It wouldn't be the Lich, there was no way that Naze would simply present himself like that. It would make things too easy. She would destroy him, then her opposition would be gone. The Lich was too intelligent to let himself be killed so easily.

He was going to make it as hard as possible, because he enjoyed being a thorn in her side.

But no, that wasn't even it. The undead couldn't enjoy anything, that was part of their curse, and why she hated them so much. An existence like that was so unimaginably horrible that it turned her stomach to even think about someone doing that to themselves.

A shell landed only a few feet from Cinder, and she snapped back to attention. Fire pushed its way out of the cracks and folds in its metal casing, sending shards out in every direction, and a shockwave of its explosion pushing even the air away from the shell.

A shard about the size of Cinder's arm spun towards her head, but to her, it was like the thing moved in slow motion. Moving out of the way was simple, and she felt every muscle in her body react.

Muscles in her back pulled her shoulder back, dropping down slightly, and her abdomen tightened, bringing her torso forward just a few small inches. The metal whipped past her head, brushing past her hair as it went, before spiraling past and embedding itself in the walls of the stone pass with a loud cracking noise.

Others close by also were able to dodge past most of the shrapnel, except for one demon who had decided to leap one piece. It would have worked, had their not been another piece above the first as well. It collided with the demon's hip, and it dropped behind as it lost its ability to run. Cinder knew it would try to pull the hunk of metal out of its hip, and if it could, catch up with the rest of them.

Cinder's eyes went back in front of her to the winding path that they followed. Perhaps taking the mountain path had been a bad idea, but they were committed now. There was no time to regret, only to act.

Her hooves still hit the ground, but her pace had slowed. The rate at which artillery was being shot had slowed as well, and she didn't know why. It was tempting to unfurl her wings and soar up and look, but that was likely what was expected. The way this trap was set so far, there were likely to be even more dangerous things up there, waiting for her. Maybe the Lich had even provided the humans with something that could actually harm her. It was hard to imagine them cooperating to that degree, but it was by no means impossible.

Roman clutched his hat to his head, eyes wide as Neo practically dragged him forward. He still hadn't processed the situation fully yet, but from what he could understand, someone was shooting mortars at them. Cinder's insane followers ran behind her, but she was ahead quite a way now, almost out of sight.

People had been exploding all around him, and it was only by Neo's perceptive abilities that he was still alive. She was able to tell where the next bomb was going to fall, and guided him away from that place. He was starting to feel like his lungs were ripping out of his chest, but it didn't seem like they would be stopping any time soon.

At least he knew that if he fainted, Neo would probably drag his body to a hole in the wall somewhere, and wait until he woke back up. That was only a half comforting thought, though. Chances were that he wouldn't be able to get out if Neo dragged him into someplace like that. She was a lot more flexible than him, and he was sure that she would find a way to fold him so that he couldn't manage his way out.

She tugged on his arm again, guiding him to the left of the path, pushing and shoving those that she could out of the way. She didn't have quite the presence that Roman did, though, so he had to use his off hand to do even more pushing than she did.

The crowd was certainly thick in the back, as most of the more agile (and mutated) individuals were up towards the front, nearer to Cinder. The things that were still mostly human were left to trail behind in a large mob.

Another shell came careening towards them, and Roman watched as it slammed into the crowd behind and to the right of them. People were blown up into the air from the explosion, and fragments of metal flew in almost every direction.

He didn't keep looking to observe the destruction. He'd already seen enough of that for one day.

Neo glanced over her shoulder at Roman, and when she saw the look on his face, she gave him a sincere smile. She was trying to comfort him, he knew it, but now probably wasn't the time for that. He could think of several better times that she could give him a smile like that. Really, on the list of such times, now was incredibly low.

Neo's ears seemed to perk up again, and she turned back to the way they were running. Roman could tell that she was looking for the next shot, and figured that leaving her to it was the best thing he could do.

Her head changed directions slightly a few times, before she suddenly stopped running, and dug her heels into the ground. Roman's eyes widened as he tried to do the same, but he had too much momentum to simply stop on a dime like that. His feet slid and his body tipped forward, but like she had known exactly what would happen, Neo reached up towards him, turning on her heels as she did, catching him and in the same motion, pulling him to the ground in front of her, where she hugged him tightly.

There wasn't time for Roman to protest before something very near exploded, and he thought he had a fairly good idea of how close Neo had just cut it. A wave of force hit the two, and he felt Neo's body shake as she absorbed the majority of the blast. Even with that extra protection, his ears popped, and he felt his insides rearrange painfully.

Neo's arms stayed around him tightly for what seemed like a few seconds too long, and when he finally started to push against her to free himself, he felt her stubbornly try keep him there. He managed to free his head at least, and looked up to see what it was she was doing.

She had a blank look on her face, and a little trickle of blood was starting to leak out of her nose. Roman's eyes widened as he realized that she might've taken more damage than he originally thought. He shook her shoulder gently, talking to her, even though he knew the sound would be drowned out by the yelling, explosions, and thundering footsteps all around.

"Neo? What are you doing? Come on, we've got to go! Like, right now!"

Her eyes moved towards him, and he noticed that they weren't their normal brown, pink, or white. They were incredibly bloodshot, and didn't seem able to focus.

Roman looked away for a fraction of a second, trying to see where the mortar had gone off.

He didn't have to look nearly as far as he had thought. A crater, still freshly smoking and surrounded by those injured by its blast still trying to run, was at most ten feet away. Jagged pieces of shrapnel poked out of many of them, but other than that it was hard to tell what was injury and what was mutation. A few were spewing blood from various holes, most had the same bloodshot eyes, but beyond that, he couldn't tell.

He quickly grabbed her shoulders again, and turned her so that he could see her back.

The white coat was dirty, with grime and blood spattered across its surface from the run, but Roman didn't see any injuries. A wave of relief washed over him like nothing he had ever felt before, and he even thought he felt a tear come to his eye.

Neo had done her best to guide him, and he couldn't just leave her. She was too hurt to run now, but what kind of injury, he couldn't tell. A concussion, maybe? It would make sense, given the closeness of the blast.

Roman took the handle of his cane, and placed it in his mouth. A nauseating metallic taste filled his mouth, but he ignored it. With both hands, he lifted Neo up off the ground, and put her over his back, made sure that her arms were around his neck, and held them there with one hand, reaching up with the other to take the cane from his mouth.

He felt Neo tighten her grip, both with her arms and with her legs around his waist. It made him happy that she was able to do that, at least.

He started to sprint again, the weariness he had felt before almost totally gone now. A new energy burned in his muscles, and he started fighting his way through the crowd, swinging at anyone who got in the way with his cane.

The disadvantages of going without Neo were immediately obvious. He couldn't tell where the bombs were going to land, and there didn't seem to be any pattern to it. There was barely any time to even look up, as keeping his eyes on the path to make sure that he didn't fall was very important. If he did fall, he knew that the two of them would be trampled by the others.

On the few occasions that he was able to look up, he almost wished he hadn't. The sleek mortars were barely visible, at least with so little time to focus, and just seemed to be silhouettes as they plummeted down towards the ground. Predicting where they were going to land proved to be almost impossible, as judging their height would require more time than Roman had.

The result was that Roman was just as blind as everyone else. To make matters worse, his fatigue was starting to return, slowing his movements.

Then, finally, he saw it. There was a large arch of rock over the path ahead, and it formed a kind of natural canopy that would make hitting anything under it almost impossible. It stretched out to cover a large area, and the space under it almost seemed to be like a cave. It was just what they needed. His grip on Neo tightened, and he poured the last of his energy into his sprint.

His whole torso leaned forward, and all of his weight went into it. His steps became more pounding, and his breath more ragged. He had to get to that shelter. Nothing could stop him.

His jaw tightened as he kept running. A few others started to pass him, bumping into his shoulders, and he quickly lashed out with the cane. Any that got too close received the metal of his cane to their heads, which caused them to stumble and fall behind, likely getting trampled afterwards.

A threatened feeling started to bite at his mind, and he pondered for a second what could possibly be more dangerous than the situation he was in already. He felt Neo's fingers dig into his coat, and thought she might've been trying to communicate something.

On a hunch, he looked up, and his blood froze in his veins.

A mortar was descending towards him, and he could only tell because it was headed directly towards him.

In spite of what his mind knew he should do, his legs stopped. He slid to a halt, barely able to stay upright, but his eyes stayed entirely glued to the explosive. It couldn't end like this. He had always imagined that he would die by being killed by some Huntsmen, or overdosing on one thing or another. Not by becoming a crater in the ground.

Neo seemed extra heavy now, and he remembered that it wasn't just him that would die. Neo would die as well. He couldn't let that happen. She didn't deserve that. Maybe he did, but she didn't.

He couldn't throw her far enough that she would be out of the radius of the explosion, and he couldn't run fast enough to escape.

There was only one thing he could do, and he didn't need to think about how ridiculous it was. There was no chance in hell this was going to work, but he had to try.

He brought his cane up, and closed one eye as the small targeting reticule popped up from the end of the cane. He had to make sure that his shot was the best it could possibly be, because he wasn't going to get a second chance.

He extended his arm as far as he could, and sucked in as much air as he could through his lungs. Sweat was dripping down his face, but his eyes were clear. He could feel his very pupils tightening as they made miniscule adjustments, allowing less of the sunlight in. He would need every advantage he could get.

He aligned the mortar in the crosshairs, then moved the cane slightly down, leading the shot. Safety was so close, he just needed this one thing to work.

His thumb twitched, and the button to fire clicked down. The cane jumped back in his hand, and he tried to straighten it, but he was too distracted watching his shot. The flare soared through the sky, making a high pitched whistling as it went, then, after what seemed like an eternity…

The sudden flash of light hurt Roman's eyes, and he felt like he was on the verge of collapsing. The weight on his back reminded him that there was no time for that, though, and he sprinted again towards the cave.

He had done it. Shrapnel rained down from the sky, but he didn't care anymore. After making a shot like that, how good could his chances of getting hit be?

He felt something in his diaphragm twitching, spasming violently, forcing air out of his lungs, and he assumed that he had pushed himself to the absolute limit. He couldn't run anymore, but it was only a few more steps to the cave.

He placed one foot down, and lifted the next. One foot down, lift the next. One foot down, the other foot down.

He hit the ground hard, and didn't immediately start to move. The crowd had been thinned out by now, so no one immediately started to step on him.

He was in the cave. Only by a few feet, granted, but he had done it. His body still spasmed against his control, but that wasn't going to stop him. Not yet. He thought he could feel his head starting to ring, and his vision swim, but if he was going to pass out, he could make Neo a little more comfortable first.

He half walked, half crawled to one side of the cave, and set his partner down gently against it, in a sitting up position. Her nosebleed had continued, and it looked like he hadn't noticed before, but fluid was leaking from her ears as well. She would heal, though, he knew that. She always healed. There was nothing that she couldn't bounce back from.

He sat down beside her, and put his face in his gloved palms. Just how impossible was the thing he had just done? No sane person would have attempted it, he was sure, but…

His fingers slid over his face, and he realized he was smiling. Not only that, but the spasming in his chest was laughter.

Neo's eyes opened slowly, and when she saw Roman giggling tiredly, she couldn't help but smile herself. She could feel his relief, and that told her all she needed to know.

The weight of Roman's head suddenly touched her shoulder, and she realized that he had passed out. Maybe that was for the best, he needed to rest after what had just happened. And she did too.

She didn't need to sleep, though. She could feel her injuries healing already, blood vessels knitting back together and her concussion healing. Her whole body was bruised, and everything hurt. It would take at least an hour to heal.

She had time to kill, then. She looked around, and started to tell what was happening. The many people who had been ahead of them were all in the cave already, starting back into the things they had been doing before. It was a blessing, at least, that they seemed to be ignoring her and Roman. It wouldn't be good for their recovering if they had to fight off the crazies.

The thing that Neo was most thankful for, other than Roman's heroic efforts, was that her apparent concussion was making sensing things as she normally did almost impossible. Normally this would make her nervous, but with Roman unconscious and unable to help her, not feeling the pressure of Cinder's presence was probably the best thing for her.

She gripped her parasol tightly, just in case someone did happen to take notice of them.

Artillery still pounded outside of the cave, but it seemed more distant now, even though the shells were still falling only a few hundred feet away. The shelter was enough, at least for now. Neo doubted it would last for long. Pebbles and dust were starting to fall gently from the ceiling, and she got the feeling that things much bigger than that were going to follow soon. Roman had stopped a mortar, but a flare wouldn't be able to break solid rock as easily.

While it would be a good time to watch Cinder's followers get smashed into smear marks, it wouldn't be good if Roman was still unconscious. She knew she couldn't carry him fast enough to keep him safe during another run.

Neo folded her arms, and sat on a rock close to Roman. She would keep watch until he woke up, or she needed to wake him up.

Somewhere on the other side of the cave, Cinder started to laugh. Neo didn't know what she was laughing about, but she also thought that it was best if things stayed that way.

She leaned against Roman's shoulder, and let her body continue to fix itself. The rest of the run was not going to be fun, but the alternative was that they get crushed in a cave. She wondered what was going to happen when all of this was over. Cinder was powerful, and Neo could hardly imagine anything actually defeating her, but that's what she and Roman were close to her for. They just had to wait until Naze gave the word to stab her in the back.