[ RF ] I did it all for them .

Faith glanced towards him, a resigned smile on her lips. 
 
 `` You're letting a lot of gold slip away.'' 
 
 Hilary Flint seemed to sink down behind the sandbag wall, head cradled in his helmet. It was if he'd just seen his boyhood dog get hit by a car. 
 
 `` I know...'' 
 
 `` Money than you'll likely ever see again.'' 
 
 *'' I knooowwwww....'' * 
 
 Faith was unrelenting. 
 
 `` And we're also probably gon na die very soon. A witch and a ranger had hardly expect to hold off an entire cohort of Salamanders.'' 
 
 Flint shot her a look that a bear might a particularly persistent fly. `` Usually I'm the cynical one; why the change of attitude?'' 
 
 Faith shrugged and reached into her satchel to pull out a slim scroll. Unrolling it she scanned its contents, refreshing her memory as to the correct instructions detailed. `` This... partnership of ours only works when one of us is the idealist and the other the cynic. Since you just threw away the offer of a lifetime of riches and luxuries for a few hundred refugees who owe you nothing, I figured I'd best return this pairing to its natural setting.'' 
 
 Flint snorted at her words, but he did stand a little straighter. 
 
 `` I hate it when you get a regal and haughty on me, you sound like a brat.'' 
 
 `` Well I'd rather by a stuck-up Elf than a mopey Man any day,'' Faith argued. ``... I agree with what you did by the way, even if I do n't care for the likely results. I do n't think I would have sacrificed myself for them even just a year ago.'' 
 
 Flint worked the bolt of his rifle open, checking that it was loaded before slamming the bolt shut and flicking the safety on. `` Yeah well, that's growing up I guess. Either you become a better person or you do n't. I'm just tired of having to do this same old shit; saving the day or holding the line against tall odds gets old after the first six times. I'm just wondering when someone else will do the heavy lifting.'' 
 
 Flint had persuaded the fleeing refugees to abandoned their possessions they did not absolutely need to survive, and as a consequence stood behind a solid wall of hand carts, wagons and countless pieces of furniture. The narrow canyon was tight enough that eight horses abreast would have trouble riding down its length, its sides too steep and too treacherous to climb. Any advance would have to come straight down the devil's throat and towards their waiting guns. Bags of cornmeal formed firing steps whilst lengths of barbed wire that'd had previously corralled cattle crisscrossed the stretch of road in from the wall. Flint looked on at them with a faint amount of satisfaction. They'd managed to get the retreating farmers and craftsmen to contribute that much to the cause, as doomed as it was. 
 
 The Salamanders were at least a half-day behind the tail-end of the fleeing refugees, their legions too large and too slow to make a quick pursuit. But they'd get there sooner or later, and Flint had never seen a forced march fail when led by a Salamander general. 
 
 Faith nudged him out of his reverie, her eyes bemused. 
 
 `` Whatcha thinking?'' 
 
 `` Thinking how big of a fool I am,'' Flint lied. `` Thinking about how I would've spent that gold. God that was lot of gold...''
