"You're not going to have much of a chance if there's only three of you," says the man bitterly. "Armored battle cow or no. They're entrenched as hell in there and they've got their very own minefield. For your sake, I hope you can fly."

He jerks a thumb over his shoulder, in a direction not too different from the way the scent trails seemed to indicate. "About half a day's foot travel from here. It's an old railroad depot built into the sides of a canyon and dug way, way down into the local rock."