As the smoke started to settle and the signal for retreat was heard, Alm's words ringed true in Freir's head.  As his brain started working a mile a minute, he swiftly scanned their surroundings. Xia was either still hidden somewhere near or, most likely, had taken off at the thought of gaining other glories in battle. Alm and himself, good warriors as they were, had already been fighting for some time while what seemed like fresh endless hordes of orcs made their way to the center of the city.

"Holding our ground is out of the question," Freir retorted. "Both retreat signals have been made so we can't count on backup from now on and I have the feeling that this is just the welcoming committee. Besides, there's probably a good reason why we've been called back." 

Despite having arrived at the Irregulars as an insolent troublemaker who made a mockery of the chain of command, the northerner had learned, rather painfully, that in battle you're more likely to live longer if you do as the more experienced soldiers tell you. If it had been anyone else, Freir would have left the company a long time ago but Captain Sanada was a man he could tolerate taking orders from.

"There's a good to fair chance that Lady Sanada might ignore the call for retreat in order to raise her body count," the blonde haired thief mused. "We'll look over the area for 10 minutes and try to run into her. Any longer and we risk getting caught under the orcs' swords ourselves." Freir strapped his axe to his belt and readied himself to start running. "Stay near me and don't engage them directly. Tracking is not my strong suit but I know a thing or two about staying out of sight."