Ulbarich was running his thumb along his jaw, lips twisted slightly into a smile, even though he felt nothing of the kind. A central location would make sense if they were foolish - she wouldn't have been sent here if the king's men had found their base. No, they were moving about. From base to base to base, striking targets close to their current hideouts without revealing their locations to anyone. That was how Ulbarich would have done it, if it were him, and he doubted there was any reason to think it was otherwise for these thieves. She could be right, but he couldn't spare the men to go and look for such a location.
They needed to stay on the move.
"We'll have to locate one based on the path they take," Ulbarich said finally. "They can't avoid them all, but they'll try to slip past the larger. There's nothing for it. If we slow down, we'll lose them in the snow. And I'm not going to risk losing them, Captain, not now."
He was afraid that some part of her, however small, was going to think that he was doing this simply because he wanted glory for himself. The proof would come when all of this was said and done. He did not want to meet the king. He did not want to prove himself against his father, or make anyone look or feel badly. He didn't want to step on someone else for a promotion. It was a matter of duty, and one she seemed not to know as well as someone who lived in the field and commanded men against men. That was one of the weaknesses, he supposed, of being in Ithunvel's circle.