The Bridge [ Part 2 ]

The shield wall was sturdy and well prepared as the makeshift assault team began to approach. Conin, Nalia, Idris, and Emre were at the front with the mercenaries and caravan guards set up behind them. In the back were Ragan, Gerrar, Killan, and Raina. Once they tore apart the shield wall it would be easy to run to their respective targets.

"Conin, Nalia! Break!" Ragan called out from behind.

With swift movements, the both of them jumped up on the raised sides of the bridge. Conin was faster as he sped forward, his daggers once more appearing out of nowhere. Emre and Idris also rushed forward with their swords unsheathed. With a small thought, the wind in the middle of the half-circle began to pick up.

Having been waiting as the other side prepared themselves, the bandits' nerves had grown. When the wind started to spin in front of them the formation stuttered and a majority forgot about the two people rushing up on the sides.

Conin's daggers struck out at the bandit distracted by the quick forming vortex of wind. A gasp left his mouth as the blades sunk into his shoulder and neck. The first one was down. Even despite a good formation and plan, it seemed the bandits were still naive in the execution of it.

As the first shield fell the bandits steeled their resolve. Nalia jabbed at the bandit on her end before he could reposition his heavy shield. The tip of her sword easily sunk into the soft flesh of his neck. With little more than a gurgle, the second bandit fell.

'Idris, do you know what a firestorm is?' Emre asked as he focused on making the whirlwind bigger.

The people behind them both were unable to pass as the wind roared in their path. It was easy to put his magic power into it when it was the only thing he was focusing on. The heavy shields weren't moving, but the bandits behind them felt the tug and pull of the force.

'No.' Idris answered as he also stared up at the visible spiral.

'It's when fire and wind combine to make a more destructive force.'

'I see.'

Idris immediately got the cue of what Emre wanted. A large ball of fire began to form in one of his palms. Emre could feel the fierce heat roiling off it as the fiery orb became as large as a basketball. With a simple flick of his finger, the ball shot toward the winding whirlwind.

In an instant, the area felt like it darkened as the wind swept the fire into its torrent. The whistling air, which had already felt destructive by itself, was forming into a tornado of raging flame.

Emre felt the strain of the power as he urged the whirlwind to move at his will. A few of the bandits immediately chickened. A few shields fell as their supports began to flee in the other direction. Moving the tornado, the flaming wind seared the ground and started closer to the bandits that were still standing their ground.

"Wait! Wait!" A voice was screaming from the other side.

Emre could barely hear it. He was intending to sweep through the shields and start burning their supplies. Squashed bugs wouldn't really need them, right?

"A deal! We'll make a deal!" The desperate yelling voice came again.

Idris glanced at him with a raised brow. Emre couldn't help but click his tongue in annoyance as he started to wind the sprawling air down. With a few quick arm movements, the angry torrent faded into the burned dirt.

The light in the area clarified and Emre could see the strongest bandit standing shocked behind her men. The sides of her head were shaved, the long strands of black on the top were tied into braids that ran down her back. Her bright green eyes complimented her rich olive skin.

"Lower the shields!" She called out to the bandits.

Oh, was she really going to give up? Just like that? Emre had only shown off a fraction of his power. Although keeping the whirlwind up would have eaten away at his mana stores quickly, it seemed the sheer force had startled her into fear. Checking now, he would have only been able to cast Wind Arrows without his mana disappearing too quickly.

It wasn't the best strategy, but Emre hadn't thought this battle was going to last very long anyway. That was the only reason he had chosen to go the pure destruction route right off the bat. He would've been able to demolish the shield wall with that.

He watched as the nervous bandits dropped their shields and began to back off from the bridge. Then Emre felt his hands shaking as his adrenaline began to lower. Perhaps he really had used too much power right off the bat… This had never happened before. In order to mask it, he quickly crossed his arms and glared like there was no issue.

At this point, Ragan had arrived beside him while Conin and Nalia had already retreated so as to not get caught up in his spell.

"A deal?" Emre called out.

Hesitantly, the woman began to approach with the four strongest bandits standing behind her like guards. It wasn't hard to read her uneasy expression as she approached. Her aura, however, was spilling out without reserves. He could tell was making the guards and mercenaries behind him uneasy.

But then again, he wasn't thinking about the fact that they were already uneasy because of the sheer force Emre and Idris had just displayed. They really hadn't expected it from people who only had the auras of basic adventurers. It made them wonder who else in their party was hiding their power.

"Y-yes! We will allow your group through without needing to pay. But the merchants must say." She said.

"Miss, I don't think you're in a position to be allowing us anything." Emre scoffed. "It would not be hard to continue what I had started."

At his words, the wind began to stir again in front of them. She quickly put her hands up to stop him. Then her face distorted like she had done something wrong.

"No! Wait!" She started to yell.

He felt Idris flinch beside him and then the familiar sound of a whistling arrow. Within a split second, unable to cast a spell, he felt Idris yank him to the side by his arm. Instead of hitting the spot on his back where his lung would be, the arrow stabbed into his shoulder.

He took in a sharp breath as the pain spread through his back like fire. Everyone on Emre's side who had relaxed for a small moment was fired back up. The only thing that stopped them from rushing forward was the intense aura that boomed from Idris. The pressure made them freeze in their spots.

Idris's eyes had switched from the rich chocolate brown into his natural icy blue color. Letting go of Emre's arm he shot toward the bandit leader. She didn't even get the chance to flinch before his sword tip gently pricked the middle of her neck. The only thing that made him stop was Emre's voice.

'Wait.'

"An accident! It was an accident!" The bandit leader gasped out.

The four guards behind her weren't able to make a move as Idris's cold eyes scanned over them. In fact, they even took a step back with pale complexions.

Ragan rushed forward to Emre's side and began to examine the arrow sticking out of his shoulder. Emre had to leave his arm slack to not cause any more unnecessary pain. They had a damn hidden archer on their side of the bridge and a hand signal to tell him when to shoot. What was the actual possibility it was an accident?

'Can you find them?' Emre asked Conin.

Conin was fast on his feet, utilizing wind magic much like Emre did to speed himself up. Not to mention Conin was the strongest after Killan in the party. To underestimate him for his kind and shy demeanor would be the end. He had even already started moving before responding.

'I will try.'

"It is deep." Ragan told Emre. "We can't pull it out right now without making it much worse. I can break the shaft for now, and we can get the rest later."

"Okay…" Emre said hesitantly.

In one swift movement, Ragan snapped the arrow. Emre winced at the pain that the action had caused before straightening up as much as he could. Damn, it hurts.

'Why am I letting her live?' Idris asked sourly.

'If it really was an accident, I don't want to kill her.' Emre responded.

'You got shot by an arrow because of her.' Idris sounded irritated.

'It's fine.'

A look of dismay crossed his features as he turned his head to look at Emre over his shoulder. Emre could not lie, so it had to be the truth in Emre's eyes.

'Why do you believe that? Are you not in pain?'

Emre began to walk up with Ragan at his side. 'I am.'

Idris looked troubled before turning his attention back to the bandit leader and her lackeys with his hostile stare.

"You will let us, as well as the merchant group pass. You will also pack up your shit. Your tents, your supplies, everything." Emre began. "Show your sincerity in this being an accident and disperse. Go turn yourselves in or become adventurers. You're strong, so go do something good with your lives instead of making others miserable."

Emre was being generous. Of course, his words shocked everyone around. The person who had just been shot was deciding to have mercy on them.

"If I ever find out that your group is doing stuff like this again... since it is not that hard to find out..." Emre's eyes changed from bright blue into the unnatural human eye color of deep amber gold. "Then I will find you." It was an obvious threat.

"Okay…" The leader breathed out meekly. "We'll start right away."

Glancing at the sword pressed against her neck, she took a ginger step back. Idris reluctantly lowered his sword and slipped it back into the scabbard with a grumble. Both Idris and Emre's eyes returned to their fake colors as the bandits began to scramble to collect their things.

"That was far easier than I thought." Emre noted. "And I didn't even have to show my aura.~"

"You didn't need to. Idris' is already suffocating." Ragan muttered.

"Ah." Idris made a small sound before concealing his aura back to an average adventurer.

Emre and Idris watched as their companions relaxed as soon as the aura was lowered. It was definitely pressuring because Idris was stronger, but it didn't feel too bad to Emre. Of course, revealing their auras did not mean that people would automatically assume they were dragons. It was more of people assuming that they were just very powerful people.

Raina, however, found herself feeling nervous and further questioning their identities. She had not thought as much of Idris as she did Emre. She wasn't as familiar with the feeling he gave off compared to Emre. But now that she had experienced his aura, she was only more intrigued. Just who were these two?

Then Emre noticed someone approaching the bridge on their side. It was Conin with one of his daggers over someone's neck and the other likely pointed at their back. He brought the panicked man up. The man was seeing his group hurriedly getting their stuff together and wondered what had occurred while he was trying to lose this bugger.

Emre waved his hand and Conin released him. The archer felt relief as the cold blade was removed from his neck and looked at Emre with hopeful eyes. Before Emre was able to say anything though, Idris had stepped forward.

With one quick movement, the archer was doubled over on the ground, clutching his abdomen. Idris had cracked a solid punch into his gut in a split second and was glaring down at the man. Emre began to think that his lovely friend was pretty vengeful.

"Your band is leaving so when you can stand, join them." Emre said.

A satisfied look appeared on Idris's face as the man gasped for breath. It only lasted a second though as Emre began to return to where the carriage was parked. The longer the arrowhead lasted in his body, the worse it started to hurt. One would think the pain would get easier to handle as time went on, but it was only getting worse.

The group began to move around as Emre found a grassy shaded spot on the outskirts of the caravan camp. Sitting down, he clutched his arm and let out a pained sigh. Idris and Ragan had both followed him while everyone else began to help the caravan camp pack up.

"I'll ask the caravan if they have any feathers so we can get that out. Sit tight." Ragan told him before hurrying off.

While Emre had no clue what having feathers would do to help but he nodded. He did not doubt that Ragan knew what he was doing. Idris sat beside him and glanced at the broken end of the arrow that was sticking out of his shoulder.

"Do you really think they'll do something good with their lives?" Idris asked.

"Maybe? Sometimes people have no choice but to do bad things to live. This isn't the only option, but it is the easiest. People usually resort to it. They probably won't turn themselves in, but they'll likely consider my threat." Emre responded. "If we can get through a situation without people getting hurt then I don't care that much."

"But you got hurt." He put emphasis on 'you'.

"A small price to pay for the safety of everyone else."

"Why would you put yourself in harm's way for humans?"

"Humans are still beings just like us."

Idris became quiet as he pondered Emre's words. Having been a human before, Emre simply couldn't treat them as a dragon would treat them. To dragons, they may be lesser and weaker beings, but to Emre, they were no different from him.

"Then let me rephrase..." Idris began again. "Why would you put yourself in harm's way for others?"

Emre looked at the grass under him as he thought. Why did he? He had run in to save Conin from the lanky feline corruption that one time. He wasn't close to anyone at that point. He just did it on impulse.

And in this instance, even though he was injured he didn't want to create any unnecessary bloodshed. It wasn't that he felt it would be morally wrong, it was more of him thinking about not wanting his own side to be harmed just because he had been injured. That felt selfish.

"I guess I just do it without thinking?" That was how he responded in the end.

A troubled expression appeared on Idris's face once more, but he wasn't able to say anything in response as Ragan returned with two large feathers.

"Okay, I got some." He said. "Take your armor off so I can get to the wound."

Ack. Removing his clothes was probably going to hurt. He let out a groan of annoyance as he started to gingerly unbuckle his leather armor. Ragan helped him with getting it off without knocking the broken shaft of the arrow and causing more pain.

Idris watched with concerned eyes. Emre noted how much he'd been showing emotions today, but his attention was torn away as a jolt of pain shot into his back. Holding back a grimace, they managed to get his shirt off without much more issue.

Ragan happened to notice the dark chain link tattoo around Emre's forearm and looked to Idris. Idris wasn't paying attention to him though as he looked at Emre's bloodied shoulder and the broken arrow sticking out of it. Ragan remembered seeing that same type of tattoo form on Anne's arm.

Anne's had been golden though, so he assumed it was an oath Emre had made to Idris since it was the same dark navy blue of Idris's shadow magic. Although curious, there was a more important task at hand.

"It's going to hurt because I need to get these quills on the barbs. But it'll keep the arrowhead from tearing you up more." Ragan explained.

"Great. More pain." Emre said sarcastically.

"Maybe I should go hit that archer again…" Idris mumbled.

Emre let out a chuckle only to see that Idris was seriously considering it. "Just stay here." He said.

Idris clicked his tongue but stayed.

"Okay, I'm starting." Ragan then interrupted.

Emre braced himself, bringing his knee up in case he needed to hug it. And he certainly did. Wincing, he pressed his forehead on his knee, clenching his hands into fists as Ragan did his thing. It took annoyingly long and Emre had begun to sweat. Soon enough, he felt the arrowhead exit and he let out a sigh of relief.

Seeing it in video games and movies truly didn't live up to the actual pain of it. Emre was just lucky that he hadn't needed to just rip it out like they did in the movies. He wished he could just heal it with his magic but he couldn't.

Ragan then pressed his hand on the bleeding wound.

"Warning!" Emre gasped. "Warn me next time." He flashed a glare over his shoulder.

"Ah, sorry." Ragan responded.

Then his mood only became sourer as he watched Raina approaching. What did she want? She walked up with that same glare on her face before she tossed something to him. He caught it with one hand.

It was a small bottle of silvery red liquid. It immediately reminded him of a healing potion. Surprised, he looked back up at her.

"Use it. It's expensive so don't ask for more." Raina said before turning back around and walking away.

Ragan peeked at it over his shoulder. "Oh, a healing potion."

Oh, so healing potions were actually a thing in this world.

"What? How do you make something like this? Do I just drink it?" Emre asked, feigning ignorance.

"They are made from some pretty rare herbs. They are really expensive. Only super-wealthy adventurers or nobles can afford them." Ragan told him. "But yeah, you drink it. It should heal this quite a bit."

Without a second thought, Emre popped the cork and began to drink it. Ugh! How did people drink this? It tasted like bitter leaves and watered down sour berries. He still downed it all anyway and Ragan moved his hand as the blood stopped and the wound healed halfway. It wasn't as effective as his radiant magic, but it certainly did the job.

He was finally able to relax with little pain in his shoulder now. They would likely still have to wrap it up to avoid infection, but it was halfway there.

"I'll get some additional herbs and something to wrap you up." Ragan said as he stood back up with a small 'hup' sound.

Emre watched him walk off as Idris took a peek at the wound. Then Emre turned to him with a smile.

"Thank you by the way." He said.

Idris blinked in confusion, but then he realized what Emre was talking about. "Oh, yeah. You're welcome."

"If you hadn't pulled me, the arrow probably would have landed somewhere much worse."

"I should have been paying more attention." Idris's brows furrowed.

Emre shook his head. "None of us knew he was there."

"Maybe, but—"

"No buts." Emre interrupted.

Idris closed his mouth and gave Emre a small unamused look. Another new expression toward him! Emre only laughed at it as Idris looked away. Ragan on the other hand was walking back up with his pack.

After applying a poultice and wrapping Emre up, they all stood up to help get ready. They could just leave the merchant group to themselves, but it seemed everyone was intent on helping out. Ragan reassured him that they would only be helping them get on the road, not staying with them for the trip.

Emre accepted this and helped out along with everyone else. Before long, they were all back on the road and ready to keep going. The bandit group had also packed up and had already taken off, crossing the bridge and heading south. They probably did so because they didn't want Emre's group on their heels.

Emre's group was finally able to cross the bridge and go one their way after receiving gifts and thanks for helping the merchants out. At least they gained something out of this.