Chapter 8: Sylvan Ally

He then opens his eyes and gapes in surprise.

The bandit is dead, a bullet to the head.

He then gulps down his healing tonic, while it's lacks the potency to repair broken bones it numbed the pain and stopped the bleeding. Then he saw a green cloaked figure run into the center, a pistol in each hand.

He then looks to Ardent and removes his helmet.

He miraculously survived, his helmet enchantments having deflected a brunt of the force with only a minor bleeding on his head.

Kurgren unslings another healing tonic and pour it down his mouth, closing the cut.

He then heard yells from the bandits and looks up and saw the bandits had switched to attack the green cloaked figure.

Upon closer inspection he realize that the cloaked figure is the same one that saved him.

They then dodge a shot a few feet away, as if they foresaw it, from them and countered.

In perfect sync they fire both guns, one strike the closest bandit in the head and the second one hitting another in the chest.

Yet their movement is somewhat strange, too fluid, too quick, like the whipping winds of a storm.

He then tries to get up, gripping his shoulder in pain, remembering that his shoulder is still broken.

He then see the figure pulls out a two strange guns, unlike the others its barrel is made of ceramic and flared outward, like a trumpet, with a glass container behind it holding a glowing object, and moves closer to the two remaining bandits and pulls the triggers, about five to ten feet away from them.

Blue chi burst forth from the guns like buckshot, each hitting a bandit in the chest, with only burnt flesh and charred bones remaining on where they struck.

It looked like the fight was over when the last bandit that warned the gunners then jump out of a collapsed tent he was hiding in and dash to figure for a surprise attack.

They instinctively turn, like they foresaw it, and quickly unholster another pistol and fire but they missed, whistling past the man's ear, as he reaches into melee and slams his hands to their ears.

The effect was instantaneous as they staggered backwards in pain before barely dodging a left punch but was immediately struck in the rib by right hook which knocks them back.

The bandit then swings another punch but the figure backflipped away then threw their cloak on his head, unslinged another pistol, and fired point blank. And as the bandit collapsed Kurgren saw the person and realized it's a woman. With large hips and long, shapely, legs, a stark contrast to her lithe frame, and small, but noticeable, breasts. But what surprised him most was her face.

Her skin was a smooth and bronzed, with pointed, four inches long, ears poking out of her hair and green marks upon her cheeks.

She's an Elf.

Erhardt quickly ran, holding the unconscious Louise in his arm, before taking cover behind a tree and put her against it. And, looking around, realized Ardent and Kurgren were gone.

"Well that's just fucking great!"

He then hears four shots shattering the silence. Then a yell opposite of him, sounding like Kurgren. Yet there were six gunners.

A loud ding followed, like a hammer striking steel, likely the fifth gunner, and dashed back to the camp.

When he heard the soft crunch of trodden grass to his left. And stomps his foot.

Soon he sense the vibration emanating from his foot outward, connecting to his earthsense, and detected another, a running Human, ten feet away hidden by the trees. Heading towards Louise. And quickly ran back as the bandit emerged and fires.

A dull pain ripples from Erhardt's chest as he jumped in front of Louise, barely phased as the bullet struck fat.

Erhardt charged as the bandit unholster his pistol in a panic and grabbed the bandit wrist as he aimed, knocking him down with a hip throw and unsheathes his dagger.

The man lets out a dying gasp as the dagger plunged into his neck. Afterwards Erhardt cleaned his dagger and took the pistol and, after checking if it was loaded with the ramrod, ran back to the camp before hearing more gunfire. And at the edge of the clearing he saw the bandits dead and Kurgren and Ardent. With a woman holding them at gunpoint. When he recognized her ears. She's an Elf.

Faster he dashed out and cocked the pistol.