Return to Jorgaldur Volume II: the druid archer

Suspension bridge (III)

They could see the fragment of rope partially broken by the hawks tearing more and more. Soon, the rope would separate in two.

"Hold on tight! I'm going to jump!" announced the lynx.

The elf wanted to protest. It was foolhardy to do it, but they weren't left with any other options either. So, the lynx Jumped, and the momentum caused that the rope snapped.

They had covered three-fifths of the way, and it was impossible for the feline to reach the other end. So, holding on to her, Goldmi used Float as they started to go down, though she wasn't sure if they would make it to the end. However, she didn't intend to let go of her sister. If they fell, they would fall together, and try to survive in the river.

Float allows to not fall and move very slowly. However, there was something that they hadn't anticipated, and had never tried. Jump had propelled them up and forward, and while the vertical momentum had been countered by gravity, the horizontal one had not. So, while the spell held their altitude, they sped forward, and were only slightly slowed down by the friction of the air.

Thus, contrary to their expectations, they soon landed softly on what was left of the stone bridge. They were quite surprised to have arrived so quickly.

"If I had known it was so easy, I would have jumped earlier..." the feline was amazed. "Hey! You! White thing with wings! Are you still playing? We have already crossed, you can come now."

"What has taken you so long!? I was starting to get bored. I'm bringing you two for dinner," complained the hawk.

Goldmi smiled, as she read between the lines how concerned the two of them had been about the other's situation, especially the albino bird.

The goshawk was now about to attack for the third time. She had managed to separate the two hawks, after threatening to attack them a couple of times. Thus, she had achieved that one of them had lost speed, and was in a more vulnerable situation, although not totally defeated.

Despite this, she decided to abort the attack, changed direction, and headed towards her sisters, as if she were fleeing, although not too fast. She had to allow them to resume the chase, and so did the two birds. They were determined to hunt down the white bird that was resisting them.

"Pass over the bridge, cross it lengthwise," the archer asked her for.

"At my height. I want to receive them with open claws, as in the Raging Swamps," the lynx added. She remembered a time when for the elf it had been just a game.

"Don't let them escape! It's dinner!" the goshawk insisted, while trying to hide her excitement. It had been a long time since they had set a trap, since they had hunted as a team.

The goshawk quickly surpassed her Camouflaged sisters, and the first falcon was received by the claws of the lynx. It collided violently against them, was nailed, and died instantly.

The other was a little further behind, and managed to ascend, but a succession of arrows were shot from very close. With Wind Touch, and Piercing Arrow, they were soon embedded in its wings, so it became the second of the main ingredients of the dinner.

Goldmi immediately healed her two sisters, even though the injuries weren't serious, and they insisted it was nothing. They knew they could act as tough as much as wanted, since their elf sister would heal them anyway.

One assistant was in charge of collecting and processing the remains of the hawks, while the other collected the nearby arrows. Goldmi pierced the remains of the rope at the other end with Wind Arrows, and the goshawk threw them into the void. They didn't want to leave clues.

Later on, they entered the forest. The bird watched from the sky, the elf was using Life Detection, and the feline sharpened her hearing and smell senses. They wanted to get away from there safely, and to know what their supposed pursuers were up to.

"The trail ends here," said the hyena-man.

"There're recent cuts on the tree. They look like arrows," announced his daughter.

"A fight? Has someone captured her?" asked a level 70 human woman.

She was one of the security officers at the Engenak embassy in Goltrenak, and she had been sent there by the kingdom. There were three more humans, the hunter family and five other adventurers who had joined them.

"Impossible, there are no more traces. Unless..." the hyena-man denied.

"Unless...?" asked the green-haired woman.

"Either she has fallen or she has crossed the bridge, either alone or with help. If they've captured her, they're on the other side.

"Does anyone know how to cross?" asked the woman.

They looked at each other, but they all just shrugged. So, they sent a message, and hurried to the bridge that was a few hours away, following the course of the river.

Some bounty hunters were waiting on that bridge, as they hoped to catch the elf. The price for her head was the highest in recent years, so it was worth a try. There had been some confrontations between them, until they had reached an agreement. They wouldn't go to equal parts, but proportional to each strength, in case of catching her there.

However, when the notice arrived, all agreements faded, and each one headed into the forest on their own.

They were neither used to teamwork nor did they want to. Each of them trusted their skills, and wanted to be the first to find her, to capture her. Besides, all of them were between 10 and 20 levels higher than Goldmi and her sisters.

"They have reached the bridge and turned around. They were following you," reported the goshawk, so confirming what they feared.

They would have liked to go to lower-level areas to be safer, but that would mean getting closer to the main roads, and their possible pursuers. They had no choice but to move on, to face the dangers that could loom behind them.

Fortunately, the sisters were close to level up to 55. Once they made it, the journey would be a little less dangerous in this forest full of threats. Although, to tell the truth, for her, the forest was also a powerful ally that could lend her its strength.