Leaving behind Aurelinne Village, the pair were now headed towards their next destination: the Temple of Light. And to get there, they had to travel across the Great Kosiran Bridge.
The Great Kosiran Bridge, the most popular way to travel between Marque and Veritas. And the only way, if you weren’t a seasoned traveller. Desert filled the northern part of central Kosira, unless they wanted to brave the cold peaks of the Eldes Range like Raine and Nikolay.
Despite seeming like a secure passage to the other side of Kosira, their journey once again faced a rather significant roadblock when they reached the bridge. Before they had even gotten close enough to see the entrance, they saw an abnormally large amount of people standing around, some setting up tents. This would’ve made sense, considering that the Great Kosiran Bridge was a renowned tourist attraction, except the looks on the “tourist’s” faces leaned more towards anger and desperation.
Upon arriving at the bridge itself, they spotted a line of armed guards blocking the entrance. However, the crowds clamouring around these guards were much more conspicuous.
“I demand compensation! This delay is going to cost me a fortune in goods!” an enraged merchant yelled, shaking a fist in the air.
Another shopkeeper grabbed the collar of the guard in the centre, shouting to his face, “When are you wretched rats going to-”
Those seven words were all he could get in before the guard’s hand shot up and seized the wrist of the shopkeeper.
With a straight, unmoving face, the guard said evenly, “Do not touch the personnel, or we will be forced to exert force.”
“Alright, alright! I get it, you dirty rat. Now stop clutchin’ at my wrist, or I’ll tell your rat queen,” the shopkeeper yelped.
The guard obliged silently, and the shopkeeper quickly darted out of his range, shaking his purple hand to regain feeling in the limb.
Watching the whole situation unfold from afar, both Raine and Nikolay began to wonder whether they’d ever be able to reach their destination.
“I knew we were planning to stay awhile for the sights, but this is a little excessive,” Raine sighed. “Looks like we’ll have to ask around to figure out what happened.”
Nikolay looked at the commotion with a scathing gaze. “I’d doubt that any of these fools would tell us anything worth believing. We should approach the guards instead.”
After seeing what the guard did to the rowdy shopkeeper, Raine hesitated. “Well… if that’s what you want to do, then you can go ahead. I’ll, uh, watch from behind.”
“Be my guest.”
The guards barely batted an eye when Raine and Nikolay approached them. In fact, Raine had to look down at himself to make sure he wasn’t invisible. They didn’t react at all, merely staring ahead with an unblinking gaze.
“Greetings,” Nikolay said to the guard in the centre. “I’d like to ask what happened here. Why is the Great Kosiran Bridge closed?”
Yikes. He was trying to initiate a conversation with the same guy who almost broke the shopkeeper’s wrist? Well, Nikolay could probably hold his own in a fight — not that Raine hoped they’d have to resort to that.
Surprisingly, they received an answer. The guard reciprocated the eye contact and nodded in acknowledgement.
“The bridge is currently undergoing repair. Some unaffiliated sorcerers had a battle here and broke the bridge. Rest assured, the perpetrators are being found as we speak.”
Nikolay frowned. “They were powerful enough to destroy a monumental landmark?”
The guard’s eyebrow twitched slightly. “If you are here to question the case, the law department is a more appropriate place.”
“No, that wasn’t my intention at all,” Nikolay shook his head. “Apologies for the wording. The scale of destruction simply surprised me, that was all. Is there an estimated time for the reconstruction to finish?”
“Three months from now,” came the abrupt answer.
Three months?! The prophecy would’ve consumed the entire world by then — what was even the point of rebuilding the bridge if it took that long?!
Judging from the way Nikolay pursed his lips into a tight line, he had the same reaction. “Is there no way to speed up the process? I’d imagine three months is a long time to wait for some people.”
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“The bridge spans across a gorge. Rebuilding the bridge requires the appropriate machinery, which needs time to be approved by the officials and shipped from Marque.”
He wasn’t a genius or anything, but Raine was pretty sure that there was at least one more efficient way of rebuilding the bridge. This solution sounded as though it was being held up by all the paperwork of being approved.
“I see. Thank you for answering my questions diligently,” Nikolay said. “I wish you well.”
“Before you leave…” the guard said, directing his gaze behind Nikolay. “Is there anything else you want to ask?”
Raine stepped out from behind Nikolay with a sheepish grin. “Sorry for the lack of manners.”
”It’s quite alright. We deal with worse on a daily basis.”
He thought back to the shopkeeper, who called the guards ‘rats’. Was that a common occurrence?
“Anyway… I don’t have any other questions. Thanks for answering us.”
“It is merely my duty,” the guard bowed his head. “Farewell, travellers.”
They walked away from the procession, drawing a few dark looks from the onlooking civilians. It was more than apparent that the guards didn’t have the best reputation — even just speaking to them was treated like a crime.
Once they were out of earshot of the crowd gathering at the bridge’s entrance, Raine turned to Nikolay.
“Did you find any other ways to cross the lake when you were mapping the route? Maybe further south?” he asked Nikolay.
His partner kept his head facing ahead and muttered, “Later. There are still people watching us.”
Raine glanced at the people setting up tents in his peripheral vision, either side of the road. Now that Nikolay had drawn his attention to the bystanders, he realised that they were all staring at them, though they tried their best not to appear too conspicuous.
Eventually, though, they reached the outskirts of the makeshift campsite, where there weren’t nearly as many watching eyes.
“So…” Raine started again. “Plan?”
Nikolay pulled out the map from his backpack with a concentrated frown. He opened up the marked parchment, still bearing Irideis’ scribbles from when they first met.
“There isn’t any other bridge further south, just the beach where the river opens out to the ocean. If we wanted to cross on foot, we’d have to double back and walk all the way around Lake Litchmere. Unless…”
Light blue flickered around Nikolay’s hands, unconsciously responding to his thoughts.
“I could take us across the river with my magic. It’d be a little rough, but safe enough to try.”
Raine raised an eyebrow and looked back towards Rascal. “You mean… all three of us? And our bags?”
Evidently, it wasn’t a particularly grand feat to Nikolay. “Yes. I might be lacking in fine technique, but broad manoeuvres aren’t a problem.”
“Huh. Maybe we can-”
Before Raine could agree, a woman walked up and tapped his shoulder. He turned around, noticing that she held a baby in her arms. Hiding behind her legs, a toddler — no older than 4 — shyly covered herself with the bottom of her mother’s dress.
“Excuse me, gentlemen. Do you mind if you help with setting up our tent? I’m afraid I can’t supervise my two children and unpack the tent all at once. I’ll be sure to pay you back, of course,” the woman said, dipping her head politely. “It’s no bother if you can’t.”
Raine impulsively smiled at her and nodded. “Of course! Where do you want the tent?”
Behind him, he could feel Nikolay staring into the back of his head. Call him a people pleaser, philanthropist or a fool, but he’d be damned if he didn’t help an overworked mother with something so simple.
The mother pointed them to a bare spot a while away, and they got to work. It didn’t take long — the tent was much smaller, and they were already used to the motions. Relatively speaking, it was much slower than usual, compared to the ‘It’s been a long day, I just want to go to sleep as soon as possible’ scramble to set up their tent.
Raine stepped back and gave the tent a nod of approval. “The tent’ll stay put, even if a tornado happened to blow through here. Is there anything else you need help with?”
“No,” she said with a laugh. “Unless you can fix the bridge with your own hands, that is. This whole predicament has really messed up all of my plans.”
The mother sighed, putting a hand to her forehead. “All I’m hoping for is that my sick sister holds on long enough until I get to Marque. Oh- I didn’t mean to suddenly dump that on your shoulders. Sorry, I’ll hand you the compensation now.”
Before they could protest, the mother rummaged in her bags and pulled out a small pouch. She poured out a handful of coins, holding out her hand to offer them to Raine.
Raine hastily waved his hands in front of him, refusing the money. “There’s no need to pay us for helping out a little. Think of it as a favour, that’s all.”
“I insist! It’s the least I can do to repay your kindness.”
It became more and more likely that they’d be going back and forth with the money for a long while, neither of them willing to take the gift.
Nikolay stepped in, interrupting their exchange. “Keep the money. We have no use for it.”
They’d earned enough from Tabitha to live semi-comfortably for the rest of their journey, but maybe it was a stretch to say that they had absolutely no need for extra money… Oh well, as long as it would convince this woman to keep her cash.
Perhaps it was something about the unyielding and stony impression that Nikolay gave off, but his ‘suggestion’ completely shut down any protests that the mother had.
“Ah, okay,” she quickly said. “That’s fine. I’ll… just be here if you need any help. Don’t be afraid to ask me for anything!“
Noting down the social cues that she was very obviously sending, Nikolay and Raine bid her farewell. They walked all the way back to their original position before they spoke again.
“Where were we…” Raine said. “Ah, we were going to cross the river. You’re sure that you can carry us over with your magic?”
To his shock, Nikolay hesitated. “I’ve changed my mind, actually. It’d be more beneficial to repair the bridge.”
“Repair the bridge?!” Raine exclaimed. “You can do that?!”
“It’s good practice for my magic technique,” was all that Nikolay said.
“If you say so.”
Yes, definitely of his own volition and not influenced by the mother’s words whatsoever. But who was Raine to call Nikolay out on his empathy?