The Bridge (Part 5)

Through everything Idris had been through, the fighting, the training, the dungeons, in all of it he had thought only for the safety of himself and Eana. That he could have failed so completely to protect the only other person in his world who really mattered felt like a failure so total that the only thing he could offer in recompense was his life.

But no, giving up helped no one, no matter what he felt now. And though he knew without thought that no amount of Hive creature deaths could pay for the loss of his father, he would be Chaos taken if he didn’t force them to try.

“I have to get back into it,” Idris said, “The fighting.”

Eana clutched him closer and shook her head. Around them the lines were once again closing in. It wasn’t a choice. They had to break through now.

“Idris! Light!” Kaladrian called from the front.

“When we move, stay close,” Idris said, and peeling Eana’s arms from his own, set off at a run to join the front line where the Seekers, Karno on the vanguard with his huge tower shield turned sideways, were pressing toward the bridge.

He sent Radiance up and in the clarity offered by the white light some small spark of hope lit inside him. While the waves of bug men were still thick and getting across the bridge would be an insane thing to do under normal circumstances, the horde across the river had spread across the entirety of the visible portion of the river.

Like a huge intertwined net, the drones had covered the surface of the water - likely drowning most of them involved in the making - and created a surface that now allowed the crossing of what had to be thousands of the things. The end result being, exactly like Kaladrian and Conrad had planned, a thinned out number on the end around the bridge.

As if his thoughts were being echoed back to him he heard both Conrad and Kaladrian shouting, “PUSH!” as the Seekers pressed forward like a wedge of pure killing force. Around them, confused but unable to do anything but follow the gap created by the Seekers, the remaining adventurers and townspeople were dragged forward in a semblance of a fighting rear guard.

Idris ran forward and threw himself into the fray alongside Troy. The swordsmen nodded slightly at him but never stopped swinging, blade and eyes flashing occasionally as he invoked skills that wreaked havoc on the drones in front of them.

As they neared the bridge they slowed. In front of them, Soldiers barred the way and though they weren’t invincible, they took more conscious effort to bring down than the drones and Eaters. Killing those was more like cutting through thick brambles , but Soldiers were serious fighters.

The bridge itself was wide enough for ten or so men to walk across side by side, but when space was needed for fighting it came at a premium. The Seekers, though powerful on their own, were reaching the same barrier they had every time they had attempted the bridge before.

As they went, more and more bug men would swarm from all sides - this time climbing over the sides of the bridge from spaces made possible by their living bridges. Idris found himself fighting off bugs entirely on the flank and the entire group ground to a halt.

Pushing forward safely was not possible. And behind them, the field that had once been death ground for any Hive creatures was now choked with the unending mass of the swarm.

“Kaladrian!” Conrad called, “Magic!”

Once again glowing with power, Kaladrian stepped forward with both hands outstretched and calling out, “Get behind me!”

Idris moved back immediately and watched the Seekers do the same. Strangely, however, so did the drones and eaters that made up the bulk of the force. Idris saw a twinge in Kaladrian’s expression, a momentary confusion, before the built up spell released in a wave of power.

The stone pilings and low wall of the bridge seemed to act as a funnel and a barrier, sending the powerful attack straight forward but preventing many of the hive creatures on the sides from taking damage at all. The quick moving and - quick thinking? - insect men had as a group thrown themselves over the sides of the barriers out onto the safety of their living mat of drones.

Stolen story; please report.

Those in front had moved back with a coordination not possible to humans. Had it been men and women, they would have fallen over each other, become entangled, but with the bug men the entire force of them moved as one and only those in the frontmost rank took any damage at all.

Kaladrian, looking utterly shocked, began stepping backward. The symbols of power all over his armor faded away, and as if their retreat were a signal the bridge was once again filled with the returning force of insect monsters.

“They anticipated it…” Kaladrian said, “They were ready for me.”

“Well,” Conrad said, voice strained as he once again set to cutting and slashing everything in sight, “Surprise ‘em with something! Anything!”

“That attack nearly drained me!” Kaladrian shot back.

“I don’t care,” Conrad snarled in between strokes, “If you have to stuff your head up your ass just to find a quiet place to meditate and replenish! Do something!”

Idris, tired and beginning to feel his hope for their push across the bridge diminish, lost focus. At the back of the line he watched townspeople panic and fall, quickly dragged over the side of the bridge into the roiling mass of monsters. The adventurers weren’t faring much better. And in the middle of everything Eana stood, posture slumped, staff clutched in white knuckled fingers, torn no doubt among desires to help, to flee, to hide, to give up.

“What are we going to do?” she asked.

Seeing her then, Idris remembered his job and that, with their father gone, there was no one left to do it but him. He didn’t have the luxury of giving up, not when his sister needed him. He had to be her strength when she had none left to give.

“We keep fighting,” he said, forcing steel into his voice and gripping Eana's shoulder, making her stand straighter.

She gave him a forced smile, “Hate you, Idris.”

“Hate to love me, maybe,” he said back.

And then her face fell as her eyes fixed over his shoulder.

Pain tore through Idris, taking the breath from him entirely. His legs would have collapsed from the shock of it but something in him held him up. He looked down.

A spike protruded from his chest, low on his ribs and red with his blood. Suddenly it disappeared and inside the horrible pain Idris registered a single thought with no breath left in his body to give it voice.

It screamed in its overwhelming panic, “I’m dead! I’M DEAD!”

He collapsed to the ground, facedown. His strength was nothing to this. His body felt impossibly heavy, to the point that even turning over was too much. Above him he heard commotion.

“NO! If you cast you’ll kill us all!”

Kaladrian? Had to be. Then Eana.

“Turn him over! I have to see! I can do something!”

Idris felt her hands scrabble at him then pull away.

“Eana he’s gone! NO! CHAOS TAKE YOU DON’T DO IT”

“LET IT!” Eana shouted, “LET IT TAKE YOU ALL!”

Idris’s vision was going dark. He struggled to keep his eyes open but the only thing he saw below him was the planks of the bridge, and then… light!

“IT WON’T TAKE MY BROTHER!”

The light brightened as Eana screamed. Gold. Purple. Red. A confusing kaleidoscope of rainbow colors.

Idris felt something open inside him. It was like somebody shoved aside a curtain over a previously unknown window in a dark room, letting in the light.

This strange knowledge filled him and Idris could feel the warmth of the healing light, watched as his HP slowed its fall toward zero. But it wasn’t enough! Even as strength attempted to return it was sapped immediately. And for some reason, Eana had stopped healing him.

He still needed something if he was going to get out of this! More healing, more power, an edge, something! And if the fighting had pulled Eana away from him, he couldn’t afford to wait for her to come back.

His XP! It had grown massively during the fight. He scanned his available skills. Nothing in the Warrior class would help, his toughness had increased but it was passively doing everything it could to keep him alive as it was.

The general skills had held nothing before and that opening he had felt was more specific, tied to something else.

He found the Tome of Dungeoneering in his inventory and, in a panic, plunged his XP into it, learning the class. But a quick glance at the skills and the immediate knowledge of it granted to him by the tome showed him it was a waste. No help there.

Where was Eana!? His health was dropping, he was bleeding out and he had no strength yet to move let alone call out.

What else could he do? He had checked his Warrior class, his general skills, and now his new Dungeoneer class and all there was left was...