After the comfortable traveling with the escort earlier, a part of me was worried that it would feel especially rough having to…well, rough it again. As it turned out, only I seemed to be missing it, although I never verbalized such complaints. Flora and Tasha easily transitioned back to our previous standard of traveling, and we peacefully made our way closer to Deimos.

  Deimos was located on the southern side of the Meridiem River, Midgard’s longest river that cuts from the southeast of Midgard and mostly horizontally westward. To get there after leaving Brennan, the shortest and most direct route was to cross through some marshlands around the river. In those marshlands, a stone bridge was constructed over the narrowest part of the river.

  Fortunately, the direct route was the most common route, and there was a noticeable path leading from Deimos towards the marshlands, having been worn away through frequent travel over more than a century. That, and there were also occasional signposts indicating the estimated distance to either Brennan, the Meridiem Bridge, or the Bronze Territory. From that, it seems the signposts must not have been replaced in a long time. Upon seeing the signs, I also briefly thought back on what happened with the prisoner escape, but honestly, even after everything that happened, I just didn’t have much attachment to that matter. It was Tasha who really wanted to get involved, and she didn’t even say anything when we saw the signs.

  Less than a week later, we arrived at the Meridiem Marshes, and the Meridiem Bridge would be in sight just a few hours later. When we neared the bridge, I could finally see the Meridiem River. It was an unexpected sight, but upon seeing it, I know realize why crossing by boat was not a viable option. The Meridiem River didn’t just look like it was flowing quickly, but it looked as if it was literally frothing, and further down the river on the eastern side, I could faintly see a mix of white and yellow mist spraying out of the river. Was this the calmer part of the river?

  I cautiously brought my horse over to the bridge. Giant blocks were set into the ground to serve as the foundation on either side of the bridge, and the stone bridge arced up high above the river, being at least thirty feet above the water level at center of the bridge. I looked back down on the rapidly flowing, frothing river.

  “What’s wrong?” Tasha asked as I continued to stay rooted. “Aren’t we going to cross the bridge, dad?” I looked at her with a bit of confusion. You really do not have an ounce of concern about this river? You don’t even know how to swim!

  “Are you sensing something?” Flora asked with a bit of concern, as she scanned the surroundings around us. Really, you think this is perfectly normal as well? “Oh…is that the issue?” she asked while looking across the river. Better late than never, I guess. “Yes, I can see them now. There must be at least twenty people on the other side.”

  “What?” I blurted out. I strained my eyes and looked across the river, but couldn’t make anyone out, especially with the bridge and the tall grasses of the marshlands obstructing much of my vision. However, if Flora says she sees someone on the other side, I believe her. “What do the people look like? Are they armed?”

  “Um…I think they might be. Not sure about the weapons, but I think they are wearing armour. Do you see the same thing?” Flora asked, as if there was a chance I could see something she couldn’t.

  “I can’t see a thing, Flora,” I responded bluntly. She turned to face me, looking as if she had made a mistake. “No, Flora, I believe in what you are seeing. Just continue to describe what you see.”

  “Oh, okay.” Flora looked across the river again. “I think…probably leather armour.” Flora guided the horse over to another vantage point. “Oh, yes, I think I do see the weapons.”

  “What kind of weapons?”

  “I think I see bows and spears…blades as well. They also have wagons and horses.” I became much more alert after hearing that description.

  “And carriages? Do they have any carriages?” I asked, barely able to contain my excitement.

  “...I don’t see any.”

  “Are you sure, Flora? Look again!” No, it must be there. These people must be those bastards that were probably stuck here trying to figure out what do next.

  “...I don’t see any…” Flora, use your eyes!

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  “Are you absolutely sure, Flora?! Can you really not see any carriages? W- what about hats? Do you see anyone wearing a green hat?!”

  “Dad!” Tasha suddenly shouted at me. “Stop yelling at Flora!” Tasha’s words cut through my obsession and I was able to take a second to calm myself down. I was now composed enough to even consider lecturing Tasha about yelling at someone to stop yelling, but after seeing Flora still desperately scanning across the river, I knew this was not the time.

  “Flora…” I began in my apologetic tone.

  “I…I’m sorry, I still don’t see anything else.” I can’t even apologize properly.

  “It’s okay. It’s probably some other group.” Flora continued to look across the river. I rode my horse next to hers. “Flora, stop looking. Let’s discuss our next plan.” I tried to gently grab her shoulder to get her to stop, but Tasha beat me to it. Flora turned back around and Tasha smiled at her.

  “Good work spotting them, Flora! What do you think we should do next?” Tasha asked energetically. Despite being younger, it’s times like this where Tasha seems more like an older sister.

  “Yes, good work, Flora. Let’s discuss what we should do now.” All I did was parrot Tasha, yet that resulted in an expression of much greater relief from Flora. It made me feel somewhat guilty about how much Flora seems to care about what I think and say.

  We discussed whether or not we should still cross the bridge, and although I still had some concerns about the river, that wasn’t considered a factor for Flora or Tasha at all. Tasha reasoned that we weren’t going to be in the water at all, and Flora said she didn’t sense there was any risk of danger from crossing the bridge. On the topic of danger, I also asked if she got any sense of that from the group of people on the other side. She said she did not, however, that didn’t mean they were friendly, either. It just meant that she didn’t think they were currently hostile.

  If we were not willing to take the risk, the next shortest route to get to Deimos would be to head west to go around the river. Attempting to swim or cross the river otherwise was something that we all agreed was not a feasible option. In the end, we voted on what to do. Tasha immediately voted to cross the bridge and fight them all if we needed to. Flora said she would vote for whatever I wanted to do. Tasha didn’t seem very happy about that, and to be honest, I would have liked it if Flora would vote for herself. I decided to just treat it as abstaining instead, and I thought about how much extra time the detour would add. I couldn’t be sure about the exact time, but it would probably add on at least another week. In the end, I agreed with Tasha that we should cross the bridge, but that we should not just automatically fight them even if they are hostile. I told Flora that I trusted her senses and that if she gets a very dangerous vibe or she notices that the group has a lot of masterwork weapons and armour, that she should tell us all to retreat immediately.

  They agreed (a bit begrudgingly so for Tasha), and we rode slowly across the bridge. I looked back and forth from Flora and to the road ahead of us, ready to react at any moment. Flora kept looking ahead but said nothing, even as we reached the other side of the bridge. Now that we were on the other side, I could now see that further ahead on the road, that a lot of grass was cleared away and there was a fairly large clearing. In that clearing were several wagons and horses, as well as at least twenty men wearing leather armour. A couple of them had spears, but most of them had various kinds of blades or swords sheathed in a scabbard either on their waist, or just lying on the ground beside them, as many of them were seated. It was only when one of the men near the front of the clearing noticed us and called out to the others, that some of them got up and started moving towards us. I looked over to Flora, but she still said nothing. Does that mean they are not hostile, or just that she doesn’t think they are that dangerous?

  We stopped our horses outside the clearing as the one who first called out to the others walked over towards us. Behind him, I saw a couple men pick up their bows and each nock an arrow, but they didn’t point them at us. The man walking towards us had a spear, and he stopped in front of us without leaving the clearing. Since Flora still didn’t give me a signal, I decided to dismount from my horse.

  “Who are you?” he asked.

  “My name is Braith.” I was a bit surprised by the initial question, and ended up answering reflexively.

  “What? Braith?” The man looked genuinely confused by my response. “I’ve never heard that name before.”

  “Yeah, I get that a lot.” The man looked even more confused now. “Is there a problem?” I asked. The spearman seemed to snap out of it now.

  “Are you a mercenary?” he asked. I thought for a bit if I wanted to lie.

  “No.” He looked from me over to Flora and Tasha, and then back to me.

  “Are you three together?”

  “ Yeah.”

  “Okay, if you are looking to pass through here, you must pay a toll.”

  “A toll?” Nobody mentioned that there was a toll to using the bridge. Then again, maybe that’s just common sense here? “How much is the toll?”

  “It is three silver per person, five silver per horse, and ten silver per wagon or carriage. So, for all three of you and your two horses…nineteen silver.” I looked at him as if he was joking. Upon seeing my expression, he furrowed his brow. “Three, six, nine…fourteen, nineteen…yes, it is nineteen silver. Do you think I counted wrong?”

  “No, but…are you sure the toll is that high? Nineteen silver is about how much a labourer can earn in a year.”

  “Do you not have enough to pay?” he asked loudly. The archers in the back aimed their arrows at me. Oh, I see. Despite all the fights I have been through, I have yet to actually fight against a group of actual bandits. Well, I guess the True-Bloods were like bandits, even if they didn’t think of themselves as such. I took a quick glance over at Flora and saw that she also just drew her bow and had already nocked an arrow. This surprised me in two ways. First, I’m surprised the enemy archers didn’t already shoot, and two, I’m surprised Flora still hasn’t said anything. Is this her way of saying that the three of us could easily take on the whole group? Are they all just regular human bandits?

  I started looking over the positions of all the other bandits, preparing what my attack route would be after charging up my bolts, but then, a man with blonde hair suddenly staggered out from behind one of the wagons.

  “Ah, what’s going on?” His speech was slightly slurred, and he walked with a slightly unsteady gait. From behind him, I thought I saw a bottle rolling on the ground. He wore leather armour like the rest of them, but he didn’t seem to have any weapons on him. He also looked to be fidgeting with something in his hands. Half of the bandits turned their attention towards the drunken-looking man as he continued to walk forwards. He looked over in our direction, and then he seemed to straighten up a bit more before continuing his walk. As he got closer, he took what he was fidgeting with and placed it neatly on his head. It was a greenish felt cap.