Page 188 of I Ran Away to Evil
As I rolled, I swung Jacqueline wide one-handed; a risky move, but itdidcut the tip off the spiked whip as moustache man was picking himself up from the fall.
One of the horse handlers hit me with a throwing star as I stood. It did little to no damage, but it pinched. I bit the star and pulled it out of my shoulder, dropping it to the side. My [Resist Poison] perk activated again.
Knight Commander Havork stayed on his horse and just shook his head. “I’m afraid I was not tasked with keeping your guards safe, merely escorting the princess.”
“One chance to run away!” I told the remaining guards, reassured by the knight’s inaction.
No one paid me any mind, and the moustache man attacked me with his whip again. I charged him at full speed, ducking under the strike and following the whip back. I watched his confidence turn to worry as I got within arm’s reach. He jumped back, activating a skill that sent him elegantly leaping across the field.
Two pouches sailed through the air from the side, aimed at my legs. I bent my knees and, despite the biting pain in my nicked thigh, backflipped out of the way. The tiny packets exploded in a plume of red smoke that made my eyes tingle even at a distance. I landed beside the horse handler who’d thrown them.
His defense lacked refinement, and I went right through him to get to the next handler, a man with both arms transformed into giant badger paws; a shifter.
The flautist was screaming something again, but this time, I was entirely focused on not dying and missed it.
The halfling with the outsize sword [Charged], which meant she’d be at me in seconds.
I only needed seconds.
The shifter swiped his badger paws at my throat, and everything slowed as I moved my head to the side and activated [Death Parry]. A claw caught my ear. Jacqueline came up, and my sword met the halfling’s as she struck. The bladesslid down each other, and I flicked my wrist just enough to open a path. The halfling’s blade cut into the shifter instead of her intended target.
“You’ll pay for this.” The halfling pulled free her blade and resumed her stance.
“Or,” I offered, placing the carriage to my back, “I just pay you now to go away?”
“Don’t listen to her,” the flautist yelled, “and you can have the shares of the fallen.”
“No deal, Princess.” The halfling grinned. “I’ll get paidplentyby the marquess.”
I was tired of going easy … and in my peripheral [Sword Aura], I saw the whipper running back into the fray.
I missed a sentient Dark Enchanted Forest who took care of stragglers. I wanted to gohome.
The halfling swung at me, and a whip cracked beside my head, but I dodged each blow and tried to attack back. I positioned the moustache man and the halfling in line with each other.
I executed my [Aura Blade], swinging Jacqueline in an arc and sending energy slashing across the landscape. The halfling went down for good, and the whipper just barely managed to survive. I took a deep breath and readied myself for another attack. Our eyes locked … and he promptly ran away.
“That’s it.” The flautist hopped down from the carriage and took a step along the side of its ruined frame toward us. “If you want something doneright, you have to do it—”
A heavy set of Veralyn’s Enchanted Restraint Manacles came down on his head as he walked past the hole in the carriage.
The man shook from the force of the blow, dazed.
“That’s for my beloved Suzette!” Brownie announced, brandishing my manacles threateningly from the hole. Then she jumped down and applied her entire weight on an elbow to the man’s forehead.
He dropped like a stone.
CHAPTER 114
Molten Ash Vane
Keith
“So, what now?” Keith asked the marquess after his future in-laws were taken care of. “You drag me to the council and put on your little show?”
The marquess laughed. “Wouldn’t you like that. No, no. I’m just waiting for aspecialdelivery. I’m patient. It’ll take a few days for my bride to reach home, so I’m in no rush.”
“I wonder,” Keith said. “Did she say yes?”
