Page 56 of I Ran Away to Evil
The catkin bowed eloquently, taking off his hat as he did so. “Princess Henrietta, it is an honorrr to meet you.” He gave the motley crew behind him a hard stare until most of them realized he expected them to bow as well. Then he smiled back at me. “What brings Yourrr Highness this way?”
“Greetings and well met.” I lifted the crate holding the eggs. “I’m delivering these on diplomatic business for Ke—His Royal Viciousness.”
He bowed again. “Where are my manners! I am Alistair, and this is my adventuring party, the Pounce Protectorate.”
“Adventuring?”
“Why, yes!” Alistair exclaimed. “There are three dungeons in the Dark Enchanted Forest, and so we have a very active adventuring guild.”
“THREE?” How had I never heard of this? How had this never come up? “Where are they?”
“The Hollow Gorge and Deep Shoals Dungeons are in Gren’s Keep terrritory; Green Oak is beside the elven capital,” Alistair kindly explained. “We don’t offer access to adventurers from other kingdoms because they are only accessed through our home cities … andyouknow how people get with the Dark Enchanted Forest. I shouldn’t say that’s always the case, though; Grand Duchess Calisto sometimes sends us a batch of herrr adventurers to help train them up.”
“Excuse me, Miss—Ah, Your Highness,” the first beastkin who’d approached me earlier spoke up. “Is it true what the rumors say?”
Alistair tutted at the man. “You shouldn’t believe in rrrumors, Cory.”
I cleared my throat. “Well, I challenged King Keith …” All eyes looked at me expectantly. “… Just not to a duel,” I admitted. “I wastechnicallysent to kill him.”
“Rrreally?” Alistair cocked an eyebrow. “And did you?”
“Kill him? Of course not!He’s the Dark Lord.”
The Pounce Protectorate nodded knowingly. Alistair cocked his head. “So did he kill you?”
“No,” I replied. “His necromancer was still on holiday.”
More nods of understanding. Alistair gave me an appraising look and concluded, “Alright. Thank you, Princess. Shall we see you at the upcoming battle?”
“Of course.” The fact that he hadn’t pressed for more information made me relax my shoulders. “Does that mean I’m almost at the turnoff for Gren’s Keep?”
I peeked down the road, but only saw more woodland and overhanging tree branches.
“Sorry, Princess, but our city is closerrr to the western borderrr.” Alistair frowned, considering. “If you walk there at yourrr current pace, it’ll take you almost two full days just to rrreach the connection at the Great Road, and then it’s another half day’s walk.”
“I see.” Perhaps it was worth running to the dwarves just so I would have the time for a visit to the beastmen capital. “Thank you, Alistair. I think I’ll stop by on my way back. There should be enough time to spend a day or two in Gren’s Keep before the war.”
“If you hurry.” Alistair nodded. “While visiting Gren’s Keep, be sure to swing by the Damp Gizzard.Despite the name, it’s a local favorite. We are heading there ourselves.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“One last thing.” Alistair leaned in and asked, “How good are you at rrriddles?”
“Fair.”
The catkin smiled and tipped his hat. “Then you should be alright. Farewell, Princess. It was lovely to make yourrr acquaintance.”
The rest of the Pounce Protectorate seemed disappointed that our conversation had ended without more juicy gossip about Keith or myself, or Keith and myself … but I ignored their puppy-dog eyes and continued on my way with a polite goodbye.
With newfound purpose, I clutched the crate more securely and kicked off, activating [Quick Step].
CHAPTER 36
You’re the Dark Overlord!
Keith
Keith stared hard at his plate of bimbleberry scones. Very hard.
