Page 76 of I Ran Away to Evil
“Julia is on her way here to see you,” he told her. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. We thought you might try and paint the castle again.”
Chloe deflated a bit, grumbling, “You owe me one.”
“I do.” Keith nodded.
“I don’t,” Rufus teased. “I was just doing as I was told.”
Keith pushed up his glasses to rub the bridge of his nose. Chloe glared at the beastman.
Suddenly, there was a ruckus outside the main castle entrance, and they all turned toward the castle’s double doors. They burst open violently, one heavy wooden door hanging slightly off its hinges.
“Chloe!” A woman taller than a bridge troll but shorter than a giant dwarfess ran up to the necromancer and swept her into a twirling embrace. “My love!”
“Julia?!” Chloe couldn’t help but laugh. “Hey, watch the armor.”
Keith and Rufus looked away politely as the two reunited. Rufus leaned in close to Keith and said, “You know, shecoulduse that favor to paint the castle pink.”
“She wouldn’t.”
“But shecould.”
“If shedid,” Keith surmised, “then maybe Drendil wouldn’t recognize us and just march right on past.”
“Ha! As if anyone from Drendil would make it this far.” Rufus chuckled.
“What about the two sock thieves we found loitering at dawn in Henrietta’s wardrobe?”
Rufus scoffed. “They don’t count. They aren’t a part of the army.”
“How are things coming along with them?” Keith peeked; Chloe and Julia were still passionately saying hello. Julia was the only woman that Keith had met that could be more … justmore, than Chloe. At the same time, the countess really grounded his necromancer—when Chloe wasn’t having an existential crisis that Julia might visit, that is.
“I’ve mostly broken the first.” Rufus shrugged. “She was instructed to kill Henrietta and/or retrieve all of her Drendil possessions.”
“And they assumed everything would be in her sock drawer?” Keith asked incredulously. “Or that she was hiding in her closet?”
Rufus shrugged. “Maybe that’s where she kept things at home. I haven’t gotten that far yet. Honestly, I don’t think I’ll properly break them before the war. Not if we want useable intelligence. And I’m not willing to do that.”
“I see.” And he did see; torture gave poor results. Rufus’s techniques could give actionable information, but took much longer.
“Your Viciousness! General Rufus! Greetings and good fortune.” Julia hailed us. The two werefinallyfinished. As was expected, the countess immediately got to work. “Where do you want me in the war efforts?”
He respected that in a person.
“First, I’ll have Chloe show you to your room,” I told her. “She onlyjustfound out you were coming, so there might be a bit of … remodeling left to do. To suit your tastes.”
The second they were finished, Keith was sure that Chloe would tear Julia’s room apart and put it back together again. At least now she would only do it once, and not every day leading up to her visit.
Julia blushed slightly at that. The dark skin of her ears turning a ruddy pink.
“I’m sorry I didn’t properly call ahead,” she apologized.
“You could have at least told me,” Chloe pouted prettily. She was still holding Julia’s hand.
“For the second,” Keith continued, “I’ll have you defending Chloe. I don’t want you involved in the greater war effort; that could be politically costly for your mother.”
“I don’t need—” Chloe began hotly.
Keith cut off his necromancer, “Since she’ll bebusyrunning around resurrecting people.”
