Page 78 of I Ran Away to Evil 2
After the song and dance, I finished sending an update to my fellow bardic lovers. Then I pulled out a small trinket golem linked to the Dark Lord. Even with minimal magical theory, I could tell the connection was faint, and it would take a great deal of mana to use it at this distance … I was tempted to activate it anyway; Keith had an almost endless supply of mana.
Still, anything I had to say could wait until I crossed the threshold of the Dark Enchanted Forest. If we hurried tomorrow, we might make it across the border, and if Keith was in a hurry, he could send Gimtak to collect the treaties with the imp’s [Teleportation] skill.
Then I could sit back and enjoy a lovely trip with Minstrel Bronwynn.
I went to sleep with thoughts of the redhaired half giantess on my mind. I also woke up with dreams of the redhaired half giantess on my mind.
I definitely had a problem.
“I’m ready! And I’ve got the workings of a new song I’d love to practice … if listening to me on repeat for a few hours won’t drive you absolutely up the wall?”
“No, that sounds wonderful.” And it was.
We packed up and headed back the way we came—faster, since we wouldn’t need to detour off the main road to visit Duke Wyldon’s castle.
I didn’t have a [Patient] connection to the thousands of people in Servalt’s capital city … but it didn’t matter; the information from my passive skills still fed me information from [Empathy] and [Keen Senses]. The moment we were good and clear of the walls, the constant hit on my notifications tab started to show.
And the light music playing beside me made it easier than ever to leaf through them.
For some reason, when the last notification had been processed, and I was sitting there surrounded by the sound of soft lyre harp music, I had to resist the urge to laugh. Or cry. The relief of completing my task, the sheer weight of everything, just fell away as we rolled over hills on a steady road.
I was happier in that moment than I’d been in a very, very long time.
It didn’t hurt that I was getting to hear Bronwynn create a new song, one that even Henrietta hadn’t heard yet. I knew; I’d asked. The song she was working on was a love story. A lively piece with a catchy chorus.
Thia of Foxgrove was pretty and sweet,
she kept the herb garden; she kept the ferns neat.
And any who traveled through Ironhold pass
would stop for a poultice, a cream, or liltgrass.
“So? How do you like it?” The voice of the minstrel beside me dragged me from my thoughts. She must have seen that I wasn’t immersed in my character sheet and logs any longer and was finally free to talk again.
“It’s beautiful,” I said, meeting her eyes. She was blushing a bit but had a wide and confident grin. I added, “But I love all of your music, so maybe I’m not the right person to ask?”
“You are the perfect person to ask!” Bronwynn shook her head at my supposed nonsense. “So—Oh, here it comes.”
“What?” I followed her gaze ahead of us. We were a few hours out before we reached the next town, and the countryside was a mix of tiny farms and rolling fields with a patch of forest here and there. The Sumbrian Empire had spread from their thick forests in the south, claiming these lands for agriculture many centuries past, and it was still a major exporter of berries and vegetables to the rest of the continent.
Which meant the hooded figures ahead of us probably weren’t simple down-on-their-luck farmers who’d turned to highway robbery.
CHAPTER 46
Fluffy and Soft and Wonderful
Brownie
“And here we go again,” Brownie muttered.
Rufus growled beside her, claws springing from his paws, long and vicious looking. His hackles raised, and she was about to tell him it was alright to let her handle things when he stood up in the wagon and announced, “I am no mere merchant but Commander General Rufus of the Dark Enchanted Forest. If you wish to walk away with your lives, you should do sonow.”
Brownie counted seven masked and hooded figures on the actual road, and three with some sort of [Obfuscate] skill off to the right. There were no bushes, no trees, and no buildings to hide behind, but they did stand in some overgrown grass, which was more than enough to activate most hiding skills.
She sighed.
“We know who you are,” a raspy voice called out from the middle of the group as a single tall figure stepped forward, pointing a long pike at them. Donna didnotlike spears or pikes, and the mare shifted a couple times on her feet. Brownie sent as much calm as she could to the horse through their bond … but Brownie also knew that nothing was going to save that man if Donna decided to act.
