Page 191 of I Ran Away to Evil 2
“What about you, Brownie?” Henrietta waggled her eyebrows, glancing at the bard’s ring finger. “How are things going with you and Rufus?”
“You mean aside from you hiring him to stalk me?” Brownie asked with pretend sweetness.
The queen had the grace to look bashful. “Technically, I was sending him to prove your innocence—which hedid.”
“That he did,” Brownie smiled warmly and then flashed everyone her left hand. “And I’d say we are doing just fine.”
“Is that?!” Henrietta leaned forward to admire the ring, while Lady Amy said, “Oh my, congratulations Brownie!”
At that point, Gerda hurried into the pub. She was wearing a white dress with beautiful magnolia-print flowers on the hem of the skirt and the same flowers woven into a crown on top of her loose flowing green hair. Brownie had never seen the troll’s hair down before, and it fell like tight waves from the braids all the way down to her thighs. Henrietta was also dressed up for the day, wearing a light blue summer dress and matching bow in her hair. Brownie was wearing a red dress and vest, with her lyre harp on a strap hung over her shoulder.
The troll pulled up a chair to a chorus of welcomes. “So, what did I miss?”
“Brownie got engaged to Rufus, Lady Amy got the go-ahead from the spirit of the Dark Enchanted Forest to enjoy the festival instead of standing around praying all day, and I am happily married,” Henrietta paraphrased.
“His Viciousness made a door connecting their rooms.” Brownie laughed. “How about you, Gerda?”
“I’m doing alright.” The troll sighed. “I don’t carehowmuch money it’s going to cost me; I’m not taking a single step onto my dumb bridge until after the festival.”
The rest of them shared a look.
Henrietta reached out and patted the troll woman on the arm. “That bad?”
“I had to reinforcesixbridges so they wouldn’t float away in the floods, andactuallyhold off a young lord from Sumbria who was determined to make it to the festival. When I told him he was going to have to wait for the repairs first, he accused me of trying to eat him or something.” The troll rubbed her temple. “I barely managed to stabilize the bridge and magic him a riddle before he tried to run pass me. The bridge almost collapsed under us!”
“Wow,” Henrietta commiserated. “You never use your riddle magic, so I can imagine it must have been dreadful.”
“Andworse!” Gerda dragged a hand down her green face, careful of her tusks. “He couldn’t solve it!”
“What was the riddle?” Lady Amy leaned forward, intrigued.
“I was angry and gave him a harder one,” the bridge troll admitted, looking sheepish.
“What Binds the Day to the Sun,
And Turns out Night into Space,
What Holds the Stars in the Sky,
What keeps the Moon in her place.”
The table was quiet, though Brownie thought she knew. Lady Amy asked the question, so she answered first. “The gods?”
Gerda shook her head.
Brownie smiled, and so did Henrietta. They shared a knowing look, and both said, “Gravity.”
The bard didn’t want to say that it was actually pretty easy if you had any experience with gravity magic, butsheonly had that experience because overcoming gravity-based traps was a part of her assassin training.
“If everyone’s done eating.” Henrietta stood up. She gripped her hand and gave one excited fist pump. “Then let’s go to the festival! And don’t think you’re off the hook Brownie, I still want to hear everything about your proposal!”
CHAPTER 117
There’s Mia Now
Rufus
The only thing that made marching through the Hollow bearable was the fact that being commander general was noticeable enough for people to give me space. There were more than just elves in the Hollow today, and the rest of the forest visitors were respectful of my title.
