Page 82 of I Ran Away to Evil 2
Donna chuffed in agreement. The mare turned her long neck to eye the beastman and blew out of her nostrils at Rufus before returning to face the front. Rufus closed his mouth, holding back the reply he’d been about to give. Instead, he said, “As always, you’re right. Thank you.”
His tail was still giving away the effect her words had had on him, and Brownie let the following silence build between them as they carried on downthe road. It was a slightly awkward quiet, but it wasn’t bad. What was bad was how close she’d come to complimenting her way into confessing, to outright telling Rufus she had a thing for him … Worse, that she now realized shedefinitelyhad a thing for the beastman.
Irrevocably. It was there.
And based on everything so far, she thought he might like her back. But she wasn’t sure. Yet.
Maybe he was just being nice to her. Maybe he tookallhis travel companions out for dinner. Or not. She already knew he complimented everyone equally, so what if she was his favorite bard? That just meant he liked hermusic.
A memory flashed.If he hurt her. The words Rufus had so vehemently spoken in Thistlecrick. The words that made her toes curl and her heartbeat quicken. The words that had made her start thinking about him as somethingmore. He was handsome, his voice was smooth and lovely, and they shared so much in common. But even so … their dates so far had been circumstantial. Their entire situation was circumstantial.
Some small part of her mind told her she should throw caution to the wind and just ask the beastman then and there. If Rufus was traveling with her all the way to Peldeep, they were bound to run into her family—and her cousins would see right through her in a heartbeat.
That gave her a good point of reference. Peldeep. If she hadn’t outright asked the beastman to court her by the time they reached Peldeep, then the least she could do was ask him to let her lavish glorious pets on his soft fur. Maybe he could be persuaded to turn into full beast form again so she could rub his tummy.
The inappropriate thoughts kept her distracted until Donna interrupted her with a loud snort. There, up in the sky high above, was a hat.
Neither Brownie nor Rufus could fly, so they simply watched the accessory bob about in the air until it crested a hill out of sight.
They shared a look, and Rufus offered, “I bet if we …”
Brownie shook her head. Even one so usually ready for adventure knew that chasing flying hats was an effort intime. “That sounds like a lot of work, and we are coming up on the border soon.”
Just a quarter hour at Donna’s breakneck horsepower speed had taken them across most of Servalt. Her horse raced faster than the wind when she wanted to. Usually, Donna insisted on traveling at their current slow pace. When her bonded horse wasn’t being chased by ruffians, she enjoyed a nice casual saunter.
A few minutes later, Donna sent Brownie another nudge through their bond. Something was up ahead. The bard immediately spotted the reason her horse wanted her attention, and it wasn’t the hat or anything else she was expecting to see on a quiet Servalt county road.
A familiar figure was standing in a triumphant pose on the road. They were facing the opposite direction to the wagon, but Brownie would know those long strands of braided green hair anywhere.
“Rufus?”
“Yes?” The beastman was obviously distracted with his own thoughts and not paying attention to the road ahead.
“I found out where Gerda the Bridge Troll went.”
CHAPTER 49
Nothing to See Here
Rufus
Gerda the Bridge Troll had become a common castle name in recent months.
The woman had come out of nowhere, conquered all of the bridges in the Dark Enchanted Forest, and become a powerful monstress in her own right.
Seemingly overnight.
In all honesty, I’d thought that everyone was just too busy and not paying attention, leaving her many years to wander around mastering her bridge magic. There weren’t even that many bridges in the Dark Enchanted Forest that I knew of. The Great Road going east to west had a bridge on either end, and the Great Road going north to south had a bridge on either end as well. So, at least four.
“What I want to know,” I told Bronwynn as we slowly approached the troll, “is what she’s doing atthisbridge … I don’t think she has the permit to make troll bridges outside of the Dark Enchanted Forest.”
In fact, Gerda had recently been audited because she didn’t have permits for most of the bridges she controlledinsidethe Dark Enchanted Forest. She was completely out of hand. Keith had raised concerns about the troll on more than one occasion, and I was still confused how Gerda had managed to slip an enchantment onto the drawbridge of the Black Fortress without anyone noticing.
If Gerda weren’t one of Henrietta’s closest friends, I had a feeling things would’ve gone a lot worse for the troll.
Donna’s hooves and the rattling of the wagon weren’t exactly quiet, and the second we were within earshot, Gerda spun to face us. Her small tusks peeked out from her lower lip, and her faun-brown eyes flashed with annoyance. The look faded when she realized just who was approaching.
“Brownie!” The troll broke out into a welcoming smile, and she hurried off the bridge before we got there. Donna pulled off to the side of the road and settled in to watch. She was very like her mistress that way.
