Page 149 of I Ran Away to Evil 3
He shook his head. “Oh, she’s checked.”
“Wisdom debuff?” Gerda asked in all seriousness.
“Gerda, love”—he paused—“wisdom isn’t an attribute.”
She paused. “Ah, of course. Intelligence? Perception?”
This wasn’t the first time something like that had happened. His troll had strange mannerisms, created foreign foods, and sometimes used incomplete or even false logic. He didn’t know how different the trolls were … but he had long suspected it wasn’t just because she was a troll.
He was thinking she might not even be from Valaria. His suspicions had started when she’d told Feliwyn that she’d only been here for five years, and he’d only found more clues in the weeks since.
There were two other continents … a year’s sail away. Through monster-infested waters.
Maybe her husband had been so terrible that she’d literally chosen to make the journey to get away from him—or sent a bridge in her place. As many scenarios as he could imagine, he hadn’t brought it up; if she wanted to tell him, she would have.
“Chloe has checked foreverything,” Julian told his troll. “The only thing we can’t check is if he annoyed Luck somehow and she’s doing it to him on purpose.”
“I can hear you.” Sir Tully sighed. “You know that, right?”
Eagle wings sprouted from Jeffry’s back as he looked between John and Gerda. “Who am I flying to the other side?”
John stepped forward. “I’ll go.”
“I might be able to make a new one,” Pram said. The ice mage considered the area. “I just need to remember the right spell.”
“Don’t tell me you could have been making bridges with ice magic all along!” Gerda accused.
“Alright.” Pram nodded. “I won’t.”
The selkie eyed the expanse before lifting his hands.
“By the Frost Fae right in … No,” Pram started then shook his head. “By the Fae Frost, Strike Fast out of Sight, [Ice Arch].” On the last word, ice magic burst forth from the mage’s hands in an arc and hit the other side of the divide. He carefully dropped the arch on this side to the ground and then used another spell to freeze it fast.
He looked up at them with a smile. “I did it!”
Julian walked over and put a foot on the ice bridge. It was as wide as he was, and didn’t shift under his foot.
“Here, let me.” Gerda placed a hand on his shoulder. “I’m the bridge master, after all.”
He nodded and stepped back. Gerda bent down and touched the bridge. “My abilities say it’s a bridge, but it’s not stable. Once I capture it, I can fix that.”
She closed her eyes, and a bluish teal aura settled onto one corner of the structure. She reached out and touched the other corner to set another bridgepoint before standing. She made her way across slowly, the distance from here to there about forty feet.
When she was just over halfway across, the other side of the bridge shifted and promptly slipped off the mountain’s edge.
Gerda let out an annoyed curse as she dropped. “Oh cr—”
“Jeffry,” Julian instructed, the half elf already in motion. He flew after the troll.
The ice bridge hit a jagged peak jutting from the mountainside, broke into various pieces, and ricocheted into Jeffry, who barely managed to dodge in time.
Gerda didn’t notice their rescue attempt—or didn’t trust them, and portaled away.
Pram looked crestfallen. “I’m sorry; I thought—”
“It’s fine, Pram. These things happen,” Julian said, pretending that his heart wasn’t racing in a terrified panic. “Let’s head back to the save point.”
CHAPTER 81
