Page 146 of I Ran Away to Evil 3
“I didn’t know what you’d like,” I said, bringing out everything I had prepared for this day. “But I hope something catches your fancy?”
I started with four loaves of bread, sliced lengthwise and toasted: cheesy garlic, cranderberry, honey nut, and plain rye. Besides that, I served four whole-roasted floofpoof birds, seven pounds of flying pig bacon, eight floofpoof bird eggs scrambled and topped with a drizzle of maple smoke barbecue sauce, a serving bowl with ten cups of warm rice, an open barrel of black coffee, and a bucket of cherries jubilee.
I also brought out a tray of twelve warm cinnamon buns and put them off to the side to cool. I’d stored them right out of the oven.
“This looks delicious, troll.” Feliwyn reached out with her claws and daintily picked up the bowl of plain rice. After smelling the dish, the dragon gave a pleased smile and then ate the entire thing, bowl and all. “I’mfamished.”
“May I introduce you, Your Eminence, to Gerda the Bridge Troll?” Julian said. He reached out and placed a hand on mine. “She is an oracle who has been helping Valaria prevent disaster while you were in slumber.”
“I see.” Feliwyn’s eyes dropped to where our hands were linked.
“I’ve only been here for five, but I’m happy to tell you everything I’ve learned since.” I leaned in close to the dragon, jumping right into it. “Princess Penelope eloped with a bear beastman who runs an inn and tavern in Gren’s Keep! All of the royals are as they were except for Drendil, but Regent Havork is holding down the fort. Their Royal Highness Rowen is thinking of abdicating—and Guild Master Warren Jones finally retired. Now, his assistant has captured his heart. Literally.”
“Really?” Feliwyn smiled slowly. “Do you know where he kept it hidden?”
“The Temple of Justice,” I explained, knowing this bit of lore from my playthrough of Bastian’s route combined with the oracle of Warren’s freedom. “She had to wait for theexactmoment his contract broke, then she could steal his heart and summon Warren for herself. That’s not the only love story either … King Keith got married in this very field.”
Feliwyn froze. “Keith is wed?”
I’d deliberately waited a bit to tell her, to help ease the news. “And Chloe.”
I knew from the slitted eyes and intense look that Feliwyn was deciding how to feel about that. I pressed on, adding a helpful, “Rufus is only engaged.”
“Any children?”
“No plans yet.”
The feeling of a knife on the back of my throat subsided as the dragon withdrew a bit of her intent. “Good.” Then she stuffed the entire tray of cinnamon buns into her mouth, threw back the coffee, and shook herself. Wings spread wide enough to block out the sky in front of us.
“I will remember you, Miss Gerda.” The dragon nodded at my date. “Julian, give my regards to your mother.”
With that, the dragon launched herself into the sky.
Julian lifted my hand and kissed the back of it. “Don’t do it.”
“What?” I stopped, my other hand already outstretched toward the dragon’s picnic blanket, a season-three treasure if ever I saw one. “She won’t even remember it’s gone.”
Three Weeks into the North
“You never said there would be stairs.”
There were an endless number of steps stretching ahead, and while I had super troll abilities, it didn’t stop the stairs from being an annoyance.
Julian smiled at my grumbling. “You could ask Jeffry to borrow the amulet—”
“Not happening!” Jeffry declared, swooping past them. Great eagle wings carried him on the winds as he scouted ahead.
“—or not.”
“It’s a four-day walk to the end of the canyon, and four days back,” John told me. He was cheating, sending a shadow along while he remained behind and then shadow walking over whenever it reached the perk’s distance limitation. “Or cross it this way.”
“Who even made these stairs?” I asked, dejected.
“The stairs were first constructed during Duchess Emelan’s rule.” Jeffry flew down and landed at the front of the party, his wings folded in. Never one to resist educating someone, he launched into it. “Her wife, Duchess Yulia, created the canyon during one of their battles. The pair were considered as passionate in hate as in love, and took to the Ice Fields whenever they needed to settle a quarrel.”
“How—” I began, but Julian answered, “They were both level eighty by the time they retired.”
Jeffry cleared his throat at their interruptions and continued. “It took four years to complete the project, and legend says they never even stepped foot on the path themselves.”
