Page 57 of I Ran Away to Evil 3
Talking to myself helped. There was no one else to talk to about this kind of thing, and living alone was starting to take a toll on me.
The thought made me smile. A toll on a troll.
I stood up and walked over to flop face-first onto the bed. And then I heard it. Soldiers coming back down the west tower.
I tensed.
“At least she’s come out in time for the wedding,” a cheerful voice said, accompanied by the subtle clink of plate mail.
“You don’t actually think she was just cooling off some steam?” a woman’s voice said, incredulous. A third voice demanded. “Tully, you can’t be serious. They activated theArc Warden.”
Ah, Sir Tully was one of Julian’s party members. I could only assume his two companions were the same.
“What?” Tully asked. “A bunch of mercenaries tell us Julia’s in the port district and then the entire palace raids the place to find nothing—”
“They didn’t findnothing. They were attacked,” the woman interrupted. “Besides, of course they didn’t find Julia. She was back by then.”
“Proving my point. No one can portal anywhere within the Arc Warden,” Tully grumbled. “I’m at half the speed with my Heavy Armor class right now.”
The woman sounded exasperated when she explained, “She portaled inbeforethe Arc Warden, Tully.”
“I still can’t believe we missed whoever’s been portaling onto that bridge,again,” the third voice said sharply.
“You were the one who said it was probably just someone out for a walk returning to their rooms, Jeffry,” Tully reminded the third voice.
A fourth voice suggested, “Maybe it was Countess Julia both times?”
“You can only portal into the palace if you’re alreadyinthe palace,” the woman reminded them. “And we searchedeverywhere.”
“Obviouslynoteverywhere, if Julia showed up …” Tully’s voice trailed off. The voices had come and gone, and anything else they said was too hard to hear. I rolled over onto my back and covered my eyes.
Of coursethe palace noticed my comings and goings.
I had no idea what the Arc Warden was, and I didn’t care. After everything, I was so exhausted and sore that I couldn’t even be bothered to change my clothes …
I fell asleep like that, lying on top of the covers.
CHAPTER 32
A Game
Julian
It took over an hour to round up the mercenaries and meet back at the port gate.
Julian oversaw tracking each individual that’d been trapped on this side of the Arc Warden, and without abilities to boost their base speed, his higher stats gave him plenty of advantage. Unfortunately, Wendy and Hana arrived with no news of the celestial or her whereabouts.
Grand Duchess Calisto and Their Royal Highness Rowen of Peldeep had started the Arc Warden, summoning Dark Magician King Keith of Nilheim, Witch Agatha of Winter’s End, and Master Thomas of Servalt to take turns powering it until their search came to a close. Julian had to be the one to report through John’s shadow that they’d found everyonebutthe celestial. There had been a heated debate, but since Julia was home safe, his mother had stopped the Arc Warden and released the city.
No one was happy.
Before meeting in person with his mother, Julian brought John to his office to hear the full report and poured them both a stiff drink.
“While the Arc Warden was in effect, Protector Rufus and Minstrel Bronwynn helped the Black Brigade Knights detain the merchants outside the city and have retired to an inn half an hour down the road. They will return in the morning in time for the wedding.”
Julian nodded, glad to know they were safe.
John continued. “Julia was found on the bridge to the west wing with no memory of how she got there. She informed us that she was ambushed with a [Sleep] spell shortly after she flew off from the wedding rehearsal.”
