Page 32 of I Ran Away to Evil #3

A Toll on a Troll

Gerda

I stepped out onto the bridge for the second time that evening.

Julia was still asleep, so I carefully put her down and straightened her into a comfortable position. The railings would prevent her from rolling off the sides, and someone would find her soon.

[Warning! Your Mana has dropped below 10%]

I immediately popped a mana potion and downed it. No sense in messing with fate and getting caught unprepared. Once that was done, I dropped the empty bottle back into my storage ring and crouched down to do a quick check on Julia.

She didn’t appear to have any obvious injuries, though her wrists were rubbed red from the manacles. King Keith was the master crafter who’d created most of the Veralyn’s Enchanted Restraint Manacles on the continent … so I was sure he’d have a way to free the Paladin of Light from hers.

Her foot twitched as I debated pouring a health potion on her—just in case—and I jumped back in surprise. She was stirring, and that meant I had two choices: escape before anyone realized I’d saved her, or stay and claim the glory of rescuing the damsel in distress.

I ran away.

Listen, I knew there were guards stationed about the palace; some of them were even patrolling the larger sky bridges that stretched above and below me. And there were three ravens flitting about the grounds that could be anyone’s familiars.

I knew that , but I took my chances.

Instead of bolting, I walked calmly to the tower, opened the door, and let myself in.

My timing was perfect; I had barely closed the door behind me when I heard Julia draw a sharp breath and try to sit up. My hands were shaking.

Holding my skirts, I fast walked down the stairs to my room.

My Perception was on high alert, and I could hear things behind the walls around me.

A shallow breath, a music box, and the faint sounds of someone enjoying company all came through to me as I made my descent.

There was the sound of pounding feet on the stairs above and below me, but I knew I was going to make it.

I was safe in my room before anyone crossed my path.

Leaning my back against my door, I slid to the floor and tried to rub my hands together to calm myself down. I waited there for a very, very long time.

No one came.

Honestly, if they did come for me, I might even let them take me in for questioning. There wasn’t much left for me to do except see the wedding and then be off. I only had one bridge left until I could get out of this dumb video game world. Maybe.

Still, no one came.

“Alright, Gerda,” I reassured myself. “You’ve done it again. Good job.”

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 the Arc 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 find nothing . 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 in before the 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 already in the palace,” the woman reminded them. “And we searched everywhere .”

“Obviously not everywhere, 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 course the 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.