Page 44 of I Ran Away to Evil #3
Physics Played Little Part When Stat Sheets Were Involved
Gerda
The Dark Lord and Lady were the last to leave, everyone else having left shortly after Julian and Calisto.
Their Royal Highness had even extended an invite for tea in the Emerald Palace the next time I was in Peldeep, a reminder I was going to have to get used to the new VIP treatment as Madame Potts.
“Do you want to be the one to tell Brownie and Lady Amaryllis, or can I?” Henrietta asked while on the way to the dining hall. She held my arm in a tight hug as we walked. I survived.
“I’m sure the whole palace knows by now, but do what you want.” I sighed. “Honestly, I wasn’t expecting to keep it a secret as long as I did.”
“You could have remained elusive,” King Keith said, raising a single eyebrow at me, “if you hadn’t gotten involved yourself.”
“Yes,” I acknowledged, “but where’s the fun in that?”
“Safer,” he countered.
I shook my head. “Sometimes I need to act myself. I can’t be Casting every ten minutes—it would get obnoxious, and it would let the people I’m trying to stop know that I know their plans.”
“How much do you see?” King Keith asked. He was trying to be subtle—and failing. The Dark Lord was obviously uncomfortable with my powers.
“Enough to be helpful.”
I didn’t need to share everything, and it was best to keep the Dark Lord on his toes.
“Gerda?” Henrietta said, letting go of my arm. “I’m glad you’re here. And I’m glad I met you. And I want you to know that I am very, very happy with my current fate.”
With that, she reached for her husband, who immediately locked hands with Henrietta.
What Alice said must have hurt them.
“I’m happy to have helped,” I replied. There was a warmth in my chest looking at them. Some of the changes I’d made hadn’t turned out as nice, so I needed a little self-confidence boost now and then. And watching Henrietta and Keith provided ample.
“We’re almost there.” King Keith shot me a look. “Last chance to run.”
All of my fears were founded when the knights on duty outside the dining hall saw me and exchanged knowing looks. They didn’t outright say anything, but they were having conversations with their eyes that would put anime characters to shame.
Henrietta jumped in to say, “You don’t want to run away—they have an entire buffet of specialty import dishes from the Empire of Sands.”
The door to the dining hall was open, and I could already smell the rich, heady smells of curry and coriander and turmeric. Even the unpleasant business of making a first public appearance wasn’t going to stop me from trying whatever was making that smell.
“It’s alright,” I told them. “I’m ready.”
As it was a casual affair, we were welcomed inside by a palace attendant without being announced. It didn’t matter; everyone near the door noticed us and started speaking quietly to each other.
My perception, of course, heard everything loud and clear.
“Is she really Madame Potts?”
“My uncle was caught in that capybara stampede. We all told him to listen to the Cast—”
“I’m not saying it’s completely unbelievable, but a bridge troll ?”
It was nice walking into the dining hall with the rulers of the Dark Enchanted Forest. People talked, but no one was brave enough to approach. No one interrupted the Dark Lord and Lady of Nilheim, especially when Her Viciousness was talking adamantly on very important matters.
“The black-and-white grain is wild rice from the Empire.” Henrietta positively vibrated with her excitement.
“They mix it with river fish and form it into medallions that are then seared in aramu nut oil. The seasoning, Chloe told me, is a combination of crushed sami seeds, dill weed, and powdered purple lotus petals. And they have a nut curry simmered in three types of dried fruits, and overnight roasted unigoat!”
King Keith followed his wife and listened intently to her detailed accounting of lunch.
The Dark Lord was a known lover of food, and he looked as excited as Henrietta.
Despite the scone earlier, I was surprisingly ravenous, and filled my plate from the buffet table running down the center of the room.
People were standing in groups nearby or seated at the tables on the far side. The patio doors were open, and the soft sounds of music and conversation could be heard drifting in from the garden.
“You’re finally here!” Minstrel Bronwynn greeted Henrietta with a wide grin, the half giantess clad in a silk red dress that draped over one shoulder and was cinched at the waist with a black velvet belt. She wore black slippers covered in tiny rubies that matched her earrings and necklace set.
Rufus was close behind her, sporting a long black tunic with ruby buttons, calf-length pants, and a red belt to match. In beastman form, he didn’t require shoes.
“We had a lot to discuss.” The Dark Lady shot me a teasing side-eye.
“It’s all everyone’s talking about,” Brownie told me.
“Chloe is annoyed, but Julia is using the opportunity to downplay the battle at the sanctuary. Instead of people complaining about how short and anticlimactic the wedding battle was, they’re talking about the big reveal.
” She leaned in conspiratorially and hid her words behind a hand.
“And between you and the guild mistress, I’m not sure who’s the bigger reveal. ”
“The Blackfog aren’t as well known,” King Keith mused. “Their leader being captured is interesting, but not , I think, as interesting as finding out that Madame Potts is a common bridge troll.”
“Not so common!” Henrietta defended me. “She held off the Drendil army all by herself, and she rescued you from the Void mage.”
“The Void mage,” King Keith pointed out, “whom we just captured?”
“I’m surprised,” Rufus cut in, “at how little Void magic she hit us with.”
I coughed, remembering Chloe getting consumed by a Void trap. It wasn’t a fun way to go. Aloud, I said, “Alice isn’t able to use her abilities while in disguise; it would be different if we’d faced off against her as her real self.”
Brownie frowned. “Why did that sound like foreshadowing?”
That made me laugh. “Because everything I say sounds like foreshadowing? I’m Madame Potts .”
As we were speaking, others in the hall were inconspicuously and not-so-inconspicuously listening in; on this side of the dining hall, at least, conversation had fallen to a dull whisper.
One young lady from North Sumbria was actually tilting on an angle toward us and looked past the point she should have already keeled over.
Physics, of course, played little part when stat sheets were involved.
When I declared for everyone to hear that I was , in fact, the Madame Potts, it was like some tenuous barrier between us and the other guests broke.
“Minstrel Bronwynn! It’s so good to see you here. Won’t you introduce me to your companions?”
The first of a wave of interested guests descended …
And I was beset.