Page 79 of I Ran Away to Evil #3

The Rainbow Whales

Gerda

Three Days into the North

“ANYTHING?” Julian yelled at me from behind his Valarian Royal Shield.

Poor timing was forcing us to retreat. After fighting a pair of level forty-seven glacial serpents, our party had been immediately set upon by four snow leopardans; they were like snow leopards, if snow leopards were the size of a school bus and spat venom.

“Do you know how hard it is to put a bridge down in a flat field of ice ?” I yelled over the sounds of battle, searching for any spot that my [Bridge Sense] skill told me would work.

Usually, I used this skill to find bridges, but it was proving perfect for finding apt places to lay new ones down as well.

“[Sword Slash],” Jeffry said. He didn’t use his ability to attack the beasts but instead hit the icy floor and cut a line in the terrain. “How about now?!”

“By Battle’s Grace, [Bludgeoning Kiss].” Tully’s war hammer knocked one leopardan into another, sending them both sliding on the ice.

“Not yet!” I couldn’t duck while holding up a half-moon bridge as long as I was tall, so Julian’s [Barrier] took the blow when the fourth leopardan broke their defenses and hit me. Visha jumped onto its back, and it bucked against her hold, rolling while trying to get the elf to let go.

“[Piercing Blade].” Jeffry’s blade sunk straight down into the ice, and there was a great shudder. Everyone, including the leopardans, paused midbattle.

A crack formed in the ice, running between the swordfighter’s legs and splitting into a terrifying crevice.

I was a safe distance away, but Jeffry and Pram, as well as the leopardan Julian was battling, all desperately scrambled to not fall in.

After an uncomfortable twenty seconds, the rumbling stopped.

“Got it!” I dropped the bridge down where I instinctively knew a bridge could go. And by instinctively, I meant it was my passive skill.

[ Bridge Sense has found a usable bridge.]

I ran across. “Alright, everyone, to me!”

There was a mad dash to get to the bridge, with Julian as the last member fighting his way toward me.

I portaled us out.

“Daddy!” A little girl with honey-brown hair in two long pigtails ran up to us and threw her arms around John’s leg. He swooped down to kiss her on the cheek.

“Let me go clean up, and then we can play,” John told his daughter, Phoebe. She took his offered hand, and they headed for the manor. He wandered off with only a wave over his shoulder goodbye, Phoebe already talking his ear off about the magical bubble maker she wanted to show him.

Lord Johnathon Thomas had decided to install a pond with a bridge on his property so he could go home for meals, and I’d portaled us all here, since it was nearing dinner.

I was shouldering off my winter coat when Pram came up behind me.

“Miss Gerda?” The selkie positively glowed with excitement when he asked, “Do you think the rainbow whales are going to come today?”

I nodded, “But I only know they’re passing by the coast; it’ll be Luck if we find them.”

“I want to try,” Pram said.

Julian reached out and took my hand. “Know any good places to eat in Drendil?”

“Benny’s Fish Shack,” I answered, remembering Henrietta’s date with Sir Phineas at the seafood restaurant during the knights’ route. “But only if Tully orders everything alone and brings it down to the beach for us.”

“Hey!” Sir Tully wore his normal full-plate paladin armor but took off a pair of fuzzy mittens he used while in the North. “Why do I have to buy lunch?”

“You’re human?” I shot back. My free hand pointed at my tusks and then at Julian’s ears for emphasis.

“Oh, yeah. Fair.”

“[Troll Magic].” The second jump dropped us at the top of a hill.

A wide river stretched down to the ocean below, with a cute seaside town on their right.

Off in the distance, far out on the waves, swam a pod of rainbow whales.

I focused my perception until I could see them as clearly as if they were right in front of me.

They were swimming in the opposite direction.

“They are so beautiful,” Pram breathed, leaning on the small ledge of the stone bridge we were all still standing on. “I’ll meet you all here in an hour!”

With that, Pram leapt over the ledge and dropped straight into the river below. His clothing faded away, and where once there was Pram, now there was a blue sheen seal.

“Think he’ll actually be back in an hour?” Visha asked Jeffry.

Jeffry scoffed. “Unlikely.”

“Bet?”

“You’re on.”

The two shook hands.

“If you’re done.” Julian placed my hand on his arm. “Let’s go.”

Tully went into town to get us something to eat, and the rest of us followed a foot-worn path down to the ocean.

I wasn’t partial to sand, so I set up a picnic blanket on the grassy hill overlooking the surf.

Julian and I sat on the blanket and enjoyed a cold ice tea while Jeffry summoned a chair, a wide-brimmed hat, and a book.

Below, Visha went for a walk along the beach.

The food ended up tasting great, and Pram was only half an hour late.