CHAPTER 103 Fast Travel It Is

CHAPTER 103

Fast Travel It Is

Rufus

I found Bronwynn in the stables with Donna, and immediately felt the air had cleared between the two.

Whatever level attributes Bronwynn had that let her hide from my skills didn’t matter. When I saw the soft smile that graced my bard’s face as she talked to her horse, I knew.

“Are we ready to head out?” I asked, standing under the overhang and dripping water everywhere. No sense taking off my cloak if I needed to go out and get the wagon ready.

Bronwynn exchanged looks with Donna and nodded firmly. “Yes. Let’s get this over with.”

Donna neighed.

“Really?” Bronwynn asked, surprised. Then she chuckled. “I’ve been saying that a lot today. Thank you.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“Donna said she will fast travel us to the Hollow!” My bard smiled. She set about saddling the mare and preparing to get her strapped into the wagon. “It will save us the day’s travel. I bet we could get there by noon if nothing, uh, exciting happens.”

“Don’t we still have two encounters to go before we reach the elven city?” I watched her prepare everything in the comfort of the dry stable. If I tried to help, it would instantly be soaked.

Bronwynn rubbed her neck. “I mean, yes, but it might be something simple like crossing Gerda’s bridge. Or meeting someone in Gren’s Keep before we get back to the road.”

Donna chuffed, and it sounded like a laugh .

“Don’t you start. I wanna be at the Hollow as fast as we can so—OH!”

“What is it?” I took a step forward, worried at the bard’s outburst.

“If we meet Gerda, we can ask her to portal us closer to the Hollow!” Bronwynn put her palms together in front of her face and tapped her chin a few times, thinking. “Rufus, can you tell where she is with your abilities?”

I could send her an order as one of the kingdom’s elites, but hesitated. “If it is not a matter of kingdom business, it’s impolite to use my occupation abilities.”

“Have you ever used it to find me ?”

The innocently voiced question held no malice, only genuine curiosity, and it wrecked me. I’d used the border guards to let me know when Minstrel Bronwynn left the forest so that I knew when I needed to portal over in time to hear her concerts. More reminders of my shameful past.

“… Yes.”

She nodded. “Just double-checking.”

“Bronwynn—”

“So do you have an ability that will show you where the closest bridge is?” she asked. Donna chuffed again, and that time, I was sure the horse was outright laughing. At me.

“My kingdom mini map isn’t as detailed as Keith’s,” I explained, crossing my arms under my cloak. “I see the cities and the army movements if they are on a quest for me … of which Gerda is not.”

“Then fast travel it is!” Bronwynn patted Donna on the back. “Let’s go!”

The journey was miserable.

And unfortunately, Bronwynn’s hope of an encounter in the city never happened. We made it through the gates no problem and down the road a bit before Donna started to shine with a magical light.

“Hold on tight!” Bronwynn instructed, reaching out and tying the reigns securely to the dashboard ahead of us before bracing herself against the backrest.

My Dexterity nineteen wasn’t impressive on a beastman of my level, but it was enough to save me when we were suddenly traveling at breakneck speed through a downpour.

“[Protector].” I immediately activated my shield, curving it so the rain would hit and slide off easier. Those first few seconds cutting through the water had been painful and unpleasant.

“This is perfect!” My travel companion threw back her hood. “Why didn’t you use this during our trek in the rain yesterday?”

“I didn’t think about it,” I said honestly. Using a shield to block the rain wasn’t something I’d done before, and I’d activated it almost on reflex. “I am not strong enough to hold off the magical equivalent of a lake falling on top of the wagon, but I can create a big enough shield to keep the pressure off us for about fifteen minutes. ”

Donna would be on her own, though. She didn’t seem to mind, continuing at high-level speed. She reached the Great Road in a minute, then she actually sped up once we reached the main stretch.

There were people few and far between on the roads on a day like this, but we did pass a few.

“What’s that?” I asked, my [Keen Senses] identifying a group of travelers ahead.

Before I could call a warning, the mare had already managed to magically pass them, winding through a unit of the Dark Horde, wagons pulled by alligator-dogs and the minions of evil marching east. I recognized them. My order to deploy Mistress Puma had gone out, and the tracker was en route. I nodded, pleased, and continued concentrating my abilities to keep us dry.

When my skill ran out of durability, I had to wait an uncomfortable minute with both myself and Bronwynn hiding our faces in our cloaks while the sting of water droplets hit. As soon as the skill was available again, I spent the mana to activate it.

I could go through all of my mana without much worry, since I had three mana potions in my storage in an emergency. I knew I’d be fighting Duke Lector, and potentially the poisoner, so that left one high-level mana refill to spare.

A note to self: I should pick up some in the Hollow just in case.

We very quickly passed the turnoff to Frolin and a few trails, but no Hollow. I was wondering which we would meet first, the turnoff or a bridge, when the answer brought Donna to a full stop. I didn’t know how it exactly worked, but it was by pure magic we all weren’t sent flying off into the forest from the force of that stop.

Instead, Donna was standing in front of a very miserable Gerda the Bridge Troll.

“What falls from the sky

And makes me want to go back inside?”