CHAPTER 104 Belladonna Windrunner

CHAPTER 104

Belladonna Windrunner

Brownie

Brownie burst into laughter. “You can’t be serious, Gerda?”

“Just answer the question. I’m cold and wet and I was reading a good book.” The bridge troll was in a cloak with a heavy canvas parasol open above her head. Despite the cover, the falling rain hit so hard it bounced up, and a mist of water wet her boots and the bottom of her dress. The troll’s braided tresses frizzed, fuzzy green locks framing her face and sticking up all over her head.

Brownie’s own curls were suffering as well.

“Rain?” Rufus answered beside her.

Her beastman looked so pleased with himself, and Brownie didn’t have the heart to tell him that Gerda was going the easy way out.

“Yay,” Gerda said, deadpan. “You guessed it. Now you’ve finished an encounter and—Oh, for the love of—”

The bridge troll cursed, activated her teleportation skill, and vanished, presumably for another bridge.

“Well,” Rufus said, smiling. “That was nice of her. Shall we go on?”

Donna stamped her foot and then carefully walked forward to cross the bridge. Since it was a magical bridge, she wasn’t surprised Donna didn’t just barrel across.

“Have you hit one of Gerda’s bridges before?” she asked. Her horse sent her an aggrieved reply, including the faint memory of her broken nose. Then Donna followed it up with stealing a heal root from the bag she’d been delivering. The operative she’d dropped off the bag to hadn’t been pleased, but he hadn’t suspected the horse . The more fool he.

Brownie was sad they’d crossed the bridge so easily because she was hoping to stop in for a short visit, or even convince the troll to transport them closer to the Hollow .

They made it to the other side, and her horse promptly kicked off again.

“Donna, are you alright if I look at your character sheet?” Brownie asked, knowing the horse could hear her through their bond even if she couldn’t hear her with her ears.

That was met with begrudging consent.

Brownie activated the [Bond] level two ability, wondering what a knowing animal’s stats looked like.

Name: Belladonna Windrunner Occupation: Bonded Companion Level: 35 Experience Points: 4670/8720 Hit Points: 450/450 Mana Points: 240/240 Bonded Companion: Bronwynn Lyriel Condition: Enchanted Horse Class: Arion Mare Titles: [Arion Mare], [Windrunner], [Thief], [Destrier] Attributes: Strength: 25 Intelligence: 5 (+5 Enchanted) Dexterity: 18 Perception: 15 Constitution: 36 Charisma: 30 Skills: Magic: 2 Unbound: 2 Swift: 5 Battlemare: 4 Perks: Siphon Mana, Dodge, Surehoof, Lockpick, Parry, Knockout.

Alright, Brownie thought, so Donna really was a magical murder horse … That was fine. At least she was Brownie’s magical murder horse. And she saw why Donna horded enchanted carrots; her intelligence as a knowing animal, as a person , was directly tied to her enchanted horse condition.

If she stopped eating enchanted carrots, she would lose herself . Brownie wished she’d just said something.

Donna’s [Swift] skill did take a long time before she could reactivate it, but it actually let her go a certain distance before she ran out.

“There’s the turnoff,” Rufus said, bringing Brownie’s attention back to the road. Thank goodness the Hollow hadn’t moved too far east. She didn’t want to be in this weather all the way to the castle.

The Great Road was a large highway that was well suited to wagons. The road leading into the Hollow was smaller, single lane, and surrounded by lush trees that caged the road and provided some shelter from the rain. The closer they got to the elven tree city, the more the surroundings became dense woodland.

“What’s that?” Brownie saw a shining white light on the path ahead, and Donna came to a stop with plenty of space between her and the magical creature standing majestically in their way.

Her mare nickered a graphic expletive that made Brownie’s jaw drop. “Donna!”

The unicorn in front of them leaned his head forward, double-checked that it was, in fact, us, and took a polite step to the side.

Brownie could feel the waves of suspicion rolling off her mare, who did not wish to take even half a step forward toward the prince of Goldenhoof’s tribe. Brownie held her breath, and Rufus remained silent beside her. All paused to see what the two were going to do.

Donna neighed loudly, confronting Brightstar.

Brightstar remained where he was, standing to the side to let them pass. He shook his head with a very horselike shake. Donna hesitated still.

With his own heavy breath, Brightstar grumbled but then stood taller.

Donna immediately took another step back, and Brownie was afraid she might bolt back the way they’d come. The rain clouds weren’t the black pillows of aggressive thunder and lightning from the day before, but they were still getting soaked just waiting there … and there wasn’t any other way to the Hollow except maybe begging Gerda to see if she could portal.

Otherwise, worst case, Rufus was going to have to go on this adventure by himself .

As Brownie was worrying, Brightstar bowed his head low. He flicked one of his ears, but otherwise waited.

Donna reached out through their bonded connection to let Brownie know that she was alright. Her mare was going to try and do this. She was going to walk past the unicorn.

He’d apologized to her and told her he would respect her wishes from now on … including her desire for space.

Brownie got the feeling like he was on a quest and wasn’t able to simply leave and give them the road. Also, the mix of bush and vine and bramble that was the forest floor off the path didn’t look appealing to walk through. It looked prickly and branch-stabby.

Donna huffed but stood straighter herself. She didn’t make use of her active skill to race past, but calmly walked up to the unicorn … and then kept going. After the wagon was clear of Brightstar, Donna visibly relaxed. She swung her head around to look over her shoulder and whinnied at the unicorn.

Brownie caught Rufus flashing Brightstar a thumbs-up.

The unicorn stood straight again and bobbed us all a nod of his head before walking back to the middle of the road and taking his position once more.

Brownie thought that was going to be the last encounter on her trip to the Hollow … and it was, for her .

Rufus had his own encounter waiting for him at the gates of the city.