CHAPTER 86 Something Wrong with Her Beastman

CHAPTER 86

Something Wrong with Her Beastman

Brownie

There was something wrong with her beastman.

It started as a simple thing that she should have noticed sooner. The way he’d tensed as they made their way inside the square. The way his eyes couldn’t focus on the fight. The way he’d leaned into her grip on his arm and only relaxed a bit when they found a spot to stand. She’d just figured he was distracted trying to find a place that could fit a horse like Donna.

Then, when Candace lost, Brownie had let go of his arm for the first time since the battle started.

Candace had gotten to her feet in an instant and was shaking the dwarf’s hand, looking impressed. Brownie pumped a fist in the air, joining the crowds. Then she felt Rufus step toward her and wrap his arms around her. When she looked up, his eyes where focused on her and only her, but it wasn’t the usual bright smile playing on his lips. Instead, he looked pained. And every time the crowd cheered anew, he visibly flinched.

“Rufus?” she spoke softly, her words otherwise lost to the noise around them. Still, she thought he heard her because his grip started to loosen. But it didn’t give way.

“Guild Master Warren’s Penalty Bout is up next!” Norton Novic, a young adventurer from the guild, called out, announcing the halftime show.

She turned into Rufus’s arms and reached up to pull him closer. He collapsed into her embrace, letting her run her hands over his back a few times as she tried to figure out what was wrong.

Did someone have wolfsbane nearby? Or was there something else? Her eyes searched for an easy way out, and Donna caught on to Brownie’s plan fast. The mare headbutted the back of the beastman. Not the best way to get his attention, but it worked. She thanked the gods for her extra strength as she managed to drag Rufus out of the square and up the road. Donna did her part clearing a path.

Her mare wasn’t exactly nice about it, but she only had to inconvenience the first few onlookers to have the masses squish aside and give her space to leave. She was a good horse.

In an attempt to distract her Rufus, Brownie started talking about anything and everything that came to mind.

“The next match isn’t a part of the city battles,” she explained, “but a penalty bout issued by Their Royal Highness Rowen on Guild Master Warren when he got lost in that new dungeon. You know the one. Thia Dungeon, as it was called, was only discovered a few months back. The guild master himself was dealing with a high-level monster sighting at Thia Falls when he accidentally activated a portal pad into the unknown dungeon. The dungeon was building into a dungeon break. It wasn’t going to explode monsters into the countryside that day, but it was close enough that it wouldn’t have lasted another month.”

Brownie took a breath. She was amused that Guild Master Warren, a level fifty-two Paladin, had taken it upon himself to thin the numbers instead of reporting first, going against the legal protocol from hubris.

Which might have worked for him … if a certain Madame Potts hadn’t dropped a Cast.

Hello, everyone, this is Madame Potts.

It’s a little late, but I hope you’ll excuse me.

The Peldeep adventuring guild master of Vitol stumbled upon a new dungeon around Thia Falls and is trapped on the sixth floor. He will die in nine days if rescue fails.

Thank you, this is Madame Potts signing out.

The guild master had been saved thanks to the Cast and Aunty Glindy’s tracking skills … but Guild Master Warren wasn’t in the clear.

“Did you know that Assistant Guild Master Gemma was beside herself with worry when they found him?” Brownie told the whole story to Rufus, keeping her voice light. “Gemma’s had a crush on the guild master forever. We all know it. And after she dragged him back to Vitol, I heard that she made him sit on his knees in their office for six hours .”

She chuckled. “One for each level he’d gone down. And he didn’t get off there, of course, because as soon as she was done, Their Royal Highness summoned Guild Master Warren for a talk .”

Their Royal Highness of Peldeep was a fox. One who was renowned for their cunning and trickery and playfulness. “As final punishment for going against protocol, they ordered Guild Master Warren to fight a warm-up bout with every single civilian contestant in the Apple Blossom Festival.”

It had doubled the number of contestants, because who wouldn’t want to have a bout with one of the most powerful fighters in Peldeep? It was practically a free personal lesson from the guild master himself.

Donna successfully led them to one of the side streets, but even as she pulled Rufus clear, his eyes were still pinched shut. “We are out of the crowd; how are you doing?”

He breathed a little easier, and he ground out a short, “I’m fine. I just … I need a minute to process the notifications.”

She stopped, letting him take a few more shallow breaths. Donna prevented passersby from disturbing them, but they were still awkwardly shoved up against the side of a building to not deter traffic.

“Would this be easier inside? Can you make it to the inn?” Brownie squeezed his hand.

Her beastman didn’t reply right away, but after a long moment, nodded.

She pulled him along.

“It’s just …” His voice hitched as he tried to talk and walk even while he was obviously dealing with the notifications in his tab still. “I don’t like crowds.”

There was a little more to this than not liking crowds, Brownie guessed, but she simply nodded. “Now I know. We don’t have to go to big events like this again.”

His voice dipped low and aggrieved when he whispered, “Sorry for ruining everything.”

Brownie’s heart broke at the self-hatred she could hear in his voice. They were so close to Bea’s, but she stopped him short right then and there. “Don’t say that.”

“But—” His golden eyes opened and found hers, but they were empty of the usual warmth and joy she loved.

“Do you know,” she cut him off, “when I started falling for you?”

“What?”

The change in subject brought him out of himself and closer to her; she could feel it. She continued. “When we were in Thistlecrick, you thought General Knolith had hurt me, and you were so … so intense .”

Rufus didn’t reply, but he was blushing. They continued walking up to Bea’s Bed & Breakfast, and Donna blew out her nose at having to listen to them being all lovey-dovey.

“You said, ‘ If he hurt her, ’ in the sexiest voice I’ve ever heard,” Brownie confessed. “When did you first start, you know, liking me?”

“I—”

The front door of Bea’s Bed & Breakfast opened, and a tall elk fae stepped out, speaking to a group of people behind her. “We will meet back here at a quarter to, since Minstrel Bronwynn’s performance starts tonight at—Minstrel Bronwynn?!”

Everyone stopped and stared. Brownie recognized a few of her regular listeners and stamped down the urge to brush them off so she could find a quiet place to cuddle Rufus and hear his answer.

The group stared at her holding onto Rufus’s hand.

“Commander General—” A pink pixie fluttered off the fae’s shoulder to greet Rufus, but stopped and squinted up at her beastman. “Wait, Fergus ?”