“He has been cranky for a while now. I don’t know when it started.” She snaps at a few stalks of what looks like Laughing Grasses—edible but only when cooked—and trots on a few more. “I thought he was worried about the goblin numbers increasing.”
“And he’s not?”
“Oh, I’m sure he is, but it’s not like we haven’t had worries before that. Once we had herds of rabid unicorns attacking us at every turn.”
“… are you joking?” I shoot her a narrow look. “Is this a joke?”
“I’m serious. Why wouldn’t I be?” She shakes her white head from side to side, then bats at a butterfly. “And then there wasthe time when the centaurs came down from the mountains and brought a horde of lesser fairies with them, satyrs and silenes and blood-thirsty shades. We fought them. Those were some bloody battles.”
I bend to cut a bunch of Laughing Grasses, adding them to my satchel. “And did Roane manage to return them to the books they had escaped from?”
“I don’t know.”
I frown, arranging the herbs inside the satchel. “So I’m not the reason for the change in his behavior?”
“It certainly got worse once you arrived.”
“Lovely. Nice to know I can annoy someone so much their character changes just for me. It’s an honor.”
Ardruna growls at me.
“What?” I demand.
“He may be annoying, but he was right. I shouldn’t have let you out of the library.”
“Come on.” I scowl, picking up more edible weeds. “We’re fine.”
“Are we? Then what is that dark cloud coming at us? Tell me it’s not birds.”
Not just birds. Metal birds, coming at usen masse.
Shit…
“Run!” Ardruna shouts and lopes away, leaving me to hurry after her.
“Maybe we can climb on a tree and wait?—”
“Too many of them!” she shouts. “They’ll get us. Not even Roane would have been able to take out so many.”
“And what’s your solution, to outrun them?” I pant, racing after her. “I’m not a lioness.”
“Then climb a tree, for all the good it will do you.”
“If you have any better ideas…”
“Climb onto my back,” she calls out and stops, turning to face me.
“Excuse me?”
“Hurry up!”
Gritting my teeth, I grab fistfuls of her fur and swing a leg over her back. She’s smaller than a pony, yet powerful muscles shift underneath me as I straddle her back.
She takes off like an arrow, racing through the meadows.
“Are the birds coming to exact revenge on Roane killing some of them?” I yell.
“They’ve never behaved this way before!”
