Chapter Four Hundred and Ninety-Six - The Unnatural Power of Love

Chapter Four Hundred and Ninety-Six - The Unnatural Power of Love

Chapter Four Hundred and Ninety-Six - The Unnatural Power of Love

Awen and I looked at each other, then turned towards Sir Aberrforth. "So, uh, how are your wrists?"

The older gentleman laughed and shook his hands out. "Well enough! It's nice to have blood in my hands once more, I worried that they might fall off, sooner or later."

"That's kind of concerning," I said.

"Bah! I'd show my dear Laine my devotion, hands or no!"

"Uh, alrighty then," I said. Awen shared a small, clueless shrug with me. She didn't know what was going on with this guy any more than I did, it seemed.

Sir Aberrforth didn't seem like the kind of person that was in any way easy to understand. What was a little weird was his obsession and the degree he was going for it.

Laine didn't seem like the sort to ensorcel someone. If she did, I think she'd use it to tell Sir Aberrforth to buzz off before anything else.

"Have you ever fallen in love like this before?" I asked.

"Oh, several times!" he said.

"Ah," I replied. "And was it always this... bad?"

"If by 'bad,' you mean has the aching longing of love in my heart? Then no, this love exceeds all the others, Laine is truly the most special of them all."

"Uh-huh," I said. "So it never worked out with any of the others?"

"Alas! Those I have fallen for have oft told me that my love is too great," he said.

"Love certainly can be ... overwhelming," I said. "Maybe we can work something out? I mean, I don't mean to brag, but I'm something of an expert at love making."

"Awa?" Awen awa'd.

"I love all of my friends, and they love me back, I think!" I nodded. "So you could say that I'm an expert at creating love!"

"Broccoli, I don't think, um... oh, nevermind."

Laine returned then, dressed in a set of robes and holding a bag under one arm. Her staff was gone, replaced by a walking stick. "So," she said, looking a bit crosser than before, "You intend to help Aberrforth's men?"

"Um, yes?" I replied.

"Good. They can escort him back to his guild and he'll be out of my hair. I'll come along to keep an eye on things and to ensure that he doesn't try and do anything stupid."

"That's good, I think," I said. "I'm not really sure what to do with Sir Aberrforth here. He seems, um, set in his ways."

"He's an idiot," Laine said.

I bit my lip. It was true that Sir Aberrforth didn't seem ... rational ... but calling him an idiot was a bit mean.

Awen cleared her throat. "Shall we get going, then?"

"Actually, two things. First, what's in that cave? You panicked a little when he mentioned it," I said.

"Ah," Laine said. "This place used to be a small town. There was a cave nearby, and the village was a sort of staging area for adventurers to go in and bring out the ore." She gestured past her garden and to a small rock wall. "That used to be a home. That over there, the mound? That was an inn, and that one," she said, pointing to a large flat stone, "was a communal oven."Vissit novelbin(.)c.om for updates

Amaryllis gave the man a look. "Well, whatever. We can drag him kicking and screaming before Mathilde and he can explain himself to her later." Judging by his wince, he wasn't fond of that idea. "In the meantime, did she say anything about where we're going?"

"Oh, right! We're going to a cave! Sir Aberrforth sent his team that way earlier. Miss Laine seems to think that the place is either cursed, or dangerous, or where a monster lives? Actually, she wasn't terribly specific except to say that it was dangerous."

Laine stopped on the edge of the clearing behind her home, then raised her walking stick and thumped it on the ground a few times. There was a rustle that ran through all the trees and all the plants in her garden. "What we find in those caverns might not be any sort of joke, child."

"Child?" I asked. "I mean, I'm still young, but I'm not a child. Besides, you're still pretty young-looking too!" My mom always liked it when I said she looked young, besides, Laine looked about mom-aged.

She sniffed. "I take care of myself," she said.

"Oh, you do, truly, your countenance is most mag--" Sir Aberrforth cut himself off as Calamity touched his shoulder and shook his head.

"So, do you think the thing in the cave is undead?" I asked as I bounced ahead and caught up with Laine. "I sure hope so, that'd make things easier."

"You think fighting the undead is easy?" Laine asked sceptically.

I nodded. "Yup! Much easier than the not-undead. Uh, the living, I guess. Unless they're undead who can think and feel, which is a whole different thing."

Laine eyed me.

"What?"

"You're not lying. Not even a little bit," she said.

"Of course not. I'd never lie about undead, they're super interesting! Honestly, ideally, you can befriend undead; they make great friends! I made friends with a skull once, you know? He was a bard... before he was a skull. Well, actually, he probably had a skull as a bard and even before that, but... uh, I'm getting ahead of myself, I think."

Laine stopped, and the others behind her nearly ran into each other trying not to bump into the back of the line. The witch had pinned me with an intense, owlish expression. "Are you insane?"

"If I were, would it matter?"

"Awa, I think Broccoli is... well, Broccoli. She's hard to describe, but I think she's fine."

"Thanks Awen! I don't think I'm that hard to describe, though. I'm just friendly, right?"

Awen pointedly glanced away, refusing to meet my eyes.

I pouted. "Hey, I am just friendly, right? I'm not weird, right?"

Amaryllis snorted.

I whirled toward her. "Not you too, Amaryllis! You're one of my oldest and best friends! You can tell them the truth, about how I'm super friendly!"

She turned away, shoulders shaking. Was ... was she holding back laughter???

I crossed my arms and copied one of her "I'm done with this conversation" huffs. "Fine then!" I said. "Be that way! I don't need you to tell people how friendly I am!"

I smiled at Laine. "I'll prove it!"

For some reason, Laine got a nervous look on her face.

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