Her blonde hair on her shoulder height was glued with mud on her face. She had chosen her brown top and pants considering they should be easy to move with. But now she wondered if she should"ve worn an armor instead.

The monster opened its mouth and charged in her direction. Unable to stand up and run, she just closed her light brown eyes and waited for the pain. But she felt nothing. Instead, what she heard was the sound of metal clashing against flesh.

Opening her eyes again, she saw a nostalgic scene in front of her eyes. The back of a woman she knew well, red hair flapping with her fast movement.

The woman pushed the Chimera away with her sword and turned her head back.

"Emilie, are you okay?" She asked in a worried tone.

"Y-Yeah," Emilie said, still astonished. Then she realized the monster was still moving. "Astrid, be careful!"

Astrid let out a smile and turned back to the monster. She slashed the creature"s throat with one fast movement. A red line painted the ground with blood the creature fell. Calmly, Astrid sheathed her sword on the sheat in her hip, turned back and offered her hand to Emilie, who grabbed it. Astrid pulled her up.

"I thought I was gone," Emilie said, her voice still shaking.

"I"m sorry for leaving you alone."

"Don"t be. I was the one who got careless. I was trying to survey the area and I should"ve been careful about invading another creature"s territory. Never thought something like it would be around here."

"I met some villagers who warned me about a monster killing people who got lost here in the last month. I got worried, so I came back. I"m glad I arrived on time," Astrid let out a relieved smile and walked past Emilie. "For now let"s go back to the camp."

Emilie grabbed Astrid"s arm, stopping her. While Astrid gave her a confused look, Emilie turned her partner"s arm to inspect it. A slice of her armor was broken and blood was dripping through it.

"So you didn"t stop it with the sword."

"Oh, I had to be fast. And this sword you got me it"s too thin to block that attack. But it"s fine," Astrid tried to shrug it off.

"That"s crazy and irresponsible!" Emilie said, then let out a sigh. "Let"s go, I"ll treat it at the camp."

"You don"t need to worry. We"re almost at the…"

"Shut up and let me treat it," Emilie said with an angry face. "I swear it"ll only hurt a little. If you collaborate, of course."

The two women walked to the camp they had set hours before. Emilie walked to her bag and took the tools she would use. Astrid sat at a rock, taking off her armor and looking at Emilie with the side of her eyes. She shivered when Emilie came back holding a jar with alcohol and pieces of cloth for patching.

When her partner"s poured the alcohol on the cut, Astrid let out a cry.

"You"re not a child anymore," Emilie said, looking into her partner"s eyes.

"But it hurts," Astrid said, making a grimace.

Emilie let out a chuckle. But as she patched Astrid"s arm, her expression became serious.

"It was really my fault. I"m sorry," she said with a shadow over her face.

"No, it wasn"t," Astrid said, holding Emilie"s hand using her good arm. "It was my fault. If I was faster, you wouldn"t…"

"We have our shares. You should gather the info, but I left the camp behind thinking I could help," then she stopped and looked at Astrid with curiosity. "Wait. You said you met people, didn"t you?"

"Some men. There"s a village close by, apparently, and they live there. But before that, how much food do we have yet?" Astrid let out a timid smile while caressing her stomach.

"Oh," Emilie thought in silence for some seconds." Our food is over, but since we"re in an emergency here, that monster would do fine."

"We can eat that?"

"It"s a chimera, so we can eat parts of it. I read which ones are poisoned, so I can prepare something safe to eat. Are you able to carry it?" Emilie threw a worried look at Astrid"s patched arm.

"That"s fine," Astrid said with a smile and moved her arm faster to rea.s.sure her partner. "It wasn"t a big cut anyway and I won"t get in the way of another monster. Let me handle it."

"Right," Emilie said with little conviction. "So I"ll start the fire in the meanwhile. Maybe cut a piece of it if that"s easier. Try to cut the body where it"s not connected with the serpent."

"Leave it to me!" Astrid said with a big smile, put her armor back, and ran off.

While looking at her partner"s back, Emilie started to reminiscence about years ago.

***

When she was a young girl, Emilie was an aristocrat member of the Stacks family living in a small city away from the capital. As the daughter of a n.o.ble, it was her duty honoring her name and becoming a proper wife for a man of an equivalent respectable name. That"s why appealing to a husband was what they expected most of her and everything she learned in her growth was for that sake. For that end, she was always wearing expensive dresses, jewelry and had her bright blonde hair at the height of her hips.

Astrid lived in the same city at that time. She was the complete opposite of Emilie. While the aristocratic girl was refined, always worried about her appearance and always reading books, Astrid was considered a tomboy. Since she was a child, she was always running around the city and walking outside and getting in all kind of troubles. She was the kind of influence her family had alerted Emilie to get away.

Sometimes she would look through her window to Astrid thinking about how much of a free-spirited she looked. But Emilie didn"t envy her. In her mind, her future would be way more splendid and glamorous than the uncertain life the unrefined girl had. Instead, she always looked at her with judgemental eyes. Sometimes Astrid would look back at Emilie, only staring in silence without saying anything until something else grabbed her attention.

Once Emilie learned that Astrid was being taught how to fight with a sword. That caught her curiosity.

"Can girls become a knight?" She asked her father. He gave her an icy glare.

"Of course not. Don"t be absurd."

Somehow that stuck with her. She was curious about why would that girl learn how to use a sword if it wouldn"t bring her any worthy t.i.tle. Being a knight was a n.o.ble vocation, but if that position was reserved to males, Astrid had nothing to gain.

It was by chance that the two girls" fate crossed. Emilie was fifteen years old at that time, ten years before she faced the chimera at the forest.

A certain afternoon, while riding a carriage home, coming from the mansion of a n.o.ble family in another city where she had met with a suitor, the carriage wheel broke and the coachman, an employee for her family, notified her they would need to spend the night on the road until he could look for help in the light of the day. After all, soon the night would come.

Emilie was, of course, completely against it. Because she didn"t want to sleep inside a carriage and also because her mother always warned about how her reputation would be hurt if she would spend the night alone with another man. She persisted the coachman should go before the day was over since they weren"t that far from the city. If he took a shortcut through the forest, he would get there on time. But he refused, saying it wasn"t safe. The forest was famous for attracting monsters.

Telling the man she would rather face the monsters, Emilie jumped off the carriage and rushed inside the forest, walking to the direction she believed to lead to the city. The coachman tried to stop her. But she disappeared fast, leaving him behind. It wasn"t until the night fell that she realized the mistake she had done.

It was hard to see in front of her because the trees were blocking the moonlight. It was cold and the harsh vegetation was hurting her ankles through her long dress. The dress which actually made it harder for her to walk. After walking for an hour, her legs were hurting and the cold wind was whipping her body. She thought about going back to the carriage but realized she didn"t know how.

Walking at slower steps, she started to hear noises around her. Like insects, the wind and some grunts which she wished belonged to animals. But after some minutes, she realized there were steps coming closer as if following her. Her heart beating strong, she started to run but realized the steps started to run behind her. They didn"t look like human steps. More like a beast charging after her.

She tripped on her dress and fell to the ground. Turning her body fast, she stared at the black ma.s.s walking at four legs in her direction. Emilie closed the eyes, waiting for the pain to come.

She heard the sound of something running through the leaves and jumping in front of her followed by a metallic slash that echoed through the forest. Opening her eyes again, Emilie saw a back turned to her with long red hairs flapping in the wind.

***

"Emilie?" Astrid said, watching her partner distracted in front of the fire she started.

"O-Oh, sorry," Emilie said, standing up to face the other woman. "I was just remembering something…"

"Oh, and what was it?"

"The day we first talked to each other."

"I see," Astrid smiled." You still remember that day."

"Of course I do. In some way, that day changed my life," Emilie examined her partner"s friendly smile. "Back there when you saved from that chimera, it was just like that day. It made me remember how I owe you my life again.."

"Don"t worry about it. I just did what I wanted to do. That time, too," Astrid said and pointed out to a big piece of meat over some cloth. "I brought it. Should we start cooking it?"

"Leave it to me," Emilie said and walked to where Astrid left the meat. "Also, about those men you mentioned. Did you ask them about the bridge?"

"I did," Astrid sat on a tree trunk and watched as Emilie started to cut the meat with the knife she took off her bag. "They said the bridge is always being watched. Mercenaries, it seems. Probably working for him. They won"t let anyone pa.s.s except for merchants. Most soldiers probably died fighting them."

"I see. It looks like the perfect place for an ambush," Emilie said, keeping a straight face as she prepared the food. "So I guess we should avoid it. Even if you manage to defeat them, it"ll alert their boss that we"re coming."

"Should we try crossing through the river? Can you follow me going down and crossing it?"

"I can, but," Emilie pressed her lips, looking at the meat in front of her. "I don"t think that"s a good idea. When we cross back, she won"t be able to follow us."

"So, what do you suggest?"

"There"s an old bridge on the other side of the mountains. I doubt they would bother watching it since no one uses that route for years."

Astrid grabbed the backpack Emilie was always carrying with her and took the map she had stored in one of the side pockets. She unfolded and studied it.

"There"s a mountain in the way," Astrid said, tracing the route with her finger. "Walking around it could take days."

"Look closer. There"s a cave we can use to cross. It"s the fastest way if we"re avoiding the bridge. Even if the cave is guarded, it"ll be easier to sneak through it than the main bridge."

"I see," Astrid kept her eyes on the map. "Shouldn"t we just use the fastest route when we"re going and come back through the cave?"

"If we take the cave now, we can trace the safest route for when we come back. We"ll be prepared. Even if there are no mercenaries, there are goblins living inside. Now is the best time to look out for where the safe spots are. We have time, I believe. And I don"t think he"ll hurt her. If we rush now, we could regret later."

"Hm," Astrid kept her eyes on the map, but let out a giggle. "You know, I"m really happy that you"re here with me," she said, making Emilie lift her eyes to face her. "If I was alone, I would just take the bridge and maybe ruin everything. You"re smart and you saved me so many times because of that already. You said the day we met changed your life, but I believe the same happened to me. I don"t think I would still be alive otherwise. I"m really happy having you with me," she said with a bright smile.

Trying to hide her blushing face, Emilie looked down to the meat in front of her. Deep inside, those words made her happy.

"I see," was the only words she let out.

After putting the meat in the fire, Emilie sat beside Astrid on the trunk. It was big enough for them both, but her hips had to touch Astrid"s hips. She felt a strong smell of sweat and mud coming from her partner"s body, her red hair soiled with dirty. Emilie was used to that and she knew she herself wasn"t in a better condition. When she was a teenager, being in that state would probably kill her in disgust.

Yet, even if she accepted their harsh adventures now and its consequences, she liked to be the cleanest she could. That"s why she pointed to a place on the map. By doing it, her body squeezed against Astrid.

"There"s a lake here," she said without facing her partner, too conscious about their proximity for that. "We could spend the night around this area and take a bath."

"Do I smell that bad?" Astrid asked, sniffing her arms.

"We both do," Emilie paused. She kept her eyes on the map, without turning to Astrid as she said: "I"m used to it now, but your princess isn"t. I"m sure she"ll be waiting for some beautiful knight to rescue her, not someone who looks like she was swimming in the mud."

"You"re right," Astrid said, letting her eyes rest on the big blue s.p.a.ce on the map. "And we can stop here again when we come back with her."

"If we"re not being followed."

After that, they ate dinner and went to sleep in the tent Astrid had put up. She carried it in her back and it was always useful in their travels, as it was safest than sleeping on the ground and also would give them a more efficient rest.

The tent was small, but the two women could fit inside, even leaving s.p.a.ce for someone else. Emilie didn"t mind the small s.p.a.ce they shared. Even though she lied with her back to Astrid, who left her armor and sword always close to her hand while sleeping.

Even if she always faced the other side, Emilie liked to feel her partner"s warm back against her. Listening to her breathing as her body moved, showing how she was alive. That always made her remember the first time she slept close to Astrid like that.