Chapter 68: Chapter 67: Of the Long Road

The travel would resume after a much-needed rest. Gabrielle and Lucrece figured out a nice system on which one of them would keep guard while the other rested her head for a good few moments. That way, when the light of the breaking dawn finally came upon them, both girls were ready to continue being equally tired!

 

“I can’t wait to have a proper bed.” Luci would be the first to complain as they stretched, feeling their bones and joints popping back into proper position. “If I never have to sleep on the floor again, it will be too early.”

 

“I am glad you stole covers from the wagon.” The redhead admitted with a congratulatory smile. “It was a good idea, despite how morally reprehensible it is.”

 

“All right, first of all? I didn’t steal them, I took them. You can’t steal things if no one owns them.”

 

“The people in the cart probably owned them.”

 

“And secondly, of course it was a good idea. You have to trust me a little more, you know?”

 

The lancer huffed but then, she just smiled, looking at Gabrielle for a moment. The witch WAS a strange being, but despite the relatively stiff face one could really see the emotions hidden in there. She knew that to Gabi those emotions were probably obvious, and a little overwhelming… Gabi was, in a lot of ways, just like Pietro, but at the same time she felt so completely different from the passive and demure boy. She was her own person, after all, and Luci was starting to see that.

 

Gabrielle, on the other hand, could still not fully understand this woman. Lucrece felt so selfish and yet, at the same time, she had gone through all the troubles just to explain some things to Gabi, and this wasn’t something everyone did. 

 

At first, Luci’s face looked like a complete blur to Gabrielle, with the detail of the burnt mark of a lost eye on the left side only being obvious in hindsight, but now… she was starting to catch up to the details, at least a bit.

 

“Welp, we have a little less than a day of journey left, we should be getting to Caen soon!” The lancer announced with a proud smile. “So today, our practice will be a very simple concept.”

 

“And that is…?”

 

“When I say “Give me a boost, Gabrielle”, you don’t throw me up like a sack of potatoes!”

 

Gabi blinked a few times. Again, this woman confused her to no end.

 

“But you said I should do that.”

 

“I know what I said but I didn’t think you’d take it literally.”

 

“What does “literally” mean? Is it about books?”

 

“It means… uhm… oh, saints above…” Luci rubbed her cheeks roughly for a moment, summoning all her patience. 

 

That day would be another long one, and the lancer already knew it. Starting breakfast with complicated concepts had proven to be a terrible idea! But still, she pushed through the frustration as well as one possibly could, guiding Gabrielle through the process by walking over to the girl and taking her sword.

 

“Okay, you hold it like this, okay? Like a big board, on the side, with both hands.”

 

“You would cut yourself if you do it.”

 

“Yes but you are wearing gauntlets. Now, when I say “Give me a boost”, you do this, and I jump on your sword.”

 

“Why.”

 

“So you push me up and I can jump very, very high.”

 

Once again, now that the concept was explained to her, Gabrielle understood immediately.

 

“So you can control your movement and then go down on someone, like when you jumped at that bog body.”

 

“Yes!” Luci could have clapped then. “Exactly.”

 

“Wouldn’t it be faster to just run at them?”

 

“... Look, don’t worry too much about it. It’s effective, I promise.”

 

Gabi had her doubts about it but she decided to abide by the lancer for the moment, peppering her with a few questions as they went around to hunt for breakfast and lunch. They had grown very, very tired of giant prawn, so the few berries they could find around in the forest were a true blessing for everyone! Although Gabrielle seemed less than enthused.

 

“We mostly got bad ones.”

 

“What do you mean by “bad ones”? They look great.” Lucrece rose her nose, pridefully, while holding several red berries in her hand.

 

“They will make you shite like crazy if you eat them, Luci.” The redhead shook her head slowly. “The red ones have little white dots on the base, which means they are too fermented.”

 

“How do you even know that?” 

 

“The Elves taught me to find good things in the forest… we will have to find something else to eat, these are only good to make wine.”

 

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“Fuck yes! I mean. Sorry.” Luci preemptively apologized. “Wine is good! Wait… would that imply we would have to ferment them for months?”

 

“Do you have a magical barrel with you?”

 

“I… did not even know those were a thing.”

 

“Then yes. We would have to wait.”

 

“Damn berries…!”

 

Gabrielle would, luckily, set an alternative to the berries: roots. She would knock on some specific trees they passed by and, with a knife, would carefully dig until finding thick woody roots on their base, pulling out meaty-looking red bulbs from them. Lucrece would simply stare, baffled and trying her best not to compare Gabi to a truffle pig when she arrived with several of those bulbs, offering them to her. Each of those things was big enough to fill a hand.

 

“They are good.”

 

“I sincerely doubt it.” The lancer narrowed her eyes but was also too hungry to reject any kind of food, so she acquiesced. “So, do I bite this directly?”

 

“Peel the woody outside first.”

 

Doing so with a knife, Lucrece took a bite of the moist root hiding inside the meaty wooden peel, and… well, it was chewy, and very juicy, a little disgusting to bite into, but the taste was like lightly sweetened water with a hint of spice on the side. Not bad at all, especially with an empty stomach.

 

“What in the blazes is this…”

 

“Dragonroot.” Gabi took a bite of her bulb, exterior and all. “The elves use it to make juice or just chew on them when they are hungry. It keeps you going for a while.”

 

“Well this ain’t a full Normadian Breakfast but it will certainly do for now… well done, Gabi!”

 

Luci could have sworn that she saw Gabrielle blush at the compliment, but she had her doubts about it. They continued their way on without really confirming or denying that possibility anyways, advancing through the branching roads only guided by Gabrielle’s map and Lucrece’s newly acquired compass.

 

All until reaching the recently rebuilt city of Rennos.

 

“There it is, Rennos, the nature capital of Normadia.” As the trail descended from a nearby hill and towards the city walls, Lucrece felt like flexing a bit of her education. “There are so many parks kept there by the Royal Family, you know? When the Golden Empire was still a thing, they brought flowers from all around Jericho to decorate them! And there’s also a huge Library with—What are you doing?”

 

Lucrece couldn’t help but notice that her companion had suddenly slowed down, checking on herself and starting to breathe noticeably louder, deeper and faster.

 

“I lost it.”

 

“What did you lose? Oh god did you lose the map?!”

 

“I lost my helmet. I completely forgot about it.” Emotion was warping Gabrielle’s voice, no matter how hard she tried to keep it neutral. “I. I forgot about it. Now they will all see my hair. I can’t have it out in a big city, Luci. I can’t. It’s too dangerous, Luci. They will stone me.”

 

The lancer smacked herself in the face slightly, of course. How could she forget? People still held those sorts of superstitions very seriously. 

 

“Alright, calm down, I have an idea.” Lucrece would take out some bandages and quickly would start wrapping the girl’s head with them. “Stay still!”

 

“They will see it Luci, I will get stoned Luci, we don’t have time to be stoned Luci.” The redhead was in a full mental lockdown, shivering in place and repeating phrases without control.

 

“You are not going to be stoned okay?” Lucrece forced herself close, looking at Gabrielle dead in the eye. “Look at me.”

 

“But—”

 

“No buts, look at me.”

 

There was silence between them as they looked at each other in the eye.

 

“Good. Breathe with me, okay? Breathe… slowly, with your nose.” Lucrece guided the girl as Gabrielle took slow, deep breaths… “That’s a good girl… You will not get stoned, okay? I will cover your hair with these bandages, and if they mess with you, I will help you, okay?”

 

“Do you promise?”

 

“I promise.”

 

It hadn’t been that long since the two of them met, but for some reason Gabi felt like she could trust her blonde friend. After staring at her in the eye for a bit, the redhead finally nodded and stood still for long enough, and Luci quickly wrapped her hair with bandages.

 

“All right, we can change capes too if you want, mine has a cloak.”

 

Gabrielle smiled slightly. For the first time, she could really recognize the features on Lucrece’s face. And they irradiated a sense of confidence that was quite contagious. 

 

“...Yes, please.”

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