Chapter 15

A few hours before ...

Jane

"Girl, take this," said Mathias energetically, throwing a very fragile flask at me, perhaps to test my reflexes.

I caught it on the fly.

"Hey, Helmet! Look, I have a name! " I replied, pretending to be upset.

"Calm down, Girl. Why did you call me that? "

"Mainly because you have blonde hair," I replied, holding back a laugh.

"Okay, I don't like it as a nickname," he admitted gravely.

"Then stop calling me" girl "."

He accepted the condition: «Okay. I think I've taken everything. "

I crossed my arms in disapproval of the nickname he had given me.

Without deigning to look at me, with a quick gesture, he opened the inventory.

He had tools, weapons, food, potions, and everything needed to make a journey.

"Here," I returned the pink potion he had thrown at me.

"You can keep it, it has a healing effect" and throwing at me a golden apple wrapped in a pink aura, which resembled the same one in books, because getting out of the trap door and handing it to me was too tiring: "take this too, it's similar. "

I thanked him, reminding myself of an anecdote about ancient Greece.

In ancient times, throwing an apple was equivalent to a declaration of love.

At that moment, I tried to hide my knowledge, taking it for a casual gesture, wishing to conceal with it the embarrassment and the slight redness of my face.

"Good. Now I'd say we can go, "he refuted, after speaking to himself, naming a list of items to be included in the list.

He stepped out of the hatch and walked to the door, opening the dark wooden plank door for me to pass.

"So, RedBaron007, you know about etiquette," I announced sarcastically, pretending a bow.

"I just wanted to be nice," he replied, hinting at a smile.

"Aren't you going to close the door?" I asked.

It was unusual to leave the building fully accessible to anyone who passed by.

"It is not necessary. I prefer to leave everything as I found it the first time. "

"Who knows what it must have been like to be here."

Suspicious, I began «What if someone comes? Maybe sent by the Dark Chief? "

"Nobody's going to come," Matt said, cutting the question off in the bud.

I froze, interrupting the pace, realizing how different he was from me.

He seemed to have an answer ready for anything. I wasn't like that. For each answer, I had at least three questions.

Since he had preceded me on my way towards the forest, he continued for a short distance.

Not hearing the sound of my footsteps, he turned to look for me.

"How can you be so sure?" I pressed him.

I was left behind, motionless, staring at one point thinking that, if he hadn't turned around, I would surely have stopped where I was, without knowing why disoriented.

For the first time, Matt remained silent, reluctant to formulate an answer.

For a moment, he seemed to me to read his mind.

"They'll be looking for me everywhere, so I don't care.

I arrived here with nothing and if I leave, I'll do it with my head held high. "

He retraced his steps.

He looked at me questioningly as if to say: "Am I wrong or was it you who wanted to get out of here and from that moment we continued side by side.

"You told me earlier that they are looking for you. What do they hope to get from you? " I asked, after thinking for a long time.

"I don't know exactly," she replied in a hurry to close the subject, continuing on her way.

He knew perfectly well why the Lord of the Great Army needed him, but he didn't want to talk about it.

He was taciturn. Even the moments spent together in a deathly silence took on a different meaning.

"Have you ever met the Chief?"

"Yup."

"Can you describe it to me?"

"I haven't seen him. I only heard his voice, incredibly grave, metallic. I don't think it's human. But now, I'd like to think about something else if you don't mind him. "

I shrugged: "as you like."

He paused to read my ID.

"JaneSoldier3856. What a strange nickname for a girl. "

"Haven't you ever seen women in war?" There is a whole story behind ... "

"I know, I've seen some. Not bad. But why Jane? "

"She is my diminutive" and I went on "You, on the other hand, why are you called RedBaron007?"

He just said, "It's a long story," and changed the subject.

"So you don't want our comrades to know you're essentially here," I continued later.

"Not for now. Can I still change my mind, am I wrong? "

"Do as you like. By now, even if I told them, they would think me crazy again: sometimes I feel the need to escape from reality, so I go around a bit, I need my space ... they don't need to be looking for me for hours. "

"You know how to get by, in short."

"Yup. Can I ask you a favor? Could you explain to them that the shadow following me was you? "

"All right. Also the technique I used? "

«No, no, that's enough, thanks. I don't dare imagine what would happen otherwise. "

"Can I ask you a question now?"

"Of course," I replied, keeping my eyes down.

"Why did you hug me first?"

Unexpectedly, I answered him with another question: "Is this the thought that has tormented you since we left the house?"

"Partly. I'd like to know what it's due to, here ... "

"I felt like doing it. Why, does everything I do have to have an explanation? "

He shook his head, admitted, "I thought you hated me."

"It's so."

"It's you who makes me hate you."

"I don't understand why, then. Your actions contradict your thoughts ... »he was amazed to see that I spoke with a certain ease as if embracing an enemy was an action I often performed.

"Sometimes, in life, you have to improvise. Doesn't that ever happen to you? "

"Rarely."

"You are a very schematic person it seems."

Continuing, the journey became more and more familiar to my eyes.

We had crossed miles and miles of dense scrub and there was certainly no shortage of obstacles: pits, precipices, and even a waterfall.

I felt the desire to explore the place: "Will we return here, in your opinion?"

"I hope not."

"Sin. It's a nice place, all in all ... "

"Yes, I agree, but it's not entirely sure. If we ever get lost, we know where to find ourselves, "he whispered, pointing to the building engulfed by the forest behind us.

I replied that, in my opinion, the idea was a good one.

"Nobody would leave their home without a valid reason.

He is in danger.

For once, believe him ".

My conscience confirmed my hypotheses, smoothing out the insecurities.

"I'll trust you," I replied in mind.