”All well, I hope?” Hellrien asked in a low voice.
Taraborn nodded. ”All's good, what 'bout you up th' front?”
”Nothing but bears about.”
”I'm sure we'll be safe round 'ere. Big camp ain't likely to be bothered.”
”Yeah. Let’s go to the campfire.”
Hellrien turned and started walking towards a fire ring next to a few tarps which belonged to the construction workers and traders who lingered about the camp. Darkness would fall in about half an hour. There was nobody sitting around the ring and the fire wasn’t burning, but there was a pile of dry wood and some tinder in a wooden box nearby. Before long the fire was burning strong and Tara and Hellrien were sitting around it. It was windy, and the wind kept blowing smoke in Hellrien’s eyes.
”Have you seen a lot of action, Tara?” Hellrien asked, flailing the smoke off her face.
Tara laid his helmet down beside him and started to rummage through his bag. He pulled out a few sausages, skewered them on a sharpened stick and held it above the flames.
”Some in every town I visited”, he smirked, winking at her. ”Done a lo' o' figh'in' too.”
Hellrien grinned. ”Got any of them sausages to spare? All I’ve got is bread and damn peas.”
Taraborn nodded and gestured towards his bag.
”Aye, I got loads”, he said, turning the stick over to get the other side. ”So what abou' yerself? Much action?”
Hellrien picked up a stick from the ground and started to sharpen it with her knife.
”Some. Before I joined the Dawn I was part of a company that called themselves the Sworn Brotherhood.”
”I think I 'eard o' tha' before.”
Hellrien smirked. ”Yeah, I must have talked about it in the Dawnhall or the barracks during my drunken bouts. I always wanted to be a soldier, y'see. Or a sailor. Ever since I was a little lass. But I always thought I couldn't... because I was a woman.”
”Damn stupid, tha’. I seen some bloody good fighters who were women.”
Hellrien nodded and got up to pull some sausage out of Tara’s bag. Then she sat back down, skewered the sausage and shoved the stick over the flames.
”What do you want out of life, Tara?”
”Fun mostly, normally a fight or a lass. Yerself?”
Hellrien pondered the question for a little while. ”I guess this it it”, she finally concluded. ”The life I wanted. It's all I'm good at anyways.”
They were quiet for a while after that, eating their provisions, each lost in their own thoughts.
”It's getting late. We should go get some sleep.”
Hellrien stood up and unpacked her tarp kit from the back of her horse and began assembling the poles. Tara started doing the same. They worked fast and efficiently. It was evident that both had a lot of practice.
”I'm sure this ain't all yer good at”, Tara said suddenly, looking at Hellrien from the side. Hellrien shrugged.
”Well, I haven't found anything else yet. So I'm content with what I have so far.” She crawled under the tarp and wrapped herself in the blanket, yawning. ”Good night, Tara, see ya tomorrow!”
”G’night lass.”
(Author's note: The story will continue after a holiday break. Happy holidays and new year!)
