Praetorian Rising, стр. 30
Camille battled wildly with the creature, bringing her blade down on the tail to cleave it cleanly from the body in one slash of metal. The beast cried out, its vocal cords releasing a strangled yelp. In frustrated pain, it turned on her in a fit of rage.
"Oh crap," she mumbled as she careened backward, slightly off balance.
The Chimera took that moment to pounce on her. One front paw slammed heavily on top of her right arm, the other smashing against the hard-packed ground close to her head. Sharp yellow fangs grinned down at her, and its putrid, sickly stench washed over her face in a whirl of breath. Camille felt its massive paw crushing her upper arm, daring the bones to break, but she wouldn't give in so quickly.
Whipping out a short-nosed dagger from her belt she jammed it into the paw still holding her captive. Just as the Chimera pulled back with a nasty hiss, its foreleg now oozing a sickly black, Theo slashed his blade under the beast's thick neck, spraying the cold ground with a waterfall of blood.
Theo let out a battle cry of victory over the whimpering Chimera as Camille drove her blade into its neck. It fell to the ground in a heap of dead flesh, thick, black blood oozing from its wounds.
"That was an easy kill, eh?" Theo said.
Camille pulled her trampled arm against her body as she stood, trying to ignore the bitter ache of bruising spreading across her flesh. "That's what you have to say?"
Theo shrugged. "Next time you should follow my lead. Maybe then you won't get trampled."
"So, are you going to tell me who and what you are now?" Camille blurted out, rubbing her arm.
Theo didn't respond right away. Instead, he began to clean his bloody sword on the black hide of the dead Chimera. "Youreally don't remember me?" he said finally, sounding almost troubled.
"There are a lot of things I don't remember," Camille replied defensively. She felt her hackles rising at his question, desperate to prove that she wasn't strange despite her inability to explain her past.
"Not even a glimmer, eh? That's a bummer," he said casually, trying to make light of the situation, but Camille saw the murky depths of his expression. He wasn't just hurt by the realization that she didn't know who he was, he appeared to be downright devastated.
"Vesyon—" Camille started, but stopped suddenly as Theo jerked to attention.
"He's here?" Theo barked, his eyes sparkling with fervor as they flitted around the forest. "I have a few words for him."
"Yes—he was here before you attacked me."
He whirled on her, his smile so devastatingly brilliant that it almost blinded her into shocked silence. "I didn't attack you," he replied matter-of-factly. "I merely caught you off guard. You're the one who attacked me."
"What?!" Camille shot back, no longer lost in a stupor of awe. "I was defending myself against a stranger. You put your sword to my back!"
"Always overreacting, Cam. It's not like I would've done anything."
"Not even in each other's company for twenty minutes and you're already bickering. I believe that's a record for you two," Vesyon said, appearing through the mist of the chilly forest with an armful of dry wood.
It didn't pass Camille's notice that he looked worse than when he'd left; his hair was tousled and dirty, his shirt torn at the shoulder to reveal a fresh wound.
"Didn't realize collecting wood was such a battle. What happened?" Camille asked, unsure of whether she wanted to hear the answer.
"Vee!" Theo shouted.
"It's good to see you Theo—glad you found us," Vesyon said, setting the wood down to embrace the blond man. "I wasn't sure Neeko would get to you in time. He stayed back in the village, yes?"
"Yeah, still there guarding the grounds and awaiting your next orders. He's as welcoming and friendly as a pine-cone, that one. Makes me think he only has affection for two Praetorians—and I didn’t make the cut,” Theo said, glancing at Camille.
Camille swallowed, her blood running cold at his words. "W-what?"
Theo shook his head, chuckling as he did so. "You haven't told her yet, Vee?"
"I'm sorry—you're mistaken," Camille replied, vigorously shaking her head. "I'm not a Praetorian. I'm not one of those traitors."
Silence filled their surroundings for several beats before Theo chuckled softly, his expression kind if not slightly sympathetic. "Please, you've got to tell her. It's not fair to lie to someone like this!"
"How dare you laugh at me," Camille snapped at Theo, causing his gentle laugh to cease abruptly. Vesyon ignored them both, kneeling to build a fire. "Vesyon, explain to him who I am."
"He's aware of who you are," Vesyon said. "He's known you almost as long as I have."
Camille huffed in frustration. "I don't care if he knows my name, he doesn't know who I am. I'm not a Praetorian, not one of those exiled hack soldiers."
Her words were intended to harm, but Vesyon didn't appear to care. Theo, however, went silent and turned to attend his muddied weapons. Both men avoided her glare, which only enraged her further.
She waited for Vesyon to defend her, to deny Theo's statement, but as the seconds ticked by, her desire to hear him say such a thing began to waver. If she was a Praetorian, she could go back and protect Lunci—she could keep the boy and his grandfather safe.
"What the hell are you doing?" She finally burst out in a mounting explosion of annoyance.
"Building a fire. What does it look like I'm doing?" Vesyon answered, keeping his gaze on the task at hand.
"You're a complete imbecile, you know that?" Theo snickered in Vesyon's direction, his eyes rolling with disbelief. There was a slight pause from Vesyon, but other than that he didn't appear to be affected by Theo's prodding comments.
"There's no need to worry for the moment, Camille. We are good to make camp for a bit before moving on." Vesyon