Katie couldn't stop laughing. Looking up through tear-filled eyes, she could see the young blonde haired man sat next to her sobbing with laughter as well, one hand still holding onto the reins of the cart while he waved the other in an attempt to calm them both down. Between howls, he managed to stutter out "But the best part, the best part is that,
to this day,
no one ever found out it was us!"
The two collapsed back into fits of belly-aching laughter. Desperately trying to catch her breath, Katie managed to ask "Wait, wait, wait, if they never found out it was us, who got the blame?" Barely giving her time to finish, Adam responded with a resounding bellow.
"The dog! She still thinks it was the dog!" Katie couldn't help but whoop with laughter.
"What? How?"
"I have no idea!"
The two continued laughing, barely keeping themselves in the cart as they rocked about wildly, holding their sides and cackling with glee. Finally coming back to their senses, Katie wiped her eyes, still bent over slightly.
"Gods above, that's incredible. I was sure your mum would've told her it was us."
Adam shook his head, still chuckling. "No, no, she never knew either. Mrs Durridge had no idea we were even there! Honestly, the look on her face when she told me the story, I could barely stop myself smiling. She was still so angry, even after, what, ten years?"
Katie chuckled softly, finally regaining her composure. "Man, we were shitty kids." She grinned over at her best friend, who shot her a wink.
"What do you mean kids? We're still pretty bad now!" With a broad grin, Adam gave Katie a friendly punch to the arm, before turning his attention back to the road. "Terrible Two forever."
Katie grinned back, and let out a sigh, as she reclined lazily against the backrest of the wagon's box. She looked up at the blue sky above them and watched as the few soft clouds drifted slowly away towards the horizon. The warm, early summer sun beat down on them, and as she relaxed, she closed her eyes and focussed on soaking up the sun's rays.
They'd been travelling along the long dirt road from Hollydour to Windcliffe for almost three days now, and so far it had been a dream. Ever since the two had set themselves up as swords for hire, Katie had always been a bit nervous about getting into a fight they couldn't win, but so far, every job they'd taken had been a walk in the park. After all, in a country as old as Tremailia, there were surprisingly few monsters left to slay, even out here on the frontier.
While the two had seen their fair share of fights over the last few months, they'd always managed to come away reasonably unscathed, nothing more than a few scrapes and bruises. But, that said, it was nice to work a job as quiet as this. Even if she did feel like a glorified postwoman.
Peering over her shoulder, she checked the cargo in the back of the wagon. Several bags of grain sat along the wall, leaning against each other for support, while a small collection of barrels and boxes stopped them spilling out of the back and onto the road as they travelled. The only thing that looked even remotely interesting was the oaken chest pushed up against the box she and Adam were sat in, but she knew there was nothing inside it but some fine silks and a few bottles of wine.
"Everything still there?" Adam's voice was deep and smooth.
"Yep, even after aaall of those bandit attacks." Adam rolled his eyes at her.
"Very funny."
"Thank you." Settling back into her seat, Katie propped her feet up on the side of the box and stared out lazily at the countryside passing on either side of them.
She'd known Adam for as long as she could remember. The two of them had grown up together in a tiny village deep in the countryside, and from the moment they'd met they'd been inseparable. They went everywhere together, and as they'd gotten older, the friendship between them had only gotten stronger. Neither of them could quite remember who'd nicknamed them the Terrible Two, but Katie was still pretty sure it'd been Adam's mother.
The name turned out to be pretty accurate. With their parents working out in the fields all day, the pair had found plenty of opportunities to make a nuisance of themselves. When they weren't running around the village terrorising the townsfolk, they were sneaking into barns and terrorising the livestock instead. Katie couldn't count the number of times they'd been caught somewhere they shouldn't have been, and gotten dragged home to furious parents. Her buttocks stung just thinking about it.
From an early age, Katie knew she would never be happy with a normal job. She couldn't think of anything worse than being a farmer like her parents, and the idea of becoming an apprentice had sounded worse than death. It was Adam who'd suggested the two run away and become adventurers. She'd thought he was joking at first, but as he started describing all the adventures the two of them would go, she started to really get into it.
So they started to make their plans, and at the age of eighteen, the two packed their bags, snuck out in the middle of the night, and never looked back.
Trundling along the road, her best friend next to her and the clear blue skies above, Katie didn't regret it for a moment. She'd felt a bit bad at first, but as time went on she'd fallen far too in love with the nomadic life to ever think of going home. Nothing made her as happy as the open road ahead of her.
Well, except Adam, but that was different.
No-one had ever understood her like Adam. He'd been with her through thick and thin, and even if he was a complete and total idiot, she knew that if she ever needed him, he'd come running. Just thinking about it brought a smile to her face.
Not to mention the way he made her laugh like nothing else. Looking over at him, Katie watched as he stared ahead, driving the horses onward at a slow canter. He was such a dork, but she loved him anyway.
Katie's brows furrowed. That was a weird thought. Obviously, she'd meant it platonically, the idea that she would ever be in love with Adam was absurd, but it made her feel strange all the same. She realised she didn't know if that was a good or bad thing.
Shaking the thought from her head, her eyes went back to the road, but not before Adam caught her looking at him.
"You got something to say?" His voice startled Katie, knocking her back into reality.
"What? Oh, no, sorry, just zoned out there for a minute."
