The Upside Down Tale of a Warrior

Chapter 4

"Nice to meet you Eliza, can I help you with anything? After all, you knocked the second most annoying and egotistical man in the army down a peg." I smile even wider at him.
"Actually I do need some help, could you help me get a new tent and some armor and everything, really."  He looks at me strangely and I rush to come up with an excuse.
"My entire tent was burned down a little bit ago." He seems to relax and I can tell this made sense to him. It must happen often.
" Well that I can do that easily. Though the armor will take a few extra hours." I smile at him a bit longer and thank him. Still slightly baffled at the fact that I was speaking fluent Greek.
"I don't know how I have never seen you around before. You are a strange one. Especially those weapons you carry." I slightly laugh and murmur, "You have no idea," under my breath. Renald turned around and motioned for me to follow.
"Let's get you a tent first, then we can see about getting you some food and drink, you look like you need it. I will go see the blacksmith later about getting you some armor." I beam at him again. Extremely grateful I met someone like him here. All I had to do was beat a person up, I think, my face twisting at the irony. I had sworn off fighting and when I did finally fight, something good came from it.
    "Here we are!" Renald exclaims, "Not much but better than sleeping outside. This is tent B320 if you ever lose it. Which does happen often considering all of these tents look the exact same." I glanced at the tent, which had a few animal pelts covering it.
    "Thank you so much for this Renald," I say as I turn back to him.
    "Of course Eliza. All of your camping supplies and clothes should be in there. Sorry if they are too big, you are a bit small." I noticed that he didn't say scrawny, with good reason too. I was small because I was still a girl but I packed a good amount of muscle on me. Too many fights and too many hours in the gym, I think wryly. Everyone always said I wouldn't need to fight, now I am stuck as a Greek soldier and fighting is one of the most important things I have to know.
    "Again, thank you. I am glad to know at least one person here." As soon as the sentence is out of my mouth I know I have just slipped. He thinks I have been here for a long time and my tent was just burned down.
    He scrunches his brows and looks at me oddly, "What do you mean you're glad you know at least one person here?" I try my hardest to erase any traces of panic on my face and try to lie as smoothly as possible. Just because he was nice to me doesn't mean I should spill everything to him.
    "I just meant I have tried my hardest to go under the radar of the generals and don't have anyone to talk to, or any friends for that matter. You know how rough the generals can be." Renald shakes his head, completely understanding my answer. In social studies we also learned how brutal the generals in the army could be. It is a good thing I pay more attention in social studies than I do in Spanish.
    "My tent is B317 if you want to come by for some dinner. It's not much but it is better than what most soldiers get around here," Renald offers. I smile at him again and nod my head yes.
    "Just let me get changed real quick," I say and duck into my tent for the first time. It definitely wasn't much. There was a small sleeping cot, formed out of hay and two animal pelts. There was a wooden chest along one side of the tent and a small, strange looking post that I could only guess was for armor.
    I quickly changed into the same thin white shirt and brown leather pants I had seen everyone wearing. Making sure to wrap an extra piece of leather around my chest. Now I truly looked like a boy. My brother would hate this, he always complained how I was too much like a boy and how being a boy was his job. The thought made me smile. Hopefully, I will wake up soon and forget all about this dream. There is no way I would accept such a big change in my life. Though there was still that nagging voice in the back of my head that told me this was too real to be just a dream.
    I shake my thoughts off and start to make my way to Renald's tent.