Refragmentz: Souls of Memory

Chapter 8- Solhaven

I did not think. I pulled Vexa behind me and raised my left hand toward the spear.

"Chains of Oath!"

Golden chains burst from the ground and wrapped around Lyssara's spear and both of her arms. She screamed in anger and pulled with all her strength, but the chains did not break. At the same time, I called out another skill with the last of my strength.

"Sacred Judgment!"

A pillar of light came down from the sky and hit the ground a few steps away from her, right in front of the demon soldiers. It did not touch her, but the shockwave threw dozens of them to the ground, and the burning flames around the camp went out at once.

Lyssara fell to one knee, breathing heavily. The chains slowly faded, because I had no more power to hold them. I fell to my knees too, with Vexa bleeding in my arms.

"You... human..." Lyssara looked up at me, and her eyes were full of anger and confusion. "What are you? Why does my chest hurt like this?"

I did not know how to answer her. Behind me, Commander Hale and the human knights had finally gathered. They raised their weapons, and the remaining demon soldiers started to step back in fear.

"This is not over," Lyssara said as she stood up slowly. She pressed her hand against her chest, as if the pain was real. "The Demon Lord will hear about you, knight. When he comes himself, you will wish you had died tonight."

Violet flames swallowed her, and she disappeared once again. The demon army fell back and ran into the night.

The camp was silent. Many tents were burned, and many knights were lying on the ground. But the lower camp was still standing, and I think that was enough of a miracle.

"Chase," Vexa said in a weak voice. "I am bleeding. Do something."

I laughed and cried at the same time. I put my hand on her wound and used a healing skill that I had not used in twenty years. The light closed the wound slowly, and she let out a long breath.

"Thank you," she said quietly. It was the first time she thanked me.

Commander Hale walked up to us slowly. His armor was cracked, and his face was dirty. He looked at Vexa, at me, and then at the knights who were alive because of what we did.

"I have been a knight for thirty years," he said at last, "and I have never seen a demon take a spear for a human." He sighed. "You will both come to the capital with me. The Grand Master must hear about this."

"Are we still prisoners?" I asked.

"Not anymore," Hale said. "But not free either. Call it... a guarded guest."

We left the lower camp two days later, with twenty knights as escorts. The road to Solhaven, the capital of the Radiant Order, was long and quiet. Vexa rode on the same horse as me, since she could not go far, and she complained about it the whole time.

"Your horse smells," she said on the first day.

"It is a horse, Vexa."

"Then it should smell better."

I think I smiled more in those days than I had in the whole new life of Chase Ardent.

On the fifth day, we passed a small farming village near the road. Hale allowed the group to rest there for the afternoon. The villagers were afraid of Vexa at first, but the children were curious. A little girl with two braids came up to her slowly and held out a piece of bread.

"Are you really a demon?" the girl asked. "Mama said that demons eat people."

Vexa looked at the bread and then at the girl, and she did not seem to know what to do. "I do not eat people," she said stiffly. "That is a rumor."

"Then why do you have horns?"

"I was born with them."

"They are pretty," the girl said, and then she ran away giggling. Vexa stood there for a long time with the bread in her hand and her mouth slightly open.

"Chase," she whispered. "Did a human just call me pretty?"

"It seems so," I said, trying not to laugh.

"This is the strangest place that I have ever been." But I noticed that she ate the bread slowly, and that she kept looking at the children for the rest of the afternoon.

That evening, Commander Hale called me away from the fire. He leaned against a tree and spoke in a low voice.

"Ardent, I will be honest with you. The Grand Master is not a cruel man, but he is a careful one. He will not release a demon commander only because I spoke for her."

"I understand," I said.

"There are also some nobles who want her head to be displayed on the city wall. They will use this trial to gain support." He sighed. "I have seen what you did for my men, and I will stand beside you. But I cannot promise that it will be enough."

"Thank you, Commander," I said, and I bowed to him. He grunted and walked away, but I think he looked a little embarrassed.

On the third night, we camped near a river. The knights slept in their tents, and Vexa and I sat by the fire. She had a blanket around her shoulders, and the healed scar on her skin was still pink.

"Chase," she said suddenly. "Tell me about your wife."

I looked at the fire for a moment. Then I told her everything. About the old world, the farm, the mountains, and the day the sky burned. About how Selene smiled at me in the last moment and asked me to find her. I did not tell her about the gods, though. I was not ready yet.

Vexa listened quietly until I finished. "She sounds like someone I would have liked," she said.

"She would have liked you too," I said.

"I am not her, remember?"

"I remember." I looked at her. "But you are alive, Vexa. That is enough for me for now."

She did not answer, and she did not look at me. But she moved a little closer to the fire, which also meant that she moved a little closer to me. I did not say anything about it...