19 Through the Day and by the Fire

"Okay, that was weird," Roland said as he walked towards Charles in a daze with the knight's head dangling in his hand. "But that guy said that he was a woman."

"What?" Charles knitted his brows at the head and held his breath.

"Also, we have to get home as soon as possible," Roland followed with fear coloring his eyes.

Charles then shrugged with his face crumpling in confusion. "I'm sorry, but you have to tell me about that woman thing first and why..."

"Dude mentioned the cult."

"Oh," Charles sighed and looked around. "That makes sense."

"No, it doesn't."

"Yeah, it doesn't"

"He said that they're after my mom too."

"Say what?" Melvin shouted as he stepped in with Maya still unconscious on his arms. "You mean that cult? But I've already burned those guys to the ground."

"Wait… I've heard about that news," Charles said as he looked at Melvin who was just trying to put her body on the ground with utmost care as if he's handling a baby. "Was that… did you do that? Why?!"

Both of them then looked away and Melvin said, "A lot of things happened when I went out to buy some potatoes back then…"

"Okay…" Charles said as he leaned back before facing the bright blue skies with an ample amount of thin clouds hovering below it. Then, with a tired smile, he whispered, "I don't want to risk being an accomplice but yeah, what do we do now?"

"Well, the vanguard is basically destroyed and without anyone to hold the gates of this border, I'm sure that Tinora would end up… wait." Charles looked at Melvin once again with his eyes wide and surprised. "Didn't you just die?!"

"No, I did not," Melvin pouted his lips and replied. "You must be seeing things."

"But, he crushed your head, the-the blood, and the brains… what the hell…"

"Told you, the guy's immortal." Roland smiled before he looked at Maya in silence. "But about the vanguard, there are a lot of things that I should do and with Melvin with me, I did think about hanging back and hold this place until my very last breath..."

"What?" Charles scoffed. "You're kidding, you guy's won't last a week if-"

"But to hell with that, I have to go back and protect my mom." Roland followed with his look turning grim.

"If that's the plan then I'm in, everything's gonna be alright if I'm there," Melvin followed.

"Says the guy who just got his head crushed," Charles sneered.

"Coming from a guy who had his arm broken," Melvin replied, provoking Charles with his twisted grin.

The three fell silent and after a moment of looking away, he leered at Melvin once again with a bright smile and whispered, "I'm going to get my hands on the dullest sword I can find and I'm gonna tear your head away from your body."

"Yeah, yeah, love you too kid, now shove some potatoes in your mouth and recover from your injury."

They shared a few laughs as well as a few serious dialogues here and there until the sun found itself sinking past through the western mountains in the distance. Their surroundings soon turned gray along with the shadows of the debris that too faded with the warmth of the winds passing through the gorge.

With the sound of wood crackling feeding her ears and a streak of bright red lights flickering over her eyes, Maya soon found the energy to open herself to her surroundings. There, she found herself sitting by the fire with the silhouette of three men covering themselves with a layer of a thin blanket just like her.

"What…" Confused, she tried to call the others out and ask them but the sudden sting at her side made her remember what happened. "I… I failed again… I'm sorry."

"Hey, you're finally awake…" Roland replied with a warm tone. "You were trying to cross the-"

"No worries, you wouldn't really get hurt if I didn't bring you here," Charles interrupted. "But then again, we would've died if you weren't here so, be happy that your efforts gave us enough of a fighting chance."

"But… if I would've succeeded…" Maya sat up while gritting her teeth as a feeling of loss grasped her heart. "I would've... wait… where's Sir Melvin?!"

"Dead," Charles replied. "Got his head crushed like a sponge."

"No, I didn't," Melvin chuckled as he turned his head to look at her. "Geez, don't joke around when she's already like this…"

"So we… survived?" Maya replied with her voice shaking as she brushed the side of her eyes with the bottom of her palm. "I'm so… so glad-"

"To be fair, we thought that you were going to die so we spent the day waiting for you to wake up," Melvin said.

They all shared a moment of silence. Charles then looked down and with an uninterested tone, he whispered, "but it turns out you're alive, yaaaay…"

"Says the guy who panicked about her dying to the point that he ended up shoving the last stamina potion we have into her throat," Melvin scoffed. "What a sweet boy you are."

Charles clicked his tongue as he held his palm over to the fire. "Roland is the one who panicked so I was the one who ended up force-feeding her. Don't lump everything on me.

"Really?" Maya tightened her grip at her cloak and turned her head towards Roland.

"Don't mention it." Roland let out an awkward laugh.

"But that means…"

"Don't look at me, I've already drunk two potions within the same day, If I took another one, I'll end up sleeping through the week."

"I'm fine here too so cast all your worries towards Charles…" Melvin replied as he pointed his chin towards him.

"Then…"

"Don't sweat it." Charles looked at his side. "It's just an arm and you needed more energy to at least survive so shut up and take plenty of rest so I shouldn't have to worry about the things that I would have to heal tomorrow."

"That's the plan…" Roland followed. "We're going to spend the night here and tomorrow, we're gonna get back and announce to everyone that we've failed the mission and the vanguard was destroyed. You can relax because Melvin is gonna take the first watch since he lost at our little game earlier. Feel free to hang back and get as much rest as you can."

"We're going back?" Maya asked as she let herself get carried by her arms to the cold ground.

Roland then looked into her eyes and with his tired face highlighted by the warmth of the nearby fire, he tilted his head and smiled. "Yeah, we're going home."