I spent the night in the town's jail, with a cell and a cot all to myself. I'd never been locked in a cage before. Saints, not even the town walls could hold me when I needed to stretch my legs.
And now?
My forearm was bound in a rigid leather sleeve, from elbow to palm, and my torso was treated with a salve and wrapped in a clean cloth. Over that, I wore a loose-fitting, plain gray shirt. It didn't have an emblem to denote who owned me like the soldiers outside, but I would wear the Vigil's mark on my skin forever.
It wasn't all bad. The town bailiff and his men weren't anywhere to be seen. Doctor Loeb provided a drink to dull the pain when I entered the jail cell, and I slept like a rock until dawn.
Shortly after sun-up, Loeb returned to examine me. With Sentinel Glenn at his side, neither man looked well-rested, and this somehow made me feel better.
"What the feth is a Kjaira anyway?" I pronounced it KEE-YARA and seemed to startle Loeb with my first question of the day.
Maybe he was surprised that I could talk, or maybe that I was talking to him after yesterday's ordeal. I had to admit that having my arm reset and wrapped tight had done wonders reducing the constant pain of the past month. I could almost feel the bone healing now, where before, it only complained.
Loeb finished checking my bandages and fit a sling around my left arm. "Ara, how about we get out of here and discuss it over breakfast?"
I was all in for that.
"So, what do I call you both?" I asked as we stepped outside. "Inquisitor? Doctor? Sentinel?"
"I go by Cornelius," said Loeb, "Though my function within the Order of the Vigil also defines me, so doctor or inquisitor also works. I was a doctor in Stonnberg when Vigil Snow found me. It seems my exceptional ability at healing was related to a kind of clear sight that Vigil Snow mentioned yesterday. It comes in handy when vetting those useful to our cause or, more commonly, patching them up. It also helps me with sniffing out demons and their corruption."
Sentinel Glenn spoke next, "My official name is Sentinel-Captain Broward Glenn. I'm the captain of Vigil Snow's House Guard. You can take your pick of which names to call me. I'll not be offended. One thing worth knowing: we often use 'the Vigil' to refer to the broader Order of the Vigil, while we just use 'Vigil' as a title of office for Vigil Snow, the individual."
"I'm Ara." I extended my right hand to both men. "I'm a bit short on titles or names at the moment, but you can call me 'Ara the Hungry' for the time being."
We arrived at a local tavern, the Red Horse. Once a stable—one that had burned down decades ago—the owners had rebuilt the site into a broad, one-story drinking and eating establishment. The smells flowing up the kitchen chimney provided all the menu anyone needed. Today we were having pork sausages and fresh bread. It was a popular place, and there were a couple of tables of gray-shirted sentinels sitting nearby. I swear I recognized several faces from the Mayor's meeting room last night. Loeb ordered a round of food and tea for the three of us, and we dug in.
Nearing the end of my breakfast, I pushed the doctor for an answer to my earlier question. "So, what is a Kjaira? And why should I be on the lookout for its sisters?"
The doctor replied, "A Kjaira is a named demonic assassin. I say named because, unlike the lesser demons that we normally encounter, each Kjaira has a unique name among all the beings in Hell. Each is explicitly known to the Powers there, as any Kjaira would be a threat to their Houses. A Kjaira is always born in litters of six, so there might still be five siblings left to finish its job, and just like this one found you, you can bet that the others already know your scent.
YOU ARE READING
FIREFANGED
Fantasia*I'm using Wattpad as a platform to do a complete make-over of my first novel, Firefanged, first published in 2020. I didn't know demon-slayers were a thing back then. I was more of an inner demon person, but I liked getting them out on the page. T...
