“That sounds insane,” Vir said.
“Oho?” Cirayus cocked a brow. “Don’t tell me you wouldn’t do the same, lad.”
Vir couldn’t stop the grin on his face. “Maybe.”
“Anyway, we once found this Mahakurma here, though it was dormant at the time. We figured it’d be the perfect training ground.”
“You saw a world-ending creature and decided to jump right onto its back? To train…”
“Your father’s idea, lad. Let it be known that I was usually the voice of reason.”
Uh, huh.
“He must have been quite the character,” Vir said, feeling like he’d have gotten along really well with his old man. Though he couldn’t imagine his mother would have approved of such reckless behavior.
The cozy scene played out in his mind. He could almost see the happy family together, warm and caring.
“Aye,” Cirayus said wistfully. “Aye, that he was. We spent many months here. This engraving?” he pointed to an M and a C engraved into the tree’s trunk. “Ours. In case we ever returned. Proof that we were here. That we’d braved the Ash, penetrated its depths, and lived to tell the tale.”
Cirayus moved aside, allowing Vir to run his fingers over the mark. Evidence that Maion Garga had been here, decades—perhaps centuries—ago. Clanlord. King. His father.
The engraving was so simple. So crude. And yet, Vir was so moved. He couldn’t understand why. He’d never even met the man, and yet, he missed him dearly. He missed them both.
“That was… So very long ago. Honestly can’t believe the mark is still here,” Cirayus said, sighing. “It feels like just yesterday to me. I cannot tell you how much I wish they were still here.”
Vir turned to find a tear trickling down the giant’s face. The sight caused his own tears to well.
“What… What were they like?”
The giant hesitated. “I do not wish to add to your burden, lad. You are already grieving for one.”
“Please, I wish to know,” Vir said. “I… need this. I’ll never get to see them or hear their voices. I’ll never get to listen to their stories, or hear their laughter. The least I can do is remember who they were and carry that within me. Please.”
Cirayus sat against the tree and motioned for Vir to join him.
“Then I shall, for I knew them both better than most. Come, have a seat. This will be quite the tale.”
52
OF KINGS AND QUEENS (PART TWO)
“Well, lad,” Cirayus said wistfully, gazing off into the distance to times long past. “I’m sure you can already guess a few things about your father.”
“That he was a combat junkie crazy enough to fight Ash Beasts to train?” Vir asked innocently.
Cirayus chuckled. “Aye, he certainly was. Never met a demon who loved the thrill of combat quite as much as your father, especially in the early days. Nor anyone who so craved to better himself, either. And not just at fighting. From leadership to cooking to being a better friend, he never ceased improving in his entire life.”
“Huh. I’m guessing he was centuries old, like you?”
“Somewhere in his mid-three hundreds. Let me tell you, lad. There are few things more impressive than those who never stop developing themselves, day after day, decade after decade. His mastery in some skills was downright terrifying.”
Vir could scarcely imagine. He, himself, had come so far in just a single year. What would it look like if he continued for centuries on end? It was a wonder how Cirayus and his father hadn’t turned into literal deities by this point.
“Why, though?” Vir asked. “What did he fight for?”
“Well, he always said he fought for Shari—your mother.”
“You believe that?” Vir asked.
“I do,” the giant said with a small sigh. “He might have craved his fights, but he loved nothing and no one more than your mother. Of that, I have no doubt. Ever since he met Shari, he… changed. His zeal redoubled, and he became a different demon. A better one.”
“How did they meet?” Vir asked. He’d always enjoyed Rudvik’s story of how he met his wife in the village.
“Ah, now that is a tale. Your father was a Gargan prince at the time, much as you yourself are now. His father was the Raja—Clanlord—and his mother was Clanlady. Maion, being Maion, was often off fighting Ash Beasts at the boundary shirking his princely duties.”
“And my mother?”
“A renowned healer of the Panav clan. They called her a miracle worker—such was her ability to heal others.”
“Let me guess,” Vir said. “He was off fighting Ash Beasts one day and got in over his head?”
Cirayus let out a deep laugh. “That was exactly what happened. Not especially surprising, considering the sort of opponents he fought. Hardly a week went by without him getting injured one way or another. That time was worse, though. That he was fighting a Garga beast only made the whole thing more ironic. Well…” The giant’s expression darkened. “That, and the fact he was helping the Chitran protect their border with the Ash at the time.”
“The Chitran?” Vir said, his anger flaring. “Why would he help them, of all people?”
“I asked the same thing. Those backstabbing chals’ history with the Garga runs deep, and very little of it was friendly. Yet your father, being your father, always felt that the war against the Ash trumped inter-clan politics. He aided those in need, regardless of whether they wanted it. For risking his life, he was often the butt of ridicule and anger.”
Vir didn’t quite know how he felt about that. Maion sounded like the hero of every fable—a knight in shining armor. At least, how knights should have been, were they not corrupt pawns of the state.
On the other hand, it made Vir’s blood boil that the very people he’d risked his life to help slaughtered his clan and murdered him. Would Vir do the same?
He didn’t even need to think about it. He wouldn’t. He’d have let those Chitrans die.
Perhaps it was wrong of him to want revenge. Maybe there was more to the story than met the eye. But at that moment, Vir wished for nothing more than to return the atrocities the Chitran had committed upon his people tenfold.
“Your mother, Shari, saved his life. The prince had gotten himself gored so badly, the other healers had written him off. Not your mother, though. She didn’t even break a sweat. In fact, he recovered so fast, he was fighting beasts again the very next day. Much to Shari’s frustration, of course.”
“You were there?” Vir asked, half expecting the answer. Cirayus and Maion seemed like they went everywhere together. He also noted how demon magic seemed to allow for different healers working in tandem through different levels of healing. Healing orbs weren’t like that. Using orbs of a certain grade precluded the use of any other grade, once activated on a wound.
“Aye, I was fighting beasts some distance away. I didn’t see what happened until after he’d been injured.”
“So, uh… Did they end up together after that?”
Cirayus snorted. “Not even close. Maion certainly was in love. You could see it in his eyes the moment he awoke and learned she’d healed him. Your mother, I’m afraid, felt quite differently.”
“What happened?”
“Well, y’see, your father was quite witty. A smooth talker. A bit of a ladies’ man, and why wouldn’t he be? He was a prince. Handsome, strong, and noble. He had no end of potential consorts, and a fair share of flings.”
“Er… Should you really be telling me this?”
The giant shrugged—an odd gesture, given his four-armed physiology.