“Vir, you remember what Riyan taught us about Hiranyan royalty?”
Here it comes, he thought. With her sitting behind him, she never saw the wry smile that crept onto his face. “Why don’t you give me a refresher?”
She sighed. “Ugh, I know. It’s tedious. Riyan keeps harping about how knowledge is power and so on and so on.”
“Does that mean he’s okay with you abandoning the obstacle course?” Vir asked. He’d been worrying about that for a while, though it was a sensitive topic for her.
“To be honest, I don’t really know. He isn’t forcing me to go, at least. But I dunno if he’s just teaching me other things as a break from training or what. Anyway, he’s been drilling the names of various kings and queens and countries into my head all this time.”
“Oh, yeah?” Vir said, playing along. He wasn’t really interested, but the silence was even more boring than listening to Maiya go on about this stuff. He could really use the distraction from guiding Bumpy for hours.
The beast wasn’t exactly temperamental, but it had its idiosyncrasies that Vir had to constantly watch out for. Guiding the beast for a half hour was one thing, but the effort steadily wore on him as the night progressed.
“Right, so, our kingdom, Hiranya, is a monarchy. That means there’s a king and a queen, and sometimes the queens have as much power as the kings, but that’s not the case for Hiranya. King Rayid Hiranya’s the current ruler, and has been for decades. There’s talk about his eventual succession, but apparently that’s a hot topic amongst the Sawai.”
“Why’s that? Are the princes fighting over the throne?”
“Both the princes and the princess, actually. Seems the eldest son, First Prince Sanobar, is in line for the throne. He’s like the perfect prince. He helps his father out and works for the good of the nation. The second prince is somewhat of a scheming snitch. People think he’s gonna do something to Sanobar to snatch the throne from him.”
“Do something… Like, you mean he’s going to have him killed? Isn’t that really bad?”
“Probably, yeah. That’s if his sister doesn’t do something first. Third Princess Mina’s all Riyan ever talks about. I feel like he’s teaching me her entire history for some reason. He… I dunno…” Maiya trailed off.
“Huh?” he said as he guided Bumpy over a hazardous group of rocks. “What were you gonna say?”
“I feel like he’s obsessed with her, Vir. Like, in an unhealthy way. He doesn’t say it, but I honestly think something happened between them.”
Vir didn’t know why, but a sudden image flashed into his mind, prompting him to sink deep into thought.
“What’s up, Vir?”
“Hmm? Oh, no. Just thinking, is all. You remember the night we cremated Rudvik?”
Maiya tightened her arms around his waist. It made him smile, and he squeezed her hand. Bringing up Rudvik always cast their hearts to the past.
“Riyan said something to me back then. Words that I’ve never forgotten. He said my wounds would never heal. That time mends all wounds, but that the scars remain forever.”
“I remember that,” Maiya said softly.
“I just felt like he’d spoken from personal experience, is all. I dunno why, but I’m wondering if it had anything to do with what you just said. You think he has some tussle with Hiranyan royalty?”
“Hmm. I dunno. Riyan definitely comes across as a Sawai aristocrat, or maybe ex-Sawai. But even they don’t really have access to the royal family unless they’re super high up. And besides, what would a princess be able to do to that man? It’s Riyan we’re talking about. I can’t imagine anyone wronging him and living. Not even a princess.”
Vir had to agree. The thought was ridiculous. But if true, what did it mean for him? What did it mean for Maiya? “Nevermind, then. Actually, I’ve been wondering, but is their last name always the name of the kingdom? Or is that just a Hiranyan thing?”
“Yeah, seems to be the convention for every kingdom Riyan’s told me about so far. Well, except for the Altani and the Pagan Order, which I gotta tell you about. They’re so much more—”
“Hang on, Maiya,” Vir said, eyeing a small brook up ahead that fed into the ocean. “Let’s take a quick break. I dunno if my bum can take much more of this.” Hours of riding over the rocky hills had left him numb.
Maiya’s face lit up. “Yesss! Thought you’d never stop!”
It was as if their bones had fused together. Every movement was awkward and stiff, and Vir could barely dismount from the blasted steed.
Maiya threw herself into stretching exercises on the rocky scree while Vir went to feed the Ash’va. For all his gripes with the beast, it was carrying them on its back. He patted its snout. “Thanks, Bumpy. You’re not perfect, but we still love you, anyway.”
“We do?” Maiya asked from a few paces away.
“We do,” Vir said with a nod. The Ash’va grunted, likely in response to the hay it was being fed and not his words, but it felt nice to pretend otherwise.
Vir was just finishing up undoing Bumpy’s reins to make him more comfortable when he felt a sudden warmth on the small of his back.
He startled, only to feel Maiya behind him.
“Magic Heat?” he asked.
Maiya nodded, leaning against him and pressing the orb against his back. “I feel bad hogging it all this time.”
“Don’t be. I couldn’t hold an orb and handle Bumpy’s reins now, could I? And besides, I can deal with the chill better than you can.”
She held up a package bundled in a banana tree leaf. “Sandwich?”
Vir began salivating the moment he smelled the delectable spices. Maiya’s cooking had always been good, but it’d grown even more delicious lately thanks to the amount of practice they got.
“You’re the best,” he said between bites. “This was exactly what I needed.” Maiya beamed with pride.
“Anyway, let’s not linger too long,” she said, looking around at their rocky surroundings. “I just wanna get to Saran. To a nice, warm bed.”
“I doubt we’ll make Saran by the end of the day. We’re probably looking at sleeping at least one day in the sun.”
She sighed. “I know. It’s fine, I’ll live.”
Vir fell into stretches of his own, which did wonders for his blood circulation. His bottom still hurt, but there wasn’t much he could do about that. He followed it up with some shadowboxing, which made Maiya laugh. He’d hoped to trigger Prana Vision, but a few kicks and punches weren’t enough to get it to a useful level, and they needed to get going.
“I think I interrupted you before we stopped. What were you talking about?” Vir said when they mounted Bumpy several minutes later.
Vir had initially dreaded hearing Maiya go on about the various kingdoms, but he was warming up the topic, especially since it might relate to Riyan.
“Hmm, where was I?” She tapped her chin.
“I think you were about to talk about the Altani and the Pagan Order.”
“Oh, right! Right, so, the Altani. Riyan was very clear about them. If you ever come across an Altani mage, never ever make them angry, Vir. He’s told me things about them. Scary things.”
“Yeah? Like what?”
“You know how the Kin’jal Empire’s always saying they’re the strongest power in the Known World?”
“Right,” Vir lied. “Of course. Everyone knows that.” He had no clue.
“It turns out they tried attacking the Altani. This would’ve been a hundred years ago or more.”
“I noticed you said they tried attacking. What happened?”
“They failed. Spectacularly. The Kin’jal amassed an army a hundred thousand strong… And they lost in a single day. It’s called Banshi’s Folly. Banshi was apparently the Kin’jal commander at the time.”