A King's Legacy Ch. 32

"Ouch... No need for the low blows you know? So the daisies are a bust, maybe we can find another plant to substitute them for?" Mercy was about ready to just give up. She turned, chirped angrily, and flew off his shoulder with a flutter. The little cardinal flew right over to the top of a nearby tree, and brooded over it all for a while. Flose let out another sigh, and turned back to the three beasts a short ways away. They were finally walking towards him, the bear in front, the fox and the tiger on either side.

Flose found himself drawing up again, pulling his limbs in close as he once more found himself wanting to simply make a run for it. The boy remained seated instead, working on controlling his nervous and fearful trembling. The three beasts stopped about four paces in front of the human. The two smaller beasts on either side took a seat. Corper began speaking in that calmer tone of his.

"I'm sure all three of you have a million questions, but for now, let's try not to overwhelm anyone. Flose here, our guest, will get to ask the first question. You two answer it as you see fit, and then you may ask him a question in return. Keep in mind he has no obligations to answer you, and please try not to interrupt one another. If something doesn't need to be discussed, I'll move the conversation along." Corper looked towards Flose, and finished his opening.

"My students will ask their own questions, come to their own conclusions based off of your answers, and choose what they want to do going forward on their own terms. My decision is made, it is theirs you will need to sway. The conversation starts with you, boy, speak what you may." Flose swallowed dryly, feeling uneasy about this exchange, regardless of how simple a thing the bear had made it seem. The human slowly raised his gaze, and focused it on Rust. Flose figured the easiest beast to start with would be the least intimidating one. His voice came out exceptionally squeaky, courtesy of his throat aching from all the tears he had shed recently.

"So... You are the one that healed Mercy and I? I should probably start by thanking you for that." Rust smiled happily at Flose while he asked for a little clarification.

"Mercy? Is that the bird's name?" Flose nodded, confirming the hunch. The boy continued.

"Yeah, that's her. I thought she was hurt pretty badly back there... A broken wing doesn't usually heal right on its own, so you spared her ability to fly. Thank you." Rust was beaming, but Oust was feeling more guilty than ever as those words crushed his enthusiasm a little. Rust answered proudly.

"Don't sweat it! Glad I could help. You were in pretty bad shape, and it isn't like we could just leave you like that." Flose answered a bit cautiously.

"Yes, you could have... and I would have surely died if you had. We call it 'Sticky Lung,' and its something we don't have the means to really fight anymore." Rust was quick to ask.

"We?" Flose looked back to the earth below, and found himself faltering. Sure, the bear already knew, but it still felt like he was serving everything up on a platter for these beasts. It felt like he was betraying everyone... Still the boy answered.

"Yes... We. My settlement has an outbreak righ-" Oust excitedly cut the boy off before he ever finished that statement.

"THERE'S A WHOLE SETTLEMENT OF HUMANS LEFT?!?" Flose cowered away from the tiger's interruption, not wanting to stare into those menacing, red eyes again. Corper corrected his pupil.

"Don't interrupt." Oust realized his mistake, and lightly bowed in apology. Flose never even saw it, he was far too busy averting his eyes. The bear gently coaxed the human on. "Excuse my student, his intentions are good, but his impatience still needs some work. Please, continue." Flose nodded lightly, and picked back up, still casting his gaze elsewhere all the while.

"My village is dealing with an outbreak right now of Sticky Lung, and that's what brought me to this forest in the first place. We can slow the damage with what treatment we do have, but the medicine, and the supply of herbs we use for it have dwindled down to almost nothing. I was doing more research, and stumbled across a tonic that is said to help with bad coughs. The ingredients were common enough, or so I thought, so I set out to try and find some way to offer my people some relief. I've been in this forest for about a week now, and still can't even find the last ingredient I needed." Oust replied more patiently this time, eager to help the little human before him.

"What do you still need?" Flose looked at the tiger for the briefest moment before he turned away, and answered.

"Daisies... little white flowers with an orange center. They tend to be pretty resilient, and like a lot of sunlight. It was written that they were once common in this area this time of year, but I haven't seen a single one since coming here, even with Mercy's help." Flose went to stand, and quickly stopped himself a second later. He didn't want to anger these beasts... Corper chimed in once more.

"What is it?" Flose was quiet for a little before he replied.

"I have a picture I copied from that medicine book in my sketch book. I was going to show you, but I don't know if it matters." The bear simply paced over to the satchel, slipped a hand in, and pulled the book out with two careful claws. He paced back to the human, and held the book out towards him. Corper spoke casually.

"Here. You may show them." Flose slowly reached his shaky hands forward to take the book back, waiting for the trap to spring the entire time he did so. It never came, but the human did manage to flip to the sketch in question easily enough. The boy turned the book around when he located it, and showed the beasts what he meant. A laugh certainly wasn't what Flose was expecting from the tiger of all things... but he berated himself for not expecting as much... People made fun of his hobby often, after all. Flose quickly realized this wasn't the case when the tiger spoke again.

"Sorry, it's just, I can tell you where you'll find a field full of those flowers, we all can." The boy blinked in surprise before he answered that. Flose finally dared to chance peering into those scary, red eyes at the statement. The boy had some kind of hope now, even if the fox wouldn't agree to help him...

"You can?" Oust pointed back east, towards the opposite end of the forest. He remembered to try and not appear so irritated, per his master's advice before they had spoken to the human. He answered as gently as he could manage.

"Yeah, you just keep heading that way. When you reach the other side of the thicket, you just press on for another day or two through the terrain and you'll find a village of orcs, and a humongous cherry tree. There are hundreds of these flowers there." Flose sucked in a shallow breath at the news, but the boy hadn't thrown all caution to the wind yet. He asked to be certain, pointing at the illustration once again.

"And you're sure it's this flower?" Oust smiled a little as he recalled the crown he had crafted as his apology to Milky. He answered assuredly.

"I'm positive it is. As you said, white petals, orange center, and likes the sun. Besides, your picture looks exactly like they do, save for the lack of color of course. It leaves little room for doubt. You did really well on it." Flose was certainly taken aback by the compliment on his sketch. He stared at the beast for a moment in pure shock, questioning whether he had misjudged the tiger after all.

Oust could see the wheels turning in the boy's mind, and tried once more to lighten up the mood. Oust smiled at the human thoughtfully, doing his best to mimic the warm, toothy grin the fox had used often. What Oust didn't consider, was that this human wasn't raised around beasts as Aster was...

The smaller boy couldn't differentiate their facial expressions, nor really understand their body language quite yet... So all Flose saw was the beast bearing his fangs in a threatening snarl. He dropped his gaze immediately as his heart raced back into a panic. Nope... That massive tiger was still fucking scary. Corper realized what the tiger had overlooked, and simply let out a sigh before turning to his student, and speaking a bit quietly to him.

"You should probably practice that smile a little more before you go throwing it around, young one... You don't exactly have the innocent face to pull it off..." Rust didn't even try to hide his snicker. Flose and Oust both burned uncomfortably in their places, the failed notion of kindness warping into embarrassment for them on an excruciating level. There was an even more awkward silence for a moment before Flose finally managed to build up enough courage to speak once more. He turned his gaze back to Rust, deflated after processing the news.

"From what he just told me, it would probably take me close to two weeks to make it there, gather the flowers, and get back to my people, and that's if the orcs are still somewhat tolerant of my kind. The sick in my settlement won't be able to last that long... but the bear told me you had healing magic..." Flose dropped his gaze, feeling so unbearably flustered by all of this. He had broken every single rule he had been taught throughout his entire life just to reach this point... Begging a beast to help him. Flose was trying his best to word it, knowing it would come out as a helpless plea for aid no matter what he said. Luckily for him, he never even had to ask.

"I'll go." Flose shot his gaze back to the little fox, his eyes wide in both surprise, and hope. The boy sputtered to get his reply out, overwhelmed by such an unexpectedly easy answer.

"Wait... YOU WILL?!?" Sir Corper repeated the human's question, asking the fox as well.

"You will?" Rust flashed a toothy smile, (far more effectively than Oust had recently attempted,) and answered both the bear, and the boy enthusiastically.

"Sure! What's the point of having prayer magic if I don't use it to help people in need?" Corper dove a little deeper in reply, ensuring the cub was making an informed decision.

"And you parents? You're alright without seeing them as soon as possible?" Rust's smile never faded as he answered that gently.

"I want to see my mom and dad more than anything in the world right now... But he is worried about his family too. I would pray that if I couldn't help my loved ones, and somebody else could, that they would do what I was unable to... Besides, I think it's only fair to my uncle that I try." Flose wanted to start crying again for completely different reasons as he basked in that answer. An uncertain look crossed his face a moment later as he realized something.

"I don't have any real way to pay you..." Rust laughed light-heartedly at the remark, dismissing the need entirely with his reply.

"Don't worry about that. Uncle Aster finding out there are other human's alive will be plenty of payment for me!" Flose went silent as his mind failed to process those words again and again. Other humans? Then... Flose suddenly leaned forward, resting his weight on his hands as he stared at the adolescent fox with a slacked jaw. He asked his question slowly, finally disregarding the remaining caution he had clung to.

"Is... Is your uncle a human with brown hair? A male about my age with gold and brown eyes?" Rust kept smiling as he answered.

"Haha, yeah, that's Aster. Surprised you didn't just ask about the shield though, that's way more of a dead giveaw-"

"YOUR UNCLE IS THE STOLEN KING OF ADAMARE? THE SHIELDBEARER, SOLIS AUREUS, LIVES?" All three beasts were a little surprised by the sudden shift in tone and energy. It was Oust that answered the question.

"Yes, he does. We were all traveling with him up until a few days ago. We were separated by a large fissure then, but I am certain of it. Aster Venatus, or Solis Aureus by his birth name, is aliv-" Oust stopped dead in his tracks as he noticed something... The human was sobbing again. Oust cautiously asked his question.

"Are... are you alright?" Flose closed his leaky eyes, and just nodded in response. The human finally looked up, and Oust was absolutely stunned by the sight of him.

Flose was bearing the cheesiest looking smile the tiger had ever seen. It was warm, and authentic, and it brilliantly mirrored the hope returned to those deep, green eyes seated just above it. Above all else, however, Oust simply couldn't help but make note of it... He had never seen anybody look so happy while tears rolled off of their face. Oust wasn't certain why, but seeing the tiny little human shed those happy tears made him feel just a little bit warmer in that moment. He always did have a soft spot for runts, after all...

===

'Fools are giving me everything I need, and I didn't even have to ask a single question.' The thought crossed her mind bitterly as the conversation between the three beasts and the unfamiliar human progressed further along. Not that it was their fault, not even Sir Corper had noticed the tigress poised just a short ways away, remaining hidden behind a larger tree downwind from them. Richta Candori was far too accomplished of an assassin to slip up so easily, after all.

She listened on, making short mental notes and remarks all the while, things that may aid her on her mission. She had a job to do, but she had been graced with some unexpected developments to say the least, and that led the eldest of the surviving Candori children with quite a decision to make...

Three names. Her father had given her three names this time, but that was certainly only due to not being aware of a surviving human settlement. She could trail these four, follow them to where this hidden village was, and probably dispatch every single one of them by herself without even breaking a sweat. Her father would likely applaud the initiative... but...

Oust had a chance to escape all of that here. He was the third name given to her, and one she had known was coming for years now, one she had been dreading all the while. His loss to the human during the Selection was simply the final disgrace to their family name her father would stand for. A Candori losing to a human was both unacceptable, and a true testament to her little brother's weakness, at least in Reiner's eyes. Richta thought she could do it before, she had steeled herself to put her little brother out of his misery for a long time by then. In truth, it would have been a mercy at one point... but there was something different about her brother now... Nearly all of the edge their father had applied to his youngest, failed weapon had faded. Oust was becoming soft. Oust was becoming like he was before that night happened.

Oust, was happy, far happier than she had seen her brother for a long time. Would he still be so happy if she revealed herself, and killed that human as her father would command her to in this situation? Would he look at her like the monster she had been forged into once more? Would he even go so far as to cry now, like he did back then? She knew the answers to those questions, but if her father ever found out that she had both in her sights, and let them go, it would be her to suffer the consequences for such weakness, and her father always found out...

The strong thrive, and the weak fall... She was strong. Oust was weak. This was something the tigress had always known. It shouldn't even be a question. She shouldn't even be debating it. She shouldn't still be hiding... Oust shouldn't still be breathing. Richta held up her palm before her, and gazed down at her claws in a daze. Why were her ever-steady hands so shaky now? Why was her heart racing? Why was she returning to that night, here of all places?

As the tigress blinked, she was met with a most unsettling sight before her. She never even flinched, her mind had been playing such tricks on her for a long time now, and showing such emotion was certainly forbidden to her. Still, the image of the dark red blood she saw coating her hand in a thick and glossy glaze always came to her when she thought about that night. Her hand trembled ever so slightly, and she silently reached her free one up to brace against her forearm, stopping the tremor effectively. She didn't want to have to see Oust's blood there too...

Richta Candori made her decision without a sound. The tigress activated her bloodskill, and began sinking through the earth right below her paws, passing through the matter beneath them as if it were merely a pool of liquid. She would simply have to be certain her father never found out about this... Besides, if she knocked the other two names off of her list, her father would be sated enough for the time being... or so she hoped.

Regardless, Richta did receive some vital leads from the conversation. Prince Tyfin was either pushed to the north, or to the south. The tigress pondered on the likelihoods for a moment, considered where her allies were stationed, and made the most logical choice from there. Her decision that day damned one king, and spared the other. It seemed the talented tigress would only be knocking one name off of her list after all.

===

"Are you certain about this? You father may very well be waking up soon for all we know." Byron understood why the young panther and the coyote felt they needed to act, but he was still wary about any beast travelling alone in such fragile times. Talan Venatus replied sturdily.

"With all due respect, Sir Byron, I cannot continue basing my decisions on a possibility when we have received confirmation that the prince has been pushed off course. This is part of my duty, as well as my superior's." Sir Syphur expanded on that statement.

"Talan is correct here, Sir Byron. We are the two in charge of the prince's guard. We need to be the ones to take the necessary precautions here. Talan is more than capable, certainly far more capable than I in battle. If there were any one beast I would bet my gold on making it to our young king, it would be my protégé here, without question." Byron let out a shallow sigh as he answered the stubborn pair.

"Hopefully, there will be no need for any bloodshed... but it is probably better to be on the safe side, I suppose. So... our young Venatus son departs east here, checking some of the smaller towns as he makes his way north, and our group stays on course until we reach my wife's estate. From there, if we have received no word, we send another scouting party east, one to work their way down from where the Thorned Thicket meets the northern mountain range. With any luck, we locate the prince, and add to his escorts in getting him somewhere safe." The coyote nodded, confirming as much. Syphur spoke soundly.

"If we get really lucky, none of this may be needed at all, and the prince will arrive at the estate without a hitch. However, it seems luck has been far too foul on us lately to leave such things to chance. I think this is the right call, from a strategic point of view anyway. When he had many a guard with him, it wasn't such a dire circumstance, and even though Captain Rixator is more than a capable escort himself, even that bulky bull may need some assistance. I think it wise that we would lend it to him. The prince had to go north or south from the way you described that fissure, so we need to be monitoring both directions." The older wolf nodded at the logic there. He understood, but he still felt unsure, though, he kept those uncertainties to himself for a while. Adding too much pessimism here would sway neither beast's decision anyway. The veteran yielded.

"I'm certainly nobody to stop you... But Talan? Please be careful. Losing a son was the hardest thing I've ever had happen to me, and your father shouldn't have to endure that pain twice." The panther bowed in respect of both the wisdom, and the warning. He answered affirmatively.