A King's Legacy Ch. 41

Stahl's eyes narrowed in response, but Death hadn't finished speaking yet. The god continued in that taunting tone of his. 'Hmph. I suppose we will see soon enough. It's nearly time, that poor little king of yours should be crumbling any moment now. We can pick this back up after. I do so look forward to seeing how you'll handle your own truth.'

The wolf had a chill run down his spine, but Aster's frantic voice drew his attention away. The beast turned just in time to see a large fracture form in the wall of shadow. Aster fell to his knees a moment after, and the dark barrier separating the humans from the beasts fell along with him. Stahl was sprinting through that downed barricade instantly. The beast dropped to his knees before he ever stopped, sliding just a bit as he wrapped his arms as tightly around his mate as he could in that garden.

Aster looked up at the sudden contact, croaking out in nonbelief through his heaviest tears yet. "Stahl?"

"I'm here, my king, I've been here this entire time. I understand." Stahl answered his lover tenderly, his own voice nearly breaking at the sight of the pain so clearly visible in those gold-flecked eyes.

"You don't understand! You couldn't understand Stahl..." Aster was barely able to speak through his sobs, but even his voice so very hoarse beyond measure persisted through such turmoil. "I... I took his life from him, just like Talan said I did. I replaced him, I stole his brother. It's my fault, Stahl. This is all my fault... I shouldn't have survived."

"Please, don't ever believe that, Aste- "Stahl was cut off before he ever finished

"YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND, STAHL!" Aster was frantic and lacking any true composure as he shouted his answer. "YOU COULDN'T UNDERSTAND... Talan, he was right about me. I was merely a replacement. I wasn't supposed to live. I wasn't even supposed to bear the Venatus name... By the gods... How can I even use my name? It was never even mine. How could I ever face them again? How could I ever face Corty? How... How could I ever face my fath-"

A strong hand on his shoulder interrupted Aster before he ever even finished such a statement. The boy raised his sullen eyes in surprise, but a look of pure terror overtook his features as he realized who was standing over him.

That look nearly broke Jagón's heart.

"Father..." Aster dropped his head to the ground in shame for even using the title. It was strange, after wanting nothing more than to be reunited for so long, Aster suddenly found himself fearful of such a reunion. He started again in his creaky voice. "General Venatus- "

"That's enough." Aster flinched at the words, but Jagón kept speaking in a strangely low tone. "Stahl, I need you to give us a moment."

The wolf was startled by such a request. Stahl stared up at the panther for a moment before he leaned forward and planted a small kiss on his lover's brow. He spoke so soothingly. "I think your father needs to tell you something important, but know that I am right here, my king." Stahl paused to cup his lover's face tenderly in his hand before speaking a final piece of comfort for his mate.

"You have always been more than what anyone said you were. Don't let that change now." Stahl reluctantly rose to his paws, locked eyes with the general once more, and nodded briefly to him. The wolf took a few steps back, assumed a more defensive stance, and turned towards Death defiantly. He wouldn't be letting anyone else hurt Aster again, not while he was still around. The young knight kept a wary eye on Calium while Jagón knelt before his son.

Aster wouldn't even look Jagón in the eyes, something that forced an acute realization for the panther; Aster was acting the way he did around Talan. The general shifted forward a bit, and his son simply trembled in anticipation of the obvious retribution that was headed his way.

Jagón's touch was delicate, a soft caress that gently coaxed the boy's face closer to his own. Aster refused to bring his gaze up even still, so the general commanded him to do so in a whisper. "Look at me."

Aster hesitantly raised his stricken eyes, a fresh wave of guilty tears flowing freely the moment his gaze was locked with the panther's own. Jagón stared at his son for a moment, adjusted his hand to softly cradle the right side of Aster's jaw, and ran a thumb over the smooth flesh covering the cheek there. The scars left by Talan were not something Aster had to bear on his very face in the Afterworld, after all. When the panther continued speaking, it seemed unexpectedly apologetic to the boy.

"I should have erased all such doubt years ago... I am sorry, my son. I did not know how to intervene, so I did nothing. I can see now that it was the same as leaving those scars to never properly heal. I can finally see the horrible doubt you've been carrying all of this time." Jagón's eyes were sad, but not in the way Aster was expecting at all. They were sympathetic, and without an ounce of resentment, as if his father were the one that had failed. The panther was more worried about the human before him than the very son that was killed in his place. Aster was nothing short of baffled.

"But, Sir Jagó-" Aster started to counter, but the general quickly interjected.

"Father will do just fine, my son. It has this far." Jagón smiled warmly, coaxing Aster on sincerely after. "But please, say whatever you feel you need to say to me. I'd do anything besides leaving you like this for even a moment longer."

Aster was momentously taken aback by such a proclamation. Did Jagón perhaps not hear everything as Stahl had claimed to? He sputtered out his reply between sobs, barely managing what he could get out. "But... Your son... Your, Your Aster. He- "

"Is right here in front of me, crying his big beautiful heart out in guilt that isn't even his to bear." Jagón finished that sentence for his son and gave his answer all in one quick statement

Aster's breath caught in his throat for reasons entirely different than simple tears, and he soon found himself being pulled into a fatherly embrace by the panther.

Just for a short, fleeting moment, Jagón felt that wondrous sense of joy, hope, and clarity he had felt so many years ago, the way he felt the very first time he ever held that fussy, blurry-eyed little cub. The sensation was still just as powerful and definitive as ever, but Jagón expected nothing less. He always simply knew that the boy with the golden eyes was his son, after all. No amount of "what ifs?" could ever come close to even fazing such a truth.

"My little Aster, my little star... How could you so easily forget the conviction behind my words before? You are my son. Whatever other life could have existed, I never knew them, and I'll never even need to. You are more than enough, and you always have been." The panther held his son even closer, not bothering to mask his own tears as he spoke so softly to the boy falling apart in his arms. "Now, let me convince you of what I should have years ago, that I have ALWAYS wanted you, that I have ALWAYS fought for you, and that no god can ever take such credit for the love I bear for you. It was my choice, and it always has been. I think it's time I tell you the rest of that story, my son."

Aster let his tears flow quietly as he finally started to let himself believe what the panther was saying. The young king listened carefully to the last story he would hear in that place.

===

Part of himself wondered if his best bet would simply be hiding the cub's existence from his king, but Jagón knew that the consequences were far too dire to ever risk such a thing. Should he ever be discovered, the punishment could easily even extend to his other sons, so the general accepted that there was only one way that he could ever make this happen. He would have to beg his king to grant him such a request. Jagón was not very hopeful, even before stepping through the remains of that door with that curious little cub in his arms, but the looks that met him did little to ease such doubt.

Alocer had already ordered most of the knights outside, something for which Jagón was certainly thankful, but the remaining ones were luckily all beasts he didn't mind being present for the most part. Even so, Alocer's reaction was not an unexpected one to the general.

"What the fuck is that, Jagón?" Alocer pointed a clawed digit towards the infant as he spoke menacingly to the panther.

Jagón lowered his head a little as he answered his king honestly. "A human cub, one I found hidden away."

"And why is it still alive?" The king was speaking slowly, his voice stern and scolding as he addressed the situation. "You heard my order to kill any remaining human on sight, did you not?"

Jagón clenched his jaw tightly, securing his grip on the innocent boy in his embrace both protectively, and instinctively. He answered in a near begging tone. "My king, I lost my cub tonight..."

Alocer sighed dramatically as he closed his eyes, rubbing them in fatigue and deep thought as he realized what the implications were behind that statement. The lion started firmly. "Jagón..."

The panther leapt right back in, pushing further, trying his best to sway his old friend in desperation before he could be silenced once again. "Alocer, please. I know what your order was, but he is merely a cub. If I could just-"

"Just do WHAT exactly, Jagón? Raise it in place of your own?" The lion was greatly unsettled by this turn of events; the cub showing up after all was really getting under his pelt. The beast king recalled the warning left by the human one, and he fondly remembered being swayed enough to promise his knight that no more blood needed to be spilled that night, but the shield bearer's warning coming to fruition was sending chills down his spine. It felt like Alocer was playing right into his hand.

"No. Not in place of." Jagón frantically made his reasoning known. "That cub has been lost with my wife, and I admittedly take some comfort in knowing that he rests with her now. Neither of them had to leave this world alone, did they? He is somewhere where he doesn't need his father's help now, but this cub is different. He may not be of my blood, but he needs me now... and I think... I need him as well, my king." Jagón knelt before his liege as he finished his desperate plea.

"That isn't your cub, and if you found it hidden in the throne room, of all places, that tells me it's not a cub we can afford to ignore." King Alocer was still hesitant to have it confirmed, but he pried further anyway. "Tell me, what color are its eyes?"

"Brown mostly..." Jagón never wanted to lie to his king so badly in his life, but added a bit meekly, "there is a little gold."

"...It has the fucking SHIELD Jagón... Do you not realize how dangerous that ability is?" Alocer never realized how personal the topic was getting until he was already recalling the fresh wounds from his final battle with the human king. The same wounds he was still in the process of licking.

"Actually... Maybe that's a good reason to keep it around after all..." Lady Alice was finally standing again. Her words seemed intended to come to his aid then, but Jagón certainly saw the self-serving side to her support in hindsight.

"Not you too, Alice..." The lion let out a great sigh, but the goddess had no other choices left. That cub was the last true piece of her remaining, like it or not, so she had to ensure it survived now at any cost. Even so, she couldn't help but notice the soft and delicate way the panther was cradling her heart so protectively, she couldn't help but to be swayed by that personal affection for the leopard once more.

"It did a number on some of our strongest. It even killed one of our best assassins, and repelled the other rather easily." Alice had enough time to gather all the logical evidence she needed to back up her words. She kept speaking fluidly. "It has the power to stall entire armies for quite some time, you can go speak with general Rixator about how effectively it can be used should you need a reminder."

Alice cast a final glance to the knight she so adored, and nodded ever so lightly his way. Jagón's heart had been shattered that night, so if a piece of hers was required to repair his own, she could only be grateful that he would still be the one to nurture it after all.

It was the noble wolf, Byron, that hastily cut in next, seeing one final opportunity to do some small speck of good in such a tragic setting. "It makes for a convincing point, even these tired old eyes could see the potential benefit..." The mentor looked to his prior student, saw the pain still clinging so heavily to the poor panther, and outed the last of his thoughts on the matter decidedly. "If he is truly the last of his kind, I don't see the harm in letting only him survive, considering the use he may one day prove to have for our kingdom. If not, you can simply deal with him then, my king, just as you dealt with his father."

Alocer glared at the older wolf for a moment, cast his gaze back to his high mage after, and finally settled his furrowed brows back on the lowly little human cub. Aster took a single look at the mighty king of beasts before flashing the most carefree smile imaginable his way. Alocer felt his lingering headache throb at the very sight. King Calium's warning about his son's survival... That creature, that god of death... and now this. The royal lion was too tired to even try and argue any longer. He had already asked well enough of his knight as it was. Jagón could, at the very least, have this.

"By the fucking gods... Byron, Alice, the rest of you lot... you get the soldiers back home. Jagón, you will follow behind a great distance from the rest of us. Nobody else ever knows..." The beast king stared down his right hand general one last time, and spoke ever so firmly, ensuring his warning was not taken lightly. "Keep it out of sight. Keep it on a leash, and if it ever brandishes a blade, I'll make you kill it with your own claws. Do you understand me, Jagón?"

Alocer turned to his remaining knights and spoke begrudgingly one last time. "We will be modifying everyone's life-oath for starters... The boy is to never know of any of this..." As reluctant as the lion was, he finally ended up yielding in the end. Perhaps he came out of his battle with Calium shaken more than he had first realized after all.

Byron departed the castle with Alocer, Alice, and the rest of the remaining knights to start the journey home after the beast king's precautions had been pacified. The older wolf quickly located his trusted former squire, and casually started matching his pace. Byron began whispering softly to the blooming knight, careful so nobody else would hear.

"I know you are no longer my ward... but could I perhaps still ask a favor of you from time to time?" The young coyote nodded subtly, intrigued by the words, but certain he would always follow that wolf's orders or advice all the same, both with the utmost trust in his decisions. Syphur truly was such a model squire. The older wolf flashed a fanged smile to the smaller canine and spoke hastily.

"Do you recall seeing the livestock pens back on the eastern outskirts of the town? I know most of the ferals were decimated, but many scattered when the fences were broken... It may be a bit difficult to locate what we are looking for, and there is certainly no guarantee you will find it, but we have some allies that could really use all the help they can get right now." The old wolf finished explaining his request after, and the eager young coyote hastily set out to fulfill it.

As Byron stood on the edges of that final broken kingdom, just before descending back over the mountains, he turned back towards the town, and took in a heavy breath of air. The scent of death was still so encompassing from even that distance that It overpowered the scent of anything else. The beast's mind trailed back to the young girl he had let escape, and wondered if such a stench covering their tracks had allowed other humans to survive as well. Byron liked that there was at least some small hope that their extermination of humans had failed, that perhaps, even such great wounds could maybe one day still heal with time... Perhaps, life really did always find a way.

A familiar, yapping coyote came running up that slope as the general tucked away a final reminder of what he had done in that place. The view from the southern peaks truly could humble any mortal it seemed. Syphur was nearly out of breath, but was far more elated to give his report to the wolf this time around. "I found one! Just like you asked!"

Byron flashed a fanged smile, took a final look at the ruined city of Adamare, and closed his eyes slowly. He turned his back on the last war of kings he would ever be taking part in, and happily let a thought take root in his mind. Byron found it a welcome thing to cling to in that moment.

'Perhaps that hope isn't so small after all...'

===

Jagón was quietly holding the little human cub in the same bed he had found him; waiting patiently for dawn before setting out behind the rest of the army. The beast had caught himself dozing off a few times, and even managed the smallest rest when Aster allowed him to. The cub had woken the general three times already, and after checking that the boy's linens didn't need to be changed again, the panther realized in acute awareness that he still had to secure food such a weak cub could stomach.

In truth, Jagón didn't have the slightest idea what humans could even safely eat, let alone such a young one. He decided the kitchen would be the best place to start. He bundled the boy cozily in the blanket and stood, walking out of the hidden chamber a ways before something made the general stop in his tracks.

Jagón turned in a flash, his veteran instincts making him uncertain if he was still alone in the throne room. He cast his eyes around, yet saw no living trace of anything. The panther took a few light sniffs at his surroundings to be sure, but only decay could be detected in the castle air. The general's eyes fell upon the fallen king, the corpse stripped of both his sword and crown by the beasts before they took their leave, and Jagón felt a twinge of guilt. He knew Aster was too young to understand what was going on, but even so, the panther covered the cub's eyes with the blanket as he passed, sparing him the sight of his fallen birth father.

Jagón stopped one final time before he made his leave, just inside of the threshold to the entry hall. The panther never turned back towards the former king of Adamare, but he still spoke clearly for the man who had already departed the mortal realm. "I know it is probably little consolation... But I am grateful to you for leaving him where I would find him... He may not be raised a king, but he will be raised with love." Jagón never would've believed that Calium heard every single word, but he wasn't the only one listening in that place. The panther stepped through the door, and did not return to that room again that night.

After searching the kitchen with no real luck, Jagón was beginning to worry. He was starting to fear that he would fail this cub after all. As a desperate measure, the panther decided to try his luck with the town, which would be the next best option. Taking a single step outside that door erased all the need for such further worry. A smile crossed the panther's maw immediately, and the general spoke his praise in true gratitude. "By the gods, what would we ever do without Byron Aschefell?"

A single feral cow, one that had recently been separated from its newborn calf in the battle, was hitched to the tree in the courtyard nearest the entrance. Jagón spotted a small satchel tied over the beast's back. Inside of it he found several fresh linens, a small mug, and some short instructions left by his former mentor. Jagón got the idea fairly quickly, looked to the hungry and impatient cub in his arms, and spoke reassuringly to the boy.