Chapter 15: More to the story

Rowan POV:

Honestly, I didn't know why I did it. Maybe it was because the son of the woman who nearly destroyed the world glared at me so, as if he had the right to. Or perhaps it was because Basil was grinning.

I did a lot of things in my long, long, life just because Basil was grinning at the time. I bought him a ring because his lips were turned upright, and it was his birthday. I carried him out of the temple because he gave me the most charming grin during the ceremony. 

Or maybe it was because he made the priest laugh, a stern old man, who had seen more than one wedding, yes, but not one with two men as the grooms.

Basil was my sunshine, and I wanted to present him to these children just like he actually was. He was too prideful to do anything about the situation.

So, I prompted him to do so, as I always have.

"Basil, these children need to know. The prince most of all," I laid an arm around Basil's waist, he snorted. "Basil, please. There is no one alive who can tell the truth like you can."

"Yes, the important part is that there is no one alive," I knew what Basil will say, wanted to silence him somehow. The Queen was evil, no one, well, maybe her son could try, could try to argue with that, but he would be hard-pressed to find someone who believed him.

"Basil, not now," if there was something he hated more than anything, then it was the war. No, Basil didn't want to share any information with these children. Still, I knew how to push his buttons.

"Not now? Then when? His mother slaughtered thousands, just to get some gold from under a mountain!" The truth was out. The prince just blinked at us. For a couple of minutes, he said nothing, and then...

"My mother never mined the Heart of the World!" he protested. Basil snorted.

"No, and do you know why is that, little prince?" Most people wouldn't understand that Basil wasn't really angry at them when he spoke like that. Still, I knew him well enough to know that he wasn't laying the sins of the mother on the shoulders of the son.

The prince couldn't understand. I didn't expect him to, either.

"I will tell you!" Basil stood up; he had always put importance in looking people in the eyes. He was a Halfling, same as me, and the nature spirit who was scratching his nose. We had to use every opportunity we had for something like that. And it just so happened, that the prince was sitting down.

"Because we, the nation of Arkano, a nation you surely curse before going to sleep, sacrificed 100 of our own to keep that witch away from a mountain, which, if she had melted with her digging, would have seen the entire world under the ocean!"

I could only watch, as Basil made a bow, which was his preferred way of settling heavy truths with people he didn't know, and then turned back towards me.

"That is a lie," the prince was just a boy. I had seen him a couple of times. He lived under a bridge, and not only that, but he was also a beggar. 

How could he know, when the Lergo government still didn't want to admit why the war started in the first place?

"It is the truth. I was an intelligence gathering officer during the war. Arkano suffered great losses to save the world," I said. The prince looked at me, his eyes narrowed.

"You both are full of shit!" I was once under the impression that he was mature for his age. It seemed that I was wrong.

"Why don't you use your two brain cells, prince?" Basil's nostrils were wide. He hated it when someone called him a liar. "Demons are not only welcomed in Arkano, we go out of our way to make sure that more of them come to us. Why do you think we will ever care who the King of Lergo married?"

Put like that, it sounded condescending. I knew what will follow. Prepared myself by getting up, and joining Basil's side. 

If it came to a fight, I couldn't let him face all these children by himself. For all that they were young, three of them were elves. Not that I didn't count the nature spirit, but he seemed disinterested.

"You know, it makes sense," ah, speak of the devil. The nature spirit had mesmerizing green eyes, and I nodded in his direction. "The Queen was well-loved. Well, before she told us all, that the Heart of the World belonged to Lergo."

For a second, I got hope in my heart, that we could finally clear this tragedy with the one person who mattered. Yet, when the prince stood up, and balled his fists, I knew it was too soon to hope.

"Hey, what is happening there?" I heard a guard call. Basil sat back down; his back turned to the children. I planted a smile on my lips, and bowed to the guard. It paid to be polite, and the customs in Lergo were strange, but after fifty years of living in the country, I had made them my own.

"Nothing, just a difference in opinions," I hoped I put a good enough act, and for a second, it might have actually worked.

Then the prince just had to open his mouth.

"These pigs said that Queen Sybil would have led to the destruction of the world!" I sighed. Well, there was no talking with the prince then. Too bad. He seemed like a good kid.

"Why are you calling them pigs? The bitch would have done just that. The next time I have to come back here, heads will roll," that was not the nicest way to say something like that to an orphan, who had only good memories of a parent, but it was the most effective.

For the prince sat back down, closed his mouth. His eyes moist and glistening. 

His world destroyed.