Midor, General Graten and Jason were sitting outside standing guard together. Ever since the underground chamber had been collapsed, someone was supposed to stand guard at all times to make sure that no monsters emerged from it.
Technically Midor was not supposed to have a shift guarding the chamber, since King Carlyle had still not acknowledged that Midor was in the forest. But informally, he usually helped to stand guard. General Graten had volunteered to help stand guard, but as he was not fully trusted yet in the castle, King Carlyle thought it would be best to have Jason stand with them.
“So,” said General Graten casually to Jason, “How did a nice boy like you end up married to one of the princesses of the castle?”
“Although I was not a member of the royal family, I was always of noble blood,” said Jason. “I grew up playing with the princes and princesses of the castle as a boy.”
“Noble blood?” said General Graten. “Do you mean to say that there’s a whole nobility in this forest?”
“Does anything surprise you now, General?” asked Midor.
“In spite of everything, I’m still a man who looks for sanity in the world,” said General Graten. “I was shocked when I discovered there was a whole castle in the middle of the forest, but it would be something else entirely to make me believe that there are noble estates out here.”
“No, we don’t have estates,” said Jason. “But there are plenty of nobles. As there must be. Think about how many families must spin out from the king. Why even in our own generation, King Carlyle’s family is much bigger than can possibly be sustained in the castle. Vivian is the eldest born, so someday she will take the throne. And then after her, Robert. And then Robert will have his own family, with many children and grandchildren, just like King Carlyle. And then what will happen to my children? Their families couldn’t all possibly be housed in the castle as well
“So where do the nobles live?” asked Graten.
“In little houses, just like the rest of the forest people. We don’t all need our own castles. But we do keep in close contact with the royal family. I visited the castle often.”
“So was your wife one of your cousins then?” asked Graten, with a slight sneer in his voice.
“Our parents were second cousins,” said Jason.
“Do not sneer, General Graten,” said Midor. “Such things are not so unusual in the cities either. The royal family of Mora is made up of many such alliances and intermarriage among the nobles.”
“True enough,” said General Graten. “And I suppose, Midor, that this is the reason you were exiled from the castle? You were just a humble ranger, and not part of the forest nobility?”
“It is one of the reasons,” Midor said. “Although I think King Carlyle might have eventually forgiven that if I had agreed to stay at the castle with Vivian. But I thought my work in the forest was too important to give up. I was young then, and I had dreams of roaming the forest and being my own man. The idea of becoming a mere courtier at King Carlyle’s castle horrified me.” Midor suddenly stopped, and turned to Jason. “Ah, sir Jason, you must forgive me. I spoke without thinking.”
Jason only laughed. “No offense taken, Midor. I know my life would never suit you, just as your life would never suit me.”
Midor turned back to General Graten. “I was young then,” he continued. “Now that I’m older, I find I would trade all of my freedom to have a family--Vivian at my side, together with our son Robert.”
“You did raise Robert,” said Jason. “You didn’t miss out on having a family altogether.”
“Yes, but I’ve missed Vivian terribly,” said Midor. “And it hasn’t been fair on Robert. The boy needed his mother.”
“It’s a bit late now,” said General Graten. “Your boy is practically a grown man already.”
“We’ve missed a lot of time,” said Midor. “But I want what time we have left. I want it badly. What about you, General? Do you have any family?”
General Graten spit on the ground. “I was never much for the family life,” he said. “I have plenty of women all over Mora, but no one I miss much. And who knows how many bastard children I might have running over the city.”
“I could never do that,” said Midor. “Once I gave my heart to Vivian, there could never have been another one.”
“And it’s made you miserable ever since,” said Graten. “You see, the key is never let them get their claws into you. If you find yourself starting to care for one of them, then it’s time to get out of there. That’s what I’ve always said, anyway.”
Jason decided to change the subject. “Midor, tell us about the time you spent in the realm of the monsters,” he said. “I’ve never quite heard the whole story. They say something about a young bear who had disappeared.”
“He was a full grown bear,” said Midor, “but he was newly full grown, so he was young in that sense. He was the Bear King’s son.”
“I’ve never travelled outside of the kingdom,” said Jason, “but I’ve heard stories of this Bear King. He lies in the land to the East of here, right?”
“I remember the Bear King,” laughed General Graten. “He was very gracious to us. After Henry tried to kill him, he allowed us full use of his land in our pursuit of Henry and your son.”
“Was my son with Henry then?” asked Midor. “Oh no! That’s years of my diplomacy undone by that impetuous boy. As soon as this is all over, I’ll need to go back and beg the Bear King’s forgiveness.”
“But what’s this about his son?” persisted Jason.
“His son had disappeared about a year ago, a little bit longer,” said Midor. “The Bear King asked me if I could find him. I regularly do him favors. This was the biggest one though. This was his son. The Bear King was very fond of his son. I knew that if I could track the young bear down, it would get me a lot of influence with the Bear King--influence I could use to help control him. The forest counted on me to keep the peace between the Bear King and the outside animals. And moreover, if you’ll believe me, I was also concerned about the young bear. He was still young and good, not like his father, and it worried me that he had been lost in the forest.
“I have, as you know, a network of communication all throughout the forest. Virtually every creature in the forest owes me a favor of some sort, so it was easy to get information on the Bear Prince. I was able to track down where he had wandered. At first it appeared he had simply gone exploring. But then at some point, I began to get reports that he was fleeing something. He appears to have gotten into some sort of trouble, but no animal could give me definite reports of what trouble it was, or with who. Some people had seen him running, but nobody had seen what was chasing him.
“And then, the trail eventually led me here, where the nocturnal birds all told me he had gone down the stairway by the hollow tree. And when I came to the hollow tree, I discovered the stairway as well.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t know it before,” said Jason. “You normally know all the places in the forest.”
“I was surprised myself,” said Midor. “But here it was. I went down to investigate, and there was Talon waiting for me. Somehow he knew I’d be along investigating. And then he banished me to the land of the monsters.”
“I still can’t believe Talon would do that,” said Jason. “He’s been the castle sorcerer ever since I was a kid. He’s always been a bit grumpy, sure, but he’s always been loyal.”
“He must have been worried that the secret would get out,” said Midor. “That’s the only thing I can think of.”
“But then how did the Bear Prince find out about it?” asked General Graten.
“Yes, that’s the real mystery,” said Midor. “That, and the mystery of whatever became of him.”
“You never found him?” Jason asked.
“I’m fairly sure Talon banished him to the realm, just like he did me. Probably for the same reason he banished me-- he was worried the secret would get out.”
“It can’t be much of a secret,” General Graten said, “If some random young bear could just stumble upon it.”
“Yes, that’s also strange,” said Midor. “But a secret it had been. I had never known the underground chamber before. And I’d been in this part of the forest many times before. And before me, it had been a secret for centuries. It had been well hidden at one time. But something must have happened.”
“What about in the realm of the monsters,” said Jason. “Didn’t you search for the Bear Prince there?”
“I did. It was difficult to search there, because it was always dark once I left the grove. And I’ll be honest, I was afraid to leave the groove once I discovered what creatures lurked in the darkness. But I eventually did leave the grove, and I spent many trips searching in the darkness, trying to find the Bear Prince.”
“Could you see anything in the dark?”
“Yes, it wasn’t pitch black. It was more like a perpetual twilight. And my eyes adjusted soon enough after leaving the grove and stepping into the darkness. I occasionally saw bear tracks, but I could never find the bear prince himself.”
“I thought you were the greatest ranger in the forest,” said Jason.
“It was difficult. One minute I would be trying to track the Bear Prince’s footprints, the next minute I would hear a monster approaching and I would have to scramble to hide myself in the bushes or in a tree.”
“So you saw the monsters then,” asked General Graten.
“Yes, those monsters are fearsome beasts, straight out of a nightmare. I pray they never find their way out of the realm. Just one of those beasts could cause terror in this whole forest. And there are legions of them buried in that cavern.”
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