156 Tall Tale (2/2)

Inside me, the spark of hope was growing. If there was a chance these people knew how to help mom, then this entire arrangement would prove worth it after all.

Thea shook her head. \”As I've said, curses are hard to diagnose much less cure…\”

Both Luca and I deflated at her words, and seeing us upset softened the features of the pretty red-head.

\”But,\” she continued. \”More often than not, the cure has to do with what caused the curse… Perhaps the return of your brother to Mudgard would break it.\”

That was something I'd been mulling over for ages now, the fact that Luca coming home might cure mom. Hearing another person say it out loud just made this sound more like a realistic option for me. As if I didn't have enough reasons to bring Luca home. Now, he might actually be the only chance to saving mom from the prison of her own mind.

Chris Pint sniffed, \”Man, you guys got it rough… but you're still hanging in there. F**king big cahones, I tell you.\”

He gave us a few slow claps to emphasize how impressed he was with us brothers. Then he offered us each a glass of spirits which we declined.

\”You said you'd tell us your story if we told you ours,\” I reminded him.

Chris Pint spent the next few seconds eyeing me and Luca. But, eventually, he began to tell us his story.

\”My story's not so different from yours, to be honest,\” he started. \”I came here as a slave too… although I chose to be one over my life in Mudgard.\”

Both Luca and I spared a glance at each other before we urged him to continue.

Chris Pint revealed to us that he was an orphan from Los Angeles City in the good old US of A. He was down on his luck, penniless, and being chased by the police for minor misdemeanors such as robbery and grand theft auto.

\”Those are minor?\” I asked with a raised eyebrow.

\”You want to tell my story, kid?\” he countered.

I shook my head and apologized for my interruption.

\”I was approached by a fairy who asked me if I wanted to rewrite my own stars…\” He glanced fondly at Thea. \”The best deal I made in my life… even if sh*t happened afterward.\”

Chris Pint would reveal that after Thea brought him into the Fayne, he was turned into an indentured soldier much like Luca's, but unlike our honorable Patriarch and his council, the lords of the Starfall clan were, in his words, \”The worst scum in the universe.\”

In many of the southern clans, the practice of gladiatorial combat was a big deal. The Starfall Clan was no exception, and Chris Pint was a gladiator, and according to him, the very best there was. But even a champion like him couldn't escape the abuses laid on him by his masters, the depraved bastards who forced him into every little vice imaginable.

\”Is that why you're so… quirky?\” Luca asked.

Chris Pint laughed. \”You know, little brother, that might actually be the reason.\”

Eventually, with the support of his fellow viseres and like-minded fairies like Thea, Chris Pint began a rebellion.

\”This was the real reason Thea picked me up, you see,\” Chris admitted. \”She thought I had cohones big enough to overthrow the lords of Starfall, and I did.\”

For emphasis, he grabbed the edge of his pants, and I rolled my eyes at him. He laughed again.

Chris Pint told us how he and his rebel army of more than a hundred thousand slaves of different races obliterated the forces of the Starfall Clan. He even told us how he personally cut off the heads of the clan Patriarch and his lackeys and then placed them atop spikes that still decorate his castle gates to this day.

\”They deserved no less,\” Thea agreed. \”Those indulgent greedy, hateful fools nearly caused the ruin of our clan… if Chris hadn't come and rescued us, the Starfall clan wouldn't exist today.\”

The two of them embraced after that. Then they kissed, and it was so intimate that Luca and I averted our eyes.

Chris laughed at us, and then, with a knowing gaze at me, he said, \”But that's not what you want to here, is it? There's something else worming inside that big brain of yours…\”

\”I appreciate you telling us your origin story, though, kind of gives us hope that things won't be so dark for us too,\” I admitted before my face turned into one of determination. \”But I want you to tell me… I want an explanation… what the hell is a sense knight?\”