The Faint of Hearts by Garrett Mazzuca (electric book reader .txt) 📕

Virgil walked the length of the Ebon Steed

, the planks that made up the deck creaking with every step. He was seventeen but insisted that he was closer to eighteen when anyone mocked his youth. The sun was high in the midday hour and rays of light cut through the white clouds like a knife through parchment. Virgil's bright green eyes sparkled with the dancing of light on the ocean water.
The boy was built like an ox but his face, round and child-like, betrayed his age. His brown, slightly curled hair fell passed his eyes. His muscles flexed as he gripped the rail of the ship. The amaranthine ocean stretched to the horizon with no land in sight. High waves knocked themselves against the battered vessel. Virgil's skin started to burn in the summer sun, as he expected it would. His lips cracked; the salt of blood and ocean water mixed in his mouth. He spat. His skin itched as water sprayed his body.
"Ay boy," called a gruff, deep voice from behind, "Excited to go home again?"
"Not really," Virgil replied coolly.
"It's that girl isn't it?" Grom laughed as he wrapped his arm around Virgil's neck, "You're scared to see her again aren't you child!"
Virgil grabbed Grom's wrist and removed the man's arm. The captain of the Ebon Steed was one of the few people built even bigger than Virgil, but the boy would not let himself be intimidated.
"I hate being called a child," said Virgil as he continued staring out to sea, "I told you that before."
"Oh, I'm sorry," Grom chuckled. "Should I call you the King of Hearts then?"
"I told you to stop calling me that too."
Grom and the crew had taken to calling Virgil the King of Hearts after the first time he beat the captain in a sword battle. Virgil had become a skilled swordsman under Grom's tutelage to be sure, but unlike most seafaring merchants only concerned for goods, Virgil had an overly burning desire to win at all costs. In one practice skirmish Grom had thrown a dagger at him thinking the boy would dodge, but he knocked it away with the back of his hand and took the deep cut to avoid being caught off guard. Shocked by his determination, the crew dubbed him the King of Hearts for his suicidal tendencies. Virgil had won every battle since. He had many scars.
"It's a good name boy. You could be a fighter for hire with that sort of name."
Virgil ignored the comment.
"I left Danorin because my parents died there. I couldn't stay after losing so much. I don't want to go back…but why do I keep looking to it so?"
Grom slapped his hand down on Virgil's shoulder. The impact stung his skin.
"Maybe it's because you gave up so much," said Grom. "Maybe you're looking at all the things you had and wish to have them back."
"I can never have my father back Grom."
"No, but you can have the girl."
Virgil's legs failed. He gripped the railing of the ship harder.
"I gave her up for a reason," said Virgil through gritted teeth.
"Ay, but you want her for a reason too. Which one leads you to happiness boy? I saw the way she looked at you when you left two years ago and I saw her sadness when you came back and left again."
Virgil looked to Grom for the first time. His eyes were starting to blur. He would not let himself cry.
"There is more to life than being happy."
Grom laughed. "You really are a child aren't you? If you're not happy then there is no point in you living. You might as well jump into the ocean and let yourself drown. This life is short. We have to live for our own happiness. Not doing so will only lead to despair. Do you really think you deserve despair?"
"No but…" said Virgil in a broken voice, "but I will not live in selfishness. I'm going to sleep now. Wake me if there's a storm would you."
Virgil walked hard past the captain and into the ship's cabin. He headed down the stairs and into his room. The swaying of the ship seemed worse than usual today. He lifted himself into his hammock and drifted into an uncomfortable sleep.
Relyndra stared at him, eyes beckoning. Her flowing brown hair fell past her shoulders and it swayed as she walked closer to him. She put her arms around his neck in a tender embrace. She smelled of flowers. Virgil's fingers ran through her silk hair. His eyes were on her lips. He closed his eyes. He could feel her intoxicating breath on his lips. Everything stopped.
"Do you dream of her often?" called a voice from memory. Virgil's heart fell into his stomach.
He opened his eyes and Relyndra was gone. He found himself on the Ebon Steed

, but the crew was nowhere in sight and the boat seemed to lack motion. Vigil looked out over the railing.
There was nothing; the boat was suspended in dark oblivion. A figure with a familiar face stood at the end of the deck.
"Is this your magic Calin?" asked Virgil incredulously. "Or is this a vision of my own guilt?"
"It is my magic," said Calin as he lowered the hood of his dark blue cloak, "but while I can be sure, you can never be. That is just the nature of things."
Calin was younger than Virgil by more than a year, but he had always talked like he was a middle-aged man. It made him interesting to some, like Virgil, but it could wear on others.
"Your hair has gotten longer," noted Virgil, "it looks darker…almost black…"
"Do you dream of her often?" Calin insisted with a lack of emotion on his face.
Virgil got the impression he already knew the answer.
"She was a big part of my life," said Virgil plainly, "a big part of both of our lives. It gets lonely out here and I guess she just came to me."
"She may have chosen you if you stayed," admitted Calin his eyes sinking. "You two always talked more…laughed more. I hoped one day she would tell me she loved me, but I feared that my love for her would destroy my hate, my desire for revenge."
The three children had lost their parents in an assault from Vangard on Danorin soil. The nations had warred for several years, but this had been the first bloody skirmish in a capital city. Calin was the only of the three to really see his father die. He had been burned to death by flames of magic. They called the mage the Devil of Vangard. Calin dreamed, both in his waking hours and in the night, of vengeance. He had cast aside his chances for happiness for the alleged sweetness of revenge.
"But once you have your revenge..." began Virgil.
"I have already had it!" shouted Calin. Virgil jumped, his shock more from the words than the way they were yelled. "I killed him!"
"Then you should be happy! You should be living the good life now. You and Relyndra should think about children," Virgil shuttered at his own words.
"Don't say such things," Calin sighed, "you don't mean them. I have left Danorin. There must be something out there…some good that my abilities can accomplish. People cry out in pain and I can do something. My magic can do something."
"How could you have left her like that!?" yelled Virgil stepping closer to Calin and hoisting him up by his cloak. "Magic can save no one from pain and loss. She is broken and alone now…magic cannot cure that. You left because you couldn't take the guilt."
"She dreams of you," Calin said softly, unexpectedly. Virgil's grip loosened. "And she dreams of me. Sometimes we're both there. She is torn and cries harder. I visit her in her dreams like I am doing with you. It does little to comfort her."
"You should have stayed with her!" said Virgil, new power in his voice.
"I killed the Devil of Vangard in his sleep, like a coward, like a child with a dagger. I left everything behind to find my salvation."
"There's no such thing as salvation!" Virgil spat. "There is no such thing as God or hell or redemption. You killed that bastard for what he did and he deserved no better. You've done it! Why are you so afraid?"
Calin shook his head and refused to speak. He stared at Virgil with a forlorn hopelessness. It was as if he had thought about becoming angry but gave up on the notion.
"There is only this life and our happiness," said Virgil softly. "You should be with her. No matter how guilty you are you can't justify destroying her happiness."
“Maybe you're right," said Calin, his blue eyes glistening, "but why didn't you stay with her then? Why didn't you fulfill the vision of your own happiness?"
"I did it for you idiot!" said Virgil like one brother scolding another.
Calin stared wide eyed.
"I did it," Virgil continued, "because after your father died you took it harder than any of us. You were broken to the core. The only