The Heirs

Chapter 23- Macabre Wonder

nothing beside remains.
round the decay
of that colossal wreck,
boundless and bare
the lone and level sands
stretch far away.
-

There were bodies.
So many of them.
Everywhere.
They littered the Gardens like leaves and petals.

No one knew where they had come from. The palace workers had first spotted them at dawn, just as the first rays of the Sun illuminated the barren Gardens.

But that wasn't the worst part.
The people were not simply dead.
They had been mutilated.
Their eyes gouged out. Gaping stab wounds all along their limbs. Their bodies drained of blood.

And one by one, the bodies began to be identified. By nine in the morning, it was obvious that these were the corpses of the people who had been abducted over the past few days.

"How many?" Jem asked quietly, as he sat at the foot of his Throne. He was paler than usual, and felt queasy- he had already vomited once after seeing the bodies, but he was certain that was not the last time he'd throw up that day. "How many bodies in total?"

"One hundred and two." Perrin gripped his notebook tight, shifting from one foot to the other, panicked. He had never expected to have to see a hundred deformed corpses as well as to pat the High King's back as he retched the contents of his stomach out. He wasn't sure which one had aggrieved him more. "B-but I think there will be more, Your Majesty. We've not managed to get a definite number of Talking Animals and humans who have been taken, but it's more than a hundred."

"I'd have preferred a second coming of the assassins." Jem murmured, dropping his head into his hands. He couldn't have more abductions. It was blatantly clear to him now that Talking Animals and humans were not safe in Narnia, not anymore, and they needed to be shifted somewhere they wouldn't die a gruesome death. "Perrin- how long will it take to evacuate the land?"

The advisor's eyes widened.
"Eva- evacuated? Are you certain?"

"Not everyone, just the Talking Animals and the humans." His mind was aflame with anxiety- where could he send so much of the population? Where would they be out of danger? Where would they be able to live in peace, at least until everything was solved? "I think- have the humans settle in Rihaaya, and the Talking Animals in Archenland. I'll write to King Cor, and to my uncle as well-"
But even the thought of writing sickened him.

"What about Calormen, Your Majesty?"

Jem looked up at Perrin, and managed a rueful grin.
"As much as I feel that Tisroc Okhtar would do anything asked of him if I invoke my mother's name, I don't think the Talking Animals will be able to adapt well to a desert region. Even Rihaaya is tropical, and a bit too warm for them. Climate and terrain-wise, Archenland is the closest to Narnia."

"You're very wise, Your Majesty."

"No, I just remember my geography lessons well."

"Still, most people would've forsaken their wits in such a crisis." Perrin said earnestly, sitting down on the topmost stair, just below the High King.

Jem's smile widened just a bit, before it faded.
Even Perrin's sweet words could not do much against the maelstrom of worry and nausea raging inside him. His country, his land, his people- suffering, dying, kidnapped, killed, ruined.
They deserved better than him. Someone who could actually help, who knew what they were doing, someone who wasn't so utterly helpless.
"Or they might've kept their wits, and actually been able to help."

Perrin shook his head at that, indignant- he refused to let him beat himself up about things which were not his fault.
"You are helping, Your Majesty-"