Lost boy || Prince Caspian

16

The clock was ticking loudly in the study. The wooden desk looming over where Otto was knelt. The chill of the stone floor harsh on his knees, creeping through the rug as he tensed. The grey shorts of his primary school uniform not protecting him as he shivered. He was ten again, young and choking back tears as the click of sharp shoes circled him. The shadows seemed to envelop the walls of the room until it was just him and the desk. The cold and the fear making him tremble as footsteps echoed and there was the sharp click of a cane.

"What did you say boy?" The booming voice, seemingly magnified beyond recall.

Otto felt tears drip down his cheeks. He sniffed, resisting the urge to wipe his nose on his jumper sleeve. The jumper too big for him. "I want to go back to grandpa's". His voice was a small high thing, like a fragile fluttering bird. A thwack of the cane on the desk made him jump and he bit his lips as not to make any sound.

"Don't be stupid boy. They're dead. Your mother and your grandparents are dead. You cannot go back".

"But father please!" Otto felt his heart drop in disappointment and he cried out. Death seeming like a impossible concept. They couldn't be dead.

"Silence!" Another sharp crack. Otto flinched and curled up. Childhood body trying to make itself even smaller. "Do not take that tone with me!" There was a swish of air and the tip of the cane hit the floor a few inches away from his leg.

"I'm sorry father! I'm sorry!" The pleas falling from his mouth as tears dripped down his cheeks. "I'm sorry".

"Father!"

Otto felt something jerk and he blinked open his eyes, the nightmare leaving adrenaline pounding in his veins. Outside, thunder cracked and sharp flashes of light briefly illuminated the wooden walls of the ship. The rope of the hammocks creaked as they swung. The storm raging overhead. Around them, the rest of the crew slumbered on. Their forms shadows in the gloom. Otto was lying on his back, Caspian draped over him like a blanket. It was the man's twitching jerks that had awoken him. Caspian was muttering in his sleep, fingers gripping Otto's shirt. "Father!" He gasped and then his eyes were jerking open and he was pushing himself up on to his elbows to glance around.

In the next hammock, Edmund was already awake and watching them, Lucy standing at his side. She was still in her nightdress, skin pale as lighting flashed. All of them silent for a moment as they exchanged looks. Otto didn't feel very well rested and but the looks of the bags under Edmund's and Lucy's eyes, they weren't either. "I can't sleep", Lucy muttered in a hushed whisper.

Edmund sighed grimly. "Let me guess, bad dreams". Around them the thunder cracked. Otto felt Caspian's grip on him tighten and the man rested his head back into the junction of his neck, deep breaths ghosting his skin. He hugged the man tighter, the tremors of his own nightmare still haunting him. The warm presence at his side helping to ground him as he tried to keep breathing. Edmund sighed again. "So either we're all going mad, or something is playing with our minds". Then he laid back into his hammock as the thunder boomed.

It wasn't a pleasant thought and Otto gripped Caspian tighter. Arms around his waist as he tried not to let the fear plague him.

——

The storm had broken by morning, leaving a cloudless sky and before midday they had sailed up to another island. It was a volcanic looking thing of sharp rocks. Steam and mist lingered over it like a cloak. Like before, they left the ship to Drinian and took three boats for a landing party. One boat to look for resources and another to accompany the kings and queen to search for any sign of the lords. "I doubt the lords stopped here my liege", Reepicheep called from where he was perched on prow of the second boat. "There's no sign of anything living".