Mortance: A Miscarriage of Hope

Epilogue

I limped through the gates of Esson twelve days too late. The Silver Girl had given up. I had failed.

It was near midday, but Sacreon's capital was far from alive. Last I'd been in a city was three years ago, when I was thirteen, but I remembered it well enough. Cities were supposed to be alive; Kanis had been alive, but Esson seemed dead in comparison. There was some depressing weight over all its people, though I could only guess where from.

Their princess had thrown herself from a tower, and war had finally returned to Ert. Now everyone I saw had a glumness to them. The streets were not as crowded as they should've been, and those that were out seemed in a hurry to get where they were going. I could smell it in the air; the end had begun.

I limped through the streets, still sporting injuries as old as winter. Nobody cared to give me a second glance. To them, I was just another wounded stray who would soon die. They had better things to do than worry about stray dogs, not that I was one.

It was a warm day, though covered in clouds. The scent of the sea filled the air, but even stronger were the odors of city life. I wrinkled my nose and limped onwards. Just keep going, I told myself. Just keep going. You have to find the Silver Girl, it was Aerya's dying wish.

I clumsily found my way on to the roof of some establishment. It wasn't tall, but it was enough to see the castle. That was where she would be. The Castle of Kings was even more impressive in person. In fact, the whole city was far more impressive than anything I'd seen when I lived in Viri, but then again, I was banished before I got to see Aeliri. Kanis, however, was nothing next to this.

I shook myself and found my way back down to the streets. Aerya's dying wish was for me to find her, and so that's what I was doing. Solstice was gone too, there wasn't anything left but the Silver Girl anyway.

The first alleyway I turned into was not empty. "...didn't even know it was illegal," one boy was saying to another. They looked poor and underfed, like everyone else in the city.

"Some wrinkly old men said 'no woman shall lay with another woman, and no man with a man' or something stupid like that," the other boy said. "'Such things are no love'"

"Even if they're right... what happened to the handmaid seems..."

"Yeah," the second boy glanced around to be sure he wasn't being watched. I nearly turned and kept going when he followed up with, "and then they act surprised when their princess tries to join her."

They're talking about what happened, I realized. The princess is like me! The Silver Girl is like me! I thought back to how happy I'd been with Solstice, back when she was alive. Losing her hurt so much, and that pain only multiplied when the False Mortance made me kill her again. I shuddered to think what might've become of me if Aerya hadn't given me this quest. The princess had nothing like that, and thus, she'd given up.

"Maybe she would've been better off dying in that fall," the first boy shrugged. "Losing love is the worst."

The other boy punched him lightly and laughed. "Like you would know."

"Hey... just because she didn't love me back doesn't mean..."

I turned away from the two boys and limped onwards towards the princess and the castle. She would be in her room, I knew, and a dream had told me exactly where that was. The Silver Girl had to know that there was still something to fight for. I'll give her a reason to believe.

I'd been close to giving up more than once before. My home had banished me, and I'd thought my lover dead. If Aerya hadn't found me then, I might've given up and let myself die. The Spider Witch saved me from that fate again when she and Solstice were killed, and now I was here. If only the Silver Girl had something to keep her going, I thought. If only I'd been here early enough to give it to her.