Blood of the Abyss

Chapter 3: Unknowing

Lysandra

Seven years later

Merrilora sent out scouts for weeks, months, years. No reports came back of Caspian. Nothing came back about Caspian. He was dust on a wind, as if he had never existed at all. She was angry, angry at me for allowing him to drag me along outside of the safety of Eodanor. Angry with him for being careless. Angry at the scouts that returned with no news, year after year. Angry that the orchards harvests had slimmed in each year after his disappearance. But more often I see her weep, mourning the loss of a son. I wept with her.

She suspected, she had told me, that Caspian's father was the one to have taken him, though any detail beyond that, she kept to herself. Said she would deal with it. And yet, seven unfulfilled years later, her promise to find her son had produced nothing. So life moved on. We grew older, though the ache in our hearts grew with each passing year, as each harvest was less and less, like the trees were dying, like we were dying without him. Once vibrant colors now held a heavy gray hue, and tastes that were once exquisite, now tasted of ash. Most nights, I woke up, after dreams of him laying next to me, feeling the warmth of him encompassing me, only to wake up, alone, in the dark, his last words playing over and over in my mind. When was the last 'I love you?' Perhaps that moment on the banks of the spring. That was certainly the last time anything had felt good. Despite the feeling of death, I knew he wasn't dead. Couldn't be dead. Merrilora wouldn't continuously send out scouts if she thought otherwise.

That is until... she stopped. Year five had been particularly difficult, the scouts on this run returning injured, when before nothing of the sort had ever happened to them. One was dead, a message they claimed. Merrilora grew distant that day, stopped telling me her plans, stopped sending out scouts, stopped talking of Caspian. Claimed him dead, had even held funeral rites for him, burning an empty pyre, only his possessions rested among the flames. But he wasn't dead. Couldn't be dead. I had argued with her about her incessantness, screamed at her because she had given up.

'There is nothing more to do, Lysandra. My son is dead. Move on.' Her words had struck me like a punch to the gut, but I knew, knew with all my heart that she lied. She was lying to everyone. Year six I spent much time up in that old ruin, recounting that day, trying to recall any details I could that could lead to Caspian, and could explain what had happened. Nothing. I found absolutely nothing. Just as I had found nothing each time I returned there. Year seven would be no different.

"You know, as much as going out to this ruin is just so exciting for me, we never find anything."

"We will." I growled, turning to look at the tall, pale blonde man that walked next to me, a blade strapped at his hip. Thelran Advaris was his name, and his twin Illine was not too far off. "We have to find something." Thelran sighed, nodding his head, whether in pity or understanding I could not tell. Both of them had been instrumental in keeping me from going too far off the deep end when it came to Caspian, and to my knowledge, were the only two left in Eodanor that agreed with me. The only two that knew Caspian wasn't dead. A whistle ahead of us knocked me from my focus as an equally pale blonde female stepped out from her cover in the trees, beckoning us closer.

"You find something?" I called.

"You could say that. Though not in the way you hope." She responded. I felt my heart cave in my chest as hope was dashed away again.

"She found something at least. Last week there was nothing at all, just like the weeks before that, and the years before that." Thelran said, giving me a reassuring smile, and a quick pat on the back. My heartbeat quickened briefly and a flush flitted across my face. I cleared my throat and moved to catch up with Illine who waited for us to close in before darting back into the woods. The orange trees were sparser here, but we still ventured this far when the harvesting season came around. Especially now that the crops are less and less.