The Moonshaped Sorrow (Open Novella Contest 2020)

Chapter Four: Jumping Deeper

"Take the-"

"Can't we say goodbye?" Cori demanded, cutting off the creature in the midst of ordering to who-knew-who or what.

The creature hesitated. "Can you not say it now?"

"A son needs more than a few seconds to say farewell to his mother," he replied.

The creature frowned. "How long do you need?"

Forever.

"A few minutes."

"You have three." The creature strode to the head of the staircase and stood there with her back to Cori, the closest to privacy he and his mother would get.

Cori didn't waste time. He came to his mother and savored in her embrace. Their last embrace? No, he couldn't think like that.

"Cori," she murmured unhappily, clutching at him like a lifeline. "You shouldn't have done this.

"It's all right Ma," he said gently. "You did say I needed to get out of the house more."

She shot him a look so stricken he instantly regretted the attempt to lighten the mood.

"I mean it," she said. "You should be-should wooing girls, exploring faraway islands, adventuring and discovering yourself. Not locking yourself up for your old mother's mistakes."

He touched her cheek. "Don't you worry about me. I left a little boat on the shore of Emesa; get to Andsaltis and get to a doctor. There's some money in my bag. If it's not enough to get a doctor, ask for a loan from Theos RosLaryn." That was the merchant his mother worked with most closely. He was a business partner, but sometimes almost a family friend. If Mollie came to him ill with fever and asked for a loan to see a doctor, Cori felt certain he'd help.

"I'm not so ill as all that," but her eyes were bright with fever.

Cori couldn't believe that. Her health had been strained already with the stress of the finances over the past few months, and being soaked in a storm and thrown in a cold tower had only made it all worse.

"Just go see a doctor quick as you can," he said. "For me. Promise me?"

"I will." She subdued a cough and leaned in close against his shoulder and spoke in hushed tones, "But you must promise me that you'll escape from here! Promise me you'll come back to me, Cori."

"I promise."

She pulled back, and tried a watery attempt at a smile, but it failed. "Good."

Then their time was up. The candles in the air led Mollie down the tower. The creature lingered for a moment longer. Her hauntingly human gaze stuck to him, but his own gaze stared on her mysterious cloud of sorrow. He noticed now that it wasn't shaped like most clouds, but splayed out behind the creature in an arc like a crescent moon always behind her. After a few moments, the mutual fascination ended, and the creature retreated down the stairs, leaving Cori alone in the cell.

Cori's promise to his mother weighed on him, but he didn't know how to start to fulfill it. He figured out quickly that the bars of his cell were spaced far enough apart that squeezing out would be a possibility. But from there he would need a way to get out of the castle, and given how far he had walked to get up here, he doubted his ability to get out of the castle without being caught.

Especially since he remained uncertain about the nature of the floating candles. A candle would float up to his cell alongside with a plate of food, almost as if there were an unseen person carrying both. Try as he might, Cori could not get a glimpse of either person or sorrow cloud whenever the food delivery came up, but the suspicion didn't leave him.