The Moonshaped Sorrow (Open Novella Contest 2020)

Chapter Nine: The Misfortune of Good Intentions

At first, when he saw so many ships docked, he thought he must have become confused.  In all the high run emotions, he must have sailed farther than he'd thought.  But no, he could see the ocean curving around the very back of the land mass, separating from the mainland farther away.  This had to be the southernmost island of Lantaminth.  Miraluna had showed him a map with all their names once weeks ago.  Was it Cortith?

He was sure he was supposed to just go around it.  As he neared to do just that, a flag came into view above tents and crowds.  A flag bearing the insignia that was definitely not from Lantaminth.

An uneasy feeling crept down Cori's spine, but he made for the beach.  If he was lucky, he'd messed up the geography in his head and this was the port Miraluna had told him about.

Then, as he was pulling his small vessel up onto the sand, a familiar looking boy appeared at the end.  It took Cori a moment to place him.  He was one of the boys that had been hired to take his mother to the market, the taller of the two.

"Oh!" The boy exclaimed.  "You made it already." He turned and fled up the beach to the thick of the crowds.

Already?  Had someone been expecting Cori?

He stepped onto the sand.  Disorientation made him stumble, but it wasn't just from the adjustment from sea to land.  Something was very not right here.

A short way down the beach, a small crowd was looking at them.  Both of the boat boys stood there.  And Guin-what was Guin doing here-was looking at him.  Then he saw his mother.

Her face lit up upon seeing him.  She raced across the sand to close the distance between them, all while Cori stayed too shocked to move.

"Cori," she exclaimed.  "Oh Cori.  Thank heavens!" She hugged him.  "Are you all right?"

"Are you?" His voice came out a pitch lower than normal.

Mollie faltered.  "Cori..."

All of the worry and fear for his mother transformed into anger at seeing her alive and so clearly not sick.

"You lied to me!"

Abruptly he thought of Miraluna's face when she told him of course he had to go.

"The letter said you were sick.  It said you were about to die!  But look at you.  You're fine, and nowhere near where it said you.  How could you lie to me about something like that?"

Her face pinched, and he hated making her upset, but he hated even more that she had lied to him.  "Please Cori, I didn't want to lie to you, but we needed you out of the castle and this was the only chance we could think of that the monster might let you go."

"You could have told me the truth in the letter and let me decide how to proceed."

"We thought they'd intercept it."

He shook his head.  "She wouldn't have.  She never even looked at it, and when I told her my mother was dying, she sent me on my way with a signed royal request for the nearest major port to put me on their fastest ship to Thryfor at once."

She blinked.  Her voice rose in pitch the way it did when she was upset.  "I didn't imagine..."

Cori swallowed.  "I'm glad you're all right, but I can't believe you lied to me."  He turned toward his little boat resting on the beach.  "I have to go back."

His mother's hand latched onto his arm.  "How can you say that?  You're free now, finally safe from that monster-"

"She's not a monster!" Cori wrenched his arm away.  "She's my friend."  The closest real friend I've ever had.