Blood of the Abyss

Blood of the Abyss Part 12

Chapter 12

Let's Go Sailing...It'll be Fine

Caspian

The bay was turbulent, like my mind. Waves crashed heavily against the boat as we careened forward. The people of the village knew my father...knew me. I shuddered as a cold wind blew down from the mountains. My mind raced as fast as the wind felt. My father, Lysandra, everything from the past weeks just slammed against me like the waves hitting the boat. I suddenly felt a thicker cloak being wrapped around my shoulders; felt the small fingers dance unintentionally against my collarbone.

"You've been awfully quiet." Lysandra leaned her head against my back and sighed. "Are you okay, Cas?"
"Honestly?" I let out a soft chuckle. "I don't know. I don't know what made me think that when I ran away no one would notice. I am the Lord of Algirim's son. Of course he would notice me missing. Or at least, Callan would." I rubbed my hand against my forehead, trying to work out the headache that was starting to form.

"Do you regret leaving?" Lysandra was at my side now, leaning against the wooden railing of the boat overlooking the bay. She stared up at me curiously. I was taken back at how her hair blew so gracefully in the wild wind. I remembered when I first saw her, I saw that same wild hair. The striking red that offset her pale skin, her green eyes shone so bright, but deep in those murky depths I saw something that I did not recognize; I saw the sadness that I must have left. Memories of the first kiss we shared at the sorceress's home, how her eyes seemed to light up with her emotions almost changing the color. Her lips were so tantalizing and soft, I seemed to be addicted to her touch and her lips.

"I-uh..." I shook the thought of kissing her out of my mind quickly. This was a serious conversation. "No. I will never regret leaving. My mind has never been more clear than it is with you." I sighed and looked down into the murky water.

"Well, I'm glad you are with me." She gave a small smile.

"Me too." I wrapped my arm around the small of her waist and pulled her close to me. At least Lysandra could be the one constant I needed through all this. I glanced down at her and leaned down to kiss her forehead. My heart fluttered in my chest. This wonderful woman had quite literally stumbled her way into my life, and I had told her that I cared for her. I don't know why I couldn't say what I was truly feeling for her. It was more than care, that was for certain. Though fear and worry begged me to not say the words aloud. I didn't know what would happen when or if we reached the abyss. Saying those words would make it real. And when it was real, I feared that I would lose her. My heart hurt in the way it does when you deny it the ability to feel anything more than what you allow it to. I wanted to love Lysandra, and yet here I was, afraid of loving her.

"We are about to the middle of the bay now." Alwine shouted from the ship helm. The minute the words came out of his mouth, thunder boomed around us. The waves grew more violent, and lightning struck in the distance. I pulled Lysandra closer to me.

"I expected a storm...but not this soon!" Alwine shouted through the roaring sounds of the water. Wind whipped Lysandra's hair wildly, and the waves rocked the boat violently. I released my grip around Lysandra to hold onto the rail of the ship blinking against the rain that pounded down around us.

"HOLD ON TO SOMETHING!" Alwine was shouting, though the thunder was so deafening, it overpowered his shouts. I tightened my grip on the wood rails and braced myself as we crashed into another bout of large waves. I had maybe closed my eyes for two seconds to keep the water out of my eyes. When I opened my eyes, Lysandra was gone. Illine and Thelran clung tightly to the rails on the other side of the ship and Alwine was steering madly against the waves, trying to have some control of our direction, but Lysandra was gone.

"LYSANDRA?!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. The swaying of the boat causing my stomach to flip. Bile tried to climb its way up my throat. I tried to swallow the bile away, intent on locating Lysandra first. The storm around us was so loud, I just hoped she was close enough. I glared desperately out into the water. My stomach churned and I could not hold back, the meager portion of food I had earlier came spewing forth from my lips over the side of the boat. I wiped away the lingering vomit from my mouth with the back of my hand. I worked to focus my thoughts on finding Lysandra, ignoring the continuous churning in my stomach and the disgusting feeling of drying vomit. Suddenly, she broke through the surface, treading water and coughing.

"Alwine!" I called, and somehow he was able to hear me. I pointed down into the water at Lysandra and he shrugged.

"I can't turn around! You gotta go in after her!" I nodded and took a deep breath before vaulting myself over the rails into the murky water below. It was cold and it knocked the wind out of me. I tried to get my bearings and started to swim toward Lysandra as quickly as I could. I reached her and grabbed her hand to pull her close to me. She wrapped her arms around my neck loosely. Alwine must have shouted something at Thelran because he stood on the back of the boat swinging a rope over his head to throw at us. As he released the rope, it sailed through the sky and landed a few feet away from me. I swam toward the rope with Lysandra in my arms. I grabbed the rope and wrapped it around my wrist and nodded at Thelran to start reeling us in.

Just as he began to pull the rope, Lysandra was forcibly yanked out of my arms and under the water. Panic surged through every fiber of my being and I let go of the rope and dove down into the murky depths of the tumultuous bay. I opened my eyes and fought the blurriness that overtook my eyes and saw Lysandra's red hair flowing upward as she was dragged down by her ankle. I looked past Lysandra and saw two large, milky white, soulless eyes staring straight ahead. The mouth was agape with sharp fangs. Swirling around this ghastly creature were long, green tendrils floating like a torn cloak. The fingers that gripped Lysandra's ankle were long, and sharp. The creature dug her claws into Lysandra's skin, causing tendrils of dark blood to float toward the surface. I stared in horror at this beast, until bubbles tickled my face and reminded me that I needed to get Lysandra, who knew how much air she had left. Every so often a bubble of air leaves her lips. I swam deeper down reaching out my hand. She reached out toward me and her fingers brushed against the tips of my fingers.

The creature below let out a gurgled howl and tightened its grasp on Lysandra, causing more air bubbles to escape from Lysandra's mouth. I swam closer to Lysandra and this horrifying creature and grabbed Lysandra by her wrist. If I pulled, the creature just might pull Lysandra's foot off. My mind raced, trying to think of something I could do to free Lysandra, without getting captured by the creature myself. Lysandra met my eyes and with her free hand revealed a dagger at her hip. I pulled myself closer to her and removed the dagger from the sheath. The creature's fingers moved slightly to start reaching for my feet. My heart pounded rapidly against my chest as I dove slightly and slashed at the creature's hand. I focused on the finger that was trying to move toward me until I cut it off, and then focused on the rest of the hand. Cut after cut and finally, the hand drew back in pain.

I grabbed the sinking finger in the hand that held the dagger and with my other hand, pulled Lysandra after me as I kicked toward the surface. Lysandra was completely limp as I swam us both upward. My lungs burned and I could feel myself beginning to swallow water. My vision started to darken around the edges, my thoughts began to become fuzzy. I knew I needed to get air soon. I don't know how I managed to get the rest of the way up to the surface, but as soon as I did, I pulled Lysandra up and coughed up some of the water that I had taken in. My eyes searched wildly for the boat and saw Thelran launching the rope toward us. I reached out and grabbed it and Thelran began to pull us toward the boat, with Illine pulling fiercely on the rope to help Thelran.

We soon reached the boat and I tied the rope around Lysandra so Thelran could pull her up. I gripped the wooden protrusions on the outside of the ship that formed a ladder and climbed into the boat quickly. I began hacking and more water was expelled from my lungs. I looked over and noticed that Thelran and Illine had managed to get Lysandra onto the ship, where she lay unconscious.