Disclaimers and Such: Obviously I don't own the premise of Narnia or any of the characters that live there. [With the exception of my OC]

The quotes in italics are all from the song 'Said the King to the River' by La Dispute [hence the name of the story]

"Up m'lady pack your things

This place is not your home

Nor was it ever sever every tie

Tonight we ride, tonight we ride"

Chapter 1

I hadn't heard such blasphemy; my father, Miraz, having killed my uncle, otherwise known as King Caspian IX? Professor Cornelius had told me this. The king's son, Prince Caspian X, and I shared a professor. We had been schooled together since we were children. Now we were older. Unfortunately the logic made sense, not to mention I wouldn't for a moment put it past my father. He'd craved Caspian's throne for years. Still, it was difficult to imagine it, or even entertain the thought being that he was my father, then again, my father had erased any memory of Narnian's, while the professor had secretly been teaching Caspian and I about them for years. Should Narnian's exist, at any point in time, whether that include the present or not, I would say that constitutes the professor as being a more honest man than my father. While my mind told me not to believe it, my heart said it was true, and I had always been one to go by my heart.

I lay sleepless in bed; partially because I couldn't stop my mind from dissecting the idea of my father's crime. The other thought that kept my mind racing was the fact that my mother had gone in labor this afternoon and would be giving birth to a child at any moment.

A streak of light pierced through the darkness onto the far wall of my room. I sat up quickly expecting news of my mother's delivery. My long wavy dark brunette hair swam in front of my face. I tossed it back. A cloaked figure approached me quickly. I held back a scream.

"Arianna, we have to go," the professor said as he tossed off his hood.

"My mother?" I asked.

"She's given birth to a son," he replied. My heart sank. Even if my father didn't kill my uncle I knew what this meant for Prince Caspian. It meant my father now had an heir to the thrown and Caspian no longer served a purpose in this castle. If my father hadn't had to the audacity to kill my uncle I felt as though he wouldn't hesitate to eliminate Caspian X. Still knowing all of this I had no idea what this had to do with me.

"But Prof…" I began.

"Save your questions, we have to get Caspian," I had to take his word for it; after all, the Professor wasn't one to act impulsively or without reason. I stood up quickly and grabbed a dress from my wardrobe.

"Meet me in Caspian's room," he said. I nodded. My short slim figure slipped quickly out of my night gown and into my simple deep purple dress with gold trim and stitching. I ran to my door quickly and slipped out quietly. I dodged a group of guards and jogged to Caspian's room. I burst through the door as Caspian and the Professor were preparing to take the hidden passage to the stables/armory. I followed them with out hesitation. As Caspian slowly and quietly shut the door I hurt the sounds of crossbows going off. I chill ran down my spine and I shivered. The Professor placed his hand on my shoulder and attempted to pull me gently in his direction. I reluctantly turned and followed. Once in the armory we equipped ourselves with swords and armor.

Caspian climbed atop his large black stallion as I got on my dappled grey mare. The Professor handed Caspian something wrapped in cloth and said something I couldn't quite make out over the adrenalin pounding in my head. We rode quickly out of the castle and over the bridge having to dodge a few attacks from guards and soldiers on the way out. A small group of soldiers including my father's next in line General Glozelle followed closely on horseback.

"Where are we going?!" I yelled to Caspian taking my eyes off the terrain in front of us for only a moment.

"The woods!" He yelled in return. My mind halted.

"Are you insane?!"

"Maybe, but that's what the Professor said!" I had to trust him, I didn't know why though. I still had no idea why I was running or what I had to do with this. As we reached the edge of the forest neither of our horses even hesitated. My fear was masked by my adrenalin; it seemed to be taking me over. It seemed that for a moment we lost our assailants, however moments later we heard their horse's footsteps not too far behind us. We looked back for a moment and that was all it took. We were both knocked from our horses by a low hanging branch. I looked up weakly as I watched Caspian be drug another ten feet past me. He freed himself from his stirrup and looked towards me. My head was spinning and everything was going dark. I could feel the beating of hoof prints nearing. My mind screamed for my body to move but nothing would respond. I managed to turn my head to the side as I saw a black and white badger looking creature running towards me. I heard a horn sound just before my mind when black and I slipped into an unconscious state.

I woke up confused. My head was spinning. I felt a damp towel over my forehead. I opened my eyes, my vision was rather blurry. I blinked a few times to attempt to clear it up. I could hear two voices, both sounded male. I slowly wiped the rag off my head and sat up. My head continued to spin but I attempted to ignore it. I stood up and walked into what seemed to be a kitchen. The room was dark and somewhat damp. It smelled of sweet onions and charred timber. A tiny man that looked similar to the Narnian Dwarfs the Professor had described and the badger that I had seen earlier sat around a table.

"She's awake!" the badger said. I thought I was going crazy, badgers can't talk! Well every badger I've ever seen couldn't. I froze, I didn't know whether they meant me harm or not. Well I assumed not seeing as if they had meant me any harm they probably wouldn't have taken the time to rescue me from the Telmarine soldiers that were chasing Caspian and me.

"Caspian!" I managed to choke out despite my dry throat. The badger nodded to the room I had just stumbled from. Caspian lay on a bed with a rag around his head. I, with out invitation took a seat next to the dwarf. "Who are you?" I asked finally.

"I am Trufflehunter, and this is Nikabrik," he paused as if searching for words.

"I'm Arianna, are you…Narnians?" I asked hesitantly. Nikabrik gave Trufflehunter a dreadful look. Trufflehunter seemed to ignore it and turned his attention back to me.

"Yes, and I'm assuming you're a Telmarine? Some sort of princess or other?" Nikabrik replied in a not-so-friendly tone. I nodded.

"Something like that,"

"So what were Telmarine soldier's doing chasing after you?" Trufflehunter asked. I shrugged.

"I'm still trying to figure that one out," I replied, and I was. I really hoped that I would eventually be clued into what I had to do with all of this. So far I had paid much more of a price than I should have given the circumstances. I could never return to the castle for fear of high treason, I'm sure that there was some reason as to why I was running, and obviously some one wanted me dead just as much as they wanted Caspian dead. I heard shuffling behind me, before I could turn around I heard Caspian.

"Arianna! Watch out!" he yelled. He lunged forward and grabbed my arm pulling me up. He grabbed the closest thing he could find to protect us. I shook off his tight grip and scoffed at him.

"Caspian relax, they mean us no harm!" I attempted to set his mind at ease. It didn't seem to be working.

"Yeah well I can't say the feeling is mutual!" he replied. I knocked the wooden object he'd grabbed from his hands.

"Stop it! You're being ridiculous!" I yelled. Trufflehunter and Nikabrik looked back and forth at us bickering as though we were children. Though I suppose we weren't too far from it.

"We're getting out of here!" Caspian grabbed my wrist and led me out the door.

"Fine, but let's see if the Minotaurs are so understanding!" Nikabrik warned. Caspian stopped and turned around.

"Minotaurs… they really do exist?" He asked. He seemed shocked. We had a talking Badger and half a man standing in front of us and he questioned the existence of Minotaurs? He must have hit his head harder than I thought. "What about Centaurs?"

"Well the Centaurs will probably fight on your side, but there's no telling what the rest will do," Trufflehunter replied. Caspian looked at me and grabbed his sword from the other room.

"Let's get moving," he said. Trufflehunter and Nikabrik looked to each other and nodded in agreement. I gathered my belongings and followed Caspian from the some cavern in the bottom of the tree. Neither Caspian nor I knew where we were going but we continued to follow the dwarf and the badger.

"So what about Aslan? Does he exist?" I asked. Nikabrik and Badger stopped and looked at me.

"How is it that you and your friend here know so much about Narnia?" Nikabrik asked. I glanced at Caspian.

"Our Professor taught us," I replied. Before Nikabrik could speak Badger had his nose up in the air and was sniffing profusely.

"What is it?" Nikabrik asked.

"Humans," Trufflehunter replied.

"Them?"

"No, them!" Trufflehunter pointed to a group of Telmarine soldiers making their way towards us.