Disclaimer: I do not own the Chronicles of Narnia.

A/N: Again, I apologize for the HORRIBLE wait. ;) I can't blame Su this time, though. My own fault, but this summer we'll hopefully be able to finish this story. Enjoy, and please review!


Chapter 4

I awoke in the middle of the night to the sound of the lock turning in the heavy tower door. It was pitch-black inside the tower; so dark that—for a moment—I had positively no idea where I was, or even who I was. But as the door began creaking open, I drew in a quick breath and pressed my back up against the wall.

Something weighed heavily on my shoulder. I touched it, and felt something soft and smooth. Hair? It was then that I realized how cold I was—cold, all except for my left side.

Susan, I realized. She must've fallen asleep next to me. With her head on my shoulder…ugh…

The door creaked again; there was no light at all from where the invisible door opener was standing. No light from the lantern or candle that should have accompanied the sound.

Susan stirred, and then, as the door creaked all the way open, she started awake.

"C-Caspian?" she whispered.

I somehow found her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. As she squeezed mine back, I wondered if her brother felt like this when there was some danger: not so much afraid, but more protective of her.

"Quiet, Su. Someone's coming in the door."

We both waited in silence. It was horrible, listening to the invisible footsteps of our midnight visitor, and then hearing the door creak shut again, torturing slowly. At last, just when I thought I would go mad from the suspense, a tiny light flared from the general direction of the door.

Susan tried to scream, but it came out a squeak. I moved a few inches out from the wall so I could get between her and the thing. But then, as it came slowly toward us, a voice said:

"Be calm, my prince. I mean you no harm."

I jumped, but then, as the figure held the candle up to its face, I let out a long sigh of relief.

"Dr Cornelius!"

My professor's wrinkled face was dreadfully somber, but he did smile slightly at this.

"It is I, Caspian. We must be silent, for though the guards at the bottom of the stair did not see me pass, they are awake and listening—at least, they were when I passed them."

"It was good of you to come," I said, smiling slightly and shivering. "It's terribly lonely up here."

"This is not a mere social call, my prince," the professor retorted sharply. "Might I remind you that your life hangs in the balance—a very twisted balance."

He hesitated, and then glanced to my left—finally noticing Susan.

"What's this? A girl?" he asked in astonishment, holding the candle out toward her so that the light reflected off her black hair. "But how can this be? I had heard that the tower was empty, and that you were held captive alone."

I nodded.

"That's what I heard too. And then Susan appeared out of the blackness the night I was thrown in here, and—"

"Susan?" Dr Cornelius' voice was low, but filled with a rich excitement that made my skin tingle. "Could it be possible?"

"Could what be possible?" I asked, glancing first at Susan and then at my professor.

Dr Cornelius held out a hand to Susan, and she accepted it gracefully.

"Could it be that you, my lady, are Queen Susan the Gentle, ruler of Narnia during the Golden Age?"

Susan's face lit up with a gratifying smile, seeming almost to glow from happiness in the candle light.

"I am, indeed, Queen Susan."

My professor bowed low.

"I am your humble servant, milady, and the one who called you into this world by the blowing of your horn."

"My horn?" Susan frowned. "So that's what brought me here!? How curious."

Dr Cornelius nodded.

I, meanwhile, stared on in thunderstruck silence. At last, I managed to speak.

"Wait…you can't mean that she really is Queen Susan…I mean, she can't be any older than I am. Not even as old probably."

"She certainly is, young Caspian," the professor replied sharply. "And you would do well to pay her the respect due to a true Queen of Narnia."

Susan gave me a somewhat smug smile, and I felt a strangely powerful urge to stick my tongue out at her. Instead, I merely nodded cordially and said, "My apologies, Your Majesty."

The words felt hollow on my lips, and I'm sure even Susan felt the sarcasm, though she pretended not to. Dr Cornelius watched us with a bemused expression.

"If this isn't a social visit, then why have you come?" I asked suddenly, thinking how peculiar it felt to have a visitor in a dungeon tower in the dead of night. "It obviously wasn't to meet Queen Susan."

The Doctor nodded.

"That did come rather as a surprise—though a good one, milady, make no mistake. But you are right, Caspian, in that I climbed the long, dark stair of this tower tonight for quite another reason altogether."

He cast a worried glance at the door, and then motioned for us all to be seated.

"You know, Caspian, the reason I urged you to flee this castle. And in all logic and reasoning, you should be dead right now, not wasting away in a tower held prisoner. But it appears the king has thrown reason to the wind. Have you any idea of why he…"

"Why he hasn't killed me yet?" I completed the Doctor's sentence dryly. "I think I have some idea. He believes there to be a traitor in the castle who aided me on my attempted escape and told me the truth about my father's death. It is the traitor's identity he seeks."

"Ah." Dr Cornelius bent his face away from the shadows so that I could not see what he was thinking. "So once the king has found the traitor…"

"My life will be worth nothing to him," I finished grimly.

There was a very long moment of silence as my professor pondered this new development. Susan's eyes darted back and forth from Dr Cornelius' face to mine, her expression asking dozens of questions that she dared not ask. At last, she seemed to decide on one.

"Why is your life so important to the king? I thought you were a peasant—a nobody."

The look on Dr Cornelius' face as he turned to me made me want to burst out laughing. It was a confusion that I had never seen grace the features of my professor before—utter astonishment, even. I shook my head as he mouthed the word 'peasant' with a questioning look.

"And why does everyone keep calling him 'prince'?" Susan continued, giving me a wary look. "He said it was just a joke among the guards, but now you've called him a prince so it can't be just that."

"You haven't told her?" Dr Cornelius asked me, his voice low.

"Told me what?" Susan asked frantically.

I ignored her and shook my head in response to my professor's question.

"Why on earth not?"

I glanced at the girl, and then looked back at Dr Cornelius.

"Right now, the fewer people know who I am, the better."

"Who you are? Does that mean you really are a prince? Why can't you tell me? I told you I was a queen!"

I sighed and shook my head wearily, turning away from the light and sinking down beside the wall. I could feel their eyes follow me, but I suppose they both realized that I was through. Susan was the next person to speak.

"I don't suppose you have any food with you?"

My professor sighed and shook his head.

"Unfortunately, no. I had no idea, when I began the climb up the winding stair, if I would even see you. Have they not given you food?"

My stomach rumbled angrily, and I answered him.

"No. They said I was not to eat until I spoke."

Silence. A moment later, Susan spoke again.

"Dr Cornelius, is there any way out of this tower? Any chance at all that we might escape?"

My professor pondered this question in silence for a very long moment, and then began mumbling as he thought. At last, his wrinkled face brightened in the dim candlelight, and he nodded.

"There is said to have been a tunnel under one of the stone blocks of the tower that leads to escape. I believe it was Caspian VII who was imprisoned in this very tower, and then escaped through the tunnel. He was captured and put to death before he could leave the castle, of course, but that's hardly part of a normal escape plan."

"Why have you never told me of this?" I asked, suddenly very interested in their conversation. "I never heard of any escapes from this tower."

Dr Cornelius smiled at me and shook his head.

"Might it please your high—er, you to remember, young Caspian, that history was never a priority on your list of studies. You have doubtless heard the tale, but most likely it 'went in one ear and out the other', as the old saying goes."

"How does one find this tunnel?" I asked, standing and pacing around the floor, staring intently into the darkness at my feet in an attempt to see what might be our only chance of escape.

"As I said, it was told to be under one of the stones in the floor. I'm sure no one has used the passage since Caspian VII, and it is likely that the king after Caspian's death had it filled it. Who knows if it can still be used?"

I sighed and slumped to the floor again against the wall.

"I knew it. Our only chance of escape—filled in by some long dead king who shared my name." I put my head in my hands. "We're doomed."

I heard Susan giggle slightly. I knew I was being terribly pessimistic, but right now, things didn't look so bright in my future. Darkness and death seemed to be all that awaited me. I felt a hand on my shoulder, and looked up into the wise face of Dr Cornelius once more.

"Have hope, my prince," he whispered gently. "Aslan is in charge of this situation—not your uncle."

I nodded solemnly, but then looked down again.

"But Doctor…what if I can't get away from here? I'll stay here forever in this hole until I die or Miraz kills me."

Strangely, my professor did not reply instantly. Instead, he squeezed my shoulder reassuringly and waited for a moment.

"Have hope, my prince," he repeated. "You have yet a part to play in Aslan's plan, I think."

He rose and turned to Susan, bowing gracefully and kissing the back of her hand, which she offered like a queen.

"As do you, my lady. Do not let this young curmudgeon dampen your everlasting spirit and hope. May your light penetrate his darkness and show him the way of Aslan."

The figure with the candle moved toward the heavy door of the tower, and suddenly I realized how dark and lonely the tower felt without a candle and a kind word from my professor.

"Wait, Doctor—" I rose and took a faltering step toward the door, but Dr Cornelius shut the door carefully behind him.

"I have no time to spare, my prince," he whispered sadly through the bars on the door. "If I return—when I return, Aslan willing!—I will bring food and water with me."

"But Doctor—" a lump in my throat constricted my voice, and I reached through the bars. "Please…"

The look in his eyes mirrored my misery.

"I know, my prince. Loneliness is the most abominable thing introduced to mankind—and dwarf-kind alike. Be brave, Caspian. Protect the queen, and do what you know to be right. May the Lion be with you!"

And with that he was gone—blowing out his candle and disappearing into the darkness. I stepped back from the door, glad for once that I was surrounded by darkness so Susan could not see the tears that were filling my eyes. With a heavy sigh, I plopped down in my corner and tried to get comfortable.

"I'm sorry, Caspian," Susan said from a few feet away. "Loneliness is horrid."

Her voice sounded small and afraid in the huge darkness. I forced myself to swallow my self pity, and reached out for her. Our hands met, and I gave hers an encouraging squeeze.

"It's all right, Susan. As long as I'm here, you won't be alone."

She sniffed and said, "Same for you."

"Tomorrow," I continued, trying to sound as optimistic as possible, "we'll start looking for that tunnel—or at least for the rock the tunnel is underneath. I'm sure we'll be out of here in no time."

My sudden cheer seemed to work. When she spoke again, Susan's voice was lighter, and she sounded a bit braver than she had been.

"In that case, we'd better get some sleep. Who knows how long we have before something else happens."

TBC...