ENTANGLED
Chapter Seven: Decisions
The day after, Andrantiel woke up with the feeling of a buzzing atmosphere all around her. It turned out that, finally, all Peter's captains had returned and that he had summoned them to the Strategy Room very early in the morning.
At first, she was a bit annoyed to be left behind, but when she arrived at the Strategy Room, Peter explained that he felt that it was quite impolite to awaken a princess when he was merely gathering some feedback from his captains. She soon forgave him, as his words were true.
Moreover, they even had not begun the discussion yet.
"It is up to you now, Your Highness," the Minotaur said, closing the stream of feedback from the captains not long after Andrantiel arrived. "What is your decision?"
Andrantiel could see that Peter was thinking hard. He was frowning, with eyes fixed to a particular spot on the map for quite a long time.
"We will be leaving tomorrow, at dawn," Peter said finally, turning to look at Andrantiel.
The Princess gave him a nod of approval absent-mindedly, for she was pondering which words she should use. She wanted to ask Peter about the possibility of her joining the battle alongside him. She knew she was brave enough, and because he was open to her opinion on the battle discussion, well, perhaps he would say yes, would he not?
It was when she realized his stare.
Andrantiel looked up, seeing Peter staring back at her instead of turning right away to the council. It was as if he knew she wanted to say something and he was waiting for it.
Andrantiel smiled. "I'm merely wondering, Your Highness," said the princess, feeling how she had almost gotten used to this. "Whether I have the honor to ride with you tonight."
Peter smiled back at her. "I believe you heard what I said to my sisters, Princess."
"But-"
Andrantiel paused mid-sentence. She was interrupted by the knock on the door.
And it was distracting, really.
Apparently, the warriors heard it too. One of them, a faun who was standing the closest to the door, broke away from the discussion. He opened the door then slipped out to meet whoever it was.
"But," Andrantiel resumed her sentence. "I want to fight too."
She wanted him to see, to understand, but before he had the time to reply-
"Your Highnesses?"
Both of them turned. It was the faun, and he was holding a roll of parchment in his hands.
"A letter for Princess Andrantiel," said the faun, giving Andrantiel the parchment in which she received in curiosity.
"Thank you," said she, hoping that it did not bear bad news. She gave Peter a look then said, untying the ribbon, "Excuse me."
"Certainly," Peter replied.
Andrantiel unrolled it, her heart beat quickening. Andrantiel read her mother's writing as quickly as she could, and-
No, it was not bad news; her mother informed her that Mirkwood was still at peace at that moment. However, what was written afterwards carried a heavy weight that made her feel sick of all a sudden.
She had totally forgotten about the one thing that her parents stressed she must do. It was not something she looked forward to, because truth to be told, it was something she really did not want to remember.
Ever.
Nevertheless, there it was in writing, reminding her at that very moment.
She knew she had to ask Peter for one more favor.
"What is it, Princess?"
Andrantiel looked up. Peter was staring at her; apparently, he had seen the changes of expression on her face.
She hesitated for a while. She could not believe that she had been thrown off balance by mere a piece of paper. Nevertheless, her choice was either her people or the Tarkaan Lords, and for this, she had no slightest doubt of who was more important to her.
Even though it meant that she was about to ask the High King of Narnia for a favor in which she knew he would despise.
"The Majesties of Mirkwood wish for you to slay all of the Tarkaan Lords right on the spot."
Peter clearly did not expect any of it.
"Pardon me?" He was eyeing her with something bordering on revulsion. "Do you have any solid reason for this?"
Again, Andrantiel hesitated.
What she had asked of the High King was a very serious thing indeed, and it was dreadfully unfair for him not to be given a good explanation.
But-
She just could not give what he wanted to hear.
We just do not trust any outsider completely.
"The Tisroc will not rest until he has conquered us," finally Andrantiel said, quickly as she was trying to be steady. "And we just cannot risk our people to live in fear for the rest of their lives."
She was avoiding Peter's eyes as she said this, particularly because she knew that he was staring right at her. His silence made the knot in her stomach tighten, and she thought that if she had to face his stare at the same time-
She might make a mistake she would regret worse than what she was doing at that moment.
"Then let me do it," Andrantiel said, surprising herself. "Let me ride-"
"Please, Princess," Peter cut in, clearly in a tone that ended the conversation.
Andrantiel was not going to stop there, but then she caught the flash across his eyes and his voice sounded odd at that instant.
"Or is there something else you haven't informed about?"
Andrantiel did not know what hit her harder: the tone of Peter's voice, or whether or not she would be able look him in the eyes ever again.
"Your Highness?"
It was the same faun who had given Andrantiel her letter. Behind him, the council stood with curiosity written all over their faces, and though they did not say anything, Andrantiel knew that they were worried about her conversation with the High King, which did not seem to be going well.
Peter snapped out of his silence then addressed the council, making Andrantiel's heart beat faster when he opened his mouth. "We will stick to the plan we've all agreed on…"
Peter said nothing to her besides pressed formality for the rest of the day, although Andrantiel hoped that he would, because being there in the same room with him but yet feeling so distant-
The guilt finally struck her hard.
He deserves to know the truth.
---
Quick author's note:
I think from this time around I'm going to put all the author's note at the bottom of the chapter so you won't be disturbed...
First of all, "Thank You!" for Mira (mis.mira) to be my beta reader. She's the one who has to face my terrible grammar mistakes anytime, so I don't think I can't thank her enough... Good luck with your fic too!
About this chapter... Hhh... It was very hard to be written. I stuck a couple of times, but I hope the result is not that bad... Gah... Just flame me if it is...
Anyway, thanks for the time you've all taken to drop me a review! I still love them by the way, hehehe... Both good and bad, I don't mind. Good reviews keep me going, bad ones make me try better, so-
Drop a line, haha...
Oh, and I just want to tell you, the first chapter has been edited(!) by Katy (Domlando Blonaghan). So if you want to re-read it, please do so.. I can tell that it's better now... Hehe.. Well, here I thank you again, Katy!
Hope to see all of you again next time!
