Chapter 7 – Welcome and Unwelcome Faces
After a couple of days resting, Aleena's leg was almost healed. She still walked with a noticeable limp, but the pain had receded. Although, in her eyes, she was completely able to handle herself, everyone else strongly disagreed. Immediately after returning, Peter had stationed two guards outside her room at all times in case the Kangans tried to attack again. Lucy refused to leave Aleena's side, and would scream for Peter every time Aleena even tried to escape from her room.
"This is pathetic," Aleena said groaning as she talked to Lucy, "I am not staying in here for one more minute." She pushed herself upwards, and proceeded to limp towards the doorway.
"PETER!" Lucy screamed as she followed Aleena.
"He's not going to stop me," Aleena argued as she limped towards the door. She flung open the door and paused to speak to the guards. "If you try to stop me, I swear I will beat both of you with your own weapons." She stood there daring them to stop her. They glanced at each other, and then took a step backwards. "Thank you."
"What is it, Lu," Peter asked as he ran towards her. Lucy pointed towards who Aleena, who was glaring at him as though daring him to stop her. "What are you doing?"
"I am escaping from my prison," she answered placing emphasis on the word "prison". "This is absolutely ridiculous; I am not staying in this castle for a minute longer. It is driving me insane"
"Hey where'd you go, Peter, I thought we…," Edmund stopped as he ran up next to Aleena, "Oh, Never mind then."
"No," Aleena demanded as she turned to face Edmund, "What were you going to do?" From behind her, Peter signaled for Edmund to remain silent.
"We were going to polish armor," said Edmund slowly. He looked towards Peter who nodded.
"Really," Aleena said slowly, "Let's ask Lucy." She turned to face Lucy, who was staring at the floor. "Are they really going to polish armor?"
Lucy struggled to come up with an appropriate response, "No." She let out a sigh, but soon found herself staring at an angry Peter and Edmund. "You two can stop looking at me like that because you both know that I can't lie."
"Would you like to tell me what you were actually going to do?" Aleena demanded once again, "Or do I have to jump out of that window?" She pointed towards the nearest window she could find.
"We were just going riding," said Peter in defeat.
"Oh," said Aleena happily, "I want to come, and don't you dare say no."
"What happens if I do?" asked Peter.
"I'm working on it,"
"Come on Peter," Lucy started, "Let her go, I'm sure she'll be fine." Peter looked at Aleena skeptically.
"Fine," he said slowly. Aleena smiled, and with the help of Lucy, made her way down to the stable with Peter and Edmund. After they had chosen their horses out of the extensive collection available to them, Peter, Aleena, Edmund, and Lucy set out towards the forest nearby.
As they rode through the forest, they all enjoyed the temporary break from the battle awaiting them. None of them had expected the Kangans to be as dormant as they had been, but they used this interval of peace to their advantage. While waiting for an attack, they had managed to come up with multiple battle plans, increase security, and rally more troops. After days of preparation and planning, everyone was glad to spend some time relaxing. Caspian and Susan, however, had opted not to go riding with the others, and they had instead decided on some "alone time" together.
"Slow down," Aleena said laughing as she called out to Peter. Peter came to a halt, and slowly rode towards Aleena.
"What's wrong?" he said jokingly, "Can't keep up?"
"No," she said craning her head around, "I just can't see Edmund and Lucy."
"What?" Peter said; worry starting to stretch across his face.
"Don't worry," she said as she continued to look around, "I'm sure they are fine. We'll just double back and look for them." Peter nodded, and they quickly turned and came back the way they came. After a couple of minutes of searching they spotted both Lucy and Edmund staring off into the middle of the forest.
"Don't disappear like that," Peter said as he rode up to Edmund, "We had no idea where you guys went." Edmund and Lucy continued to stare off into the distance. "Hey, what are you looking at?"
Raising her hand and pointing forward, "Smoke."
"What?" Aleena said startled. She followed Lucy's finger until she to could see a trail of smoke leading towards the sky. She turned towards Peter, who was also staring at the smoke with a stunned expression. "You don't think..."
"No," he started, "It can't be. They'd never come this close."
Edmund, understanding what was running through his sibling's mind, "What do we do know?"
"We have to go closer," Aleena argued, "At least close enough to see if it's a Kangan camp." The moment Aleena said Kangan, Lucy stared at her in horror.
"4 people against an army?" she said quietly. Aleena nodded slowly arching her head to see over a patch of bushes.
"Couldn't we just send Reepicheep in?" asked Edmund.
"We could," Peter started, "But that would waste valuable time. Time we could spend preparing if that is a Kangan camp."
"Peter and I will go ahead," Aleena started, "We'll signal you if it's safe to come." Edmund nodded, and grabbed hold of Aleena's reigns while she got off her horse.
"Don't you think with your leg, it would be smarter if Edmund and I checked?" Peter said hesitantly as he got of his horse and handed the reigns to Lucy.
"Don't even try," she said as she walked slowly towards the smoke. Peter stared up at Edmund and shrugged. Peter followed after Aleena who was now at least 10 feet ahead of him.
"Hurry up," Aleena whispered as she crept forward. Peter sped up until he was only a few feet behind her. Once they were about 15 feet from the smoke, Peter and Aleena stopped and peered through the brush.
"Can you see anything?" Peter whispered.
"All I can see are two tents. I doubt this is a Kangan," she was cut short, however, by the rustling of tent flaps. "Shh…" They focused in on the tents as someone stepped out of the closest tent. Peering through the bushes, Aleena and Peter tried to see who had emerged from the tent. Finally whoever had emerged turned around to face the bushes.
"Sasha?" Aleena whispered softly as she scanned her face, "Oh my god, Sasha!" Aleena burst out of the bushes and ran into the camp.
"Aleena!" Peter whispered after her. After waiting a couple of seconds, he followed her out towards the camp. When he entered the camp, he found himself marveling at the sight of Aleena talking excitedly to "Sasha". Aleena turned around to see Peter staring at them awkwardly.
"Oh, Sasha," Aleena said introducing Sasha to Peter, "This is High King Peter of Narnia, and Peter this is my cousin Sasha."
"Nice to meet you," Peter said shaking Sasha's hand, "And please just call me Peter." Sasha looked like an exact replicate of Aleena, minus roughly 4 years. Unlike Aleena however, her hair had been tied up in a high ponytail that fell to the middle of her back.
"Likewise," Sasha said smiling, "I was just filling Aleena in on what's happened in Tashbaan." When she said Tashbaan the smile on her face faded into a slight frown.
"What's wrong?" asked Peter as he signaled towards Edmund and Lucy. He could see their small figures riding towards them.
"Do you want to start off with the bad news, the worse news, the even worse news, or the worst news?" Sasha said sadly.
"There's no good news?" Aleena said worry spread evenly on her face. Sasha shook her head sadly.
"Start with the bad news," Peter said as he walked towards Aleena and placed his hands on her shoulders. Sasha paused, smiling, to take in the sight of Aleena unconsciously leaning into Peter..
"Bad news," she started, "I hate to be the one to tell you this Aleena, but your father died. He was defending the northern boundaries and an arrow pierced cleanly through his heart." Aleena's knees seemed to give out and Peter had to catch her as she crumpled.
"Dead?" she said softly, fighting the urge to cry and throw up. She might not have liked her father, but he was a good king. He was someone who always put the kingdom first, even in front of his family.
"I'm sorry, but I think you know what this means,"
"I'm queen, aren't I?" she said even softer, now completely relying on Peter for support.
"I'm sorry, but it gets worse," Sasha said pure distress on her face. "You know Tashbaan tradition." Edmund and Lucy arrived, and Sasha took a moment to look at them.
"I do," Aleena replied.
"I don't," said Peter as he continued to hold up Aleena.
"Tashbaan's pass power through blood, gender plays no role in the making of rulers; however, before a prince or princess can take power, he or she must be married," Sasha explained, which caused Aleena to completely collapse against the floor. Peter and Sasha rushed to her side and helped her up slowly.
"Why?" asked Peter as he continued to support Aleena.
"It's to make sure that the king or queen is intent on continuing the blood line," Sasha explained softly as she looked sympathetically at Aleena.
"What's the even worse news," Aleena whispered.
"Your sister is protesting your coronation," Sasha said. This time, however, Aleena did not fall back.
"It's not like I didn't expect this," Aleena replied, "I always knew this would happen."
"Yes, but she might actually succeed," Sasha said to the complete shock of Aleena. "She is getting married to Councilman Zalhan's son. Unfortunately, she fits most of the criteria. She's taken your absence as a sign of abandonment. She's pleading to the council members that you are no longer fit to rule."
"Like she ever was!" Aleena yelled. "She has never once cared about any of them. She just loved the feeling of being in charge."
"I know," Sasha said comfortingly, "and it still gets worse. The only honest councilmen left have sent you a possible spouse."
"What!" exclaimed both Peter and Aleena.
"I thought I heard something," said a deep voice from within the second tent. Suddenly the tent opened up, and out stepped the most pompous, self-centered, egotistical bachelor to ever set foot in Tashbaan. "Oh, princess, or should I say queen."
"Lord Zaiir," he said as he bowed down in front of Aleena. He pulled her forward out of Peter's reach, and kissed her hand.
"Queen Aleena," she said somewhat disgusted. She pulled her hand away from him quickly and stepped back towards Peter. "This is High King Peter of Narnia." She stressed the High King, and smiled up at Peter.
"A pleasure," Peter forced himself to say as he nodded towards Lord Zaiir.
"Well, Peter," Zaiir started until he was interrupted by Peter.
"It's actually King Peter," Peter interrupted. Aleena, Sasha, Edmund, and Lucy tried to cover up a laugh. It was obvious to all that Peter and Zaiir had already started to hate each other.
"I'm sorry, King Peter," Zaiir started, "but if possible I would like to request a private audience with Queen Aleena."
"I don't think so," both Aleena and Peter said quickly. They looked at each other and blushed slightly, much to the disappointment of Zaiir.
"What they mean is," started Lucy diplomatically, "That the woods are no place for such a discussion. We'd love for you all to stay with us back at the castle."
"We would?" asked Aleena and Peter simultaneously.
"Yes, we would." Lucy replied, shooting a glare at the two.
"I'll ride with Peter, so you can take my horse," Aleena said quickly to Zaiir. Zaiir forced a smile, and took the reins Edmund handed to him.
"You can ride with me if you'd like," Edmund said to Sasha, seeing as he'd missed the introductions.
"I'd love to," Sasha said smiling as allowed Edmund to help her up, "Sasha."
"Edmund," he replied smiling back. Peter helped Aleena onto his horse, and she laid her head on his back. She tried not to cry, but everyone there knew that she was screwed.
A/N: As you can obviously tell, we've had some extra time to write up another long chapter. My psychotic French teacher gave us practically an entire work hour so I spent it writing this. Now that finals are almost – 5 days to be exact – over, I'm going to switch back to the usual pattern. 10 reviews new chapter. So review if you want another chapter. : )
