AN: I know you're all probably worried about Lucy because of what happened in the last chapter, but don't worry, she'll be fine as you'll soon see later in this chapter.
Pug, completely oblivious to the tussle in the crowd, ignored the screaming and shouted down that he had another man up for sale. This poor fellow was rather elderly.
"Good for looking over well behaved little children or animals, slightly prone to falling asleep while doing so." Pug announced. "Shall we start the biding at twenty? Do I hear twenty?"
Suddenly an arrow rushed right passed Pugs head and hit the center of the stage behind him. There was a note tied to it. "What's this?" He bent down to unfold and read the note which said, "The slave traffic is now illegal in the Lone Islands, please comply by releasing all captives at once; or we will use force." Pug gasped, choked on his own spit, and turned very white in the face. "What? Who wrote this? Is this some kind of joke?"
"No, I assure you it is not." A gorgeous golden-haired young woman followed by some strong-looking guards pushed her way through the crowd. She wore a sparkling crowd of diamonds and rubies on her head and there was a quiver of arrows hanging from a strap loosely tied around one of her shoulders. In her left hand, she held a bow.
Edmund recognized her at once. It was none other than Ramandu's daughter; Caspian's wife. She didn't appear as he had last seen her, frightened and tearful, but now she appeared strong and almost warrior-like. He couldn't help but be reminded of his older sister, Susan-the way she had been during the earlier years of the golden age they'd ruled in.
"Why, I know you!" Gasped Pug. "I sold you yesterday. Where is your master, slave? Why are you dressed like that? Did you steal those clothes? Bad slave!"
"Uncover before the queen of Narnia you dog!" One of the guards hollered at him, pointing to the hat he was wearing on his head.
"Queen of Narnia?" Pug couldn't believe his ears.
"Yes," A strong familiar voice with a strong Temarine accent said firmly, walking over and standing by her side.
It was Caspian himself. He also dressed up royally in dark crimson and purple colours. He too wore a crown on his head but of gold and silver rather than of gem stones.
"Why, you're-" Pug thought he might faint. Why were the slaves he'd sold yesterday coming back here telling him he couldn't sell any more slaves? This didn't make any sense.
"Pug, the man you sold me to was none other than the Lord Bern. A good man who brought me because he was reminded of my father whom he was very loyal to. He is also one of the lost lords I set out on my journeys to find." Caspian explained. "As soon as possible I went to see the governor of these islands to talk about this horrible human trafficking. He was a pompous twit no good for anything, so I removed him from office and have now given these islands a duke-namely, the Lord Bern-in his place. And the said Duke has now on my orders passed a law which makes you a criminal. This all happened a couple of hours ago meaning all the slaves in this market are now free!"
Happy cheers erupted from the slaves. Both the ones who had been sold and the ones about to be sold clapped and jumped for joy.
"What about our money?" One of the buyers demanded.
"Pug," Caspian said coolly. "Please give the nice gentleman back his money. Better yet, double it for wasting his time."
"What?" Tears sprang up into Pug's small greedy eyes. "But then everyone here will want double money too."
"Then give it to them." Caspian shrugged.
"But I'll become poor, a beggar!" Pug protested in loud childish wails.
"And that's not my problem." Caspian answered sternly, unmoved. "It's still not as bad as being a slave. Beggars, at least, are free men."
"Give me my money, Pug!" Someone else shouted. "My slave already stomped on my foot and ran off now that he's free. Also, pay for me to get this injury checked, I think it's broken! This is all your fault!"
"Yeah!" A few more buyers agreed.
"Let me out of this thing!" Reepicheep shouted at the person who'd brought him, slamming his paws on the bars.
"You weren't all that funny anyway." The man sighed, opening his cage and Pattertwig's cage at the same time and letting them lose.
"Now where are our friends?" Caspian's wife demanded, lining up another arrow on her bow threatening to shoot Pug if he didn't tell her.
"The nice young gentleman and the pretty gel?" He said cheerfully, not noticing that Edmund was still in the crowd and thinking he might get to keep the money from them after all. "They were sold at once, I'm afraid it's too late to-"
"I'm here, Caspian!" Edmund shouted, shoving his former owner away and rushing over to him. Then he looked up at Pug and wiggled his fingers. "You, hand it over."
"Hand what over?" Pug asked.
"My ring, give it back." Edmund said.
"What ring?" Pug said in a cheeky tone. "I don't have any ring."
Caspian snapped his fingers and the guards grabbed Pug. They lifted him upside down and shook him until a gold ring fell out of his pocket and landed on the stage below with a slight clink.
Edmund raised an eyebrow at him and bent down to grab it and place it back on his finger.
"Oh that ring." Pug turned red and fake-laughed. "Why didn't you say so?"
"Caspian give me a sword." Edmund said shortly.
Caspian pulled out a silver-hinted smooth bladed jewel-encrusted sword and handed it over to Edmund. "Here, will this work?"
"It'll do just fine." Edmund told him. "Thank you." He reached and put the sword to Pug's neck. "Tell me, the man who brought Lucy, do you know him?"
"Um, no?" Pug tried.
Edmund glared at him and dug in a little with the sword. "Don't lie to me! Who is he?"
"I don't know." Pug lie-sobbed.
"I will slice your head clean off right now if you don't tell me." Edmund threatened him.
"You wouldn't do that, boy. You're a good lad." Pug said shakily.
"I would so." Edmund hissed, his eyes flaming with more anger than anyone had ever seen in him before. "I've lost her and it's your fault. Tell me where I can find her and I'll spare your stupid, worthless, life. Otherwise you are going to be one dead pirate."
"Alright." Pug gave in. "Lower the sword a little, I can't think with that blade so close to my neck."
Edmund lowered it barely a half inch. "Well?"
"I don't know the man's name but I have sold slaves to him a few times before. He lives at a place on this island called Cobblestone Manor." Pug told him.
"Good, where is it?" Edmund waved the sword upwards when Pug hesitated for a moment.
"Take two left turns down the market road go up two main roads take another left then a right." Pug blurted out nervously. "It's the big stone building on the big green hill, can't miss it."
"Very good." He handed the sword back to Caspian. "Thanks for the loan."
"My pleasure." Caspian glared at Pug and then shook his head in disgust.
"Hey, what about me?" Eustace wailed, still tied up; one of the few unsold slaves that hadn't been released yet.
"Somebody untie sulky." Pug shouted to his men. He looked back at Edmund. "Between you and me, I'm glad you're taking him off my hands. Never saw such a drug on the market place. Worse slave ever!"
"I'm telling Alberta!" Eustace sobbed as soon as his hands were untied from behind his back.
"We don't have time for that now, Eustace." Edmund said curtly. "We have go find Lucy."
"And you!" Eustace pointed at Caspian accusingly. "Been off having fun while we all-"
"Oh shut up." Edmund told him. "If it wasn't for him handling matters we'd all have been slaves, maybe for ever."
"Not me." Eustace reminded him.
"I hardly think that's a good thing." Caspian chuckled. He turned around. "Hey, where did King Edmund get off to?"
Edmund was already running as fast as he could towards Cobblestone Manor. He felt a stitch in his right side but he kept running anyway. He couldn't stop thinking about poor Lucy frightened, not knowing that they were all free now. And who knew what that strange man might do to her? Who knew if he could be trusted?
Meanwhile, Lucy was indeed feeling very afraid as the man pulled her into the large house. She had resisted all the way up the hill but he paid her no heed and continued to pull her.
"Please let me go." Lucy pleaded with him.
"No, I paid good money for you." The man said shortly.
"You're hurting me!" Lucy protested, motioning with her chin toward the red burns forming on her wrist from him twisting her arm too roughly.
"It wouldn't hurt so much if you stopped pulling." The man told her.
"And what? Let you take me?" Lucy asked incredulously. "Never! I am not your slave-in spite of what you may think-and you will unhand me this very moment, you pig, or-"
The man reached down and smacked her hard across the face.
Lucy whimpered and looked down at her feet reaching up with her one free hand to rub her flaming cheek.
From behind the man came a sudden low grow. Lucy didn't bother to look up.
The man felt confused though and turned his head just slightly to see what the source of the noise was. "Oh. My. God." The man gulped and cringed.
Standing behind him, was the largest Lion he had ever seen in his life. He had a full-grown flowing red-gold mane and a huge golden body. His teeth were bared and he looked furious.
"Hello there, please don't eat me. There's a nice angry beast..." The man said weakly looking more terrified every second.
Lucy looked up to see who the man was talking to. She screamed out in delight the second she saw him for herself. "Aslan! Aslan! Make him let me go!"
The Lion let out a roar so loud that the startled man had to let go of Lucy to put his hands to his ears. Lucy then rushed away from him and threw her arms around Aslan's neck, burying her face in his warm delightfully protective mane.
The man took a step towards the Lion in one final attempt to grab onto his slave girl again in hopes of dragging her into the house with him. Aslan lifted one paw and swatted him out of the way. The Man banged up against the doorway of his house which was still open. He crashed into something and said, "Ow!"
"Oh, Aslan!" Lucy exclaimed, letting go of him to look into his beautiful flawless golden face and plant a gentle kiss of gratitude on his soft velvet-silk nose. "You did come after all."
"Did you doubt, dear one?" Aslan asked gently, licking her forehead.
"Only a little, Aslan." Lucy told him. "But I still believed in you. Really, I did."
"I know you did, sweetheart." Aslan said as she started to stroke his mane again. "And I knew you needed me."
"How?" Lucy wanted to know.
"I have my ways, Lucy." Aslan reminded her. "I've always known when you needed me the most, haven't I?"
"I've missed you." Lucy told him in a small whisper.
"I've missed you too." Aslan's golden lips curled up into a reassuring smile.
"What do I do now?" Lucy asked him.
"The others are free now." Aslan told her. "You go with them and keep sailing."
"Is it true that we will reach your country in the end?" Lucy asked, looking away from him for a split second. He didn't answer her so she looked back to where he had been. He was gone. Funny, she hadn't heard him leave. But then again, his paws were such soft pads that you barely heard him at all until he wanted you to. She wished he'd remembered to say goodbye to her but wasn't too upset knowing they might very well see each other again soon. She was quite convinced of this; certain that if there was going to be a long time inbetween his visits, he would have said a proper farewell.
She looked anxiously back at the doorway of the man's house. What if he came out again and tried to grab her? Dark rain clouds suddenly gathered over-head and she heard a clap of thunder. At once, she started running as fast as she could down the hill.
At first, only a few drops fell down, landing randomly on the tip of her nose or on her neck. Then more and more fell until the rain was so thick she could hardly see anything through it. She stumbled a little as the hill became suddenly very muddy and slippery.
"Lucy!" She heard someone cry out. "Lucy!"
She knew that voice. "Edmund?"
A figure was standing at the bottom of the hill getting completely drenched in the rain squinting up, trying to see if it was really her or not.
"Ed!" Lucy cried down to him again.
"Lu?" He screamed over the noise of another loud burst of thunder.
Lucy ran towards him, slipped again and started rolling down the hill faster and faster. Suddenly she came to a stop. Edmund had caught her. Unfortunately falling into a small mud puddle while doing so.
"What are you doing here?" Lucy laughed as soon as she caught her breath.
"Thanks be to the Lion." Edmund reached up and moved a lock of her wet hair away from her face and then gently stroked one side of it. "You're alright."
"Did you come to rescue me?" Lucy asked.
"Maybe." Edmund laughed, pulling her into a tight embrace.
"Is everyone really free now?" Lucy asked eagerly.
"Yes, but look at you!" Edmund laughed again. "What are you doing all wet and muddy?"
"You don't look any better." Lucy laugh-reminded him.
"No I mean, how did you escape?" Edmund laughed harder now.
"He came." Lucy said in a joy-filled whisper.
Edmund didn't need to ask what 'he' she meant. He knew just from the look on her face. "He saved you?"
"Yes." Lucy said breathlessly.
"Did the man hurt you?" Edmund asked anxiously, his laughter ceasing for a moment.
"Not too badly." Lucy said weakly. "He did slap me once and my arm still kind of hurts from being dragged up the hill but-"
"I'll kill him if I ever see his rat face again." Edmund said bitterly, tears coming into his eyes.
"Hey," Lucy reached up and grabbed his face with both her hands. "It's alright, really. I'm alright."
As soon as she let go of his face he leaned in and kissed her. She started to kiss him back but then pulled away and sneezed.
"I think we'd better save this for later and get you out of this storm before you catch anything." Edmund decided, climbing out of the puddle and helping her to her feet.
"Alright, where to?" Lucy asked as he slipped his arm around her shoulders and started to lead her away from the hill.
"Lord Bern's house." Edmund said as Lucy glanced down at his hand, pleased to see he had gotten his ring back. "I'll explain who he is later."
AN: ~Please Review!~
