Chapter 10
Thanks for the reviews, I appreciate the support, here's a new chapter for you all, I hope you like it
Disclaimer: Sadly I don't own this, but I do own this Jaffa Cake that I have right now... yum!
The Monarchs and the Narnians had had their last evening meal together before setting off. The sun was on its way to setting and everyone was getting ready for their journey ahead.
Susan got on the horse without any difficulty while Caspian helped Lucy get on the horse so she sat behind Susan.
Lucy looked back at Caspian "Thank you"
"It's my pleasure Lucy" Caspian said. He eyed Susan with a reassuring smile; he could tell Susan was worried. He reached out a hand so it rested on her lap – seeing as he was on the ground and Susan was high up on the horse, he could only reach up to her lap – and said caringly "Are you gonna be okay?"
Susan nodded with a grateful smile "Of course Caspian, I should be the one asking you that"
"You need not worry about me Susan"
Susan chuckled under her breath. She looked up and caught sight of a fed up Peter "I think you should be getting back to your stallion, Peter doesn't look too happy"
Caspian turned to look at the same direction "You're right, I guess I should be going back. Take care Susan, and you too Lucy"
Lucy giggled, "You're acting like you'll never see us again Caspian, we'll be riding right behind you and Peter. It's going to be fine, we just need to have faith in Aslan and we'll be alright" she assured
Caspian laughed "I guess I am, sorry" he looked back at Peter, then back at the Pevensie sisters and then turned to go to his horse where Peter was stood.
Peter caught sight of Caspian at the corner of his eye, "Caspian there you are, you're late, get ready quickly, we've not got much time to lose"
Caspian could see that he was clearly stressed. He put a hand on his shoulder "Peter it's going to be okay, you're thinking too much, it's not healthy, you need to be focused because being distracted won't help"
Peter looked back at Caspian, shocked at the words that flowed out his mouth because it was so…very true
He nodded, realizing that Caspian had a point "You're right Caspian, distraction won't do us any good, I'm just worried about my brother and to Eris as well, what if they're being tortured…or...or even worse!"
Caspian shook his head slowly and released his hold on Peter's shoulder "only Aslan knows what's happened to them. Stop thinking negatively, that's the last thing we all need in a situation like this"
"I guess it is" Peter said before mounting on his horse along with Caspian.
Peter looked back and saw a big impressive amount of the Narnian soldiers. General Haddon was next to Peter on his left, and Caspian on his right and his sisters were behind them along with the Narnian troops.
He felt confident. They were going to succeed this. He just needed to pray for Aslan's help and maybe, things will get back to normal
Peter heard his general trotting up towards him so he craned his neck to see him standing beside him
"Your majesty, we are all ready, when shall we begin?" the general said
"Well if we are all ready, we'd best begin now, there's not a moment to lose" he looked towards Caspian and the dark haired king nodded in agreement.
There were several centaur guards scattered in front of the monarchs and Peter was thankful that his followers were very loyal
He grabbed the reins of his horse along with the others and they began their travel. It was quite a silent trip apart from the fact that the Pevensie sisters were talking to each other from behind to lighten up their moods.
The sky was already turning a light shade of orangey pink as the sun was beginning to set and soon they would have to call it a night as Caspian could already inhale cool air
Peter on the other hand, sighed to himself. He still felt guilty. How hadn't he heard the noises? How could he have not saved them? He was meant to be the responsible one, the one who protects his loved ones, especially when it came to Edmund.
He shook his head lightly to get rid of the guilt. He remembered a time when Aslan told him not to think negative as it could lead to worse things just like Caspian said before.
After a few minutes, he looked at his surroundings and he frowned. They were going too slow.
"General Haddon, oughtn't we to pick the pace up a little?" Peter asked
"Your majesty, that will not do, we are a big crowd and we would make a lot of noise which isn't good my king, because this will attract unwanted attention"
Peters frown stayed. He looked back at the big army behind. The general was right. Perhaps we do need to shorten it…or split up
At the dungeons…
"Edmund did you hear that?" Eris asked, she thought she heard a sound of heavy doors banging open.
Edmund stiffened so he could hear whatever it was that Eris heard.
"No, I don't hear anything"
"Shh, no listen" she whispered.
Then the dungeon doors opened with a bang and two guards threw a creature into the room. Eris looked in time to see that it was a faun.
The creature flew across the room and banged into the hard wall - since the guards threw him heavily - and he became unconscious. The guards spat curses and unnecessary insults at the unmoving form
Eris and Edmund sat there with shocked expressions.
The guards didn't even bother tying up the Faun; instead they just left him there until he awoke. They cackled grimly and resumed back to their job
When they locked the doors again, Edmund didn't hesitate in crawling towards the limp creature. The faun's face couldn't be seen as it was faced to the wall from where he banged his head so neither Eris nor Edmund could see what the creature looked like
Edmund suddenly fell face flat on the floor…again
"Edmund?" Eris said concerned
"'m fine" he muttered, before getting back up again. He frowned and huffed and looked back at Eris behind him while maintaining the crawling position
"I can't reach him; my chain mails only let me go this far, do you think you could reach him?"
Eris nodded and crawled over to the limp faun, barely just reaching him. She grabbed hold of his arms and dragged him closer towards her without any difficulty.
"Is he alright?" Edmund asked, moving closer while eyeing the faun.
"Well I hope so, he did have a pretty gruesome bang on the—"then she gasped
Edmund looked at Eris with an alarming expression "Eris?" the girl looked at the faun with wide eyes and her mouth was opened slightly. Edmund furrowed his eyebrows
"Eris?" he asked again, but louder, trying to catch the girl's attention
There was a pause. Then, with what seemed to be like decades, Eris finally spoke up
"Finn?"
She couldn't believe this. She turned his limp neck, so that she can clearly look to see if it was really who she thought he was, and she was definite that this was the very same faun which she met over a month ago. She still remembered his big curly ginger hair and his eyes….oh his eyes, she loved them; they were glossy green, and his smile was most endearing
Even though she'd only met him once on that very same day in which he was lost looking for his mother, Finn was Eris's first real friend.
She was shocked that he was here… in the dungeons.
He was completely limp and unmoving, his green eyes were covered by his lids and he was securely wrapped in Eris's arms and she looked down at him. She noted how he looked exactly the same as the last time she saw him.
"Eris? Do you know him?" Edmund asked, seeing how the young faun was held comfortingly in Eris's arms and also seeing how Eris looked at him with recognition and horror as if she known him for years.
She looked up at Edmund with a sympathetic look
"Yes" Eris said quietly, he was my first real friend "I met him on the day he was lost, I was in a forest and I'd just finished sword practice. It was getting dark so I looked around for woods to make a fire. Then he came to me and he was crying, he told me that he was lost and he couldn't find his mother, so I helped him, and in the end, he found his mother and I couldn't have been happier" she smiled at the memory
Edmund smiled too, but then he frowned in confusion. He crawled closer towards Eris "But why is he here?"
Eris looked back down at the helpless timid faun, "I don't know, this was unexpected, especially for a young faun like him… so very young, I mean he's only 7!"
Edmund sensed that Eris was feeling worried
"Eris" she looked up at the dark haired boy "He'll be alright, it's just a slight concussion, hopefully with Aslan's aid, he'll be fine" he smiled warmly "and I think we should sleep, we're gonna need some rest, and hopefully we won't get interrupted" he rolled his eyes, referring to earlier
Eris laughed; she laid Finn on the floor beside her and smiled warmly at Edmund "Thanks Edmund, you always know how to make me feel better" she kissed him lightly on the lips before the both of them laid down on the rough floor
"Don't I always?" Edmund joked
"Shut up" she playfully smacked him on the arm whilst the both of them were lying on the solid ground
"I love you" she said, making it up for the smack
"I love me too"
"Edmund…"
"Sorry" he smiled "I love you too Eris"
and soon they drifted off into a deep sleep albeit it was very uncomfortable just lying there with no sheets or soft velvet pillows especially for Eris as she found it quite painful leaning on her recently whipped right thigh, but slept nonetheless.
Both Edmund and Eris's tunics were already getting wrinkly and at some parts, ripped and the colours were already beginning to fade a little and their ankles were getting raw and sore from the chains, but they fought through the pain. After all, they had Aslan to look up to
The sun peaked through the sky and Peter fluttered his eyes open. He took in his surroundings and everything came back to him as he took a moment to register how he got here
They had slept the night in a wide forest, just big enough to fit every one. Susan and Lucy were sleeping on his right hand side peacefully and Caspian was on the other side but quite far off.
He slowly lifted himself up and found that some of the soldiers were already up and murmuring to themselves so they wouldn't wake up the monarchs.
Peter looked around and frowned to himself. He remembered last night and how there were too many troops. He cursed to himself; he should have cut the numbers shorter when they were in Cair Paravel. Now he had to think of a way to split them up. He groaned quietly to himself before he stood up and made his way to the lake to wash his face
It was a couple of minutes later when he came back to see his sisters and Caspian awake and ready. Susan caught sight of him along with Lucy and smiled.
"Good morning Peter" Susan said
"Good morning Su"
"Did you sleep well?" Lucy asked
Everyone paused and Lucy was confused for a moment, then her eyes widened as she realized why
"Oh Peter I'm sorry! I didn't mean to remind you of the kidnapping"
Peter chuckled wholeheartedly "It's fine Lucy, there's no need for apologies" he ruffled her hair to support the fact that he was okay and Lucy scowled as she put her already messed up hair back into place.
Caspian stood up "When shall we continue our travel Peter?"
"After breakfast" and just in good timing, a dryad came towards the monarchs. Everyone turned to look at her as she came noisily over to them
"Your majesties" she bowed "breakfast is ready if you want to have some"
Lucy smiled "Without a doubt yes!" everyone laughed as they showed up for breakfast. It wasn't much. After all, they had to store as much food as they possibly can
During breakfast, Peter had come up with a way to shorten the amount of Narnian troops. So as they finished breakfast, Peter stood up
"Narnians, I would like to thank you all for this meal, it wasn't substantial but it's better as we will be needing to save as much food as we can for survival of this travel thanks to our friend's help" he looked at everyone and they had big brave smiles on their faces. The Pevensie sisters and Caspian and general Haddon had proud smiles on their faces, "we still have a long way to go" he continued, "however, I have noted from last night that we have a vast amount of us warriors and we can't continue like that"
There were several murmurs from the crowd and his sisters and Caspian held confusion in their faces, but otherwise, kept quiet. Peter waited for the crowd to be silent.
"It will be dangerous if we traveled as a big pack as this will cause a lot of noise and that will catch attention which is the last thing we need" some members of the crowd nodded their heads as they understood what the high king was getting at
"I have come to a recommendation to make this rescue more effective" he paused before continuing, "We have to split up" as he said this, the crowd began to murmur again except much louder this time and Susan and Lucy furrowed their eyebrows
"What?" Susan said
"Peter why?" Lucy asked
Peter sighed "Didn't you hear what said Lu?"
General Haddon stepped up, he noted King Peter's stress lately, not to mention the fact that he just found out his brother had been kidnapped along with his friend
"Queen Lucy, what your royal brother is suggesting is quite evidently right, if we continue to travel as a big group that will cause a bad impact, I'm afraid to say this, but we have no choice but to stick to this plan, it's for our own good and to your royal brother King Edmund and Eris"
Lucy nodded in realization as did Caspian and Susan.
Peter silently thanked his general before continuing his speech "It is with no choice that I shall split us in two groups. One group will go north-east towards Queen Janet's palace and the other group will travel straight ahead north where they will prevent soldiers from coming their way. This will save much more time and lives as well. General Haddon along with Queens Susan and Lucy and half of our Narnian soldiers will travel straight ahead towards The North where they shall keep a close eye on any Northern soldiers. They shall kill them instantly so it prevents further danger"
Peter was relieved when Susan and Lucy seemed okay with the idea; they were still worried but otherwise they were still content with the scheme as they knew it was for the best
"I along with Caspian and the other half of our troops will travel north-east where we will be located in the palace where the dungeons are held, I will not say that we won't face war as that will be very unlikely, but I will say that we will be well prepared, you never know where danger could occur, I apologize if this was an unexpected change, but we have no choice and we hope it doesn't cause any inconvenience, in the mean time, we continue to pray for the mighty Aslan, and to hope that he will give us the aid and help we need. May the lion guide us all" he finished with a sigh and the crowd cheered optimistically.
General Haddon patted him on the shoulder "That was well done my king"
"Thank you general"
Susan and Lucy along with Caspian stood up and looked at Peter
"Peter, are you sure it will work this way?" Lucy asked
Peter smiled lightly, hoping it would hide his distress for his lost brother. He leaned lower and grabbed hold of Lucy's upper arm "Lucy, I need you to understand something" he was eye level with Lucy and he looked deep into her eye. He would do this kind of thing when he was serious. Lucy nodded slowly and Peter continued, "I won't say that we will succeed this, but I will say that if we have enough faith in Aslan and enough pride, we can maybe succeed this and I will make sure that both me and Caspian will get Eris and Edmund back to safety. All we need is faith, remember that"
Lucy nodded and smiled softly before hugging Peter tightly "We're gonna have to split up now arent we…" Lucy's muffled voice said, it wasn't a question but merely a true statement
Peter closed his eyes, he didn't want to do this in the first place, but he learned that sometimes life isn't fair and there will be times where we are gonna have to do things that we don't want.
Lucy took Peter's silence as a yes. She hugged tighter and Peter held on just as much.
He felt a hand on his shoulder and he looked up to see Susan. Peter smiled to lift off the tension and he raised his right arm over to her and she joined in. Soon, all three Pevensies were in an emotional embrace. The worst part of it was that they never knew if they would have another embrace like this after tomorrow so they held on with all their might
Caspian took in the sight of the siblings and it tore in his heart strings. He swallowed the lump forming in his throat and he tried to remain strong.
The Pevensie's slowly broke their embrace and they smiled softly to one another. Peter slowly turned and walked towards the General
"General, I am counting on you to arrange the groups; will you do that for me?"
The general bowed his head, being a centaur you couldn't bow with the whole of your body, "Of course your majesty"
"Thank you" Peter said appreciatively
Lucy, who was standing next to Susan, ran and hugged Caspian which gave him a startle, but soon he sobered and he found himself hugging Lucy. They stayed like that for a while until Lucy pulled apart slowly
"Take care Caspian, and make sure that Peter doesn't do his 'hero' act"
Caspian furrowed his eyebrows with an amused face "'hero' act?"
Lucy chuckled "Yeah, you may find that Peter has a thing with risking his life for people. Please make sure he doesn't do anything extreme"
Caspian nodded while laughing, the statement was very true "I will do anything for my country and for Eris and Edmund's freedom. And Lucy, stay out of trouble and never leave Susan's side" he could hear Susan laughing from somewhere beside him. He looked up to see Susan nearby.
He slowly stood up and walked towards his Susan. Caspian couldn't imagine a better picture. Her beautiful milky skin stood out, her lips were naturally rouged and her blue eyes sparkled as she was silently crying. He lifted a hand to caress her cheek
"Susan" he said quietly. The second oldest Pevensie girl didn't hesitate to hug Caspian. Caspian embraced her tightly and Susan squeezed her eyes shut, forcing back her tears
"Caspian please be careful out there" Susan's shaky voice said. Caspian rubbed her back soothingly
"You will never lose me Susan, I should be the one telling you to be careful, so be careful or else I will get an obese gryphon to sit on your head"
Susan laughed and let go of Caspian and saw an equally amused smile on his face.
"I love you Caspian"
"And I you Susan" he smiled wider, as he saw the happy sparkle in Susan's bright eyes. He could tell a lot by Susan's eyes, he always knew whenever something was troubling her or if she was angry or upset. But right now, she was happy, and that made Caspian happy too.
He turned and found that Peter's general had grouped all the warriors into their groups and it was time for them to continue their separate travels. Caspian sighed and walked over to where Peter was stood next to their horses.
Peter sighed next to him "It's time"
As he said this Susan and Lucy mounted on the same horse and were ready to leave. Both Caspian and Peter walked towards them to say their farewells
"Be careful Susan, and you too Lucy, remember I love you and Aslan will be with us no matter what, stay safe" Peter said while grasping both Susan and Lucy's hand in his own
"Don't worry Peter, we will, you stay safe too" Susan said and Peter smiled and nodded
Caspian gave Susan and Lucy a smile "Stay safe Lucy and Susan" he said again before the girls smiled and said farewell
Peter and Caspian watched as the Queens took off with their horse with General Haddon by their side, and soon they were out of sight. Peter sighed again and Caspian turned to look at the distressed king
"It'll be okay Peter" he reassured
"I'm not worrying Caspian, Aslan is with them, as he is with us and Edmund" with that, he turned around and mounted on his horse, he looked back at Caspian who hadn't moved from his spot "Are you coming?"
Caspian was interrupted from his daze; he looked up at Peter and noticed he was already on his horse "Oh... yes" he quickly went and mounted on his own black stallion "Should we take off Peter?"
"Yes we should, the sooner we begin the sooner we can resolve this" he said optimistically. He adjusted the reins of his horse as Caspian did as well and they headed off. The Narnian troops followed closely behind occasionally looking side to side for any upcoming danger
The sun was already set high in the sky indicating that it was midday. Their day was going to be a long one indeed…
Revieeewww! Goodness, it seems like Peter's getting depressed... or guilty more like *gasp*I hope you liked this chapter, and don't forget to review and tell me what you think