Chapter 12: Conversation
Ladrina jerked awake with a shout and dripping with sweat. Had she been dreaming or was there something in the forest? She looked around her, remembering where she was and what had happened the night before. She counted four creatures around what had been the fire. She looked again. Susan, Lucy, Edmund, Trumpkin. Peter was missing. She reached for her dirk. It wasn't where she had left it. She began to panic to herself. Her sword was by her pack.
"What's wrong?" asked a familiar voice next to her.
"Santhos," she gasped. "I thought I heard something. I don't know if it was a dream or not. Did I wake you?"
"Well it was inevitable, with my head on your stomach and then you sit up." They were quiet for a moment.
"Is there someone missing?" Santhos asked looking around. He was counting too.
"Peter."
"What are you going to do?"
"I plan to sit here like this until he returns. Please stay awake with me," she asked.
"Of course. I don't think I would get much sleep anyway, seeing as you can't sleep." He laid his head in her lap.
"Thank you."
"Where did you get this blanket? It smells like home," Santhos asked trying to get her mind off of her worries. He had noticed it before but had not had the courage to ask.
"That's where I got it. I brought it because I can't sleep without it. That sounds childish I know but it's true. I've had this ever since I was little. Mandle said that Mother gave this to me before she died."
"What do you remember about your mother?"
"Not much. Father said she was beautiful. Mandle said that she had an amazing voice and she was a great rider. I remember she sang to me every night."
"Do you remember the lullaby?"
"Yes."
She began to sing the song. It was an old lullaby. It had a complex beautiful melody that rose and fell with the imagery produced by the lyrics. The song's tempo increased as it went on only slowing down when Ladrina arrived at the last chorus.
No matter where you are,
No matter how far,
You will always be in my heart
Though the distance may be long
My love for you is strong
My Little child; my little love.
Her voice resonated on the last note. The night felt different now. Ladrina felt a sense of peace. She was no longer jumpy.
"That was beautiful. I think your mother gave you her voice."
"I agree."
Ladrina looked up at the speaker as though he had been there the whole time. Santhos' body tensed.
"Thank you your majesty. I think that is the nicest thing you have said to me."
"Well anyone with a voice that amazing should be told so," said Peter with the highest regards.
"Again thank you."
"Did I wake you?" he asked as he sat down beside her.
"I don't know. I woke to a noise that was like metal on metal. A scraping if you will. I think that's what it was anyway. It could have been my dream that woke me. It wasn't pleasant and I do not wish to return to it anytime soon." Santhos placed his head in her lap. He slowly fell asleep.
"Are you okay? You seem a little shaken."
"I'm fine. I woke up, noticed you were gone and when I couldn't find my dirk I panicked a little. It's my choice weapon."
"Huh. I never would have guessed that."
"What would you have guessed?"
"Sword." He looked at the weapon he held in his hand. "Is this it?"
Ladrina looked. There was a small little knife. "Yes. How do you have it?"
"I woke up and grabbed the closest weapon. I thought it was mine. You said you had an unpleasant dream."
"Yes I did. I think it may have fed my panic."
"What was it?"
"Forgive me for being rude your majesty but why are you asking me this?"
Peter sat for a moment and contemplated how to answer.
"I realize that you are putting your whole trust in me but I have yet to put my whole trust in you. I think this is my chance to prove myself to you. I hope we can put today's argument behind us and move on. I realize that I was being a huge jerk to you and you don't deserve that. That and I think that I have a kingly duty to listen to the nightmares of my subjects. Now I realize that you are not one of my subjects but I think that I can still be a kindly ear to the troubles of a scared princess," he laughed a little.
Peter watched as she smiled for a brief moment. He noticed that she was really not in the mood to laugh. She sat in silence for a moment looking nowhere in particular.
"I was in a forest, walking in my armor. Caspian was next to me. You were on his other side. We were marching somewhere. The dream gets a little fuzzy as some events mesh together. It clears and I am in the middle of a battle. We've moved to a field somehow. People all around me were fighting. I killed theā¦thing I'm fighting. I looked around and saw you fighting someone, and I saw Caspian was fighting Miraz in the distance and-" she inhaled sharply.
"What?"
"Caspian moved to attack and Miraz stabbed him. You saw it as well and went to help him but Miraz was ready for you. He stabbed you too. I went to fight him but I was not strong-" Ladrina held back a sob. She folded over her knees and began to cry. Santhos woke up and nuzzled her in the back.
Peter placed a hand on her back. She sat up. Peter could see the tears reflected in the moonlight.
"Hey, it's okay. It was just a dream." He pulled her into a hug like he would do to Lucy. "See I'm still here. No wounds. Miraz is nowhere near here. You have two knights, three warriors and a horse. Not to mention that you are a fighter yourself. I don't think you could be any safer than you are right now."
"I would feel much better if Caspian was here." Ladrina looked up at him. She had tear streaks down her cheeks. Peter wiped them away.
"You must miss him so much. Realize that he has a whole army protecting him. There is no need to worry about him. "
"If Lucy was where Caspian is now would you worry about her?"
They sat in silence, Ladrina still in Peter's arms. Ladrina let tears run down her cheeks.
"Did you die in your dream?"
"No. I woke up as the sword entered my body." She pulled away from his arms. Santhos put his head in her lap.
"Ah, metal on metal. That makes more sense now. Did we die or just get stabbed?"
"There is not much of a difference in this situation. You both got mortal wounds. You would have to be invincible to survive that."
"You would be surprised by some of the wounds Ed and I have survived from."
"Are you trying to say that you and Caspian may not have died in my dream?"
"There is a possibility Ladrina, but if this was a real event, the way you described it, I doubt that they would have survived," said Santhos followed by a yawn.
"Did you see Lucy in your dream at all?" Peter asked.
Ladrina thought for a moment remembering the dream. Her breath caught in her throat as she saw Peter and Caspian stabbed. "No I didn't. Please can we not talk about this anymore?"
"Sure, just one more thing if you please?" Peter asked. She nodded weakly.
"I get the feeling that you think you're not strong enough. If that's true then I have a story for you. I was in a fight with a masked knight. I thought I could beat him easily. Long story short, I got cocky and he smacked me in the shoulder. Do you know what happened? The knight turned out to be a girl. I, a Knight of Aslan, High King of Narnia, got beat by a girl. In front of my kid brother and you know he will never let me forget over that one."
Ladrina laughed. Peter smiled. He didn't like to see her sad and crying.
"Thank you." They were quiet for a while. Santhos fell back asleep.
Ladrina looked at the stars.
"Interesting," she whispered to herself.
"What?" Peter followed her eyes.
"The stars."
"What about them?
"There are five constellations above us that have never been aligned as far as I know. There in the middle is a lion. The others represent you and your siblings. Normally there is one to the North, South, East and West. But they are all aligned and have been for the past two days. The night Caspian blew the horn they aligned." She paused for a moment. "I'm sorry your majesty, I'm keeping you awake."
"I don't mind. I'm enjoying talking with you. I think it's almost time to wake the others anyway."
The night began to lighten ever so lightly
"What do you like to do in your free time?" Peter asked.
She looked at him, confused about the reason behind the question.
"I like to ride and fight."
"Anything else?"
"Are you looking for something specific?"
"I meant anything more lady-like. I realize you are more of a Tomboy, but I was just wondering."
"Tomboy?"
"A tomboy is a girl who is not afraid to do guys stuff and get dirty, a girl who is not very lady-like. A girl like Susan and Lucy. Those two like to run in the woods and fight. Well Susan not so much but defiantly Lucy. So do you like anything more lady- like?"
"No. Father used to say that he had two sons. I always wanted to be like him, a Telemarine warrior who could defend his king. But as I grew older I saw that I wanted to be a warrior, just not one like Mandle."
"Why?"
"Mandle believes that the stories are all just myths; I don't. Obviously he's wrong. As I grew up, I realized how cruel and mean hearted my uncle is. One day I decided that I was not going to follow my uncle. I talked to Professor Midrel, my tutor, about it and he said that I should follow my heart and that the government should not force its people to do things they do not want to do."
"It shouldn't, but it does. So this means that you are following your cousin, not your king?"
"My cousin is my king. I wouldn't have it any other way," Ladrina said proudly.
Susan rolled over. "Will you two please be quiet?"
"I'm afraid not Su, it's time to get up and move. Help me get the rest of them up."
"I'll go get my stuff packed up."
In the heat of the day, Peter and Ladrina led the small troop through the woods. The two of them had grown close. They arrived at the Rush River. Peter looked down into the canyon that was once a river.
"Wow that's a big hole."
"Yes."
"Is there any way down?"
"Yea, falling," said Trumpkin. Ladrina gave him a look.
"The only way that I know to get across is to go-"
"Aslan?" asked Lucy.
"What?" All the others looked where she was looking.
"It's Aslan! It's Aslan! He wants us to follow him."
"How do you know?"
"I just do."
"But Lucy, look. There is no way down the side of this cliff," said Ladrina.
"We're supposed to follow him."
"Down the cliff? Lucy, that's crazy."
"The last time I didn't believe Lucy, I ended up looking pretty silly," said Edmund.
"Should we take a vote?" asked Peter.
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