"Queen Susan's horn."The dwarf stutters out at the sudden questioning.
"Where is it?" Edmund asks with his interrogation voice on.
"I don't know?" The dwarf says getting defensive.
"How do you not know?" Peter snaps at the dwarf getting in his face. The dwarf moves into the older boy's face in response.
"I. Don't. Know." The dwarf yells back. Peter moves to get more intimidating but Lucy pulls him back.
"This isn't getting us anywhere." Lucy represents her older brother. She then kneels in front of the dwarf as he glares at her. "What is your name?"
"Trumpkin." he replies grumpily crossing his arms.
"Nice to meet you." Lucy greats with a bright smile. He looked at her warily and nodded. He then moves his hands down to his wrist and rubs it.
"Are you alright? Is your wrist hurt?" I ask, kneeling down next to the younger girl. He just grunts at me in response.
"Can we take a look at it?" Lucy asks tentatively. He looks at us like a hurt puppy that was cornered. Scared and angry.
"Ugh, we don't have time for this!" Peter exclaims, dropping his arm to his side annoyed.
"Peter," Edmund says, letting out a sigh. "Let them be." Susan gives her older brother a look that says shut up. She then turns back to the dwarf and gives him a comforting smile.
"It's alright," Susan says nodding her head at him. "You can trust them." I reach my hand forward as he looks back and forth between the two of us still weary. He however lets me grab his wrist and pull it towards Lucy and me. We quickly take a look but his body was still tense.
"Well, the good thing is it is only bruised." Lucy says, releasing his arm. He examined it himself and nodded at us.
"Now can you tell us why you were captured and what happened to Susan's horn?" I ask sitting back on my heels.
"I was at home when suddenly we heard a noise outside. We rush outside and see a young boy about your age laying on the ground being chased by some Telmarine guards. The boy freaked out when he saw us and blew the horn. I went after the guards while my friends knocked him out and pulled him into our home. I got captured but my friends are safe. Or were safe." He says with a sigh. "I found out when I was at the castle that the boy was in fact, Prince Caspian X of Telmar." He says, sounding angry.
"Why would they capture you and why would the Prince be that startled to see you?" Susan asks, crossing her arms.
"You really don't know?" The dwarf asks looking at us like we are stupid.
"Know what?" Edmund asks a look of confusion written all over his face.
"Narnians are endangered. Telmarines think we are extinct. Those of us who are left meet in secret." He says grimly, throwing a stone into the ocean.
"Extinct? How could this happen?" I say in a whisper looking to the side. I feel Edmund put his hand on my shoulder and I move my hand up to intertwine our fingers.
"So this Prince has the horn." Peter states determined. "Does that mean that the horn is in the wrong hands?" He says getting more and more worked up.
"The Prince was running away. His corrupt uncle is trying to take over and that's not good for anyone. I think he might be on our side." The dwarf says grumbling.
"On our side what would that mean?" Lucy asks.
"That means Trufflehunter, my badger friend, is probably taking him to the rest of the Narnians." Trumpkin walks towards the ocean and looks out onto it deep in thought.
"Then you will have to take us to them." Peter demanded marching up to the dwarf.
"Where are they located?" Susan asks, coming up behind them.
"The Shuddering Wood. At least that's where I last saw them." He states turning to all of us.
"Great! Now how do we get there?" Lucy asks standing up and looking around at the surroundings.
"Well, we do have a boat." My fiance points out. We all turn and look at the boat and start making our way towards it. Edmund takes our intertwined hands and helps me up as he leads us towards the boat.
I stop and look back at Trumpkin who had turned back to the ocean. I had a feeling wash over me almost like I could feel his pain even if his grumpy extorter wasn't showing his true emotion. He was afraid of being alone and that was a feeling I knew well. I squeeze Edmund's hand and let go of it as I walk towards the small creature.
"It will be alright. We will help you get Narnia back." I say coming up next to him. He crosses his arms and lets out an annoyed sigh.
"No offense your majesty but you don't understand how much we have at stake. We have been in hiding for so long and with one false move we could lose everything." He says with a large amount of anger in his voice.
"The thing is I do know how you feel. Back where we are from if any of us screwed up I could be taken away from the other kings and queens. It's scary not knowing what could happen and you can't help but to feel defeated and helpless." I tell him kicking the sand. He replies with a grunt and keeps looking out at the view in front of him. I turn and look at him with a kind smile. "I do have one thing that can help you feel less helpless."
He turns and looks at me with questioning eyes as I lead him back to the boat. I reach for Edmund's bag that we had filled with some supplies we thought we would need from the treasure room. I pull out a dagger and hand it to the dwarf. He looks at it confused and then looks at me.
"I thought you would like a weapon of your own. You already proved to us how talented you are with one." I say with a shrug. He gave me a look that was both confused and grateful.
"Thank you, your majesty." He says slowly as he tightens the weapon to his waist.
"Come on you two!" Susan whispers to us. "We need to go before Peter's temper gets worse." She tells us as we claim into the boat. I settle in next to Edmund as Peter and Susan push the boat into the water.
We move on the water for a while making our way upstream. Peter was rowing the boat as Edmund was steering. I look around at the sights of what was left of my beloved country. I was supposed to be the bridge between our worlds and instead, I let Narnia fade away almost out of existence. However, the magic was gone and I have no idea what I could have done to have prevented it. I put my one hand on my locket and the other on top of the water. I was trying to see if I could feel any of the magic at all.
"They are so still." Lucy says breaking the silence.
"They are trees. What do you expect?" Trumpkin grumbles back.
"They used to dance." Lucy replies almost defensively.
"It was not long after you left that the Telmarines invaded." Trumpkin tells us with a voice between sadness and bitterness. "Those who survived retreated into the woods. And the trees have retreated so far into themselves that no one has heard from them since." He says looking around at the trees. His words felt like a knife in my heart.
"I don't understand. How could Aslan let this happen?" Lucy asks the dwarf.
"Aslan? He abandoned us not long after you lot did." He says and discussed. No wonder he was having issues trusting us. I feel Edmund stiffen next to me at the harsh words so I let go of my locket and rest my hand on top of his on the steering shaft.
"We didn't mean to leave you know." Peter says pleadingly.
"Doesn't make a difference now, does it?" Trumpkin grumbles.
"Take us to the Narnians and it will." Peter states determined.
We do the rest of the trip upstream in silence. That is until we reach land. As we hit shore Trumpkin jumps out to anchor the boat. We make our way out of the boat until Edmund stops me.
"Are you alright, love?" The dark-haired boy whispers pushing my hair out of my face.
"I'm fine. Why do you ask?" I lie as I squeeze his bicep reassuringly. "Are you alright?"
"You just seem distant like you are not completely here." He whispers back.
"It's just upsetting. But I'm fine Ed really?" I say, giving him a sad smile. He nods as we climb out of the boat. We all then grab the rope and help pull the boat to shore.
"Hello there!" We suddenly hear Lucy shout. We all turn and look at her as she talks to a black bear in the distance. The bear turns to look at her and growls. "It's alright. We are friends!" Lucy shouts to it.
"Don't move your majesty!" Trumpkin warns her. Lucy turns to look at the dwarf and her sudden movement causes the bear to charge at her.
"Lucy run!" I warn her as the five of us rush to get our weapons from the boat. Susan gets to her bow first and aims it at the bear.
"Stay away from her!" Susan warns the bear. I grab my swords and turn to see Lucy had fallen and the bear was towering over her.
"Shoot, Susan! Shoot" Edmund yells at his sister as we go rushing to the younger girl's aid. Just as the beat was about to attack her an arrow pierces its heart and falls over. We turn around and see the arrow still notched on Susan's bow. We look past her and see Trumpkin with one of the extra bows we had aimed right at where the bear stood.
"Why, wouldn't he stop?" Susan asks all of us in bewilderment.
"I suppose he was hungry." Trumpkin answers like it was a common thing.
We make our way toward the body. Peter picks up Lucy off the ground as soon as he reaches her. Edmund, Peter, and I keep our swords pointed at the bear in case it charged again.
"He was wild!" Edmund says in bewilderment as he stares at the lifeless bear.
"I don't think he could talk at all." Peter says in shock as he holds his little sister closer to him.
"Get treated like a dumb animal long enough that's what you become." The dwarf states as he walks around the body. "I think you might find Narnia a more savage place than you remember." he says as he stabs the dagger I gave him into the bear's chest. Lucy lets out a whimper and cuddles closer to Peter.
I suck in a breath and try to hide the fact that my whole body was shaking. Narnia was in more trouble than I thought.