Disclaimer: I don't own Narnia or any of the characters associated with it.
Hey readers, welcome back to a new chapter! I'm sorry I missed last weeks update. Life has been crazy busy coming up to Christmas and I completely forgot to update this story, but I hope you enjoy! :)
Chapter 8: Kidnapped
"Flowers! Baskets! Everything you need at low prices!"
"Bread! Buy your bread here!"
"Want to survive? Free armour fittings today!" I'm walking through the busy town with my daughter and sisters-in-law. We just need some time out together without the hassles of the palace life for a moment. Not wanting to draw too much attention to ourselves, we have all taken our crowns off and have dressed ourselves in my old villagers clothing. I knew keeping my old clothes would come in handy one day!
It has been a week since Peter admitted to the missing spies. He and Edmund are busy bees trying to track down exactly what happened to them. In fact, Edmund is over in Lantern Waste right now along with Oreius and Yerialds, since they're our most trusted guards, trying to find any clues as to their whereabouts. As for Peter, he's focusing on trying to find the source of the wolves. There was another attack a few nights ago in the Dancing Lawn district. After a quick autopsy of the victim, they discovered not only fang marks, but poison embedded into the skin. Not your usual wolf if you ask any of us. Witnesses claim it was just a wolf, but we know better. Peter and I have been wise about keeping it on the down low. Nobody outside of the small knit group in the castle knows anything about the attacks or threats. I just hope we can figure everything out in time.
"Mum, can we look at some clothes shops?" Bree asks as we go past Pink Boutique, her eyes trained on a pretty, green dress in the window.
"Like you need any more clothes! You've been with us for over a year now and haven't touched even half of the things we made for you yet!"
"But they're not new anymore." I'm not even joking; she pouts at me. Like the bottom lip jutted out and big eyes sort of pout. I sigh at her.
"She has a point, Ash. A princess can never have too many clothes," Susan states as she grabs her niece's hand and begins pulling her over to the storefront.
"I'm sure there are better things we could be spending crescents on than clothes, Bree and Su," I reply whilst following after them.
"Let them have their fun, Ash. Although that other dress in the shop window is awfully pretty...in fact, it would suit you," Lucy says whilst slowly gravitating towards the shop window.
"Please, Lucy, I really don't – oh, that is pretty," I respond while walking over myself.
"Technically, you haven't bought a new dress in a while, plus isn't your anniversary coming up soon? You'll need something to wear!"
"I suppose it can't hurt to try it on."
Okay, I take it back, it can hurt. It can hurt a lot. Five hundred gold crescents for the dress – FIVE HUNDRED! "Not happening." I turn around in an instant and head back into the change room before taking the dress off. There's no way I'm wasting our crescents on that. No way!
"You're the High Queen! If anyone can buy that dress, it's you!" Susan exclaims as I exit the change room. I give her a look that I hope says don't push me. I'm not buying this dress. I've got plenty at home I can wear.
"Queen Susan is right, Your Majesty. You do look truly beautiful in it," Alessandria, the shop assistant, says.
"It could be the most amazing dress in the world, but I refuse to spend that many crescents on a dress especially when there's so many other more important things happening at the moment."
"You know it's not a bad thing to want to treat yourself every once in a while," Susan says as she snatches the dress out of my hands and goes with Alessandria to the counter.
"Do you remember your first time in my store, Your Majesty? You couldn't even afford the eight gold crescent dress and now look at you! I reckon you should listen to the queen and spoil yourself for once," Alessandria comments as she starts the transaction. Golly, that feels like a long time ago now. I chuckle slightly before righting myself. Don't give in.
"Yes, I do remember that…Susan, if you buy that dress, you will be dead. Alessandria, I command you as High Queen to stop immediately. You are not to put that dress through." The poor girl looks so lost as to what to do. I feel sorry for her...kind of.
"Sorry, Queen Susan, but it's the High Queen's orders." Susan ignores her and gives her the bag of crescents anyway.
"Fine then, I'll buy it for her." Alessandria looks at me with a sigh before giving into the persuasive Queen. She puts the dress in a parcel before passing it over to Susan who, in return, passes straight to me. I send her a glare, but smile after a moment anyway. If you can't beat them, join them I suppose.
"Have a lovely day, Your Majesties!"
"You too." I say as I send her a smile. We exit the store, Bree smiling as if it's her birthday. Her parcel is filled to the brim with clothes. I shake my head slightly. How did we end up with a daughter who loves to shop?
"I can't wait to see Peter's face when he sees you in that dress!" Susan exclaims as we stroll through the bustling town. It's extremely busy today, more so than usual. It's slightly odd actually. Is there something I'm missing?
"There's no doubt in my mind that he will like it; I just don't like buying clothes when I don't need them," I reply whilst dodging around a faun and her children.
"Lighten up, today is meant to be a fun day out remember?"
"You're right, Susan. I'm sorry." She smiles in victory as we focus back onto all the marketplace stalls.
"Buy one, get one free on all bottles of spiced wine!"
"Buy the freshest fruit and vegetables here!"
"Jewellery and gems, the finest Narnia has to offer."
"Get off me! Let me g -" I stop immediately. That's definitely not the sound of one of the stall owners. I look around us, trying to spot anything out of the ordinary.
"Ashl-" I put a finger to my lips as I look at Su. The screams continue before they're abruptly cut off again.
"Be quiet or I'll give you something to scream about!" I hear a grungy voice whisper angrily.
"HEL-" Cut off again. I scan the crowds looking for anything suspect. My eyes lock onto a faun. He's standing near a wagon; his eyes also scanning the crowd. Did he hear what I heard?
"HEL-" I watch him closely as he pokes his head into the back of the wagon; the girls scream instantly cuts off again.
"Susan, get Lucy and Bree into the castle. Do not let them leave it."
"What about our girls da – "
"We'll do it another day," I cut Bree off. Susan doesn't object; obviously noticing the anxious look on my face. She immediately grabs her and Lucy's hands before dragging them both towards the castle steps. My eyes fall on the wagon again. The faun is now out of sight. Rats! I need to be careful now. I need a sword. I look at all the stalls around me and spy an armoury a few stalls down. I inconspicuously walk over to it before grabbing the first sword I see.
"Mind if I borrow a sword? Thanks, Marenso." The dwarf looks at me like I've gone mental, I don't have time to fuss around though. I tie the sword belt around my waist so it falls on my hip before slowly walking over to the wagon. I don't want to drag too much attention to myself. Another scream sounds right before there's shouting and crying.
"Mother!"
"Let go of her!"
"Now, Serentos!" another grungy voice screams. The wagon instantaneously starts moving as a young woman begins to run after it. No! I don't even think for a second; my legs automatically carry me over to the wagon as fast as they can go. The faun's eyes meet with mine; a wicked grin plastered on his dirty and scarred face. "Faster!" The horses pick up speed. Shoot. I look around desperately before spying a horse tied off to the side of a stall. I run over and grab it before jumping up in the same swift movement.
"THIEF! Someone just stole my horse!" I will have to compensate for this later. I push the horse faster.
"Sellinea! Don't let that wagon through the gates!" I scream out. Before she even has time to register with what I say though the wagon is already well and truly through the gates. "Move out of my way!" I shout at the civilians as I race through the gate myself. The wagon is getting faster. I hear hooves beside me suddenly and duck just in time for a sword to swing over my head.
"Stop, sword and horse thief, by order of the High King!" a voice says from beside me.
"It's me, Horent! Queen Ashley! You need to help me get that wagon! Two girls have just been kidnapped!" By the time I explain it though the wagon is already well out of sight; its trails cutting off into the forest. We won't be able to follow them. Great. I stop the horse and jump down.
"Horse thief!" I turn around only to come face to face with Duke Welime and a mob of civilians. Fantastic. I can see more eyes all peering from the gates as more creatures join us on the grassy field in front of the castle. So much for keeping quiet about things. I take off the shoal that is on my head and covering my face and replace it with my crown (which I keep in my bag; just in case of emergencies like this). The young woman who had been chasing the wagon earlier runs up to me, her face plastered with tears as she grabs hold of my shoulders.
"My daughter! Queen Ashley! You must help my daughter! They took her! They took her away! Please! Find her!" she pleads before her devastated body falls to the ground in a heap, grabbing at the bottom of my dress. She's a wreck. Who can blame her though?
"I was trying," I say as I shoot Horent a look. He looks down immediately. I know he was just doing his job, but it doesn't make it any less frustrating.
"My apologies, Your Majesty. I didn't recognise you."
"I don't blame you; I'm just frustrated. I nearly had them. What's your name?" I ask the lady as I turn my attention back to her.
"Carolina, Your Majesty."
"And how old is your daughter?"
"Only eight." She's the same age as Bree. My hearts breaks into two. I can't even imagine something like that happening to Bree.
"Queen Ashley! They took my daughter too! She was playing happily and then she was gone!" Another lady runs up to me, her hands gripping onto my arm.
"Stand up, Carolina," I command gently. The guards help her to her feet as I turn to the other young faun. "And what is your name sorry?"
"Rosetta."
"How old is your daughter?"
"Ten."
"I will find your daughters. I promise you, both."
"Thank you, Queen Ashley," Rosetta replies, worry laced into every word. Carolina on the other hand is in too much of a mess to even comprehend what I'm saying. I turn back to the horse before passing the rope of it back to the old Duke.
"My sincerest apologies, Duke Welime. I didn't even think, I just let my body take control in the moment. My aim was to just get the girls back and I forgot I'm in villager's clothes."
"All is well, Queen Ashley." I grimace. That's the understatement of the century. Nothing is well at the moment. Between our missing spies, missing trainees, the Black Subjours, and now the missing children, we have our work cut out for us. I walk back through the gates. Thankfully Sellinea has the sense to not utter a word to me. I return the sword to Marenso before standing up on the podium in the middle of the town.
"Can I please have everyone's attention?" The marketplace falls silent, all eyes straight on me. "We have just witnessed two young girls under the age of ten get kidnapped. Please, I beg you all, keep your children with you at all times. Better yet, keep them locked inside until this matter is resolved. I would hate for anyone else's children to go missing. Thank you." I hope off the podium, the sound of the crowd's whispers ringing through the air as people head to their homes. I go back into the castle and immediately to the throne room. Peter has to be alerted to this. Upon entering, it's like a tsunami of creatures. Creatures Court. I completely forgot. That would explain the bustle of the town.
"-need the worms," a farmer tells Peter. I jump on my throne straight away receiving stares from many of the people and a glare from Peter. He hates it when I'm late to these.
"We will give you the amounts necessary to help replenish your farm, Oliver," Peter says returning his attention back to the satyr. The satyr bows before exiting the room. "Where have you been? You're an hour late," he whispers to me.
"We need to talk; now. It's crucial."
"I can't postpone court unless it's a life or death situation, Ash. You know that."
"This is life or death. Please! You must listen!" His look of realisation is immediate. He stands up and turns to the court, his hands extended outwards.
"This session is over due to an emergency that has just come to my attention. Please accept my sincerest apologies. We will resume the court once this matter has been resolved. Thank you, everyone, for attending." We wait for the upset crowds to disperse before we get the guards outside to close the door. "So what's wrong?" Peter asks, turning to me at once.
"Two girls, aged eight and ten, have just been kidnapped from the town. We have to find them, Peter!"
"How do you know these claims are true?"
"Because I saw it with my own two eyes. I tried to chase down the wagon which held the girls. It went into the forest though and since I borrowed a horse, I had the towns people chasing me down. I had to stop." Peter's eyes grow wide as he jumps to his feet, starting to head towards the door.
"This is really serious. Since when have there been child abductions in Narnia? Besides Starstone kidnapping the Bella and the twins of course." I hop up and start to trail behind him.
"I don't know, but I'm worried about the girls. I made an announcement before I came in for all the towns people to keep their children in view at all times."
"You what?" he shouts as he stops mid step to face me. Why did you say that, Ashley?
"I know I should've spoken to you first, but it seemed crucial to do. What if there are more of them in town right now looking for more children?" His fingers go to the bridge of his nose, obviously trying to calm himself before he begins to speak again.
"Did you see who the kidnappers were?"
"One was a scruffy looking faun, the other was a dwarf with a black beard and bald head."
"Which direction?"
"They took off west, towards the Fords of Beruna."
"I'll send some of my men out that way straight away; see if they can come up with anything. I'll be back soon." He runs off then straight out the door. I sure hope he can find them.
"Thank you, Mrs. Hare. We will see what can do about your farm," Peter says. I can see he's still distracted by the missing girls though. Mrs. Hare bows deeply.
"Thank you, Your Majesties." She bounds away after that, leaving the Great Hall empty. I fall back on my throne.
"And court is over. Hmm...it's only three o' clock. What would you like to do for the rest of the day, love?" Peter asks. I look over to him and watch as he stands and stretches, before pushing up his sleeves. Of course, he wouldn't dare do that in public, but it is a very hot day today, with it being the middle of summer and all. I follow suit quickly.
"I wouldn't mind going for a ride. I feel like I haven't taken Crystal out in ages and we seriously need to talk about what happened today without prying ears." He nods his head in agreement.
"That sounds like a solid plan. We'll go with just the two of us; I have some issues to discuss with you aswell – a lot of them actually." He grimaces slightly. There's no such thing as relaxing at the moment unfortunately.
We walk out to the stables together hand in hand before unlocking the gate and releasing our horses. We jump up and bring them to a slow trot – till we're out of the town, that is. Once we're out, we fly through the fields and forest. Not going to lie, it feels really good to be riding again. We've had so many other things going on it's nice to just unwind and let everything go. We gallop upwards to our hill before coming to a stop at the top of it. We both jump off before hopping over the small creek and walking hand in hand to the seat we had put in. We sit down, Peter's arm falling around my shoulders as we look over our beautiful kingdom.
"I love coming up here," I whisper as I enjoy the peacefulness and soft breeze.
"I do too, it reminds me of the moment I fell in love with you." I look up at him with a smile while grabbing the hand that is draped over my shoulder.
"Hmm, our first date feels like it was ages ago now. I can barely even remember a time when we weren't together. It feels unnatural."
"I agree." He leans over slightly and steals a kiss from me before facing the valley again. I lean my head on his shoulder.
"Mira and I were talking the other day; do you think there's any chance of us building some servant quarters in town?" He sits up straighter and turns to me. I sit up too.
"I'm surprised the castle doesn't have any already to be honest with you."
"Well – there are some, but they're abandoned. There are rumours the place is haunted, so no one uses it anymore."
"Haunted as a joke to keep people away or genuinely haunted?"
"No, actually haunted."
"Why would that be a suspicion?"
"Quite a few servants mysteriously vanished and died from within it. They say that their tormented ghosts haunt the hallway and rooms, killing any and all trespassers."
"So Cair Paravel does have its secrets after all."
"Of course it does."
"Well, I suppose we could build some new ones, then. I would hate to have all of our servants killed."
"The girls are going to be so excited to hear that!" I say, my eyes landing on the side of his face.
"I'm sure they will be. Now, I have something to discuss with you."
"Regarding...?"
"The spies."
"You found them?" He shakes his head.
"Unfortunately, no, but we did finally find some clues. One of their boots was found near Glasswater Creek. A belt was discovered in Owl Wo-"
"Not near the old torture chamber, right?" He frowns. I know for a fact that he doesn't like talking about that place. I've heard a few times about how he and Malina found me there; obviously it brings back bad memories.
"Thankfully not." We've tried to cover it up, but unfortunately trying to get rid of an underground torture chamber is no easy task.
"So, any ideas where they might be?"
"Not really. They're the only leads we have so far which makes our job difficult. They could be anywhere."
"We'll find them; we always do."
"I sure hope you're right."
"What about the girls?"
"No sign of them. They've been looking everywhere today, but nothing is coming up. Same with the trainees. It's like they've just vanished into thin air."
"Do you think they could be linked?"
"The thought has definitely crossed my mind. We're doing everything we can which just makes it frustrating when nothing comes up." I hug closer to him. This situation is eating both of us alive. We definitely need this time together. The rest of the afternoon is spent enjoying each other's company and trying to distract ourselves for a couple of hours. We go for a quick dip in the stream which is freezing cold although extremely refreshing on such a hot afternoon. Unfortunately, neither of us thought to bring a spare set of clothes which means we have to ride home soaking wet. I don't care too much; even though Crystal won't shut her trap about it. The white shirt that Peter's wearing is sticking to his skin, showing all his taut muscles. Quite a delectable picture if you ask me. And, luckily for me, I'm behind him. I can stare as much as I like and he'll nev –
"I can feel your eyes burning into my back, Ash." I swear he's a mind reader.
"Can you blame me?" He chuckles.
"Not really." We get back to the castle pretty quickly, both of us jumping off the horses at the same time and leading them into their stables. Once we've locked them up for the night, we go to head back into the castle, both of us feeling slightly more relaxed than we were this morning.
"What have you two been doing?" Emolise asks as she comes to a standstill next to the stables.
"We went for a horse ride up to our hill," I say as we all start to head over to the castle steps.
"Why that sounds lovely, Ash! Would you like me to grab you both some clean clothes from your room?"
"Please." She chuckles slightly before trotting away inside. Once we're dry and have changed, we head over to the Great Hall for dinner. Dinner is very quiet tonight. Word has obviously spread throughout the castle of what happened today. Everybody is extremely somber; even the Lords and Ladies who are usually very chatty are silent. It's quite eery. We finish up quickly before we file upstairs to spend some time as a family. Bree seems oddly distant, but we pretend not to notice for her sake. Actually, thinking about it, she's been fairly quiet since we found out about her little black magic scheme. I don't think she appreciated us throwing her friends out, but I don't have it in me to care. She can deal with it. After I tuck the twins in, I put Bree to bed before heading to bed myself. I'm exhausted after today! As soon as my head lands on the pillow, I'm whisked away into my dreams.
Missing spies, trainees, and now children? Who or what is behind this?! Please feel free to leave me a review to let me know what you think. I love getting feedback. :) Also don't forget to follow and alert the story if you would like to keep up to date with when I post a new chapter. I try to update weekly, but sometimes it ends up being fortnightly so make sure to keep your eyes peeled!
Until next time!
- narnia and beareject fan 1 xoxo