Warning: parts of this chapter move closer T rating territory, but I think they still fall under a K+ rating.
Reepicheep was the first to leap off the longboat. "Onward! The thrill of adventure lies ahead!" He proclaimed. The rest of us followed the mouse off the boat.
"Couldn't this have waited til the morning?" Eustance, unsurprisingly, complained. The sun had nearly set, casting a mysterious light on the buildings around us.
"There is no honor in turning away from adventure, lad."
"Listen," Lucy said, quieting everyone. I heard nothing. Absolutely nothing.
"Where is everyone?" Edmund asked. No one had an answer for him.
Reepicheep offered Eustace a paw as he struggled out of the boat. "Come on, jelly legs."
"I'm quite capable of doing it myself," He Eustace insisted, before promptly tripping. In my defense, I made a valiant effort to stifle my laughter, but it was to no avail. Reepicheep sighed, deeply disappointed.
"Are you certain he's related by blood?" Caspian asked Lucy and Edmund. I was wondering the same thing. We advanced slowly. Caspian raised his crossbow while we all scanned the area for anything living.
The sound of a large bell rang throughout the area. I cursed, loudly, drawing a reproachful look from Caspian. It was a natural response to nearly jumping out of my skin. A flock of bird fled from a building high above our heads. The clocktower, I assumed.
"Reepicheep," Caspian ordered, "Stay with Drinian's men and secure the place. We'll head on. If we don't come back by dawn, send a party."
"Yes, Your Majesty." Me, Caspian, and the three off-worders continued further up and into the city, all on high alert. The windows of all the buildings were boarded up and there were still no signs of life, outside of us. We arrived at a large building, which housed the clocktower at the top. The building was closed by a set of metal doors.
Eustace examined a nearby house. "Yeah, looks like nobody's in," He said, "Do you think we should head back?"
"Do you want to come here and guard… something?" Edmund suggested.
"Ah yes. Good idea, cousin. Very, uh… logical." If the situation wasn't so serious, I would've laughed at Eustace's obvious nervousness, a stark contrast to his previous overconfidence.
Caspian pulled a knife from his belt and handed it to Eustace. I wondered if he would be able to use it without stabbing himself.
"I've got it," Eustace said, "Don't worry." He sounded like he was trying to convince himself rather than us.
Caspian pushed on the doors, which opened easily. We cautiously walked inside, leaving Eustace by himself. He was probably safer out there than we were.
It was some sort of church, with angelic statues and bells hanging from the ceiling. The whole place gave me a feeling that something was wrong. I drew a dagger and held it at my side.
"I'm ready to go when you are!" Eustace called from outside.
In the center of the room was a desk with a large book opened on top of it. Upon closer investigation, it was full of names, nearly all crossed off. Next to the names were numbers.
"Who are these people?" Lucy asked.
"Why have they been crossed off?" Edmund questioned. My heart began to sink as I realized what it was.
"It looks like some sort of fee." Lucy said, examining the numbers.
"Slave traders." Caspian and I said together. The bells rang out once again as men dropped down from ropes. I tossed my dagger to my left hand and drew my sword with my right, ready to fight. Caspian shot one of them as he came down, but there were still many more.
We were outnumbered, but I had faith in us. I fought instinctively and dirty. There were no rules. Tripping, kicking, and the like were fair game. As I fought one man, another came from behind me. The sound of metal on metal rang out, echoing as it bounced off the walls.
A loud, high-pitched scream sounded out. All fights paused mid-action. A man walked in, holding a dagger, a dagger I recognized as Caspian's, to Eustace's throat. Eustace looked terrified. "Unless you want to hear this one squeal like a girl again, I suggest you drop your weapons." The man said.
"Like a girl?" Eustace asked, more offended by that than by the fact that he could be dead very soon.
"Now!"
I hesitated, but only for a moment. As much as I disliked the boy, I didn't want him dead. Swords clattered as they landed on the ground.
"Put them in irons." The man ordered, dropping Eustace in a heap on the floor. The men still standing surrounded us. They still far outnumbered us.
"Get your hands off me!" I yelled as they roughly grabbed me, but they were too strong for me to fend off. Irons were clamped around my wrists. I looked around to see Caspian, Lucy, and Edmund getting a similar treatment.
The man in charge pointed to me, Lucy, and Eustace. "Let's take these three to the market. Send those two to the dungeons." We were being separated? No! I struggled against my captor and got a slap across the face for my efforts.
"Listen to me, you insolent fool!" Caspian yelled. "I am your king!" Caspian and Edmund fought against those holding them.
The man holding Edmund walloped him in the head. "You'll pay for that." Edmund promised.
"Actually," The man in charge said, "Someone else is going to pay… for all of you." With those words, we were all dragged away. Lucy, Eustaces and I were taken in the same direction, while Edmund and Caspian were taken in the opposite direction.
"No! Caspian!" I shouted.
"Courtney!"
"Lucy!" Edmund cried.
"Edmund! Edmund!" Lucy screamed. But there was nothing we could do. We were ripped away from our siblings, heading who knows where.
The three of us were taken to one of the lower houses and tied to the ground. A few men stood guard. We were going to be sold. That much I knew. After all, what else would happen at a market? But what was going to happen to Caspian and Edmund? I shared these thoughts with the other two. Neither had any answer for me. Eustace hadn't said a word since we were captured.
"No matter what," I said, "We can't do anything now. It's too dark." By now the sun had set and darkness had settled over the town. "This market will probably be tomorrow, in daylight. We might as well try to get some sleep, gather our strength." And with that, I lied down on the hard, cold floor. I closed my eyes and cleared my mind, but sleep eluded me.
"Get up!" A voice yelled. A sharp pain erupted in my side. I didn't know when I went to sleep, but I was awake yet again. I scrambled to my feet to avoid another kick from a steel-toed boot.
Lucy and Eustace were also roughly forced awake. The three of us were led to a wall where other people had irons around their wrists, ankles, and neck, and attached to the wall. We were soon the same way.
A cart full of women and children passed by us. A man ran after it, shouting a name. A woman answered, his wife, I guessed. A young girl screamed as the man was punched in the face, knocking him to the ground. "Stay with daddy!" The woman yelled.
"Don't worry!" The man said, "I'll find you!" The cart moved out of sight. What was happening to them? Were they being sold at the market? If so, what was going to happen to us?
We were left to our own thoughts for a while. I made the mistake of trying to sleep. My neck ached as the metal dug into it. Finally, we were taken off the wall. The cuff around our wrists and ankles stayed, but the one around our neck was taken off. I tried to rub my sore neck, but got a kick in the shin for my attempts.
We were all taken to a wooden stage, where a crowd had amassed. There were around 10 of us, all in a line. A man roughly grabbed my from the line and pulled me to the front center of the stage. "First up, we have this lovely vision," The man announced, "But watch out, she's feisty. Let's start the bidding at 50." And the bidding began.
"50."
"70."
"100."
"120."
"Any more bids?" There were no further voices. "Sold for 120." The man put a "sold" sign around my neck and pushed me off to the side, where my buyer stood. I immediately hated him. He was a large man, rather dirty, and had a look of someone you never wanted to cross paths with. I had seen the likes of him before. It wasn't pretty.
He pulled me close and whispered into my ear, "We're going to have, you and I." His breath reeked of alcohol, despite the early hour. I tried to pull away from him, but he trapped me in a bear hug, his pure strength far outweighing my own. My cuffed wrists and ankles make it even more difficult to fight. I continued to struggle to no avail. He put a hand behind my head and pulled my face closer to his own.
No! I thought, I'm not letting this barbarian take anything from me. But I couldn't get away. Moments before his lips touched mine, I heard a very familiar sound, the shrink of metal sliding into flesh. The man fell, dead. His face was frozen in a look of surprise.
"And stay down," Drinian said. "Your Highness." He handed me a sword. In the few moments I had been distracted, a fight had broken out between our crew and the slavers.
"Thanks, Drinian, I owe you one." I slashed at the cuffs on my ankles and they broke. I didn't think I could do the ones on my wrists, not with limited time. I ducked instinctively, a club smashing the air where my head used to be. The man who held the club, now off balanced, was easy to defeat. Time definitely wasn't on my side. The slaves fought, as well as some of the townspeople.
I couldn't stop a small smile from coming over my face. This was my area of expertise. I knew what to do in a fight and I definitely wasn't powerless. I jumped into the fray. The irons that bound my wrists together made a decent shield, but only if I tilted my hands at the right angle. I missed once and a sword slashed my hand. It wasn't deep, but it hurt. I continued on, having more pressing issues.
The fight was soon over. The remaining slavers and townspeople who had fought against us were tied up, a nice change. Among the victors, I spotted my brother.
"Caspian!" I ran to him. He met me with outstretched arms.
"It's good to see you again! You okay?" He pulled back a little to examine me.
"Yeah, I'm fine." He frowned when he noticed irons still on my wrists and the blood dripping from my hand. "Mostly. I'll patch it up and get them open."
"I believe Edmund has the keys." He called Edmund over. "Do you still have those keys?"
Edmund pulled a set of keys from his pocket. I stretched out my arms as he stuck key after key into the hole. Caspian was called away by a man, the one I vaguely recognized as the man whose wife was taken in the cart. Eventually, the irons popped open and fell to the ground. Good riddance. "What happened to your hand?" Edmund asked.
"It's just a scratch. I can handle it."
He sighed. "You don't have to do everything yourself. Give me your hand." I complied. "It's filthy. It could get infected. What did you do?"
I shrugged. "You know, the usual. Got into fights. Tried not to get killed." He sighed.
"I think I saw a fountain back this way." He led me to said fountain, still holding my hand. Sure enough, there was a fountain. Edmund scooped out some water and gently cleaned the cut on my hand. Once it was relatively dirt-free, Edmund drew a knife and cut off the bottom of his tunic. He then used that strip of fabric to wrap my palm.
"Thank you," I said. I flexed my hand, testing the bandage. I was able to move it, but not much. It seemed pretty good.
"No problem." Our eyes met for a little too long. I was the one to look away.
"We should be getting back," I said. I walked away.
"Uh, Courtney? Everyone else is that way." Edmund pointed in the opposite direction I was going. I turned around and walked in the direction he was pointing. I could feel his laughter.
"Shut up."
"I didn't say anything!" We eventually made our way back to the crew. There was an old man standing next to Caspian and Caspian held a sword that looked about 100 years old.
"Hello, Caspian." I greeted. "Good to see you again."
"Good to see you too," Caspian said, "Now that we're all accounted for, we should be off." We started preparations to depart.
"Your Majesty!" A man called. He looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn't place him. "My wife was taken just this morning." Ah, that explained it. He was the man who chased the cart of slaves.
Drinian moved forward to remove the man, but Caspian stopped him. "It's all right, Drinian," He said.
"I beg you," the man continued, "take me with you." A girl, his daughter, ran up to him.
"I want to come." She said.
"No, Gael, stay with your aunt." A woman, her aunt probably, took Gael's hand and pulled her away from the crew.
"I'm a fine sailor," The man said, appealing to Caspian. "Been on the seas my whole life."
Caspian made his decision. "Of course, you must."
"But, Daddy!" Gael had broken free of her aunt's grasp and ran to her father. He caught her in his arms.
"Have I ever not come back?" He asked her. She shook her head. "Now be good." She reluctantly returned to her aunt.
"My king!" An older man with a long beard called, "This was given to me by your father." He held an ancient-looking sword, caked in rust. "I hid it safely in a cave all these years."
"That's an old Narnia sword," Edmund said, taking an interest in the conversation. He must have used such swords back in his time.
"It's from your Golden Age." The man said. So he knew who Edmund was. They must have met at some point during our adventure on the Lone Islands. I made a mental note to ask him about it later. "There are seven such swords, gifts from Aslan to protect Narnia. Your father," he addressed Caspian, "entrusted them to us."
It had taken me awhile, but I had finally put the pieces together. He must be one of the seven lords we were searching for. Seven swords… our father… it was the only conclusion that made sense. I added to my mental list to ask Caspian about this lord.
"Here," The lord said, "take it." He offered it hilt-first to Caspian. "And may it protect you."
"Thank you, my lord." Caspian replied. "And we shall find your lost citizens." He was missing citizens? What had I missed? Another thing to ask Caspian about.
The lord left and preparations to cast off, which had been postponed with the arrival of the man and the lord, continued.
I found myself working next to the newcomer, who was named Rhince. My first impression of him was that he was a decent fellow and knew his way around a ship. He was a welcome addition to the crew, as long as he continued as such.
Finally, we were ready to depart. I couldn't say I was sad to leave the Lone Islands. The great unknown awaited us as we sailed into the blazing sun.
So it took me a little longer to update because I got distracted by Minecraft. I found this super awesome Disneyland server (pm me for the ip or google it). See you all some time next week for the next update!