Disclaimer: I don't own Narnia nor any of the characters and places associated with it.
Chapter 23: Findings
I get up the next morning extremely early, my mind being too active to sleep, causing me to sit up in the bed and stretch out all my stiff limbs. Once I have rubbed my eyes a little bit, I look beside me. Peter's still sound asleep. As much as we're in a hurry, the sun hasn't even started to show yet. I decide not to wake him up yet and carefully get out of the bed. I forget how low the ceiling is though and end up bashing my head on it as I try to stand up. I decide to go outside for a bit to get some fresh air and to look around the area which we have been brought to. I put on my dress again, since I slept in my undergarments, before quickly waddling over to the door. I open it quietly before closing it again and walking over to the front door. Once I open that, I step out into the open forest. It feels good to be able to stand up straight again, so, to stretch out my limbs fully, I go for a little walk. About halfway down the dirt path I discover a small clearing. Even in the darkness, the place seems extremely eerie. I don't trust the area for one second, which is why I walk forward to investigate it. The grass is fairly long and you can't see half the ground as you walk across it, due to a low mist that hovers over the surface of the grass. As I get closer to the centre of the field, I start to hear very faint voices. I kneel down in the wet grass before putting my ear to the ground and listening intently. I immediately pick up on a very faint discussion.
"She got killed! We have to do something with these things before the King and Queen get here," I hear a low voice grumble. There are faint murmurs of agreement.
"They won't know what hit them when they come here," a low female voice says before I hear the faint sound of shuffling feet.
"We need a plan of action," a raspy (but kind of familiar) voice sounds.
"Perhaps we should consider leaving the woods and heading back up into the mountains. There are too many creatures out here in the forest that support the Royal Family for us to stay hidden here for much longer, especially as the babies get more tired and hungry. They will start crying harder and more frequently, and we need to make sure that no prying ears will be able to hear anything that will prove that we are here or we are done for." The low voice seems to echo throughout the small clearing, instantly alerting me to the fact that there has to be an entrance into this cave somewhere around the area. I get up off the ground slowly and carefully begin to creep around the area. I go to step on what I think is a supported rock, only to slip my foot into an opening in the ground. I smile triumphantly, once I have gotten my footing back, before getting down onto my hands and knees to see more clearly.
It's a very large opening, large enough for me to easily climb down into. Rocks are very carefully placed around the outside of it, so carefully, in fact, that if you weren't looking for the cave, you probably wouldn't even realise that there is anything there. I carefully look down into the opening only to come up short. It's still too dark for me to be able to see anything outside clearly, let alone the inside of a cave. I very carefully get up before I hear shouts coming from behind me. I spin around, ready to defend myself, only to realise that I have forgotten to take a sword or shield with me before I left the badgers' home. So I stand up, straight and proud, as I wait for the creatures to approach me. I immediately relax as I see the familiar figure of my husband and the white stripes on the badgers' faces.
"Way to give me a heart attack," I tease as they come up close enough for me to talk face to face with them. No one is in a joking mood though and I immediately guess why. "I'm sorry I snuck away," I apologise while trying to avoid making eye contact with Peter.
"You could've at least told me where you were going! I thought someone had taken you!" he shouts at me. I'm about to reply when I hear running and shouting coming from the cave. I look over my shoulder before quickly looking back to Peter.
"We need to get out of here; now!" I shout at them as I pick up Bethany and run into the shrubbery. I hear Peter following closely behind me before I stop and duck down behind a large boulder. I put the badger down before turning to face him. "I can explain," I whisper as loudly as I dare.
"Ashley, you'd better have a good explanation as to why we're hiding behind a boulder," he furiously whispers back. I grimace.
"They have our babies," I murmur. I hear Peter take a sharp intake of breath as I tell him that. He instantly stands up, sword ready, before walking around the boulder and going forward. "Peter, are you insane!? You're walking right into their trap!" I whisper furiously. He instantly stops and turns to look at me.
"So you just want to let them go? Seriously? Come on, Ashley, we have to do something!" he exclaims. I look down at Bethany, who glances over to her husband.
"We should do something, Queen Ashley," he agrees softly. Peter stands there for a few seconds before quietly sneaking back over to me. The creatures come running out crazily from their underground cave then and I breathe a sigh of relief once Peter is by my side.
"We need a plan. If we just run out there and start attacking them then I know they're going to kill the babies instantly. We can't do that!" I whisper to him as calmly as is possible at the moment.
"Fine, we'll figure out a plan first. Let's head back over to the badgers home where we're not likely to be overheard," he agrees. He grabs my hand instantly and carefully pulls me away from the boulder and into the dark, green thicket. The badgers follow us as we run as quietly as possible back over to their home. As soon as we're inside, Peter sits me down before taking a seat next to me. The badgers sit opposite us.
"Well to start off with you all probably would like to know that there are four of them. I heard them talking in their cave. So I think we'd be better off to take them down one at a time. It'd be easier and our children wouldn't be in as much danger if we kill them off like that," I suggest quickly knowing that we only have a little while left before they're planning on leaving. Everyone in the room instantly agrees with me.
"How are we going to be able to separate them though?" Mr. Badger, Barrel, asks. I smile at him.
"By using distractions," I state simply.
"What kind of distractions?" Bethany inquires curiously. I grin at her.
We're squatting down behind the big boulder again. Peter and I have taken off our crowns and put on some old rags over our royal clothing to avoid any unwanted attention, whilst the badgers have gone to all lengths to make sure they're looking as revolting as possible. We're watching them. All four of them, like I had suspected, are huddled around in a circle. Peter has to hold me down and keep his hand over my mouth to avoid me from running out there and killing them all.
"Calm down," Peter reminds me quietly as he whispers in my ear. My heart's beating a million beats a minute as a Centaur from the group starts walking away. I briefly wonder when Centaurs had decided to join the bad side while trying to get a better look at him. He looks awfully familiar, but I can't figure out where I have seen him before.
"Does that Centaur look familiar to you too?" I try asking Peter.
"What did you say?" he asks me as he removes his hand. I roll my eyes at him.
"That Centaur, does he look familiar to you too?" I ask him as I nod my head in the vague direction of him. Peter takes a glance over the rock before his eyes widen. He gets back down to my level before whispering a name into my ear. "Edmauel."
My eyes widen in shock before whispering, "Are you sure?" back to him. He nods.
"I know what the guards outside my bedroom look like, Ash. I see them almost every day," he whispers back. I grimace before realising how much sense that actually makes. No wonder Starstone always knew when I was in Peter's bedroom with him; Edmauel told her everything since he was always guarding Peter's room. That's how she knew when Peter was out at night too. As I'm thinking over these things, Edmauel has managed to vanish into the cave before quickly coming out a few minutes later, running away as fast he can while carrying something. Peter and I are about to jump up and attack them all when we hear the sound of crying babies vanish with him, but the badgers hold us down.
"They'll be on you in a second," Bethany murmurs as she reminds us of the group of creatures that are gathered. I feel my eyes well up with tears before I look over to Peter. He wipes some stray ones away with his thumb before grabbing my hand and pulling me towards the thicket. He leads me inside it before we start running quickly in the vague direction Edmauel has gone. We can instantly hear the sounds of horse hooves following us, causing me to turn around. I pull out my sword, ready to defend myself, just as Midnight and Crystal come into view. I put my sword back with a large sigh of relief before I immediately hoist myself up onto her.
"Crystal, go!" I command her after a minute of struggling with her. She snorts at me.
"I'm not going anywhere until Midnight does," she tells me straight out while turning her head lovingly towards Midnight who's taking a drink from a nearby stream. I can see Peter starting to get frustrated at him too. He's screaming at the poor horse. Of course Midnight is ignoring him.
"I. Don't. Care. Just. Go," I get out through gritted teeth. I hear her murmur a few things about me being the worst Queen ever before she starts slowly trotting.
"Your Majesties, you are going to be so proud of us," I hear Barrel say as I look down at the floor beside me. In his hands is the head of the hag. I beam brightly at him before calling Peter over. As soon as Peter's with us he congratulates the badger.
"Good work," I compliment before looking ahead of me again. "We have to get going though. Try killing the other two for us. We'll meet you back at the house later," I promise before quickly kicking Crystal's side and starting forward. I hear Peter catch up within a few minutes before we reach the edge of the forest. We're on a hill that overlooks all of Narnia. Usually, I would've been taken away by the view, but, right now, I jump down off Crystal and walk over to the edge of the hill. It's very steep, much to my disappointment.
"We can't get down. A Centaur could, but we can't," I murmur softly as I place myself down on the ground. Peter comes and sits down beside me before putting his arm comfortingly around me. I take one look at him and burst out crying.
"We'll find them," he whispers in my ear before kissing my cheek. I wipe the tears away with my fingers before standing up.
"What if we don't?" I shoot back before jumping back onto Crystal. "I'm going to scan the forest and see if I can find any evidence on where they've gone. I'll catch up with you later," I murmur before kicking Crystal's side and heading off into the forest again. I ride east for a little bit before turning a little bit and heading north. I ride on for hours, always keeping my eyes open and looking out for any sign of Brenton and Annabella, only to come up short when I think of a new place to look. Eventually I have to take a break. My back and legs are starting to kill me as I jump down off Crystal and lead her into an opening in the forest.
I sit down on a rock, emotionally and physically drained from the day. The sun's starting to go down and I know that I will have to leave soon. I casually look around at my surroundings for the first time. I'm sitting down on a rock in a beautiful meadow; a soft wind is blowing through my long, brown hair as a few of the sun's rays reach down through the branches of the large oak tree I'm leaning against and beam down on my head. There's a gentle, bright-blue stream beside me and flowers of all colours surrounding me. I pick a few of them just as a large shadow looms over me. I turn my head around a tiny bit to notice Peter watching me intently. His blue eyes hold sadness. I look down at my reflection in the crystal clear water of the stream and sigh. I look just as sad as he does. He walks forwards towards me and sits down casually on the rock beside me. I feel his arm wrap tenderly around my waist as I lean my head on his shoulder. A few tears trickle down my cheeks as he gently kisses my head.
"Are we ever going to find them?" I ask sadly. He thinks over my question quietly before answering me.
"We will. I promise I won't let anything happen to them." I nod softly. He smiles faintly and encircles his other arm around me so that I'm curled up in his arms. "I love you," he tells me. I smile at his words.
"I love you too." I spin my head around a little bit so that I can kiss him on the lips. He happily accepts and quickly grabs my lips with his. The kiss is gentle and loving, full of reassurance. I smile against his lips. He gently pulls away, but keeps me in a tight hug. I feel myself shake a little bit with cold as the wind starts to pick up and blow dark clouds over our heads, blocking out all the sunlight. The meadow grows dark very quickly. I continue to shake and suddenly start to hear familiar voices. They're very faint, but still there. Actually, I wouldn't even call them voices, more like very familiar cries, coming from the direction of a close by mountain.
I instantly shoot up to my feet and literally dart over to Crystal. I jump up onto her before calling out to Peter. "Follow me!" I don't even wait for a response; I just take off towards the source of the cries. I ride on straight ahead for about ten minutes before coming to an abrupt stop in front of the mountain range. The crying has gotten louder and louder as I get closer and closer to the mountains causing my smile to get bigger and bigger. I jump off Crystal before walking over to the mountain wall as I instantly start looking for some kind of entrance.
"Ashley, you know there's a large opening in the mountain over there, right?" Peter tells me after I have been searching the rock wall for five minutes. I spin around and blush as I realise that he's right.
"I knew that," I murmur as I walk swiftly past him and to the dark cave. I hear him sigh before I hear the gentle sound of his footsteps following me. I look briefly inside the big, black cave. There's no way I'm going in there without some source of light.
"Your Majesties, we thought you would like some lights since it's starting to get dark again, so we brought you these," I hear Bethany say as the rustling sound of her running along the dead leaves on the ground finally reaches me. I turn around and kneel down to her level briefly to grab the flaming stick. "And by the way, Mr. Badger killed the strange wolf like thing and the ogre. It's only the centaur left now," she tells me. I smile at her.
"Thank you," I murmur before turning back around and facing the large cave. My babies are still crying and it's very clear now that they're in there.
"Are you prepared to fight your own bedroom guard?" I ask Peter as he comes to stand beside me. He laces his fingers with mine as he takes a deep breath in.
"Ready as I'll ever be. I just hope we're not too late by the time we get in there," he replies. I grimace before slowly walking forward with him into the darkness. The cave is freezing. I feel all the bones in my body start shaking with cold even with three layers of clothing on. I also notice how much smaller it is getting as Peter and I walk deeper and deeper into it. By the time we hit the first corner of it, we're practically shoulder to shoulder in the small hollow. I wonder how Edmauel has managed to get into it with his height and width. The cave ceiling is quite high, I guess. After a few minutes of not being able to hear anything but our children's cries of distress, I finally hear someone talking.
"Shut up you, lousy baby! Honestly, do you want to be found?" It's Edmauel and I instantly feel all the blood in my body boil as I hear him talking to my helpless children. The crying doesn't cease, in fact, it only gets louder as Peter and I get closer. After a few more minutes, a large, hollow, rock room comes into view. Peter and I instantly blow out our torches and duck down; trying to be as quiet and still as possible as we watch Edmauel tearing his hair out at the sound of our babies non-stop, high-pitched squealing. My eyes are only trained on him for a second though, before they quickly rest on the sight of two, little, moving bundles over in the corner of the room. I move an inch to try and get a better look at them only to have my foot slip the tiniest bit on a rock. Uh oh. That tiny slip makes me fall into the room, scaring Edmauel half to death in the process. Peter's instantly on his feet, sword in hand, whilst I stumble to my feet and grab my sword. I hold it forward menacingly as Edmauel casually walks over to us.
"Give us our children, NOW!" Peter seethes as he takes a few steps towards him. Edmauel stops dead in his tracks before letting out a long sigh of relief.
"You want your children? Fine, take them! I can't take the crying anymore! It's driving me nuts! I mean, honestly, you think they would've lost their voices by now!" he whines as he goes over and grabs them before walking back over to us. "Stupid, Starstone, for making me do this," I think I hear him say as he thrusts them towards us, each baby laying very awkwardly in each of his large hands as they weep loudly.
"Really? You're just going to give them to us without even a fight?" I ask him shocked into place. Edmauel gives me a strange look.
"I thought you wanted to have your babies back again, not get into a fight with an old guard!" he exclaims. I give Peter an unsure glance. He nods, reading the hesitation on my face as easily as if I'm an open book. He leans forward a little bit, sword pointed directly at Edmauels' heart, ready to stab him if he tries anything funny. I carefully put my sword back in its sheath, feeling a little bit more confident, before taking a step forward and grabbing Brenton. I instantly cradle him against my chest before doing the same with Annabella. I immediately retreat a few steps while Peter stays put in place.
"Ashley, go outside with the babies. I have some unfinished business to attend to," Peter commands me in a voice that's not subject for disagreement. I'm only too happy to comply though. My angels are still crying their little hearts out. I know immediately that they need to be bathed and fed. I leave quickly, trying to follow the cave wall through the darkness until a dim light comes into view. As soon as I'm outside in the forest, I breathe out a sigh of relief. Bethany is waiting for me there, sitting on a small rock with a wooden bucket at her feet, full of water I might add, and a small fire cooking the night air with warm heat and a yellow glow. She smiles at me and that's all I need before I know exactly what the water is for. I smile my first genuine smile of the day before sitting down on another larger rock that's next to her. I instantly pass Annabella over to her to be bathed before quickly nursing Brenton.
"So how did it go? Is the centaur dead?" Bethany asks after a few minutes of Annabella's soft whimpers and Brenton's quiet nursing.
"It was strange you know; he just handed them over to us without an argument. It was like he didn't want to be a part of the kidnapping in any way, shape, or form, and he wasn't dead when I left, but I can imagine that he's probably gone by now. There's no way Peter would've let him get away with it," I explain while thinking back to Edmauel's more than grateful expression when I took the babies away from him.
"Well he did deserve it after what he did. You want to go against the High's then you're not going to live," she states evidently. I chuckle a little bit as she finishes drying off Annabella. We switch babies and I must say that I sigh with relief when I see that Annabella doesn't have any scratches or bruises on her. After a few more minutes, Peter exits the cave, instantly coming over to my side to stroke Annabella's soft head as she nurses and wipes away the tears that are rolling slowly down my cheeks.
"I love you," he tells me as he kisses my head softly. I smile and lay my head on his shoulder.
"I love you too," I say while looking at him through watery eyes as Bethany hands him Brenton. Everything around us vanishes almost immediately. I have completely forgotten about that fact that we're out in the middle of nowhere and hidden deep in the forest. It's just our little family and I couldn't be any happier. I sigh a little as I notice that Brenton is unscathed too before I hear the soft pitter-patter of Barrel's feet on the dead leaves as it approaches us.
"Thank you, Barrel, for killing all those creatures for us. That was very courageous of you. I honour creatures like you and it would be my great honour to knight you in Cair Paravel tomorrow for your courage," Peter thanks him as Barrel strolls forward to sit next to his wife. His eyes are wide with excitement as he looks at Peter.
"Oh thank you, King Peter! It would be my honour and also I'm very glad to see that you have your children back too," he says. Peter and I both smile at our little friend before curiosity gets the better of me.
"How did you kill them?" I ask curiously while rocking slowly from side to side, trying to get my baby to fall asleep. She's staring up at me with wide eyes, smiling slightly. I can't help but smile back.
"Let's just say that I have a lot of forest friends who would do anything to help Your Majesties..." he trails off. I laugh slightly before turning to Peter.
"Did you kill Edmauel?" I inquire, frowning at the large cut he has above his eyebrow as blood pours in little streams down his face. Bethany's already trying to clean it up; it doesn't make me feel any better though.
"No, as soon as you left, he stabbed himself in the heart. I'm not too sure why though. I was going to let him live, but he would've been in the dungeons for quite a long time. I'm glad you left when you did. It wasn't a very pretty sight," he tells me solemnly. I frown, but am too concerned with his cut to be able to fully come up with a reply. I yawn loudly then before taking a glance down at my daughter. She's fast asleep, all cuddled up and warm in my arms, completely oblivious to the world around her. I'm admittedly jealous of her. I'm drained mentally, emotionally, and physically. A long peaceful sleep might do me some good. "What do you say we head back to the castle tomorrow? I don't know about you, but I don't think I'm going to be able to ride all the way there tonight," Peter says before yawning loudly himself. I smirk.
"My thoughts exactly," I agree as Bethany offers to take Annabella from me. I reluctantly hand her over and instantly cuddle up on Peter's lap once he has handed Brenton over. He wraps his arms around me tenderly and leans back against the tree that's behind our boulder. I smile brightly as I let a peaceful sleep overcome me for the first time in what feels like ages.
