A/N: Chapter 30 out - incredible to think we're this far! I hope you've enjoyed my story so far.

Cheers to another 30!

Soundtrack:

Yggdrasil – Forndom


The moist, stuffy dark air in the ruins was suffocating Lucy for each passing day. She had not seen the sky since she was captured.

After her hallucination where Aslan had sought her out, she had found some will to survive at her best extent. She had not seen Talulah since she was first thrown in the cage. Her faithful servants however, watched over her and stalked past her cage from time to another. They sometimes were generous enough to throw in food between her bars.

Tonight, whilst Lucy rested her head on her knees, hugging them tight to her chest, a thud at her naked shins caught her attention. Her head whipped up at the surprise.

A servant had thrown her a stale apple, and some bread that for once was seemingly not mouldy. Other that the freshness of the food, the appearance of the servant surprised Lucy.

Lucy looked up at the servant, who gazed at her with golden, bloodshot eyes. It was large and lumpy of appearance, its skin a light sand-colour. The creature had freckles on his bald, smaller head. His ears were abnormally large but looked humanoid in appearance. He had pierced his large lobes with several malachite rings. A wide button nose was hidden over his maw. He suffered a large underbite, as two large fangs stuck up from his jaw.

Lucy recognized the creature: a troll. Larger than an ogre and more dim-witted than all the ogroid creatures. They are usually driven by instinct to protect to their territory in the mountains and had otherwise no advanced culture known to man.

He wore a rough-spun vest and torn leather shorts. Underneath his vest hung several necklaces from different species of animals. On his back, he carried a lazily woven basket filled with human body parts. Flies buzzed noisily around it.

Lucy noticed another detail about this troll – he was not undead.

The young Queen stood up uneasily from her seat in her cage and grabbed the iron bars in her hand as she studied the creature who looked back at her.

"You're not undead," she spoke coarsely. The troll snorted with a small growl at her statement.

"What are you doing here?" Lucy asked the troll after a moment, cocking her head in question as she did so. The troll knew the girl was no threat. She would not hurt a fly.

The troll breathed noisily through his nose at her question. It had been long since he had spoken Common.

"Trollolo…Witches serve." The troll spoke with a dark voice. He felt quite pleased with himself for his attempt at the common tongue and slapped his knee with a small laugh. Lucy looked at him with curiosity; she felt slight amusement inside.

"You serve the Witch. Why?" Lucy pried. She did not think Talulah had live servants to do her bidding. The troll looked to the ground and shook his head several times back and forth. He scratched the back of his head with large, lumpy fingers.

"Uuuhh… Trollolo tribe Witchy kill. Witchy Kurt takes, tell Kurt work, or other trollolos kill. So, Kurt serves," the troll spoke.

Lucy understood the troll well enough to know he had been taken under the evil Witch's power as well, and he was controlled by fear and threats. Talulah had killed his family and taken him under control. Threatening to kill others of his kind, Kurt had obeyed her, in fear she would keep her promise.

"Kurt – I'm sorry for what happened to your family. Mine is out there somewhere, trying to stop the Witch. When they come here, they will stop her plan to take over our world," Lucy leant against the bars as she attentively met his gaze, "I'm not the enemy, Kurt." Lucy spoke. The troll stood still but scratched the back of his head.

"Kurt," Lucy called his name, and he looked at her with a snort.

"I don't want the witch to kill other trolls. I want to stop the witch," she said, and Kurt looked at her with a breathy growl. She spoke truthfully? She was trollolo-friend?

"But, in order for us to do that, I need you to help me with something."

. . .

Caine had awoken next morning with a fever, but once he drank the healing potion Trufflehunter had given them, the fever had subsided by a little. He could stand for a short while, but he was unable to move his arm, bend over, even less pick up a weapon. His injured shoulder had been taken care of the best to Susan's extent, and would now have to heal by its own. His arm was held up by a sling to relieve his shoulder.

Rhea was currently kneeling by Caine's side where he sat on a desert-red boulder and held forth a waterskin.

"Here, drink," she coached. He took it and drank a zip. He was pale, and not his usually cheery self. After finishing his drink, he thanked her tiredly.

Caspian and Peter along with Al-Riyadh stood by the horses, readying them, whilst she and Edmund packed up the rest of their gear.

Studying them from afar, Susan sighed defeatedly. After a short moment of thought, she handed her brother the bedroll and patted him on his shoulder before standing up. She walked over to Peter and Caspian.

"You alright?" Peter asked once he noticed her joining them. She ignored his question.

"I'm eager to know where we're off to," Susan asked both men, her gaze icy and firm.

Peter looked over to Caspian, who tightened the girth on Destrier's saddle.

"Out of here. If we are to find out where to go next, we might start by getting further away from enemy territory," Caspian replied. He quickly picked up the mood of her tone and knew to tread lightly. And so, he did not turn to face her.

"Unless you have any other miraculous idea, Peter?" Caspian asked him.

"Well, if we are to-" Peter began, but was cut off by his sister who raised two fingers at him.

"I'm going to stop both of you right there." Susan said firmly. This had both Kingsturn her way in surprise.

"Caine is in no shape or form able to travel," she said, her gaze first and foremost met her brother's stern one.

"We have no choice, Su. We'll have to-" Peter argued, but she interrupted him once again.

"Look at him!" she hissed and pointed towards the pale and sickly-looking Caine, loud enough to even startle Caspian. He had checked on his friend several times that night, but the knight had assured him he would be alright. He should have known it was a brave mask he put on not to worry him. Caspian could see now that his body was still in shock after Susan's brutal, but effective procedure.

"Would you rather us be taken by Calormen soldiers?!" Peter protested as he turned to hover above her. Edmund now appeared behind them.

"We'll be taken by them either way, as we can't ride fast enough with a wounded man who could go into septic shock any time!" she argued, her voice rising to his level.

Edmund appeared by her side.

"Hey, you two, calm down-" Edmund tried, attempting to ease the now heated argument. He touched his sister's shoulder. Susan however, pushed him away.

"We've lost too many as it is, Peter, will you for once just listen to me?!" Susan spat at him, now fuming.

Caspian had to admit, despite being the most petite of all the Pevensies, Susan was indeed the most frightening of the lot. He understood her anger towards her brother, but at the same time, they were exposed and easily spotted from their place.

Despite it not being in his place, Caspian had to interfere. The tension between the older Pevensie brother and sister led them nowhere.

Caspian's taller figure appeared between them then, and he put a hand on Peter's shoulder.

"That's enough. Both of you." Caspian looked first at Peter who straightened his back with a frustrated sigh. He had to accept that Caspian had to captain them through this journey and that his word was in the end final.

He then looked at Susan who refused to meet his gaze. She too was as tense as a leopard ready to pounce. She did respect his word however, and kept silent.

Caspian hated that he had to subjugate her like this, along with her brother, but he knew it was the right thing to do in this matter. Alike a council, he had heard both concerns, and changed his plans thereafter. He moved a step away from them both.

"Al-Riyadh, you and I will ride around the neck of the forest to the west to make sure no one's following our tracks, Edmund and Peter will ride to the east and investigate the perimeter there. Rhea, you and Susan will have to stay with Caine while we are gone." Caspian said, addressing them all. Rhea nodded obediently, as did Edmund and Al-Riyadh.

Caspian, satisfied with his compromise, handed Peter a periscope. The Magnificent King met his assuring gaze for a moment, before taking the periscope off him. Caspian gave his chest an uplifting pat and watched as Peter and Edmund led their horses off to mount them.

He released a small sigh in relief, before Al-Riyadh's voice caught his attention.

"Ready when you are, Sire." Caspian turned his head and nodded his way, signalling he would join his shortly.

His gaze rested to Rhea who felt Caine's forehead in concern. The knight shooed her hand away, and he could hear him protesting in the distance, assuring her he was alright.

Susan appeared by Rhea's side and handed her the flask of alcohol. If she mixed it in the water, it would work as a momentary painkiller.

Susan straightened and met Caspian's gaze. She mouthed 'thank you' to him. In return, he shot her a wink and a nod in appreciation.

Susan smiled at the gesture.

Caspian X winks, the gentle Queen thought to herself. Interesting.


A/N: A following chapter will follow in not too long! Until then, take care, and a review is always appreciated.

Dragon