Chapter Three
"…. Kayla! Kayla, wake up!"
The first thing that Kayla was greeted with once she had awakened from her peaceful slumber was the smell of fresh grass and Lucy's voice, full of urgency. She could not believe that Narnia was real, that she had slept in Narnia and awoke the next morning.
"What's…?" Kayla trailed off, rubbing her eyes as she sat up on the soft grass, "What's wrong, Lucy?" She then opted to stand up instead, attempting to fight off the heavy fatigue she felt.
Instead of answering verbally, Lucy took Kayla's hand as she began to lead the taller girl through another half a mile or so of the vast forest full of evergreen and silver birch trees. After a few moments of silence had passed by – save from their footsteps – Lucy spoke up.
"It's Peter! Kayla, he's -,"
Without warning, Lucy was cut off by the sound of two swords clashing. The younger girl looked desperate for help, whereas Kayla only winced at the less than pleasant noise.
They rounded a corner of the forest, through a group of clustered trees, and Kayla was surprised to have found Peter fighting a mysterious man, whose hair was dark but shoulder length, and who was adorned with neutral coloured clothing as well as deep blue gleaming armour. Lucy was quick to pull the older girl behind a small bolder.
"I just don't understand Peter sometimes," Lucy whispered to Kayla, "Why would he fight someone like that whom we don't even know?!" She finished, her voice rising.
Kayla's jaw dropped as her fatigue wore off and she realised who Peter was fighting. It was no mystery to her; the hair, the tan skin, the height… Prince Caspian. Kayla had to ignore her blush as she remembered the enormous crush she used to have on the Telmarine. Well, on the actor; Ben Barnes… however, she guessed that this was Caspian. She absentmindedly sighed; it was all so confusing.
Lucy, unaware of how Kayla felt about the whole situation, shook her head again and rushed out towards the two boys before Kayla could reach out to stop her.
"Stop it!" The young girl cried out. Kayla did have to give her some credit; everything and everyone – which included both Caspian and Peter – stopped what they were doing and went completely silent, their heads turned towards the small Queen.
After a few seconds of silence, Kayla made her presence known by standing up from behind the boulder, smoothing down her tattered school uniform. She felt someone's gaze on her, and knowing who that someone may – or may not – have been, she ignored it as she decided to look up at Peter in confusion. Peter looked confused himself.
Kayla noticed how Caspian's gaze kept lingering on her, and inwardly groaned in frustration. It was not that she did not like Caspian per say, but she was not very comfortable with him staring at her. Besides, she did not want to change anything, any path taken, in case it did not end well or in case things did not go the way they went in the film. What was the point of it? They would all be going their separate ways at the end of it all, anyway.
Kayla could see Peter look back at Caspian as realisation hit the blonde boy like a ton of bricks.
"Prince… Caspian?" Peter questioned the taller boy as he remembered the stories that Trumpkin had told them all the night before.
"And who are you?" Caspian asked; his tone cruel and angered. Kayla shuddered at how fierce his voice was - she had forgotten how he and Peter did not get along very well.
"PETER?!"
Susan's voice became prominent to everyone that surrounded the fight - and Lucy and Kayla themselves. The raven haired girl eventually stumbled across the scene alongside Edmund and Adele. Kayla noticed that Adele had changed into a deep green dress in a similar style to Susan's, and slung over her friend's shoulder was a neutral brown coloured dress, no doubt for Kayla.
All three newcomers to the scene paused when they saw a large rock in Peter's hand, a sword clasped tightly in Caspian's.
Edmund was quick to look upon his older brother in amusement, though his eyes wavered cautiously on Caspian. Susan looked disappointed in Peter, but curious about Caspian and the other Narnians that had gathered, and Adele looked hopelessly lost. Well, Kayla supposed that technically, that's what they were; lost, and obviously far away from their home.
Caspian looked down at the sword he held in his hands, Peter's sword, complete with Aslan's engravings.
"High King Peter…" Caspian trailed off, his voice more vulnerable and awed.
"I believe you called." Peter commented, slight sarcasm in his tone.
"Well, yes but…" The taller man trailed off once more, sparing a glance at the group whom had just arrived, "I thought you'd be… older." Kayla tried to hide a smile, having always found this conversation amusing. She peered over her shoulder at Adele, whom also seemed to be finding this humorous.
"Well if you'd like, we can come back in a few years." This was definitely sarcasm, but Caspian took it literally as Peter stepped back tauntingly.
"No!" Caspian lightly exclaimed, "No, that's alright." The Prince started, moving his gaze from Peter to the rest of the group, "You're just…"
Oh Gosh, Kayla thought, please don't say it, please don't say it!
"… You're not exactly what I expected." The young Prince finished, his gaze lingering on Kayla in particular. She frowned and her eyes widened slightly. From the corner of her eyes, Kayla could see Adele give her a look.
"Neither are you." Edmund spoke up from beside Adele, confusingly glancing at the other Narnians. Kayla did not blame the young boy; they had been told by Trumpkin that Narnians no longer existed; at least, they had thought that not this many had survived… whatever had happened. Kayla had to admit that the logistics of the battle which had destroyed Cair Paravel were a bit of a mystery to her too.
"A common enemy unites even the oldest of foes." Trufflehunter, a badger, spoke. Although she knew what to expect from having watched Narnia, it was still uncanny for Kayla to hear a badger speak.
"We have anxiously awaited your return, my leash," Reepicheep started, "Our hearts and swords are at your service." Kayla could not help but smile at the mouse.
"Oh my gosh, he is so cute." Lucy softly whispered to Susan.
"Who said that?!" Reepicheep exclaimed as he took his sword out of its holder. Kayla could see Lucy blush, sincerely embarrassed by what she had said.
"Sorry." The young girl sounded sheepish and apologetic.
"Oh," Reepicheep replied, immediately putting his sword away, "Uh, your majesty," The mouse bowed, "With the greatest respect, I do believe courageous, courteous or chivalrous might befit a knight of Narnia."
"Well," Peter spoke, "At least we know some of you can handle a blade." This, Kayla could tell was aimed at Caspian, and the tall girl winced at how blunt Peter could be. Caspian only looked at Peter in frustration.
"Yes, indeed." Reepicheep stated proudly, "And I have recently put it to good use; securing weapons for your army, sire."
"Good." Peter sounded a lot more serious this time, "Because we're going to need every sword we can get." He turned back to face Caspian.
"Well then, you will probably be wanting yours back." He held Peter's sword, and Peter took it instantly, sparing a blank look at the Spanish Prince. Upon hearing Caspian's thick Spanish accent, Kayla had to remind herself yet again that herself and Adele were really in Narnia. Unfortunately, it also reminded her that they would need to fight… the only problem was that neither herself nor Adele knew how.
"Are you alright, Kay?"
Kayla shuddered upon hearing Adele's voice. She had been lost in her own thoughts again, and not realised that the rather large group had taken off, and were now a few metres away from them. She glanced down at her friend before shrugging.
"Yeah, I guess. Well, other than the fact that we're here of all places, and wondering why. Why wouldn't I be okay?" Kayla tried, as she ran her fingers through her dark hair. Adele glanced up at Kayla as they began to walk behind the rest of the group.
"I know that you're not exactly okay at the minute, and it's alright if you don't want to talk about it…" Adele trailed off, sensing how uncomfortable Kayla was speaking of this, "… I don't want to interfere; I'm your friend, and I love you, okay? I just don't want a repeat of last time." She finished shakily, unsure of what else to say.
"Thanks, Ads," Kayla started, before shaking her head, "But no. That… that will never happen again, alright? I mean it. I was not in the right frame of mind before, and yeah, this is a shock. But it does not mean that I'll put myself through that again. Thanks for worrying, but you've got nothing to worry about."
Satisfied with Kayla's reply, Adele linked her friends arm as they caught up to Susan, Lucy and Trumpkin. Lucy was reminding the group that the trees used to dance and with a smile, both Kayla and Adele reassured the young girl that they believed her, having watched everything unfold already.
Kayla did not want… the thing to happen again. But sometimes, you were never in control of your own life or actions, no matter how much you wished for it.
Adele was not sure what time it was; she regrettably did not own a watch, and her phone was nowhere to be found. She did know that it had been a while since the group had set off on their journey as Kayla had also changed into her dress, which suited her friend very amiably, and the sun had moved increasingly to the East (she knew this as Peter had specifically told the group that they were travelling north).
Since they had all clearly wandered around aimlessly for the past few hours, Adele felt very tired and she was certain that everyone else felt the same - even Reepicheep kept bouncing back and forth on each foot at a time, as though both of his feet ached.
Everyone had been chatting amongst themselves, no one – not even Caspian – wanted to say anything to Peter, who was leading the whole group.
Usually, Adele was not one to comment on anything she ever got secretly annoyed about, however she had mentally told herself that to survive Narnia she had to change her mind set. She had to find her inner confidence, her inner self, and the first step to do that was to speak her mind. Not in an annoying manner, but in an… informative one.
"Peter!" She exclaimed softly to the slightly older boy. She and Kayla had finally caught up to the front of the group – Peter was only a metre or so ahead of her.
After a few moments, Peter turned around slightly as he acknowledged his comrade, irritation clear in his features.
"What's wrong now?" He almost snapped, and instantly regretted it. He never liked to sound arrogant or argumentative, sometimes it just… happened, and this was one of those times. He sounded harsher than he had meant to – that much was obvious by the fact that Adele looked very taken-aback. The younger girl was extremely quick to wipe the look off of her face, but Peter had already seen it.
"It's just... we've been wandering around for hours now." She started, sighing. Adele felt so, so exhausted that when Peter did not understand how tired everyone was she could not help but roll her eyes, which only frustrated the High King more, "Can't you just accept the fact that we're lost and let Caspian, Reepicheep and Trufflehunter take over? At least they have more of an idea where we're headed." Kayla nudged Adele lightly, but the latter only shrugged, "Someone had to say it some time."
Caspian looked overjoyed at someone standing up for his leadership. However, he frowned at Edmund's wince.
"What's wrong?" He asked Edmund quietly. Edmund shook his head lightly.
"She's in for it now…" The younger boy trailed off, "No one ever stands up to Peter when he's in one of his moods."
"One of his moods?" Caspian questioned, unsure of the phrase. Edmund sighed.
"When he's tired, and irritated as it is." He replied, and Caspian nodded in understanding.
"He needs to accept that he knows we're lost." Susan commented, still quiet but loud enough for Peter to have heard. Lucy and Kayla stayed quiet, Trumpkin chuckling at Adele's previous comment.
It was true; everyone knew that Caspian – paired with Trufflehunter and Reepicheep - had better navigational skills than Peter, but they were all too afraid to admit it as the High King did not exactly like the Spanish Prince.
Peter's eyes drifted off towards Caspian's smug face, as well as Edmund's smirk, before hardening as he looked back down at Adele.
"We're not lost." Peter began, "… and we're most certainly not following him." He spat. Adele frowned as she wondered how he was so kind yesterday, but so… unpleasant today. She knew that Peter did not want to damage his pride in front of his people, however she also knew that he had to understand how his people felt.
"Why?" Adele questioned. This was enough to make everyone stand still, even in the middle of a forest with no idea what could be waiting for them.
"Why?" Peter echoed, confused but agitated. Adele bet that no one – not including his parents - had ever challenged him about his actions before.
"That's what I said." Adele's tone was firm, "Why do you condemn Caspian so much, Peter? Why must you be so harsh to someone you do not fully understand?"
"What? And you two do?" He gestured towards both Kayla and Adele as he spoke. The latter only stared back at him.
"Not necessarily." She concluded, "However I do understand that you must not judge people on their family's actions, only their own."
"What do you mean? He's a Telmarine; he all but destroyed Narnia!" Peter exclaimed. At this, Caspian stepped forward, his hand on his sword, but was stopped abruptly by Kayla, whom only shook her head at the Prince.
"Don't make it worse, Caspian. There's no need for another fight, only resolve." Kayla whispered. Caspian frowned, before glancing at Kayla and nodding. Susan gestured for the whole group to carry on, and they moved forwards as Peter and Adele stood at a standstill, facing one another.
"You gonna be alright, Ads?" Kayla asked from where she walked with Lucy and Trumpkin. Adele flashed her a smile.
"Calming someone down?" She glanced at Peter's outraged expression, "I'll be fine." Kayla smiled kindly, before continuing her walk with the rest of the group.
"Peter…" Adele stated calmly, her voice now level, "Are you sure you're doing what's best for all of us? Or what's best for you?"
"Yes, I am sure!" He exclaimed, having had enough of Adele's sudden attitude towards him, "You need to stop challenging me; I am the High King of Narnia! Who are you to argue with me?"
Adele scoffed, however her expression remained tranquil. Past experiences had made her realise that anger only fuels more anger – she needed to remain as calm as she could for Peter to also calm down.
"A High King that does no longer believe in the great Lion whom gave him that title in the first place?" She questioned, Peter hesitating before she continued, "Anyway, as the High King I am certain that it's your job to make sure that we arrive at our destination safely – not to stand here arguing with me because of something as simple as pride." Her voice had now softened to her usual kind tone that Peter was increasingly familiar with.
Gently, Adele took the map that hung lifelessly from Peter's right hand and held it tightly in her own. She gave Peter a smile, and took his right hand in her left.
"I know it's not easy, Peter. But sometimes we must let go of our pride, and do what is expected of us." She said. Peter sighed, his anger now diminished. They were both startled by a voice that came from ahead.
"Come on, you two!" Edmund called. Even from as far away as he was stood, Peter could tell that Edmund was wearing his all too familiar smirk. Usually, it would have made Peter's exasperation even worse, but as he met Adele's soothing gaze, he found himself at ease.
"It isn't easy." Peter started, "But you're right. I haven't ruled over Narnia in… well, what seems like forever. I guess I'd forgotten that I need to be more patient with them, to not let my pride take over." Adele looked up at Peter for a moment, before she let go of his hand. When she did, he turned away from her, gazing at the blue skies high above.
"We haven't got all day!" Edmund exclaimed, his voice echoing through the woods, "At least not anymore!"
"He's right." Peter commented, he and Adele both grinning, before they set off walking to catch up with the rest of the group.
Once they had, Adele handed the map back over to Caspian, whom only smiled kindly back at her. With another glance at Kayla, the Spaniard – along with Trufflehunter and Reepicheep of course - began to lead the whole group North once more.
Kayla then linked arms with Adele and followed, Lucy and Trumpkin walking steadily behind them. Finally, Susan and Peter followed at the end of the whole group, seen as they were among the most experienced at fighting, just in case they ran into trouble.
Susan only smirked at her older brother, whereas Peter rolled his eyes at his sister as he kept his gaze on the surrounding forest.
"Don't start." Was all he said, his tone blank and emotionless.
Susan held up her hands in surrender, "Peter, I didn't say anything."
"You didn't have to." He replied, before they all became silent once more.
Edited: 1st May 2018
AN: I hope that I haven't rushed into anything here. Not that there is… anything to rush into, I just hope I didn't make Adele seem too able to calm Peter down so quickly. Even if you feel as though I did, it links to where this story is headed, and don't worry – no romance will occur (well, no obvious romance will occur) within the first… five to ten chapters (maybe)?
I just don't want the romances that will blossom to happen too quickly or to be extremely slow-burn, you get me?
This chapter is dedicated to my best friend, Narnialover14. I know it's a few days late, but Happy Birthday!
Thank-You for reading :)