Chapter 2

"Umm…uh…" I racked my brain trying to find something to say. Ugh! Why did I have to look so stupid? Luckily, she started talking and she seemed pretty excited.

"Original king and queen of Narnia! Caspian's told me so many stories about you! Like when you defeated the white witch, restored peace to Narnia, and became the kings and queens! And when you joined him to find the seven lords that were banished by Uncle Miraz! Oh, and only a year ago when he summoned you back to Narnia by Susan's horn and all four of you… Wait, where are the others? Peter and Susan?"

"They're…" I didn't exactly know what to say. 'They're on the other side of the mirror that we came here through. You know, the real world?' "They didn't come with us. They were um… busy." I said awkwardly. Kristen looked disappointed, but happy nonetheless.

"Oh. Well, that's okay. I just feel honored to meet you! I never thought I'd actually live to see the day I did." She was beaming and I looked over at Lucy to hide my blushing. Strangely, Lucy wasn't smiling or blushing. Her face was curious. She was staring at Kristen like she was trying to find something. Then, her eyes got wide.

"Kristen… Human… The forest! You're the girl from the forest! Oh, why didn't I see it sooner!"

"Queen Lucy! How could I not recognize you then? I'm so stupid I don't even see when there's a queen of Narnia right in front of me!" Kristen exclaimed.

"I could say the same thing." Lucy laughed and Kristen joined her.

"Well," Lucy continued, "I would really like to look around the place. Would that be alright?"

"Oh, of course! Here, I'll give you a personal tour. Would you like to join us, Edmund?" I tried desperately not to blush even more. I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. Luckily, Caspian replied for me. "You two go on ahead. I would actually like to take a walk with Edmund alone."

"Oh, alright. Well, I'll see you two later!" Kristen said. She smiled at me, then turned around as her and Lucy started whispering and giggling. I hate when girls do that. It's like they're trying to drive you mad or something!

"So…" Caspian drawled with a smirk.

"So…?"

"You have a thing for my cousin, I see?"

"What? Your cousin? What? No! I mean, of course not! She's… she's your cousin! I would- I would never… Yeah, pretty much." He smirked and laughed.

"What? I can't help it! She's… she's beautiful." He sighed and put a hand on my shoulder.

"I know. She takes being a queen relatively seriously. Being beautiful is part of the job." I laughed.

"I guess so." I said with a chuckle.

"Come on. Let's take a walk." Caspian called a servant and told him something in private. Soon the servant came back with two horses trotting beside him. One was a buckskin horse. I looked at the other horse. He was a black palomino with large green eyes the size of pears.

"Phillip?" I asked.

"Indeed," he smiled (horses in Narnia smile unlike horses in our world.) I ran to him, hugging him and stroking his mane.

"Oh, Phillip, it's been so long!"

"It certainly has."

"Well, shall we get going?" Caspian said, leaping onto his horse's back. I did the same and our horses trotted along to the front entrance. A guard stopped us.

"And where are you going, your highness?" the man asked. Caspian rolled his eyes.

"Oh, why must you worry so much?"

"It is my duty." He said officially. Caspian chuckled.

"Well, since you must know I am going to go horseback riding on the beach with my old friend, Edmund." I watched the man's face go in shock.

"The Edmund? As in King Edmund?" I smiled.

"Um, yes sir."

"Oh your highness, you are too kind to just a man as myself."

"I am a man too, you know. And not even that much. I am a boy still and everyone deserves to be treated respectfully."

"Oh, I think you are more than a boy with wisdom like that, sir."

"Well thank you."

"Should we be going now?" Caspian interrupted.

"Oh, yes of course."

"Well, have a nice ride!" The man waved goodbye and our horses trotted along. Once we made it to where it began to be sand, Caspian stopped and dismounted his horse. I reluctantly did the same.

"Why are we getting off?" He didn't answer, but instead told the horses they could go back to the castle.

"If we're just walking, then why couldn't we walk out of the castle?" I asked as we started striding on the sand.

"Because my guards and servants care about me too much. They think that if I go outside the castle without a horse or other fast animal to ride on I'll be chased down by enemies or something. But we have no enemies here. Narnia is peaceful. Especially since Kristen's gotten here. She has this certain … charisma that makes everything alive, happy, and peaceful. There hasn't been an unhappy person here for nearly a year. Well, except her at times."

"Wait, why would she be unhappy?"

"Oh she's always happy. But sometimes she says she wishes that she could have a more normal life. The only thing she hates really is her wardrobe."

"Her wardrobe?"

"Yes, she says her royal dresses are bland and boring. She's a very colorful person, you know."

"I can tell." We spent about the next 10 minutes walking on the beach talking about Kristen and the last year in Narnia.

Suddenly, we heard a distant scream from the castle. Caspian whistled and our horses came to us like they were next to us the entire time. We hopped on and they ran to the castle. We got off and sprinted into the front hall where we saw a terrible scene.