Adalina had been following the two soldiers with the Narnian all morning. She was farther away from the castle than she had ever been before. Looking over, she noticed that the soldiers had begun to slow down. Confused as to what they were trying to do, Adalina halted her horse and watched them move about the small row boat.
Adalina barely had time to comprehend what was going on, it all happened so fast. Just as the soldiers picked up the Narnian voices began to shout from farther up the river. As Adalina turned her head to see who was shouting, her vision was caught by an arrow shooting back to her previous view. The Narnian had been dropped into the river and both of the soldiers had followed upon the sudden attack.
Adalina stared in amazement as two young men leaped into the river. Adalina was paralyzed, watching in awe as the two young men carried the Narnian out of the water and back to the shore immediately joined by two younger ladies. Curiosity snapping her out of her trance, Adalina began to slowly get closer for a better look at the group.
When the older boy pulled out a sword, Adalina halted, afraid they had spotted her. When he handed the sword to the Narnian Adalina was unsure of what to think. As the Narnian and younger boy began to fight her curiosity began to grow again and she started to inch closer once more. When the boy knocked down the Narnian the situation began to look unfriendly, but soon the older boy held out his hand and all of them were laughing.
Adalina was more enticed by the second. What on earth is going on over there?
Suddenly the older boy looked up and drew his sword once more. Oh no. He's seen me. Adalina hadn't noticed that she was now out of the shelter of the forest and was slowly trotting toward the group in plain sight.
"Stop where you are." The boy shouted, his sword held out ready to strike if a move was made.
Adalina immediately tugged on the horses reins, bringing them to a stop. Both parties were silent and still for what seemed to be forever, but were merely seconds.
Finally, Adalina moved to get down from her mount. The boy moved forward in response.
"Wait! I ... ah …I'm not an enemy." She stammered as she fully came down off the tall steed.
The boy looked taken aback for a moment. Adalina believed that he had just noticed she was a girl. Her gesture prompted him to lower his weapon and Adalina hesitantly stepped forward. As she approached the group, their faces finally came into focus and Adalina gasped at what she saw.
"You…you are the Kings and Queens of Old." She now stood just feet away from them.
"How would a Telmarine know that?" The Narnian spit, obviously he had noticed her silky accent and light mocha skin, the features were certainly distinctive.
"Cas…" Adalina wasn't sure if she should mention Caspian. Obviously the Narnian wasn't a big fan of the Telmarines; she wasn't sure how they would all react. "My professor back at home used to tell me stories about Narnia and the Golden Age."
"Were exactly is your home?" the youngest of the boys, Edmund if she remembered correctly, gave her a strange look, obviously curious about who exactly she was.
"Uh…I…uh, the castle… the Telmarine castle." Adalina waited for a response, trying to read each siblings face as she began to confess. "I live in the castle, but I am not Royalty." She added quickly hoping to better her situation.
"If you are not royalty, then why do you live in the castle?" Peter asked, his blond hair skimming the tops of his eyes making it hard for Adalina to read him.
"Well…"Adalina wanted to avoid talking about Caspian, she wasn't she if it would benefit his circumstances, but at this point she wasn't sure how she couldn't mention knowing him. "My mother and father were very close to King Caspian IX, after they died Caspian IX allowed me to live in the castle, he used to tell me it was a noble's privilege, but I could see that many objected, especially his brother, Lord Miraz. Anyway, Caspian IX died many years ago and if it weren't for Caspian X, I wouldn't be here now."
"So you are a noble?" the oldest girl, Susan, finally spoke up.
"Yes, I am a Baroness." She answered back, she immediately liked Susan, there was such a gentle tone to her voice that she imagined it was the case with most people upon meeting her.
"Wait, go back, if you live in the castle you must know what is going on." The youngest of the m all perked up and questioned with curiosity flooding her eyes.
"You would think, but no. All I know is that Miraz tried to kill Caspian last night, after the birth of his son. Caspian has fled into the woods and I followed the soldiers here to find him."
"So why are we here?" Susan spoke again, questioning her siblings more than anyone else.
"The Telmarine." The Narnian grumbled.
"Caspian?" Adalina was pretty sure that was who he was referring to and it caused her voice to squeak a little as she spoke.
"Yes, that Telmarine. He blew the horn. That's why they're here." His voice held little enthusiasm.
"My horn! That's what got us back here." This enlightenment of information seemed to stir up commotion between the siblings.
After numerous looks back and forth the oldest sibling, Peter spoke once more. "Well, then I think it is pretty clear we need to find this Caspian."
Adalina let out a silent sigh, that's all she had really been looking for in the first place.
The Narnian, a dwarf named Trumpkin, she had now learned, was helping Peter get to the Narnians. Trumpkin had told Peter and the others how he had found Caspian outside of his home and that Trufflehunter and Nikabrik have probably brought him to the Narnians. So they had all piled into the row boat the Telmarines had left and were traveling up the river.
Adalina had been telling Lucy and Susan about her life in the castle. They seemed mesmerized, a nostalgic look in their eyes. Then Trumpkin began explaining what had happened following the Kings and Queens of Old's disappearance. Adalina kept quiet as he spoke, she felt ashamed hearing how the Telmarines had invaded, and then she realized she wasn't the only one. The Pevensie's sat just as quietly, heads slightly tilted down. Finally, Peter came to their defense.
The rest of the boat ride was virtually silent and once they were on dry land Peter took charge, leaving the rest of them trickling behind him.
"He certainly likes being in charge" Adalina whispered to Susan, who nodded in response. Lucy, just ahead of us, giggled upon hearing the question.
"Peter doesn't like being treated like a kid, it has been especially hard for him transitioning from where we left off in Narnian back to … this." Susan shrugged, gesturing to her body in general. Adalina knew what she meant; she couldn't imagine growing up and then suddenly being back in a child's body.
Susan's eyes scanned the area with curiosity. "I don't remember this way."
"That's the problem with girls, can't carry a map in your heads." Peter said finally looking back for a moment.
"That's because our heads have something in them." Adalina didn't expect a comment like that to come out of Lucy's mouth. She snickered under her breath, not wanting to reap the backlash from Peter.
Susan seemed to be unphased by the remark however. "I wish he'd just listen to the DLF in the first place."
"DLF?" Edmund had been pretty quiet most of the trip, keeping up the back.
"Dear Little Friend." Lucy stated her voice full of warmth. Adalina had heard Susan and her come up with that name; they thought it suited him quite well. Adalina on the other hand felt a lot of hostility towards her from the dwarf; it was unmistakable that he did not trust Telmarines.
"Oh that's not at all patronizing is it?" he grumbled from the back of the line. He and Peter had argued early about which way to go. Adalina was completely lost though, she had never been this far away from the castle, in fact no Telmarine had the guts to venture this far into the woods.
Once again Peter and Trumpkin were at it about which way to go.
"You last saw Caspian at the shuddering woods, and the quickest way there is to cross at the river Rush." At the mention of Caspian Adalina was drawn from her thoughts, suddenly listening very intently to their conversation.
"And unless I'm mistaken there's no crossing in these parts."
"That explains it then, you're mistaken."
With that Peter turned and continued on. It was no use trying to persuade him to go another way, he wouldn't have it. So Adalina spoke quietly with the two sisters, she couldn't bring herself to talk at a normal volume; with no other noise it felt too awkward.
After what seemed like forever, they finally found the river. Peter looked down the side of the steep cliff with a devastated look on his face. He tried to mask his embarrassment, but it was evident.
Susan went into a scientific analysis explaining why the river was now at the bottom of a canyon, but Peter made it clear he didn't want to hear it.
Trumpkin offered an alternate route, he mentioned a ford near Buruna, but they would have to swim.
"I'd rather that than walking." Susan replied.
"I'd rather do just about anything rather than walk at this point." Adalina said to Susan. She wasn't used to so much exercise, not that she wasn't in shape, but they had been walking since morning.
Unexpectedly something caught Lucy's eye and she paused and turned around, facing the river once more. She got extremely excited and started shouting something about Aslan. Everybody perked up at this and turned to see what she was yelling about.
Apparently Aslan was a touchy subject for the Pevensies. Lucy claimed she saw him and stuck to her word, Edmund believed her, but the older two were skeptical, especially Peter, he was almost mad that Lucy thought she had seen him, however he was able to reject her story gently. So the group headed back, this time following Trumpkin.
Adalina had heard the stories of Old Narnia many times, she knew all about when they first came to Narnia, but Aslan was interesting to her so she decided to question Lucy about him. She seemed to have a very personal relationship with him and the light in her eyes sparked back up at the very mention of his name.
Before she knew it they were back at the same spot as earlier. Adalina had been scared out of her mind seeing Miraz so close. She kept to herself as they made the journey back to the river for the second time that day. She was thinking about Caspian. She had tried to keep her mind off of him earlier that day. She had kept conversations going with Susan and Lucy and Edmund, but now she didn't want to talk, she just wanted to think.
She thought about how Caspian could be doing now. He must have met some more Narnians by now. But then what if they had not wanted him there or held bad feelings for him that they refused to let go, what would they do to him? Caspian is a skilled swordsman, but he could not take on a large group on his own .I just hope he's safe. I can't wait to see him again, it has only been a day, but it feels like a lifetime. I miss seeing his face, even when it is full of worry or doubt, but especially when he smiles…oh that smile, almost as beautiful as those lips…so full and soft…yep soft… and smooth…they feel like silk against my skin…and… Lost in her thoughts, Adalina watched as Lucy pointed to the other side of the canyon, but she had no idea what anyone was saying, her mind was still on Caspian.
Adalina's heart wrenched her out of her trance when Lucy fell. She lurched forward to get to her. Seeing her sitting merely inches below them, smiling, clearly proud of herself.
It seems that there was a path that led them all the way down the cliff and they were able to cross at a shallow part of the river. By the time they made it across it had begun to get dark. They set up camp a couple hours later, everyone exhausted from the long journey.
Adalina laid her head down on the ground, close to the other siblings, to keep warm. She liked the Pevensies very much. They were wonderful to watch, they way they got along and all that. Adalina had never experienced anything like that. The closest thing to family she had ever had was Caspian, and their relationship was not exactly "family-like" any longer. They seemed to like her as well, which Adalina was glad for. She wouldn't be able to find Caspian without them.
As sleep began to take over her Adalina's mind went back to Caspian she hoped to see him soon