Chapter four: Lucy's Skills
(Corin)
She picks a spot 50 feet or so away form a target, draws her bow, and shoots the bull's eye. And again. She begins running, darting from target to target. She never misses the bull's eye.
Then she walks to where there are cloth dummies, meant for boxing, and empties a belt of 20 daggers into its chest in less than two minutes.
When she is finished, Edmund is shaking, Peter is gaping, moving his lips without any sound coming out, and Susan has…fainted? She's not at all what I thought.
Lucy grins and curtsies before collecting her weapons.
Peter finds his voice. "All this time, I've coddled her, forced her to stay at the rear of a battle, and she's better than I am." He whispers. The look on his face is a mixture of pride and love. Lucy approaches, smiling. Her hair is loose around her face, a shining curtain that falls nearly to her knees. And she is so beautiful that I cannot believe she loves me. Suddenly she stiffens and turns to the side.
I groan. The entire army and most of the castle saw all that. Lucy turns crimson. I turn to Peter.
"Your Majesty, have I won the right to ask Queen Lucy if I may court her?" I ask. He is still in a state of mild shock, but nods. I grin and kneel in front of Lucy.
"Lucy, Valiant Queen of Narnia, I love you more than life itself, would you please bestow upon me the great honor of courting you?" Lucy laughs. My heart skips a beat. She isn't going to say no, is she?
"Of course I do, dear Corin!" she exclaims.
"Thank Aslan!" I yell as I jump up and twirl her. She giggles and then we both stop abruptly.
"Peter!" Lucy exclaims. "I forgot to tell you, Aslan blessed me. I'm connected to Narnia, and where I step, Narnia shall sing and have Spring anew. Oh, and I have the senses of a lioness!" Peter's knees buckle.
Lucy and I both lunge for his arms, but then a lioness is holding him up, purring, and Lucy is nowhere to be seen. I look at the lioness.
"Lucy?! You're a lion!" I exclaim. The lioness's eyes grow large and suddenly Lucy appears instead of the lioness.
She laughs weakly. "I guess I'm a little braver then I thought." Seeing my confused look, she elaborates.
"Aslan told me once that if I were any braver, I'd be a lioness." Then I hear a thunderous chuckle from behind me.
Lucy's face lights up. "Aslan!" she cries. I turn and there is the Lion, golden in the sunlight. Lucy tackles him in a hug and begins to talk rapidly.
"O, Aslan, I'm so glad you're here. Thank you ever so much for your blessing. O, Aslan, was I supposed to turn into a lioness?" Aslan laughs gently.
"I am glad to be here, dearest One. I have no need for thanks; the blessing was given from love." Lucy's eyes are shining; I know she sees Aslan as her father.
"As for you turning into a lioness, I'm afraid we all rather underestimated how much your bravery affected a lion's blessing, my valiant one." Lucy hugs him and then looks over at her siblings and me.
"Come on, you four!" she cries.
Hesitantly, I walk over and hug Aslan, who laughs and says "What's this I hear about you courting Lucy, young Corin?" I gulp but say, "Sir, I love Lucy more than my own life, and want to spend the rest of mine with her. High King Peter now approves…or he may just be in shock, I'm not really sure, but please, sir, do you approve of me courting Lucy?" Aslan smiles gently.
"You will cherish Lucy until the end of your days, and fight to protect her no matter what. I approve whole-heartedly." I throw my arms around his neck.
"Thank you, Aslan!" I cry. He chuckles.
Eventually we force the two Kings and Queen Susan to come back to their senses. Lucy supports Edmund, one hand on Aslan's mane all the while, while I support Peter. Susan is carried in by Oreius, the centaur general.
After a merry feast that night, we retire, and I fall asleep quickly, to dreams of the Valiant Queen, my Lucy.