"You must be mistaken, my lord," she said. She curtsied. "I am not of this Lucy you speak of."
"What do you mean?" He asked. "Of course you are Lucy. Do you think that I do not recognize my own sister?"
"It cannot be," she thought. She had wondered about her past, but had never thought of this. "Could it be true?"
"I am sorry, my lord. I did not mean that. I only mean that I know nothing of it. You see, I was found four years ago with not a single memory. I have been living in Aldeia near the border to Archenland for the past four years. I am called Rayla. I do not know anything of what you speak of. My village has been attacked by raiders and I came to implore you to help us, for we do not have the forces to repel them."
"Four years ago is when Lucy was lost. It was not far from where you have been. Do you not see? It is you."
Rayla turned, overwhelmed. It all made sense if what he said was true, and she had no reason to doubt him. Why hadn't they searched for her then? Or had they, but if she was so close, they probably would have found her if they had searched for her.
"Here, come sit down, you do not look so good," Peter said. She let him lead her to the stair and sat down.
"I am sorry. I am a little overwhelmed."
"I understand. I wish I knew what happened so that I could explain it to you."
"You do not know?" she asked.
"I know some, but not all. If I had known it all we would have found you, though," he smiled. "We thought that you had been killed, we looked for your body, but did not find it. We figured that they had thrown it in the river. It was the worst feeling I have ever known, when we thought you had been killed. I blamed myself for letting you go in there."
"Go in where?" she asked.
"Perhaps we should go find the others and we will all explain it to you together, yes?"
Rayla nodded. Her stomach did a little flip at the thought of meeting the other royals.
"Wait," she said, remembering the villagers. "My village, Aldeia still needs your aid. My friends there are in grave danger."
"This means a lot to you I see, yes?"
"Yes, it does."
"I will send some men at once. Orious," Peter said addressing the centaur. "Will you take care of it?"
"Yes, my liege," he said with a slight bow. "Lucy, how many are there do you know? What can you tell me about them?"
"I am unsure of how many there are exactly. There are at least forty of them. Sometimes they split up and hit a couple different houses, but they were talking about going together and hitting something bigger."
"When did you find that out?" Peter asked curiously.
"They stopped for a water break outside of the cave I had slept in. They did not see me, but I could hear some of them talking."
Orious left the room. Peter extended his hand and helped her to her feet. "Come, let's go find the others."
Peter led her from the throne room. She shivered.
"I am sorry. You must be cold. You must go change. I do not want you to catch a cold. I will bring you to your room first so you can change. You can wear one of Susan's dresses."
"That is alright. I have a change of clothes," Rayla said. "It is in my saddle bags on my horse."
"Oh, where is your horse. I shall have someone fetch it for you if you wish."
"Oh, I forgot. I dropped Dainia's reigns in a hurry to get here in time for court. My horse has probably wandered off. I do not know where he is."
"Then you must borrow a dress from Susan. Come, I will not take no for an answer." He led her to her old room. "It hasn't been touched since you left it."
Rayla looked about the grand room. It almost seemed familiar, but she couldn't believe that she had once lived in a room as grand as this one. It was spacious and light poured through open windows making the room light and cheery. There was a large painting of Aslan above the bed. She stared at it.
"You always loved that painting. You have faith in Aslan when no one else does. That is one of the many things I love about you."
She looked at the painting for a moment longer and then back at Peter. "I always knew that he knew what he was doing."
"And he has brought you back to us." Peter gave her another hug and then went off to get a dress from Susan's room.
Rayla wandered around the room.
"This is bigger than my entire house back in the village!" she thought.
It was neat, but it was obvious that someone had lived in it. There was a book on the deck by the sofa that was by the fireplace. She picked it up and started reading. That is how Peter found her when he returned with the dress. He walked in and smiled. Rayla started.
"Sorry, you startled me," she said. She put the book down.
"I bought you that book, you know, for your fourteenth birthday."
"It was a wonderful gift. I love it."
Peter smiled at her. "Well, I am off to find the others. I will come get you once I have gathered them all. Is that alright?"
She nodded.
She looked at the dress Peter had left for her on the bed. It was light blue and very beautiful. She quickly put it on. She looked at the bed. It was so large. She guessed that it was probably very comfortable too. She sat down on it and then laid back. It was even more comfortable than she had supposed and, weary from her travels, she quickly fell asleep.
xxxxx
Peter gathered Susan and Edmund in the library and then went up to get Lucy. He found her fast asleep on her bed. He was loath to wake her, so he decided to let her rest some first. He quietly left the room. He then went to tell Susan and Edmund that something had come up and he would have to show them the surprise a little later.