16 - Lucy And Van In Silverwood

Lucy stood at the bow of the ship, letting the wind rush through her hair. Maybe it was the sun, or the wind, the snapping canvas or rushing waves. Maybe it was that they made for Selbaran, where he'd last been seen—but she hadn't felt so close to Aslan since his last visit to Cair Paravel. Too long ago.

Van stood on the bowsprit, with one hand on a rope and the other holding a telescope to his eye.

Or maybe, in the Lion's absence, she had learned to see a part of him in everything.

She sought Edmund at the ship's wheel. He caught her eye and smiled, and that, more than anything, reassured her she was on the right path. It felt good to see her brother smile again.

"Land ho!" called the lookout.

She had never been to Selbaran—never thought much on its existence before Asha came to Narnia, really. So it came as a complete surprise to see that they were docking, not at a normal seaport, but a cove devoid of anything except forest, beach, and a crumbling rock pier.

She, Van, and Edmund took a longboat to shore. The official report was that they were to recover a stash of buried treasure. They had left Nalis, Darius, and Arrow with the ship, along with a few higher-ranking crew that Ed trusted well enough to maintain order in his absence. Pirates might be untrustworthy as a whole, he said, but where there were riches to be gained, the lot of them could be counted on to follow whomever gained them the greatest. And The Phoenix had not earned status as one of the most feared ships in the sea for nothing.

Van's brows rose, and he eyed Edmund. "How long did you have to plan all this?"

"A couple of months to secure a brigantine and make my contacts," Edmund said. Van kept staring. With a pointed look, Edmund added, "Natures are the same from monarch to manservant and horse to hag. They like security, Van. Work can be bought. True loyalty has no price."

"And how do you know someone won't come along and spirit away your crew to richer waters?"

"I take that chance each day. So far, it's ..." He stopped speaking as the boat approached the shore, and sat bolt upright.

Only then did Lucy notice the flutter of something coming down the pier on the breeze. "What the ..." Van said.

By the time the boat bumped the rock, Edmund was already out of it and running. The look on his face said everything. Tears stung Lucy's eyes as the shape melded into a human form.

Van leaped out of the boat. His sai materialized in his hands.

She climbed out and laid a hand on his arm, finding it tense with agitation. "It's all right," she said. A tear trickled down her cheek as she watched the shape solidify into Asha. Edmund slammed against her a second later, and their arms went around each other. Her brother kissed Asha fervently, then hugged her close again. Lucy clasped a hand over her heart, smiling, glad she was too far away to hear as Edmund whispered into his wife's ear. He kissed her again, so passionately that Lucy blushed just watching them.

"Knows her, then," Van said in a deadpan tone. He flipped open his coat and stowed his sai back in their sheaths.

Lucy shot him a glance of amusement, then secured the boat to an outcrop of rock. "We should go," she said.

"How did she know he was coming?"

"What the trees know, she knows. Asha's the queen of the Selbarani dryads."

Van scanned the trees with an expression somewhere between fascination and discomfort. "What in Underland have I gotten myself into?" he muttered.

"Come," Lucy whispered, tugging at his sleeve.

With a last look at Edmund and Asha, Van followed her along the curve of the shore and into the forest.

- # -

Lucy hoped Edmund was right. She and Van were tasked with seeking out the White Witch's people, while Edmund gathered information on Selbarani troops from Asha. For the first hour, Lucy and Van met with nothing but birdsong.

"I'm surprised you talked Arrow into flying you," she said, picking her away around a cluster of rocks bordering a stream where they'd stopped for water.

"He's not as intimidating as he'd like to think," Van rumbled.

She grinned. "Really? He was talking for a while about dropping you into the ocean. Know what a fall from that height into water is like? Like hitting solid rock."

Van glared at her. "He could try, but I'd take half his feathers with me."

She chuckled. Van might bluster about Arrow, but she knew a healthy respect when she saw it.

They traveled on through the forest. They spoke mostly in hand signals, wary of enemy movements. When they emerged from the lush greenery to a clearing whose center bore a spot of blackened earth, Lucy began to creep out into open to explore it.

Van snatched her by her tunic and yanked her back. "Me first," he growled.

"I have every right—"

"Your brother charged me with protecting you. I may not be much, Your Highness, but I keep my word once I'm fool enough to give it." He swept a hand up his opposite sleeve and withdrew a wicked throwing knife.

As he brushed past her into the clearing, Lucy stared after the sway of his long coat and wondered just when he'd had the opportunity to give his word to Edmund about anything to do with her. His cuffed boots left no marks in the already-trampled grass as he circuited the clearing. Finally, he crouched at the dead campfire and lifted a stick of burnt kindling to his nose. When he saw her looking, he angled his head to beckon her out of cover.

She went to him and knelt beside him at the patch of soot. "What are you looking for?"

"Still warm. Traces of sulphur and sage. This wasn't just for warmth. They were using it for spells." He held the kindling out.

The whiff of sulphur gagged her. "What do you know of magic?"

"More than I want to," he admitted. "I started looking into magic theory when I learned about my—What does your brother call it? Pedigree?" He threw the kindling down. "I can't call on it myself, but I know enough of Haggish spellwork to recognize a containment curse when I see one." He stood and looked skyward, then turned in a circle. "Where are we?"

The urgency in his voice stirred her nerves. "Silverwood, the forest surrounding Silverwood Castle. Asha's home, and the seat of Selbaran. Van, what are they doing with this?"

He pulled her to her feet. "Let's hope they haven't completed the circle. Once they do, no one will be allowed to leave it. The Selbarani will be trapped here, useless to your cause ... and us, too. All she'd need to do is pick us off like penned-in sheep."

She, meaning Jadis, Lucy thought. She rushed with him out of the clearing, following a trail of flattened grass that she now saw as the spoor of a traveling party. At least a half dozen, she estimated, and not troubling themselves to hide, based on the prints she could discern and the amount of damage to the underbrush.

Kamus had set the perfect trap. Lure them to Selbaran with news of Asha's peril, and keep them there. Lucy stumbled over tree roots, staying upright only because of Van's grasp of her hand. "Can the circle be broken once it's complete?" she panted.

"No. Not by any means of mine. We need to stop them, or we, Edmund, and his leddy are done."

A terrifying thought flashed through Lucy's mind. The longer they followed the enemy trail, the more likely the idea seemed, and fear began to curdle in Lucy's stomach. "This is the way to the castle. They would know by now that Asha must use the Well of Opals. Van, they might be heading there to poison it."

Still running, Van released her hand to toss the knife back to her. She caught it in mid-stride and veered off to the other side of the still-fresh trail.

Van reached inside his coat to wrest his sai from their sheaths. "Then we get there first."