Chapter 2

AN- Thank you once again for continuing to read on. One quick question should the story only be from Caspian and Victoria's POV or should I involve the Pevensies journeying to meet them both?

Side by Side both horses ran, their speeds were swift and their steps long as they flew through the fields and away from the palace behind them.

Both horses knew that their speed would be the only thing that would save their riders from the danger therefore neither horse stopped as it reached the dark forest, instead they continued into the forest, Victoria and Dulcinea only a short distance behind Caspian.

In the silence of the forest, the voices of their pursuers were heard clearly and they knew their ride had to be ever so swifter if they wanted to survive the rest of the night.

Out they flew from the trees, they continues their path towards the river. Without fear, their horses plunged into the cold, bitter water and swam with all their strength towards the other side.

Behind them, came their pursuers, their horses stopped with hesitation at the edge of the river. But in less than a minute their riders forced the horses to continue into the water, their urge to catch them both began to show with desperation.

"Caspian, they are getting closer," Victoria cried to her brother as she turned her head seeing Glozelle's soldiers cross the river. With Victoria's cry Caspian turned his head to also look back to see how close they were becoming. Victoria smiled as the river began to speed and the riders and horses went under.

"Let's keep won't be long before they leave the water" Caspian shot his sister a quick look as they turned and carried on their ride into the dark forest.

Leering low on the back on her horse, enjoyment showed on her face as she continued riding through the forest, the wind blowing her hair back out of her face. The smile spread on her face as she saw the moonlight and stars begging to shine through the small amount of trees in front of her.

"Caspian, the trees are ending, I can see the end of the forest!" she shouted excited that they had made it this far without incident. She turned her head to look at Caspian to see him nowhere behind her.

"Caspian," She called out once more as she turned the horse around. She frowned; she knew her brother would reply. "Caspian," Fear gripped her and a tear rolled down her face as she did not hear a reply from her dear brother. She thought of the only possible solution, they had caught him. A minute later a loud horn rang through the forest, she sobbed harder as she climbed off of Dulcinea.

She kept a grip on Dulcinea's reins as she looked out into the open plains; she turned burying her face into the white mane of her horse. All in one night she had lost everything she had left.

She leant against the tree as Dulcinea lay down. Understanding that her rider was in no mood to ride any further than they had already gone. Victoria's small body slowly slipped down the tree and she sat in the dirt, crying for her brother.

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A gently nudge on the side caused the young girl to stir and slowly open her eyes. For only a short moment she had forgotten where she was, she looked around confused before it all came flooding back into her mind.

Sitting up, she brushes the messy blonde hair out of her hair and stretched her aching muscles. It was the first time she had ever slept outside and she not found out how stiff it made her small body.

She slowly stood up and looked around searching for her white horse, which was nowhere to be seen.

Not even a trace of where the horse had gone could be seen, she felt her courage leave. He was supposed to be there for the young princess, to help her get through the loneliness. But he was not and it made her feel even more abandoned than she already was.

What had awakened her was nothing she could spot and therefore she did not think much of it as she gathered her belongings. She frowned as her stomach growled in hunger. She looked through the pack she thankfully took off of Dulcinea's back the previous night. At the top was a neatly packed piece of bread which she slowly nibbled on as she placed the bag over her back.

"Are you lost?" A small voice asked.

The new voice caused her the jump and drops the bread, in a quick motion her hands moved and grabbed her two daggers. She frowned as she turned around finding nobody standing as she had expected to see.

"Oh, no, I'm sorry, I did not mean to scare you." The voice came from beside her; Victoria let her eyes search the area for whomever the voice had belonged to.

"Where are you?" Her voice quivered lightly as she kept a tight grip on her daggers.

"I am right here." A gently nudge came to her leg and she looked down, only to find a badger standing there, looking up at her with dark eyes.

"You..." Her hand moved away from the badger as she stared in shock "You can talk"

"Last time I had checked, yes I am talking badger." A small smile came to the badgers lip. Victoria relaxed as he did not seem to be dangerous.

"So, you are a Narnian badger? Just like in the stories?" She placed her daggers back into the side pockets as she studied the badger closer, he looked like any other badger would, But with a slight difference as he was a little larger and walked on his hind legs.

"Well I am not aware of which storied you have read, But I guess I must be if you say that I am" The badged has an amused look planted across his face, but did not seem to be offended in any way by Victoria's comment. "My name is Trufflehunter."

"I am Victoria." She smiled down at the badger. "I hope you don't mind me asking, Trufflehunter," she hesitated for a moment taking a deep breath. "You have not seen a young man somewhere have you, you see, my brother and I were being hunted by soldiers from the castle last night. We seemed to have gotten separated." She frowned as she recalled the previous night. "I did hear a horn being blown somewhere in the forest, I believe that it might have been him, but I'm not fully sure."

The badger chuckled lightly causing her to turn towards him in confusion, having no idea what part of that question could be amusing. He nodded lightly

"Please excuse me, but I know where your brother is. We found a young man with a bruised head last night; he blew the horn before my friend cause silence him with another blow to the head. He is in our house. It's only a few minutes from here," He shifted his to the side to indicate the direction of his house. "I could take you there, if you would want to see him."

Victoria smiled and enthusiastically nodded giving him the answer. He started forward towards the forest, speaking as he went "We will be there in no time,"

Without hesitation, she followed him, hope growing in her chest. She did not have to live without her brother after all.

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The little house was the smallest house Victoria had ever stepped into, but it also looked the cosiest. It was so small she could barely stand up straight inside of it, and she felt as though she had just became a giant and everything around her had shrunk.

The friend Trufflehunter had been speaking of, turned out to be a dwarf with black hair whose name was Nikabrik, he showed clear signs of not wanting her in this small house.

"Another Telmarine! As if one is not enough," He grumbled. Trufflehunter showed Victoria into a small room where Caspian laid unconscious. A bandage was wrapped around his head and a small spot of blood had seeped through the corner of it. The sigh of her brother in such a state made her angry. It was her uncle's fault. He was the reason they had ended up in this situation, She wanted to make him pay for all the pain he had caused her family and Narnia.

Trufflehunter grabbed the dress of her dress and pulled her to a seat in the corner of the dining room, she listened to both of the Narnians speak. A warm blanker was placed around her shoulders and her daggers and sword on the floor beside her feet. She felt much better now she was somewhere warm and safe along with her brother.

"This bread is so stale." Nikabrik glared at the piece of bread resting on the table before him and turning towards Trufflehunter, who was handing Victoria a bowl of soup.

"I will just get him some soup then." The badger sighed and headed towards the small kitchen, where another wooden bowl was filled with the warm liquid.

You said you were going to get rid of him." Nikabrik lowered his voice, thinking that Victoria could not hear him from where she sat "And her, you should get rid of her too." Victoria glared at the dwarfs back.

"No, Nikabrik. I said I would take care of him, and Victoria. She is his sister." The badger noticed the girls glare and sent who an apologetic look, at this Victoria's glare turned into a small smile she sent towards the badger.

"Well, I do not think I hit him hard enough." The dwarf grumbled louder than his last sentence, no longer caring that Victoria sat in the corner.

"Nikabrik! He is just a boy." Trufflehunter's voice began to sound annoyed and Victoria guessed that soon enough a fight would break out between the two Narnians.

"He is a Telmarine, not some lost puppy, and the girl is of the same blood. They would not hesitate to kill us in our sleep!" The dwarf turned glaring at the girl.

"We cannot kill him now, not after bandaging his head. It would be like murdering a guest." Trufflehunter sighed and dipped the spoon into the bowl in his paws, before starting towards the room.

"And how do you think his friends are treating their guest." Nikabrik's voice showed clear anger and Victoria understood that he meant the third inhabitant of the house. According the Trufflehunter, the second dwarf, Trumpkin, had gone out to defend Caspian against the soldiers from the castle, and ended up a prisoner of theirs.

"Trumpkin knew what he was doing." Trufflehunter replied in a small murmur.

Not a minute later, Caspian burst into the room. Victoria quickly placed the bowl on the table that lay in front of her and stood up. He grabbed his sword from the side of the room and Nikabrik did the same with his sword, they both began fighting.

"Stop it!" Trufflehunter said loudly only for his voice to be drowned out by the clashing of two swords.

"Caspian stop it," Victoria said softly as she moved closer to them all, the blanket still held around her shoulders.

"I told you we should have killed them both, when we had the chance." Nikabrik's spat angrily at the badger.

"You know exactly why we can't" The girl frowned as she moved closer to her brother, Caspian look down at her checking she was alright, in response she nodded.

"If we are taking a vote, I'm with him." He shifted his head to the right where the badger stood. "I second that vote." Victoria said smiling lightly at them all.

"We can't exactly let them go, they've seen us." In a quick motion Nikabrik knocked Caspian's sword to the side and pushed him back so he landed on the steps leading up the room that he previously laid in injured.

"Nikabrik, Enough or do I have to sit on you head again." Victoria giggled lightly at the badger's threat, which caused the dwarf to glare at her. Everything suddenly became quiet. The badger looked up at Caspian.

"Look what you made me do; I spent all morning on that soup." The girl smiled at the badger, before moving to the seat she had previously sat in and continued eating the soup.

"And it is very nice as well Trufflehunter." Caspian turned to me confused. Then back at the dwarf and badger.

"What are you?" he asked, his sister rolled her eyes.

"You know, it's funny that you would ask that. You think more people would know a badger when they saw one." He turned to his sister, who merely shrugged at the response to his question.

"No, No I mean your Narnians, you're supposed to extinct," Victoria sat listening to them all, understanding why Caspian was so confused. She did after all grow up hearing that Narnians were extinct.

"Well sorry to disappoint you." Nikabrik mumbled moving back to his seat at the centre table.

Trufflehunter walked to the table and placed the bowl of soup next to Victoria. "Here you go, Still hot." He said turning to Caspian.

"Since when did we own a boarding house for Telmarine soldiers, and their sisters?" Without a second thought Caspian responded.

"I am not a soldier, I am prince Caspian." He stood up as he spoke, walking to the table. "The tenth." He added.

Nikabrik frowned confused. "What are you doing here?" Caspian looked at the floor and then to his sister, who did the same.

"Running away" He paused in hesitation "Our uncle has always wanted my throne, I suppose we have only lived this long because he did not have an heir of his own." Nikabrik sighed.

"Well, that changes things; at least we don't have to kill you ourselves." Caspian turned to look at them.

"You are right." He began walking to the door. Victoria quickly stood up picking up her daggers and sword and followed in pursuit.

"Where are you going?" Both Nikabrik and Truffle hunter asked, frankly Victoria also wanted to know the answer.

"Our Uncle will not stop until we are dead." Victoria's eyes widened and watched as he put his blast waist coat over his shoulders.

"Wait, you can't leave, you're meant to save us." Victoria turned to the badger confused.

"What do you mean; we are supposed to save you." She asked confused. Caspian did the same frowning at them; Trufflehunter picked up the white horn which Victoria presumes is the one that she heard the night before.

"Don't you know what this is?" he asked them both. They looked at each other before turning back to him.

AN- Thank you for reading the Chapter and following the story, This has been the longest chapter I have ever written, I mean it was 5 pages on a word document.

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