Enjoy reading :) ...
They sailed for ten days, upwind and downwind, day and night. Luckily there weren't any more attacks or complications. The topics of their rare conversation were restricted to the danger that had befallen Narnia. They had many guesses from famine to a war with the giants till the return of the white witch but they couldn't tell anything for sure.
Since the sound of the horn they hadn't got any other sign from the Narnians, no homers or eagles or any other creature had brought them news. This trembling uncertainty was the worst. They couldn't wait to fight.
Even Susan, who was still angry about being in Narnia, was looking forward to sureness, looking forward to arriving at Cair Paravel to know, why she had been sent her. She wanted to fight that danger off as quickly as possible, so that they could search for Edmund and Eustace as soon as possible and so that she could return to England as soon as possible.
Everytime Susan met Caspian, she felt herself getting weaker. Everytime she looked into his wonderful brown eyes, she felt how her knees turned into jelly. She was very intent on not touching him, but from time to time, when they met in the small hallway for example, she couldn't avoid it. And when she touched his body, she could feel how he tensed every muscle. Then he was looking at her with so much longing and desire, that Susan would have liked most to run into his arms. But she couldn't let this happen anymore.
Those moments were awkward moments of silence. They never talked to each other, beside the necessary, but when their gazes met, their eyes told each other everything they needed to know.
Susan's wonderful sapphire blue eyes told Caspian how hurt she still was and so he didn't make any more advances, although his heart longed to be near her, to touch her, to hold her in his arms and to kiss her. The meetings with her were torturing.
He was also looking forward to arriving at Cair Paravel, not only because of the danger that had befallen his country but also because on land he wouldn't meet Susan that often.
So in the morning of the tenth day after they had decided to sail back to Narnia, they were able to make out the towers of Cair Paravel and by midday they arrived at the harbour.
There they were taken aback by what they saw.
The whole city crowded along the street leading to the harbour, celebrating their king's return.
Normally that wouldn't have been that stunning, but the kings and queens had expected sorrow and danger. What had happened? Why had Trumpkin blown the horn?
The kings and queens abandoned the ship and were welcomed by Trumpkin, Glenstorm and several Telmarine lords. The Narnians looked surprised but happy that the kings and queens of old were there as well, while one couldn't quite read the expressions on the Telmarine's faces.
"DLF!" Lucy shouted, running into the arms of the dwarf, who had a bride smile on his face, happy about seeing his old friends again.
"Welcome home, dear kings and queens! But where is King Edmund?" Trumpkin asked, noticing the young king's absence.
"That's a longer story! What has happened here? Why have you blown the horn?" Caspian worried.
"That's also a longer story to tell and here's not the place for it! Let's head to the castle!" Trumpkin said, keeping the kings and queens in suspense.
They mounted their horses and rode at the head of the procession towards the castle, waving to their jubilant subjects. All of them knew how to put on a public facade, having ridden many parades, partly with terrible headaches, hurting wounds or sorrows.
Moreover the king and the queens of old were stunned by the beauty of Cair Paravel. Caspian had told them that he had rebuilt it to its old glory and they had been looking forward to returning to their old home, the place, from where they had so many happy memories, where they had grown up.
It wasn't exactly the same as in old days, but from what they saw at first sight Caspian and his men had done a pretty good job, guessing its look and structure from old records and the remains.
When they reached the courtyard of Cair Paravel and grooms came to take the horses.
"Please prepare the rooms for the king and the queens!" Trumpkin ordered a young maid and then he turned to the kings and queens, "There will be a ceremony, where I officially give over the throne to Caspian again, you can prepare yourself in your rooms, everything is arranged, but I guess you want to know what has happened first?"
"Yes, immediately!" Peter, who had been awkwardly quiet so far, said.
"Then follow me!" Trumpkin leaded them into the castle, through the hallways, to, what Susan supposed to be his studies.
There he asked them to sit down, while he started pacing the room, not knowing how to begin, "Well you know, we've thought about blowing or not blowing the horn for a long time and in the end we've decided that the danger of a war is too big and so..."
"First of all, who are we? Who knows from the danger?" Caspian inquired.
"We are the Professor, Glenstorm, the Telmarine Court and my humble self. We've tried to keep it a secret for we didn't want to worry the people, so there are only a few others, who know about it." Trumpkin informed them.
"And what is IT?" Peter couldn't hold back anymore. He needed to know, needed to know for what he let his brother down, for what he let his family down.
"The Calormenes have invaded Archenland and we think they want to invade Narnia as well!"
"That's it?" was Susan's first thought. That's why they sailed day and night? That's why they left Edmund and Eustace to their certain death? Because somebody might invade Narnia somewhere along the way, maybe tomorrow, maybe in a week or maybe next year?
If the others had that thought as well, they didn't speak it out loud or acted like it. Peter was the first one to speak, "We have to safeguard our boundaries, make sure that the people near Archenland are protected! Who is the current king of Archenland? Do you have any alliances with him?"
"The current king is King Nain. I've only once met him, when he visited Cair Paravel after my coronation. Since then we've had constant correspondence. We've only a spoken pact that our countries live in peace next to each other!" Caspian informed the others, messing up his hair frustrated, not knowing what to do next.
"Do you have any pacts with Calormen?" Peter asked. Caspian just shook his head.
"Have there been any attacks on Narnia so far?" Caspian asked his regent.
"Not that I know!" Trumpkin told them.
"We've to gather our forces and we've to make ourselves a picture of the situation!" Caspian continued, "If there are any Calormen forces stationed near the border, if they've already attacked any Narnians..."
"I can do this! I take some soldiers and inspect the boundaries at once!" Peter lent himself.
"Wait! Don't you two think you are rushing things?" Susan interrupted them, "We know far too few things to ride off to war. We know that the Calormen have invaded Archenland, but we don't know if they had any reasons for that..."
"Reasons? Susan, you know why they did this! The Calormen have always wanted to get the power over Archenland and Narnia! Especially you should know what they are like!" Peter shook his head.
"That has been thirteen hundred years ago! Peter you can't judge a nation because of what happened such a long time ago! We don't know if they've changed!" Susan pointed out.
"I also think we shouldn't rush it!" Lucy piped up, stepping between her siblings, "Riding to war would only cause unnecessary bloodshed! We should rather enter into negotiations with Calormen!"
"Well, it's Caspian's decision, isn't it?" Peter said triumphantly and they all looked towards Caspian, whose face turned dark red.
Caspian knew that they all had much more experiences in those things than he had despite their younger age. Well they had reigned over Narnia for more than fifteen years. They all had a point in what they had said and he didn't want to get in a fight with either of them.
He enjoyed the way he was getting along with Peter since he had returned to Narnia and he didn't want to put that on stake. Moreover it had also been his first thought to fight!
But Lucy and Susan also had a point he had to listen to. Besides Susan was the last person he wanted to fight with and she was already looking at him angry.
However, what was most important was the welfare of his people! "I think we should try to avoid bloodshed and try to come to terms with the Calormen. Nevertheless we should gather our forces and make ready for war. I don't want to fight but to protect the innocent, I will not be afraid to use my sword!"
Caspian looked at the King and Queens of Old, afraid of their reaction but all of them, even Susan smiled, nodding their heads appreciatorily.
"Well said, but first of all you have a throne to receive! And a story to tell! How has your journey been? And where's King Edmund?" Trumpkin inquired.
Caspian took a deep breath. He was standing in front of the big wooden doors leading to the Great Hall. Half of Narnia was gathered in there, as well as the King and Queens of Old.
Within the next minutes this door would open and every eye in there would be focused on him.
During the ceremony he would receive back the crown but that was the pleasant part of it. Later he would have to explain to his people why the Kings and Queens of Old were back in Narnia, and why one of them was missing. It had already been hard to explain it to Trumpkin, who was his friend, but to explain it to the people, for whom King Edmund had been kind of a saint, a hero, was worse, especially because deep in his heart Caspian knew that it was his fault, that he wasn't with them.
How would they react? He could only hope that it wouldn't arouse a fight between the Telmarine people and the Narnians. The relationship between those two races had been very tense for a long time and a civil war was the last thing they needed!
The doors opened and Caspian walked in, trying to look as regal as possible. Clarions were playing and the centaurs were saluting with their swords on both sides of the aisle.
At the far end of the hall, just before the great glass windows, there stood the four white marble thrones, just as in the days of old. The King and Queens of Old were standing in front of them, all clothed in Aslan's colours. Caspian's gaze got stuck on the throne on Peter's right that had remained empty.
When he averted his eyes from the empty throne his gaze fell on the gentle queen. She looked breathtakingly lovely in the red dress that left her shoulders bare and ran out into full skirts. Her hair was mostly loose, held back only by a tiny golden crown. But her eyes weren't matching with the rest of her appearance. They weren't shining, but looking sad and tired, revealing the grief she had gone through.
He reached his own throne that was centred and one dais lower than the four white marble thrones. To its left and right the Telmarine lords had gathered, while Trumpkin was standing in front of it, holding Caspian's crown in his hands.
Caspian knelt down before the dwarf, tilting his head respectfully. Trumpkin placed the crown on Caspian's head, stepped aside and bowed to the king, who turned to his people.
"When I was crowned King of Narnia I swore an oath to personally search for the Seven Lost Lords that my uncle Miraz had sent to explore the Great Eastern Ocean. This journey was supposed to take a year and a day! The Great Aslan sent the Kings and Queens of Old to help me! Unfortunately things, dreadful things, I couldn't avoid, happened! During an attack by pirates King Edmund and another friend of Narnia went overboard and got lost! I am..."
A murmur went through the crowd and Caspian raised one arm to silence them, "I am sorry to say that we haven't found them yet..."
"Then why have you returned to Cair Paravel yet? Why have you stopped the search?" one of the wolves howled, the Narnians nodding in agreement.
"It was me, who decided to stop the search and return here!" Caspian suddenly heard Peter's voice and he turned around giving Peter a grateful smile. The muttering of the crowd got louder.
"We got alarming news from Cair Paravel and decided together to return here! We will however continue the search after everything is settled here!" Caspian continued, "I don't want to disturb you, but the Calormen people have invaded Archenland and the war clouds are gathering. I will try everything to avoid a war but we may have to fight!"
At these words the crowd went wild. There were outcries, the people started discussing with their neighbours and it took several minutes until Caspian was able to carry on, "In times like this, it is most important that we stand together! No matter Telmarine or talking beasts, we are all Narnians, we are one nation and together we are strong!"
This time it was Lucy, who came to his help, shouting "Long lives the King!" and to Caspian's surprise the crowd joined her.
So that's it ... what do you say? .. the thing with the Calormen - pretty cliched, eh? :) ...
Well I hope you liked it! I know it wasn't that suspenseful or romantic or whatever again .. but it's going to be better promise!! Or at least I like the next chapters better than this one .. but you'll see! ..
I'll try to update soon - but I have two huge huge huge exams next week - so I don't know if I'll have time, but I'll try! ..
And reviews would be great as always!! .. Thanks again to those who reviewed so far - you guys are great!!!! :D ...
