Chapter 6

When Eustace opened his eyes the very first thing he noticed was how stiff his body felt. He ached all over from both the beating that mother nature had given him yesterday as well as from the long night spent on the stone floor of the cave.

Hoisting himself up by his elbows, he turned onto his stomach and levered himself up onto his knees, then braced his hands on his thighs and shakily got to his feet. That was when he noticed something else.

Sasha was gone.

Great. Now he was sore and abandoned.

His mind was way too foggy from just waking up, so he really couldn't care less at this moment. After all, she was the one who had pushed him into the trees when they were being chased down my the boggles and was the one who had suggested sleeping in the godforsaken cave.

He stretched his arms and legs out to try to loosen up the tight muscles a bit, and braced his hands on his back and bent back over them to give it a good crack.

"Sleep well?"

Eustace almost jumped as that cheery voice reached his ears. He hadn't even heard her approach, though that didn't surprise him much. He turned in the direction it came from and saw Sasha walking out of the woods, her pack slung over her shoulder and seemed to be very full at the moment.

"I figured you might be hungry, but thought we should save the rabbit till later, so went out to go find some more berries. Their actually quiet easy to find if you know where to look for them."

"Oh-uh, thanks," he said lamely.

She smiled brightly at him and sat down near where the fire had been, which was now just a bit of smoke escaping from the center of it. She started to blow on it very lightly, adding what looked like small pieces of a birds nest to it as she did. Soon the fire caught again, and she held her hands over it to try to warm them.

Even though it was summer, the mornings still had a sharp nip to them and Eustace could see the goose bumps that had formed on her arms where she had rolled up her sleeves to keep them out of reach of the fire.

He noticed that she had always seemed to make sure that the fire never got too big, always throwing a bit of dirt on it when it did. He guessed that it was because she didn't want to draw to much attention to them. If the fire got to big then the smoke would reach above the trees and could be seen from a good distance away.

He found himself wanting to ask her about were she lived again, wondering if she even had a home at all. She seemed to know an awful lot about surviving in the outdoors and he wanted to know if that was because she lived out here. If not, than she didn't seem to be in any big rush to get home. For some reason, the thought of her not having any place to go saddened him. Everyone deserved to have someone. She seemed so lonely, yet so uncaring at the same time and he wondered how that could be. Did she even care that she was on her own? She seemed not to.

Snapping out of his thoughts, he noticed that she had actually been talking to him this whole time and didn't seem to notice that he hadn't heard a single word she had said. He sat down by the fire opposite her and found that she had set out fresh berries and honey sickles. He ate eagerly, picking up on the conversation and trying to act as though he had been listening to her the entire time.

They talked about things of unimportance, which seemed to be her favorite kinds of thing to talk about. But, then she brought the conversation back around to their journey to nowhere.

"So, had a chance to think about where you would like to take us yet?" asked Sasha.

She smiled at him, expecting him to say that he had no idea, or just mumble incoherently. But, instead he actually gave her something of an answer.

"Aslan," it was almost a whisper. "I want to see Aslan."

Sasha seem taken aback by this answer and knew that it was not one that she had been expecting.

"Aslan?" she almost choked on the name.

"Do you know where he is? Sense he has returned they say that he could be found at Cair Paravel or a place called Aslan's How. Or at least that's what Lucy tells me," Eustace ranted excitedly.

"Who's Lucy."

Eustace waved a hand in front of his face as though that hardly mattered right now.

"She's my cousin. Do you know where I could find him?"

Sasha just sat there stiffly for so long that he thought she might not answer his question, he could she cogs and wheels turning in her head, and her brain seemed to be working a mile a minute. Finally, her face lighted, and she forced the stiffness out of her body, relaxing back into her usual uncaring self.

"Sure," she said, with a flick of the wrist. "No problem."

Eustace's spirits lightened immediately, and the world seemed to grow a bit brighter. He had a plan. He was going to see Aslan. The Great Lion was what had kept his mind most occupied whenever he daydreamed about Narnia, and he couldn't believe that he hadn't thought of this before!

He popped another berry into his mouth, this one tasting ten times better than all of the others he had consumed. He felt as though a gigantic weight had been lifted off of his shoulders. He hardly even noticed the stiffness in his back and shoulders any more.

He grinned over at Sasha and she halfheartedly smiled back, seeming to him to be very dedicated to the honey sickle she was she was sucking the juice from.

They quickly finished their meal, then afterwords broke down the camp together. Eustace threw dirt over the fire then gave it a good stamp to smother any small flames that were thinking about flickering back to life, while Sasha took down the thorn covered sticks from their resting place against the cave entrance and threw them into the nearby trees.

Once they were finished you could hardly tell that anyone had ever been there.

They made their way back onto the path, though this time Eustace was the one with the slight skip to his step.

The trees here still grew closer together like they had farther down the path, it seemed to him like the farther he went the closer the trees grew. The more closed in he felt. It was kind of dark here despite the morning light, though that made the light that did brake through the trees in golden streaks seem that much brighter. He ran his hands through each one he came to, feeling the heat it gave off as it hit the back of his hand. It was very beautiful in its own way, the light seeming to almost sparkle where it fell from the sky like pixie dust.

He really didn't mind the darkness here. Nothing could damper his lightened spirit. He was just as excited and full of wonder now as he had been when he had first arrived here in Narnia, touching the enchanted looking light post.

He was a few steps ahead now of his companion, even though she was the one who was suppose to be showing him the way. But, for now, the path was a straight one, so he said nothing and just kept going.

"Lucy you say," Sasha said thoughtfully from somewhere behind him.

He turned his head to look back at her and she jogged up closer to his side so that he didn't have to strain his neck.

"You mean Queen Lucy don't you?" she said, it wasn't really a question, more of an accusation. "You said you're her cousin. You must be the one Aslan named Knight. You're Sir Eustace"

Eustace starred at her startled for a moment. He hadn't expected her to recognize either one of their names let alone both. He had no idea how much time had gone by since they had all left Narnia, for the time did seem to be different her than it was in England, but he knew that he must have been quiet a long time. Caspian had taken over as King, and there names must have been left in a book somewhere. People of importance were only really thought important while in power, and didn't really matter to anyone while out of it.

She laughed at his stupefied expression.

"Didn't think I would recognize the name? Caspian has been in reign for a long time now, but, no one has forgotten the names of the Kings and Queens who brought us spring," she told him solemnly.

"But, how did you know whom I was?"

"All of the realm has heard stories of the brave Knight and how he saved Caspian and his men right from the brink of death. Some even say that the brave Knight, Sir Eustace can turn into a dragon whenever be pleases, flying throughout the sky and all the way to the stars."

"Okay, now you're just messing with me," said Eustace.

He could never believe that anyone would ever think him as brave. No one told stories of him doing brave acts. No one thought of him with awe and wonder.

"What I tell you is the truth. You're a hero to any small boy and a Knight-in-shining-armor to any girl. You don't give yourself very much credit do you?" she said smiling up at him.

Maybe it was how she said everything so non-pulsed that made it so hard for him to believe her. She didn't seem to be the least bit excited by the fact that she had just come to figure out who he was and what he had done for her kingdom. She just said things as if they were fact and that was that.

He did wonder though, if what she said was really true. If he was a hero to little boys. He had been very proud of what he did for the people of Narnia, and had been very honored when he was anointed Knight. It was what he thought of when he was bullied at school, or was just having an all together very bad day. He would think of Narnia, and how here he was a hero. But, hearing it from the mouth of someone else made it seem like even more of a fantasy than the thought being stuck in his own mind.

He did wonder though.

"It was quite brave really, what the stories say about you," said Sasha simply, braking him out of his thoughts once again.

He looked down out her at those words, but once again her face was an unreadable mask.

"Really?" he asked.

"Really. I would think that you would know how to use a knife however," she added with a smirk.

He blushed, knowing that her words were true. He always carried his pocket knife with him wherever he went. He had been very proud when it was given it to him by his farther for his birthday. It had once belonged to him, and he told him to take very good care of it. And he had.

He never used it.

He just liked to carry it around with him - its presents made him feel stronger.

"Like I said before, I can show you how. It not hard really – with a little practice I might even let you come hunting with me to catch diner one of these nights," she jested.

The thought of her teaching him how to throw a knife seemed to be a bit of an awkward one, but she was right, he really ought to know how to throw a knife, so in the end he agreed too let her train him.

"Very well," she said with a stunning smile. "We can start when we make camp tonight. We can stop a bit earlier so that we still have a bit of daylight left to work by.

He nodded, starting to grow excited, a least by the prospect of having a use for his knife. It wouldn't have to just be dead weight to be carried around in his pocket anymore. He had secretly always want to go hunting as well – there was something so attractively manly to the sport, but his farther had never taken him, and knew that he wasn't very attracted to the idea, though many of his friends were. He listed to them talk about catching bucks, and squirrels, and made it sound very exciting. His father however just sat there and listened to them talk, seeming to not really care what they had to say on the matter.

"Thanks Sasha," he said, deciding that having running into her was turning out to be pretty lucky.