Author's note: I do not own anything from Narnia. I realize the story seems to be moving quickly (at least through the events that unfold during the movie) however, i intend to have a lot more happen after the last few scenes of the movie, but most of these first chapters are going to have to do with very closely with the storyline portrayed by Disney. Enjoy! Read/review if you like it!
"Come on, now. Focus." Lucy commanded.
She and I stood in the woods near the howe, doing target practice. For the past three days Lucy and Mel had been attempting to teach me archery and Edmund tried to teach me sword fighting while Peter and Prince Caspian (I still didn't know him on a first name basis) prepared to invade Miraz's castle.
I knocked the arrow back in the bow and took a deep breath, honing in on the target a hundred feet away. How I stood any chance of landing a shot near it, I had no idea, but still, there I was. Attempting what I knew was the impossible.
Releasing my breath, I let go.
A sharp pain appeared in my arm as the string snapped my skin yet again.
Ignoring the pain for a second, I watched my arrow soar for a pathetic ten feet before burying itself in the earth. "Damn it!" I yelled, throwing the bow to the ground angrily. I glanced at my arm and noticed that it was now bleeding.
I cringed and looked away quickly.
"You okay?" Lucy asked. "No, that one friggin hurt!" I whined like some four-year-old. Lucy giggled and opened the first aid kit that was propped against a nearby tree. She poured a small amount of antiseptic onto a cloth and grabbed some gauze, walking back over to me.
She didn't even warn me, she just pressed the cloth to my arm and began to clean up the cut.
"Holy shit!" I yelled, jumping at the sudden burst of flames that sprung up in my arm. Lucy gave me a stern look that said 'watch your language' but I couldn't care less. I glared right back at her and bit my lip to the point of drawing blood as she finished cleaning and wrapped my arm up again.
I spat some blood on the ground as my young friend began to talk.
"That's the fifth time since we started, Chris. You have to be more careful."
"I hate archery! I suck at it, Luce! I SUCK!"
She crossed her arms over her chest and waited for me to finish my mini temper tantrum, and then she led me through the woods to where my next practice session was due to begin. As the trees thinned we came to the field surrounding the howe, and right at the edge of the wood was Edmund.
Since he had to help his brother prepare for the invasion, I had to take two sword fighting lessons per day. An hour and a half at dawn, and two hours at night. In between these lessons, I would be with Lucy or Mel in the forest, practicing archery.
He was stretching, eyes scanning the trees occasionally. Two swords, one real and one only a practice one, lay on the ground ten feet away accompanied by two large metal shields. "Finally, what took you two so long?" he questioned as we approached him.
He spotted the bandage on my arm. He and his sister shared a look then burst out laughing.
I scowled.
"Arm…up…" the young king gasped between giggles.
I glowered at him for a few moments before walking to the pile of armor next to the swords and shields. Ignoring the chain mail, like I always did, I pulled on the cuirass and tightened the straps on both sides. Then I yanked on the arm guards and picked up my sword, the real sword.
Edmund let me use a real sword since day one, while he used a practice one. Everyone obviously thought I was in no danger of tagging him anytime soon.
At least I was doing better in sword fighting than I was in archery.
I had actually made progress.
Three days ago I could barely lift the heavy hunk of metal, let alone the shield. Edmund had me pinned and my sword across the field in less than a minute. Since then I could now hold the sword correctly, and I could go a full five minutes against the first sword of Narnia before he took my weapon.
Lucy said goodbye, then took the archery supplies back into the caves with her, leaving me alone to fend for myself against the best swordsmen in Narnia.
He took me through various sword and feet positions and attack techniques. When I made a mistake he showed me the correct way to do it and then made me practice it a few more times before moving on to the next technique. This went on for about half an hour.
Finally he stopped me and grabbed his practice sword and shield with a smug smirk on his face.
Sparring time.
"You know, I'm starting to think that I might actually need to wear something to protect myself."
I raised an eyebrow, wondering what he meant. My heart soared at the prospect of him actually telling me that I was giving him a run for his money. My brain laughed and told my heart that it was stupid and naïve to believe that.
"The thought of you with any sort of weapon probably terrifies Aslan himself," he taunted.
Stupid know-it-all brain.
I wrinkled my nose at him and got into a fighting stance. He mimicked my actions, the smirk still evident on his face. Oh, how I wanted to wipe that smug look right off his mouth. I narrowed my eyes and waited for his attack.
When it came, it was strong and forceful, almost knocking me to my feet.
Edmund wasn't as large as his brother, but he was definitely just as strong, if not stronger.
I dug the heel of the leather boots I borrowed from susan into the soil and blocked his sword with my shield. "How many times have I told you, using the shield is a last resort. You block with your sword," he lectured.
His hand grasped the edge of my shield and pushed it away from my face. He grabbed my right arm and pushed it up so the sword was on a horizontal slant. Then, he pressed his sword against it vertically.
"Ready?"
I took a deep breath, committing what he showed me to memory, and then stepped back. He regained his fighting stance. I did as well and waited for another attack.
He lunged forward again, and a metallic screech filled the air as I blocked his blade with mine. He smiled "good." I allowed myself a small grin. Then, channeling all my strength into my sword, I rotated my arm, pushing his blade off of mine, and spun around, getting back into my fighting stance.
"Very good," he said, his smile getting bigger. He had taught me that move yesterday, and we spent close to four hours (even though it angered Susan that we were out way after dark) trying to perfect it. I only ended up with a sore arm and a big bruise on my shoulder.
We fought for another five minutes.
Sweat was beading on my forehead and I desperately wished for something lighter than the heavy dress Mel had made for me. I ran the back of my arm along my forehead, watching Edmund as he circled me.
Stupid Bastard, he hadn't even broken a sweat yet.
Suddenly he lunged at my right side. I side stepped him and ducked as he swung his sword around quickly, attempting to get me in the neck. As I stood back up I felt one of his legs knock my feet out from under me.
I hit the ground with a thud, dropping my sword. I groaned angrily as I watched Edmund kick my sword out of my reach, still pointing the practice sword at my throat. My eyes widened as he raised it above his head, getting ready to swing down at me.
He stopped with the sword positioned over his head, and looked down at me.
"Now would be a last resort," he whispered, winking.
Understanding, I grabbed my shield and put it up in front of me just in time to stop the sword from hitting me. Slowly, I rolled to my knees, dodging the thrust of his blade. I was about to stand when he attacked full force.
His sword hit my shield and the pure force of the swing forced me onto my rear end. I rolled to avoid the stab he aimed at me, getting to my feet and eyeing him warily.
My arms were sore, especially the one with the bandage on it. My feet were killing me, and I knew for a fact that I would come out of this training session with about five more bruises to add to my collection.
But part of me was so proud! I had gone longer than five minutes without losing my sword, and even after I had, I was still fighting.
"Edmund, Christina! It's getting dark, session's over!" I heard susan yelling from the howe.
I glanced in that direction, seeing her silhouette disappearing back into the caves when I felt a tremendous force knock me onto my butt, again. When I fell I dropped my shield. Looking up, Edmund was standing on top of my shield, so I couldn't grab it, and the tip of his sword was at my throat again.
"What was the very first rule I told you about fighting?"
His eyes were very serious as he stood there, waiting for me to answer. If I didn't answer I wouldn't be able to get back up. Racking my brain, I thought back to what he had said during our very first training session.
"Don't get distracted!" he cried, impatience taking over.
"But it was susan-"
"If you're going to be fighting in a war, which I highly doubt you will, you'll have hundreds of distractions around you. People will be fighting, yelling, and dying. You will see some of your friends die, but if you take your mind off the fight for one second,"
He paused to push the tip of his sword closer to my neck, poking the skin, "You'll be dead."
I gulped. His eyes were dangerous, and even though he was a couple years younger than me, I was still frightened by the wisdom, and seriousness, and anger, and cruelty behind them. This boy had seen too much to be only 16, it was obvious.
He held out his hand and helped me up, patting my back. His smile lightened the mood.
"You did good, session again tomorrow."
With that, he packed up the swords and shields, took the armor I was wearing, and went inside. I sat in the grass, my back against one of the large stones at the entrance to the howe. Sighing, I leaned my head on the stones.
The sun had begun to set as Edmund and I finished our session. Now the sun was disappearing behind the tree tops, transforming the brilliant red and orange hues to dark blues and purples. Closing my eyes, I thought about my weapon training.
I was getting good at sword fighting. My progress was slow, but I wasn't awful at it, like I was at archery. After I got better, and actually stood a chance in any fight, I could actually see myself liking sword play.
Like? Swords? Do you realize what happens in a real sword fight?
I flinched again as an image of me, plunging a sword through the stomach of some man I didn't even know popped into my head. Shaking my head, I tried to rid my brain of that image, but it wouldn't go away.
I was squeamish. I got dizzy at the sight of my own blood. I was absolutely horrified (as in I would rather die than face one) of needles. Yet, I somehow liked sword fighting? That wasn't going to work well.
That's why archery had been my first choice.
If I had to kill people, which I still couldn't imagine doing, I would rather it be indirect. So I wouldn't have to see them die at my hand. Watch the life drain out of their eyes and know that I had just killed an actual human being.
I could've taken someone's father, or brother, or husband, or son. And there would be no way to take it back.
An involuntary shiver rippled through my body as I thought of this.
"Are you alright?"
I jumped, looking for the source of the somewhat familiar voice. When I saw him, standing in the entrance to the Howe, I put my heart to my chest, as if to stop it from beating right out of my skin.
He chuckled. "Sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you."
"I-it's ok." I stammered.
"Would you mind if I joined you?"
My eyes widened as I looked up at his handsome face. My stomach erupted into butterflies and I felt a blush creep onto my cheeks. Thank god it was getting dark. I looked away from his mesmerizing eyes before I began to stare and shrugged.
He lowered himself to the ground next to me and leaned his head against the stone.
I could hear my heart pounding in my ears. I had never been good around guys. I preferred to just admire them from afar, too nervous to make a move. Most of the time I kept to myself and watched my friends and other girls go after the guys they liked. And most of them ended up having boyfriends.
I was still single, because I was too shy to talk to guys.
"Are you alright?" he repeated.
"Um, y-yeah, I'm fine."
"I'm not sure we've been properly introduced, have we?"
"Not really," I whispered, looking straight ahead. I knew exactly who he was; I didn't need to be introduced. But, as usual, the guy I happened to admire had no idea that I even existed. No, scratch that. He did know I existed, he just had no idea who I was.
In my peripheral vision, I saw him hold out his hand.
"I am Prince Caspian."
"It's nice to meet you, your majesty-""Please, just Caspian." A dark pink blush painted my cheeks. "Nice to meet you, Caspian. I'm Christina" I whispered. "Pleasure to meet you." He still held his hand out, so I nervously reached out and took it.
Instead of shaking it, like I expected, he carefully brought my hand up and pressed a soft kiss to the back of my hand.
I stopped breathing.
I quickly pulled my hand into my lap the second he released it. My head turned up towards the sky and I tried to focus on the beautiful stars. There were so many here. And they were all so bright.
Living in the heart of New York City, I never saw any stars, and even when I left the city, I never got the chance to see them as clearly as I did here. I could feel my mouth open in awe.
"They're beautiful, aren't they?"
Caspian was looking up at the sky. "Mhm," I hummed, still staring at the brilliant sky above. Both of us lost the urge to talk as we sat there, admiring the stars. We just sat there for a while. I didn't really keep track of time.
"Before I …left, my professor would wake me up at night, and we would go star gazing. He would point out the different constellations and tell me each of their stories. Even after he went back to sleep, I stayed out and just…watched."
I turned my head and looked at the side of his face.
There was a faint smile on his face, although his voice sounded almost sad. His deep brown eyes looked black, and they reflected the stars. He seemed so transfixed by each twinkling spot in the sky. I couldn't help but smile at how fascinated he was.
He turned to look at me, his smile growing wider.
"What?"
I looked away quickly, my cheeks a dark scarlet color.
"Nothing." I mumbled.
I could feel him staring at me, but I refused to look at him. If I looked into those big brown orbs I would get hypnotized, I would stare until it got awkward, and then I would run away, my cheeks burning.
"Have you ever star gazed before?"
I looked down a little more, letting my hair fall in front of my face, creating a barrier between me and his penetrating eyes. "I've tried. But no matter where I go, you can never see them as clearly as you can here." I replied.
I looked back up, cracking a small grin at the gorgeous lights above my head.
"Why'd you leave?"
There you go, blurting stuff out again.
I glanced up at him and saw a pained expression on his face. I mentally punched myself for asking. "My uncle. He has been after the throne ever since my father died. The only reason he kept me around is because he didn't have an heir. When my aunt gave birth to a son he tried to kill me, so he could take the throne for himself and his son." He breathed.
What was I supposed to say to that? I'm sorry your family wants you dead?
He didn't seem to want a response, which was good, because the best I could come up with was I'm sorry. And, although I had never known the feeling of knowing that your family wanted you dead, I knew that he was tired of hearing I'm sorry's from everyone.
"Christina!"
I jumped, startled by the familiar voice inside the cave.
I had been so caught up in Caspian's words, thinking how to respond to them, that I hadn't noticed how dark it was. "Christina?" Lucy called again. I looked at Caspian, not wanting to leave but knowing that if I stayed the conversation would be awkward.
"I have to go," I whispered, standing up.
He remained seated.
"Goodnight, your majesty," I mumbled before rushing into the main cave. Lucy was standing on the far side of the room, her eyes scanning the few people in the room for me. Quickly, I made my way over to her.
"There you are…where were you?"
"Outside," I answered, hoping she would leave it at that.