THE LAST TEMPTATION OF SUSAN
Chapter Eight: Left Behind
Susan undressed for bed with a smile on her face. She was still a bit worried about the open gateway and the dinosaurs, but she was thrilled with the way her talk with Rabadash had gone. Both of them had matured a lot since the early days in Cair Paravel. Climbing into bed, the queen hugged her pillows with a happy sigh. Dash was still mad about her. He was so brave and handsome! More important, the prince had a kind heart. He wanted to do good. His kisses made her melt. In the morning they would sort things out together.
"Ah, the sun is glorious," said a husky female voice, late the next morning. An unseen hand drew back the curtains.
"No more kisses, Dash. Get up early tomorrow." Susan rolled over mumbling in her sleep as golden sunlight flooded the room.
"Awake, fair queen." A plump hand shook her gently by the shoulder. "Our beloved prince has gone to the mountains, seeking wisdom on the peaks by the light of the rising sun."
"What? Gone seeking wisdom? What mountains?" The Queen of Narnia awoke with a jolt. A heavy, black-clad woman was standing beside the bed.
Zuleika Tarkheena bowed low. "The prince left early this morning, o northern queen. But the new day awaits you."
Susan sat up in bed, her lovely brown eyes shooting sparks. "What do you mean, Prince Rabadash left for the mountains at sunrise? Was he alone? Why didn't anyone tell me?"
Plump Zuleika stifled a smile as she offered a tray of food. "The prince will return soon, fair one. He left you a note."
"That was decent of him, anyway," Susan muttered. Her good sense told her that anger was unqueenly. All the same, as she spread the note on her breakfast tray and quickly read it over her fine dark brows knitted into a fierce frown.
Sweet Susan,
Do not be angry. Have gone to the mountains to ask Aslan's blessing for our dangerous quest. Will return soon. Can you play a game or two of tennis with Rozalina? She must learn to control her temper – it is a Calormene trait. Love, DASH.
"No, it's a human trait," Susan growled, crumpling the note into a tiny ball and dropping it in the far corner of her tray. She felt like hitting Rabadash, or hugging him. Going to seek out Aslan was exactly the right thing to do – so why was she feeling so left behind?
What she really needed was to get moving herself, and do something to unravel all the mysteries of this strange jungle. While she was eating a late breakfast in bed Susan thought about rushing out and trying to catch Rabadash on the trail, but a glance out the window told her it was nearly noon. Dash had too good a start, for he had gotten up early while she caught up on her sleep. Now it was too late to catch him. And if she wandered into the jungle alone there was a good chance she might meet another hungry dinosaur – perhaps even the same one who tried to gobble her up before!
Just then she remembered seeing green, cultivated fields and gently rolling hills out behind the spacious modern villa of Benruz Tarkhaan. A walk in the fields could do no harm – she might see the mountains in the distance. And if she learned more about Benruz Tarkhaan it would be a good thing too. Rabadash said he liked him, but did not trust him. Susan lay back on the rumpled pillows, lacing her hands behind her head. She was still thinking things over when the Tarkhaan's plump, smiling wife came back for her tray.
"Ah, your appetite does the cook much honor, fair queen! Would you like me to lay out your tennis dress? Or perhaps you would rather put on a bathing costume and swim in our outdoor pool? Later on a rest in the shade might be good, and while you are resting I will bring you some iced tea."
"That all sounds lovely, thanks," Susan said politely. "But this morning I thought I'd look through some of the clothes your honored husband has brought me from my own world. I want to explore outside for a bit, too. But not too far, I promise!"
One thing Susan was good at was getting along with the more stuffy variety of grown-ups. Zuleika was a bit nervous about her going outside at first, but after the two of them spent an hour going through the young queen's wardrobe the kind-hearted older woman was completely on her side.
"Imagine how our beloved prince will feel when he catches sight of you in that outfit!" Zuleika exclaimed, after Susan had finally put together the right sort of clothes to wear. "Your figure is feminine, but in that attire you could almost pass for a man. Such short trousers and such sturdy boots!"
"In my world women have more freedom, and therefore we dress more sensibly." Susan really didn't wear trousers that often. She realized that the olive green shorts and matching blouse did not conceal her curves. Just the opposite, in fact. But she was sure Rabadash would approve of her new look.
When she got outside, of course, her choice of shorts and a blouse seemed even more sensible. The noonday sun was fierce, and the humidity was oppressive. Susan had knotted a lemon-yellow kerchief around her throat just to give her drab walking outfit a touch of color. As she climbed the gently sloping landscape behind the villa she realized she would soon need the gaudy rag just to mop her sweaty face.
There wasn't much to see in the green fields. After walking a mile or more uphill, the Queen of Narnia stopped to rest. Shading her eyes with her hand, Susan looked towards the mountains. The twin peaks that marked the gateway to other worlds looked very far away. She wondered which route Rabadash had taken. She wondered when he would be back.
She also wondered what sort of crops Benruz Tarkhaan was growing. The low, green bushes she saw all around her didn't resemble any food crops that she knew. They were rather like blackthorn bushes in England. Sloes grew on blackthorn bushes, and the black berries were good to eat. But Susan didn't see any sloes here.
The tired and sweaty Narnian queen was just turning back towards the air-conditioned villa when something small and hard hit her between the shoulder blades.