Bruno's presence at her back wasn't as comforting as she'd hoped it would be. Alessandra didn't have the pleasure of ever being in setting foot in the castle dungeon before and she could confidently say that she never wanted to again, to keep up the charade Bruno had to shackle her and she hoped that he was planning her escape. It was still dark outside and she wondered if Caspian had made it to the woods, the professor hoped that if it came to that the Telmarine's wouldn't follow him there, that they'd be too afraid to.

The heavy door to the dungeons opened and several pairs of footsteps came stomping in. She felt Bruno tensed just before he took a step back from her as Miraz rounded the corner, General Glozelle in tow.

Miraz took one look at her and devious glee lit up in his eyes, "Well done soldier." He told Bruno nodding to Glozelle who tossed a back of coins at him.

Miraz came to a stop in front of her looking down his nose at her, "Yes it is you," he sneered, reaching out to pull her pendant from the top of her dress, "May not know your name, but I'll never forget this. Where is Caspian?"

She didn't respond, one who knows where Caspian could possibly be by now, two she wouldn't give Miraz the satisfaction. He hummed and the slightest twitch of his lip before a searing pain erupted on the side of her face.

"Where is my nephew?" He asked again crouching down to her level after his hit sent her to the floor.

"I don't know," she responded through gritted teeth refusing to give into the urge to cup her face.

Miraz sniffed, then pushed himself to his full height, "Leave us." He directed to the other two men.

"My Lord?" Glozelle asked unsurely.

"Now." He said shortly there was a moment more hesitation from both men, Bruno especially but neither of them could argue and left them in the room.

"I will admit," Miraz said conversationally, his hands toying with something she didn't bother to raise her head to see, "I didn't think my nephew had it in him," when he turned there were two goblets in his hands, "If he were here perhaps I might congratulate him." He extended one of the goblets in her direction and when she didn't take it he tossed it at her, it landed near her knees, the contents, water, flying out and soaking her skirt, "Where is Caspian, girl?"

"I don't know." she repeated.

Miraz nodded and bent to her level again, his hand striking out again, not to hit her but to wrap around the front of her neck squeezing tightly. This time she did react, her hand covering his wrists as he began to squeeze.

"I could kill you, you know." He said, squeezing further, "But I need you alive." He huffed, releasing her and shaking out his hand as if to clean it, he took a sip of his water, "Perhaps though," he said as he stood placing his cup back on the small desk reaching for something at his waist, "You could be persuaded hm?"

For the first time since Miraz walked in she felt fear when she saw the dagger in his hand. "Where is Caspian?"

Bruno heard the interrogation start, he stood closer to the door than Glozelle like the good little soldier he was, he heard Miraz's voice get more angry and Les's refusal to give. He wished he didn't hear when the questions stopped and the screaming started.

He tensed and his fists clenched at his side, he wanted to burst down the door and march in there to kill Miraz with his bare hands, but now wasn't the right time. And he was certain that Caspian would want that honour.

Glozelle left shortly after the screams started not for the same reasons that Bruno wanted to, someone from the outside had summoned him.

"Where is he? Where is Caspian?"

"I don't know, I don't know!"

Alessandra was sobbing now, Bruno could hear it through the door. Either Miraz still didn't believe her or he was enjoying hurting her, he was willing to bet it was the latter.

When Glozelle returned rushing through the door looking slightly spooked for reasons he wasn't privy to. He wasted no time rushing to the door Bruno was standing guard in front of and he was quick to stand aside.

"Lord Miraz," the general gasped when he opened the door, barely blinking at the scene before him, "There's something you need to see."

Alessandra wasn't sure how long she laid there, it could have been minutes, it could have been hours that she laid there, face on fire, blood trickling from her split lip into the dusty ground beneath her. Rivalled by the blood pooling from the top of her arm, she wriggled her fingers experimentally, thankful that they still moved so there was that. She was certain that Miraz hadn't nicked any arteries, he was too methodical for that so the bleeding should slow soon, but she couldn't find the energy to force herself up to clean it.

Bruno was in shock, what else could this hellish day bring? First Caspian was forced to run by himself? Then he had to listen to Lessy being tortured? Now this? A dwarf, at least Bruno believed it to be a dwarf. His knowledge of Narnians was dismal at best, regardless half the council was of the belief that Caspian had been kidnapped by these not-quite extinct Narnians. Bruno knew that not to be true but would go along with whatever would give Caspian and Lessy a fighting chance. Speaking of Lessy,

"What about the girl, my Lord?" He questioned after being told that he and another soldier would be responsible for getting rid of the dwarf in the river.

"What about the girl?" Miraz asked in suspicion, luckily Bruno was prepared.

"Perhaps we take her with us? If Prince Caspian is alive, and nearby, we could use her to draw him out?" It was a flimsy excuse at best and Bruno, who'd prayed more in the last day than he had in his lifetime, prayed that Miraz wouldn't call his bluff.

"Very well." The new father nodded, turning in his heel and disappearing down the hall.

Bruno released a sigh, finally having a moment to himself, he allowed himself to slump against the nearest wall and rub his hands roughly over his face scratching his beard. Now at least he'd be able to get Lessy out of the castle without being questioned, he'd figure out the next step somewhere along the lines.

Steeling himself he made for the dungeons, almost afraid of what he'd find there.

Alessandra flinched and whimpered when a hand grazed the side of her face pushing back her hair, she tried to crawl away from Miraz but a different voice stopped her.

"Hey, hey it's me Lessy," at the sound of that nickname she paused, allowing familiar hands to sit her up on the dusty floor. Bruno's rugged face swam into her view as he looked at her with concern, "Shit Lessy, I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault." She told him, voice raw from screaming, she flinched when he wrapped a cloth around her upper arm, tightening it slightly.

"Sorry, sorry," he hurriedly apologised in response to her flinch, "When you find Caspian, the first thing you need to do is get that cleaned."

"What's going on?"

"I'm getting you out of here."

"He won't stop staring." Bruno resisted the urge to roll his eyes and his comrades remark.

"So don't look." He half-snapped, his shoulders were on fire and the afternoon sun wasn't forgiving. Bruno wanted to get them as far away from the castle as possible, under the guise of getting rid of the dwarf with no one in the city being the wiser, but really so he could give Les the best chance at finding Caspian he could.

"Here's far enough." He fellow soldier said hurriedly, evidently the stare of the dwarf becoming too much for him to handle.

Not wanting to rouse much suspicion he stopped rowing pulling the oars into the boat and standing carefully to help haul up the Narnian. Before they could toss him overboard an arrow pierced the side of the boat making them freeze and Alessandra jump, for a fleeting moment he hoped that it would be Caspian but one glance down at the arrowhead showed that not to be the case.

"Drop him!" A young voice commanded, and well, they did as fold. His fellow solider got an arrow to the shoulder for his troubles and Bruno had barely enough time to grab Alessandra by the arm and toss her over before diving out the boat on the other side.

Was Bruno trying to save her or kill her? Surely he had to know that she couldn't swim, the fact that her hands were bound and mouth gagged didn't help matters either. She was sinking like a rock, her legs getting tangled in her dress and no matter how much she tried to pull her arms she wasn't moving.

An arm wrapped around her waist and a body pulled her close as her saviour kicked off from the bottom of the river to propel them both to the top. When her head broke the surface she immediately gasped for air only to choke them she inhaled the water that had soaked into her gag.

"You're alright, I've got you." An unfamiliar voice with a strange accent soothed. Whoever it was, they were no Telmarine, in fact they sounded rather like Professor Cornelius. She didn't have a choice but to trust him, at least for the moment as he began kicking.

When they made it to shore, there were two pairs of gentle hands helping her settle on the sand and a small girl cut away at the binds on her wrists, once she was free she pulled the gag from her mouth and coughed up the bit of water that she'd inhaled.

"Thank you." She told them earnestly, locking eyes with the boy who saved her. Maybe a year younger than her with golden hair and bright blue eyes.

"You're welcome."

"A little help." Another voice called and the boy broke eye contact rushing back to the shoreline to help the dark haired boy haul in the dwarf then the boat.

"Here, let us help you up," A gentle voice said before the older of the two girls, still though younger than herself was standing in front of her offering her a hand, Alessandra took it and let her help her to her feet, "What happened to you?" she questioned in concern.

Before Alessandra could respond a furious voice rang out, "Drop him?" the dwarf snapped, tossing his newly cut restraints into the sand, "Drop him? That's the best you can come up with?"

"A simple 'thank you' would suffice." The older girl huffed in disbelief.

"They were doing fine drowning me without your help."

"Maybe we should have let them." the oldest blonde boy said pointedly.

"Why were they trying to kill you, anyway?" the youngest girl had a voice like bells.

"They're Telmarines." The dwarf said like it should be obvious, "That's what they do."

"Not all of them." Alessandra defended her heritage, hugging her injured arm close to her body.

"Telmarines?" The dark haired boy echoed, eyeing her with the slightest hint of mistrust, "In Narnia?"

"Where have you been for the last few hundred years?" The dwarf countered, rolling his eyes in annoyance.

"It's a bit of a long story." Alessandra thought that to be a Curious statement and wanted to know what the oldest girl meant by that, when she caught sight of the sword she was handing back to her saviour.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me." The dwarf was much less eloquent than she would have been, "You're it?" still the sentiment was the same, if they were who she thought they were this had to be a mistake or a sick joke, "You're the kings and queens of old?" they all looked younger than she was.

"High King Peter, the Magnificent." Her saviour spoke, holding out a hand to the dwarf in a strange manner. What did he expect him to do, smell it?

"Probably could have left off that last bit." The oddest girl, who she could now identify as Queen Susan teased.

"Probably," the dwarf teased in return, clearly not believing that these children were who they claimed to be. And honestly Alessandra agreed with him, it was difficult to come to grips with the thought that these children that looked to be several years her junior were supposed to be the Kings and Queens of Old that she'd read so much about.

"You'd be surprised," the boy claiming to be High King Peter said, taking the jest in stride offering the dwarfs the hilt of his sword.

A challenge?

"Oh, you don't want to do that boy," The dwarf warned with a chuckle clearly still in disbelief.

"Not me," Peter said standing aside letting the dark haired boy who must be King Edmund step forward, "Him," he finished as Edmund unsheathed his sword.

Alessandra wasn't sure why she felt trepidation, and she wasn't sure who exactly for either, the dwarf or the dark haired boy.

The dwarf was clearly still skeptical even as he took Peter's sword, the weight causing him to almost drop it. Turns out that was a ruse.

Alessandra took a step back in shock when the sword fight began. The clang of the blades made her jump as she'd never been so close to combat before, Bruno never bothered to let them train with swords and the closet she ever go to one was during lunch when the guard set his aside for comfort, or whenever she sat on Caspian's lap and he hadn't removed his armour yet and the pommel dug into her back.

The dwarf clearly underestimated the boy and both he and Alessandra were proven wrong when he was disarmed within moments of the bout beginning. "Beards and bedsteads!" The dwarf fell onto his bottom in shock after the sword was knocked out of his hands. "Maybe that horn worked after all."

"What horn?" The youngest girl who must be Queen Lucy asked.

When Caspian started to come to, he was greeted by a pair of unfamiliar voices that made his heart race slightly, his first thought was 'where was he?' His second was 'where was Alessandra?'. Moments later it all came flooding back, along with a throbbing headache.

His eyes opened and had to adjust to the dim lighting, finding himself in an unfamiliar room lit by a warm fireplace. Sitting up slightly bringing a hand to his head, pulling off the bandage tied there and remembering how it got there. He was knocked unconscious by a. . . .

No, that wasn't possible. It looked like a dwarf from his professor's books. But Narnians were extinct. Weren't they?

Quietly peeling himself up from the too small cot, he crept towards the closest door where the voices were coming from, peeking out he was shocked at what he saw.

". . . what he was doing. It's not the boy's fault."

Sensing his opportunity, Caspian dashed out of the room and tried for the door only to be blocked by, a dwarf?

The dwarf drew his sword and in response Caspian grabbed a poker from the fireplace parrying the dwarfs strikes.

"Stop! Stop!" The badger, Caspian, couldn't believe that there was a badger pleading for them to stop.

"I told you we should have killed him when we had the chance." The dwarf growled, swinging at him again, which Caspian blocked.

"If we're taking a vote," Caspian almost couldn't believe the conversation he was having with these creatures, "I'm with him."

"We can't let him go. He's seen us."

"That's enough, Nikabrik! Or do I have to sit on your head again?" Caspian wasn't sure what that meant, but he was sure that he didn't want to find you, "And you," the badger snapped, pointing at him and the mess on the floor, "Look what you made me do." He never thought he'd be on the receiving end of a beratement of a badger.

Caspian wasn't sure the hit to the head hadn't killed him or if he was still unconscious because he almost couldn't believe the creatures in front of him were real and that he was having conversations with them, until they reminded him of why he was in there presence to begin with.

"Where are you going?"

There was only one thing on his mind, and the words escaped his mouth before he could think twice about them, "I have to find my lady, my uncle won't stop until I and everyone I love are dead."

"But you can't leave," the badgers plea made him pause in pulling his armour back on, "You're meant to save us, both of you," he picked up the horn that Caspian blew, "Don't you know what this is?"

Now having confirmation of who they were, the dwarf, who identified himself as Trumpkin was slightly less hostile. The four kings and queens properly introduced themselves, without the pomp that Peter had and both Alessandra and the dwarf introduced themselves in kind.

They questioned her, rightfully so, about who she was and why she was nearly drowned alongside the dwarf and she told them a shortened version of what she'd experienced. Leaving her relationship to Caspian out of it for now. They were still weary of her, rightfully so, she was a descent of the invaders that destroyed their home but thankfully elected not to leave her behind.

That was how she wound up on the same boat once again this time with more bodies, floating across the river as Peter rowed them along.

"They're so still," the younger queen, Lucy, said sadly, gazing up at the canopy of trees as they passed under it.

Surely she couldn't mean the trees could she.

"They're trees, what do you expect?" Trumpkin grumbled, confirming that that was what Lucy was referring to.

"They used to dance."

"It wasn't too long after you left that my ancestors invaded," Alessandra told them quietly, "Stories told us that Narnians were savage, my Professor said that those that survived the invasion retreated into the woods."

"The trees though," Trumpkin finished, "They retreated so far into themselves that no one's heard from them in centuries."

"I don't understand, how could Aslan have let this happen?"

"Aslan?" Both she and Trumpkin echoed in disbelief, albeit for different reasons as the dwarfs was almost a scoff before he continued, "Thought he abandoned us when you lot did."

"We didn't mean to leave, you know." Lucy told him sadly.

"Makes no difference now, does it? "

"Get us to the Narnians," Peter cut in his voice confident, "and it will."

Peter rowed the boat close to the rivers ended before he and Edmund jumped out to guide it ashore, once the boat safely nestled in the sand Trumpkin also jumped out to help anchor it. Both boys helped their sisters out the boat. Peter turned to Alessandra "Here," he said offering her a hand, "Let me help you."

"Thank you." She carefully accepted his offered hand and climbed out of the boat, her feet sinking into the soft sand. Watching as they worked to tie off the small boat.

"Hello, there." Lucy's soft voice called out jovially, they turned to see her approaching a brown bear with a beaming smile on her face, "It's all right. We're friends."

What was she doing? Alessandra wondered, watching as the bear leaned up sniffing the air around the young queen.

"Wait!" Alessandra yelled, making the girl pause and glance back curiously.

Trumpkin was the first to react. "Don't move, your Majesty."

Lucy did the opposite and the bear roared, rearing up on its back legs and charging after the young girl. Immediately her siblings sprang into action with Susan drawing her bow as Peter and Edmund reached for their swords in the boat.

"Stay away from her!" The older queen demanded however the bear paid her no mind.

"Shoot, Susan! Shoot!" Edmund pleaded as he and Peter ran straight for their sister.

The arrow that implied the bear though came from a different direction and Susan lowered her bow in confusion looking to Alessandra who directed her gaze further back where Trumpkin was lowering his own bow.

"Why wouldn't he stop?" Edmund questioned aloud as they all stood over the bear that was tugging to take in breaths.

"He was probably hungry." Alessandra said like it was obvious, which to her and Trumpkin it was.

"Thanks." Lucy said to the dwarf after Peter pulled her up from the sand and into his arms.

"He was wild," Edmund continued, "I don't think he could talk at all."

"Get treated like a dumb animal long enough, that's what you become," Trumpkin said darkly dropping to his knees pulling a knife from its sheath, "You're ancestors may have gotten something right, you lot may find Narnia a more savage place than you remember."