A New World - Caspian Love Story

First Meeting

I was running through a field. I feel the sun shining down on me and the wind in my face. I couldn't stop smiling. I turned around and saw a man running after me. He was very handsome. He had dark shoulder length hair and deep brown eyes. I yelled something but it came out muffled. He caught up to me and we fell to the floor laughing. I woke up.

I woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of a horse running through the forest. I climbed out of bed and into the kitchen. Everybody had worried looks on their faces. Trumpkin told me to stay put as he rushed out with Nikabrik sword in hand. Everything happened so fast, I'm not entirely sure what happened, but next thing I know, Trumpkin is getting dragged away and Trufflehunter and Nikabrik are dragging a young man inside. I help them pull him onto one of the other beds.

"Here." Trufflhunter said as he passed me a bowl of water and clean cloth. I finished bandaging his head. I had to admit, he was really handsome and strangely familiar.

"We should probably remove his shirt...I... I mean his armor...he'll be more comfortable." I could feel my face turn red, I was so embarrassed.

"Right." Nikabrik said sarcastically.

I walked away leaving the handsome mystery man to rest. I couldn't stop thinking about him. He reminded me of the man in my dream from the other night. I decided to get a bit more sleep before sunrise. I soon woke up and started helping trufflehunter with chores around the house, if you can even call it that. It's more like a hovel inside a tree. It's cozy and I've come to like it, even though it was clearly built for people much shorter than me. After the chores were done, I sat down to have lunch.

"This bread is so stale." Nikabrik said with a scowl on his face. I never could figure out why he was so grumpy all the time. Trufflehunter went into the kitchen. "I'll just get him some soup then."

"He should be coming around soon." I said starting to get worried that he might have been more injured than I thought.

"I don't think I hit him hard enough."

"Nikabrik, he's just a boy. Trufflehunter scolded him.

"He's a Telmarine, not some lost puppy. You said you were gonna get rid of him."

"No. I said I'd take care of him. We can't kill him now. I just bandaged his head. It would be like murdering a guest."

"How do you think his friends are treating their guest?"

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

All of a sudden, the young soldier came out of the nook where he was resting and tried to make a run for it but was stopped by Nikabrik. He grabbed a poker from the fireplace. Trufflehunter was trying to stop the fighting, "Stop! Stop! Hold it. No, no"

"I told you we should have killed him when we had the chance."

"We can't!" I screamed. Trufflehunter had told me the stories of the Kings and Queens of old and how the Telmarines invaded Narnia, but that didn't mean they were all bad.

"If we're taking a vote, I'm with her." he said, nodding towards me.

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

"That's enough, Nikabrik!"

He was fighting Nikabrik then fell back onto the steps

"Or do I have to sit on your head again? And you. Look what you made me do. Sarah spent half the morning on that soup."

"What are you?" He asked, looking over at Nikabrik with a confused look on his face.

"You know, it's funny that you would ask that. You think people would know a badger when they saw one." Trufflehunter said as he made his way to the kitchen to get a fresh bowl of soup.

"No. No, I mean... you're Narnians. You're supposed to be extinct."

"Sorry to disappoint you." Said Nikabrik with a disgusted look on his face as he sat back down at the table.

Trufflehunter placed the bowl of soup on the table. "Here you go. Still hot."

"Since when did we open a boarding house for Telmarine soldiers?"

"I'm not a soldier. I am Prince Caspian. The tenth." He said proudly.

So the tall dark and handsome stranger has a name. But was a prince doing deep in the woods all alone. Something wasn't adding up.

"What are you doing here then?" I asked.

"Running away. My uncle has always wanted my throne. I suppose I have only lived this long because he did not have an heir of his own."

It's always the uncle.

"Well, that changes things."

"Yeah. Means we don't have to kill you ourselves."

"You're right." He started walking towards the door.

"Where are you going?" I asked, wondering what his plan was.

"My uncle won't stop until I am dead."

"But you can't leave. You're meant to save us. Don't you know what this is?" Trufflehunter had convinced him to stay a while longer and explain the legend behind Queen Susan's horn. After he finished his soup, he left. I grabbed my cloak and bag and got up to go after him.

"Where do you think you're going?" Nikabrik asked me.

"After him. He'll get himself killed if he goes alone." I looked back at them. They shared a look, knowing I was right.