𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘, s. pevensie

vi. the way there

THE WAY WAS FAR AND THE NIGHT DARK. James' way led to another farm, closer to the city, that had horses on them.
She would only borrow one of those horses and ride to castle, otherwise she and her adoptive father would die, which James wanted to avoid at all cost.

She reached the farm and its stables after just a few miles of walking. As silent and fast as mice, James entered the wooden hall. The horses were gossiping amongst each other, except for one.

The girl walked over to its box and whispered: "Hey there!" The horse's head shot up as it has been burried deep in the food bowl filled with pellets.
The animal connected its eyes with James'. "What do you want?", the horse asked with a quiet voice.

The other horses in the stable haven't noticed the intruder, yet.

"I need your help. It's a life or death situation, I am not joking. I promise I'll bring you back and you can be with your friends again, but I need your help for a couple of days."
James replied quietly and quick and tried to sum everything important up. The horse didn't seem to understand though.
"What?" It tilted its head a little bit to the left and just stared at the girl.
"How about you tell me who you are first and then you'll explain why you're here?"

James nodded slowly and the pointed into the horse's box. "May I come in? It'll make it easier to communicate."
"No," was the short answer.
"Alright then."

The brunette took a deep breath before she started to talk. "Alright. So, my name is James and I live with my adoptive father on a farm not far from here. His name is Cypauck and he's a faun. Today I went to the town and my... well let's just say... bully, wants me to do something near Cair Paravel or else he'll kill my father and I. I have to be back in three days, on full moon. I can't take a carriage, it's too expensive and I can't go by foot, it would take too long. In conclusion, a horse, just like you, is my only hope."
James had explained everything clearly, a lie or two had made their way into the explanation, but the horse didn't need to know that.

"Hmm, well... that's a lot to process...", was the animal's answer. James nodded.

"What about you?"
The horse looked a little surprised at that question.
"Tell me about yourself."
It cleared its throat.
"Well, my name is Hyrian. I am a carriage horse, but I can run faster than some people would expect. I don't really have friends, since my box is further away from the others and I never get paired with another horse for a carriage."

"You seem lovely."
"Thank you. You, too."
"Thanks."
A comfortable silence layed between them, until James decided to break it.

"So? Are you in for a three days escape from working and instead go on an adventure?"
Hyrian didn't react for a few minutes, he seemed to overthink it a couple of times. The silence made James nervous because she didn't know how much time she was currently losing.
In the end, Hyrian answered with a confident "Yes."

Just like that, James opened the horse's box and they walked next to each other out of the stables. Hyrian's hooves weren't exactly quiet on the cobblestone path but his "colleagues" were far too invested into their gossip than listening to what was going on on the other side of the stable. And Hyrian's owners were even further away.

Without problems, they made it out of the stable and James directed her new companion to a nearby wooden box and used it to climb on the horse's back, since she want to use a saddle since it would coat far too much time and James had already lost too much of that.

In the dim light of the moon, James could recoginze that the horse was a strong, brown one, which she wasn't able to see earlier since there was no light in the stable, just the pale moonlight that shone through the windows.

Clasping her hands into Hyrian's mane ( and making sure it didn't hurt him), James clicked her tongue. She pressed her legs against the horse's belly and whisper-yelled "Go!", which resulted into him starting to gallop across the fields, into East, the direction of Cair Paravel.

The rider did feel a little bad about taking the horse, but this fast ride would take her one and a half days left than walking by foot. It was efficient and she would bring Hyrian back once she had brought Grayd the things he had demanded.

"Thank you," James whispered into Hyrian's ear. He neighed enthusiastically in response.

They rode through the night, faster than James would've thought. Bushes and trees and rivers were blurred in her vision and the girl felt free for the first time in years. For a moment, she forgot about the reason why she was out in the middle of the night.

Hyrian didn't seem to slow down. In fact, it seemed like he becams faster with every step he took, finally realising his true strenght and freedom. He was made for running.

***

As the sun rose across the meadows of Narnia and creatures of all kinds began their day, James, on the back of her stolen horse, wondered what Cypauck would do as soon as he had realised that she was not laying in her bed and had never returned from her voyage to the town center.
Would he be afraid? Would he cry?
She did not know. And that was what scared her the most, probably.

The sun was almost halfway up in the blue sky, when James saw Cair Paravel come closer.

The castle had been visible to James throughout the whole ride, but just now she realised how beautiful it was. And how she was supposed to sneak in there and steal parts from the castle kitchen's silverware. Great, just great.

Not late after sunrise, shortly before midday, Hyrian and James had arrived on the outer part of Cair Paravel and its surrounding city. Most of the people who lived in this town, worked for the Kings and Queens of Narnia.

Soon, James would be like them too. Pretend to be like them.

The girl had planned to break into tye castle after sundown, around midnight.
Meanwhile, she would have to find a place where she could enter and leave the castle, hopefully unnoticed.
Hyrian, in the meantime, would roam around the nearby meadows and return to their meetup point the next day.

Their meetup point, was just a fallen over willow tree at a small pond, about a mile and a half away from Cair Paravel's town borders. It was actually a really pretty place and if James had the opportunity, she would come there more often. But that wasn't a possibility.

After saying goodbye to Hyrian for a day, James decided to explore the castle's surroundings until dusk. Then, she would have to find a safe way in and out, she would even dress as a servant just to accomplish her mission.