beloved | e. pevensie

Chapter Three

I became an owl, awake at night, trying to sleep during the day. My uncle hadn't summoned me in two and a half days, since Odysseus's murder. There was no human contact in my chambers. Servants would leave food outside my door and leave.

So it was just me and the moon. I started carving the stone walls of my room with words and patterns. When I broke one of my favorite knives, I pulled my bed away from the wall and carved a lion into the supple wood.

I had sliced the curtains off my bed and used them to make a cloak and a blanket, but it only made me feel more trapped. With Caspian gone, I felt out of place.

Everything wooden in my room was eventually covered in arrows, my bow lying on the ground, useless without any more.

I sat on my bed, tracing the outline of my ruby dagger, Odysseus' last gift, when I heard someone shout and the attack bells began their warning chime. Shifting too fast, I slit my finger, a few drops of blood seeping through the skin.

I ran to the window. In the courtyard, Telmarine guards and soldiers were fighting an army of strange creatures under pale moonlight.

Centaurs and walking animals and fauns. Narnians.

And then I saw him, riding on a horse, his dark hair whipping around as he struck down an attacker.

Caspian.

Whether he had come for me or not, I wasn't going to let him leave without me.

I yanked every shot arrow out of its makeshift target and shoved them into my two quivers. My sword had been next to me on the bed; I slid it into its sheath and wrapped it around my waist where it stood out against my green dress. I only had two good knives left so I put one in my corset and the other in my boot. My new cloak hung around my shoulders.

I was ready to go but there were soldiers outside my door. I couldn't leave.

"The roof," I whispered, my voice like gravel from the long period of silence. In every room was a chandelier, outfitted with twelve candleholders. If I could get it down, attach it to my blanket and use it like a secured rope, I could climb up onto the roof and catch up with Caspian.

I dragged my trunk to the center of the room. Fear made my arms heavy. What if I didn't make it in time?

With my sword, I hacked at the metal chain, my entire body shaking with effort. After hitting the chain with no results, I located a wire connecting the chandelier to the chain and used a knife to cut it.

I hadn't planned on what to do when the chandelier fell and because of that poor insight, it fell on my foot, breaking at least one toe.

Swearing silently, I grabbed the light fixture and tied it to my blanket.

Outside, the battle still raged as I tried to throw my grappling hook without falling out the window. On my fourth try, it didn't return or fall when tugged.

I also hadn't accounted for how hard it would be to climb from my second-story window to the roof. My dress kept my legs close to my body and my hands were very sweaty but inch by inch, I made it up several feet to the top.

The only thing to grab were the roof tiles. I gripped the edge and slung my leg, tearing a huge section of my dress near the hem.

When all of me was safely on the roof, I paused, panting. Stars were splayed out in the sky like diamonds from a bottle. I took off, running in the direction of the second guard tower, my best bet at getting my brother's attention.

Out of breath, my foot aching, I reached the last section of the roof before the guard tower.

"Retreat! Fall back!" Someone below yelled.