Grace Tells Another Story

05

Glimfeather and Jill were standing in a dark cave with another owl.

"Whoa, don't fall," Glimfeather warned. "It's a long way down."

Jill let out a breath and asked, "Where are we?"

"Pole, is that you?" Eustace questioned.

"Well, Eustace." Jill began slowly feeling her way around. "I can't see a thing."

"Can't you? Look around."

Jill found Eustace and Clara's hands, flinching at how cold the queen's felt.

"What are they?" Eustace wondered.

Whooing sounded and Clara chuckled softly. "Not to be worried, children. We're safe in here. Listen to the sound."

Jill ignored the queen and said, "Mr. Glimfeather? Mr. Glimfeather. Eustace." She sat next to her friend. "Eustace, they're owls."

"Hello to you too," an owl greeted.

"Well of course we're owls," Glimfeather said. "And this my dear humans and lovely Queen, is a special emergency meeting of the Great Parliament of owls."

The owls began chanting, "Here, here, here."

"Just a moment," Eustace said as he stood. "There's something I want to say first." Whoos sounded. "Well, time in our world is different. And though King Caspian the Tenth is an old man and Queen Clara doesn't look like she's aged a day, and I'm only a boy, he, Queen Clara and I sailed together right to the eastern end of the world."

"That legendary voyage! Oh, with Lord Drinian."

"And Reepicheep. And all of them. And you better know right away, I am loyal to Caspian and Clara. I am the King's man and the Queen's friend. And if this is a meeting to plot against them, I'll have none of it."

The owls whooed in response.

"Bravely spoken human boy, but in fact, we are here to talk about you two," Glimfeather told him.

"What about us?" Jill wondered.

"It's simply that if the Lord Regent Trumpkin the dwarf hears you mean to look for the lost Prince, he'll put you under lock and key and keep the queen safe in the palace."

"You mean Trumpkin's a traitor?" Eustace asked. "Caspian always said he trusted him."

Clara glanced at Eustace. "Caspian is smart. He would dare not put a traitor in such a high position."

The other owl said, "Her Highness is right. Oh no, Trumpkin's no traitor, but over the years, many of our champions have set out to look for the lost Prince and not one has ever come back."

"So the king has decreed not to have all his and Queen Clara's bravest Narnians destroyed in search for their lost son. So now, nobody is allowed to go."

Clara's eyes flashed slightly as jagged snow flurries began swimming around her head. "Caspian said what? I will find my son."

Eustace glanced at her before saying, "But surely he'd let me go; once he knew who I was and who me. Clara certainly is accepting of it."

"Who sent both of us," Jill corrected.

"Oh, yes," Glimfeather replied. "The Parliament should know that these young humans was sent on this noble mission by the great Aslan himself."

"But the King's away on his last voyage, and Trumpkin would stick to the rules," the other owl said.

"He doesn't even take any notice of us. And everyone knows how wise we owls are."

"Too true, too true," the owls agreed.

"But if we have to wait to persuade the King..." Eustace trailed.

"How long is he going to be away?" Jill questioned.

"If only we knew," Glimfeather answered. "There is a rumour that Aslan has been seen in the islands."

"And the King wants to make one more attempt before he dies to see Aslan face-to-face," the other owl said.

"To ask his advice on who is to be king after him now that he has lost his son. Given what happened with the Queen years prior, Caspian prefers not to have her ruling alone in case the threat returns."

"But if he goes searching for Aslan, surely-" Jill was cut off.

"Exactly! There's no telling when he'll be back." Glimfeather and the other owl exchanged a look.

"But tell us about the lost Prince," Eustace said.

"I think that had best come from the Queen or our friend here who remembers all. A natural born storyteller he is. He can plot the best pictures in your mind. Queen Clara, would you like to speak of your son?"

Clara smiled sadly. "I would love to, but I fear my emotions would betray me. I miss him dearly."

"Quite right."

The other owl, after a nod from Clara, said, "Close your eyes."

Eustace and Jill did as instructed. Clara sat in the dark, her hands folded together as she tried to focus on happy memories of her son and not the fact that he was missing and no one knew where he was.

The other owl began the story. "Some years ago, when Rilian, son of Caspian and Clara was a young knight, he rode out with the Queen, his mother, on a beautiful May morning. They took no hands with them. They were not hunting, but laying. In the warm path of the day, they decided to rest in a pleasant Glade. No one there knew the terrible consequences that were to befall them."

Clara shuddered as she remembered the sting of whatever had poisoned her. She remembered barely clinging to life and every cell in her body repairing itself while she lay in deep slumber of her own accord.

"By the time Prince Rilian reached his mother, one glance told him her no physician in the world would do her good. No one understood how the Queen's magic worked and due to her deep slumber, no one could wake her but the Queen herself."

He glanced at a teary Clara and continued. "The Queen was in a deep slumber and Prince Rilian took her state of unconsciousness very hard. Again and again he returned to the north to kill that vile serpent, but no sign of it did he find."

Clara wiped her eyes and motioned for the owl to continue. "After a month, there seemed to come under him a change. Or so thought Caspian's great friend Lord Drinian."

[Did I really leave y'all on a cliff hanger? You bet I did!]