Mist and Mystery at Calormen's Grove

Day of Reckoning

19. Day of reckoning

"Peter!" Lucy whispered as she rushed over to her fallen brother who was just coming to. He moaned in pain and rubbed the back of his head tenderly as he came to a sitting position on the cold, hard floor.

"Ow... that will leave a bump," he hissed and looked his sister over with a worried gleam in his pale eyes. "You're not hurt, are you, Lu?"

"No, no," she assured fervently. "We're all fine. But they took Edmund!"

"We must follow! Come on!" Peter breathed without hesitation as his sister helped him stand.

"They locked us in here," Trumpkin breathed grumpily from the back of the room and limped over to the siblings. "We can't follow."

As Lucy tended to the DLF's wound, the eldest Pevensie raised his gaze to the closed doors. His eyes wandered to Caspian and Susan not far away. The Telmarine man's arm lay around the woman's smaller frame and Peter met his friend's gaze head on. Stiffly, he managed an approving nod. He knew Susan didn't see it the same way he did, but he was nonetheless happy to see Caspian had kept her safe. It was all he really wanted to know, in the end.

Scraping noises and muffled voices sounded from the other side of the doors then and the Pevensies, Caspian, Reepicheep and Trumpkin turned as the doors were finally opened and the Lords Enric and Roshan along with the Captain of the guards hurried inside. They all looked worn from battle and frowns covered their faces as they entered the throne room.

"Majesty, are you alright?" the dark-eyed Roshan wondered and one of his hands rested on his sword handle as he gazed about wearily.

"We're fine," the bearded king re-assured as he let go of the queen and stepped forward. "What of the attackers?"

"They had King Edmund, we didn't dare interfere," the Captain declared solemnly. "They had winged beasts waiting in the courtyard, and we could not get close."

"We had scouts follow them on horseback, though," Enric assured. "We'll find how they could enter Cair Paravel and Narnia without being detected sooner."

"We were warned," Peter said in a dark voice and pulled out the small note he, Susan and Caspian had recovered from the falcon earlier. "We got this."

"What is it?" Roshan questioned as he frowned down at the small piece of paper.

"A message meant for someone in the castle," Susan explained shortly and a tinge of sadness added a layer of darkness to her voice. "It must have been sent from the Sorcerer and warned of the attack. It gave us very little time to prepare. The note could prove he had help from the inside and it means we have a leak."

"How did you acquire it?" Enric asked in fascination as he gazed at the queen.

"We intercepted a message bird."

The Telmarine lord slowly raised his gaze with an unreadable expression and asked, "What kind of bird?"

Susan frowned in confusion upon noticing Roshan's odd reaction. "A falcon."

The two lords visibly stiffened and exchanged a glance not lost on the others. Peter at once stepped forward and grabbed hold of the Telmarine lord's collar and growled, "You know something about this. Whose was the falcon?"

The man shrugged out of the king's grasp as he bowed his head and explained, "It's true. We know whose bird it might be..."

"Speak!" Caspian spoke in a deadly calm voice that seemed all the more menacing than the Pevensie man's plain anger.

The younger, military lord cleared his throat and spoke up, "There's only one man of the council who still uses falcons as messenger birds."

The Telmarine king stretched tall in his throne as he glared down at the suspected party. "Lord Greagoir, you have been accused of dealing with enemies of Narnia and sharing information with the Sorcerer by use of messenger falcons. Defend yourself against these accusations."