The High Queen Book Two

Chapter 13 - War Approaches

Third-Person POV

After everything that had happened, Caspian sat alone atop the How, gazing off into the distance, thinking about everything that had led him to this place. His father, his uncle, the horn, the Kings and Queens of Old, the battle, Tilly's supposed death, and now Jadis. He'd only ever heard about the White Witch in stories, but until not that long ago, almost everyone inside the How this very second was nothing but fairy tales and monsters to the young Prince. The shuffling of feet beside him alerts the Prince of another's presence, but he doesn't move to look at the person once he hears the groaning of another man trying to sit down; he knows who it is.

"Why didn't you tell me about my father?" He asks the Professor to answer his lie and his father's death.

"My mother was a Black Dwarf from the Northern Mountains." Caspian looks down at the older man, shocked by his statement. "I risked my life all these years so that one day...you might be a better king than those before you."

"Then I have failed you," Caspian answers truthfully, believing he's not worthy of being a King for so a day.

"Everything I have told you... everything I didn't... it is only because I believe in you." The older man rested his hand on the harrowed Prince's shoulder. "You have the chance to become the most Nobel contradiction in history." Doctor Cornelius gazes onto the battlefield below, looking far into the dense forest. "The Telmarine who saved Narnia." Caspian lets out a small gasp at his old Professor's words but begins to feel a power, one he's never felt before, rise from the ground and through his body before stopping at his heart.

Peter sat alone, staring at the carving of the Great Lion before him. Closing his eyes in anguish, he releases a breath of air that was trapped in his lungs for what felt like years. The King's icy blue eyes meet Aslan's stone ones before looking above to see the swords crossed over one another in an X position with a crown all too familiar to the silenced King. Lucy slowly and silently sat beside her oldest brother, knowing he needed some comfort after everything that had unfolded.

"You're lucky, you know," Pete says, breaking the silence. "You and Tilly."

"What do you mean?" The young Queen asked, confused by her brother's abrupt statement.

"To have seen him." The two focus back on the lion carving. "I wish he's just given me some sort of proof." Peter lowers his head in defeat as Lucy frowns, thinking about her brother's words.

"Maybe we're the ones who need to prove ourselves to him." The older boy looks at his sister blinking in shock at her wise words. "And there's a reason, Tilly's swords and crown are carved above him... and-"

"And not mine," Lucy nods gently, not wanting to hurt Peter more than she has to. "This is her world Lu, not ours."

"She is the Daughter of Narnia, created from the bones of the land. And the blood of Narnia's light and dark sides. Aslan and Jadis." Lucy says, reciting the words Aslan spoke to the High Queen many years ago.

"She will always belong here and not in our world." Peter stoically raises his head. "One day, maybe tomorrow or in many years, when we head home, she won't come back with us."

"These are her people to protect, and the land is hers to rule over." Lucy sniffles, dreading the day her best friend won't return with them. Won't be with Edmund.

Speaking of Edmund, the young King rushes into the room, panting from running as fast as he could to find his brother at Tilly's request.

"Pete, you better come quick," the two royals look at each other before glancing at their brother and quickly following behind him. The three emerge onto the outcrop of the How watching from up high with the others in bated breath as Miraz's army marches out onto the battlefield below. The men begin to make their rows of soldiers, lining nearly a quarter of the grass plain. Peter and Caspian look at one another, sharing a knowing look before glancing down at the young Queen between them, who doesn't even bat an eye at the approaching army, or their leaders, who tortured her for a week. Even though on the outside to Caspian, it appeared as if Tilly held no feelings toward Miraz or his Lord when in reality, it is quite the opposite, and her family can tell.