Artemis and Caspian: The Spy

Chapter Thirty Two

Caspian shifted his feet anxiously on the ground as he knocked for what felt like the thousandth time on the King's bed chamber door.

"Come on, come on!" he muttered under his breath, waiting patiently for the young King to answer his incessant banging. After three eternities Allister finally opened the door, rubbing his eyes groggily.

"Yes?" he asked slightly annoyed, leaning against the door frame in a nightshirt. Without noticing the King's lack of royally acceptable clothing, Caspian grabbed his hand, pulling him into a hallway.

"Caspian, hey wait!" Allister protested loudly, dragging his feet across the floor as the warlock marched back to his room, pretending not to hear his King's orders to stop. Once they were safely inside, Caspian shut the doors, locking them and precariously pressing one ear up to listen for any nosy onlookers.

"What the hell was that? I told you to stop."

Caspian turned to face a very annoyed and angry looking Allister.

"Sorry didn't hear you."

Allister crossed one arm over the other, raising an unimpressed eyebrow at the warlock who remained calm under his steely, hostile glare.

"So, are you going to tell me what this is all about?"

Pressing his ear up against the wood of the door one last time, Caspian listened as footsteps receded in the distance. Allister endured these moments of bizarre silence with all the patience a King could, steadily tapping his foot on the ground to passively signal his growing discontent. After a moment, the young warlock decided they were safe and tiptoed over to the King, leaning into his ear, his breath tickling the skin.

"I had a vision."

"Okay," Allister responded loudly, still not impressed.

"Sh!"

The King looked at Cas a bit more coldly this time which sent a small shiver up his spine. He knew when he was beaten. "Ok fine. Sorry, but keep your voice down this vision is a bit...touchy."

"Touchy how?" the King asked, his annoyance melting away to expose curiosity.

"It was about the Queen."

"What about the Queen?" Allister asked again, more hesitantly this time, his brow furrowing with a hint of worry.

"Your Majesty, I saw someone poison her."

"You saw what?"

"Sh!"

"Sorry," Allister tried again, panic starting to grow with his erratic movements as he grabbed Caspian by the shoulder. "You saw what?"

"I saw the Queen laying in bed," the warlock started, squinting as he tried to remember every detail. "She was muttering nonsense, I saw myself trying to cure her. I heard me say she was poisoned."

"Who poisoned her?" Allister asked, his eyes as wide as saucers.

"I...I don't know..." the warlock stuttered, clenching the bridge of his nose tightly between two fingers. "It didn't say."

"Well what does it mean?"

"I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know?" Allister hissed through grinded teeth, shaking Caspian a bit.

"I mean," he started, untangling himself gently from the King's grasp which was getting tighter by the second. "The future holds many different paths. I just saw one out of a thousand."

"So you're telling me my wife may die," Allister said, rubbing his chin briefly with the back of his hand.

"Or she may not," Cas chuckled, trying to lighten the mood. "And hey, in the vision I didn't actually see her die so that's a good sign. Right?"