A Queen of Narnia - Chronicles of Narnia, Prince Caspian fanfiction NEW VERSION

Escape

ii.

I woke up to the Professor's hand in front of my mouth which scared the life out of me. He always did this and today was not a good day to wake me up in the middle of the night. Derya and I had spent the entire day trying to ride on one of the bulls and it didn't end well at all since it threw us both off more than just once. I had bruises all over my body and I believed she still hadn't been able to remove the mud from her hair or her boots. It didn't matter, though, everyone was used to see Derya like that. It wasn't the first time that Derya and I had ran away from our responsibilities.

When we came home my aunt was very mad at me for dragging Derya along. She had wanted to introduce Derya to one of the lords from the west that had come to discuss trade with Miraz - meeting that I was supposed to attend as well - but now Derya had missed the appointment. I couldn't lie and say that I was sorry because it wouldn't have been nice to see her get married off to some stupid lord.

Lately, it had been annoying me that Prunaprismia was trying to sell Derya off to some rich man so she would leave the castle and bring them more coin. She was a beautiful girl and could've married any of the dozen men that she had already met, but she always declined their offers. I was scared that Miraz's patience would eventually run out and that he would force her to marry someone, but then I would probably just run away with her.

So because of all the things that had happened during the evening, I had not had many hours of sleep and was therefore not very happy when the Professor woke me up. I opened my eyes and blinked a few times and pulled his hand away.

"Five more minutes," I said and yawned - turned around to go back to sleep. I had no desire to watch the stars this night, I was too tired. Why tonight?

"We will not look at the stars tonight, my Prince," said the Professor and the turmoil in his voice made me realise that something big had happened.

My professor was always calm, he was calm itself. It was like he always knew everything that needed to be known to keep himself at peace like he never had anything to be worried about. I sat up in my bed and looked confused at him, waited for him to tell me what was going on and why he had awoken me if it was not to watch the stars. Maybe something had happened to Derya, she might be hurt or sick. The Professor looked frightened, I noticed that quickly which only increased my worry.

"Come," he said, patting me on the shoulder without saying what was happening. "We must hurry."

He pulled me up by the arm and led me towards my big wardrobe, he wanted me to get dressed so we were obviously going somewhere. I wanted to know where, though, but I had learned not to talk back to the Professor. He was stubborn and would only tell me when he wanted to, not before and not after. I opened the door to my wardrobe and quickly pulled on a pair of trousers, boots and a clean shirt.

"What has happened, Professor?" I asked whilst buttoning my shirt and glancing at him - I didn't understand anything of what was going on. "Is Derya alright?"

"Yes, yes, Derya is quite alright. It's just that... your aunt has given birth to her child," said the professor and his voice was slightly trembling as he spoke. He turned to me, looked me in the eyes and even in the dark I could see his worry. His grey eyes were serious, not kind and fatherly as they used to be, and I already knew what happened before he spoke.

"A son."

I gasped a little when I realised the seriousness of what had happened this night, what I had slept through without noticing anything. The Professor had told me how it all worked, how my life was dependent on what sex that child had. I had to live as long as my uncle Miraz didn't have an heir to the throne if he claimed it from me and became king of Narnia. Now he had a son of his own, so why keep someone who could snatch the throne anytime?