The Seven Deadly Kingdoms

Chapter 36

                                           Caspian

It was ten o'clock in the morning, and Adelaide was nowhere to be found as Caspian waited by a closed dumbwaiter. She was two hours late.

Caspian's skin crawled as he paced back and forth in front of the dumbwaiter. The mission should have taken a few hours, max. There was no possible reason that Caspian could think of for why Adelaide was still in the castle.

Maybe she had exited somewhere else. Maybe she was walking through the markets right now, awaiting Caspian to find her. Or maybe she didn't feel like she needed Caspian, and headed back to camp without him.

Caspian shook his head at the thought. She wouldn't have left without him. They were in this together, and they had been from the start. And Adelaide didn't have a clue how to navigate the vast kingdom without him. The only conclusion that Caspian could think of, though, was far worse than Adelaide leaving him behind. She had been caught.

The mission was supposed to be low risk. That was the only reason Caspian let Adelaide go without him. From his time serving the king, Caspian had learned that king Gradulf didn't use his study, and hadn't for years. It was simply used to store documents. And the castle was severely lacking in security. Adelaide should have been able to easily slip in and out. So what had gone wrong?

Caspian took in a shaky breath as he stopped pacing, placing his hands on his hips as he looked at the dumbwaiter. If she were coming, she would have been there by now. Caspian was wasting time waiting for a girl that wasn't coming back to him.

Caspian took a step back before turning around to run back through the maze of hedges. Adelaide had been captured, and he had stood around waiting for her for three hours.

Heart pounding in his chest, Caspian ran to the east entrance of the castle. He had to get in. The dumbwaiter was too small for him to fit, so he would have to take the more obvious entrance. He ducked his head, praying none of his former comrades would recognize him as he rounded the corner to the east side of the castle.

Cold armour met Caspian's face as he collided with a guard. The man huffed from the impact, but Caspian reacted before the man could make a move. He grabbed the dagger tucked beneath his belt, putting it between the guard's helmet and chest plate, only an inch from the guard's throat.

The guard gasped, but made no move to defend himself. Caspian cursed, pulling the guard back around the corner of the wall, out of sight.

"Don't resist. Take off your armour and get on your knees." Caspian whispered. The guard nodded his head, his hands shaking as he went to take his helmet off.

"Caspian?" The familiar brown eyes of Caspian's former comrade widened in surprise. Caspian blinked, staying silent for a moment before sighing. He made no move to move the dagger away from the guard's throat.

"Johnny.. This isn't what it looks like." Caspian lied. Johnny's brows furrowed as questions swam in his deep brown eyes.

"What's going on, Caspian? Where the hell have you been? And can you put the knife down?" Johnny dropped his helmet, holding his hands up in surrender. Caspian sighed and lowered the dagger slightly, but not fully.

"I'm sorry, Johnny. I really am." He whispered, throwing a fist to Johnny's face before he could reply. His eyes widened for a second before they fell closed as he crumpled to the ground. Caspian grimaced. Johnny had always been kind to him.

Caspian caught Johnny's unconscious body, easing him to the ground as he took his helmet. He gently tugged Johnny's armour off of his body, cringing every time the metal clanked a little too loudly.