With Courage [King Caspian X OC]

Chapter 26

Narrowhaven in summer was truly a sight to behold.

As the sun rose, its rays would lap over the buildings like the rising tide, transforming the light sandstone walls into towers of gold. Many would travel around barefoot, revelling in the warmth of the cobblestones as they travelled inland to the market before an afternoon spent by the shore.

Their island was not a wild one, though it was free. Children would play in the gentle current off the west coast while their fathers, far out on the docks, would tend to their ships. They would seek cool air under the wooden planks, tracking the shadows of those walking above and skipping over the crabs that scuttled near their toes. In these shadowy hideouts, they would unwrap the delicate sweets hidden in their pockets – gifts from their mothers as they traversed the stalls in the plaza – and emerge with honey sticky on their chins.

Life had flourished since the banishment of the slave traders two years previous. The boards that had once covered every residential window had long since been removed. One of Lord Bern's, their new Duke for the Lone Islands, first decrees was to turn what had once been a symbol of fear and isolation into something beautiful. Citizens had come together to see his wish fulfilled, creating a homespun stage within the plaza on which live music was played several times a week. Leftovers were used towards the making of market stalls for new traders, and over time their biweekly market had become an event for all of Doorn to travel for.

The market itself was labyrinth, a near nonsensical array of stalls selling all manner of fabrics and jewels, trinkets and spices – not to mention the food. Rich and sweet, with scents that would carry high above the chimneys. Some residents in the next town over, Blightly, were known to say they could smell Mrs Witherford's spiced lamb stew from their beds. To enter the market was to risk being stuck in its depths until sunset. Still, it was hardly a burden for the townspeople. After years of hiding away in the darkness, living in fear of slave traders and the ominous mist that lay just beyond their shore, a labyrinthian market was a hindrance they would happily bear.

Iris was one such citizen. Hand in hand with her husband Charlie, who had been returned to her almost two years ago by King Caspian and the crew of the Dawn Treader, they walked the winding streets towards the market with a blissful ease. Not everything had been fixed immediately, back then. But change had been consistent and true, and the happy reality of their reunion had never ceased to be a blessing to them. A once cursed town was now a thriving haven of growth and prosperity.

It helped to know that when they danced, they danced above the cells of the slave traders who had once terrorised them, deep beneath the earth.

And so, content with their safety and the glow of life in her belly, there was little that could disturb the routine they had built since.

That is until Iris discovered a young girl laying face down on the ground.

"Charlie, look!" She gasped, shuffling over to the fallen figure as quickly as she could, one hand pressed to her stomach. Her husband, ever a soldier, leaned down and pressed a firm hand to her shoulder.

"Miss?" He asked. "Miss? Are you alright?" He moved her just enough to uncover her face in the same second her eyes opened wide and her body jolted up from the ground.

"Is this – did I..." She ran her tongue over dry, cracked lips and steadied her breathing. "Am I in Narnia?" She asked properly, turning to the couple staring down at her.

Iris watched the questioning scrunch of her husband's eyebrows as he held out a hand for the girl to take. Dishevelled and dirty, with her legs caked in mud and paint scattered like freckles across her skin and smelling faintly of smoke, they were stumped as to how to politely ask what had happened to her. "Yes, dear. This is Narrowhaven." Iris answered her eventually.