With Courage [King Caspian X OC]

Chapter 27

After three years of waiting, their voyage felt impossibly long. The knowledge of it being the final stretch, the culmination of every sleepless night, every blister and callus and stain, the bruised ache of her wanting. Everything was, finally, in reach. At sea she was forced to slow down, despite the rapid-fire pace of her anxieties, and simply exist in a way she had forgotten how. A modicum of peace was a luxury she had long since forgone. To find it again here was a blessing.

Amber adapted back into the role of a sailor with an eager if slightly fumbling hand. It was a relief to go through the motions of tightening the sails and adjusting the mast under the guidance of the fellow sailors, feeling the world rock beneath her feet all the while. Simply looking forward and seeing nothing but pristine blue water, and a clear sky to match, made her want to cry with joy. London felt impossibly far away, and she only wished that those she had loved – her Sudbrooke girls, the children at Greenwoods who listened to her stories, William – knew that she was in a better place now.

While at sea, she learned more about what had passed in her absence. Most importantly that it had been a little less than two years, give or take, since the Dawn Treader returned the lost citizens to Narrowhaven. The slave trader's transaction book had been used to track down those sold across the land and freed. It was an ongoing quest, taking many soldiers to the furthest reaches of Narnia where there was little but mountains and rumblings deep underground, but one that had proved fruitful so far.

Peace reigned across the country. Had you not an ear turned to gossip, it would be easy to assume that the lack of conflict extended through castle walls, but as Kaspar – a twenty-something sailor who had more than one contact within Cair Paravel – told her, that was not the case. Caspian's council was uneasy. They thought their king inept, stubborn.

"I don't understand," Amber said, taking a bite of salted pork as they watched the waves lap against the stern, "Caspian inept? After all he's done for Narnia?" Stubborn I understand, though that hardly bares saying.

Four days had passed. She had connected with Kaspar on the basis of their age, not terribly different from her initial draw to Marco, but beyond that she found him an invaluable source of information and not much in a way of a friend. As he loved to brag, he had a well-connected web of gossips. She was certainly being careful about what she said around him lest she made herself a spectacle before she properly entered the mainland.

"He refuses to take a queen."

She choked on her lunch and tried to mask her reaction as Kaspar turned towards her. "Food... wrong way..." She waved a hand near her throat. "You were saying?"

"Right, well," Kaspar soon continued, "there's all sorts of rumours why. He's selfish and doesn't wish to share the throne," Selfish, ha! She thought to herself. He doesn't have a selfish bone in his body, "he's in love with a maid and the council refuse to allow the marriage," I bloody well hope not. "Or a sailor – there's a few variations of that rumour floating about." That's more like it. "Some say he's impotent."

She choked again and decided this was no conversation to be eating during. "Is it really appropriate to be spreading rumours about the king?"

"It's harmless fun." Kaspar shrugged.

"I'm not sure he'd agree."

He turned to her curiously. "Do you know him?"

Oh dear.

Captain Whitlock had never explained who she was. When she boarded, she was simply introduced with her surname and the vague yet true fact of her need to reach the mainland. With Kaspar's love for gossip, and her inability to know what trace of her remained here, she had no inclination to expand their familiarity.