The Naiad and Her King

Chapter 9

The Naiad Trilogy

Part 2: The Naiad and Her King

Chapter 9

"Ava!" Caspian shouted at the limp body in his arms. This couldn't be happening. He did not come all this way to lose her now; not like this, not at all!

"Ava, Ava, look at me! Come on, Ava!" Caspian knelt down and gently laid her body on the ground and cradled her head in his hands. As his hand slid around the back of her head he felt something wet and sticky. When he pulled his hand back, he saw it was covered in her blood.

"No, no, no, no. No! Ava!" He was losing all control and panic was beginning to take over. His eyes were beginning to cloud over with tears and he fought relentlessly to keep them at bay. "Ava, wake up. Please, wake up."

"Caspian? Caspian what's wrong?" Lucy asked before she saw who he held in his arms. "No, Ava!" Lucy dropped to her knees before her friend, unable to bear the sight.

"My cordial!" Lucy began to stand back up before a hand pushed her shoulder down and handed her a diamond bottle.

"Here, Your Majesty. We brought it just in case," Drinian said.

Without hesitation, Lucy uncorked the bottle and let a single drop fall into Ava's mouth. Lucy, Caspian, and all others who had gathered around, waited with bated breath. Several seconds passed without much change; usually the cordial was instantaneous.

"Why isn't it working?" Caspian asked as he tried his best to keep his emotions from erupting.

"I don't...no look! It is working!" Lucy pointed to the wound on Ava's head and her busted lip. Both were healing, returning Ava's skin to the flawlessness that it was before. "And she's breathing regularly now too."

"Then why isn't she waking up?"

"Maybe it's something my cordial can't heal."

"I don't understand."

"Caspian," Lucy waited until she had Caspian's full attention before continuing; she was surprised by the amount of fear she saw in his eyes. "She used her magic to tell the Narnians what was happening, and she's been up all night. She's tired. She needs rest. The cordial has worked; she'll be fine. She just needs rest."

Caspian was about to argue when someone called for him. "Sire," two of the Dawn Treader crewmen stepped forth holding a man between them. They forced the man to his knees before Caspian. "This is Gumpas, Governor of the Lone Islands. We caught him trying to escape."

"Why is he wet?" Edmund asked.

The crewmen smiled. "The boy Eustace knocked him into the water." Edmund looked over to his cousin who was already receiving some praise from the crew.

Caspian, who was still kneeling on the ground with an unconscious Ava in his arms, looked into Lucy's eyes. He knew she was being sincere when she said Ava would be fine, but he would not believe it until he saw Ava awake and fully restored with his own eyes. Until then, he would do all he could to protect her, and right what had been wronged.

"Tavros," he called over the large Minotaur. Caspian carefully picked Ava up once more before handing her over to Tavros. "Keep her out of the sun."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"You?" Gumpas suddenly questioned. "You're the king she spoke of?" As Caspian looked upon the man before him, realization dawned on him. Gumpas had been the last man to step out of the shadows in the bell tower.

"I am," Caspian said fiercely; Gumpas' face grew white in fear. Caspian looked around the square. Many of the citizens had come out of hiding and they were watching him, waiting to see what he would do.