~By the Lion's Mane: See You Again~

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Thirteen

“Be good for everyone while I’m gone, Rilian,” I told my son as I hugged him goodbye.

He rolled his eyes. “Whatever you say, Mum,” he replied.

At ten years old, he was already turning into quite the explorer and adventurer. He and his friends, who were some of the sons of the nobility, would take their ponies riding in the nearby forests almost daily, competing to see who was the bravest, whose pony could jump the highest or run the fastest. I was a little worried about him getting into trouble while I was leading the hunt.

Caspian stepped up to me to give me a goodbye kiss. “Be careful,” he warned quietly. “Don’t do anything stupid or dangerous.”

I gave him a smile. “Don’t worry, Caspian. It’s only a hunt; you go on them all the time!”

“I still don’t see why I can’t come along too,” Rilian pouted.

“Oh, you’ll be able to soon enough,” I grinned.

When our goodbyes were finished, I checked my bags once more and then mounted Anduril, who pranced in place from his excitement. He was just as excited as I was because he hadn’t not been on any adventures in several years, either.

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We set out, a party of twelve, armed with our bows, quivers of scarlet-fletched arrows, daggers, and our swords. We were headed northwest towards the castle of Miraz, where the largest Telmarine city was. It was on the outskirts of that town that the farms had been raided by wolves.

We followed the Great River, and camped on her banks each night, snug in our bedrolls. As I lay in mine, looking up at the familiar constellations of Narnia, I could not help but be reminded of so many nights. Nights that I had camped with the Pevensies, and lay talking with Lucy and Susan long after the moon had made its arc across the sky. The night I had lain on the beach in the Lone Islands, staring into my fire and wondering if I should return home and make things right with Edmund, or find myself a new life in the Islands. The night I had finally confessed myself to Edmund, outside the How, in the midst of war. I quickly swiped away a tear that had snuck its way out of the corner of my eye, and rolled over to go to sleep.

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We finally reached the forest outside the Telmarine town where we had heard the wolf pack had last been sighted. We entered the trees and I gave the signal to halt.

“Loose the hounds,” I said to the hounds-master. He dismounted and slipped the collars off of the necks of six brown and white hounds. At once they were off into the trees, their long, thin tails waving around and noses to the ground as their floppy ears swept scents toward them.

We followed behind them at a walk, until we had made our way deeper into the trees. Then at once, off to my left, a hound gave a loud bay, and took off.

The others quickly took up the call until we were surrounded in the echoing chorus of baying dogs. Our party spurred their horses into a canter, and we followed them, fanning out through the thick trees.

Anduril galloped through the trees, his nostrils flared and neck arched in excitement. Both of our hearts were pounding in anticipation as the wind we created whipped past, tossing my hair around and sending his long white mane flying back to tickle my face as I leaned forward over his neck.

The voices of the dogs reached a crescendo as we neared a small clearing to find that they had found a wolf and had trapped it against a boulder. It was snapping at them, keeping them at a distance. I shivered, remembering blood-stained snow dotted with pawprints. As Andy pulled up to a halt in the clearing, I drew my bow, recognizing the beast from the descriptions of the farmers.

I let the arrow fly.

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By the end of the week, the wolves had been slain, and their pelts presented to the farmers who had lost livestock. They thanked us sincerely, and we made our way home.

No one had been hurt or lost on the hunt, and I thanked Aslan for keeping us safe. We had lost only one hound to the alpha wolf of the pack, as he had fought back fiercely.

But now I had to go home. Back to Cair Paravel, where I would again spend my time watching Rilian and overseeing the castle, and spending long Sundays listening to the complaints and wishes of the Narnians. I would go back to wearing long skirts and dresses instead of the tunic and leggings and boots I’d worn the entire hunt.

As I put Anduril in the stable when we got home, Caspian and Rilian came out to welcome me home. Rilian gave me a hug around my waist, as that was all he could reach. Then Caspian gave me a kiss as a display for all of the others around, while Rilian complained that it was gross, and Caspian told me, “I’m glad that you managed to stay out of trouble.”

I gave him a smile. “Don’t I always?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~That night Caspian and I had another discussion. He agreed to let me go on more excursions as long as I kept safe and let the others fight for me, if it ever came to that.

“Why are you telling me this?” I asked, a little concerned why he was mentioning fighting.

He ran his fingers through his hair. “We got another report of... strangeness in the North while you were gone. I’ve decided I need to... to send a party up there, I suppose to see for myself what could be happening.”

I tried to contain my sudden excitement. “You mean... You mean you’d let me go?”

He saw the expression on my face and gave a small smile. “Only if you agree to my terms and conditions.”

“Yes! Yes, I agree to your terms.” I gave him a wide smile.

He paused for a moment, looking thoughtful as he rubbed his chin. I knew he was pretending so I gave him a look.

“All right,” he said, drawing it out.

I threw my arms around his neck. Finally, I would have something to do outside the castle!