Tyranny of the Heart

Chapter 12: Who You Are

No one spoke. As if my senses were not heightened from being in the one place I was always told never to go. But with the solemness that fell over the survivors of the raid grew to be much more eerie than anything that the Haunted Woods might present. I still hung onto Caspian on the back of Destrier. I was no longer clutching him as tightly like I was back at the castle, but I felt maybe I could bring some comfort to him by reminding him that I was there.

Soon, we stopped to water the horses. Even as people stretched and counted what supplies they had left, there were hardly any words spoken. Caspian dismounted first and helped me down. "Are you alright?" I asked quietly, not wanting to disturb the quietness of the woods. He did not answer. He hardly looked at me. Instead, he lead Destrier to the small creek. On his face, I could see the expression that was similar than the one he had when his father died, but it was different. It contained more anger. 

I saw Peter lead his horse to the creek, only to sit down by the creek and look off in the distance. Susan saw him sit, and hesitantly went over to him. The moment she gently placed a hand on his shoulder, he shrugged it off and stomped away. Susan appeared to look apologetic and helpless. Something that I echoed. So I decided to go to her.

I reached for my small bag that was draped across my shoulder and grabbed a small piece of bread I had stolen from the kitchen. As I neared her, I held out the bread to her, almost as a peace treaty. She looked at the bread and then at me, before half-smiling and taking the bread. We stood in silence as she nibbled absentmindedly at her bread. Finally, I could no longer stand the silence. "I'm sorry that things did not go as you had hoped."

She shrugged looking at the ground. "It wasn't really my plan anyway. Peter-" In the middle of her sentence, she stared off in the direction Peter had gone, and saw him standing by a tree, far away from the group.

"He will be alright." I offered weakly.

Susan gave me another half-smile. "I sure hope so. He'll have some explaining to do when we get back."

Again, as we journeyed further in the woods, no one made a sound. It was like being a funeral procession. Some of the soldiers were injured, including one red-haired dwarf, so I offered them Destrier and the horse Peter rode. Neither of them wanted to ride on their horses anymore. So, Professor, Susan, Caspian, Peter, and I all walked in front of the group. I had tried to talk to Caspian several times, but he never indicated that he could even hear me. At last, Professor grabbed my arm and gave me the motion to let him be. I sighed as I realized that he was right.

Soon, we reached a clearing. On the opposite side of the clearing stood a ruin of sorts. It looked to be older than the woods themselves. Green moss and grass covered the stone ruins. As we continued walking, we seemed to be heading towards the ruins. The closer we got, I could see more stone structures that have fallen to the ground, as if it had survived an ancient war. More creatures appeared out of the opening of the giant ruins, many of which I had only seen in illustrations from Professor's books. Centaurs, minotaurs, dwarves. And they only seemed to keep coming until at last a small girl came running out of the opening. I recognized her instantly. She shared the same face as Susan, and the same eyes as Peter. She had to be Queen Lucy. Her face twisted in concern upon seeing our small group arrive. "What happened?" She asked softly.

"Ask him." Peter spat, nodding towards Caspian.

"Peter." Susan scolded. I saw Caspian stop in his tracks and stare at Peter with a fire.

"Me?" He asked. "You could have called it off. There was still time." By this time, the whole procession had stopped, as the tension in the air rose.

Peter started to walk towards Caspian. "No, there wasn't, thanks to you." Peter stuck his finger in Caspian's face. "If you had just stuck to the plan, those soldiers might be alive right now." He turned to walk away.