I'll Stand By You

Chapter 6: Saved By The Crew

"Stop glaring at Eustace, it isn't going to help us at all." Lucy said.

"Fine, only because you told me to." I muttered. "I can't believe this..."

Our conversation was interrupted by yells. I glance over to see a young girl a little younger than Xavier and what seemed to be her father, yelling at a woman who looked to be the mother.

The woman was in a wagon along with other people, which was taken away. The man tried reaching for her, but it didn't work. My heart tore upon seeing this family, it reminded me of my own.

One of the men pushed the father away, causing him to to the ground. The little girl ran towards her father.

"Stay with your father!" The woman yelled before they were out of sight.

Lucy seemed terrified at what had just happened. When Lucy turned towards me I forced a smile.

"Don't worry, everything will be alright, Lu." I assured her. "We'll get out of here."

Lucy smiled back. "I hope so."

I need to keep my emotions concealed and remain strong for Lucy and Eustace as well. I know both of them are terrified and if I look that way then they will enter into a panic frenzy.

Around noon, all of us who were chained up were now standing before a large crowd. We were now about to be sold. I remained calm as I walked into the stand.

The man holding the bidding spoke. "How about this fine woman? Quite a beauty, isn't she?"

"70!" One man yelled.

"100!"

The bidding continued until it reached about 240. Then I was sold to a man in his mid forties. He had a grin plastered on his face as he looked down at me. I ignored him as I looked over at Lucy who was next.

"40!" One yelled.

"80!"

"100!"

"120!"

"150!"

She was sold for 150. Our freedom was gone, just like that. She tried putting up a fight when they dragged her off. Poor Lucy, I really wanted to help her, however I was chained up.

Once Lucy was dragged off, Eustace was up next. It was completely silent, no one bid to buy him.

"Come on now. He may not look much, but he's um, he's strong." The one in control of bids said.

"Yeah, he's strong alright. Smells like the rear end of a minotaur." A familiar voice said.

At this comment many of the people laughed. And oh boy did Eustace not like this.

"That is an outrageous lie!" Eustace snapped.

"Come on someone make a bid." The man groaned.

"I'll take them off your hands! I'll take all of them off your hands!"

I gasped. That voice belongs to Reepicheep! At that moment several hoods were removed, revealing the crew members.

Reepicheep ran towards the bidding table and a fight broke out. As soon as Reepicheep freed Lucy, he came over to me to free me from the chains.

"Thanks Reepicheep, I knew that you'd come." I said.

He bowed as he spoke. "You are quite welcome, your majesty."

With that he ran off to join the fight. I turned around to see the man who bought me running towards me. I kicked him in the gut and he fell down, groaning in pain.

"That's for buying me!" I spat as I kicked him again.

"What what that for?" He asked, groaning.

"I don't know." I shrugged. "Because I can."

"I think you've done enough, my love."

Caspian! I turned around to see him smiling. He pulled me into a quick kiss before pulling away from me.

"Come, we need to set things right." Caspian said as he grabbed my hand.

After Caspian spoke to the people we were able to get back on our ship, the Dawn Treader. The townspeople clapped as we left the town. We received another crew member who was searching for his wife, I recognised him as the man who had only his daughter left.

Just as we were about to board, we were stopped by Lord Bern who handed Caspian a sword.

"There are seven swords, one for each one of the lords." He explained to us. "You see they were gifts from Aslan during the Golden Age. Take this, your majesty. It'll protect you."

"Thank you, my lord." Caspian replied as he took the sword. "We shall find your lost citizens."

As we boarded the ship, Caspian handed it over to Edmund who seemed pleased at this. Lucy and I chuckle upon seeing Edmund's face.

"Mother! Father!" Gemma and Xavier exclaimed as they approached us.

"What took you so long?" Xavier asked.

"Well, your mother and I had to fight bad guys." Caspian explained to them.

"Are they gone?" Gemma asked, timidly.

"Yes, your father and I took care of all of them." I assured her.

"Now come, who wants to play a game?" Caspian asked them.

"Me!" The both exclaimed.

"Have fun." I said with a smile as I watched them walk off into our chambers.

As I remained on deck, I caught Eustace writing in his journal every now in then. From the other side of the ship, Edmund was polishing his sword and it seemed like Reepicheep was interested in the sword as well.

"I don't suppose they have a smaller sized sword." Reepicheep commented, clearly joking around.

Edmund and Reepicheep chuckled at his words. I noticed Eustace's behaviour, he was envious.

"Peeving marmot. He's even more deluded than my cousin." Eustace said, loud enough for all of us to hear. "In England we have mouse traps for that sort of thing. Speaking of food, you don't know where I could get any?"

I couldn't believe what I had witnessed. Eustace was trying to talk to a bird. This kid knows nothing of Narnia.

"Uh, Eustace. Why are you taking to that bird?" I asked.

Eustace's face began to turn red as he spoke. "Uh, well. I just assumed that he could speak-"

"He's talking to birds!" Tavros laughed.

"He's mad as a loon." Another crew member commented.

"Shoo! Get going!" Eustace said as he tried to get the bird to leave.

With that he stormed off. Finally some peace and quiet up here. I sat on an empty barrel next to Tavros and Drinian.

"Finally, I thought he'd never leave." I commented.

"And hopefully he'll stay down there for a while." Tavros said.

I thought the same until I heard his screams, which were followed by footsteps that were headed our way.