goodbye.

8.

The next morning, Caspian was in the courtyard with Edmund duelling and Andrew was watching with pure fascination and awe. He never knew Edmund was so good at duelling with an actual sword. Lucy was sat on the castle steps leading up to the entrance. The clinks and clanks of the colliding swords echoed throughout the courtyard and attracted a lot of attention from those who lived inside the palace walls. There was soon a medium sized crowd watching and cheering on Caspian and Edmund. The reflection of the sun bounced off their swords and darted to different directions. The laughter and cheers reminded Lucy of when Eustace and Reepicheep duelled on the Dawn Treader. The two Kings fought well and Caspian swiped across only to have his sword pushed away by a strong Edmund. The two men's faces were soon close together and the two men smiled and laughed and panted from exhaustion. Caspian laughed and lowered his sword as did Edmund. "You're a worthy opponent King Edmund." Caspian laughed as he clapped his shoulder and the crowd dispersed. There were a few murmurs about Edmund being the King Edmund the Just. Lucy walked over to Edmund and hugged him congratulations and turned to Caspian. She almost hugged him but thought best not to so she simply shook his hand. Caspian chuckled and put his arms around both their shoulders and walked into the castle with Andrew following.

"By Jove Ed! Since when did you duel like that?" Andrew said whilst he and Edmund were in the library. Edmund shrugged and continued to read a book. Only recently had Edmund taken an interest in proper books, and not those of the short stories one would find in the newspaper. Caspian was sat slouched in a leather armchair fiddling with a miniature contraption of some sort with Lucy sat on the arm of the armchair. "He's a King, so of course he's had training." Caspian said as if Andrew should know. Andrew frowned at Caspian and he laughed. "Anyway, did any of you hear a bang in the night?" Edmund said looking up from his book. Lucy's eyes widened slightly and she bit her lip. "Lu?" Caspian whispered looking up at the young Queen. Lucy remained silent. "Lucy, what's wrong?" Caspian continued sitting up. Sighing, she spoke, "It was me. I made that noise."
"How?"
"I was in here."
"Here?"
Lucy nodded guiltily. Caspian asked her what she was doing in the library last night. "I was looking for Narnian enemies. It appears Jadis had someone else living with her." Came the reply. That got the three men sitting up and listening. She continued by reciting what she'd read in the book that made the tremendous noise. "Maybe that's who the figure meant. Not the Jadis lady." Andrew pointed out. Caspian rubbed his chin and looked thoughtful.
"Am I in trouble?" Lucy mumbled looking at the quintet eyes of her brother and Caspian. Caspian laughed and said she wasn't. Phew. "But you have given us a great deal of information." He finished.