Just the Beginning (Prince Caspian)

Ruins

We are now walking up to explore the ruins to see if we can figure out just where we are. Lucy finds an apple and takes a bite while Peter walks up some steps and looks around.

Glancing towards the water I find myself asking, "I wonder who lived here."

Just then Susan picked something up off the ground and looked up surprised.

"I think we did."

Lucy and I walk closer to get a better look and see that it is a small golden chess knight like the ones we use to have.

"Hey, that's mine...from my chess set." Ed speaks up.

"Which chess set?" Peter doubts.

"Well, I didn‟t exactly have a solid gold chess set in Finchley, did I?"

"It can‟t be." I hear Lucy whisper incredulously.

"Lucy!" Peter shouts after her as she grabs his hand.
Lucy runs over to the center of the ruins and stops.

"Don‟t you see?

"What?"

"Imagine walls. ... And columns there... and a glass roof."

"It's Cair Paravel." I speak up unable to believe what I was seeing. 'Wha-how?'

Edmund bends down and looks at something.

"Catapults," he begins

"This didn‟t just happen. Cair Paravel was attacked!"

"I don't understand, who would attack Narnia?" I wonder out loud.

"Maybe that's why we're here." Susan suggests."

Ed then gets up and walks towards the walls with Pete following behind him. They then start moving the wall to reveal a door behind it.

Once the door is broken down Peter tears off a
piece of his shirt and wraps it around a stick.

"I don‟t suppose you have any matches in there, do you?"

"No... but would this help?" Edmund pulls a torch out his bag causing me to give him a look.

"You might've mentioned that a bit sooner!" We laugh.

We all step inside with Edmund leading the way and Lucy pauses when she sees the treasure chamber, and all our chests inside.

"I can‟t believe it. It's all still here."

I run quickly run over to my chest, excitement getting the best of me.

"I was so tall." Lucy stated.

"Well, you were older then."

"As opposed to hundreds of years later... when you‟re younger." Ed pointed wearing a silver helmet on his head that was quite large on him as well. I let out a loud laugh before opening my own chest.

Upon opening it I see my favorite items of clothing, only one of which is a dress. Seeing as how I preferred to be active doing things that I couldn't un a dress. I also see my gifts from Saint Nickolas. My steel dagger with the outline of a griffin on it and my necklace that I was told would lead me to my destiny. He was never very clear about what that destiny was exactly, nor was Aslan, but I was told that it was something far greater than anything we were currently possible of understanding.

The necklace was simple really, it was golden and held a design similar to that of a Celtic knot.

Simple or not, it was beautiful nonetheless and I immediately put it around my neck, where it will remain so long as we are here.

I turned to see Peter blowing the dust away from the item in his hands, and I see the image of a Lion on a large gold plate.

"What is it?" Lucy asks, pulling my attention away from the image of the Great Lion.

"My horn. I must've left it on my saddle the day we went back." Susan answers sadly.

Peter then opens his chest, takes out his sword and draws it.

"When Aslan bears his teeth, winter meets its death-"

-"And when he shakes his mane, we shall have spring again." Lucy finishes for him. "Everyone we knew... Mr. Tumnus and the Beavers... they‟re all gone."  At that, I allowed a tear to roll down my cheek but quickly wiped it away.

Breaking the mournful silence Peter spoke up "I think it‟s time we found out what‟s going on."

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

After walking for some time we come across two men in a boat about to drop a smaller man with his hands tied into the water. As they are lifting him Susan raises her bow and hits the side of the boat. She then puts another arrow to the string and shuts at them to drop him.

I noticed that all that seemed to do was make the smaller man even more frightened and I realized that what Susan said may not have been the brightest.

I was only proven correct when the soldiers dropped the dwarf into the water. One of them
picked up a crossbow, and Susan shot him immediately. Seeing this, the other wisely jumps into the water himself and swims away.

While the dwarf is sinking to the bottom, Peter quickly dives in and pulls him to shore while Edmund pulls the boat in. I then cut the dwarf's bonds with my dagger and he pulls the gag off and says...

"Drop him"?! That‟s the best you can come up with?"

"A simple thank-you would suffice."

"They were doing fine drowning me without your help." He retorted.

"Maybe we should have let them."

Ignoring Peters comment Lucy asked "Why were they trying to kill you anyway?"

"They‟re Telmarines. That‟s what they do."

"Telmarines? In Narnia?"

"Where have you been for the last few hundred years?" Trumpkin asked dumbfounded.

"It's a bit of a long story."

Susan hands Peter's sword back to him and this seemed to give Trumpkin the hint that he needed to put the information together because a flash of realization showed on his face.

"Oh, you‟ve got to be kidding me. You‟re it? You're the kings and queens of old?"

"High King Peter... the Magnificent." Peter introduces himself and holds out his hand.

"You probably could have left out the last bit" I state, earning a light shove from Peter and a chuckle from the rest.

"Probably." The dwarf stated.

"You might be surprised." Peter states drawing his sword.

"I think he already is Pete." I say, laughing once more.

"Oh, you don't want to do that, boy."

"Not me. Him." He says while looking at Ed.

Peter hands his sword to Trumpkin who takes it before the sword drops in the sand. Edmund smiles at Peter obviously believing he's already won. But I wouldn't be so certain.

Suddenly, Trumpkin knocks Edmund's sword away and swings resulting in Edmund ducking before Trumpkin hits him in the face. Edmund carefully backs off.

"Edmund!"

"Aww, you alright?" The dwarf mocks while I hold a slight smile on my face.

They circle around and continue fighting. Trumpkin slashes at Edmund's feet, but he luckily jumps with both feet off the
ground so that the blow goes under them. A few seconds later, the Dwarf's sword flies out of his grip and Trumpkin stares, and falls down in the sand.

"Beards and bedsteads! Maybe that horn worked after all."

"What horn?" Susan questions aloud, speaking for the rest of us.