Beyond the Horn

CHAPTER 6: ANNALIESE

Alright, Annaliese had to admit, that was pretty incredible the way Edmund disarmed the dwarf so quickly, though she hated the fact that they'd dueled at all. Honestly, why did there have to be violence, fighting, conflict? Why couldn't everyone simply get along in peace?

Kara was completely impressed, if the way she stared at Edmund in shock was anything to go by. Annaliese wished her older sister understood how she felt. Conflict never got anyone anywhere. There was simply no point to it. It made her feel sick, just thinking about fighting with one of those swords.

She shook her head, hard, and tried to focus on the conversation. So far, the dwarf had introduced himself as Trumpkin, and explained that the Telmarine prince, Caspian the Tenth, had blown Susan's horn which in turn had summoned back the Kings and Queens of Old. But why on earth two other girls had somehow been pulled to Narnia with them was beyond him.

"Who are you, anyway?" his murky blue eyes glimmered with a touch of distaste when he looked at Kara in her pants and man's tunic.

"Kara Rems," she replied stiffly, straightening her back. Her face had taken on that defensive look that spoke volumes. If he so much as spoke to Annaliese in the disrespectful way he'd just spoken to her, Annaliese knew Kara would pummel him to the ground regardless of whether he could lead them to the prince or not.

"She's a dear friend of ours," Susan broke in. "She and her sister, Annaliese. We do not know how they came with us."

"But we're glad they did," Edmund interjected. Annaliese smiled at her shoes and in the corner of her eye caught Kara beaming up at him.

"So long as Miraz doesn't know about them they'll be fine," Trumpkin muttered. Everyone heard him, though, and went quiet.

"That's where we protect them," Peter said firmly. "Where did you last see Prince Caspian?"

"In the Shuddering Woods," Trumpkin replied, eyes narrowed and focused on Peter's face.

"If we take the boat, we can cross the creek and reach the woods quicker," Peter nodded. "Ed, if you'll steer?"

"Yeah," Edmund nodded.

"Everybody in, then."

After Peter and Edmund pushed the boat back into the water, Trumpkin went to sit at the front, then Susan, Lucy, and Annaliese squeezed into the next seat. Peter took the middle seat, where the oars waited. Then Edmund crawled in at the very back of the boat, where he could steer. Seeing as there was no other place, Kara sat next to him, on the other side of the steering rod-thingy. Annaliese had no idea the name of any part of a boat other than what it was—a boat.

With Lucy and Susan pressed up against her on either side, Annaliese felt strangely comforted. Nothing could go wrong so long as she had her best friends here. She didn't put much stock in the boys; she didn't know them that well anyhow.

At least Kara seemed comfortable around the Pevensie brothers now. Then again, she had made quite the first impression.

Peter began to row with constant, steady strokes, and for a long time there was only the sound of waves lapping against the boat. Following the river's current, they traveled the weaving creek along its pattern in and around those beautiful cliffs. It was incredibly peaceful, but the trees held eerily still in the whispering breeze. They were very still, Annaliese couldn't help noticing with a shiver.

As if reading her mind, Lucy suddenly said, "They're so still."

Trumpkin glanced up too, and with a grumpy look replied, "They're trees. What'd you expect?"

Lucy's blue eyes went from the trees to the dwarf with a disappointed look in their depths. "They used to dance," she answered remorsefully.

Trumpkin lowered his gaze and then gave them more knowledge into his mind than he'd allowed them to see before. "Wasn't long after you lot left that the Telmarines invaded. Those who survived retreated to the woods. And the trees?" here he stopped and looked oddly sorrowful for a moment. "The trees eventually retreated so deep within themselves that they haven't been heard from since."

"I don't understand," Lucy said painfully. "How could Aslan have let this happen?"

"Aslan?" Trumpkin sounded actually surprised. "Thought he abandoned us when you lot did."

Peter actually stopped rowing to turn and stare at him, and the rest of the Pevensies' faces held equally stunned expressions.

Annaliese drew a sharp breath. Was that really necessary? They couldn't have helped leaving. It wasn't their fault!

But who was Aslan?

"We didn't mean to leave, you know," Peter said, his voice the most raw and vulnerable Annaliese had ever heard it. It made her want to hug him, just so he could feel comfort of some kind.

"Makes no difference now, does it?" Trumpkin's tone clearly indicated the end of the conversation. But Peter was having none of it.

"Get us to the Narnians," he said, all kingly again, "and it will." And he set determinedly to rowing once more.

Annaliese glanced back to make eye contact with Kara. Her sister's eyes were swimming with tears, and Annaliese didn't blame her for it.

Something was really wrong here. Maybe Annaliese and Kara had been brought to Narnia to help fix it.

There was silence the rest of the journey, at the end of which it was late afternoon. They finally reached a small ford, the end of their destination. From here on out, Peter said after they'd all climbed out of the boat, they'd be going on foot. There was more land to traverse before they'd reach the River Rush, and then on to the Shuddering Woods.

Right. They were trying to find Prince Caspian, though Annaliese still remotely had no idea why. She opened her mouth to ask Lucy that very question, when Kara asked it for her.

"Why do we want to find this...this Prince Caspian? Who's Aslan? What are Telmarines? I think you all at least owe us that."

Annaliese couldn't have said it better herself.

The Pevensies exchanged troubled glances before looking back at them, from Kara to Annaliese and back again. "Kara, Aslan is The King," Lucy said softly, a beautiful smile completely lighting up her face at his name. "Aslan is the true King of Narnia. The great lion. He is kind, and he is good. He crowned us Kings and Queens, and he brought us here to Narnia. We didn't know for what purpose in the beginning, but then we did. Now we have come back, and we don't, as of yet, know the full extent of his purpose for our return, but I know he would not have brought us back were not something horribly wrong. And he must have decided Narnia would have need of you and Annaliese, Kara."

"As for Telmarines," Edmund continued Lucy's explanation, "all we know of them is that they are from the land of Telmar. I don't know why they invaded Narnia, why they have taken over it now, or why Aslan has not come to stop them. Perhaps he has something he wants us to learn, something he wants all of us to learn."

"He usually does," Susan put in, smiling at Edmund fondly. "And anyhow, the two of you are here as well. He must have something great in store for the both of you."

Annaliese felt a shiver pass through her. She and Kara weren't there by accident? There was a reason for their arrival in this strange land?

"We are searching for Prince Caspian," Peter added, "because he blew Susan's horn. Now, why would a Telmarine blow a Queen of Narnia's horn? Perhaps he is on our side. Aslan's side. And it is our duty to find out."

Annaliese's mouth had long gone dry. She sat down in the sand and removed the bow from her shoulder. It all made sense, in a strangely twisted way. Not in a thousand years would she have imagined that such a world as Narnia even existed. And now to think—she and Kara were here because the great King Aslan had a special purpose for each of them. It was a most indescribable thing.

Annaliese had much to think about.