Whisked Away

48. An Old Friend

Shifra's POV
Over the next three days I got to know the boys better. Zyanister put on a cold exterior to hide himself from the world and to try and hide his pain, but the truth was he felt abandoned by everyone and everything. He was very smart and enjoyed building things and figuring out how others worked.

Zyan was quiet and more shy than his brother. I soon figured out why he didn't blame Aslan like Zyanister for his mother's death. He had built this idea that he deserved it and that for some reason or another he deserved to grow up without a mother. He had so little self esteem that he could not take pride in anything he said or did. While Zyanister enjoyed figuring out how objects and things worked, Zyan was more interested in figuring out how people worked. He wanted to know and understand why one person behaved one way, but another in the exact same situation would behave and thing differently.

Both however loved to read. We spent hours and hours together in the library reading to our heart's content. At last it had come to be the day before I knew Caspian would have to leave. With sadness in my heart, I pulled the two boys aside and said, "I'm so so sorry, but tomorrow night I'm going to have to go away from awhile."

"You're leaving?" Zyanister demanded, clearly hurt.

"I need to save...someone, but I shall return," I promised.

"Ok," Zyan replied, nudging his brother.

"Yeah whatever," he replied, clearly annoyed, "Just leave like everyone else." I let out a sigh and buried my face in my hands.

"I'll talk to him," Zyan promised, "I'm sure he'll come to understand he's just..." He could not seem to say exactly what Zyanister was, for he shook his head and walked off after his slightly younger brother. I passed the rest of the day gathering what I would need for the trip. I had my weapons, a tinder box I had found, my ring which I always wore, a long, black cloak with a hood, and a blanket.

The next day was chaotic for everyone, for Caspian was planning on sailing once again to see the worlds end, for rumors of Aslan being seen there had spread. Caspian wished for his advice on who to be the next king, so he had prepared to set sail. We had by now all gathered in front of the ship Caspian was to sail on. He himself was standing in front of the ship and had just turned to speak to his people.

He rested his hand on one of the younger lords to help him keep balance and in front of him, sat Trumpkin. Now as I have said nothing about what he has become, I should probably start. Trumpkin was by now very old, so old in fact, that his hearing had all but given out and he carried with him a gigantic ear horn.

He sat in a donkey drawn chair on wheels. He was also very handsomely dressed, but because of the way he was situated it made him look rather like a pile of jewels, metal, and rich fabrics. As Caspian was speaking, I noticed two black dots floating through the air coming towards the ground. Since I was closer to the ground, I was able to get over to them easily.

I stayed back at first though and turned my face so they could not see me, but even so I could hear them speaking to one another. "Scrub," I heard the girl whisper, panicked, "Scrub, quick! Do you see anyone that you know?"

"So you've turned up have you?" Eustace replied, "Well, keep quiet, can't you? I want to listen."

"Don't be a fool," she countered, "There isn't a moment to lose. Do you see some old friend here? Because you've got to go speak to him at once."

"What are you talking about?" Eustace asked.

"It's Aslan, the Lion, he says you've got to," replied the girl despairingly.

"Oh you have have you? What'd he say?"

"He said the very first person you saw in Narnia would be some old friend and you've got to speak to him at once," she replied, desperation clear in her voice.

"Well, there's nobody here I've seen in my life before; and anyway I'm not even sure that this is Narnia," he replied.

The girl replied indignantly, "Thought you said you'd been here before."

"Well you thought wrong then," was his curt reply.

"Well I like that! You told me..."

Eustace interrupted her before she could say more by saying, "Oh dry up and let's have a hear what they're saying." Caspian's voice had so weakened that it was difficult to hear exactly what he was saying from so far back, but soon he had boarded the ship. They took off and I turned back to the children now that Caspian was gone.

"Now," Scrub began, but I interrupted him.

"You've changed my friend," I greeted. He looked at me confusedly, but recognition crossed his face and he ran to hug me.

"General Shifra!" Eustace exclaimed.

"Not so much of a general anymore," I replied with a laugh, "I've been retired these last seventy years."

"Jolly," said the girl, "that's a frightfully long time."

"Seventy years is a mere blink of the eye for me, child," I replied gravely. She looked confused until I added, "I'm nearing my 2,514 birthday."

"Shifra, this is Jill Pole," Eustace introduced with a kind of annoyance in his voice, "Pole, this is Shifra, she was on that voyage with me all those years ago."

Suddenly Jill became very excited, exclaiming, "An old friend! This could be who Aslan was talking about!"

I raised my hand to stop her excited speech, but before I could tell her otherwise, an owl landed next to us, asking of the children, "Tu-whoo, tu-whoo! Who are you two?"

"I'm Scrub and this is Pole," Eustace responded, "Would you mind telling us who that king was?"

"That was King Caspian X, but who are you two? There's something magical about you two. I saw you arrive: you flew. I happened to notice you, you flew."

"We were sent here by Aslan," Eustace said in a low voice.

"I'll find you later and we can sort it all out," I told Eustace, leaving him and Jill with the owl Glimfeather. I went first to find Zyanister. When I had found him, he was sitting at a window, looking over the patch of grass where the king had just left from. "You didn't go down to see the king off," I asked, sitting down next to him.

He rolled his eyes and replied, "Why do you care? You're leaving tonight anyways."

"I know you don't understand, but I have to. They need me to get the next king of Narnia," I tried to explain.

He rolled his eyes again and muttered just loud enough for me to hear him, "Sure, for Aslan."

"No," I replied, "for Caspian."

Zyanister just stood up and started to walk away, shouting as he went, "Sure, keep telling yourself that! You know what, next time, just don't bother to try to get to know us before taking off like everyone else." I let out a sigh, resting my head on the wall.

Getting up, I decided to go and find Eustace. When I had finally found him, he was changed into Narnian clothing, but did not seem very pleased about any of this. "I'm finding Pole," he told me, "Do you want to come?"

"Sure," I agreed, "now what happened when you got here, I mean how?"

"Well," he started, "We were running away from some bullies at school and came upon this door. It's normally locked, but for some reason it wasn't today. We opened it and were met with a whole different world. I'd told Pole about Narnia beforehand, mind, but when we got there, there was this very high cliff. Now I'm terrified of heights, but I suppose Pole has a good head for them."

"And you were right by the edge?" I asked.

"Yes," he preceded, "she got too close and I was trying to prevent her from falling, but in the chaos of it, she sort of pushed me off. I let out a scream and just felt so terrified, but then it was like a breath of wind had caught me and carried me down here. About a minute later, Pole arrived next to me going on about some old friend I needed to find." I only nodded for now we had come to Jill's room.