The Legacy's Return (#2)

Sneaking Out

I had only one choice left.

I didn't care if people didn't believe me. I didn't care about the Council and I didn't care about what Caspian thought. I had only one choice left.

I grabbed my weapons kit and wore my armour, which Claire had made for me on my request. I thought that I would need it at some point if I was going to live in Narnia.

I got out of my room and made it to the front door without any interruptions. I looked up at the north tower and saw Caspian flashing the torch in the direction of my room.

"Sorry, Cas." I whispered as I was about to open the door.

"And where are you going?" I heard a voice behind me and a mini heart attack right there.

I closed my eyes in having been caught. I turned around and faced my friend. "Trumpkin." I breathed out. "What are you doing here?"

"I could be asking you the same thing."

"I....." I didn't know what to tell him. How do you tell the King's advisor that you were sneaking out while everyone was asleep? "I'm going for a late-night stroll." I decided, choosing from the number of lies on my list.

"Oh really? I'll come with you then." He walked towards the front door. I was definitely caught. There was no way out.

"Wait." I stopped him after he opened the door, making him turn around and raising his eyebrows at me. "Fine. You caught me."

"You were going to the Witch's camp, weren't you?"

"Yes."

"Good." He pulled out something out from his back - his weapons kit. "Let's go."

I was honestly surprised. "You have your bow with you. You were going to sneak out as well?" I asked him, following him out of the castle.

"These dumb heads don't know what is coming for them. We need proof."

"I had the same thing in mind." I said as we headed towards the stables.

"What is that about?" Trumpkin asked, pointing to the flashlight. "The last time that thing was used was during the Raid of the castle last year."

"Don't worry about it." I said as I broke the lock at the stables. Mr. Henry was going to be really mad. It was the third lock that I had broken in a few months.

"Don't listen to anyone." He cautioned as I got the lock out. "You know?" I looked at him. "You shouldn't listen to these people. You would be a great leader if you want to." He said. "Never forget what you are. The rest of the world will not. Wear it like an armour, and it can never be used to hurt you."

I smiled at him. "Thank you. I'm not used to you complimenting me."

"Do you want me to shout instructions now?" He asked and then laughed. "And also," He put his hand forward awkwardly. "Many more happy returns of the day."

I looked at it but hugged him instead. "Thank you for being my teacher."

He patted my back. "Thank you for being a good student."

We woke our horses and it didn't take much to keep Thomas quiet because he was used to me waking him up in the middle of the night. We got on them and made our way to the exact spot we had been to in the morning.

When we reached there, we felt colder than we did in the morning and the nightfall had nothing to with it as the whole river was frozen.

"Crows and crockery!" Trumpkin exclaimed silently.

"I'm surprised that they haven't attacked yet." I whispered to him.

"They would be stupid to. We have guarded the castle well."

"What do we bring back as proof?"

"We can't take the ice back. That's for sure."

I gave a small shaky laughter. "We are on the same track. How about the staff?"

He looked at me like I was going Dorothy. "The staff? Wouldn't that be too obvious?"

"What if we take back the broken one? The one King Edmund broke in the First Battle of Beruna? That's what the hag used to bring her back, isn't it?"

Trumpkin had a smile on his face now. "I like where this is going. How do we do this?"

So, we made a plan. It was stupid and reckless but, in the end, it was a plan - the only plan we had in hand.

"I'll wait here." Trumpkin informed, hiding behind the trunk of a tree.

"You know the signal, right?" I asked him and just as I did, someone walked out of one of the tents.

It was the White Witch.

I dropped onto the ground as she looked directly in our direction. The timing being perfect, a deer walked by next to us. Trumpkin tried to silently shoo it away and after it did, the Witch went out for a stroll.

I looked at Trumpkin and he understood what I wanted to say. "That just makes our work a whole lot easier."

I crouched down and jogged to the Witch's tent, assuming that it was hers. I peeked inside, being halfway in and hallway out. I looked behind and made sure no one saw me. It was the middle on the night anyway. I guessed that even the White Witch faced insomnia.

I tip-toed inside the tent. It was very cold inside. There was a light coming from somewhere that illuminated the room, which helped me in making a quick scan of the tent.

I saw a full staff near a bunch of swords. Check. But where was the other one? I snooped through the mini armoury and finally, I found the broken staff. Just then, the secret signal was made.

I'm sure you are wondering what the signal was. I asked Trumpkin if he knew how to mimic and he told me that he could mimic a bird very easily. He even gave me a little introduction to it when we were away from the camp, of course.

Instinctively, my head turned in the direction of the signal. One of the sides of the tent started to move and I heard the second signal, which was to distract the Witch if I was still inside the tent by the time she came. We came to that decision only after we saw her leaving her tent.

I went to the closest side of the tent and once again, I was half inside and half outside. I saw half of her pale-skinned body entering the room and without wasting a second, I went completely out of the tent.

I looked at Trumpkin and he started running at the same time I did. We needed to get out of there as soon as possible. We ran and ran and stopped only when we reached the horses by the river.

"Do you have it?"

I showed him the staff and his eyes widened up. He never thought that he would be seeing it again in his life. I guessed we all made assumptions and hoped for the best.