Camille, the Lionhearted Temlarine Princess

Chapter 10: First Meeting Queasiness

Edmund awoke to a start. Something had woken him but what was it? He looked around but Peter and Lucy were gone. He jumped to his feet and shook Susan awake.

"Susan! Peter and Lucy are gone!" He exclaimed.

Immediately, Trumpkin and Susan grabbed their weapons and hurried into the forest. Edmund grabbed his also and followed.

They heard swords clanging farther away. When they arrived on the scene, they found Peter and Lucy just as Peter questioned a brown haired boy and girl. The girl stood next to the boy with serious eyes.

"Prince Caspian? Princess Camille?" Peter was asking.

"Yes? And who are you?" The boy retorted.

"Peter!" Susan scolded.

Prince Caspian looked at the sword he had just pulled out of a tree. Then he looked up at Peter. "High King Peter." 

"I believe you called," Peter responded.

"Well, yes, but.." the boy stammered, "I thought you'd be older."

"If you like, we could come back in a few years."

"No! No, that's all right. You're just...not what I had expected," the boy eyed Susan and Edmund caught that 'look' in Peter eyes.

"Neither are you," Edmund stated, looking at the Minotaur just behind the Telmarine.

Then, Edmund saw the white horse with wings he had seen earlier. It stood beside Princess Camille, who looked exactly like the gorgeous girl from before. She was Princess Camille? The very thought made him dizzy.

It was Prince Caspian's turn to get that same 'look' when he saw the unusual attention Edmund gave Camille.

"We have anxiously awaited your return, my liege," a mouse said coming up to Peter. "Our hearts and swords are at your service."

"Oh my gosh, he is so cute," Lucy said to Susan.

"Who said that?" Reepicheep, the mouse, asked offended.

"Sorry," Lucy apologized.

"Oh, your Majesty, with the greatest respect," the mouse bowed. "I do believe 'courageous,' 'courteous,' or 'chivalrous,' might benefit a knight of Narnia."

"Well, at least some of you can handle a blade," Peter commented to the mouse.

"Yes, indeed. And I have recently put it to good use, securing weapons for your army, sire," Reepicheep replied.

"Good, because we're going to need every sword we can get," Peter informed, looking at Caspian.

"Well, then," Caspian retorted, "You will probably be wanting yours back." He held out Peter's sword.

Peter took it and sheathed it.

           *****

"So what are they like?" Trufflehunter asked Trumpkin.

"Malcontents, complainers, stubborn as mules in the morning," came Trumpkin's response.

"So you like them, then," the badger replied.

"Well enough," Trumpkin answered.

Lucy smiled to herself, then ran pass Edmund to catch up to Camille.

"Why do your brother's eyes keep following me?" Camille asked her as Lucy fell into step beside her.

Lucy looked at Edmund out of the corner of her eye. He was looking at Camille in a funny way. "Who knows. Maybe he likes you," she responded.

"It's starting to bother me a bit," Camille said quietly, though she didn't mention that she liked him too.

"You should go talk to him," Lucy suggested.

Camille started itching, "I don't know."

"Come on," Lucy urged.

"Alright, but later."

Meanwhile, Peter dropped back a little. He eyed his younger brother with a sly smirk on his face.

"Don't give me that look," Edmund mumbled.

"Why not? It's nice to tease my younger brother once in a while," Peter laughed.

Edmund just sighed.

"You like Camille, don't you?"

Edmund coughed, "No I don't," he denied.

Peter laughed again, "Ed, I've never seen your eyes follow anyone like they did with Camille."

Edmund stumbled a bit. Peter noticed that?

Then a shout arose alerting the group they had arrived at the How. The group behind caught up to see the How.

As they approached the How, centaurs lined up along the walkway leading into the How. They drew their swords and raised them to the sword across from them, making an archway. Caspian and Camille hung back a little to let the kings and queens of Narnia go first. Then they and the others followed after.

Inside the How, Narnians pounded metal against metal. They were making weapons for the upcoming battle.

"It may not be what you are used to, but it is defensible," Caspian explained to the newcomers.

All around them stood dirt walls with a few rocks jutting out. Over in the background, a tunnel led deeper into the cave. Susan and Lucy went deeper into the How to explore. A moment later, Susan came out of tunnel.

"Peter, you may want to see this."

Caspian, Camille, Edmund, Lucy, and Pearl followed Peter into the tunnel. The walls were covered in paintings of the Kings and Queens during the Golden Age and their time in Narnia. There was one that showed an faun with an umbrella standing at a lampost.

"It's us," Susan said, amazed.

"What is this place?" Lucy asked.

"You don't know?" Caspian replied.

Caspian grabbed a torch and led the way deeper into the tunnel. The tunnel opened into a big room. Caspian lit the oil in a trench that circled the room.

As the fire lit up the room, it lit up a picture of a magnificent lion and in the center was stone table that had been cracked in half. It was the legendary Stone Table where the lion Aslan had been killed and raised back to life.

Camille cocked her head as she looked at Pevensies.

Lucy went up to the table and put her hand on it. "He must know what he is doing," she said, looking back at them.