Camille, the Lionhearted Temlarine Princess

Chapter 18: Lookout Ledge

Camille walked through the How looking for something to occupy her time. Everyone else was out training with their weapons. Pearl was doing some scouting by air and Camille's duel partner was off doing something else.

As she walked, her lovely orange dress swished and swayed elegantly. She also wore a brown belt from which she hung her sword. She remembered what Queens Susan and Lucy had said just this morning.

"My Camille! You look absolutely gorgeous!" Susan had gushed.

"Wow, I wish I had a dress like that!" Lucy had added.

"Thanks, guys, but I'm just going to be training," she had complied.

"Training or not, that dress makes you light up the whole room! Edmund's going to be amazed," Lucy grinned at the last sentence.

Camille had blushed.

"Come on," Susan had said, "we both know you two like each other. Don't you?"

"Well.......maybe a little," Camille had admitted.

Camille smiled at the memory.

Eventually, she passed the door leading to the Stone Table. She noticed Lucy walk down the long hallway and sighed. The White Witch, as Lucy called her, had nearly been resurrected. The very thought made her shiver.

Further on, Camille came to a little lookout that overlooked the vast plane of Beruna. Sitting on the ledge was her brother.

She sighed quietly and sat down beside him. She put her head on his shoulder and he wrapped his arm around her.

Together, they looked out over the plain stretching out before them in silence. Camille thought about the White Witch and what would have happened if she had been resurrected. Camille had learned from the professor that she had caused an eternal winter thirteen hundred years earlier. Would she have done the same thing? Lucy had also mentioned to her that the witch could also turn anyone into stone if they went against her commands. That sounded terrible to Camille.

Her thoughts were interrupted when the professor spoke. He had joined them on the ledge.

"My mother was a Black Dwarf from the Northern Mountains. I risked my life all these years so that one day you and Camille might be a better king and queen than those before you."

"Then I have failed you," Caspian sighed.

Camille jerked her head up to look at him. "You didn't fail," she interjected.

"She's right, you didn't fail. Everything I told you, everything I didn't, it was only because I believe in you," the professor replied.

"So do I," Camille added.

Caspian looked down at her and Camille gave him a smile.

Professor Cornelius looked at the siblings. "Both of you have a chance to become the most noble contradiction in history. The Telmarines who saved Narnia."

"You think so?" Camille asked.

"Absolutely," the professor answered.

Suddenly, something caught the siblings' eyes.

"That isn't a whole troop of Telmarines, is it Caspian?" Camille questioned.

"Looks like it," Caspian answered standing up.

"Camille, go fetch the others," he instructed her.

Quickly, Camille got up and ran into the How to look for the others.

****

Inside the Stone Table room, Peter and Lucy sat looking up at the magnificent carving of Aslan.

"Maybe we're the ones who need to prove ourselves to him," Lucy was telling Peter.

Just then, Edmund walked in. "Pete," he said as he came up to the two. "You'd better come quickly."

Peter and Lucy looked at him then shared a look with each other. This didn't sound good.

They followed Edmund out of the room and ran out onto the ledge where Camille, Caspian, Susan, Professor Cornelius and some other Narnians stood.

Lucy joined Camille and Susan on one side of Caspian while the boys stood on the other. Together, they looked out across the vast plain watching large troops of Telmarines march across the grass.

Reepicheep and his mice soldiers climbed onto a large rock to watch the coming soldiers.

Hundreds and hundreds of Telmarine soldiers dressed head to foot in armor. Groups of them marched in an orderly fashion and dotted among them were enormous catapults carrying large round boulders. There were also men behind those as well to help operate them.

Soon they came to a stop and a line of mounted soldiers galloped down the center and lined up in front. A horn blew and down the center line came Miraz on a white stallion with a gold chest plate and blinders. Miraz himself wore gold colored armor. He came right up to the middle of the line.

Camille shook her head. She couldn't imagine that the entire Telmarine army would arrive. She looked at others and saw that they were as scared as she was. Peter had a worried frown on his face. Susan had a wide-eyed but frightened look. Edmund glanced at Peter. Lucy shook her head and Caspian fidgeted with his sword hilt. What would they do?