The Next Four Months

Chap three

(Susan)

"Ow!" I yelped sitting up and feeling the room sway around me, I lost my balance and fell back a little, my hand touching a mattress under me. My vision came back to me slowly, though every object seemed to have a ghostly outline.

"Oh, no your majesty you must lie still!" It was the gentle but shrill voice of Susca and her hands that pushed me back gently. I looked up at her to discover she only had one eye, my vision slurred again and she had two noses. When she place my head delicately against my pillow her face began to slowly perceive normality once more. I watched her through half blind eyes and was shocked to see her belly still jutted out in front of her, she was still very heavy, still to give birth and yet she had been going a lot longer than I had. The poor girl had probably been called to tend to me even though she should be settled at home, saving her energy for the birth of a new baby.

"Susca,"I spoke, croaking through at least me tongue was better than my eyes, "You shouldn't be here, if I don't need the tendence of a healer then I'm sure Lucy can help me."

"I can't leave you, his highness King Peter forbid me to leave you until they returned."

"But if Peter had known you were expecting he would never have said it, oh. I wish my stupid brother would learn to ask before doing things for me."

"He weren't to know and-." Susca stopped suddenly, holding her tongue as if she was going to say something too bold for her position.

"And.." I pressed her to answer.

"Well, the last time your majesty tried to do something without the kings guidance, you ended up hurt quite badly. Maybe it would be best for King Peter to step in to help. Your mind can sometimes be affected by a coming child, at least those are the words of my mother. If you will excuse me, my lady,"

"Yes, you are excused." I didn't need to ask her why she wished to be excused- babies seemed to have a habit of making bladders over active. I knew exactly how she felt! After a moment or two I became very tired again, slowly drifting off towards the dull pain in my head, the sort of pain that came with a cold. I knew it was worse, I felt dizzy due to concusion. The cause of the concusion I didn't know but I felt so tired, too tired to care. I just let my head flop onto the pillow, legs frogged out under the canopy of a nightie and the sheets on the bed. My hand curled around the underside of my bump while the other played with my hair- a habit I aquired as a baby- and I drifted blissfully into the world of sleep.

(Peter)

My heart stopped when I saw the spread wings of Albernan approach the Dawn Treader. The large albatross was known to be Cair Paravel's greatest messenger because of his speed in flight. Only one thought came through when I saw the white bottom to his wings. Susan. It was too soon, I found myself counting meaningless days, I had no idea when she and Caspian had... Ugh! It didn't take much to realise there was a reason I didn't know but surely, we hadn't reached that far from the island of those little dufflepuds yet, if Susan had been due sooner she would never have sent us away, she thought we had a chance in being home before she had the baby. It had to be too soon.

Or perhaps the uprising, Edmund. Was it Ed? What if he's been injured badly or even, oh dear Aslan what if he'd been killed because Caspian and I hadn't been there to help out. Yeah my little brother was strong and clever and witty but he was still younger and less wise, not used to taking care of a country, with Susan the way she was he was almost without help.

Albernan landed on the deck before I could consider Lucy in my thoughts, though I knew both Edmund and Susan would do anything for their baby sister but with Susan'a health compromised and the chance Edmund was away from home...