His Majesty, Her Grace - Prince Caspian Love Story

Chapter 14 - The Beginning

Althea's POV

When I wake up, Caspian's bed is empty. His armor and sword aren't here but his cloak is thrown over me so he must have been here at some point in the night. I pull myself out of bed and notice my medicine bag and daggers peaking out. Caspian must have cleaned them and brought them to me. I accidentally slept in the empty belt so I go ahead and sheath my clean daggers and slip the bag over my shoulder. I leave the sleeping chambers. Susan promised me a shooting lesson so I start to head outside.

A thick fog covers the clearing, obscuring my view of her and the group of Narnians that she's trying to teach. I walk over and see Trufflehunter off in the distance holding up a dummy that looks like a Telmarine from the shelter of a fallen tree. I can't help but giggle at him flinching and hiding behind the log with every arrow that flies by.

"You made it," Susan says, smiling.

"Of course, you never know when this stuff might come in handy."

"Here, use this bow." She hands me a wooden bow that's the perfect size for my height. She holds out a quiver full of arrows and I take one.

"Thanks," I say, nocking the arrow and trying to draw the string back.

"Whoa, lift it up first." Susan laughs.

"Oh... Of course." I feel my ears burn. I've never felt this embarrassed in my life, I just made a complete fool of myself in front of the High Queen of Narnia.

I hold the bow out in front of me and pull the string back to my ear. I try my best to aim at the dummy but my arms start to shake from the effort so I accidentally let go too early. The arrow flies far behind the target, missing it by several feet. Susan tries not to laugh beside me.

"Let me try again." I nock another arrow and take aim. My arms are much more steady this time and I let the arrow fly. This time it hits the dummy square in the lower stomach. I smile in triumph and look over at Susan, but she's too busy staring at something behind me.

"I think someone wants to talk to you." She smiles mischievously and nudges me with her elbow. I turn to look and a blush erupts on my face. Caspian is crossing the field towards us, butterflies flutter in my stomach as he looks up at us. I quickly avert my eyes and Susan moves away still grinning ear to ear. I fiddle with the string of my bow as I feel him stare at me. I don't know why I'm acting like this, normally I would greet him or at least smile and I definitely wouldn't feel like I'm going to throw-up.

"Did you do that?" Caspian asks from beside me. I jump and look up at the dummy he's pointing at.

"Yes," I answer shortly, not looking up at his face.

"I'm surprised." He laughs. I furrow my eyebrows and set the bow down. My heart feels like it's going to leap out of my chest. I immediately feel awkward and try to slip away, back to the How.

"Wait. Althea, I need to talk to you." He gently holds on to my wrist, keeping me from leaving.

"I... What is it?" I ask, looking down at his hand. A makeshift bandage is wrapped around his palm, fresh blood leaking through it from him stopping me. He goes to speak but I cut him off.

"Did you wrap your hand?" I ask, finally looking up at him.

"Uh yes. Did I do it wrong or something?" He chuckles nervously.

"You're going to get an infection Capsian." I laugh at his embarrassment and start to tug him back to the How. I lead us over to the daisy patch from earlier and take a seat, motioning for him to do the same.

"Did I really mess it up that badly?" He asks as I take his hand, cradling it in both of mine.

"Yes." I giggle and start to untie the tight knot that's been tied on top. "How did you even manage to tie it this tight?"

"I don't know."

I finally manage to get it off and start rewrapping it with a fresh bandage from my bag. I can feel him staring at me the whole time but I don't look up until his hand clasps around mine forcing me to. He's grinning and his dark brown eyes simply stare into mine contently. My face erupts with heat and he definitely notices.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" I ask. His smile falters and he looks worried.

"I just wanted to apologize. For what happened at the castle and then the whole thing with the White Witch." He pauses and looks away. "I shouldn't have yelled at you and I definitely shouldn't have listened to Nikabrik."

"Caspian," I say softly. He looks at me, almost afraid of what I'll say. "It's okay. Of course, I forgive you. Nikabrik lost sight of what was right. It's not your fault that any of that happened. Don't feel guilty."

A smile pulls at his lips and he squeezes my hand tenderly.

"Trufflehunter was right."

"Oh no, what did he tell you?" He doesn't answer and just laughs at me. I let go of his hand and playfully punch his shoulder.

"Ouch!" He yelps, clutching his arm. I instantly stop, worried I actually hurt him.

"I'm sorry," I say, panicking.

"I'm only joking, it's my other shoulder that hurts." He falls onto his back, his chest heaving with laughter. The world brightens as the sun peeks out from behind the clouds, lighting up his pearly smile.

"Please tell me that you wrapped it correctly." He lifts his arm showing me and thank goodness it is. If it wasn't I'd genuinely be worried for his life.

"So why were you surprised that I was able to shoot a bow?" I ask, raising my eyebrows. He sits up, leaning back on his hands.

"You just seem to do so well with the daggers, I naturally assumed that you couldn't do anything else." He smirks teasingly and my jaw drops in disbelief.

"I'd like to see you try to throw a knife then," I say, standing up and putting my hands on my hips. He stares at me, still smirking, then stands too.

"What's our target?" He asks. I look around and settle on a stray pinecone on the ground about 10 or so feet away.

"That pinecone," I say pointing at it.

"Okay." He shrugs his shoulders, holding his hand out. I pass him one of my daggers and wait. He just awkwardly holds it, looking unsure of what he's supposed to do. I stifle a laugh and flip the blade around in his hand so that he's holding the blade instead of the handle.

"Pull it back beside your head and when you release it, make sure you follow through," I explain. He nods and does what I say. The blade flies and sticks into the ground a few inches from the target. He turns to me, looking very proud of himself. I shoot him a glance before unsheathing my second and throwing it. It goes straight through the pinecone, pinning it to the ground. I look back at Caspian smugly, but he doesn't even seem to have looked away from me.

"Were you even watching?" I scoff at him and he shakes his head.

I pick up the blades and am about to challenge him to round two when the moment is interrupted by the sound of marching. We both look out over the field and hundreds maybe even thousands of Telmarine soldiers start to emerge from the forest. Caspian pulls me behind him and starts to push me towards the entrance of the How. I get the message and we sprint inside and up the steep stairs to the ledge overlooking the field.

Huge catapults and war machines are rolling out behind the soldiers. One person stands out from the rest, a man dressed in armor that's the color of gold upon a white stallion. Miraz. Peter, Edmund, and Lucy shortly followed by Susan come up beside us, looking just as panicked as we do. A cold sweat covers my back as the stream of soldiers seems to never end behind him. I feel sick. The happiness that I felt only a few moments ago is completely gone.

This is it. The dreaded battle has finally come.
~~~
⚠️IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT⚠️
Thank you guys so much for 1K! I am absolutely amazed from the amount of support on this book so because of that I am officially announcing the sequel!! I haven't worked out the details but if you're interested follow me for announcements on its progress.
I hope everyone of you enjoyed, don't forget to vote and comment.
You're all the best <3