His Majesty, Her Grace - Prince Caspian Love Story

Chapter 8 - Closer

Althea's POV

We cross the large field, the Kings, Queens, and Caspian leading the way. When we reach the entrance, Centaurs are lined up the sides. All of them are holding their swords up high to welcome the Kings and Queens of old. All four siblings pause, then start to walk down the small slope to the entrance. All of them except Caspian. I move to his side, expecting him to look happy that they've returned. Instead, his eyes are downcast.

"Hey, at least you look as tough as me now." His eyes smile first shortly followed by the rest of his features. He looks at me and shakes his head, chuckling. We move forward and follow the Kings and Queens into the How. The inside is filled with the sounds of metalwork and torches line the walls. I feel exhausted but I stay with Caspian anyway.

"It may not be what you are used to, but it is defensible." He says.

"Peter," Susan calls from one of the tunnel entrances. "You may want to see this."

We all head to the corridor, which is much quieter than the main cavern of the How. I grab a torch off the wall with my good arm and hold it up to the walls.

"It's us," Susan says, looking at wall carvings depicting the time when they were in Narnia, over a thousand years ago.

"What is this place?" Lucy asks, looking at me and Caspian.

"You don't know?" He asks. He gently takes the torch from my hand and starts to lead the way further down the tunnel. We all follow him into a huge room where he tosses the torch to the side and a fire erupts all around the room. A carving of Aslan is illuminated on the opposite wall and a large cracked table is in the center of the room. Lucy walks forward and rests her hand on it.

"He must know what he's doing."

"I think it's up to us now," Peter says.

~

After Caspian had shown them the stone table, he and I retired for an early sleep, even though the sun wouldn't be setting for a few more hours. The Kings and Queens decided to keep looking around while we headed straight to the sleeping chambers. The chambers are shared by all the Narnians, but I don't mind too much.

The room is almost empty, aside from a few sleeping Narnians scattered around the room. I head straight for the corner, away from everyone else. Caspian follows. I drop my bag down beside one of the makeshift beds and take off my belt. I kneel and stuff the daggers into the bag while Caspian takes off his armor and sword and stuffs them under his bed.

"Here. Thank you for letting me borrow it." I say taking off Caspian's cloak from my shoulders and holding it out to him.

"Keep it, you need it more than I do." He says quietly, sitting on the edge of his bed, facing me. I sit down, facing him too. He doesn't move to lay down and seems like he wants to ask me something, so I stay sitting and wait.

"It may not be my place to ask this but where are you from? You're not Narnian and you don't seem Telmarine." He asks awkwardly. I almost laugh at how embarrassed he looks to be asking me a normal question.

"You're okay. I grew up here in Narnia with my mother and aunt. I'm not sure about the details before that, all I know is that my father died and my mom came here to be with my aunt." I explain, pulling my legs up onto the bed to sit cross-legged.