His Majesty, Her Grace - Sequel to A Prince Caspian Love Story

Chapter 10 - Bug Collector

Althea's POV

"How's it going?" I ask Edmund, staring down at the sword he's slowly chipping dried mud off of.

"Great actually." He chimes without looking up. I'm glad to see that he's found something to keep him busy. He seems more like the boy I knew three years ago.

A commotion on the other side of the ship draws my attention. Eustace is clumsily running around the deck with a large kitchen knife in his hands, being chased by Reep.

"Trying to run away? We're on a boat you know." The mouse says, swinging across the deck with a rope to land right in Eustace's escape path.

"Look. Can't we just discuss this?" Eustace pleads.

"That was for stealing," Reep says, slicing at his shirt. "That was for lying." Then lunges forward, stabbing the orange that was concealed there. "And that was for good measure!" Then slaps him across the face with the fruit.

Eustace angrily swipes at Reep but he jumps over him, landing securely on the wooden railing.

"We have ourselves a duel!" Reep shouts. "Catch!" He flings the orange at me and I catch it.

"Now, come on. Take your best shot." Reep ducks and jumps avoiding all of the attacks easily.

"Stop flapping your wings like a drunken pelican, poise!" Reep critiques. "Keep your blade up. Up! That's it!"

Eustace lunges and misses again. He swipes wildly and gets the knife stuck in a piece of wood. Reep leaps over him again, swinging to a nearby barrel.

"Yoo-hoo! Over here."

Eustace lunges again and Reep jumps down to the floor.

"Lunge with your foot. Your left, not your right." He says, slapping his ankles with his tiny metal sword before jumping back to the railing

"Come on. Be nimble, be nimble. It's a dance boy, a dance. Come on now."

Eustace finally starts listening and has Reep dancing on the edge. He swipes and the mouse yelps, falling back, seemingly going overboard. I gasp and hold my breath as Eustace peaks over the edge. Thankfully, Reep has swung around and is waiting right above the boy. He swings his body down, knocking Eustace backward into a huge basket.

A high-pitched scream erupts from the basket and a little girl crawls out. The same little girl from the Lone Islands, whose father left with us.

"Look." Lucy points at her.

"Gael?" The sailor pushes through the crewmates. "What are you doing here?"

When she doesn't say anything, her father hugs her, shielding her from the crew. The crowd parts and Drinian steps forward, staring at the girl.

"Looks like we have an extra crew member." He says, shocking me when he smiles down at her. He walks away and the crew starts to disperse, getting back to work. I walk up to the very shy girl and hold out the orange to her, Lucy smiling beside me.

"Welcome aboard," Lucy says.

"Your Majesty." The little girl does a small curtsy.

"Call me Lucy. Come on." Lucy takes the girl's hand and the three of us head for the small bedroom.

"And I'm Althea," I say, smiling.

We spend the rest of the afternoon entertaining Gael, Lucy doing a far better job than me. She's a really sweet girl and is actually quite the enthusiastic child after she gets used to you. I hear the faint yell of 'land hoe' and decide to go on deck to figure out what the plan is regarding the new island. I quickly find Caspian, Ed, and Drinian.