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

Chapter 18 - Enchanted

Althea's POV

When we get back to the beach, there are baskets and barrels with odd-looking plants piled at the bottom.

"What food did you find?" Caspian asks.

"It's volcanic your majesty. Not much grows." Rhinse explains.

"Where's Eustace?" Lucy asks.

I scan the beach and ridges of rocks but there's no sign of him. We should have taken him with us instead of leaving it to chance that he wouldn't go off on his own. Aslan knows what he's gotten himself into this time.

"I believe he's out not helping us load the boats," Reep says sarcastically.

"Eustace... Eustace!" Lucy calls out. When he doesn't answer, she turns to her brother.

"Edmund, I've got a bad feeling." She says, her voice thick with worry.

"I'll go find him."

"I'll come with you," Caspian says and Edmund nods, accepting his company. I'm relieved things have seemed to calm down a bit between them. Lucy shoots me a troubled look. I'm not worried that they'll get into another argument, but if going with them makes her feel better I will.

The two of them walk away and I jog to catch up. I end up walking faster, giving them the chance to talk things out. I barely hear them speaking but an apology from both of them is exchanged. Once we're farther from the beach, we start shouting for Eustace again.

"Eustace!" I yell, cupping my hands around my mouth.

"Eustace!" Ed echoes.

Steam shoots out from the cliff next to us making me jump. Caspian leads us to a ridge that looks down a narrow canyon. The floor of the canyon is filled with endless piles of gold and various other things that are considered 'treasure.' It shines so brightly my eyes start to water.

"Treasure," Ed mutters.

"Trouble," Caspian says.

I'm the first to climb down and the first to notice a leather shoe that's partially burned a few feet away. My stomach churns as I walk over to it.

"Ed is that?" I let my voice trail off, not wanting to think about the hundreds of things that could've happened. He rushes over and picks up the burnt shoe, his face horrified.

"Eustace..." He says quietly.

We all search around for any other sign of him. Edmund cries out as he finds a singed pile of clothing that still has smoke coming off it.

"No." He falls to his knees and I lightly put my hand on his shoulder. "Our cousin..."

"I'm sorry," Caspian says in disbelief.

"He was just a boy." Ed holds Eustace's journal in his hands. "I never should've left him. What could've happened to him?"

"In this place? Anything." Caspian's gaze locks onto a burned up skeleton behind us. "And he wasn't the first."

He stands and walks over to examine the dead man. "It's Lord Artesian."

I start looking around for his sword while Edmund stays kneeled beside what remains of his cousin. One silver handle sticks out from a mound of gold. I grasp it tightly and pull it free. It's one of the seven.

"We should find his..." Caspian pauses when he sees me unsheathing it. "Sword."

"We should get back to Lucy and tell her what's happened," I say, sheathing the sword and heading back through the treasure-filled canyon.