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

Chapter 19 - Close Call

Althea's POV

I'm the first to wake up. It's cold and I'm in no hurry to leave Caspian's arms so I stay still, feigning sleep. After a few minutes, I hear someone shuffle around and mentally sigh that I'll have to get up sooner than I wanted. 

"Everybody! Everybody wake up!" Lucy shouts.

Caspian sits up quickly, thinking something happened. I'm forced to do the same since I was laying partially on top of him.

"It's the blue star!" Lucy points out over the sea at a bright blue shining orb on the horizon.

We hastily pack up the camp, which is only a few blankets thankfully. We all fit into the last longboat and start to row back. It takes four people to man the ores so I have to help the boys. I vaguely hear Reep shouting something from Eustace's back as they glide above and ahead of us.

When we reach the ship, the men are chipper and hopeful again, laughing and pointing at the star in disbelief. The appearance of the blue star seems to have revitalized everyone.

Eustace does well to keep up with us by flying around the mast but it's obvious that he wishes he could be on the deck itself. We've been sailing for a few hours now, the majority of which, Caspian has been teaching me to use a sword. My shoulder is aching, my arm feels like it's going to fall off and my face feels sunburnt from being in the sun for such a long time.

"Keep your blade up." He critiques.

I expected Caspian to be a gentle teacher and encouraging but he's brutal. He takes it so seriously and hardly says I'm doing anything right. It would nice to get some encouragement instead of scolding.

"I'm trying."

"Your stance is all wrong." He says while shaking his head.

I'm about to say the first snarky comment that comes to mind but he grabs my hips and turns them so that I'm standing sideways, like an open door. He wraps his hand around mine and holds the blade up.

"This is how you're supposed to hold yourself." He says against my ear.

I clear my throat and hold my chin up. "You're terrible."

"Am I?" He asks innocently.

"You-you're distracting me." I stutter.

"Maybe you're just not concentrating hard enough."

I step away from him. "Can't we just duel already?" I ask, needing to burn off some steam and hoping that he'll indulge me. I may not be able to win, but if I can prove he's not a distraction, then I'll be satisfied.

"Are you sure you're ready?" He asks, raising his eyebrows.

I'm not. I've only been training for a handful of hours so there's no way I'll win but I still nod. He picks up his sword and the crew takes a break from their work to watch by spreading out and making plenty of room for us.

"Go easy on her!" Ed shouts.

I glare at him. I would rather lose epically than have him 'go easy' on me.

"C'mon Althea!" Lucy while glaring at her brother too.

Reepicheep scurries onto a barrel next to me and motions for me to come closer.

"What?"

"Use both your hands if you have to." He says.

"Reep-"

"Shush. He always goes for the upper body so be prepared to duck. Not that I think he would decapitate you, but just be aware... Oh and stay poised." He says. "Good luck."