Helena Pevensie (Caspian Love Story)

19. Foreboding

"And...five, six, seven, eight! Raise that pasé, ladies," a sharp voice ordered. "Stay on the beat, please!" Helena moved with a fixed smile on her face as her toes drummed painfully against the floor. "Single, not a double, Pevensie." Eleven other bodies moved along with hers as they twirled, jumped, and turned to the beat. "Stop, stop," the man ordered. The dancers stopped, attempting to catch their breath as their ballet instructor began speaking. "Pevensie, demonstrate the chaîné, piqué, triple pirouette turn combo."

Helena's toes screamed in agony after the hours and hours of rehearsals they had endured as she rolled onto full pointe, waiting for the music to begin. With the music, she turned, ignoring the pain in her toes and allowing the familiarity of the movements to carry her through as the rhythmic banging of her pointe shoes pounded against the floor. When she came to the end of the combo, she tried to command her body to stop but it kept going.

As she turned, she noticed the sudden lack of dancers in the room. In a dark corner, a familiar figure emerged. Tears began to stream down her face as her body continued to move, despite her inner protests. Her toes began to burn with pain as she shifted and moved along with the moments as Jaques approached her, watching appreciatively. Helena's tears continued but it was as though she had no control over her movements.

"Fouetté, mon chéri," Jaques ordered. Instantly, her body jerked to his will. Approaching her, he stood just outside of the range of her foot. "You tried to escape me, eh? You thought you could get away." More tears streamed down her cheeks as she felt her toes begin to completely numb. "Never forget, my pet, you are and always will be mine. You will always dance for me." Helena's breath came in harsh, quick intakes of breath as the tears flooded her vision, but no sound came out.

Suddenly, he was in front of her and she stopped moving as though frozen in place. Her foot remained suspended in the air where it had been ready to whip her around again. Her muscles screamed as the searing pain from holding herself in place consumed her. She tried to move even the smallest bit but she was completely frozen...apart from her eyes. With a conceited smile, Jaques ran the back of his fingers over her cheek until he reached her throat as he whispered, "This body is mine." His hands lowered to her waist before running over her extended leg before moving back to her throat. Clasping his hands around it, he screamed, "YOU'RE MINE! ALL MINE, HELENA! MINE!" Helena struggled, attempting to get away from him as his grip tightened but she remained frozen in place. A fire burned through her, rising up in protest to her prison but nothing seemed to work as less and less oxygen passed into her body. Finally, a resolve she knew not she had scorched her chest as she shrieked, "NO!" She shoved away from him.

Everything around her shattered and she instead found herself surrounded by darkness.

With a scream, Helena jolted awake, clutching her throat. Edmund and Lucy who were just beginning to go back to sleep, jolted awake and looked at her with concern as Caspian sat up, wrapping a comforting arm around her. "Are you all right?" Lucy asked. Helena couldn't respond as she drew in sharp, heavy breaths.

"Something is definitely playing with our minds," she said hoarsely.

"What happened in your dream?" Lucy asked. Helena shook her head, rubbing at her throat. None of them dared to fall asleep again. Instead, they sat up, each thinking about their dreams.

.

Near dawn, Helena got up and went out on deck to find that the rain and thunder had stopped and they were finally greeted with clear skies. Despite this, she couldn't help but think about her dream. "Morning," Caspian said, coming up beside her.

"Hardly feels like morning," Helena said. Caspian gave a small, weary smile. "It's a funny thing. I have an odd feeling that being sleep deprived is a terrible idea for today."

"Land ho!" a voice called. Helena and Caspian looked up to the man in the crow's nest to see where he was pointing.

"Sweet, sweet land," Caspian said wistfully. "About time too. We're running low on stores."

As they climbed into the boats, Helena took one of the rowing seats by Edmund, ignoring every inquiry as to if she should like another man to take her place. As they were rowing, Reepicheep remarked, "I doubt the lords stopped here, my liege. There's no sign of anything living."

From in front of Helena, Caspian replied, "Right. Well, once we get ashore, take your men in search for food and water. The four of us will look for clues."

"Hang on, don't you mean the five of us," Eustance countered. Brows furrowed, everyone turned to look at the poor boy. "Come on, please don't send me back to the rat."

"I heard that," Reep snapped.

"Big ears," Eustace muttered.

"I heard that too," the mouse said. Helena couldn't stop the amused smile that crossed her lips as she attempted to hold back her laughter. As they approached the beach, Helena, Caspian, Edmund, and the other sailor rowing hopped out of the boat to help pull it to shore. The cool breeze rushed past them as the four of them began to explore the island.

Helena couldn't help but notice not only the stifling heat but the dry, rocky terrain. Catching up to Caspian, she asked, "How will they find water here?"

Pointing to a spot to their left, he said, "Look there. What do you see?"

"Steam," Helena replied.

"Exactly," he said. "Where there is steam there is water."

"But gysers are hot plates miles below the surface," Helena countered.

"Yes, but it is highly likely that even if they can't get to the water down there that they can get to hot springs or even streams," he said.

"Ah," she said as they came to a small hole in the rocky ground.

"Look, we're not the first ones on this island," Caspian said, pointing to a rope that was coiled around a stone protruding above the surface just above the hole.

"The lords?" Edmund guessed.

"Could be," Caspian replied, coming to a stop. Helena crouched down, picking up the rope. Tugging on it, she tested its strength before leaning back to see if it could take more weight. "What do you think could be down there?" he asked, tossing a rock down.

Shrugging, Edmund replied, "Let's find out." With a slight feeling of foreboding, Helena followed down after the boys and Lucy.