The Last Tree In Narnia

2. Prisoners

When Rhea woke up, she found herself sitting in a small grey stone room, with shackles on her ankles and wrists.
There were several Telmarine soldiers in the room, who kept giving her strange glances, which she guessed was because they had never seen a dryad before.
She pushed herself into a standing position and saw Trumpkin on the floor beside her.
He was also just coming around, and aside from a large bump on the side of his head, he seemed fine.
"Rhea, are you O.K?" He asked, as he jumped to his feet.
"I'm fine" insisted Rhea.

"No talking!" Snapped one of the guards opposite them.
Trumpkin ignored the Telmarine, and took hold of Rhea's hands, squeezing them tight.
"You are going to be alright, I promise" said Trumpkin.
"You can't promise that. You don't know what is going to happen to us" whispered Rhea.
"I will do everything I can for you. You mustn't do anything to provoke them. In fact, it's probably best if you don't talk to them at all. Just follow my lead, O.K?" Replied Trumpkin.
"I'll try".

A few minutes later, the general appeared, and he forced his soldiers to tie a gag over Trumpkin and Rhea's mouths, so that they couldn't talk to each other anymore.
They were then forced to follow the general through long dark corridors.
Rhea didn't like being surrounded by so much stone and metal.
She couldn't feel the earth beneath her feet, as there was so much between her and it.
Being cut off from the earth, made her feel rather sick. For she was a tree, and trees needed their roots to be in the ground.
But she tried not to look weak, so she kept her head high like Trumpkin, as the pair were lead through the castle.

Eventually they arrived at a wooden door, and the general left them, to step inside the next room.
Rhea strained her ears, to hear what was going on in the other room.
"Our beloved Prince Caspian was abducted by Narnians" revealed one man.
"You go too far Miraz. You expect us to just stand by while you blame such a blatent crime, on fairy tale creatures" Shouted a different man.

The door was suddenly opened by the general on the other side, and Trumpkin and Rhea were pushed into the next room.
They stumbled as they entered the giant hall on the other side, as their feet were bound so tight, that it made it hard to walk when they weren't taking small steps.
Either side of the room sat noble looking men in large chairs, and opposite Rhea was an empty throne.
There was one man not sat down, instead he stood in the centre of the room. So Rhea assumed he was the one in charge.

Everyone in the room began to gasp and point, when the Narnians entered the room.
Rhea began to feel embarrassed, as she didn't like the way she was being stared at, as if she was some kind of freak.
Two soldiers stood either side of them, and forced them onto their knees, into a submissive position. Making it clear that they were prisoners, so should not act out in any way.

Once the whispering and muttering had faded, the standing man approached Trumpkin and Rhea, with a smug look on his face.
He then turned to address the rest of the men in the room, "You forget my lords, that Narnia was once a savage land, where hideous creatures roamed free. Much of our forefathers blood was spilt, ridding the land of these barbarians. Or so we thought. While we have been arguing amongst ourselves, they have been breeding like cockroaches under a rock".
Rhea frowned, since she knew how small the Narnian population was. And they certainly weren't thriving or breeding excessively.

She recognised his voice, for she had heard it from the other side of the door, which meant that this man's name was Miraz, as that is what the other man had called him.
"They have been biding their time, waiting to strike!" Shouted Miraz, before hitting Trumpkin across the face, with the back of his hand.
Rhea flinched as Trumpkin was struck, and she began to fear that they were not going to make it out of there alive.

"And you wonder why we don't like you" spat Trumpkin, who's gag had slipped when he was hit in the face, making him now able to talk.
Rhea rolled her eyes at his comment, for he certainly wasn't helping them, by confronting their enemies.
"Well, I intend to strike back. I will finish what our ancestors started, and wipe out every stinking Narnian, once and for all. I will ensure that our beloved Prince Caspian is returned to us. And I will make these Narnians regret ever kidnapping him in the first place" revealed Miraz.

Rhea felt as if she was being blamed for a crime she didn't commit, and she didn't like it.
Neither her or Trumpkin had kidnapped any prince, and she felt sure that no other Narnian had either.
The Narnians weren't stupid enough to provoke the Telmarine's into a war they knew they could not win.
The Telmarine's had weapons and numbers that they could never match. So Rhea knew her people stood no chance against the Telmarine's.

"I will build a bridge over the river, so that my troops and war machines can reach the forest. I will tear down every single tree in the woods, if that is what it takes to wipe out the Narnians, once and for all" announced Miraz.
Rhea began to tremble in fear, she was not scared for herself anymore, but for the rest of the trees in her forest.
The Telmarine's didn't see the trees as living things, but her and the Narnians knew differently.
The trees were her people, so she couldn't let anything happen to them.

"Take these pieces of vermin to the cells. I will interrogate them as to the whereabouts of Prince Caspian, later" informed Miraz.
The soldiers either side of Trumpkin and Rhea yanked them up from the floor, and began dragging them out of the room.
Rhea tried to branch out and reach the other trees, to warn them of Miraz's plans.
But she was too far away from home.
She couldn't feel the other trees around her, which meant that she couldn't communicate with them, or draw on the earths power to help her.
Rhea had never felt more alone.