Helena Pevensie (Caspian Love Story)

17. The Underworld

"By Jove," Eustace said. His voice was hoarse from ill-use. "A city." They had almost reached some kind of dock. Helena got to her feet and moved over to the rail. The city was dark, lit only by more of the queer sort of lanterns like the one on the ship. It was eerie to see so large a place so silent. Helena couldn't help comparing it to the loud, busy streets of London or Paris, yet it seemed strange to think of those places now.

The ship docked and several earthmen approached with chains in their hands. Helena shuttered, but did not fight as they chained her hands behind her back. A different earthman grabbed on to each of them and led them through the city. They came at last to a huge castle, overlooking the entire city. Few of the great windows were lit and on the whole Helena would have assumed it to be a haunted building before assuming it to be anything occupied.

They were brought in and forced across a large courtyard. After this, they climbed many different staircases. Some were old and wooden and looked like they could be part of either servant's or guard's corridors. Other staircases were grand enough to suit some kind of emperor to the likeness of Alexander the Great.

At last they came to a tall arch from which streamed something that looked like candlelight. Helena was surprised to see such warm lighting in a place like this. The light came from a staircase inside the room with the arch. Two earthmen stood guard and were staring at them with disinterest.

The Warden approached and said, "Many sink down to the Underworld."

"And few return to the sunlit lands," they replied. The three talked in quiet voices to one another before one of the guards cried out in irritation, "I tell you the queen's grace is gone from hence on her great affair. We had best keep these topdwellers in strait prison till her homecoming. Few return to the sunlit lands."

At the sound of being forced in a prison, something in Helena broke. She began to struggle, letting out a desperate cry before exclaiming in a desperate, enlivened voice, "No!" There was a moment's struggle as the two guarding earthmen rushed forward with the Warden and caught hold of her, trying to keep her still. "No, I won't go!" she screamed. It was so desperate a scream that the hairs on the back of Eustace's neck stood on end.

Helena was still kicking and screaming and was almost to the point of tears when a loud voice called, "What torture are you enacting down there, Mullugutherum? Bring them to me."

"Please it your Highness to remember-" began the earthman, breathing heavily from the struggle with Helena.

"It pleases my Highness principally to be obeyed, old mutterer," the man snapped. Helena was still breathing heavily when a figure appeared at the top of those stairs from which the light shone. It was a young man, not much older than Helena herself. He had dark brown hair and a kind, bold face, but there was something terribly wrong in it. Helena could not help thinking that in his black clothing he looked rather ready to take the stage as Hamlet. In a slightly lower, rumbling voice, he ordered, "Bring them to me." Helena met his eyes as she was forced up the stairs at the front of the group.

They were such dark, deep eyes she felt uneasy under their intense gaze. The man stepped back, giving room for the four to enter. In the same low voice, he ordered, "Unbind them." The earthmen made no protest, although they did share looks that clearly expressed their dislike of the situation. The moment Helena was released, she wrapped a cold hand around her right wrist which had grown irritated from the chains. The chill of her hand was soothing. She did the same to her left wrist.

"Welcome, Overworlders!" he cried. "But stay a moment! I cry you mercy! I have seen you two fair children and these, your strange guardians before! Was it not you four that met me by the bridge on the borders of Ettinsmoor when I rode there by my lady's side?"

"Oh," Jill said. "You were the black knight who never spoke?"

"And was that lady the Queen of the Underland?" Puddleglum asked in an unfriendly tone.

"Because if it was, I think she was jolly mean to send us off to a castle of giants who intended to eat us. What harm had we ever done her, I should like to know," Eustace exclaimed.

"How?" exclaimed the knight with a frown. "If you were not so young a warrior, boy, you and I must have fought to the death on this quarrel. I can hear no words against my lady's honour. But of this you may be assured, that whatever she said to you, she said of a good intent. You do not know her. She is a nosegay of all virtues, as truth, mercy, constancy, gentleness, courage, and the rest. I say what I know. Her kindness to me alone who can in no way reward her, would make an admirable history. But you shall know and love her hereafter. Meanwhile, what is your errand in the Deep Lands?"

Ignoring his question, Helena said in a voice of cool civility, "You speak well for one living so far under a rock." For the first time the knight's eyes shifted with interest to hers.

"Perhaps the source of knowledge and good education is not where you place it, fair lady," he replied with his bolsterous, loud voice. A sudden idea had crept into her mind.

"You think me fair?" Helena replied with a mysterious smile. It was only at this moment that Eustace realized she was trying to charm him. To what end, he had not just determined.

"Although your beauty cannot compare to that of my lady, no illustration could do you justice," he replied. Helena's smile remained unaffected. She pursed her lips slightly, studying him.

"You say your lady has shown you great kindness," she remarked, moving about the room to eye the rich tapestries with a show of interest. Suddenly Eustace understood. She turned back to look at the knight, her long hair swaying slightly behind her as she asked, "What sort of kindness?" Helena was trying, in the Green Lady's absence, to turn the man to their side with everything she had. Despite the cuts and scrapes along her arms and legs and the tangled mess of her curls, Helena's beauty still shone through and, unaffected by her appearance, was the allure of her charm.

In a low whisper, Eustace told the other two what Helena was trying to do and warned them to keep quiet. The knight, who had been organizing his thoughts, finally replied, "I am a man under most strange afflictions, and none but the queen's grace would have had patience with me. Patience, said I? But it goes far beyond that. She has promised me a great kingdom in Overland and, when I am king, her own most gracious hand in marriage. But the tale is too long for you to hear fasting and stand. Hi there, some of you! Bring wine and Updweller's food for my guests. Please, be seated. You shall hear all."