Helena Pevensie (Caspian Love Story)

19. The Frenzy

The moment Helena had shut the door behind her, she leaned back against it, her eyes closed as she let out a long breath. After collecting herself, Helena followed the sounds of voices into a washroom and quickly began washing the blood and dirt off her face and body.

"Are we going back to watch the enchantment or shall we stay here?" Eustace asked just as Helena finished.

"Stay here, I vote," Jill said. "I'd much rather not see it."

"No, go back," Puddleglum countered. "We may pick up some information, and we need all we can get. I am sure that queen is a witch and an enemy. And those earthmen would knock us on the head as soon as look at us. There's a stronger smell of danger and lies and magic and treason about this land than I've ever smelled before. We need to keep our eyes and ears open."

"And anyway," Helena said, pulling her long hair out of the ragged braid it had been in for so long. "If we learn more about his enchantment, we can use it to our advantage."

"How?" Eustace asked.

"If he's not reliant on the queen, he won't have loyalty towards her," Helena said, although they could all tell she didn't entirely believe it. "It's our best chance of getting him to help us." They soon all agreed to go back and, after glancing through to ensure there were no earthmen, the four of them stole back into the room. The knight was now seated in a large, silver chair. His wrists, ankles, knees, elbows, and his waist were bound. He was sweating heavily and his face held an anguished expression.

"Come in, friends," the knight said. "The fit is not yet upon me. Make no noise, for I told that prying chamberlain that you were in bed. Now...I can feel it coming. Quick! Listen while I am master of myself. When the fit is upon me, it well may be that I shall beg and implore you with entreaties and threatenings to loosen my bonds. They say I do. I shall call upon you by all that is most dear and most dreadful. But do not listen to me. Harden your hearts and stop your ears. For while I am bound you are safe. But if once I were up and out of this chair, then first would come my fury and after that the change into a loathsome serpent."

"There is no fear of our loosing you," Puddleglum said. "We've no wish to meet wild men. Or serpents either."

"I should think not," Eustace and Jill both said. Helena, who was standing a little away from them, was staring at the knight's face. A small frown had appeared on her lips and her eyebrows were scrunched together ever so slightly. As she watched, his face changed. The something wrong in his face that Helena had noticed before was gone and now, he was moaning.

"Ah," he groaned, swaying side to side slightly as a man in a trance. His tone was low and sounded to Helena as though he was depressed, beaten down. "Enchantments, enchantments...the heavy, tangled, cold, clammy web of evil magic. Buried alive. Dragged down under the earth, down into the sooty blackness. How many years is it? Ten years? Or a thousand years in the pit. Maggotmen all around me. Oh, have mercy. Let me out, let me go back. Let me feel the wind and see the sky. There used to be a little pool. When you looked down into it you could see all the trees growing upside-down in the water, all green, and below them, deep, very deep, the blue sky."

Helena's frown deepened. Then, he looked up. The moment he did so, her entire facial expression instantly shifted. Her eyes widened slightly and her lips parted as though she could not believe her eyes. The man was looking at the other three.

"Quick," he said. His voice sounded hoarse and tired. "I am sane now. Very night I am sane. If only I could get out of this enchanted chair, it would last. I should be a man again. But every night they bind me, and so every night my chance is gone. But you are not enemies. I am not your prisoner. Quick! Cut these cords!"

"Stand fast, steady," Puddleglum said.

"I beseech you to hear me," the man said. He was forcing himself to sound calm. "Have they told you that if I am released from this chair I shall kill you and become a serpent? I see by your faces that they have. It is a lie. It is at this hour that I am in my right mind. It is the rest of the day that I am enchanted. You are not earthmen nor witches. Why should you be on their side? Of your courtesy, cut my bonds."

"Steady! Steady! Steady!" the other three cried but Helena was staring at him open-mouthed.

"It can't be," she said in a terrified whisper. He shifted his gaze to her.

"Helena," he said. Instantly she paled. They all did. None of them had told the man their names. "Helena, listen to me! I have suffered almost more than any mortal heart can bear. And the minutes are slipping fast. Would you take from me a chance that may never come again?"

"How do you know my name?" Helena asked.

"The painting!" the man cried in anguish. "But that does not matter now! Please, Helena, free me!" She moved forward, drawing her knife from the sheath at her wrist.

"Helena, no!" Eustace shouted. The three darted forward, between her and the man.

"Can't you see!" Helena cried. "Move!"

"Just because he guessed your name doesn't mean-" one of them began.

"Please!" the man cried. "In the name of all things good, I beg of you to release me!" He was shrieking by now. "By all fears and all loves, by the bright sky of the Overland! By the great lion, Aslan himself!"

"The fourth sign!" Helena shouted. "Move!" They all did. Helena instantly dropped beside him and began working her knife at the cords binding him. The moment he was free, he scrambled to his feet, rushing for the table where his sword had been lain. With a cry, he cut the chair directly down the middle. It fell away in pieces. The man was breathing heavily, staring at the form of silver in a heap before him. Helena had scrambled back at the sight of the sword, but soon the man turned, sheathing his sword and looking at the other three.

"What?" he cried, a real, genuine smile crossing his face. "Do I see before me a marsh-wiggle? A real, live, honest, Narnian marsh-wiggle?" Helena got to her feet and looked into his face.

"Rilian," she said. There was no question in her tone. Smiling, she said, "You look just like your father."

"My father," Rilian said quickly, worry suddenly taking over his features. "Good Helena, please tell me. Is he still alive?"

"Yes," Helena said. "But he hasn't much longer." Rilian sighed but said no more for his eyes had suddenly caught Eustace.

"Wait a moment," he said wth a smile. "I recognize you. Eustace? Are you not the cousin of the Kings and Queens of old?"

"My dear little cous," Helena said with a fond smile. "And this is Jill and the marsh-wiggle is Puddleglum, your magesty."

"Oh, please, there is no need for formality," Rilian said. "Especially considering that you outrank me." Helena lifted one slender shoulder. Jill opened her mouth to speak but suddenly, Rilian raised his hand to silence them all. There, outside the door, they could hear the sound of footsteps and before they could decide what to do, the door opened.