𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐂𝐀𝐒𝐏𝐈𝐀𝐍 || 𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐚 [ I ]

Chapter 17

Lucy, Peter, Edmund and Muriel stopped running when they arrived at the place where Muriel had talked to Caspian earlier. The latter was already standing there, hand on his sword watching what was approaching. Muriel stood next to Caspian. Her eyes were drawn to him, but he didn't return her gaze. Instead he shared a worried look with Peter.

A soft breeze brushed their faces, but they hardly noticed. Their attention was set on what was approaching.

Worry settled on their faces as they watched Miraz and his army marche forward. The Telmarines wore silver masks that covered their faces whole. It caused Muriel to shiver, they looked frightening. She wasn't the only one that felt a bit scared, the huge catapults that the soldiers brought with them sent a feeling of dread through Edmund's body. It reminded him of the damage the catapults had caused at Cair Paravel.

He shared a nervous look with Lucy, who was looking at everyone's reaction. The young, Valiant Queen was brave, but battles, gruesome soldiers and the threat of death could make the knees of even the bravest of warriors tremble.

The warmth of someone's hand on her shoulder made Lucy look next to her. Muriel was looking down at her with a small smile on her lips, but worry covered her features. Lucy shuffled a bit closer to the Princess, liking her sense of comfort. Muriel didn't say anything as she simply continued to hold onto the younger girl and turned her head towards the three boys standing on the other side of her.

"What do we do now?"

Only now Caspian discovered that Muriel was standing right beside him. This time he did meet her eyes, but he was almost too distracted by how close she stood to him. He could feel the warmth of her hand so close to his, almost touching.

Muriel was aware of this as well, but as soon as she felt the heat of a blush creeping up her neck she averted her gaze. She looked back at the approaching army, the thing that really mattered at the moment, and almost scolded herself for getting distracted so easily.

Caspian kept his gaze on the side of her face a moment longer but then turned his gaze away as well. His eyes rested on his uncle and hardened. He shared a look with Peter, there was a short moment of recognition from both parties as both silently agreed on the answer to Muriel's question.

Peter was the one to break the silence, "first, we go inside."

They all followed him inside the How. Lucy, unlike Muriel, wasn't surprised when Peter led them back to the Stone Table, after all they'd had a heart to heart there minutes ago. There was tension in the air as they walked to the room. 

Muriel walked with a straight back and head held high, trying to keep her pusture despite the shivers that run up and down her body. They'd all expected Miraz to visit them with an army sooner or later, but this was, according to her, a bit too soon. Her grip on Lucy had loosened and the younger girl was walking next to Susan and Edmund, whispering soft words Muriel couldn't quite hear. The Princess of Archenland found herself, yet again, walking next to the Telmarine Prince, but this time they were accompanied by Peter. 

Her tongue seemed stuck at the roof of her mouth. It was odd to her how they were walking alongside each other like nothing happened, even though she had hated the feeling of Caspian choosing Susan over her and how she had offended Peter earlier today. Maybe this was how a shared enemy united even the greatest of foes. 

But Peter, who had seen the error of his ways after a good talk with Lucy, knew exaclty what to say. He slowed his pace, walking next to the brunette and shot her a small smile, "thank you for bringing my sword, it was really stupid of me to leave it." Muriel looked down at the sword she still held in her hand. She had completely forgotten about the thing, which was suprising because it was quite heavy. She smiled slightly and handed it back to Peter, "not a problem."