The Forgotten Princess: A Narnia Story

Chapter 6: You Were Right to Fear the Woods

Lucy shakes me awake. The tent is completely dark. "It's time for the raid."

I sit up. It must be the middle of the night, but I can hear people preparing themselves for the approaching attack.

I guess it hadn't been a dream after all. I really was with the Pevensies, rebelling against my own father. Who would have thought I was crying over being useless just this morning?

"You're going?" I ask.

"No, but I'm too excited to sleep," Lucy whispers. She hands me a dagger. "This is mine, but you can use it if you need to."

"Thank you," I tuck the dagger inside my boot.

"Are you ready? You zoned out a little during the meeting," she lays on her stomach and rests her chin on her folded arms.

I pull a warmer shirt over my head. "Yeah, I was just thinking."

"About what?" Lucy hands me my flask of water and I take a long sip.

"What you said about Susan and Caspian," I reply, almost falling over as I lace up my boots.

Lucy smiles. "So you agree with me?"

I smooth out my pants and wink at her playfully. "I would say so."

Lucy starts to get back under the covers. "I knew it."

I sit down next to her and break one of my bread rolls in half. She thanks me and starts eating quietly.

"What do you think it's like to be in love?" I ask.

"I don't know, but I'm sure you'll find out eventually," Lucy says.

"What makes you say that?"

Lucy shrugs. "Everyone does."

***

I exit the tent silently. Susan is sound asleep and Lucy worriedly watches me walk away into the night. I'm ready.

"Beautiful night," Caspian remarks.

"Beautiful night to get revenge on your imperialistic family," I add.

"Couldn't have said it better myself," he laughs.

Peter, Edmund, and Trumpkin meet up with us, along with forty or so other Narnians. We are all well-prepared, but I'm feeling slightly uneasy about being the only girl in the pack.

"Is everyone here?" Peter asks.

"Looks like it," says Trumpkin, "Shall we go?"

"Yes," Caspian says, "Follow me."

We all follow Caspian in dead silence. Finally, after what seems like forever, we reach castle grounds. I crouch behind a bush with Edmund and Trumpkin, while Peter and Caspian stay nearby.

The guards are practically asleep. None of them look alert in the slightest, let alone ready for an ambush. I see one guard I passed by earlier. Funny how much life changes in a few hours.

"Do you think they're expecting us?" Edmund whispers.

"They will if you don't shut your trap!" Trumpkin hisses.

I stifle a giggle and peek over the bush. A centaur is making his way to the back of the closest guard. All at once, he cries out, shattering the peacefulness of the night. All the guards wake up and charge the centaur as everyone lunges forward.

My body acts before I know what I'm doing and I climb onto one of the heaps of supplies and tear it open with Lucy's dagger. Food spills out into the arms of Narnians below me. I slide off the pile and try to fight off a guard, but a dagger is no match for a sword. I fall backwards and feel a sharp pain rip across my stomach. I cry out, holding my hands over the wound. I manage to scramble up off the ground and move out of the way. Edmund sees me staggering around in pain and rushes over.

"What happened?" he asks with a look of panic on his face.

I weakly point to my stomach and notice someone running towards us with his weapon drawn. "Watch out!" I barely manage to shout.

Edmund quickly turns around and swings at the guard, knocking him in the head with the tail end of his sword. I watch in surprise and fear as they battle each other, gradually inching away from the commotion. My stomach is killing me.

Finally, the guard gives up on Edmund and goes back to defend his station. Ed wipes a bit of blood from the corner of his mouth and comes back over to me. I'm starting to feel dizzy.

He moves my hand and lifts my shirt off the gash. Tearing cloth off the hem of his own shirt, he ties it around my waist, stopping the blood from getting everywhere.

"Wait here, we'll be leaving soon, okay?" he props me up against a tree.

I slowly nod and close my eyes.

***

"Melanie?"

My eyes snap open. I'm lying on my bed, surrounded by the Pevensies and Caspian. I look over to see my blood-soaked shirt from the night before on the floor. I'm wearing a new one, my cut tied with actual bandages.

"What happened?" I rub my eyes.

"You passed out from blood loss," Peter says, "If Ed hadn't patched you up, you probably wouldn't be alive."

I look over at Edmund, who has a bruised lip and tired eyes.

"It was nothing, really," he says.

I could kiss him. Well, maybe not. It could've just been because he saved my life. Regardless if my desire to kiss him was real or not, I couldn't thank him enough the rest of the day. I found myself to be quite annoying, but he didn't seem to mind.

"You did well last night, nobody else could get that food supply open," he says.

"Thanks," I say quietly. 

I keep mentally telling myself not to trust him, that he's a well-known traitor and he could turn on all of us at any second, but he seems to be the least malicious person here. One of them, at least.

"Why did you stop fighting?" I blurt out.

He looks at me. "What?"

"Why did you go out of your way to save me? You could've gotten seriously hurt."

He pauses, then looks me straight in the eyes. "Well, I didn't get hurt, did I?" He smiles mischievously and walks away.

***

"Lucy!" I call out.

She whips her head around.

"I have your dagger."

"Thank you, are you feeling better?" She politely takes it back and stuffs it in her pocket.

"Yeah, it hasn't hurt much since this morning." I run my hand over the bandages.

Lucy walks next to me. "So what happens now?"

"We wait," I say, "See how the Telmarines respond."

Lucy nods. "Right, I should know that."

"You girls heard the news?" Trumpkin appears from his tent.

"No, what happened?" Lucy asks in a worried voice.

"Miraz changed the story," Trumpkin explains, "He told the Telmarines that Caspian set the whole thing up, and that we killed you." He points to me.

"So what is he doing about it?" I ask.

"He's declared a war between the Telmarines and the Narnians," Trumpkin says, "Peter and Caspian are discussing what to do next."

Lucy grabs my arm. "You're not going to fight, are you?"

"I am," I say, "I've been hiding for too long."

"No, please don't," Lucy's eyes begin to fill up, "You might get hurt again."

"Lucy," I move her hand off my arm gently. "I'm doing this for the Narnians, not for me. You all deserve to be free again, and if that means I have to get hurt or possibly worse, so be it."