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AUTUMN 1000
| MEANWHILE AT CAIR PARAVEL |
SUSAN'S POV
"It's been over a week since they left. How much longer do you think it's going to take them?" Lucy asks me as we walk to breakfast.
"I don't know Lu, these things take time," I tell her making a sharp turn right.
"I know but how much longer? Do you think they caught him already?" she asks persistently.
"I don't know Lu. But Perhaps Peridan has hears something. Let's ask him at breakfast, come on,"
As we walk into the dinning hall a faun holding a small empty tray walks out of the room and gives us a respectful bow. We enter and find Peridan standing next to a window that overlooks the sea, reading a letter.
"Good morning Peridan. Any news?" I ask him approaching.
"Queen Susan, Queen Lucy, good morning." He replies, polite as always.
"Good morning Peridan!" Lucy replies cheerfully.
"I'm afraid you'll want to sit down for this one Your Majesties," He tells us seriously as he folds the letter.
"Oh, dear! Don't tell me they're...."
"Oh no! Nothing like that! They're perfectly fine. No harm has come to the Kings or Imira." Peridan clarifies quickly.
"Oh, that's good. That's good. You gave me quite the scare, I must say." I tell him regaining my composure.
"I'm sorry Your Majesty, that was not my intention," Peridan apologizes.
"Well, if nothing happened to them then what happened?" Lucy asks, impatient.
"King Edmund writes to us, explaining everything that has happened. It's a bit of a long letter, so you might want to take a sit," he tells us, walking towards the table. He waits for us to take a sit before sitting down and continues.
"King Edmund recounts the events of these last days as follows:
King Lune and Queen Cecee took the twin princes to an old Centaur here Narnia to be blessed or something. Now, this Centaur was a prophet, as we all know a good many Centaurs are, and as soon as he saw Cor this Centaur looked at him and said, "A day will come when that boy will save Archenland from the deadliest danger in whichever she lay". The King and Queen were very pleased, but there was someone present who wasn't. The Lord Bar, King Lune's ex-Lord Chancellor, who it's been discovered by the Queen was in the Tirsoc's pay, took it upon himself to kidnap Prince Cor and rode away down the Winding Arrow to the coast. He'd had everything prepared and there was a ship manned with his own followers lying ready for him and he put out to sea with the Prince on board.
King Lune got wind of this, though not quite in time, and was after him as quickly as he could. The Lord Bar was already at sea when the King reached the coast, but not out of sight. The King was embarked in one of his own war-ships within twenty minutes.
Wednesday morning our vessel and King Lune's coincided and gave chase to Bar's galleon for six days, we have brought her to battle on the seventh. It was a great sea-fight of which I'll tell you about some other time, from ten o'clock in the morning till sunset. The Archelanders took the ship in the end, but the Prince wasn't there. The Lord Bar himself had been killed in the battle. We looked in the ship but didn't find Prince Cor anywhere. Under interrogation one of his men said that early that morning, as soon as he saw he was certain to be overhauled, Bar had given the Prince to one of his knights and sent them both away in the ship's boat. We've all searched for the boat, sent the mere folk looking, but he took off far too early and there is no trace of the young Prince. I'm afraid he might be lost forever."
"Oh, that's terrible!" Lucy says teary-eyed.
"Absolutely dreadful! Oh, poor Queen Cecee, she must be mad with worry." I say.
"Is there nothing else to do?" Lucy asks Peridan.
"King Edmund says they'll keep looking for the rest of the day before heading to Archeland with King Lune," Peridan informs us.
"Oh I do hope they find him," Lucy says.
"So do I Lu, so do I," I tell my little sister. "Can I see that?" I ask Peridan, referring to the letter he holds in his hand.
"Yes, of course," He passes the letter and I examine it. It's pretty much everything he already said.
We proceed to have a quiet breakfast and afterwards, there are meetings I have to attend to.
Lucy goes off to have fun while Peridan accompanies me to said meetings. He's a great chap. In these few months, he's become a good friend of ours.
