chapter thirty-two

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Rowyn sat beside Edmund in front of Peter, who was rowing the boat, and leaned over the side, dragging her fingers through the warm clear water.

"They're so still . . ." Lucy broke the silence and everyone glanced at her as she stared up at the trees.

"They're trees . . . what did you expect?" The dwarf, who's name they learned was Trumpkin, spoke.

Lucy met his gaze. "They use to dance."

Trumpkin's face grew grim as he spoke up again. "It wasn't long after you all left that the Telmarines invaded . . . those who survived retreated to the woods and the rest were-" He didn't finish his sentence. He didn't have to.

"How could Aslan have let this happen?" Lucy questioned mainly to herself.

The dwarf scoffed. "Aslan? I thought he abandoned us when you lot did."

Rowyn's heart ached at his words. She had failed her people—her mother. She promised them protection and freedom, not to perish in blood.

"We didn't mean to leave, you know?" Peter chimed in when he noticed his wife grow increasingly more upset. He knew her—sometimes he even swore that he could feel her emotions when they were intense enough, probably a result of their blood oath.

"It makes no difference now." Trumpkin told the family. Rowyn picked at her thumb nail and pulled her bottom lip with her teeth.

Peter watched her for a few more moments. "Get us to the Narnian's and it will."

"This isn't the kind of problem that you can just melt away with fire like you did in Calormene." This caught Rowyn's attention. Her thumb absentmindedly traced the burn mark that remained imprinted on her skin even on Earth. She guessed that the wound was to deep for even reality to remove.

"Did they take slaves when they invaded?" Rowyn finally spoke.

Trumpkin shrugged. "That's a very likely possibility, but those that they didn't were butchered in the streets and painted Cair Paravel red with their blood."

Rowyn clenched her fists as Peter rowed the boat to shore. "Then it is a problem that can be solved with fire." And she exited the boat without another word.

Susan followed after her, along with Lucy who took a look around, and gently touched her arm. "Are you alright, Ro?"

Rowyn looked into Susan's big blue eyes and took a deep breath. "I will be."

"Why hello there!" Lucy's voice echoed from where she stood a few feet away from them. Everyone turned to see Lucy walking up to a bear. Before, Rowyn would've smiled, but given the fact that Narnia was practically a whole new world now she had her hand on her sword ready for anything. "It's alright! We're friends!"

"Don't move, your Majesty!" Trumpkin's panicked voice told Rowyn and her family enough and the bear that began to charge for Lucy made everyone sprint towards the now screaming girl.

"Shoot, Susan, shoot!" Edmund shouted at his older sister as he, Peter, and Rowyn ran towards Lucy.

Suddenly, an arrow that didn't belong to Susan embedded itself in the bear's heart as Rowyn pulled Lucy up from the ground and into her chest. "Are you alright, Lu?" She questioned the girl who held her tightly.

Her head nodded against her chest as a response. Rowyn turned to Peter and shared a panicked look. "Why wouldn't be stop?" Susan questioned, rushing forward to her family. Peter came and wrapped his arms around both Rowyn and Lucy, pulling them into his chest gently.

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