Fauns dancing around fires. Griffins soaring high. Unicorns galloping across wide fields and centaurs battling giants.
These are things Amelia Cromwell sees every day.
She doesn't know how they happen or why she sees them but every time she looks...
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The cold night air filled my lungs as my horse, Pan, and I trodded towards the edge of the forest. The moonlight reflected off my steed's dark coat and lit up the clouds of smoke that came from his lungs with each breath. The clip-clop of his hooves on rocks was the only sound in the night.
I could hardly believe what I was doing. I was alone; no general, advisor or friend knew where I was. This aspect, the solitude, was what made me suspicious of the Professor's plan. Why could I not get help? The Narnians are strong together, so why was I to operate alone? Then again, I knew the answer – they would've refused. I knew my friends well enough to know that they would never trust an old Telmarine professor. They would've left Caspian to die, and I would've gone to save him and betrayed their trust.. Yes, alone was better. Alone I could protect them from the unknown. From Miraz. From hope.
Once we reached the outer rim of trees where the forest was less dense I quietly hopped off Pan before I left him to graze. I made my way to the edge of the treeline and took a seat on a large, outcropped rock. I didn't expect my third night on watch to be any more eventful than the first or the second, but I knew I had to be alert. It can happen any day, he had told me, You must be ready.
And so I sat there, staring at the many stars that shone brightly in the night sky. The light from Telmar did not dim them in the slightest. The city was close, close enough that I could hear the noisy parties and gatherings of the people in the town. The castle reached into the sky, but no sound came from within its walls.
In front of me was a wide expanse of flat land. No trees or bushes littered the ground until you reached the city walls of Telmar. A sea of the dead, I had called it. How many Narnians had died here while fighting them? While fighting the enemy?
The stars had always been one of my favourite parts of Narnia. It seemed that no matter how many things went wrong on the ground, the stars were always there. They were there when Edmund and I were captured by the witch. They were there when the Telmarines attacked. They were there when the Narnians died. They were always there, a symbol of hope. I recalled how few and dim the stars were in London. They hardly ever escaped the clouds that always seemed to cover the city like a large blanket. The thought made me wonder if they were watching the stars. Were they missing Narnia? Did they miss the Narnian sky and the Narnian air?
Thoughts raced through my head about what they could be doing. Maybe they were in school right now, learning about maths and science and all the things that I used to think made the world go round. My time in Narnia taught me differently – maths and science were only man's way to explain a greater power. In Narnia, that power was called Aslan – but even I had lost faith in the Great Lion. I hadn't seen him since he disappeared on the day of the coronation, and since then he had failed to answer my prayers. Perhaps he too weakens when the Narnians' hope fades, just like how I lost my power when all hope was lost.
A scream.
A loud cry raced through cold air from the castle. It broke through the treeline and banged against my eardrums. I was sure the city could hear it just as well as I could, and their parties grew even louder. I knew what that sound meant – Caspian's Aunt was giving birth.
