His Majesty, Her Grace - Prince Caspian Love Story

Chapter 4 - Hope

Althea's POV

The Telmarine has awoken.

He jumps out from his hiding place trying to reach for his sword that's propped against the fireplace. Nikabrik blocks him and draws his own weapon causing the soldier to retreat backward. Quickly grabbing a fire poker instead. Trufflehunter and I immediately try to break up the fight.

"Stop it!" We both yell. They stop but don't break eye contact with one another.

"I told you we should've killed him when we had the chance." Nikabrik spats.

"You know why we can't."

"If we are taking a vote, I'm with him." The soldier says. His Telmarine accent is very strong.

"We can't let him go! He's seen us." Nikabrik yells lunging at him again.

"That's enough Nikabrik," I say sternly and step in between the two, blocking him from attacking the man again.

"Look at what you both made me do." Trufflehunter sighs, picking up the spilled bowls. It catches the three of us off guard since soup hardly seems important right now.

"I spent all afternoon on that soup." He mutters. "Althea even went and got the ingredients special for me."

"What... What are you?" The soldier asks, looking around confused.

"You know, it's funny that you would ask that. You'd think more people would recognize a badger when they saw one." He scoffs, waddling back into the kitchen.

"No... No I mean, you're Narnians. You're supposed to be extinct."

"Sorry to disappoint you." Nikabrik scoffs while moving back to the table. I relax but keep my protective stance between them. They've already caused quite the trouble and Trufflehunter wouldn't be happy if anything else gets damaged. He comes back, a fresh bowl of soup in his hands. I step out of the way as he holds it out to the man.

"Here you go, still hot." He just ignores it, looking even more confused as his eyes flicker between me and Trufflehunter.

"Since when did we own a boarding house for Telmarine soldiers?" Nikabrik snaps. I send him a hard glare, he just shrugs.

"Since you came and asked me to help him," I say.

"I'm not a soldier. I am Prince Caspian, the tenth." He says proudly.

"What are you doing here then?" I ask, mirroring his stance. He looks at me, his eyes filling with a familiar sadness I know all too well. He looks away and blinks several times before answering.

"Running away." He says quietly. The three of us share glances as Caspian stares at the floor.

"My uncle has always wanted my throne." He starts to explain while putting the fire poker back. "I suppose I have only lived this long because he did not have an heir of his own."

He doesn't look at anyone and only gazes into the fire next to me. I almost reach out to comfort him but catch myself.

"Well... that changes things," Trufflehunter says.

"Yeah. At least we don't have to kill you ourselves." Nikabrik says. I ignore his remark this time.

"You're right." Caspian agrees and starts heading for his items again, brushing past me.

"Where are you going, your majesty?" I ask.

"My uncle won't stop until I am dead." He explains, pulling on his armor.

"But you can't leave," I say stepping towards him. I've already bandaged him up, which he's obviously undone, and based on the fact he was out so long he shouldn't be moving around so much.