The Chronicles Of Narnia : The High Queen

Chapter 33

"Are you alright? Is your arm okay?", Edmund questioned, looking back at the girl.

Aria had stayed quiet throughout their whole journey back to the how.

She had wrapped her wounds in a cloth offered by Edmund and although the bleeding had reduced, the cloth was caked in her blood and Aria felt slightly nauseous.

She leaned against Edmund's back and nodded slowly.

The boy held onto her hands that was wrapped around his torso, afraid she would lose her grip.

"We are almost there", he assured and Aria closed her eyes again.

Lucy stood by the how, watching her siblings, Caspian and the other Narnians arrive.

A certain gloominess and silence hung in the air and the girl was afraid to disturb it.

"What happened?", she asked, seeing their long faces.

"Ask him", Peter replied maliciously, glancing pointedly at the Telmarine prince.

"Me? You could have called it off when there was still time", Caspian spat back.

Peter glared at the boy.

"No there wasn't, thanks to you. If you'd kept to the plan, those soldiers might be alive right now".

"And if you'd stayed here like I suggested, they definitely would be".

"You called us, remember?", Peter argued, his voice growing louder.

"My first mistake", Caspian stated.

"No. Your first mistake was thinking you could lead these people".
Peter gestured to the Narnians around them.

Their voices began rising above the silence of the how.

A glance and one comment stirred a storm of harsh words and insults.

And the Narnians could do nothing but watch.

Caspian took several steps towards the boy, his eyes wide.

"Hey! I am not the one who abandoned Narnia", Caspian spat angrily.

Aria watched from behind the crowd as the two went at each other.

It was definitely a war of words and who can hurt the other one worse.

She pushed through the crowd and walked closer to them.

Peter raised his finger accusingly at the boy.

"You invaded Narnia. You have no more right to it than Miraz does!", Peter shot back as Caspian started to walk away.
"You. Him. Your father. Narnia's better off without the lot of you!".

Caspian glared furiously at the boy.

He drew his sword with a yell and held it against Peter's throat as Peter did the same to his.

"Aria would not have died if it wasn't for your people", Peter added, his voice breaking at the end of the sentence and Caspian's eyes widened.

Aria ran up to the boys and drew her sword.

She fought off the two, pushing them away from each other.

"Enough!", the girl yelled.

Peter's gaze stayed on the boy as Caspian looked at the girl.

"Quit fighting both of you. None of this is going to help anybody".

Aria sighed and looked around at the Narnians who all shared the same looks of sorrow.

Caspian's gaze fell to his feet.

Peter's hands went limp and he looked at the girl with shame.
His gaze lingered on her wounds and the boy clenched his fists.

"We lost a lot that night. And if you think for a second that just standing here and pointing fingers at each other is going to solve anything. You're wrong!", Aria snapped, shaking her head in disappointment.

She forked her fingers through her hair and exhaled, calming herself down.

"Those Narnians gave up their life and I am not going to let you two just stand around and argue about who did what wrong".

She stared straight at the two boys.

"Put aside your differences and work together. Maybe then you'll be fit enough to lead an army".

She looked from one boy to the other with tired eyes.

"Both of you", she added and the two boys exchanged short glances.

Aria sheathed her sword and winced at the pain the movement did to her shoulder.

Peter moved to help but Aria held her hand up to stop him.

She gripped her arm and walked into the how.

The girl looked back as Edmund called out for Lucy to heal Trumpkin who was injured.

Her gaze met that of Peter's who watched her sadly.

She turned around and walked deeper into the how.