Sleeping Beauty → Prince Caspian

02. rise and shine

━━ONCE THE PEVENSIES REALIZED THAT THE RUINS WERE IN FACT CAIR PARAVEL, THEY FOUND THE CHESTS WITH THEIR BELONGINGS AND CHANGED. As the four walked out, they saw two soldiers rowing a boat down the river with a dwarf bound and gagged about to be thrown overboard.

"Drop him!" Susan shouted, pointing her bow at the men. The dwarf looked at her as if she was insane.

The soldiers did just that— dropped him— except it was straight into the water. Susan shot one of the men, and the other jumped into the water and swam off. Peter rescued the dwarf, while Edmund dragged the boat ashore.

"Drop him?" the dwarf repeated incredulously after being unbound. "That's the best you can come up with?"

"A simple thank-you would suffice," Susan bit back.

"We did save your life," Lucy reminded the dwarf.

"They were doing fine drowning me without your help," the dwarf muttered.

"Maybe we should have let them," Peter retorted.

"Why were they trying to kill you anyway?" asked Lucy, trying to keep a fight from breaking out.

"They're Telmarines. That's what they do," the dwarf replied.

"Telmarines? In Narnia?" asked Edmund, the confusion evident in his voice.

"They normally stay on the sea," said Susan, equally as confused.

"Where have you been for the last few hundred years?" the dwarf inquired.

"Hundred years?" Edmund repeated.

"It's a bit of a long story," Lucy replied sheepishly. "What's your name?"

"Trumpkin," he answered. "And you?"

As soon as Trumpkin asked, he noticed the hilt of Peter's sword, and surveyed the four children.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," Trumpkin muttered. "You're it? You're the kings and queens of old?"

"High King Peter the Magnificent," said Peter smugly, holding out his hand.

"You probably could've left out that last bit," Susan snickered.

"Probably," Trumpkin agreed, chuckling.

"Is Ethel alright?"

Trumpkin looked towards Edmund, who'd spoken up for the first time, and nodded.

"Yes, she is alive."

A weight lifted off the siblings' chests.

"Is she . . . awake?" Edmund continued.

Trumpkin looked down sadly, slowly shaking his head, and the Pevensie children's hearts ached for their older sister.

All of a sudden, Peter drew his sword, handing it to Trumpkin to use to duel Edmund. After seeing Edmund win, Trumpkin actually looked impressed.

"Looks like that horn worked after all," said Trumpkin, slightly out of breath.

"What horn?" asked Susan.

------

The prince woke up with a groan, putting a hand to his bandaged forehead. Surveying his surroundings, he realized that he must have been in the home of the dwarves he saw before he was knocked out. He looked around at the items in the room, before his gaze settled on something that seemed out of place.

It was a curtain.

The prince carefully walked over to the curtain,
pulled it open, and peeked inside. And inside there was a room, where he was met with the sight of a beautiful girl fast asleep.