CHAPTER TWO
vol i — FAMILY FEUD!

ALEX SLOWLY OPENED her eyes, slightly blinded by the lights as she woke up to the world again. Her head was pounding, bringing her hand up to rub her forehead, she felt a bump. Alex cursed in her head, thinking up ways that she could get revenge, wanting to just fall into a hole and stay there. Turning on her side, she spots Caspian passed out in the bed next to her, his deep breaths and peaceful expression had her staring — longer than she should have been. After she say up, she poked Caspian in the chest, wanting him to wake up so they could figure out where they were.

Unluckily, he was a deep sleeper, nothing in the world could wake him up, him choosing sleep over anything else. Alexandra never understood how he did that, always trying to figure out if he had a special technique or if he was just born like that. After fifteen minutes of poking, she let out a puff of air, bringing her hand back and slapping the boy, surprising him. It worked, seeing as he leapt upright, his eyes scanning the room, trying to figure out who just attacked him in his sleep. When his eyes landed on Alex, she put a hand over his chest, trying to get his heart rate to go down again.

When Alex goes to say something to him, he slaps a hand over her mouth, trying to catch what the voices in the other room were saying. The hushed voices of others wafted into the room, filling the silence. Alexandra tilted her head, wanting to understand who was with them at that moment. Her mind raced with all possible situations, subconsciously checking for a weapon concealed on her body. Unable to find one, she scans the room, trying to find something that would help in the situation. She gets sidetracked — again — after a scolding voice breaks through.

"Nikabrik, they are just children!"
"They are Telmarines, not some lost puppies!"
"We can't kill them now, not after bandaging their heads. It's like murdering a guest."
"Ah, and how do you think their friends are treating their guest?"
"Trumpkin knew what he was doing."

Caspian had heard enough, gently pushing Alex off the side, he barged past the curtain, walking into the next room. Alex walks behind him, wanting to know what had been dropped, only to spot Caspian holding a hot poker to a dwarf, and a badger standing with his hands on his hips. The badger muttered something under his breath, heading into the kitchen and bringing back a bowl of soup. The smell invaded Alex, her feet taking her to the table, picking up the chair and eating the soup. The badger sends her an amused look, which in return, gets a thumbs up before she goes back to eating.

"See? I told you we should have killed them!"
"You know why we can't."
"If we're taking a vote. I'm with him. Alex, what are you doing?"

"Eating," she responds. It comes out muffled due to the soup in her mouth. As she goes to respond again, a sword is pointed in her direction, making her eyebrow raise. Glancing over the sword once, she pushed it off to the side with a finger, not in the mood for games. "What else would I be doing?"

The badger moved in front of Alex, protecting her from the sword. "Just let the lady eat her soup, Nikabrik."

Alex raised her spoon and pointed at Caspian. "You have to try this soup. It's amazing." He just nodded at her words, taking her word for it, yet too caught up in the scene in front of him to respond.

"We can't let them go, they have seen us!" Nikabrik started pacing, waving his sword at Caspian. Alex almost choked on her soup watching as Caspian backed against the wall, desperate to get out of the way.

"That's enough Nikabrik! Or do I have to sit on your head again?" Alex let out a snort at the comment, letting out a cough as her soup went down the wrong way. What a bad time to eat soup. "Now look at what you made me do! I spent half the morning on that soup." Alex looked down, seeing the soup he was talking about laying on the ground — spilled. He lets out a huff, trudging back into the kitchen.

"Wh—What are you?" Caspian asks. If you looked at the boy you could tell he was having an internal debate, racking his brain for what the creature in front of him was.

Alexandra let her spoon fall into her bowl, soup splashing over the edge, getting the table under the bowl wet. "Oh god, Cas, you're an idiot."

"It's funny. You'd think more people would know a badger when they saw one." Sed badger walked back into the 'dining room', another bowl of soup in his hand.

"No, I mean... you're Narnians. You're supposed to be extinct."
"Well as you can see they are very real."

"Since when did we become a boarding house for Telmarines?" It would seem that one of their gracious guests was not happy about them being there.

"I'm not a soldier. I'm Prince Caspian... the tenth," Caspian said, his voice filled with pride over his title.

"Don't look at me. I have boobs which means I can't be a soldier. Common knowledge," Alex blurted out at the same time as Caspian. Their voices overlayed, making their words virtually impossible to understand.

"What are you doing here then?" Nikabrik asked. His sword was finally put down, resting at his side.

"Currently running away from my crazed uncle," Caspian explained. "My uncle has always wanted my throne. I supposed I have only lived this long because he did not have an heir of his own."

"And you?" Nikabrik asks Alex.

"I go where he goes. It's an unspoken rule between us. Plus I was in his room when it happened."

"Well this certainly changes things."

( ...🌼... )

"YES IT SEEMS we won't have to kill you ourselves," Nikabrik stated, his voice full of happiness.

"You're right," Caspian said. He stood up, walking over to his armor, and placing each piece one with a sense of delicacy.

Alex looked up, noticing that Caspian was putting on his armor. "Oh shit, we are leaving then." Alex rushed the rest of her soup down her throat, trying to find her daggers. "Where are my daggers?" Trufflehunter pointed towards the top of the mantle, where all of Alex's daggers are laid there in a perfect line. She let out a small thank you, walking over and placing them among her body. The others watch her in amusement, not saying anything, too afraid she would throw a dagger at them.

"C'mon Alex, we haven't got all day!"
"Coming! Hold on!"
"Where are you going?"
"My uncle will not stop until I'm dead."
"It is true. Miraz is like a thorn in the arse."

"Wait! You're meant to save us! Don't you know what this is?" Trufflehunter asked. He held up the horn that belonged to Susan Pevensie all those years ago, waiting to be used.

Alex and Caspian made eye contact, sending each other a silent message, asking the other if they knew what it was. They didn't know why the professor had given it to them, not exactly having enough time to ask about it before fleeing the castle grounds. Alex tried to rack her brain, trying to figure out if she had seen that before, seeing as it did seem familiar. Obviously, Caspian had no idea what was going on, relying on Alex for an answer.

"No, what is it?"
"It belonged to Queen Susan. It is said that when blown, help will come."
"Does it work?"
"We're going to find out soon enough because you blew it."

The two teens nod their heads before making an agreement to head off on their own way. They said their goodbyes before trudging off into the wilderness. They didn't know where they were going, but as long as they were together it was going to be okay. Their hands were interlocked as they walked, trying not to fall over logs. At one point Alex was further than Caspian, laughing as he tried to keep up with her.

"Keep up pretty boy!"
"Pretty boy? That's new."
"Well you're pretty and you're a boy. Would you rather something less pleasant."
"No, I think I enjoy pretty boy."

Alex didn't notice the small blush present on his face, a small smile creeping on hers, happy that she was able to give him a name that was hers alone. She admired the small wildflowers that lined the forest floor, wishing that she could keep each one for her own collection, sad that she had left it back at the castle. Her and Caspian were making lighthearted banter, making each other laugh, small blushes present on each other's face. Their moment was ruined when a branch cracked from behind them, alerting them of a visitor.

Caspian let out a sigh, deciding on how he should handle this. "We can hear you," he said. Alexandra and Caspian watched as Nikabrik and Trufflehunter came out from their hiding place, wandering out into the open.

"I just think we should wait for the kings and queens of the old," Trufflehunter advised. The two Telemarine teens didn't care and continued to walk forward, not caring in the slightest. "Fine, go then! See if the others will be as understanding!"

"Or maybe I'll come with you. I want to see you explain things to the minotaurs," Nikabrik adds onto Trufflehunter's statement. That gets the two to stop walking, turning around with their mouths dropped open.

"Minotaurs...they're real?"
"And very bad tempered."
"Yeah, not to mention big."
"Huge."

Alexandra's curiosity spikes, wanting to know more about the supposed mythical creatures she had been hearing about her whole life. "What about centaurs? Do they exist?"

"Indeed they do," Trufflehunter informs, happy to give out his information on all the creatures of Narnia. "They will probably fight on your side, but there's no telling what the others will do."

Alexandra and Caspian share a wide eyed glance at each other, trying to decrypt what the badger in front of them was saying. "What do you mean there is no telling what the others will do?" Alex asked.

Alex's question gets ignored as Caspian's voice is louder and overlaps her own question. "What about Aslan?" Alex realized that this was probably a more important question to be asking.

Nikabrik and Trufflehunter shared a glance at each other, wondering how deep their knowledge runs without them knowing. "How do you know so much about us?"

"Stories. We got told them all the time. Alex was the one who would continuously ask about them all the time," Caspian said.

"Wait a minute...Your fathers told you stories about Narnia?" Trufflehunter asked as he glanced at Caspian.

"No, our professor...Listen, I'm sorry. These are not the kinds of questions you should be asking," Caspian said, pointing between himself and Alex. He walked off, leaving Alex by herself with the two Narnians. Trufflehunter sniffs the air, trying to figure out what the smell is.

"What is it?"
"Human."
"Them?"
"No...Them!"