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THREE | THE ROYAL AWAKENING

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CASPIAN'S EYES FLICKER OPEN, THE YOUNG PRINCE SQUINTING AT THE INTENSITY OF THE LIGHT IN THE ROOM HE WOKE UP IN. The Prince felt woozy, a headache clear as he worried he may have a concussion from an event he could barely remember. Caspian winced as he felt pressure being applied to his head, Caspian looking up to see a blonde maiden changing the bandages on his head. He didn't say anything for a moment, the girl looking down once she realised he was awake before she sent him a small smile.

"Oh, you're awake." She stated, standing up as she collected a glass of water and handed it to the Prince.

"Are you an Angel?" He asked her softly, the girl chuckling softly at his question as she shook her head.

"No."She stated as she watched him take a drink, a frown settling on the girl's face. "You shouldn't have come here."

"What?"

"They'll hurt you here," She whispers as she takes the glass from him. "you need to get to safety."

"I thought I saw some dwarfs but Narnians are extinct." He mutters dreamily, as if the Prince were in a trance.

"Caspian!" She glares as she slaps him out of his trance, quite literally. "You're not safe here, if she escapes then she'll kill you."

"If who escapes?" He asked her softly, the girl opening her mouth to speak again before she was interrupted by a voice.

"Angelina! It's time to train!" The gruff voice shouted, the girl wincing at the harshness as she looked from the door to Caspian with a frown.

"I'm coming." She shouted back, standing to go before Caspian grabbed her arm.

"Wait, if who escapes?" He asked, trying to sit up before the girl pushed him down.

"Angelina!" The same voice shouted, the girl meeting Caspian's eyes as guilt filled them immediately.

"I'm sorry Caspian." She muttered as she lifted her arm, Caspian watching as regret crossed across her face for a moment.

And then it was black.

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Caspian's eyes flutter open once again, an unpleasantly damp smell filling his nostrils as he sits up, removes the bandage from his forehead and tries to stand in the den he was being kept in. His headache had gone by now and he only hoped he saw the girl from before, finally taking a real look as he heard voices. Upon looking around for the first time he saw that it was not the girl but rather one of the dwarfs from earlier, who was conversing with what he assumed to be a badger.

"This bread is so stale." The dwarf, Nikabrik, mumbles as he throws the piece of stale bread back on the plate, the badger, Trufflehunter, sighing as he looks to the dwarf and takes his bread.

"I'll just get him some soup then." He mutters,Nikabrik scowling as he hits his fist against the table.

"You said you were going to get rid of him." He states and Trufflehunter merely shakes his head at him.

"No, I said I'd take care of him." Trufflehunter corrects as he fixed some soup and passed it to the dwarf.

"Well, I don't think I hit him hard enough." Nikabrik grunts as Trufflehunter only rolls his eyes.

"Nikabrik, he's just a human!" The badger reasons as he looks at his friend. "Just like Angie."

"He's a Telmarine, not some lost puppy!" He glares, before he thinks of the girl in question. "At least Angelina didn't run upon seeing us."

"We can't kill him now, not after bandaging its head." Trufflehunter states as he picks up another bowl of soup. "It would be like murdering a guest."

"Ah, and how do you think his friends are treating their guest?" Nikabrik asks as he glares at the badger, Trufflehunter rolling his eyes at the dwarf.

"Trumpkin knew what he was doing." He insists, Nikabrik scoffing as he eats some of the soup he was given.

Whilst they converse, Caspian bolts for the door past the two - making the badger drop the bowl of soup he was holding as a distraught look covers his features. Nikabrik immediately stands in Caspian's way as Caspian pulls a hot poker from the fire, blocking Nikabrik's harsh blows as he tries to hit him with a sword - Caspian's sword at that.

"See? I told you we should've killed him!" Nikabrik states triumphantly as he looks briefly at the badger.

"You know why we can't!"

"If you'e taking a vote, I'm with him." Caspian says as he points at Trufflehunter, Nikabrik rolling his eyes at the interaction.

"We can't let him go! He has seen us!" Nikabrik shouts as he swings his sword a few more times, Caspian successfully blocking every blow.

"That's enough, Nikabrik!" Trufflehunter says as he looks at his friend. "Or do I have to sit on your head again?"

Nikabrik stops as he drops the sword, glaring at Caspian who also dropped his hot poker as they watch the badger sigh.

"Now, look what you made me do!" He mutters with a frown. "I spent half the morning on that soup."

"Wh-what are you?" Caspian stutters out as he looked to the two, Trufflehunter chuckling as he looked at the Prince.

"It's funny." He starts as he looks at the Prince. "You'd think more people would recognize a badger when they saw one."

"No, I mean..." Caspian says as he looks at them in confusion. "You're Narnians. You're supposed to be extinct."

"Sorry to disappoint you." Nikabrik grunts as Trufflehunter returns to Caspian with more soup.

"Here we are. Still hot." The badger states as he places it on the side for Caspian. Nikabrik scoffing as he stood up.

"Since when did we become a boarding house for Telmarine soldiers?"

"I'm not a soldier!" Caspian declares as he looks to the two. "I'm Prince Caspian... the tenth."

"We already knew that!" A softer voice says, three pairs of eyes turning to the door as the same blonde from earlier, Angelina, walks in with a basket of fresh berries on her arm. "It's not much but I managed to make it without being seen by the soldiers patrolling the woods."

"That's good dear!" Trufflehunter smiles as Angelina places the basket down and removes her cloak, taking a pot and filling it with fresh berries as she passes it to Nikabrik.

"Finally, real food." Nikabrik mutters as he looks at the pot before sighing. "Berries, are you kidding me?"

"There are soldiers patrolling the villages," She explains as she looks at him. "so unless you want to go in there, you'll get what you're given."

"It's you." Caspian mutters as he looks at the girl, a small smile forming on his features as he sighs in relief upon seeing her.

"You actually met this kid before Angelina?" Nikabrik asked the girl, the blonde only shrugging in return as she gave the dwarf a smile.

"He awoke when I changed his bandage." She stated simply as she shrugged at the dwarf.

"Who are you?" Caspian asked as her looked at her, getting annoyed when she didn't answer and instead tried to speak with Trufflehunter. "I asked you a question, I demand you answer me."

"You shouldn't have done that Princey." Nikabrik chuckles darkly as Caspian watches as the girls face became darker, her fists turning white as she clenched them so hard as she tried to keep control.

"I think you'll find, your highness that we're the ones asking the questions here." Angelina stated darkly as she looked at the Prince with a glare. "So if you don't want Nikabrik or I to hurt you, which I assure you will happen, I suggest you cut the tone and start talking."

The three watch as Angelina's blonde locks begin to morph into black, various tattoos and runes begin to appear alongside her arms as she begins to lose control of her emotions. Nikabrik smiles as he watches it happen, the pouch he carried pumping as he waited for something to happen whereas both Trufflehunter and Caspian looked at the girl in alarm.

"Angie," Trufflehunter mutters as he takes her hand in hopes of bringing her back to reality. "calm down."

"No let her continue," Nikabrik says as he smirks at Caspian. "I'd like to see her scare this Telmarine."

"Nikabrik!" The badger scolds before he leads Angelina to a chair. "Have a seat dear."

"Thanks." She mutters as she begins to return back to normal, a shaky sigh escaping her lips before she looks at Caspian again. "Now talk."

"What are you doing here?" Nikabrik asks the first question that all three wanted to know.

"Running away." Caspian states after a moments hesitation. "My uncle has always wanted my throne. I suppose I have only lived this long because he did not have an heir of his own."

"Well, this changes things." Trufflehunter states happily as he looked at his friends.

"Yes..." Nikabrik drawls off as he sighs. "It means we won't have to kill you ourselves."

"You're right." Caspian agrees as he gets up and starts putting on his armor, that had been conveniently placed next to him.

"You're not leaving." Angelina states blissfully, Caspian looking at her for a moment as he ties up his boots.

"Watch me!" He says as he tries to advance to the door but Trufflehunter stands in front of him.

"Where are you going?"

"My uncle will not stop until I am dead." Caspian states before Angelina scoffs and looks at him.

"Oh wow, then you must go." She starts, sarcasm clear in her tone. "You obviously have such a great home life to go to. Aslan's mane, I would so love to go back to that life."

"No need for the sarcastic tone Angelina." Trufflehunter tuts, Angelina rolling her eyes whilst Nikabrik laughs.

"On the contrary, I think it is needed."Nikabrik says before Trufflehunter glares at him.

"Don't encourage it." The badger exasperates as he looks from the dwarf to the girl. "Trumpkin wouldn't like it."

"He's not her bloody father Trufflehunter." The dwarf grunts, the badger turning to him and giving him a look.

"He's closer to it than we are."

"Well," Caspian starts as he notes the tension in the room. "thank you for the hospitality, but I best be off."

"You're not going anywhere." Angelina states again as she stands up, Caspian glaring at her slightly.

"Watch me!" He challenges as he advances towards the door, Angelina proving to be quicker as she gets there first and stands in front of it and blocking his path. "Move."

"No." She smirks, Caspian sighing irritably as he looks at the girl.

"Look Princess," He starts, Angelina's eyes darkening as soon as he said the word. "I suggest you move out of my way before I make you."

"What did you just call me?" She asked through gritted teeth, Caspian taking a step back at her aggressiveness whilst the badger sighed and the dwarf chuckled.

"Oh this'll be good." Nikabrik whispered as he looked to the girl, Trufflehunter giving a frown as he looked at the girl.

"Angelina calm dow-"

"Listen here you royal dumbass." Angelina started as she pushed the Prince backward away from the door. "Don't you ever call me Princess again because I swear if I hear that word come out of your mouth I'll make it so that you can't speak again. You got it."

"Your eyes..." Caspian muttered as he watched her eyes turn pitch black, before he stumbled into a chair at the table.

"Angelina." Trufflehunter murmured as he pulled on her arm. "Come on, don't let her out. You're better than this."

" I-I'm sorry." She stuttered for a moment as she kneeled on the floor as her eyes returned to normal. "Caspian I'm so sorry."

"Who are you?" He asked again, Trufflehunter helping Angelina to a seat whilst Nikabrik rolled his eyes.

"I thought we established that we're asking the questions here." He murmured at the Prince, who glared back at him.

"I'm leaving." Caspian stated as he stood up again, Trufflehunter stepping in front of him again with a pleading smile.

"Wait, you're meant to save us! Don't you know what this is?" The badger asks as Caspian stares at the horn in Trufflehunter's hands.

"A horn?"

"Wow, a real wise guy." Angelina muttered, Caspian turning to her as he glared.

"You know what?" Caspian asked as he glared down at the girl. "Earlier you were so kind but now I'm getting real sick of you, you know that?"

"The feelings mutual trust me." She muttered as she took a berry from Nikabrik's pot and ate it.

"I don't like your attitude." The Prince state, Angelina rolling her eyes as she smiled fakely at him.

"Well I don't like you." She returned to him with a smile.

"You're irritating."

"And you're a spoiled brat."

"Enough!" Trufflehunter shouted at the two before he turned to Caspian and sighed. "Your highness, you may want to sit down for this."