24

THE REASON

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Caspian and Alex had set off from the Badger's home and journeyed on through the woods. The silence between them was deafening as none of them had anything to say or even how to say it, especially after Caspian had just learned about the real Narnia.

The silence between them was cut short with the snap of twigs following them, at first they ignored it but the noise became too prominent to ignore. The rustling got much louder and much closer than it used to be, both the Prince and the Knight shared a glance before he spoke up.

"We can hear you."

Nikarbrik and Trufflehunter emerged from out of the shadows of the trees reluctantly, with of them being almost just as bad as Caspian was at hiding back at their home.

"I just think we should wait for the Kings and Queens," he tried to tell them, watching carefully as he brought up her old friends, before they both went back to walking on, "Fine! Go then! See if the others will be as understanding!"

The two Narnians started to quarrel once more before Nikabrik started to run after them and shout loudly to emphasise his opinion, "Or maybe I'll come with you. I want to see you explain things to the minotaurs.

"That's what Alexandra is for," Caspian told him before repeating the word in his head, "Minotaurs? They're real?"

Trufflehunter neared the two with a small smile, "And very bad tempered."

"Yeah, not to mention huge," the dwarf added and followed in pursuit.

"Not that big," Alex shrugged nonchalantly and set back on their journey with the Prince and two Narnians following after her as if their life depended on it, "And I talk from experience."

Caspian kept on the topic of all the mystical creatures that Cornelius had told him about in secret. The images of dryads, gryphons, satyrs and cyclops filled his mind, but one creature stood out in his mind. The Regals.

"What about centaurs? Do they still exits?" he asked and pushed leaves from his face, Alex listened on intently.

Alex smiled at the thought of General Oreius and all the times they would end up training the future Narnian army from sunrise to sunset. All the times that they would watch from the sidelines as their soldiers would spar and fail miserably.

"Well, the centaurs will probably fight your side," Trufflehunter pondered before turning, "But there's no telling what the others will do."

Another question left Caspian's lips, one that even Alexandra hadn't thought of yet. "What about Aslan?"

Usually upon hearing or saying Aslan's name she would feel such a warm delight full her chest, the familiarity of the sun and the smell of the salted sea. But now she realised that it brought dread; her chest aching and her head ringing.

The three words were powerful enough to make the two Narnians stop in their path and turn to face the others who had slowed down behind them. "How do you know so much about us?"

"Stories."

"Wait a minute, your father told you stories about Narnia?" the beaver asked as he didn't continue to walk yet.

"No, my professor, he..." Caspian stopped his train of thought and shook his head before they all started walking once more, "Listen, I'm sorry. These are not the kind of questions you should be asking."

With a deep breath she accepted that she would need to recognise that she needed to accept the fate of what had happened to all of her friends. All of them. Even if it was the presence of her closest of friends or someone as important to her as Peter and the Pevensie monarchs.

"And what of my friends?" Alex asked quietly, so quiet that it came out as a whisper to Caspian but almost a shout to Beaver due to his enhanced hearing, "Mr Tumnus? The Beavers? Marcel, Harlow and Lydia? So many Narnians that became more than friends but now I have no idea what happened to them. Did they live happy lives or did they... Nevermind."

Beaver struggled to keep up with her fast pace but in the end he did, his paw connected with the palm of her hand to catch her attention. "Marcel lived a long live with his family and served the Kings and Queens valiantly until his last breath, Lydia did so in his stead. The Beavers did the same, the children had children of their own and so on. Rumour has it that some of their blood line still exists today. And, for Mr Tumnus, he was left to write the legends of the Pevensie monarchs but more importantly, the history of Narnia through the 100 Year Winter to the Golden Age and the story of the Crimson Knight and her sacrifices. He too lived a happy life with his husband and was buried next to his father."

To say that tears didn't well up in her eyes would have been a lie. Knowing that each of her friends lived happy, long lives somehow made it all much easier to accept them no longer at her side. But there was four missing spaces in her life that she would never be able to justify.

"And what about-" she trailed off as she noticed Trufflehunter sniffing the air with intent, "What is it?"

"Humans," he replied continued to sniff to determine the direction that they were in.

"Them?" Nikabrik asked and directed his hand to the two humans they were currently travelling with.

"No, them!"

Alexandra's eyes widened brightly as she noticed the Telmarines approaching them with shouts leaving their lips and their crossbows aimed their way and soon enough, arrows. "Run!"

All four set off in a sprint, the two humans being at the front of the group as the arrows hit the trees around them instead of their bodies; which they were thankful for. "You know," Alex gasped out as an arrow skimmed her once more, "I know this girl who had never fired a bow and arrow in her life, and the day that she got hers as a gift, she became an expert. You guys should take a few lessons!"

As a responce, an arrow got too close and skimmed her arm, splitting the fabric of her dress as it did so and creating a small wound. "Aslan's roar!" she cursed as Trufflehunter screamed out in pain, all three turned to find the beaver lying within the shrubs and grass with an arrow sticking out of his leg.

"Wait, I'll go!" Caspian shouted and ran after the Narnian and picked him up in his arms, ignoring his cries to leave him and to take the horn instead.

Alex decided to provide them with some cover by launching the axe into orbit and watching as the silver weapon skimmed through the trees and through the Telmarine group before finding its way back into her palm. What confused her the most was how few soldiers fell down, the ones that didn't even make contact with the axe. Something else was bringing them down.

Caspian handed the wounded Narnian to help aid the Knight in taking down their followers. What he didn't expect to find was the girl sprinting towards her enemy and slicing with her axe to take down the final Telmarine.

He also didn't expect to find rustling coming directly at him in a trail left by the leaves moving around dramatically, a faint scream of shock left his lips as he was pushed over with force by a mouse sitting on his chest.

"Choose your last words carefully, Telmarine," he threatened and used his tail to bring his sword from the sheath and to point it down at Caspian's face. The sword was barely bigger than a few needles, but the light reflected off the sharpness of the blade.

"Caspian?" Alex shouted through the leaves, finding that he had disappeared, though she followed the shouts and grunts of pain to find him lying down and a mouse on his chest.

"You're a mouse," he muttered and shifted his eye line to see the Crimson Knight with her axe pointed towards the mouse.

"I was hoping for something a little more original. Pick up your sword!"

A cough left her lips to gain his attention, "Put the blade down or be prepared to meet your fate."

It was humorous to say the least, watching as the mouse's face contorted with each emotion that shifted into his mind. First it was shock, he had no idea that the Crimson Knight was standing behind him. Then it was embarrassment. But finally, shock again.

"Forgive me, Sir Alexandra," he jumped from Caspian's chest and gave her a sheepish bow and lowered his weapon, continuing to stare in awe at the girl with white hair, "Wow, the books don't merely describe your excellence well enough. The way that you wield that axe of yours beats anything I have witnessed in my years."

"Well, you should know that Caspian here is the one that blew the horn," she smiled and did the same by putting her axe at her belt after wiping it on the grass, she made sure to look over at Caspian to notice the disgust on his face at how she seemed fine with the blood, "But thank you."

Without anyone noticing, four centaurs approached them as the leader, Glenstorm, started to speak directly at the girl as she smiled at the sight of centaurs, "Then tell him to bring it forward. This is the reason we have gathered."

Gathered.

There were more Narnians and they were all together, the thought of them all uniting once more was prideful and she was excited to be reunited with them. However, even if they were to be forgiving to Alex, the chances were that they would be merciless to Caspian. They would judge him for what his people had done. Hell, even a small part of the knight wanted to slap Caspian across the face for it all.

"By the time we reach the camp it will be dark, so let's get started," Glenstorm instructed with a final glance shoved towards Alexandra for her close proximity to Caspian, his enemy.

The girl could see the hesitation in Caspian's face. He was scared. Not only for how the Narnians would react to his presence and what he had to ask of them, but also for what Miraz had planned for his nephew and the rest of Narnia as they knew it.

"Caspian," the words left her lips and entered his mind to pull him from his thoughts so easily, "I just wanted to say that regardless of what they decided to do, I'll be at your side if it comes to a battle. I'll even have to teach you a few things so that we make it out in one piece."

He smiled weakly at her and nodded, "Thank you, for everything that you have done since I've met you. I feel like you've taught me just as much as my Professor in such a short time. He may have spread the words written hundreds of years ago, but you were there. Your account of the battles and the history is just authentic, if not more, and I don't know why that is so weird to me."

"Weird to you? It's still hard for me to accept." she scoffed before her smile brightened and her words turned into chipper laughs, "You just got taken down my a mouse."

Reepicheep, as if on cue, ran back down the line as they walked to meet their eyes, "I will have you know, my liege, that I am the strongest mouse in Narnia."

"There's no doubt about it Pipsqueak," she joked before running her hand down the bark of the tree once more.

"May I ask one favour?" the Narnian asked and earned a nod from the girl, "Tell us a story. One from the Old Narnia where the trees would dance in the roar of Aslan or..."

Ever since her eyes finally opened for the first time in hundred of years, Alexandra had been asked many times about her past life in Narnia. She knew deep down that the Narnians and Caspian just wanted to know the truth. Her truth.

"Or the battle?" Caspian finished with purpose and eyes as big as the moon.

Perhaps recalling all the events was a step in the right direction for her, not only physically but mentally too.

"The year is 1000, the final year of the Eternal Winter Solstice..."

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