Chapter Five:     The Meeting

//You always smile, but in your eyes your sorrow shows//

When they reached the ford near Baruna, they found it to be not much more than a construction site. Telmarines were chopping down the surrounding trees to construct what was starting to look like a bridge over the River Rush.

That would not and could not be a good thing, allowing the Telmarine soldiers access to parts of Narnia that had been reasonably left alone for many years due to their superstitious beliefs and there could be only one motivation as to why this was taking place now – and it would seem to have something to do with a particular young Prince.

They were hidden from the Telmarine’s sight by a felled tree and as they watched the scene before them, they could figure out no way around without being caught by the soldiers. With slight concern she looked over at Trumpkin and could see that he was astonished by the situation also and that he was anxious. Having friends and family in jeopardy was certainly not easy to deal with but she also knew that it could make a person choose the wrong option and end up in even deeper trouble.

“Perhaps this wasn’t the best way to come, after all,” Susan whispered aloud to no one in particular.

“We should’ve just listened to Lucy in the first place,” Buffy muttered, following the others as they took off back the way they had arrived.

They were back at the gorge sooner than Buffy would’ve predicted, but once they were there no one had any real ideas about how to scale the chasm. Even she didn’t, the gorge was too wide for her jump and they had no rope that they could latch on to anything on the other side. It just seemed as though they weren’t meant to get across the darn gorge.

“So...” Peter said finally. “Where exactly do you *think* you saw Aslan?”

“I do wish you’d all stop trying to sound like grownups,” Lucy told them crossly. “I don’t *think*I saw him, I *did* see him.”

“I am a grownup,” Trumpkin replied looking decidedly uncomfortable.

“It was right over-“Lucy started but then disappeared from view, screaming.

“Lucy!” Susan yelled.

They all rushed over to the edge, frightened and apprehensive over what had just occurred only to find Lucy sitting on what appeared to be a path down the side of the gorge to the river and across. After a few minutes of the siblings hugging each other and checking that Lucy was not injured, they began their descent down the path that had provided for them.

Buffy was stunned by the path’s condition, it was in comparatively good shape with only a few rough or slippery bits and so the group had little trouble reaching the bottom. When they arrived at the river, they were able to cross on some stepping stones that weaved their way along the section they were crossing.

Lucy slipped as she went across, but was helped out by her DLF and the others seemed to have no trouble what-so-ever. Then there was Buffy... The extra material at the bottom of her dress was a definite hindrance to her crossing, no matter how high she raised the hem, it still got wet and caused her no end of trouble. In the end Peter simply scooped her up into his arms and carried her, the rest of the way.

“Uh – thanks,” she told him unnervingly.

“No problem,” Peter replied still holding her close.

“You can put me down now.”

Peter smiled at her and she tried not to notice how his blue eyes sparkled at her. “I guess I should do that then.”

He put her gently down, but did not let her until he was certain that she was steady on her feet. The two of them looked at each other with embarrassment, neither knowing what to do or say to the other. Fortunately Lucy broke the silence and apprehension by hurrying them along to catch up to the others, which they willingly did.

Buffy had never been so thankful to see night fall, more often than not this signalled work to be done, but here in Narnia it meant it was time for rest. They had set up camp in a small clearing and now they could unwind and Buffy was intending to make the most of it - by sleeping.

Unfortunately it seemed that her mind had other ideas and was whirring with thoughts, memories and as standard visions of impending doom. It also really didn’t help that she was sandwiched in between Lucy and Peter and had absolutely no personal space, or that Peter had been able to drift off the second he laid down.

She sat herself up and stared at the fire, wishing for sleep to come to her so that she could be not as much of a crabby Buffy in the morning. That was when she heard scuffling next to her and knew that Lucy was also awake.

“Buffy?”

“I didn’t wake you, did I?”

“No,” Lucy whispered back. “I can’t sleep. Can’t you sleep either?”

“There’s just too much on my mind.”

“With me, its excitement,” Lucy told her. “I can hardly believe that I’m back here.”

Silence reigned for a few minutes and Buffy thought that Lucy must have fallen asleep. That was until, “So... do you have a boyfriend?”

Buffy couldn’t help but smile, “How will Susan feel if you interrogate me without her?”

“I’ll fill her in later. So?”

“Sort of.”

Lucy scoffed, “That is not an answer.”

“Well, it’s the best I’ve got right now.”

“Do you love him?”

“As what?”

Lucy shook he head, “As in the forever and ever kind.”

Buffy took her time formulating her reply, “As a friend, definitely. As in the forever and ever kind – I don’t know. It’s very complicated.”

Lucy’s interest was definitely peaked, as was someone else’s - someone who had been pretending to sleep since he’d heard Buffy move about. Things got even more interesting for him a few moments later...

“So, Peter-“

“Lu... I don’t think your brother and I would work-“

“Why not? You like each other - I can tell.”

Buffy shook her head, her blonde hair falling out and down around her shoulders. “We literally come from two different worlds...”

“England and Americas aren’t that far apart.”

“It may be further than you think.”

Lucy was as obstinate as her oldest brother, “I still think you’re wrong.”

“That’s your choice, Lu,” Buffy answered. “I’m gonna try to get some sleep. You should too.”

“I will.”

“Goodnight, Lu.”

“Goodnight, Buffy.”

She still could not sleep, but she lay there listening to the sounds of nature and the fire crackling near her head and contemplated about her talk with Lucy. It didn’t seem like she had laid their long before she heard Lucy and Susan talking and she tried to block it out, but some of the conversation drifted through.

“I finally just got used to being in England.”

“But... you are happy to be back, aren’t you?”

“While it lasts.”

Those were the words that sent Buffy off to sleep, because exhaustion had finally caught up with The Slayer. With her mind finally clear she drifted in a fitful sleep, one plagued with dreams of battle, death and blood.

It was scarcely light out when Buffy awoke the next morning and found that Peter was gazing at her, watching her sleep. She sat up feeling considerably vulnerable and wondering if she looked as horrendous as she felt.

“Peter-“

He cut her off as he stood up, held out his hand and asked softly, “Come for a walk with me?”

“This isn’t a good idea,” she answered as she took his hand and rose to her feet. “We should stay with the others.”

“We won’t go far,” he assured her as he began to walk off, still holding onto her hand.

They walked a ways into the woods, making certain they knew which way would take them back to camp and the other members of their group. Both she and Peter were silent, just content to be in awe of the landscape and the peacefulness of the morning.

After a while Buffy spoke, breaking the spell of silence that had surrounded them. “Maybe we should be heading back now?”

“Just a few minutes more I want to show you something I found earlier.”

“Earlier? Just how long have you been awake?” Buffy was truly horrified at just how much of a morning person he seemed to be.

“Only a few hours,” he answered pulling her along.

After an additional minute or two they reached a clearing that had a view through the trees, permitting anyone who stood there to have a virtually unobstructed view of the surrounding forest. Buffy had to admit the view was breath-taking, but she was bewildered as to why he’d brought her there. She turned around and ran straight into his chest and found it a rather disturbing feeling being so much shorter than the person you were tripping over.

“Sorry,” she said looking up at him.

Her eyes met his and it was all of a sudden like the world had gone into slow motion, all she could see was the unhurried descent of Peter’s lips coming towards her own and for one short-lived moment she forgot all of the protests and motivations she had as to why this was a terrible idea. His lips had barely brushed her own when she heard a loud noise, roughly a cross between a roar and an animal in pain.

She pulled away from Peter, “What was that?”

“What was what?” Peter asked as it sounded again. This time he was not confused as he grabbed her hand and dragged her along, “Come on, hurry up.”

They came upon a cluster of bushes and as they went to go around them they heard the noise once more and Peter peered over the top instead, just in time to see something pass the bushes by. “It’s a minotaur,” he whispered.

“They’re real?” Buffy was slightly awed at the sight of what she had considered to be a mythical creature.

“And very unpleasant.”

That was when they heard it, a small voice calling out, “Aslan?”

“That’s Lucy,” Buffy said needlessly.

“Stay here,” Peter told her. “I’ll go and get her.”

Buffy watched as Peter snuck up behind his youngest sibling and put his hand over mouth before dragging her over to where Buffy was waiting for his return. He removed his hand, shushed her and pointed out the minotaur to her and Lucy gasped in astonishment, but still continued to ogle.

Peter unsheathed his blade, prepared to the battle the minotaur and protect the girls. He came out from their hiding place, intent on sneaking up on his adversary. Regrettably for him, he was the one who was ambushed – by a boy of a comparable age.

The resulting sword fight was quite equably matched, each of them meeting the other’s thrusts. At one point Peter managed to extricate the boy from his sword – unluckily he then endeavoured to attack his adversary and got his blade wedged in a nearby tree. Abandoning it, while the other boy made an attempt to remove it, he grabbed a rock.

“No,” Lucy yelled coming out of hiding. “Stop.”

Buffy hurried over to Lucy and held her closely to her, as what Buffy alleged was a Narnian army seemingly came out of nowhere. Out of the corner of her eye she saw that the other boy was now holding Peter prisoner with his own sword.

“Prince Caspian?”

“Yes,” the boy replied. “And you are?”

“Peter!” Susan yelled as she, Trumpkin and Edmund came into view.

With that name being said, Caspian looked down at the sword in his hand and saw the lions head and the ancient spells engraved on it. Realisation came to him, “High King Peter.”

“I believe you called...”

“Well – yes,” the young Prince nodded. “I thought you would be older.”

“If you’d like,” Peter said dropping the rock back onto the ground. “We could come back in a few years...”

“No,” he said quickly, a little nervous that Peter meant his veiled threat. “No, that’s all right. You’re not exactly what I expected.”

As Caspian spoke he looked at each of them, taking in their very youthful appearances. That was until he came to Susan and that was when Buffy noticed the look they gave each other – almost feeling the electricity floating between the two of them.

The spell was broken by Edmund, “Neither are you.”

A badger came out of the pack, beginning to speak and Buffy tuned him out, she really didn’t care about whatever he was talking about – unless it involved brutality and bloodshed. Now that they had found that Prince didn’t it mean that at long last she could kick some butt?

She was distracted when a mouse came forward wearing a hart and carrying a sword. “We have anxiously awaited your return, my liege. Our hearts and swords are at your service.”

“My gosh, he is *so* cute,” Lucy said looking at the mouse.

“I agree,” Buffy added, not looking at the mouse but at the Prince.

“Who said that?” the mouse demanded wielding his sword.

“Uh – sorry,” Lucy replied sheepishly.

The mouse swordsman continued as if she had not spoken, “Your Majesty with the greatest respect, I do believe courageous, courteous or chivalrous might more benefit a knight of Narnia.”

“Don’t look at me I wasn’t talking about the mouse,” Buffy clarified much to Peter’s dismay and Susan’s quiet horror.

“Well, at least we know that some of you can handle a blade,” Peter said taking his hurt out on Caspian.

Looking at the countenance of both obstinate royals, Buffy could tell that there was going to be trouble. The predicament was two exceptionally inflexible men and only one army to command.

“Yes indeed and I have recently put my blade to good use securing weapons for your armies, sire.”

“Good,” Peter nodded commandeering authority. “We’re going to need every sword we can get.”

“Well then, you’ll probably be wanting yours back,” Caspian replied, one-upping Peter.

Caspian handed the sword back to Peter and Peter sheathed it trying not to let Buffy’s hushed sniggering get to him. Ten minutes previously she had been about to let him kiss her and now she was checking out the Prince and commenting on his looks. Now more than ever he was going to make certain that everyone knew who precisely was in charge, counting a specific blonde.

End Part

Notes:

Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far.

Lyrics:

Mariah Carey – Without You