Daughter of Nowhere || A Narnia (Prince Caspian) Story

2: The Deal

A clash of steel later, the two were parrying, and to her amusement, Ina noticed that the boy was doing very well with his fire poker.

"No! Stop!" Trufflehunter protested.

The dwarf growled between blows, "I told you we should've killed him when we had the chance!"

"You know why we can't!"

For the first time since he awoke, the boy spoke. "If we're taking a vote, I'm with him." He jerked his head at Trufflehunter.

But Nikabrik didn't listen, and continued sparring the boy, his attacks wild and rash. Ina was not worried for the boy—he was an excellent swordsman—but she decided she'd seen enough. Two throwing knives flew from her hand, knocking the weapons out of their grasps, and Nikabrik whirled on her, fuming.

"You little—" He barreled across the room. "I always knew you'd betray us!"

She levelled her sword to keep the dwarf at bay. "You heard Trufflehunter. We can't kill him."

"That's enough! The both of you!" Trufflehunter rarely got upset, but when he did, Ina recalled that it was intimidating. "Or do I have to sit on your head again, Nikabrik?"

The dwarf shot him a dark look, but the thought of Trufflehunter's bottom was far too much for him to bear, and so he shuddered and backed away. Ina almost wished that Nikabrik wouldn't, just so that she could watch Trufflehunter sit on him once more.

"And you!" The badger turned to the boy. "Look what you made me do," he bristled, gesturing at the overturned table, the bowls and teacups strewn on the ground. "I spent half the morning on that soup!"

But the boy's mind was far from spilled soup. His expression was a mixture of fear and wonder as his eyes darted between the three, not knowing who to take in first. Eventually, they decided to land on Ina. "You're a Telmarine."

She flipped the table back upright and snorted. "Very observant of you."

"And you." His eyes returned to Trufflehunter and Nikabrik, widening. "What...what are you?"

"You know, it's funny that you would ask that," Trufflehunter deadpanned as he shuffled into the kitchen. "You think more people would know a badger when they saw one."

"No, no I mean..." The boy was still breathing hard, his chest rising and falling beneath his tunic. "You're Narnians. You're supposed to be extinct."

His voice wavered when he said "Narnians", as if the word was a curse, forbidden. Ina knew that where he came from, the mere idea of Narnians would be punishable. Her father didn't care much for the law, though. He was a rebel that way, telling her bedtime stories of the magical creatures. That is, before he lost his soul to liquor.

"Well, sorry to disappoint you," said Nikabrik bluntly and returned to his tea.

The boy faced Ina now, confusion creasing his eyebrows. "Who are you? Wha- How did you get here? How long have you stayed?"

"That's a lot of questions, and it's a long story," she sighed, sinking into one of the mismatched seats at the table. Her knees brushed against her chest as she did—the stool was far too short for her. She watched dispiritedly as Trufflehunter appeared with a new bowl of soup that was not meant for her. He placed it on the table gently. "There you go," he told the boy. "Still warm."

Nikabrik scowled. "Since when did we open a boarding house for Telmarines? First the girl, now this soldier—"

"I'm not a soldier." The boy frowned and drew himself to his full height; his head grazed the ceiling. "I'm Prince Caspian. The Tenth."