The Queen's Tales

Chapter 13: Like Riding a Bike

"Telmarines? In Narnia?" Edmund wondered when Trumpkin had explained who was trying to drown him.

The dwarf eyed him up and down skeptically, "Where have you been for the last few hundred years?"

"It's a long story," Lucy trailed off.

That was when Trumpkin noticed the grand sword in Peter's hand. He remembered seeing the girl at the hut and finally it seemed to connect, "Oh you've got to be kidding me," he groaned, "You're it? You're the kings and queens of old?"

"High King Peter, the Magnificent," Peter offered his hand to shake, but the dwarf took a small step back.

Susan rolled her eyes at his cocky title, "You probably could've left off the last bit," she muttered.

Trumpkin chuckled, "Probably," he agreed.

Peter unsheathed his sword, "You might be surprised."

"Oh you don't wanna do that, boy," Trumpkin warned.

But Peter shook his head, "Not me. Him," he nodded to his brother who smirked, he passed Chloe's staff to Lucy to hold so he could brandish his own sword.

Edmund had a smirk on his face, he was known as one of the best swordsmen during the Golden Age. Although, there was only one person who had ever been known to beat him, can you guess who?

Trumpkin, however, was giving Chloe a run for her money. He got in a few good hits, "Oh are you alright?" he asked sarcastically before lifting the sword to swing again.

This time, Edmund was ready, dodging and giving him a light smack on the rear. Crossing blades with someone a lot shorter than you meant protecting your feet and legs a lot more, this was something Edmund had been taught early on. As they continued to battle, he felt himself getting back into the swing of things. Finally with some hard hits and slashes, Edmund disarmed Trumpkin, pointing the blade at his face and staring into his shellshocked face.

"Beards and beardsticks!" He gasped getting to his knees on the sand, "The horn really did work."

Susan took a step forward, "What horn?"

"The horn the bloke blew in the forest by our hut when he was being chased by Telmarines. Not even a bird's tweet later some girl came running in. Fire burning from her hands! I'd only ever heard of that happening in the Tales of Old," he explained out of breath, "She helped get the lad to safety and that's when I was taken."

The Pevensies listened to his explanation with a twinge of excitement. Chloe had in fact arrived back in Narnia, it was the horn that brought them back. She was with whomever blew Susan's horn. Edmund felt a smile form on his face as he looked to Lucy who was holding onto Chloe's staff. He grabbed it back with a proud feeling in his chest, "Well let's go find her, shall we?" He prompted, excited to see her again.

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Originally, Caspian felt it was his duty to round up the Narnians on his own. Chloe was able to convince him to at the very least, allow her to accompany him given he was Telmarine by birth, it would be difficult to get others on his side. Nikabrik thought it was amusing that Caspian was trying to take the lead, "I want to see you try to explain things to the minotaurs," he joked.

That caught Caspian's attention, "Minotaurs? They're real?"

"And very bad tempered," Trufflehunter nodded.

Chloe snorted, "Pretty big too. I remember one about the size of a rhinoceros."

"What about centaurs?" He wondered, "Do they still exist?"