The Heir I Need

Part III: Chapter 9

Percy

I woke up alone below deck on the ship in Mother's room. Or, I thought I was alone. The moment I shifted in bed, a soft voice cried out.

"Don't move!"

I jolted causing sharp pain to shoot up my leg. Wincing, I gasped and immediately forced myself to stay still.

"Oops, I'm sorry," the voice continued.

"Gael?" I called with a confused frown.

"Yeah," she smiled leaning over so I could see her.

I smiled chuckling, "Can I please sit up?"

"You're not supposed to be moving," she answered with a slight frown, "You'll hurt your leg."

"Help me sit up and I won't move after that," I told her.

She hesitated, biting her lip. Then she narrowed her eyes at me.

"Promise?"

"Promise," I nodded.

She sighed but then helped me shift into a sitting position. Every time I moved my leg it hurt, but I tried to hide it so she wouldn't make me stop trying to sit up. It took us a minute, but eventually I got to a sitting position.

"Your mother went ashore with the other kings and Lucy," she explained, "I think they'll be back soon."

I nodded. I don't know how long it was before the sounds of people talking came from above. Gael helped me pass the time by telling stories she made up. Still it was boring sitting around. Mother came down with Aunt Lucy and brought us some food. They told us all about Aslan's Table, the three sleeping lords, and the star. But as morning approached, they had to return to the chart room to discuss our next course of action. The medic said I was good enough to move about so long as I didn't put weight on my leg, but what good was that?

"I have an idea!" Gael exclaimed suddenly.

I raised an eyebrow in confusion as she ran off. She was gone for maybe fifteen minutes. In that time, my confusion only grew and grew. Finally she returned holding some wood.

"Uh...what are you doing?" I questioned.

"I made these!" she answered holding out the wood.

She had tied smaller branches in between larger ones and wrapped the top small branch in fabric. It appeared that she'd made some sort of crude form of a crutch. I had many doubts of how this was about to go. She seemed so excited though so I took them. She helped me move to the edge of the bed. I paused before pushing up.

"Are you sure this is gonna work?" I asked her, scrunching up my nose.

"No," she admitted truthfully.

I held back a smile at that. Pressing against the two makeshift crutches, I slowly rose up from the bed. It hurt like crazy, but the pain dulled once I was standing.

"It worked!" she exclaimed excitedly.

"Yeah," I laughed, testing them out a bit.

They somehow held. It wasn't easy getting used to walking on one leg, but I was able to make enough progress that we could slowly make our way to the top deck. Gael kept giggling as I worked my way forward on the crutches.

"Shh..." I called despite my smile.

She covered her mouth but it did little to stifle the sound.

"What are you two doing?"

We both froze and slowly turned around. Sir Reepicheep stood on the railing, his hands on his small hips.

"Uh-" I stammered unable to come up with a quick excuse.