Chronicles of Narnia: The Stolen Queen

The Rescue

The young man quickly scurried through the woods, his head down. Where do I go from here? I can never go back. Though even as he thought it, he knew it wasn't true. One day he would return to take revenge. The shadows of the night covered up his malicious smile.

Snap. He froze. All became still, as the stranger silently reached over his shoulder for an arrow. Without thinking he loaded, turned, and fired.

-*
Lucy winced as the plate smashed on the tile ground. Cedric looked at her, fire gleaming in his eyes. Quickly, the Queen bent down to sweep up the fragments of broken glass. When I get back to Cair Paravel, I will have Peter give the kitchen maids a raise.

It had been several days since she had saved the boy, Markus, from Lord Greco. Her new friend, Chrystine, had been kind enough to trade her kitchen chores for Lucy's manual labor. She was in no shape to carry gargantuan buckets of water to and fro. So here she was, Queen Lucy the Valiant, washing the dishes of her enemy. My enemy... Since when do I have enemies?

Lucy shook her head in frustration. The last enemy she had was the White Witch, a terribly wicked and powerful opponent. Yet Zephrus was just a man. A crude, awful, man, but an ordinary man all the same. Lucy clenched her fists as anger and hatred began to seep into her heart. If I ever get a hold of Zephrus or King Jerez I swear I'll-

"You there. Kitchen girl!" Lucy turned and sighed at Cedric, whom she had told a million times that her name was Lila. Granted, it wasn't, but he was still a slave just like her. It's the principle of the matter. "Go change to serve the meal to Zephrus, as well as his guest. For some reason Lord Greco insists that it should be you." With that, Cedric stormed off to make another poor, unfortunate soul miserable.

Lucy stood there a moment, thinking of what this meant. Do they know who I am? Should I try to run? Panic began to set in and the sound of her heart beating seemed to echo all around her. No, calm down. She inhaled slowly as she began to stroll back to the slaves' sleeping quarters.

The only way for them to know who I am is if Dolphus told them. But, he offered to help so why would he? The odds are Lord Greco only wants me there as another pretty face, or to gloat at my current weak disposition. Well either way I shall spoil his plans.

Lucy had never thought of herself as beautiful. That was Susan. Still, she understood that it wasn't her wits that had been attracting the atrocious men around her. Therefore, she would leave on the hideous rag she had been washing dishes in. She even made a point to frizz up her hair more. No chance he will find me attractive now.

Lucy marched to the dining hall, carrying a pitcher of wine that she picked up from the kitchen along the way. Another slave held the door open for her as she entered. He cast his head down so she couldn't see his face. The Queen didn't have time to ponder this as she took in her surroundings. On one end of the table was Zephrus, scowling as usual. Next to him was Lord Greco. When he saw Lucy enter and took in her appearance he sneered wickedly. Lucy faltered. So much for warding him off. Anyhow, she would hold her head high and proud, just as Edmund had taught her. She would not give Greco the satisfaction of knowing he had irked her.

Lucy bent low to pour the wine into Zephrus's goblet as she observed the guest on the other end of the table. He had a tan face with dark chocolate eyes that had a hard glint them. Something about the man looked quite familiar...

"Zephrus," the man was saying, an arrogant tone to his voice. "Does it matter at this point anymore whether the barbarian queen is dead? All that matters is the Narnians think she is dead." Lucy felt queasy as she refilled the man's goblet. "'Tis true that I'd rather squeeze every breath from her body myself, though. Our spies even report that she is somewhat of a beauty. If it is true I could have some fun with her before killing her." Fighting hard to control her anger, and her stomach, Lucy stepped back to the wall and waited for orders.