The Regents : the Forgotten Chronicle [COMPLETED]

Chapter Fifteen: Homecoming

We regents were roughly bound and led to a prominent hill on the battlefield, giving us the perfect view of the Calormene flag rising above Cair Paravel. All Narnian servants were banished from the castle and herded into the field to hear Caspian's announcement: as an example of Calormene authority and might, we regents would be taken to the Lone Islands and sold as slaves. The Narnians wailed and protested but none dared move against their conquerors. Caspian called two Calormene soldiers forward and spoke to them in broken Calormene. At his order, the soldiers glanced at us and laughed cruelly, nodding their subservience the Telmarine king. Then, they escorted the four of us to a sandy beach almost a mile south of the cliffs by Cair Paravel. There, we climbed into a small boat and were rowed out to a sturdy, two-masted Calormene ship in the harbor . . .

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In the center of the upper deck, the regents stood surrounded by their personal guard. The Calormene captain with a pointed goatee exchanged a few words with the guard who relayed Caspian's message. The bearded captain glanced at the regents with wide eyes and laughed cruelly as the soldiers had done before Caspian. Then, in lilted Calormene he barked orders to his men, and all across the ship a dozen sailors scampered about like roaches, snapping ropes and unfurling sails. The boat groaned as it caught the tide and inched out into the open water. Eliza glanced around, bewildered. She whispered to Reese, "Why aren't they taking us below deck?" His stolid expression moved as much as a statue would in response to her question. "Reese?" she asked hesitantly, fearing he was giving her the silent treatment.

He looked away from her toward the shore where a few hopeful Narnians craned their necks to see their beloved regents one last time. "We're meant to be seen by the Narnians," he answered, his voice gruff with irritation, "so no one can deny we were taken to the Lone Islands." He turned away from the shore and resumed his brooding stare, pointedly ignoring Eliza.

She knew what was bothering him. "Reese," she said meekly, "I'm sorry." A Calormene guard poked her with his sword and narrowed his eyes at her for her to shut up. Eliza diverted her gaze out to sea and saw some flotsam bobbing toward the ship. No, not flotsam, she corrected herself hopefully. A mermaid. Could she help us get out of here somehow? However, the mermaid only waved mournfully and slipped into the sea, taking with her Eliza's last hope for a rescue.

Long and lonely hours passed as the ship crept further and further from the ever-diminishing land. Despite their aching calves and feet, the regents were lulled into drowsing by the shushing of the waves, the placid rocking of the deck, and the late afternoon sun constantly warming them as it arced toward the western mountains. Suddenly, they were startled to full wakefulness when the Calormene captain began shouting orders to his crew. The sailors scurried to their posts and with ease rotated their ship northward, away from the Lone Islands. 

Confused, Reese looked to their personal guard, and his heart went cold at the sight of their malicious grins and the way they expectantly squeezed their sword hilts. Reese leaned close to his fellow regents and whispered, "Their plan never was to take us to the Lone Islands." He gestured to the guards, and the regents' eyes widened in horror, helplessly watching as the ship carried them many miles north.

Then, the Calormene captain leapt down from the poop deck to the main deck and watched the regents with a sinister smile splitting his features. Chuckling darkly, one of the regents' personal guard jabbed his sword between Eliza's shoulder blades and urged her toward the port railing. The second guard herded the other prisoners after her to watch Eliza be the first to plunge into the sea. Eliza peered over the railing and fearfully eyed the choppy waves beating against the worn hull of the ship as if yearning to drag her down into the murky depths forever.