Romeo ➳ E.P

XVIII: one vision

"no blood no stain."

Suddenly the air around them was filled with ringing noise, men swung down from the ropes connected to the bells and started to run towards them, knives and swords in their sweaty hands. Edmund reached out for Juliet but she was fine by herself, both hands on her own sword.

Then fighting broke out, Juliet could see Lucy was struggling with her own sword and was finished off herself when she heard a shrill cry from the doors.

Eustace.

The slave-trader walked closer with a dagger on Eustace's neck. "Unless you want to hear this one scream like a girl again, I'd say you should drop your weapons." He said slowly and deeply.

"I do not scream like a girl!"

"Now!" The man tightened his grip on Eustace and Lucy dropped her sword immediately, Caspian and Edmund following suit. Caspian turned and looked at Juliet who sighed and practically threw hers to the ground.

"Put 'em in iron." Someone came up behind her and grabbed her hands, pulling her hair and making her grimace at the pain. "Let's take these three to the market, send those two to the dungeons."

"Listen to me you insolent fool, I am your king!" Caspian shouted as he saw his sister was struggling.

"Caspian!"

"Juliet!"

Edmund also tried to break free receiving a punch from his accuser.

"Edmund!"

"Lucy!"

XXX

Juliet sat next to Eustace with a long and sorry look on her face. "I can't believe this is happening." She muttered. Lucy was stood on what the slave-traders had done their best to make look like a stage. As men started to bid on Lucy, Juliet nudged Eustace.

"Can you reach that dagger in my back pocket?" She whispered.

Eustace looked quite taken aback. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Just grab it." Juliet snapped, still trying her best to whisper. Eustace gently pulled it out and handed it to her as she hid it in between her legs. She panicked when Eustace was pulled up, making her next in line.

As she watched on she recognised a peculiar voice come from the crowd, and a man's cloak was pulled far back to reveal Reepicheep and the rest of the crew from the Dawn Treader hiding in and amongst the crowd of bidders.

Drinian spotted her and ran over to help take her shackles off. "Thanks, Drinian."

"Where's your brother?" He asked with urgency. Juliet looked around to see a man falling off a building head first and she smiled to herself.

"Up there I'd imagine." She joined in with the fight, grabbing her sword off the pile of money they'd collected. Finally the village people got the idea and began to join in with the riot.

"Juliet!" Caspian caught his sister's eye as all the slave-traders backed away.

"Caspian! Edmund!" Juliet ran towards them and straight past her brother into Edmund's arms. He sighed as he stroked her hair and smiled to himself.

"Come on, let's go."

XXX

Back on the ship they'd managed to unwillingly hire a man, Rhince, whose wife had been taken by what Caspian and Edmund described as the green smoke, they'd seen it whilst in the dungeon. People were sent out on boats, the green smoke came, then they were gone.

So, as Edmund sat trying to chip off all the stone that'd grown round the sword the Lord had given them, Juliet thought how on earth it would take them a short while to find all seven of these swords.

"What's happening?" Lucy walked over to Juliet as they both watched Reepicheep have another go at making Eustace duel with him, it wasn't going all too well.

"He's fast for a mouse, you know." Juliet told Lucy who watched on.

Suddenly Eustace fell back into a basket and a scream escaped his lips. "That was never Eustace." Juliet gasped.

"No, look." Lucy grabbed Juliet's hand and walked her over to the fallen basket, where a young girl crept out.

"Gael." It was the man who's wife had been taken by the mist. "What're you doing here?" He walked towards the girl slowly before enveloping her in a hug.

Drinian walked over, breaking the warm atmosphere, he had a cold aura about him, and he wasn't the one with ice stuck in his forearm. "Looks like we have an extra crew mate." He said, hading the girl an orange, to which Juliet smiled.

They sailed for days again before they saw land, Lucy was looking after Gael, the young girl, and Juliet kept smiling at her but she'd just look away and smile shyly. When they left for the island, Gael took Juliet's hand and told her she was scared.

"Don't be scared, look it's dark now anyway, we'll probably be going straight to sleep when we get there." Juliet said and Gael went off to join her father again.

They set up camp and Juliet set up her bed next to Edmund's, and she drifted off. As Edmund came back from talking to Caspian he spotted Juliet and smiled to himself.

How lucky he was.

🖤