The Gallant Queen

Chapter 3

 Lucy and I followed Peter through the forest. Peter kept looking back at me, both of us smiling at each other. We hadn't been more than 10 feet apart from each other since he came back. Not that I was complaining. I missed him more than I missed breathing when I was drowning. "I don't remember this way at all." Susan speaks up from behind us.

"That's the problem with girls. You can't carry a map in your heads." Peter replies, making me frown at him, shaking my head.

"I'll have you know that I have all of these woods mapped out in my head." I tell him. He just winks at me, smirking. Lucy parts from me and moves to stand next to Edmund and Susan. I smiled to myself as I walk towards Peter, interlocking our fingers together. He looks down at our hands and smiles at me. We walked a couple more feet before we hit the ledge. Hundreds of feet below us, water crashed against the rocks.

"I'm not lost." Peter mumbled under his breath.

"No... you're just going the wrong way." Trumpkin replies. I roll my eyes at the two.

"You said you last saw Caspian at the Shuddering Wood, and the quickest way there is to cross at the river rush." Peter tells him, motioning to the other side of the river where the land had split.

"But, unless I'm mistaken, there's no crossing in these parts." Trumpkin shugs, telling him. Peter is about to reply when I look back at Trumpkin.

"Is there a way down?" I ask him. He shakes his head at me and starts to turn around.

"There's a ford at Beruna. Any of you mind swimming?" I sigh and shake my head.

"Anything's better than walking." We all start to walk away, Peter's hand still in mine when I hear Lucy mumble something. I turn around and see Aslan for a split second before he vanishes.

"It's Aslan! It's Aslan over there! Well, can't you see? He's right..." All of them turn around and see Lucy and I standing close to the edge, looking at the other end of the river. She turns back and sees nothing. Her smile fades, just like mine.

"Do you see him now?" Trumpkin akss, making me turn around.

"He was there. He wanted us to follow him." I tell all of them, though the statement was more directed at Trumpkin.

"I'm sure there are any number of lions in this wood. Just like that bear." Peter replies, shrugging at me. I glare at him, shaking my head.

"I think I know Aslan when I see him." I snarl at him.

"Look, I'm not about to jump off a cliff after someone who doesn't exist." Trumpkin admits, looking between Peter and I wearily.

"The last time I didn't believe Lucy, I ended up looking pretty stupid." Edmund says, taking Peter's attention away from me.

"Why wouldn't I have seen him?" Peter asks Lucy, looking away from me.

"Maybe you weren't looking." Lucy tells him, looking back at me.

"I'm sorry, Lu." Peter sighed, glancing at me for a second before walking away. I look back at where Aslan was, shaking my head.

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I stood in the trees, looking out at the river. I watched as the Telmarines continue building a bridge across the river. In front of me the Pevenises and Trumpkin were bent down, hiding behind a stack of logs. It only took them a couple of moments to realize they needed to turn around and go back to the gorge. I walked ahead of the group the whole time. Peter and I hadn't spoken a word to each other since the stare down a couple minutes ago. As I stared at the spot Aslan was, I heard Peter speak up. "Where do you think you saw Aslan?" Without even looking up, I knew Lucy was rolling her eyes at him.