༄ 𝘞𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘳 𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘏𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘍𝘪𝘳𝘦 (𝘗𝘊) ༄

Chapter 1: Escaping

It was dark now. The dungeon always seemed dark, but there was a  little light that could be seen from the small—barred—windows located in some of the cells. At this time of day, the sun had already set and there was no light at all. It was quiet now as well. Many people had retired to their homes for the night, and quiet fell upon the city. It made me very lonely.

I was waiting for the Professor to come. He brought me some food and kept me company whenever he could. It had been a  few days since his last appearance so I figured he would come tonight. I  knew Professor Cornelius since he was a young boy when he didn't hold the title of a professor or doctor. He found me one day when exploring the castle and began bringing me food shortly thereafter. When my previous visitor stopped coming, I figured he had passed and wondered what would happen to me. But Aslan, as faithful as always, sent young  Cornelius to me right when I needed him the most.

When he visited,  he would tell me stories of Narnia—what he had heard anyways. I had heard pretty much all the Great Tales of Old, but I filled him in on the details he didn't know. I also made sure to separate the truths from the lies—often caused by Telmarines trying to make Narnians seem barbaric—and he recorded the truths whenever he could.

I still remember the day he announced that he had been tutoring the Young  Telmarine Prince in Narnian history. The real history. I was angry at first, but Cornelius had convinced me it was to help the boy. He didn't want him growing up with the tales his ancestors had been told. He wanted Narnia and the Narnians to be free and he believed the Prince could be the one to make it happen. I wasn't as convinced of that but I  agreed to let him continue telling the boy about Narnia. There was one condition though: he couldn't do so in the hopes of persuading the boy to abandon everything he knew about his ancestors. He should teach the good and the bad of both races, and when he was old enough, he could decide for himself.

That was nearly ten years ago, not that I had a good judgment of the days much less year. He had agreed to do so, but right then I was concerned as to why I had not seen him in three days.  Eventually, my few friends died and another would take their place. Some of them were of Narnian blood, having been intermingled with the dwarfs, as they lived longer than the average Telmarine. But I was beginning to think Professor Cornelius had passed. It was rare for him to go two days, let alone three, without a visit.

My thoughts were filled with concern when I heard the jingle of keys and footsteps on the stairs. I perked up immediately, confused. The footsteps I  recognized, but they normally never carried keys. I stood up and approached the cold, metal bars. A cloaked man came into view and he didn't appear to have food—to my great dismay—though his hands were tucked away to hide the keys. He had the hood pulled up to hide his face with only his beard visible. But I knew it was him. Professor Cornelius was the only one to visit the dungeons now. Especially since the  Telmarines had no other prisoners and I was sure the cells were left unguarded.

I stared at him in confusion and placed my hands on the bars. In all the times he had visited me I never thought he would let me out. I mean he was nice and tried to be my friend but he didn't seem like the person to risk his life to set a prisoner free. Even if said prisoner was all but forgotten in a dark corner cell. I wasn't sure I  should go.

"Princess Ana?" he said.
"I'm not a prince—" I  started to argue. He always insisted that I must've been royalty. I  never told him who I was, but I had told him stories of Phoenix. He might have made the connection, but he never said anything to me about it so I didn't think so.
"No time to explain. Let's go," he said, pushing a key into the lock and turning it.
"Wait... I can't just leave what about Aslan and—"
"I  think it's time for you to be free and I'm supposed to be the one to do it," he answered, all but pulling me from my cell. "We haven't the time  for me to explain but you must trust me."