𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐔𝐍𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖𝐍 || 𝐾𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐶𝑎𝑠𝑝𝑖𝑎𝑛

CHAPTER 7

"But it can't be," Lucy murmured with a broken voice, "there are no cemeteries in Narnia," she said.

"Perhaps not now, perhaps there will be," replied Edmund, remembering the words of the spirit.

The group advanced among the tombstones. None of them could, wanted to believe his eyes. If such a bleak future had come true, all the magic, the wonder, the love that made Narnia special would have disappeared, replaced by an endless sadness and pain. Anyone would have lived in darkness and fear, victim of their own nightmares. Terror would have lead to hate, hate to war, war to loss and suffering, which would have brought regret and loneliness, and finally death.

"Cas," Elizabeth called, almost whispering, stopping at a grave.

Sensing the terror in her voice, her companions hurried to her side. The five were paralyzed at the sight of the monument a few steps away from them. It was a large marble sarcophagus, with the body of a young king carved on the lid and a side engraving. Like the edges of the grave, the inscription had been ruined by time, but it was still legible

"Here rests Caspian X, King of Narnia." Edmund read.

It seemed completely impossible but it was right there, before their eyes, the proof that a horrible fate would befall Narnia and its ruler.

"Well, at least it's a nice tomb," Eustace said sarcastically, earning nasty looks from everyone.

Lucy, on the verge of tears, took refuge in her brother's arms, in search of comfort. Elizabeth, instead, sought Caspian's hand to hold it in hers.

"You are not going to die," she said in a firm and sure voice.

"You don't know that," he sighed, looking forlornly at her.

"Yes, I do. I'm not loosing anyone else." she retorted, throwing a last glance at the grave, before this began to fade, as well as the landscape around them.

"We're back," Edmund whispered, relieved to be back in the crystal cave.

"Finally," Eustace added, obtaining another angry glance from the others, "what? Did you prefer to stay among the tombs? I certainly did not!" he then said, exasperated.

"Now let's just find a way out of here," Elizabeth asserted seriously, moving away from Caspian's side to the opening from which they had fallen.

"What do you think she meant before, when she said she didn't want to lose anyone else?" Lucy asked, when the woman was distant enough not to hear her.

"I have no idea," answered her brother, a sincere sorrow could be sense in his voice.

"But we haven't lost anyone so far, have we?" asked Eustace naively.

"We haven't," Caspian replied in a serious tone, implying that there was much of the woman's past that was still unknown to them.

"There's no way for us to go back from here," Elizabeth told her companions, when they joined her under the hole.

They couldn't climb the tunnel without ropes or picks, there were no holds of any kind and the draws were too steep.

"Um, guys," Lucy called them, "why don't we go back from there?" she suggested, pointing to a lateral opening that seemed to give access to a gallery leading on the surface.

"That wasn't there before," Edmund said, surprised and annoyed at the same time.

"Well, it is there now," replied his sister, heading towards it, soon followed by the others.

Lucy was right, following the tunnel the group soon found themselves outside the cave and again among the green trees of the forest. The five breathed a sigh of relief, and then began the search for the crew.

Finding no one near the stone arch that marked the entrance to the cavern, they opted to return to the longboats: certainly, not seeing them return, the party had headed there.
And so it had been. Once they reached the shore, they saw Captain Drinian, Reepicheep and the other sailors landed with them waiting for them, sitting on the rocks.

Seeing them coming, the mouse ran against them, "Your Majesties! Miss Elizabeth! Eustace!" it exclaimed.

"Hello Reep, it's a relief to see you again," said Edmund.

"Never as much as it is for me, sire," it politely replied, "we were beginning to be concerned." it explained.

"I'm sorry, Your Highness," Drinian intervened, addressing Caspian, "we have been looking for you for hours, but to no avail." he told him.

"For hours?" he asked, surprised.

"But we couldn't have been away that long," Edmund immediately added, equally confused.

"I fear the Captain is right," his sister murmured, "it was high day when we entered the cave, while now the sun is setting," she pointed out, looking up at the orange colors of the sky.

Caspian nodded at her words, "We'd better get back to the ship then, I don't intend to spend the night on this island," he stated, and walked quickly towards the boats.

Elizabeth couldn't have agreed more: that place had traumatized her enough already, she wouldn't have waited to discover other bad surprises. The image of the cold marble tomb was still vivid in her mind, and would not be out of focus anytime soon.