Meanwhile in the Telmar castle, A few hours later:
Lord Miraz stood upon the balcony holding his newborn son with his wife Lady Prunaprismia standing nearby. Despite the tyrannical persona the Lord put forward, he really did love his son with as much of his cold heart as he could.
When he saw the guards he sent after Caspian returned with two horses carrying what seemed to be bodies covered by sheets, the lord was more than pleased. He kissed his son's head before handing him back to his wife, rushing down to meet General Glozelle and what he hoped was the corpse of his nephew Prince Caspian.
As the Lord approached the horse, Glozelle stopped him.
"Wait my lord, it is not what you think."
Miraz looked sceptically at his soldiers before looking under the first cover. He saw an unconscious teenage girl and was starting to get very angry.
"Who is that?" He spat at his general. Although he had a strange feeling that the unconscious girl appeared familiar, he just couldn't tell from where.
"Nobody is sure, however, there is more my lord," Glozelle said, walking over to the other horse carrying the other covered figure. Miraz followed behind, as he drew close enough to the horse Glozelle lifted the cover slightly to reveal the dwarf slowly gaining consciousness.
With wide eyes, Miraz stared at the General. "Impossible." he spat. How could a Narnian still be alive? The Telmarines had eradicated them all when they conquered this land!
Miraz gave the order to throw the girl in the dungeons, but to have the guards follow him to the council meeting, that he had only just been informed of, with the creature.
During the meeting:
"Lords of the council, apologies for being late, I wasn't aware of the current session," Miraz stated proudly as he strutted into the room.
As the meeting went on, the topic of the missing Prince Caspian arose. Little did the Telmarine Lords know that the bound and gagged Trumpkin was listening to every word they were saying.
"I trust you can tell us how such a tragedy could have occurred." One of the lords questioned as he suspiciously glared at Miraz.
"That is the most disturbing news of all. Our beloved Caspian... was abducted by Narnians!" He spoke with a cruel sadistic hiss as he spoke those words.
The council just laughed and called Lord Miraz insane, yet Miraz's confidence never wavered. He sent a signal for the prisoner to be dragged into the court, Trumpkin. Miraz did not dare mention the girl that was accompanying the Narnian. She seemed totally irrelevant yet would still face the same penalty for mere fraternisation.
A commotion broke out in the room as they discovered the red-headed dwarf.
Miraz spoke up once more, "We forget, my gentlemen, that Narnia was wild earth once. Ferocious creatures, they marauded freely. Our ancestors sacrificed their lives to exterminate these vermin. Or so we thought. While we lost the time fighting among us. They've reproduced like cockroaches under the rock! Growing strong, watching over us. Waiting to strike!"
Miraz slapped Trumpkin and his gag slipped down, "And you wonder why we don't like you."
He looked shocked that a Narnian had dared to talk back to him so he responded with, "Well I intend to strike back... Even if I have to cut down the entire forest" Using the same deadly forced whisper as before.
"I assure you, I will find Prince Caspian and finish what our ancestors began!"
Once again, he was dragged out of the room and taken down to the dungeons where a now conscious Guinevere waited for him.
"Oh thank Aslan. You're ok!" Gwen said as the dwarf was thrown into the cell. They hugged each other, grateful that they had been reunited and that they were both still alive and relatively uninjured.
However the two Narnians were certain, fate had put them on a deadly path and they weren't sure how much longer they would survive in the hands of the Telmarines.
Meanwhile Back At The Hut:
"This bread is stale," Nikabrik complained, he was just worried about Trumpkin and Guinevere, though he would never admit it.
Trufflehunter understood so changed the topic back to the Telmarine boy they had carried inside after knocking him out. "I'll just get him some soup. He should be coming around soon."
"I don't think I hit him hard enough," Nikabrik said with a spiteful hiss.
"Nikabrik, he's just a boy. I don't think he is much older than Gwen..." Trufflehunter said but remembered that Guinevere was captured and probably dead at this point.
"He's a Telmarine, not some lost puppy. You said you were gonna get rid of him." The dark-haired dwarf argued back.
"No. I said I'd take care of him. We can't kill him now. I just bandaged his head." Trufflehunter was one of the most loyal and compassionate people you could ever meet.
"It would be like murdering a guest." He added.
"How do you think his friends are treating their guests?"
"Trumpkin and Gwen knew what they were doing. I just hope they are okay... however, it's not the boy's fault." Trufflehunter was definitely worried about the little baby he had helped to raise and his best friend, however, he knew that the boy was not to blame for the separation of the small family.
Nikabrik opened his mouth to answer, but then the boy lunged out from the bed towards the door, knocking freshly made soup all over Trufflehunter and the furniture.
Nikabrik retaliated by grabbing his knife. The Telmarine boy looked around briefly and grabbed the fire-poker and held it as his weapon.
"Stop! Stop!" Trufflehunter cried, standing in between the two enemies. Nikabrik's eyes were narrow and ready to fight. "Hold it. No, no!" he added as they began to fight.
"I told you, we should have killed him when we had the chance." The angry dwarf growled.
"You know why we can't!" Trufflehunter exclaimed. It was true he did know. Nikabrik was just too stubborn and didn't want to admit it.
"If we're taking a vote, I'm with him." The Telmarine spoke.
"Shut it!" Nikabrik hissed. "We can't let him go. He's seen us."
"That's enough, Nikabrik! Or do I have to sit on your head again?!" The badger had been required to do this a few times over the years, mainly when he got out of line. The punishment idea occurred the same day Guinevere entered their lives.
"And you." Trufflehunter now began to address the Telmarine "Look what you made me do. I spent half the morning on that soup."
The boy looked terribly confused. "W-What are you?" he asked.
"You know, it's funny that you would ask that," Trufflehunter said, with amusement in his voice. "You think people would know a badger when they saw one."
"No." The boy answered. "No, I mean... You're Narnians. You're supposed to be extinct."
Nikabrik spoke up, "Sorry to disappoint you."
Trufflehunter made up a new bowl of soup and turned to the boy.
"Here you go. Still hot." The dwarf rolled his eyes at Trufflehunter's hospitality. He was acting like the boy was an old friend, not a traitor.
"Since when did we open a boarding house for Telmarine soldiers?" Nikabrik snapped, he was fed up at the sight of the Telmarine soldier.
The boy interrupted again. "I'm not a soldier." he stood taller - his head almost touched the ceiling - but he continued "I am Prince Caspian. The tenth."
Trufflehunter and Nikabrik finally knew who he was; he was Guinevere's brother. Nikabrik was not happy. Trufflehunter was just in shock.
Surprise radiated around the room, "What are you doing here?" Trufflehunter inquired, curiosity sinking into his voice.
Caspian looked down. "Running away."
He hesitated, then put the poker back near the fire, and continued, "My uncle has always wanted my throne. I suppose I have only lived this long because he did not have an heir of his own."
"Well, that changes things," Trufflehunter whispered.
Nikabrik nodded. "Yeah, Means we don't have to kill you ourselves."
"You're right," Caspian replied. He rushed over to the door and put his vest on.
"Where are you going?" Trufflehunter asked, walking after him.
"My uncle won't stop until I am dead." The Prince said, shortly.
Trufflehunter spoke up once more, "But... you can't leave. You're meant to save us."
He reached across the table and held the horn up. The horn of Queen Susan the Gentle. There had always been questions about whether the Kings and Queens of old were real, but now with the evidence sitting in front of them, they couldn't deny it.
"Don't you know what this is?" he asked.