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🗝️Sweet Escape🗝️
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Gumpas sat on his throne with a satisfied smirk. Charlotte was dressed in a white skimpy silk dress and golden ribbons that barely shielded her skin, with a bowl of fresh blueberries sitting in her hands. She begrudgingly fed him piece by piece, her features brimming with repulsion.
"Mm, such a divine taste, keep going, pet."
She grimaced at her given nickname, but stayed silent. She had already touched a nerve when she squeezed a berry in his face, which earned her a slap across the right cheek. It was bright red and stinging with pain. Despite her moral principles, her punishments convinced her to submit to her owner.
"Keep this up, and I'll reward you later."
She made sure to keep her legs blanketed by the layers of her dress and tucked her arms over her chest at all times. She would hate for her friends to see her in such state, with her dignity stripped away from her.
Just then, from a distance, she noticed two familiar faces coming closer.
"Charlotte!"
"Lucy!" Charlotte reached out to her, only to be yanked back towards the throne by her chained neck.
Eustace stared at Charlotte with his jaw dropped. Then, he shifted his attention to Pug, who abruptly pushed him closer to the stage behind Lucy.
The audience began sending wolf whistles towards the girl on stage in contrast to the previous male slaves. Instantly, they yelled out numbers that rapidly increased with each bid.
"I bid sixty!"
"I bid eighty!"
"One hundred for the little lady!"
"One hundred and twenty!"
"One hundred and fifty!"
Lucy glanced at a group of girls that stared at the ongoing auction in horror. She subconsciously mirrored their fearful expressions with a tinge of humiliation that the male audience objectified her.
"Any more bids?"
When no man dared to challenge such a high price, a signboard was placed over her head to conclude her status.
"Sold!"
As soon as the man handed over his coins, Lucy shrieked as Pug roughly grabbed her and cast her aside to meet her new owner. She gulped as her hands began to tremble tremendously, her eyes meeting the fierce, darkened eyes of the man.
"I hope you enjoy afternoon delights," her new owner insinuated with a sly smirk.
Then, the crowd began to grow as more hooded figures flooded the auction.
"It's been a while since many are seen," Gumpas observed aloud with a smirk, "it must be because of the royals like you. Finally doing something for our slave trades."
Charlotte glared at him.
"And now, for this fine specimen," Pug continued as he hurled Eustace onto the stage, "who'll kick off the bidding?"
A prolonged silence followed as the men glanced at the boy, most of them unimpressed with the sight of him.
"Come on now," Pug prompted while gesturing towards the boy with Caspian's dagger, "he may not look like much, but, uh, he's strong."
"Yeah, he's strong, alright," a man sounded sarcastically from the audience about the small, scrawny boy, "smells like the rear end of a minotaur."
His remark instigated laughter among the men. Eustace gasped at it, his eyes glaring at the man.
"That is an outrageous lie!" He yelled out in umbrage. "I won the school's hygiene award two years running!"
Pug only stared at him, mildly amused by his comment. He directed his attention to the audience once more.
"Come on, someone, make a bid!"
Then, a man came forward, his face barely visible under his hood. His lips stayed in place, but a voice sounded from him.
"I'll take them off your hands."
Then, he pulled back his hood, revealing himself as Drinian, with Reepicheep clinging to him over his shoulder.
"I'll take them all off your hands!" Reepicheep yelled out with his sword in the air, prompting the crew of the Dawn reader to reveal themselves among the crowd. "For Narnia!"
Gumpas sprang from his seat as Charlotte clapped cheerfully at her saviours. A fight ensued as slave traders and the ship crew battled each other, with the citizens of Doorne shaken up in their hiding places. Lucy seized the opportunity to strike her new owner with newfound courage.
"That's for buying me for one hundred fifty!" She snapped at him as she clocked his jaw with her elbow.
Reepicheep scurried towards a struggling Lucy and unlocked her cuffs with a swift swiping motion of his sword.
"I knew you'd come, Reep," she sighed in relief.
"Your Majesty," he greeted, shortly before resuming battle with her approaching opponents.
As Edmund, Caspian, and Lord Bern were escorted towards the market, their attention was briefly diverted towards the battle before their eyes.
"What's going on?"
"Sir, what do we do?"
With the guards distracted by the commotion, the two boys mirrored each other's playful smirks. On Caspian's signalling nod, they both struck the guards by their sides. Lord Bern swiped the keys right out of the fallen guard's side pocket and tossed them to Caspian.
"Get me out of here!" Gumpas ordered Charlotte, concealing himself behind her.
Without warning, she elbowed him, and kicked him towards the ground.
She found herself having the short end of the stick as he pulled on her neck chain, causing her to lose her balance. She attempted to strike him, but he kept dodging her attacks.
She then went around him and wrapped her chains around his neck, but the man, leveraging on his larger build, pulled himself forward. She fell forward to the floor with a thud, only to feel herself being dragged mercilessly across the floor. She gasped for air as she clutched to the chains.
Meanwhile, Caspian tossed the keys right into Edmund's hands. He quickly broke free of his cuffs on a flight of stairs, overlooking the battle before him. Then, he saw Charlotte struggling against the man. Edmund, horrified at her state, rushed to her aid.
"Charlotte! Hang on!"
He leaped off the stairs, rolling onto the ground level. Desperate to reach Charlotte, he sprinted across the battlefield.
She choked momentarily from her squeezed neck, and strived to get up on her feet. She then whipped the chain upwards, sending a wave motion that caused Gumpas to lose balance.
Edmund paused in his tracks, watching the Selfless Queen fight her own battle.
As she pulled on the chain, Gumas tugged on it harder in defiance. Using up all her strength, she pulled him closer by the chain. Before the man could predict the girl's attack, she headbutted him and landed a kick to his gut. Gumpas groaned in agony, falling to the ground while clutching his lower abdomen. He turned and fled immediately, staggering in desperation of his escape.
Edmund mouthed a wow to himself, standing with astonished wide eyes on his face.
"Edmund!" Charlotte rushed towards him.
"Charlotte!" Edmund cried with concern as he examined her skimpy clothing. "What are you wearing?!"
"It doesn't matter, just get me out of these chains!"
Caspian threw them the keys and with a swift motion, Edmund freed her of her cuffs and chains. She took a deep breath and pulled Edmund into an embrace in the middle of the battlegrounds.
"I'm so sorry, Char," he embraced the girl in his arms while adjusting her dress to conceal her skin, "no one will ever do that to you again."
They pulled away as Lucy called on them, shortly tossing their weapons to them. Charlotte lifted herself off the ground and began throwing strikes at the slave traders.
As the citizens of Doorne watched the slave traders flee, the slaves themselves soon began to join in on the action. They threw their mightiest punches against the slave traders, cheering for themselves. The guards of Doorne then seized the slave traders and carried them towards the dungeons.
Caspian paraded through the town, with Lucy, Edmund, and Charlotte trailing behind him. Charlotte scanned the crowd in search of a missing face.
"Where's Eustace?"
"He's probably waiting for us at the boats, I saw the imbecile fleeing," Edmund rolled his eyes.
"There you are!" Eustace called, agitation scratching his voice, as he approached them from the opposite direction. "I think we ought to get going, and quite quickly if possible."
"Where were you?" Charlotte questioned curiously with a tilted head. "It's quite an achievement that you made it out of your first battle alive."
"I uh, well, wanted to make sure our boats were still there."
"Or maybe you were just trying your luck to escape quickly," Edmund guessed with a snort, "only to realise that the boats here don't row themselves in a magical place like Narnia."
"Shut up, cousin."
"The boy hasn't been trained, Ed," Charlotte reminded Edmund with a light smack on his shoulder, "let's give it a rest."
"Your Majesty!" A voice echoed among the crowd's cheers.
"Hold it!" Drinian halted the citizen, protecting Caspian against any harm.
"My wife was taken just this morning," the man explained his situation as his daughter came sprinting towards him.
"It's alright, Drinian," Caspian placed his hand out, allowing the man to come forward.
"Daddy! Daddy!"
"I beg you, take me with you," the man suggested, ignoring his child's calls.
"I want to come!"
"No, Gael, stay with your aunt," the man waved her away, resuming his conversation with Caspian, "I'm Rhince, a fine sailor, been on the seas my whole life."
"Of course, you must," Caspian agreed with a pat on his back.
"Thank you."
"But daddy..." Gael tugged on his arm with a wail as her aunt came forward.
"Have I ever not come back?" He placed his hands firmly on her shoulders.
Charlotte and Lucy watched as he embraced his daughter in a farewell hug.
"Now be good."
Gael seized her opportunity to run after him, only to be stopped by the arms of her aunt. Charlotte bent to her level and held the girl's hands together, gazing softly into her eyes.
"We'll make sure he comes back to you," she promised as her eyes became wet, "both of them."
She stood up and followed Lucy, who hung her arm loosely around her shoulder. Lucy gently rubbed her shoulder as Charlotte stuck her gaze to the sandy ground.
"My king! My king!" Lord Bern called from a distance, marching forward with a sword sitting neatly on his palms. "This was given to me by your father. I hid it safely in a cave all these years."
It was coated with a course layer of dried sand, and rocks from the caves. Though much debris was glued to it, Edmund could almost recognise its origins solely from its design.
"That's an old Narnian sword!" Edmund pointed out, in awe of the ancient relic.
"It's from your Golden Age," the man explained, vaguely taking notice of Edmund as he focused on Caspian, "there are seven such swords, gifts from Aslan to protect Narnia. Your father entrusted them to us."
"Here, take it," he extended his arms towards Caspian, "and may it protect you."
"Thank you, my Lord." Caspian kindly took it from his hands. "And we shall find your lost citizens."
Edmund, faintly upset at the lord's dismissive attitude, locked his gaze and ambled forward towards the boats. Caspian glanced at him and marched on.
"Edmund."
Edmund turned to Caspian who had placed his hand on his shoulder. Caspian raised the ancient sword towards him, and Edmund hesitantly took it from his hands. With a few pats on his shoulder, Caspian left Edmund to bond with his new sword companion. A satisfied smile spread across his lips as he examined the weapon.
"I wonder what happened to..." Charlotte wondered aloud.
Shortly after her remark, a man burst from the waters near the boats, slapping the water surface and gasping for air. Caspian stepped forward, folding his arms as he stared down at the culprit.
"You shall face the consequences of your crimes against Lord Bern and the citizens of Doorne," he announced, "the slave market is closed and you shall spend your days in the dungeon."
Gumpas spat out water from his mouth with a dissatisfied frown, but remained silent. Some guards grabbed and hurled him out of the water.
Edmund placed his arm protectively around Charlotte's shoulder as he shielded her from the man. She nudged him, and gestured with her eyes to the dagger hanging by Gumpas' waist.
"I believe this belongs to us," Edmund smoothly seized the dagger of Queen Jillian from him, as he got dragged away.
"Come on, we ought to be going."
Edmund entered the boat after Lucy and Eustace, extending his hand out to Charlotte. As she took his hand, he safely pulled her onto the boat. He then turned to Eustace, who seemed to be staring at Charlotte's dress in awe. He slowly reached forward, his finger lightly pushing Eustace's jaw upwards.
"Have some respect, will you?"
Eustace blinked, concealing his abashment behind a frown to his cousin.
"I was just observing the imaginary trends of fashion in this imaginary land."
"Sure."
*****
A/N: Thank you for 1k reads on this book! The journey ahead is still a long way to go, so it's so surreal that it's reached 1K reads. Nevertheless, your support is greatly appreciated, and I hope y'all are doing great 🥹❤️