(Y/n)'s POV
"We'll be docking in ten everyone, check the sails!" Captain Joan said while checking in on everything. I had just gotten down from the crow's nest and was helping out with the rigging. Edmund was checking in on our men and horses. Lucy was off helping some of the shipmates with something on the main deck. I was pretty excited to finally see another kingdom. Looking from the crow's nest, Terebinthia looked really lush and lively. I was ready to see it up close.
Once we docked, everyone helped unload our horses and small supplies.
"Thank you again for lending us your ship," Edmund said to Joan.
"My pleasure your majesty, will be back at the end of the week if you need a lift, anyways we're off," she walked back into her boat and waved. "Good luck kiddos!" Her crew all waved as they sailed off.
"We better get a move on, the princess should be expecting us any minute," Lucy said mounting her horse. We all followed suit and made our way to the castle. We walked through a port village. It was cute and tidy. Kids running around, little kiosks with snacks and trinkets being sold, and stray cats sleeping in the warm sunlight. It was lovely. As much as I wanted to stay there a bit longer, we had a mission to complete. Maybe another day.
When we got to the entrance of the castle, our team was met with guards waiting for us.
"Halt, what business do you have here?" Edmund came to the front.
"I'm King Edmund, my team and I are here to assist with the search, Princess orders," he said so eloquently.
"My apologies, right this way," the guards opened the gate and let us through.
"No worries, is Princess Adaline here? We would like to speak with her before we go," Lucy said. It was strange to see Lucy and Edmund, especially Lucy, act so formal and 'mature'. Yeah, I've seen them around the castle but I don't know I'm just used to being around them so casually I forget that they have status.
"Right this way, your guards may come with our Captain to get everything in order," he said, leading them away with him. I followed Lucy and Edmund after dismounting our horses, passed the courtyard, and into the grand hall. Adaline gets off from her throne immediately and greets us with hugs.
"Oh thank goodness you've come, I'm so thankful for you guys taking the time out of your day to do this," she said.
"It's no problem at all," Edmund said.
"How have you been holding up so far, I know it's a lot recently, you must be exhausted," Lucy said pulling away from the hug.
"I've been worse off but don't fret over me, Simon's our priority," Adaline said, "the Captain can get you up to speed so I won't keep you here any longer. Let me take you to him."
We all follow her through the halls, admiring the decorative interior. It was very beautiful having some parts of the castle incorporate the nature around it without disrupting them. We then made it outside where all the knights from both kingdoms were waiting along with the captain of the guard here in Terebinthia.
"Your majesty," they all bowed. She signaled for them to rise.
"Thank you, I've got to go now, so take care and good luck," she said with a small smile. Poor girl, she's a little younger than me but having to deal with all this as well as taking care of a kingdom would be stressful.
"Alright it's time to go, we'll check back in a few hours," the Captain said facing us, "by the way I forgot to introduce myself, Captain of the Terebinthian guards, Captain Rumin." He bowed showing his respects.
"A pleasure to be working with you Captain Rumin, while we ride, you can tell us all you know about Simon's case," Edmund said riding next to the Captain.
He told us what Adaline had told us yesterday, Simon leaving in the middle of the night and a few hours later his horse returning frightened and confused. The Prince was seen going northwest from the stables but it wasn't much of a start. We headed straight down the path, looking for any signs of his presence.
We then came across a fork in the road.
"The first group of knights went left on the crossroads, so I believe it's only logical we take the right," Captain Rumin said. We nodded and continued down on the right.
"What's on the left where does that path take you?" I asked. I was just thinking about where Simon might have been heading. But then again we don't actually know why he left in the first place. Just speculations really.
"It takes you past the lake and down that lake is a nice village and farmers, where we get our crops from," Captain Rumin, said, " down this path takes us through some woods and straight to some mountains and the legend Dragon's Peak."
"No there aren't dragons there...at least not anymore, they've migrated towards The Southern Islands, even then they've gone down in numbers so they mostly keep to themselves," Edmund interjected to calm anyone's nerves. Damn, and I thought I was going to see a dragon today.
"Remember, finding the Prince is our number one priority so let's just focus," Captain Rumin said. We continued our way through the woods, hoping to see any signs that Simon was there. At this point, I was starting to feel anxious. I mean who knows what could have happened to Simon, what if he was kidnapped, what if we're wasting time and he needs us right now but we can't...what if he's dead and this is all in vain? I blanked out feeling my stomach churn. I'm useless- no this isn't about me it's about Simon and-
"(Y/n), what are you doing?" Clover asked rejecting my absent-minded pulling on her reigns making her stray from the path. Quickly I adjusted the reigns and continued like before. Feeling my face burn with embarrassment I cleared my throat to bring myself back to reality.
"S-Sorry, I was...I was distracted that's all," I said.
"You alright kiddo?" she asked, letting maternal instincts show. Even though she's a horse, she was very caring and comforting, which reminded me of my sister.
"Yeah I just need to focus that's all," and that's what I did. I didn't want to bother anyone with my worries because there was no point, just my mind being loud again. I looked around and saw Edmund looking at me. He smiled and looked away, causing me to awkwardly smile and become flustered. How long was he looking?! Ugh, So much for staying focused...
The somewhat visible hoove prints' we were following only went so far before they stopped abruptly.
"Maybe this is where Simon and his horse separated, I know this path is somewhat traveled but it's-" one of the guards was interrupted when Lucy practically squealed.
"Look, it's a bag and a piece of cloth!" She dismounted the horse and ran over to a bush close by. "Does this look familiar at all?" she asked holding the pieces up to show off. We all rode over to get a closer look. Captain Rumin inspected it closely. His eyes lit up, smiling.
"That's Simon's alright, there's even the royal crest on the side of the satchel," he said dusting off the dirt from it.
"So this confirms he went down here!" One of the guards cheered.
"That or perhaps they were dumped here, we can't be one hundred percent sure until we keep searching," I said feeling slightly like a wet blanket. The captain nodded but some of the guards seemed unconvinced.
"She's right, we gotta be rational," Edmund said, coming up right next to me to show he was literally on my side.
"We should split, the woods are thick and at this point, we don't have much to go off on like with hoove prints so spreading the team will help cover more ground," I said more confidently.
"That's a good idea (Y/n)!" Lucy said brightly.
"Don't you think we're spread thin enough Captain? I mean who's to say it even works, last time I checked we don't have numbers to mess around," a guard said.
"Then we meet back here and regroup. Last time I checked we don't have the time to waste and I'm sure our numbers were recently increased, i.e. us," I answered back without missing a beat. Jackass.
"I was talking to the Captain, you're not my boss or any of ours for that matter-" he spat back. I glared back, feeling my tolerance grow thin. Stay calm (Y/n).
"Watch your tone squire," Edmund snapped back coldly, "unless you want to lose your position, I suggest you learn to talk to a lady with more respect, especially when she does have authority." Haha, take that twat. The guard looked down and cleared his throat.
"My apologies Your Majesty," he said and gave me a blank stare but I could feel the pettiness behind it. I have half the mind to kick his stupid face in. At least I have Lucy and Edmund to back me up. The thought made my heart soft.
"Forgive him, Your Majesty," Captain Rumin said then glared at the guard, "we'll have to address that at a later time."
"It's your call your Captain," Lucy said. Rumin sat there quietly and thought then he nodded,
"Princess Adaline trusts you then so shall I." I looked at Lucy and Edmund smiling. It was a nice feeling, to have people support. Especially those you cared about. We ended up splitting our group being a mix of guards from both kingdoms led by the Rumin and Edmund. The six other guards with Lucy and I headed up the mountains.
"Careful, the terrain is a little rocky," Lucy said, giggling at her silly pun. "But seriously it's a bit steep don't you think?"
"Yes, it's a good thing we all didn't come up here, the path is too narrow," one of the Narnian guards, Ayris said.
"Simon must have had the right idea of going on without his horse here," another guard, Yule said.
"That is if he did," said another, "I wonder what's up at Dragon's Peak that would interest the prince?"
"I guess we'll see soon enough," I said pointing at the opening up ahead. A sturdy ledge sprouted out from the path and the beginning of the cave opening was visible.
"It's not big enough for all of us to go on, we should dismount," Lucy said leading by example.
"Sorry Clover," I said smoothing her mane before leaving.
"Just be careful, we'll be right here when you get back," she said.
We walked up the path and got to the ledge, carefully. Once there, we began to look around, some outside and some inside. The cave was enormous with stalagmites all around.
"I wonder how deep this cave is?" I said walking along, looking for any clues.
"Simon, are you here?" Said one of the guards. We quickly shushed him.
"Quietly, what if there's something here we don't want to find," a terebinthian guard said.
Whispering the guard said, "Prince Simon if you're here, please come out, we're here to bring you home, knights honor." Nothing happened but we continued the search.
Then Lucy and I stumbled across a boot.
"Hey, guys look what I-" Lucy was interrupted by her body giving way into a hole that had been camouflaged into the surrounding. "Lucy!" I grabbed hold of her but fell in too. We screamed, landing with a thud. Thankfully it wasn't too deep but my heart was practically leaping out of my chest.
"Your Highness!" The guards said and ran over to where we were.
"Careful! There's a pitfall and we fell in," Lucy said, sitting up.
"Are you alright?" One of them asked, looking over down at us.
"Yes! Just a little scratch and bruise is all, nothing we can't handle right (Y/n)?" She turned to me. I slowly sat up and groaned. I gotta stop falling from places.
"Yep, just peachy," I said scrunching my nose and smiling before rolling my eyes and laying back down in defeat. I felt my hand hit something metallic and got up to take a closer look.
"Don't worry we'll get you girls out of there," the Narian guard said. I heard faint mumbling and found a silver mirror facing down. Picking it up, I froze.
"Oh thank goodness you've found me!" The boy said in the mirror.
"What the fu-" I was interrupted by the terebinthian guard shouting.
"Simon?! Is that you?" He asked looking down. I looked back up at him and then at the boy. Lucy smiled happily and got closer to me to have a better look.
"Simon it's you! Oh, I'm so happy you're alright...We'll sort of, what happened?" Lucy said. The guard's celebration was cut short by her question and we all leaned in to listen.
"Well it's kind of a long story actually, but I need to get my body back!" He said.
"Well we're stuck in this hole so it's gonna have to wait," I said.
"What should we do?" He asked. I could feel the relief and desperation coming from him. Poor guy has been stuck in there for three whole days.
"We'll tell those outside the cave to alert the others," Yule the terebinthian guard said, "but we'll stay here with you guys til they get back, meanwhile we try and find a way to get your highnesses out of there."
"Thank you, please hurry," I said. To be honest I wasn't too much in a hurry but my hunger was starting to come at me full force.
"Well we might as well introduce ourselves, I'm (Y/n)," I said holding the mirror so that he could see.
"Hello, I'm guessing you already know who I am but just to be polite, I'm Prince Simon," he said, playfully bowing
"Hello Simon, it's good to see you again," Lucy said waving to him.
"It's good to see you too Luce, it's been too long, uh how is everyone- OH yeah that reminds me, how's my sister? I feel so bad, she must be worried sick," he said.
"Adaline's doing good, she's currently still at the castle. She called for our help so me, Edmund, and our new friend here (Y/n), " she said and I gave a little wave, "came to help find you, along with some guards."
"Oh brother I feel awful," Simon said sulking.
"How did you end up like this, what happened?" Lucy asked.
"I honestly don't completely know, it's kinda fuzzy but what I do know is that I put myself here, I mean not me but like a shadow version of myself. He or me or whatever has my physical body, It happened the night when I ran off," His gaze fell.
"So you don't remember leaving?" I asked. He shook his head.
"Like I said, it's sorta fuzzy, all I remember that night was the feeling...this immense fear, then I remembered being put in here and thrown into this pit. The only other thing I remember is that I know where my body is going," his voice started to drift off, seeming full of guilt.
"Where?" Lucy and I said in sync.
"There's some temple he's looking for or that I'm looking for. That's all I'm sure of, I'm not entirely sure why," Simon said.
"Let's get you home and then we'll figure things out," I sighed.
"Aren't I supposed to take you home," he said with a smug grin.
"What?!" I shook my head, "don't make me leave you down here Simon," I said smirking.
"Hey I was only jesting" he said defensively but Lucy and I chuckled, ignoring whatever else he was going to say.
The only thing we could do now was wait.
"So (Y/n), what's your deal," Simon asked. I sighed.
I hope help is on its way, and fast.
- ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 10 -