Fanfic : Crossing Borders
Title: Crossing Borders
Author: maaike_fluffy
Fandom: The Chronicles of Narnia
Pairing: Susan/Caspian
Rating: K+
Disclaimer: 'The Chronicles of Narnia' were created and written by C. S. Lewis. I do not own anything you might recognize. No copyright infringement is intended.
Summary: Prince Caspian and the Pevensies continue their life after their farewell, but none of them can stop dwelling on the past. The, Caspian makes a decision; if she can't come to him, then he'll have to find her. Movie-verse. Banner by elliania. Beta-ed by sedri. *hugs both of them*
Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3 / Chapter 4 / Chapter 5 / Chapter 6 / Chapter 7 / Chapter 8 / Chapter 9 / Chapter 10 / Chapter 11 / Chapter 12 /
Thanks everyone, for sticking by me and for being patient with me. I truly am grateful for that.
Chapter 13: London
Wind whipped in Caspian’s face the next morning as he found himself looking upon a familiar sight. It was a Saturday and he had been told that this meant the schools were closed. None of the four Pevensies had to leave this day, or the next, and that left a full weekend they could spend in each other’s company. Edmund had suggested they could to show Caspian around the city, and it was a suggestion that was met enthusiastically by his siblings.
King’s Cross Station had not changed from the way it had looked two days ago, but it was so much busier now, it seemed like a different place. While the station had been almost entirely deserted when he’d spent the night on a bench at platform fourteen, now there was a flurry of activity everywhere he looked. Droves of people walked in every direction, and the air was full with the sound of hurried footsteps, loud voices, and the occasional loud ‘tooot’ of the large trains with their billowing columns of steam. Caspian turned his head in every direction, trying to see everything at the same time. There was no place in Narnia that even slightly resembled this train station and Caspian wondered what Professor Cornelius’ response would be if he tried to describe it to him. That was, if he’d still have an opportunity to describe it to the old master. He didn’t let the sudden dark thought hold him down long. It was simply impossible to feel gloomy for any length of time when there were so many new things waiting to been seen and discovered.
Lucy had taken Caspian’s hand and had appointed herself the role of tour guide; she enthusiastically pulled him along and commented on everything she saw in a loud twittering voice, while Caspian tried to keep up with everything she pointed out.
“Those boards over there; that’s where you find your right train, and if you don’t know the way you could always ask one of the people that work here, they’re all real friendly. I once got lost here when I wasn’t paying attention and I was ever so scared, but they helped me find mother-I say, look at that lady over there! Over there are the toilets, but you don’t want to use them, they’re always really filthy. And here we...”
Edmund rolled his eyes at them, but Susan punched him on the arm. “Ed! He’s never seen this before,” she hissed. Caspian was too far to hear her, but he looked around when he realized he and Lucy had fallen behind. He grinned at Susan excitedly, and she smiled back, amused.
“Come on, Lu, we don’t want to lose them in this crowd.” Lucy nodded and made a beeline for her brothers and sister, still tugging on Caspian’s hand. It wasn’t necessary; Caspian followed willingly enough. There was another thing that had gradually changed during his stay in England; a month ago, Caspian wouldn’t have dared to call the Valiant Queen ‘Lu’. In fact, if anyone suggested it when the Professor first told him of the Old Legends, Caspian would have said that person had had too much sweet wine and ought be more respectful. But Caspian couldn’t help it; the young queen was very easy to get along with. She did not act like a queen, and being away from Narnia made it easier for Caspian to forget who he was talking to and to take over the nickname her siblings called her by. Lucy didn’t seem to mind; she gripped Peter’s elbow with her free hand when she and Caspian caught up, and turned to him.
“Where are we going?”
“Well,” Peter shot a look at Caspian, and his face was not unkind; “I figured it would be nice to show Caspian the city for a bit, visit the most important places… And we could have lunch in Hyde Park.” This proposition was received well, and Edmund and Susan started a discussion of the most worthwhile places in the city and the trains they should take to get there. Caspian only listened with half an ear; none of the names and places they mentioned sounded familiar to him, and frankly he would be content to simply stand on the station all day - there was so much to see, he doubted he’d be bored even for a second.
It was almost a minute later when Peter tapped Caspian on the shoulder and pointed at a small group of men in green outfits, wearing strange-looking hats. Even though all the attires in England looked peculiar to Caspian, those stood out even here. The men stood erect, talking to each other and paying little attention to the crowd all around them. “Those are our soldiers.” Peter said, and there was a certain reverence in his voice that Caspian had never heard the High King use before. “From the look of their uniforms, they’re being sent to fight abroad.”
Peter hadn’t spoken much to Caspian today, though he had clearly made an effort to be friendly, and Caspian replied to his attempt gladly. “Where are their swords?” His eyes travelled over the forms of the men and their greenish bags, and suddenly he missed his own trusted sword, which Edmund had convinced him to leave behind for the day.
“We don’t fight with swords.” Peter said. “We have guns-those black things; they have a further range.”
Both of them looked at the soldiers for a while as they made their way to platform six, from which their next train would depart underground-Susan called it “the tube”.
“I was mistaken for a soldier twice when I was looking for you.” Caspian said, thinking back. “Even though I was carrying a sword. Someone thought I was… DLV?”
“LDV,” Peter corrected. “Local Defence Volunteers. The Home Guard. They do what they can to help in the war from here, and they’ll protect us if the Axis manage to set foot on shore.” He eyed Caspian. “You look like you could be one of them if you carried a sword. Not all of them have guns.”
“Will the… Axis… get here?” Caspian asked. He remembered their conversation about the war from two days before, but it was hard to believe there was a war going on when he looked around; no one seemed scared or worried. A train halted at their platform noisily, and it suddenly got even busier on the platform when people began to spill out the second the doors opened.
“Let’s hope not,” said Edmund, who had been listening to their conversation. They boarded the train and Caspian only barely managed to find a seat before it started to move with a jerk. “We’ll give ‘em hell if they do.”
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
It was evening when the company strolled at a comfortable pace by the river Thames. Caspian had his hands shoved deep inside the pockets of the jacket that belonged to Mr Pevensie. The weather had cooled down considerably after the two hot days he had spent looking for the Pevensies. It had been comfortable enough during the day, but, now that the sun was gone, Caspian could feel the chilly wind. According to Lucy they were lucky it was dry; the weather never was really good in early May.
“That’s the Palace of Westminster.” Peter said, pointing at a vast building on his right. “The home of our parliament.”
“That’s like the Council of Elders in Narnia,” Edmund interjected. “These are the people that rule England.”
Caspian frowned. “But doesn’t England have a queen?” he wondered aloud, remembering the impressive and majestic palace he’d seen earlier on the day. He could not remember its name; he’d seen and heard too much today to remember all of it.
“Yes, we do,” Peter said, but he looked unsure how to explain this contradiction. “The government is more powerful,” he said eventually.
“More powerful than the queen?” Caspian repeated, dumbfounded. He internally shuddered at the idea of the Council of Elders being more powerful than him; they’d never get anything done. “I’m glad we do that differently in Narnia.”
Peter agreed wholeheartedly, but Susan and Edmund looked more thoughtful. “Well, there is something to be said for a parliament,” Susan remarked. “They have a better idea of what the people want. One person can’t know everything.” She bit her lip. “Besides, power corrupts.”
Caspian wasn’t convinced. “All the council ever does is talk and complain. They would never manage anything if there wasn’t somebody who overruled them.”
“If Hitler couldn’t overrule the German government, maybe there would be no war.”
It took a moment for Caspian to realize it had been Lucy who had said it. Susan looked at her sister in surprise, and momentarily no one could think of a response.
While Caspian had been unable to imagine the ongoing war when he’d walked around King’s Cross Station that morning, he could clearly see the signs in the city of London. It was an impressive and overwhelming city, but he had seen many ruined buildings during the day; some bore the obvious marks of a raging fire and others had collapsed entirely, like the right side of Professor Kirke’s house had been. And though all four of the Pevensie siblings assured him the last bombings had been months ago, Caspian still found the idea of explosive devices falling from the sky rather disconcerting, and was thankful that those did not exist in Narnia. The technology of England was much more developed and advanced, but it was clear to Caspian that not all development was, in fact, progress.
“We should be heading home,” Susan said eventually. “It’ll be dark soon.”
“Oh, come on,” Lucy said, pouting. “It’s not a school day tomorrow.”
“No, but we all know how you get when you’ve had a bad night sleep.” Peter cut in. “Susan is right, Lu. We ought to be getting-” But Peter was cut short when a sudden noise rang and halted everyone in their tracks. It was a sound Caspian had never heard before, but if anything, it resembled a large horn being blown. As strange as the sound was, Caspian mostly noticed the response it generated. All four of the Pevensies, as well as all the other people on the street, froze and looked at the sky in unison.
“Now we really have to go.” Susan’s voice was oddly controlled and it clashed with her sudden tense stance, and Peter nodded curtly as he seized Lucy’s elbow and stalked away briskly. For a change, Lucy did not object.
“Come on.” Edmund shot a significant look at Caspian and jerked his head in the direction of his brother, indicating that they should follow.
“What was that?” Caspian asked concerned.
“Air alarm.” Edmund said, glancing at the sky. “It means there have been sightings of hostile airplanes.”
Caspian’s eyes widened at he looked at the sky too. Despite his short stay in this strange world, he had learned enough to understand this threat. But the sky showed no signs of bomb-dropping flying devices; the clouds were heavy and grey as they had been for a while now.
“Caspian!” Susan’s voice sounded slightly panicked.
Caspian tore his eyes from the sky to find that he had fallen behind quickly, and he had to jog to catch up with them again. “Will there be… bombs?” He asked the Just King worriedly. “I thought you said those ended months ago.”
“It… might be nothing.” Edmund replied, keeping his eyes on the backs of his siblings. “The air alarm is just a precaution… a warning, if you will, to get everyone off the streets. There might not be a real threat, and if there is, we don’t know where the planes are headed. But we should get off the streets nonetheless home anyway.”
The group walked in silence for a while. Peter had taken lead and made a straight line for the nearest tube station. Little Lucy, whose legs were simply not as long as that of her siblings, had to run slightly to keep up, and tripped when they rounded the corner onto Vauxhall Bridge Road.
“Why did they return now?” Lucy’s voice was high with fright.
“I don’t know, Lu. Come on, hurry along now.”
“Wait, Peter, look!” Caspian nearly ran into the youngest queen when she suddenly halted in her tracks.
“Lu!” Peter exclaimed, his exasperated voice strained. “There is no time-”
“No, look!” In unison Caspian, Edmund, Peter and Susan turned their heads in the same direction of Lucy’s. Vauxhall bridge was illuminated by two dozen bright lanterns that contrasted sharply against the rapidly darkening sky. Three black figures were the only ones left on the streets, apart from their own company. The three were clearly engaged in some kind of fight; one of them was on the ground, shielding his face from the impact of fists and boots.
“That’s none of our business, Lucy.” Peter looked doubtfully from the fighting trio at the other side of the bridge to the entrance of the tube, which was now visible at their right.
“We can’t just leave, Peter,” Susan cut in. “We need to help that man.”
“Susan’s right, we should,” Edmund added. Then he was gone. Peter yelled after his brother, who sprinted over the cobblestone streets towards the bridge, yelling and waving his arms. “Oi! Oi, you! Stop that!”
Peter let out a string of profanities and followed after Edmund, who had now managed to get the men’s attention. Caspian and Susan shared a brief desperate look before they followed suit, Susan tugging Lucy along with the hand. The high whine of the air alarm still rang in Caspian’s ears, and it kept him from catching the first few sentences that were being exchanged between the fighting men and Edmund.
“- as well. All of it, it’s their fault!” The figures were now no longer black against the streetlights. The ranting man was dressed in a long, caramel coloured overcoat and dark green trousers. The kick he aimed at the miserable looking man on the ground missed only because Peter pulled him away at the last second.
“Let go of me, you little brat!” The man spat as he wrenched his elbow from Peter’s grasp. “The German pig deserves it. My sister’s blind because of their raids-” The man would most like have launched another attack if the London sky hadn’t suddenly lit up with foreign-looking pillars of light.
Caspian’s eyes widened. “Susan?” He reached behind him, and tapped her on the arm when he found her, not taking his eyes off the strange sight. “What are those?”
“Searchlights.” Susan said breathlessly. “They’re trying to find the planes and take them down before they can do any damage.”
There was a quiver in her voice, and Caspian looked aside to find that his brave queen was starting to look quite terrified. Caspian gently squeezed her arm in reassurance. There was really nothing he could do, but she seemed to be comforted by it nonetheless.
“They are here,” Lucy whispered.
The air alarm now sounded louder somehow, more urgent. And Caspian was suddenly very aware of the entrance to the tube station, not six hundred feet behind them. He still was not quite sure what a bomb was, but he certainly didn’t want to stick around to find out. They had to leave… and soon.
The two fighting me must have been thinking along the same lines. The aggressive man in the long brown coat exchanged a significant look with his more silent companion, muttered, “Oh, sod it all!”, and ran off into the darkness.
Before Caspian knew it, little Lucy slipped past him and sank to her knees next to the beaten man on the ground. The sleeve he held against his nose was quickly turning crimson. “Sir, are you alright?”
The middle aged seemed disoriented and blinked a couple of times before he replied. “Yes, I… thank you.” He grunted as he tried to get up, and Lucy supported him by the elbow.
“I just wish I had my vial on me,” she said anxiously. If the man thought this comment was strange, he did not show it.
“Really, thank you.” This time the man looked at Edmund and Peter. “I don’t know what would have happened if you hadn’t…” his heavily accented voice trailed off.
It was then that Caspian noticed the sound for the first time. It had probably been there all along in the background, but the sharp sound of the air alarm blocked out many of the other sounds, and his mind had been too occupied to pay a lot of attention to it. But now that a short silence fell, Caspian caught the low rumbling sound, which was growing more and more prominent.
“We should not be here,” Caspian said.
Susan nodded, and turned to the bloodied man, who was still clutching his nose. “Can you walk?”
Before the man had a chance to answer however, Peter cut in with a different question.
“Are you German?” There was a strange look in his eye, and Caspian recognized the disapproving set of the High King’s jaw. “Well, are you?” Peter prompted when the man did not immediately reply.
“Yes,” the man said eventually, his eyes flickering between Peter and the cloudy sky. The roar of the airplanes continued to build, but they remained invisible behind the blanket of clouds that covered the sky. “I fled my country last year. It was not safe for…”
“Peter, there’s no time!” Susan’s voice sounded shrill in the night air, and Peter seemed to remember the danger his family was in.
In a flash he pulled Lucy to her feet and held her close.
“Get off the road!” Caspian yelled.
At that moment, the London sky lit up as the first bomb hit the city.
Author: maaike_fluffy
Fandom: The Chronicles of Narnia
Pairing: Susan/Caspian
Rating: K+
Disclaimer: 'The Chronicles of Narnia' were created and written by C. S. Lewis. I do not own anything you might recognize. No copyright infringement is intended.
Summary: Prince Caspian and the Pevensies continue their life after their farewell, but none of them can stop dwelling on the past. The, Caspian makes a decision; if she can't come to him, then he'll have to find her. Movie-verse. Banner by elliania. Beta-ed by sedri. *hugs both of them*
Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3 / Chapter 4 / Chapter 5 / Chapter 6 / Chapter 7 / Chapter 8 / Chapter 9 / Chapter 10 / Chapter 11 / Chapter 12 /
Thanks everyone, for sticking by me and for being patient with me. I truly am grateful for that.
Chapter 13: London
Wind whipped in Caspian’s face the next morning as he found himself looking upon a familiar sight. It was a Saturday and he had been told that this meant the schools were closed. None of the four Pevensies had to leave this day, or the next, and that left a full weekend they could spend in each other’s company. Edmund had suggested they could to show Caspian around the city, and it was a suggestion that was met enthusiastically by his siblings.
King’s Cross Station had not changed from the way it had looked two days ago, but it was so much busier now, it seemed like a different place. While the station had been almost entirely deserted when he’d spent the night on a bench at platform fourteen, now there was a flurry of activity everywhere he looked. Droves of people walked in every direction, and the air was full with the sound of hurried footsteps, loud voices, and the occasional loud ‘tooot’ of the large trains with their billowing columns of steam. Caspian turned his head in every direction, trying to see everything at the same time. There was no place in Narnia that even slightly resembled this train station and Caspian wondered what Professor Cornelius’ response would be if he tried to describe it to him. That was, if he’d still have an opportunity to describe it to the old master. He didn’t let the sudden dark thought hold him down long. It was simply impossible to feel gloomy for any length of time when there were so many new things waiting to been seen and discovered.
Lucy had taken Caspian’s hand and had appointed herself the role of tour guide; she enthusiastically pulled him along and commented on everything she saw in a loud twittering voice, while Caspian tried to keep up with everything she pointed out.
“Those boards over there; that’s where you find your right train, and if you don’t know the way you could always ask one of the people that work here, they’re all real friendly. I once got lost here when I wasn’t paying attention and I was ever so scared, but they helped me find mother-I say, look at that lady over there! Over there are the toilets, but you don’t want to use them, they’re always really filthy. And here we...”
Edmund rolled his eyes at them, but Susan punched him on the arm. “Ed! He’s never seen this before,” she hissed. Caspian was too far to hear her, but he looked around when he realized he and Lucy had fallen behind. He grinned at Susan excitedly, and she smiled back, amused.
“Come on, Lu, we don’t want to lose them in this crowd.” Lucy nodded and made a beeline for her brothers and sister, still tugging on Caspian’s hand. It wasn’t necessary; Caspian followed willingly enough. There was another thing that had gradually changed during his stay in England; a month ago, Caspian wouldn’t have dared to call the Valiant Queen ‘Lu’. In fact, if anyone suggested it when the Professor first told him of the Old Legends, Caspian would have said that person had had too much sweet wine and ought be more respectful. But Caspian couldn’t help it; the young queen was very easy to get along with. She did not act like a queen, and being away from Narnia made it easier for Caspian to forget who he was talking to and to take over the nickname her siblings called her by. Lucy didn’t seem to mind; she gripped Peter’s elbow with her free hand when she and Caspian caught up, and turned to him.
“Where are we going?”
“Well,” Peter shot a look at Caspian, and his face was not unkind; “I figured it would be nice to show Caspian the city for a bit, visit the most important places… And we could have lunch in Hyde Park.” This proposition was received well, and Edmund and Susan started a discussion of the most worthwhile places in the city and the trains they should take to get there. Caspian only listened with half an ear; none of the names and places they mentioned sounded familiar to him, and frankly he would be content to simply stand on the station all day - there was so much to see, he doubted he’d be bored even for a second.
It was almost a minute later when Peter tapped Caspian on the shoulder and pointed at a small group of men in green outfits, wearing strange-looking hats. Even though all the attires in England looked peculiar to Caspian, those stood out even here. The men stood erect, talking to each other and paying little attention to the crowd all around them. “Those are our soldiers.” Peter said, and there was a certain reverence in his voice that Caspian had never heard the High King use before. “From the look of their uniforms, they’re being sent to fight abroad.”
Peter hadn’t spoken much to Caspian today, though he had clearly made an effort to be friendly, and Caspian replied to his attempt gladly. “Where are their swords?” His eyes travelled over the forms of the men and their greenish bags, and suddenly he missed his own trusted sword, which Edmund had convinced him to leave behind for the day.
“We don’t fight with swords.” Peter said. “We have guns-those black things; they have a further range.”
Both of them looked at the soldiers for a while as they made their way to platform six, from which their next train would depart underground-Susan called it “the tube”.
“I was mistaken for a soldier twice when I was looking for you.” Caspian said, thinking back. “Even though I was carrying a sword. Someone thought I was… DLV?”
“LDV,” Peter corrected. “Local Defence Volunteers. The Home Guard. They do what they can to help in the war from here, and they’ll protect us if the Axis manage to set foot on shore.” He eyed Caspian. “You look like you could be one of them if you carried a sword. Not all of them have guns.”
“Will the… Axis… get here?” Caspian asked. He remembered their conversation about the war from two days before, but it was hard to believe there was a war going on when he looked around; no one seemed scared or worried. A train halted at their platform noisily, and it suddenly got even busier on the platform when people began to spill out the second the doors opened.
“Let’s hope not,” said Edmund, who had been listening to their conversation. They boarded the train and Caspian only barely managed to find a seat before it started to move with a jerk. “We’ll give ‘em hell if they do.”
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
It was evening when the company strolled at a comfortable pace by the river Thames. Caspian had his hands shoved deep inside the pockets of the jacket that belonged to Mr Pevensie. The weather had cooled down considerably after the two hot days he had spent looking for the Pevensies. It had been comfortable enough during the day, but, now that the sun was gone, Caspian could feel the chilly wind. According to Lucy they were lucky it was dry; the weather never was really good in early May.
“That’s the Palace of Westminster.” Peter said, pointing at a vast building on his right. “The home of our parliament.”
“That’s like the Council of Elders in Narnia,” Edmund interjected. “These are the people that rule England.”
Caspian frowned. “But doesn’t England have a queen?” he wondered aloud, remembering the impressive and majestic palace he’d seen earlier on the day. He could not remember its name; he’d seen and heard too much today to remember all of it.
“Yes, we do,” Peter said, but he looked unsure how to explain this contradiction. “The government is more powerful,” he said eventually.
“More powerful than the queen?” Caspian repeated, dumbfounded. He internally shuddered at the idea of the Council of Elders being more powerful than him; they’d never get anything done. “I’m glad we do that differently in Narnia.”
Peter agreed wholeheartedly, but Susan and Edmund looked more thoughtful. “Well, there is something to be said for a parliament,” Susan remarked. “They have a better idea of what the people want. One person can’t know everything.” She bit her lip. “Besides, power corrupts.”
Caspian wasn’t convinced. “All the council ever does is talk and complain. They would never manage anything if there wasn’t somebody who overruled them.”
“If Hitler couldn’t overrule the German government, maybe there would be no war.”
It took a moment for Caspian to realize it had been Lucy who had said it. Susan looked at her sister in surprise, and momentarily no one could think of a response.
While Caspian had been unable to imagine the ongoing war when he’d walked around King’s Cross Station that morning, he could clearly see the signs in the city of London. It was an impressive and overwhelming city, but he had seen many ruined buildings during the day; some bore the obvious marks of a raging fire and others had collapsed entirely, like the right side of Professor Kirke’s house had been. And though all four of the Pevensie siblings assured him the last bombings had been months ago, Caspian still found the idea of explosive devices falling from the sky rather disconcerting, and was thankful that those did not exist in Narnia. The technology of England was much more developed and advanced, but it was clear to Caspian that not all development was, in fact, progress.
“We should be heading home,” Susan said eventually. “It’ll be dark soon.”
“Oh, come on,” Lucy said, pouting. “It’s not a school day tomorrow.”
“No, but we all know how you get when you’ve had a bad night sleep.” Peter cut in. “Susan is right, Lu. We ought to be getting-” But Peter was cut short when a sudden noise rang and halted everyone in their tracks. It was a sound Caspian had never heard before, but if anything, it resembled a large horn being blown. As strange as the sound was, Caspian mostly noticed the response it generated. All four of the Pevensies, as well as all the other people on the street, froze and looked at the sky in unison.
“Now we really have to go.” Susan’s voice was oddly controlled and it clashed with her sudden tense stance, and Peter nodded curtly as he seized Lucy’s elbow and stalked away briskly. For a change, Lucy did not object.
“Come on.” Edmund shot a significant look at Caspian and jerked his head in the direction of his brother, indicating that they should follow.
“What was that?” Caspian asked concerned.
“Air alarm.” Edmund said, glancing at the sky. “It means there have been sightings of hostile airplanes.”
Caspian’s eyes widened at he looked at the sky too. Despite his short stay in this strange world, he had learned enough to understand this threat. But the sky showed no signs of bomb-dropping flying devices; the clouds were heavy and grey as they had been for a while now.
“Caspian!” Susan’s voice sounded slightly panicked.
Caspian tore his eyes from the sky to find that he had fallen behind quickly, and he had to jog to catch up with them again. “Will there be… bombs?” He asked the Just King worriedly. “I thought you said those ended months ago.”
“It… might be nothing.” Edmund replied, keeping his eyes on the backs of his siblings. “The air alarm is just a precaution… a warning, if you will, to get everyone off the streets. There might not be a real threat, and if there is, we don’t know where the planes are headed. But we should get off the streets nonetheless home anyway.”
The group walked in silence for a while. Peter had taken lead and made a straight line for the nearest tube station. Little Lucy, whose legs were simply not as long as that of her siblings, had to run slightly to keep up, and tripped when they rounded the corner onto Vauxhall Bridge Road.
“Why did they return now?” Lucy’s voice was high with fright.
“I don’t know, Lu. Come on, hurry along now.”
“Wait, Peter, look!” Caspian nearly ran into the youngest queen when she suddenly halted in her tracks.
“Lu!” Peter exclaimed, his exasperated voice strained. “There is no time-”
“No, look!” In unison Caspian, Edmund, Peter and Susan turned their heads in the same direction of Lucy’s. Vauxhall bridge was illuminated by two dozen bright lanterns that contrasted sharply against the rapidly darkening sky. Three black figures were the only ones left on the streets, apart from their own company. The three were clearly engaged in some kind of fight; one of them was on the ground, shielding his face from the impact of fists and boots.
“That’s none of our business, Lucy.” Peter looked doubtfully from the fighting trio at the other side of the bridge to the entrance of the tube, which was now visible at their right.
“We can’t just leave, Peter,” Susan cut in. “We need to help that man.”
“Susan’s right, we should,” Edmund added. Then he was gone. Peter yelled after his brother, who sprinted over the cobblestone streets towards the bridge, yelling and waving his arms. “Oi! Oi, you! Stop that!”
Peter let out a string of profanities and followed after Edmund, who had now managed to get the men’s attention. Caspian and Susan shared a brief desperate look before they followed suit, Susan tugging Lucy along with the hand. The high whine of the air alarm still rang in Caspian’s ears, and it kept him from catching the first few sentences that were being exchanged between the fighting men and Edmund.
“- as well. All of it, it’s their fault!” The figures were now no longer black against the streetlights. The ranting man was dressed in a long, caramel coloured overcoat and dark green trousers. The kick he aimed at the miserable looking man on the ground missed only because Peter pulled him away at the last second.
“Let go of me, you little brat!” The man spat as he wrenched his elbow from Peter’s grasp. “The German pig deserves it. My sister’s blind because of their raids-” The man would most like have launched another attack if the London sky hadn’t suddenly lit up with foreign-looking pillars of light.
Caspian’s eyes widened. “Susan?” He reached behind him, and tapped her on the arm when he found her, not taking his eyes off the strange sight. “What are those?”
“Searchlights.” Susan said breathlessly. “They’re trying to find the planes and take them down before they can do any damage.”
There was a quiver in her voice, and Caspian looked aside to find that his brave queen was starting to look quite terrified. Caspian gently squeezed her arm in reassurance. There was really nothing he could do, but she seemed to be comforted by it nonetheless.
“They are here,” Lucy whispered.
The air alarm now sounded louder somehow, more urgent. And Caspian was suddenly very aware of the entrance to the tube station, not six hundred feet behind them. He still was not quite sure what a bomb was, but he certainly didn’t want to stick around to find out. They had to leave… and soon.
The two fighting me must have been thinking along the same lines. The aggressive man in the long brown coat exchanged a significant look with his more silent companion, muttered, “Oh, sod it all!”, and ran off into the darkness.
Before Caspian knew it, little Lucy slipped past him and sank to her knees next to the beaten man on the ground. The sleeve he held against his nose was quickly turning crimson. “Sir, are you alright?”
The middle aged seemed disoriented and blinked a couple of times before he replied. “Yes, I… thank you.” He grunted as he tried to get up, and Lucy supported him by the elbow.
“I just wish I had my vial on me,” she said anxiously. If the man thought this comment was strange, he did not show it.
“Really, thank you.” This time the man looked at Edmund and Peter. “I don’t know what would have happened if you hadn’t…” his heavily accented voice trailed off.
It was then that Caspian noticed the sound for the first time. It had probably been there all along in the background, but the sharp sound of the air alarm blocked out many of the other sounds, and his mind had been too occupied to pay a lot of attention to it. But now that a short silence fell, Caspian caught the low rumbling sound, which was growing more and more prominent.
“We should not be here,” Caspian said.
Susan nodded, and turned to the bloodied man, who was still clutching his nose. “Can you walk?”
Before the man had a chance to answer however, Peter cut in with a different question.
“Are you German?” There was a strange look in his eye, and Caspian recognized the disapproving set of the High King’s jaw. “Well, are you?” Peter prompted when the man did not immediately reply.
“Yes,” the man said eventually, his eyes flickering between Peter and the cloudy sky. The roar of the airplanes continued to build, but they remained invisible behind the blanket of clouds that covered the sky. “I fled my country last year. It was not safe for…”
“Peter, there’s no time!” Susan’s voice sounded shrill in the night air, and Peter seemed to remember the danger his family was in.
In a flash he pulled Lucy to her feet and held her close.
“Get off the road!” Caspian yelled.
At that moment, the London sky lit up as the first bomb hit the city.