Author: Sam

Story: The Butterfly Effect: 5 of 7

Series: One Little Change

Characters Intro'd: none

The foursome moved down a little lane between two houses until it opened up into a wide, green field outside of town. There the man stopped and turned to the three with a stern frown. “Now, lad, you’ve made quite free with the King’s name back there, and much as I despise the abominable flesh trade, Governor Gumpus has not seen fit to support my petitions to have it banished. If you are who you’ve said you are, then no fear, I will have you returned to your ship and on your way. However,” and here he crossed muscular arms and glowered at the trio, “if you have been lying, I will be forced to return you to that odious slug, for which it’ll be the worse for you. Can you prove you are here on the King’s business and Narnians the lot?”

“Of course!” exclaimed Lucy, hope shining in her eyes, while Edmund claimed, “I can, My Lord.” Eustace’s loud and defiant, “In no way am I a Narnian,” however, brought his cousins up short and had the man studying him in intense interest. “Shut up, Eustace,” hissed Edmund, to which Lucy added, “Oh, you’ll spoil everything; do shut up.” The man merely raised a hand to silence the pair and said, “Go on, Boy.” The Pevensies glared at their cousin in unison.

Eustace ignored them. At last he’d found a sensible person on this godforsaken journey. “I am a loyal British citizen, Your Lordship, and as such am looking for the British Counsel so I might get home. I was kidnapped by my cousins, here, and forced onto that boat they call a ship. That inane Beast,” and here he displayed the bandaging he sported from having attacked Reepicheep and been soundly thrashed for it, “should have been caged long ago rather than allowed to wander the decks like any man might do. Really, whoever heard of a Talking Mouse?”

If it had been later in the voyage, Eustace would have been wiser and held his tongue, but as it was early on, and he had found what he thought was a sympathetic ear, the boy was merely building up steam in order to really rant about what he considered the horrible treatment he was receiving at the hands of his cousins.

“All they talk about is seeing the end of the world or finding their seven lost lords. I say, if those men wish to have gotten themselves out of Narnia, wherever and whatever that may be, then let them be lost if they will. They obviously left for a reason; what if they don’t want to be found? But no. They will insist on sticking their noses into everyone’s business. They couldn’t even be bothered to put me off until they got here… and look what that has brought. Slavery? Slavery was abolished from England long ago. It is barbaric and uncivilized! I have been abused, Your Lordship, abused!”

Finally, Edmund couldn’t stand any more. He jumped in, anger making his voice vibrate with his passion. “Oh, will you shut up, Eustace?! We didn’t bring you along on purpose. I jolly well think Lu and I would have much preferred to come to Narnia without you tagging along and spoiling all the fun. Get it through your head; we are not anywhere near England or anything even remotely British; in fact, these people have never even heard of Britain or a British Counsel because we are not in our world any more.” His rage and built-up frustration with his younger cousin was such that he didn’t check himself or what he, himself, was saying. “Caspian has been a great gun for even putting up with you. If we hadn’t already been fast friends, and you hadn’t been my cousin, I am sure Caspian would have had you held in the bowels of the ship after you’d attacked Reepicheep, rather than letting you off as he did. Now do be quiet or we’ll never be able to find and rescue Caspian or Reep, and it’ll be your fault completely!”

“Oh!”

And that very worried sounding exclamation from Lucy was the first thing to draw either cousin back to their senses. Edmund flushed red when he realized just how childish his outburst must have seemed as well as how much he had given away. Eustace, for his part, grew even angrier, and if at all possible, sulkier than he had been.

There was a sharpness to the man’s tone as he asked, shortly, “And which seven lords do you seek?” The three were instantly put on alert, somehow sensing a great deal relied on the seemingly innocuous question. It was imperative, the man had decided, to determine if these children were lying or even mad before believing them wholly, but the possibility of the King’s danger gave him little time in which to make his judgement.

“He told us, but I cannot remember more than one or two.” Lucy frowned and looked quickly to her brother for help.

With a frustrated sigh, Edmund racked his brain for the names Caspian had rattled off when they’d first come onboard the Dawn Treader.

“There was a Rhoop. I recall that one because it sounded so very funny.” The comment was rude, but they didn’t take Eustace to task, for his snide remark could very well help them. Who could say why Eustace decided to help; perhaps it was to earn his own freedom from return to Pug, none-the-less, help he did.

“Yes,” Lucy caught her bottom lip between her teeth, worrying more about how they were to rescue their friends than just who they were supposed to be seeking. Suddenly a name stood out in her mind. “Argos? Like the ship in that myth about the golden fleece?”

Edmund, not wanting to interrupt with a correction, nodded and claimed, “Bern, was one, and Oct… something or other.” Sighing, he looked to the man and said, “I’m sorry, My Lord, but we cannot name all of the lords King Caspian seeks, as we only joined him mid-ocean and are unfamiliar with the list of names. You see, we, Lucy and I, are in truth Narnians, but we are also from England, where Eustace is from.” He shook his head and added, “It is all quite complicated, but if you assist us in retrieving the King and Reepicheep from the man who bought them, we’ll have as much proof of our identities and quest as you could wish.” Finally, Edmund had decided to reveal any information he must if only to get help for Caspian and Reepicheep. He’d worry later about whether Caspian wanted this or not; though, he was fairly sure Reep would insist he could handle things himself.

After a long pause, almost interminable to the Pevensies, the man spoke. “You say the King has been bought? Do you mean the slavers have dared to lay hands on our King and have actually sold him into slavery?!” The anger in him was so intense his fists were clenched, his body shaking. The already charged feeling in the air suddenly intensified greatly.

Lucy nodded, trying once more to fight the tears, but Edmund took grim satisfaction in the man’s anger: it meant the man believed them. Before even Eustace, who was angry at Edmund for what he considered his older cousin’s previous and totally uncalled-for attack, could add his own cynical opinion, the man’s hand came down on Edmund’s shoulder and his intense gaze met and held the twelve-year-old’s.

He had decided to believe these odd children, though he was half convinced the sulky one was a bit mad and his companions were keeping an eye on him until they could get him back into the proper medical custody. “I am called Lord Bern, whom the King seeks. Let us go to Bernstead, my own lands, and plan the rescue of the King. You have a way to contact your ship?”

“Oh,” Lucy’s hands flew to her mouth and her eyes widened.

“My Lady?” Lord Bern frowned gently.

Dropping her hands, the ten-year-old said, “King Caspian has the horn to signal Drinian on the Dawn Treader.”

“Hmmm, yes…” Lord Bern nodded slowly as he pondered the situation. “Where is the Dawn Treader?”

“Just there,” Edmund pointed out.

The sight of the ship sealed Lord Bern’s opinion: these children were indeed Narnian, or at least friends of Narnia. Not bothered by the lack of the horn, Bern went on to ask, “I don’t suppose you’d have any idea which Calormen ship we’ll need to follow to get the King back?” Not many a man would have let that kind of information out to a group of slaves, so Lord Bern found himself feeling a bit helpless in the eyes of the coming rescue attempt and all it could entail.

Eustace, purely out of meanness, determined that he’d get someone in trouble since he had been thoroughly ignored even by this man. Thus, he said, in an almost innocent, off-hand manner that didn’t fool his cousins in the least, “Oh, he was bought by a man who claims to work for you… Killian, I believe the slave dealer called him.”

“Killian bought King Caspian?!” Confusion filled the lord’s eyes and he found he had trouble processing that bit of information. Finally, a slow grin spread across his handsome features. “Well, that is unusual behaviour for Killian indeed, but if it is so then the King is as good as saved. There will be none safer to keep him with and he might yet be free as we speak for Killian was friend to Caspian the Ninth and knew him well.” With another smile for the three youngsters, Lord Bern signalled them towards the port.

“We shall contact your ship directly then we’re off to Killian’s to reunite with the King. However,” and here he turned a thoughtful eye on the others, noting the increasingly sulky look on the younger boy’s face, “simply sending you on your way won’t be enough. Perhaps His Majesty will be inclined favourably…”

Edmund cut in, “Against slavery? He already is, My Lord, and will want to put an end to it immediately.” Relief had swept through both the Pevensies at Bern’s words. “We’ve only brought one ship and one ship’s men with us, though. Not enough, surely, to fight the Governor’s men as well as Pug’s.”

“And what will you do to Killian, Lord Bern?” Lucy’s worried voice overrode the other concerns for the moment.

Eustace nodded. The ten-year-old added, almost maliciously, “Killian did say he’d be in trouble with you for buying a slave.”

Annoyance flared in Edmund’s eyes and he turned to Lord Bern, drawing his attention quickly. “Yes, he bought Caspian and Reepicheep; he’s a Talking Mouse from Narnia, My Lord, but I think he did it to get them from Pug’s hands. He seemed awfully troubled by Caspian’s bindings.”

“At the very least, you might fire him for disobeying your strictures against slavery… My Lord,” put in Eustace with a nasty grin. Ignoring Edmund’s glare and Lucy’s “No!” he continued, “And if he did know who the man was, it’s even worse, isn’t it? Buying the King would be, well, one of the worse offences I can think of.” Eustace’s self-satisfaction and condescension were so very evident that even Lord Bern couldn’t have over-looked it that time.

However, what he said, though mean-spirited, was inarguably true, and it made the Pevensies all that much more annoyed with their cousin. Edmund glared harder at the younger boy and hissed, “Was I ever as bad as you?” though he knew that he, indeed, had been far worse, as he’d betrayed his siblings, Aslan, and all of Narnia in his own time. For her part, Lucy seemed to sum it all up very well when she merely stated, “You are a pill, Eustace, an utter pill!”

Before the argument could escalate further, Lord Bern cut in with his own opinion on the matter. “I can only think that our King must have the look of his sire, King Caspian the Ninth, for Killian knew the King well, having fought by his side in many a campaign. The man is kind-hearted, and even if he did not recognize King Caspian, he would not keep the King a slave, I think. He would set him to working to relieve the debt paid to free him.” Bern seemed quite certain of his opinion of the extremely large Archenlander. “He’ll also not hurt a Beast of Narnia. If he did put the pair to work, when told who his newest worker are Killian will forgive the debt as well. Now,” and his tone effectively put an end to the discussion of Killian’s motives, “let us signal your ship.”