chapter 32

                                    

                                          
Chapter 32
Dueling and Denial
"Come on!"
"Get him!"
"Run him through, Your Majesty!"
Dahlia and Lucy sat on barrels by the side of the ship watching Caspian and Edmund move about the deck, swords clashing as the crew of the Dawn Treader cheered them on. Dahlia leaned back against the railing and moved her legs so she sat criss-cross atop her barrel, laughing as Edmund hastily ducked a swing from Caspian's blade. 
"Lia." Dahlia drew her eyes away from the fight and turned to Lucy, who leaned closer to the mage so she could be heard over the shouts of the crew. "You know when I asked Caspian about trying to find a queen, he looked at you," the queen said with a sly smile.
"No, he did not," the mage replied, the expression on her face more hopeful than disbelieving. She spared a glance at the ongoing fight over her shoulder; the smile on her face was impossible to miss and Lucy refused to leave her alone.
"I swear he did! I wouldn't lie to you about this, Lia," Lucy continued, wishing Edmund or Drinian was beside her to back her up. She knew what she saw; she and Susan had noticed it even before they left Dahlia and Caspian three Narnian years ago.
"You, my dear Lucy, must be seeing things," Dahlia said, uncrossing her legs and leaning forward to rest her elbows on her thighs as she refocused on the fight. Lucy groaned, raising her head towards the sky.
"Aslan give me strength," the young queen muttered to herself, smacking Dahlia's arm to regain the mage's attention. "Could you please stop being oblivious for two seconds?" Lucy was practically pleading by that point, but Dahlia still didn't believe her - a part of her clearly wanted to, but Lucy was right. She was oblivious.
"Yeah, alright," the mage said, only half listening as she watched the fight cease. Drinian called for the crew to get back to work and Edmund came to join the girls by the railing; Lucy decided to let the topic of Caspian drop for the time being. "Oh, I meant to ask earlier, how are Peter and Susan doing?" Dahlia asked as Edmund leaned against the railing next to her, taking a swig of water from a cup given to him by one of the crew.
"Well, I suppose," Lucy answered while Edmund caught his breath, still tired from the fight. "They're in America for right now." Dahlia vaguely waved a hand in an 'I have no idea what you're talking about' sort of way; even after knowing the Pevensies for so long, her knowledge of their world was spotty. "Right, sorry. They're in another country."
"Ah, alright then," Dahlia said, head tilted up in a half nod of understanding. "Be sure to give them my love when you return. Not that you should rush back though!" the mage quickly added, grabbing Lucy's wrist and turning her head to look at Edmund. "Please stay as long as you'd like, it's wonderful to have you here again." Edmund squeezed her shoulder and nodded; meanwhile, Lucy's gaze had strayed to the ocean.
"Hey, do you think if we keep sailing to the end of the world, we'll just...tip off the edge?" Lucy said, laughing a bit towards the end as if even she didn't believe she was asking such a thing. Dahlia, suddenly imagining a massive waterfall with an infinite drop, grimaced and said nothing.
"Don't worry, Lu. We're a long way from there," Edmund said, noticing Dahlia's discomfort at the idea.
"I see you're still talking nonsense, the two of you." The trio looked over to see that Eustace had emerged from the hatch leading below deck. The boy spotted Dahlia among his cousins and stumbled, quickly moving to stand next to Edmund to put something between himself and the mage; Dahlia noticed this and rolled her eyes.
"I'm not going to hurt you, you know," the mage said irritatedly as she looked around Edmund at the boy. Eustace was standing with his arms crossed, clearly trying to just pretend Dahlia wasn't there. Unfortunately for him, she very much was there. "And you can't honestly believe they're talking nonsense considering where you are and how you got here." Again, nothing. Dahlia looked up at Edmund, exasperated and wanting nothing more than to shove the new boy overboard. Edmund just sighed and took another sip of water, perfectly content to ignore Eustace the way Eustace was ignoring Dahlia.
"Are you feeling better?" Lucy asked, ever the considerate one.
"Yes, no thanks to you," Eustace replied snootily. Dahlia put her face in her hands; even his voice was annoying. "It's lucky I have an iron constitution." 
"As effervescent as ever, I see." The group turned to see Reepicheep standing on the rigging; he jumped down and settled on Dahlia's shoulder (she straightened her posture so the mouse could balance easier), peering down at Eustace. "Found your sea legs?"
"Never lost them," Eustace replied, even though Dahlia couldn't imagine the boy doing anything more dangerous than crossing the road by himself let alone sailing. "Simply dealing with the shock of things. Mother says I have an acute disposition, due to my intelligence." Edmund nearly choked to death on his water.
"I don't think he has 'a cute' anything," Reepicheep muttered into Dahlia's ear while the mage patted Edmund hard on the back. Dahlia stifled a laugh as the mouse moved to sit on a barrel beside Lucy, nodding respectfully at Caspian as the king approached.
"I'll have you know, as soon as we find civilization I'm contacting the British Consul," Eustace said, pointing a finger at all of them accusingly as he stood up and walked away. Dahlia gave Edmund a look of 'Is he serious?' to which he just shook his head and sighed. "I'll have you all arrested for kidnapping!" Eustace, not looking where he was going, then ran straight into Caspian's chest.
"Kidnapping, is it? That's funny. I thought we saved your life," Caspian replied, staring the boy down with a smirk on his face. Dahlia raised an eyebrow; she'd been the one to pull Eustace out of the water, not Caspian. And she was definitely regretting that decision.
"Actually, I did. Technically," Dahlia said, standing up and walking over to Caspian. She leaned an arm on his shoulder- a bit of a stretch but it wasn't the first time she'd done it- and stared menacingly at Eustace. Caspian would've said something back but Eustace was apparently not done making a scene.
"You held me against my will!" the boy yelled, waving his arms wildly as he spoke.
"Ha!" Reepicheep exclaimed, leaning against the ship's railing with his arms crossed.
"Did I?" Caspian said, casting an amused glance at Dahlia. The mage laughed quietly, hanging her head as the boy continued.
"In, what I must say, are the most unhygienic quarters. It's like a- it's like a zoo down there!"
"He's quite the complainer, isn't he?" Reepicheep wondered aloud, looking up at the Pevensies.
"He's just warming up," Edmund replied, glancing at Dahlia as Eustace opened his mouth to complain some more.
"Yeah alright, I'm done," Dahlia muttered to herself. She patted Caspian on the chest (the king stopped breathing for a second) and stepped towards Eustace, poking a finger in the boy's chest. He took a few clumsy steps backward, anxious to get away from her, but she just stalked after him. "Listen up, Scrubb. You may be related to my friends here so I can't, in good conscience, use my powers to harm you. Be thankful for that." Eustace nodded frantically, looking over Dahlia's shoulder at Caspian as if the king would call for Dahlia to back off; he didn't. "But keep being a pain in the ass and I may just push you back off this ship and hope you find your own way home. Magic may be off the table, but gravity is perfectly natural." Pleased with the terrified look on his face Dahlia leaned away from the boy and shuffled back over to Caspian, shooting Edmund a wink before she turned around.
"Land ho!" someone yelled from the crow's nest. Caspian ran up the steps to the helm of the ship, Dahlia floating after him and landing beside Drinian. She recognized the shape of the island from far away. It was a place she'd only been a few times since the start of the Golden Age, and returning was just as difficult every time.
It was Narrowhaven.