Shut Your Eyes

My head was throbbing when I woke up. I imagined I was either in the hospital, knocked out from the fight unknowingly, or somewhere I didn't know. I felt around on the ground to see if I really was in a hospital, only to feel spiny grass and small pebbles.

"You there!" A voice called out to me, it echoed in my head and resonated a pain I've never known.

I groaned and held my head.

"What's your name, girl?" The voice asked, louder and closer this time.

I took deep breaths to relax. "Could you speak quieter please? I think I've hurt my head." I remembered saying, before passing out again into delicious, pain free oblivion.

-x-

When I awoke this time, I was some where half warm, half cold. My feet were toasty, but my arms were freezing. I couldn't figure out where I was until I opened my eyes.

The light was too bright at first, of course. As my eyes adjusting I became aware of two things, one I was sitting in a bed in some kind of stone building. Two, there were bandages around my head and I felt drowsy, somebody had taken care of my injury and given me pain medication.

I looked around some more, taking in minor details. The door was wooden. The sheets were strange with intricate patterns woven into them. The decorations and furniture in the room were medieval looking.

I was so caught up in studying the room that I hadn't noticed a person walk in.

"Hello?" Asked a man from the doorway.

I turned my head to him too fast, and hurt my neck a bit. The man sighed and pushed some of his dark hair out of his face. I noticed the lovely caramel colour of his skin, and became a bit jealous.

"I don't want to have to administer anymore medication to you until I know who you are, girl." He told me.

The man looked middle aged, bits of gray sprinkling his dark hair. He looked spanish and he talked with a bit of an accent.

"Where am I?" I asked in a strange voice.

The man scrutinized me from his doorway, before taking a cautious step forward.

"Narnia, of course." He replied in a simple manner, taking another step forward.

I was immediately alarmed, "And just where is that? Asia? South America? Where is Narnia?" I fired questions at him.

The man gave me a strange look, "Beside Archenland? On the Eastern Sea?"

I looked down, trying to think about how I got here. I remembered the train station being eerily quiet, and all the walls turning a sky blue before disappearing and falling.

Well, I concluded in my head, I must be loony or magical.

"My name is Charlotte." I spoke quietly.

The man nodded. "I'm General Glozelle."

It was silent for a moment, Glozelle shifted uncomfortably.

"What land are you of?" He asked me.

I pretended to think about it, getting more and more frantic, after all I couldn't really tell anybody here where I was from until I knew who to trust.

"I...can't remember." I said slowly, acting confused.

I hoped dearly that Glozelle assumed I was generally theatrical and saw past my poor attempt at acting.

"Oh," He replied. "And how old are you?"

I looked down, "Sixteen."

Glozelle looked taken aback. He turned to walk out the door.

"I'll be back later with food, Lord Miraz will decide what to do with you." He told me, walking away.

I shivered, but I wasn't sure it was because I was cold.

-x-

Glozelle walked swiftly into the office Miraz was working in, stopping before his superior's desk.

Miraz looked up from his papers, a grim look upon his face.

"Well?" He asked.

Glozelle gave him a hard look, "The girl has awaken, sir."

Miraz looked into the distance, "Who is she?" He snapped.

"Her name is Charlotte, she claims to not know where she's from. She's but 16 years old, sir. What do you command?"

Miraz tossed ideas around in his head. "We're down on recruits for the royal guard program, enlist her for that once she's better." He replied.

Glozelle bowed, and walked away quickly to set up the girl's enrollment right away, knowing Miraz and his patience.

-x-

I was picking at the paint on the dresser beside me when Glozelle returned to my room. He walked to the chair by the end of my bed and sat awkwardly, looking at me with a skeptical eye.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

I shrugged. "I'm bored."

Glozelle smiled faintly. "You remind me of my daughter a little, Charlotte."

I smiled a little at the mention of a family. "Yeah? How old is she?" I asked.

Glozelle looked down. "She died eight years ago. She would be sixteen now, were she still alive."

I coughed awkwardly. "Oh. Sorry." I replied.

Glozelle shrugged. "It was a long time ago."

We both looked around the room.

"So.." I said, "What's going on? With me, I mean."

Glozelle looked at me with a scrutinizing eye again, "You're to be enrolled in a royal guard program once you are healed."

I mulled the sound of that in my head.

"Royal guard program?" My stomach flip flopped at the name. "What's that?"

Glozelle sighed. "You are trained by the very best instructors of defense and attack with a variety of weapons, you are tested for...ahem...compatibility within the royal family and advisers, and you are assigned a person to protect at all costs."

"Compatibility?" I asked, noticing his verbal stumble.

Glozelle nodded. "Most people train about 3 months, since the contenders are mostly female it takes them longer to grasp the concepts than regular males would."

I nodded and thought about myself handling a sword...ooh. Maybe not.

"How well trained are the women entering the program?" I asked.

Glozelle thought a little, "Usually they have little to none. Our tutors are high class and intelligent, they create warriors out of housewives." He added with a small smile.

I laughed a little.

"I might be a special case. As you can tell, I'm not the most graceful girl." I replied, pointing to my head.

I pulled a blonde lock out of my ponytail to speculate my hair colour once more, when I noticed it had red streaking it.

"Um...would it be too much trouble to get me a bath?" I asked, gesturing to my literally strawberry blonde hair.

Glozelle nodded. "Given your circumstances." He replied with a smile.

I snorted. "Yeah. Given my circumstances."

Glozelle's smile widened. "You won't want to use sarcasm while training under the royal guard tutors."

I gave him a suspicious look. "Why not?" I asked.

"I heard they like to give extra strength and endurance training to the snippy ones." He replied.

I sighed. "I'll take 'em."

Glozelle stood from his chair with a chuckle.

"I'll go inquire about that bath." He said before leaving.

I sighed and went back to picking the wall. At least there'll be something to do here after I've healed.