Forever Praying

The morning light hadn’t even surfaced yet as Candide was brutally awoken by someone yelling her name and the sound of men walking around and talking. Rubbing her eyes and shaking her head to get rid of the sleep that plagued her mind, she got up and yawned. She wanted to go back to sleep, but the sudden realisation that she would meet King Caspian, and possibly Narnian creatures that day seemed to erase all of this. She got out of the tent and before she even knew it, three men were already packing the sheets inside and folding the tent once more.

“We have to get going. There’s some kind of feud between fauns and ogres not too far from here and we don’t want to get caught in the middle of it. Pardon me, for the rude awakening, Princess.” Christopher was telling the woman all of this while packing his bag on his horse, not even taking the time to turn and look at her.

“I forgive you, Sir Christopher. Can I do anything to help?” Candide was trying to smooth out her hair at the same time, trying to keep up with the subject of her conversation while men were running between them, trying to get everything packed in record time.

“No, I don’t think you can. Just go and don’t get yourself into trouble, please.” The young woman glared at the man, who had finally deigned to turn around but with a smirk on his face. Breathing out heavily, she turned around and headed towards Callisto, trying to remain upright in the darkness as roots seemed to spring under her feet. She hadn’t seen Alexander yet that morning, which put a damper on her mood but the excitement that not far from herself there were magical creatures seemed to cancel it out.

The young princess bit her lip, adrenaline now rushing through her veins. Every man in the camp was far too busy to notice her, and she was sure that even at their speed it would take another while to get ready. She turned her head quickly; blonde hair whipping in her face as she did so, to look at the place where sounds could faintly be heard. They were definitely the sounds of a battle, the cries and yells that sliced through the dawn were great indicators of this.

Looking one last time behind her, she re-routed her track so that she was now headed directly for the battle. It wasn’t as if she wanted to take place in it, or even try to break it –she knew she had absolutely no chance in surviving if she did that- she just wanted to see the fauns and the ogres. Sadly, she had never seen any of those creatures, or any other magical creature for that matter except for some rare animals that she had crossed that could speak.

Candide didn’t fear losing her way, since both parties both in front and behind her were quite noisy, she was more afraid of tripping and hurling down some unnoticed hole. She did trip twice, but nothing seemed to notice that and the only sign that she had tripped was the morning dew on her dress and the subtle signs of dirt.

Morning was finally beginning to arrive when the young woman finally reached her destination. The noises of the battle that she had heard were only louder here, although now she could hear the scuffling of feet beneath the ground and she could smell the blood, sweat and smoke from what looked like a bonfire in the air.

She couldn’t make out much, honestly, maybe it was because of the darkness or the fact that the masses of bodies moved too quickly for her to define anything too detailed. Candide could only make out the fauns from the ogres, although that was fairly easy. The fauns had the torso and face of humans, their legs those of goats. It was a very different sight than those of the ogres, who looked exactly like the monsters in children’s books. Humanoids with their legs and arms, but completely monstrous with every other aspect, especially their pointed teeth that seemed as if they could eat through anything.

The ogres were obviously winning and as the young woman could see the fauns were only trying to get away from the dreaded place. The young woman bit her lip, an anguished expression on her face. She knew she couldn’t do anything to help, really, but the fact that she still wanted to go and run in the battle to protect the fauns was very prominent. She was crouched behind a bush now, staying out of view but in a way that she still had a clear view of the battle. It was horrible, the ogres were just killing fauns everywhere, some of them having stopped to eat their fallen prey. It was a completely disgusting and horrifying sight, but Candide couldn’t seem to look away.

The feeling she had didn’t disappear, but only became more intense as she continued to watch. The final straw was when a faun, which still looked like an infant, fell to the ground, close to where she was hiding. He was badly hurt, one of his legs crooked in an angle that shouldn’t be and his arm bleeding profusely. When she looked at its face, she saw the hopelessness in it and the tears in its eyes, and then their eyes connected and everything seemed to evaporate from Candide’s mind. She needed to save this faun, whatever the cost.

The young woman knew it wasn’t her brightest moment, and that she may well lose her life while doing it, but none of this mattered to her as she jumped out from behind the bush and into the battle. The minute she was there, she knew she had to act quickly. Many of those who were fighting near her had stopped, looking at the new member of the fight, neither knowing if she was friend or foe of their side. Candide didn’t take a second to even look at the others, grabbing the injured faun close to her and trying to drag it back into the forest. She grabbed his armpits, pulling him and trying to ignore the cry of pain that emitted from it as she managed to pull him a few steps. The princess, whose dress was now ruined and whose hair was flying everywhere, looked up to see two ogres running towards her, a few fauns running after them as if to try and stop them. Time seemed to slow down, giving Candide a chance to notice the things she hadn’t the time for yet. She could hear voices of men yelling her name, the way the earth vibrated underneath her because of the battle around her, the way the young faun beneath her was looking at her with slight hope, yet pity. Candide knew she was about to die.

Suddenly, though, the ogres stopped dead in their tracks. The young woman didn’t understand their reasoning as she stood frozen in place, but then she noticed that almost every creature had stopped what they were doing and were looking to the left. And then, Candide heard it, too: the sound of hooves stomping the ground, and the cry of war that broke through the now, silent forest. Relief washed over Candide, but it ended too quickly as she thought that maybe these were humans, but maybe they were just as cruel as these ogres.

Then, out of the branches and trees a small army of men erupted, probably counting around forty, and then they were all in the fight, killing ogres everywhere Candide looked. It didn’t seem real; it was as if she was apart from it in some way. But then a hand appeared in front of her, and she looked up to see a knight propped on magnificent horse. His face was hidden by the shadow of the tree, but she didn’t think twice before taking the hand and mounting the beast, securing herself by wrapping her slender arms around the muscled figure.

“Wait!” Candide yelled, as the rider made the horse walk where the rest of the men were finishing up the job.

“What is it?” the voice of the man questioned, and she couldn’t help but notice how calming it was.

“We have to save that faun!” she replied, pointing at the injured faun. The rider turned his head, looking at the men. They had finished killing the last of the ogres, while most of the fauns had ran away. Candide recognized a few of the men that were with them yesterday and more that she didn’t know. She finally saw Christopher and Alexander though, and she could feel a sigh of relief reaching her lips. The young woman didn’t think she’d see them again.

“Yes, it’s over now. We can go take care of him, as you’ve apparently tried to do. That was a very brave thing you did, but maybe next time you should come with a weapon or some sort of protection.”

A small smile crossed Candide’s face as she instantly knew that she liked this man. He almost treated her like her father did, not any different just because she was a woman and for that she was quite grateful. She wished she could see his face though; all that she had seen of it was the silky brown hair that seemed as if it almost reached his shoulders.

They made the horse walk back towards the faun, and the man jumped off of the beast while Candide watched curiously. He picked up the injured faun carefully, as if he was a man of medicine, and when he turned around, Candide almost couldn’t hold in the gasp that threatened to escape. The man was absolutely stunning. The way his brown eyes seemed to be pierce straight through her, the way his jaw was well defined, his lips stretched into a tired smile as he looked at her. He was the most beautiful man she had ever seen, and she didn’t even know his name.

He placed the faun in front of Candide, and she secured it by putting her arm around its waist. He seemed unconscious now, which the young woman knew was probably a good thing; at least he couldn’t feel the pain of being moved. The man led the horse through the bodies of both ogres and fauns to the men who were now looking at them. The minute they arrived close enough, Christopher strode to the horse and glared at Candide.

“You can’t go wandering off like that, especially where a battle is taking place! Don’t be so stupid next time!” Candide bit her lip, looking down as shame washed over her like a waterfall.

“Knight! Don’t talk to a princess like that, certainly not one as intelligent and caring as this one. Please return to your men.” the man who had been leading the horse, said. Candide turned her head and smiled gratefully at the man who returned it with a happy one of his own. “I don’t think I introduced myself, Princess. I am Caspian, king of Narnia.”