I am terribly sorry for the long wait. So much happened the last few weeks, but that's not a very good excuse. Before I continue the story, I want to thank all of you who reviewed. Nine reviews last chapter, that's a new record for me!!!

Disclaimer: I do not own anything. The Chronicles of Narnia belong to C.S. Lewis. No copyright infringement intended.

CHAPTER TEN

Caspian was feeling cold, hungery and lonely. He had no idea how long he had been held here and why Lord Vargos was keeping him here. All he could do was hope that someone would suspect that he was missing.

Had any of the Pevensies considered that he was gone for some time now. What about Lucy, she was always very perceptive and could easily see whether people were in need of help or someone to talk to. But that wasn't the same as seeing that someone had kidnapped another person.

Caspian sighed. His legs felt numb from sitting in the same position for too long. He tried to move into a more comfortable position, but as he did so the ropes around his wrist were cutting deeper into his flesh. A trickle of blood ran down his hand. He bit down on the gag in his mouth against the pain.

Caspian's thought were on Lord Vargos. How long was Lord Vargos planning on keeping him here? And what was he planning? Caspian thought it would probably have to do with the throne. Why else would he kidnap a king?

Was Lord Vargos planning on taking over the throne and continue what Miraz and his ancestors had done, killing the Narnians? Caspian was positive that the Narnians would fight with all they had to save their kingdom if it came to another war. Although Caspian hoped with all his heart that it would not come to that. The memories from the previous war were still too fresh in his mind.

At that moment the door opened and Lord Vargos stepped in. He stood right in front of Caspian and forced Caspian to look into his eyes. "I have some papers you need to sign. I will untie the rope, but don't you try and escape. There are guards outside and they won't let you live." Lord Vargos spoke with an ice cold voice.

Shivers ran down Caspian's back. Even though Lord Vargos warned him, he was trying to think of a way to disarm the lord and try to escape. But he didn't have any weapon to attack him.

Lord Vargos bent down and slowly untied the rope. As soon as Caspian's hands were free, he kicked Vargos. The lord stumbled back, but managed to keep his footing. At the same time Caspian stood up and tried to punch Lord Vargos in the face, but he saw the attack coming and grabbed Caspian's arm and twisted it behind his back. Caspian screamed out in pain, because the move had almost dislocated his shoulder.

Caspian managed to free his arm by a move he had learned from Peter, but before he could attack again two guards grabbed him and Lord Vargos hit him in the face. The guards were holding him tightly while Vargos landed some more punches in Caspian's face and stomach. Caspian breathed heavily and felt blood trickling down his face. His knees could hardly support his weight and as soon as the guards let him go his knees gave way.

"Now sign!" Lord Vargos yelled while he placed the papers in front of Caspian.

With a trembling hand Caspian signed the papers. He didn't have a clue what was in them, but at the moment the pain was preventing him from concentrating on the writings.

Vargos walked out and commanded his guards to tie up Caspian again, because he did not want another escape attempt.

When the guards had left, Caspian was lying on the floor with his hands tied behind his back again. The area round his left eye was swelling and his nose was bleeding. He felt a little nauseous, but there was nothing he could do at the moment.

He did not regret trying to escape, but he knew that he would never have another chance for he knew enough about Lord Vargos to know that he would be watched even more careful than before.

Caspian let out a deep sigh. How would he ever be able to get out? A feeling of depression washed over him and he felt tears stinging in his eyes. He tried to keep the tears back, because it was not very kingly to cry and he thought it was a sign of weakness.

His mind wandered to Peter. What would the High King have done in this situation? He probably wouldn't have gotten in such a situation, because Peter was a much better fighter than him. Why hadn't he told Peter about the way he felt for the High King? Now he might never have another chance to do so. Maybe this would have never happened, if he had just told Peter about his true feelings. In the back of his mind Caspian knew that it was just wishful thinking.

All he could hope for at the moment was that Peter and his siblings would find out what was happening and rescue him from this place. Where ever that might be.

The Pevensies were on their way to the treasury. Peter was thinking about everything he had to tell to Trufflehunter, Reepicheep, Trumpkin and the professor. Especially the conversation he had with Lord Vargos seemed to be in his mind and was making his alarm bells ring.

"Here it is," Reepicheep said

When Trumpkin wanted to open de door he noticed that the door was unlocked. "Beards and bedsteds, Peter was right. We are dealing with something very serious and dangerous."

The Pevensies looked at Trumpkin, because they weren't sure to what he was referring.

"What, what is it?" Edmund asked.

"The lock has been tampered with and there has been broken into the room," Trumpkin answered.

"Let's see if something is missing," Susan said.

When they entered the room nothing seemed out of place. There were four chests, one for each of the Pevensies. It reminded them a little of the vault in Cair Paravel.

Peter was the first to open his chest. In the chest were some of his clothes and his armour. Everything was neatly stored away and Peter noticed that nothing was missing. All his belongings were still here.

"My phail is missing!" Lucy exclaimed.

The others turned toward her.

"Why would someone steal your bottle of cordial?" Edmund asked.

"I don't know," Lucy answered.

"We need to go somewhere private and see what we can found about what is going on here," Trufflehunter said, "Reepicheep could you go and ask doctor Cornelius to meet us in the library. I think it would be convenient to have him with us as well."

"Yes, see you in a minute," Reepicheep replied.

"Is anyone else missing something?" Lucy asked.

"I seem to have everything. My clothes, my horn and even my bow and arrows are still here," Susan replied.

"Nothing missing here," Edmund joined in.

"Neither here," Peter confirmed.

"Well, let's go to the library and see if we can figure out what is going on."

The others agreed with Edmund and left the room carrying their most prized possessions. Silently they went down some corridors and up a few flights of stairs to enter the library. There were long rows of bookshelves and in the back of the room hidden behind some of the larger bookshelves there were a few tables and chairs.

Professor Cornelius was already waiting for them. They briefly filled him in about everything that they had the discovered the last few hours and were trying to think about what could possibly be going on and who had stolen Lucy's cordial.

"You know what doesn't make sense to me is why Caspian would leave a note, but not take his sword with him," Edmund said.

"Wait a minute," Peter said while taking Caspian's note out of his pocket, "remember that we thought Caspian had written it in a hurry, because the handwriting was difficult to read. What if he was forced to write it?"

"Are you suggesting that someone has kidnapped the king?" Trufflehunter asked.

"It would certainly give them some more time to get away with it, because we did not suspect that anything was wrong," Lucy pointed out.

"But who would want to kidnap Caspian and for what reasons?" Trumpkin asked.

"Well, there are still Telmarines who feel like Caspian should not be their king," Professor Cornelius said.

Peter who had been going over the events of the past few days could not get the conversation with Lord Vargos out of his head. "What about Lord Vargos?"

Doctor Cornelius looked at Peter and said, "He is one of the Lords who supported Miraz."

"Maybe you should tell him about the converstation you had with him," Edmund said.

"I should," Peter agreed and continued on with relating what had happened a few days ago. When he had finished they had to decide how to find out what exactly was going on.

"Okay, so right now he is our most likely suspect," Trufflehunter said.

"I guess the best idea is to shadow him. I mean he is still in the castle, let's see what he is doing," Susan suggested.

"That's very dangerous. He is a clever man and if we aren't very careful we might endanger Caspian's life," Cornelius said.

"I can do it!" Reepicheep offered, "I am small and can easily get into his chambers."

"Okay, that sounds like a plan. Let's try this," Edmund said.

To be continued

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