[A] An Ominous Horizon {Plot - Part One} [Finished]

Part One

Caspian woke early that morning, the dampness in the air slightly unnerving. The last thing they needed at present was a storm, though if a little bit of rain was to come their way, who was he to fight it? He could do nothing about it and worrying over such an unpredictable thing as the rain or a storm was a foolish thing indeed. Still, it seemed as though he was worrying about everything as of late, and the prospect of disagreeable weather was going to nag at him for the rest of the day, he was certain. Climbing from his bed, he could not help but sigh at the memory of his old life. Indeed, he was happy to be here and happy to help but...

He missed his younger days; carefree days with nothing more to worry about then whether or not his tutors lessons would run long. He could remember soft, fluffy pillows and delicious cakes and pastries. His mouth watered at the mere memory. And of course there were the parties - elaborate parties in which Caspian was always looked up with an adoring smile when he was younger, and then with hope when he was a little older. Every woman with young daughters hoped to parade their girls around before him in the slim chance he might take a liking to one of them. After all, did not everyone wish to further their status? To marry a royal, a prince, the heir to Narnia no less... what an honour that would be!

Caspian had taken very little interest in any of them, much to both his uncle's dismay and the dismay of the many advisors and nobles of the court. That wasn't to say he hadn't found any of them pretty, but he certainly hadn't found any of them to be genuine, to be actually interested in him. He had known from a young age he would be doomed to have a wife chosen for him by his uncle - his own wishes in a wife were far too high to be attainable, or so he was told. So he never saw much use in actively looking.

He left his tent after a quick breakfast of toast and eggs - someone had left him his food outside his tent. Probably in order to let the young Prince sleep... it was obvious that he needed it. When he chanced a glance up at the sky, he bit his lip in concern. Above the camp and to the west, dark storm clouds were gathering. He could feel the cooling of the wind and shivered. Not a good sign, not a good sign at all. Still, the gathering storm was a ways away yet; they had some time to make sure all the tents were put down properly and that everything was put in it's place.

Still... a storm? A most ominous sign indeed. How long would it last? Would it cause much damage to the camp? Everything that they had here they needed; they weren't living in luxury, surrounded by extras. No, they had only the necessities and to lose anything at this point would be absolutely horrible. Frowning slightly, Caspian glanced around the camp at the beings he had come to view as friends, as family. He never would have thought such a thing possible - there were flying horses, dwarves, unicorns, bears, giants, mice... but despite the petty arguments, everyone stood together when it was most important. They were all fighting this battle together; Caspian was not on his own in this. It was a good feeling.

Wondering what the best thing to do would be, Caspian glanced around feeling quite useless indeed. He really did not know much about this whole war thing - if he had had to do all of this on his own, they would have failed miserably by now. But there were so many here who were far more knowledgeable than him... he was forever indebted to them.

Not wishing to stand there with trouble brewing in the sky, he set off to seek the advice of someone who might know better what ought to be done before the storm approached. He knew one thing: he wouldn't wish to still be standing outside his tent when the rain started to fall.