Hi there, I really hope you enjoy this story, it's been waiting in the dark recesses of my mind for a long time.
Five years after the defeat of the White Witch
High King Peter Pevensie looked out the window of his chambers as blossoms swirled around the courtyard. A smile graced his lips as he watched the petals dance in the breeze. A smile that disappeared as he turned back to his desk, covered in official documents and assorted requests that only the high king could approve. Peter sighed as he picked up the first of a large stack of reports that had only just arrived from the borders. As he sorted through them, he filed their main topics away in the back of his mind.
"Northern giants are getting unruly again. Telmarine pirates raiding the shoreline. Calormene horsemen seen scouting the desert border." Peter looked up at the young faun that currently served as his aide.
"Philon, summon general Oreius, there are matters I must discuss with him." Philon bowed and swiftly left the room, narrowly avoiding a collision with King Edmund. Ed looked into the room and at the desk piled with papers. He shook his head, knowing full well what his brother was doing.
"Come on Peter, you need to eat some breakfast. How else will you stay your merry, cheerful self?" Peter raised an eyebrow at the sarcasm in the younger Kings voice. Ed continued, undaunted. "I've already prepared a solution for most of those border problems anyway. I'll tell it to you over breakfast." Peter just stared.
"You do know that I just sent Philon to fetch Oreius so we could discuss these very border problems you say you have a solution for, don't you?" Edmund smiled sheepishly.
"Yes, but you still need to eat something. I'll have Oreius meet you in the kitchen. Now go, I don't care if you're the High King." Peter relented, and made his way down to the castle's kitchen where several young girls were working. A few of them looked over at him and all but squealed at the thought of working around him.
"Elda?" Peter said, looking around. One of the girls who had remained quiet stepped over. Her eyes twinkled with hidden laughter, which Peter knew was directed at both the girls giggling their heads off to the side, and at him for being forced to come down here. Peter realized that Ed must have informed her of what he was doing. Elda looked him over for a moment.
"So King Edmund convinced you to get down here at last eh. Didn't take him as long as I thought, what with how stubborn you are." The other girls gasped at how blunt she was with the high king. She seemed to show no respect for him. Elda continued. "What have you been doing up there in your office? Starving yourself by the looks of it. By the Lion you're as thin as a twig. Can't have that, sit down over there, I'll have something brought over immediately." Peter did as he was told, much to the surprise of the girls. As he watched a younger girl stepped out of the pantry, maybe a little younger than he was.
"Lady Elda, I've finished the inventory you asked for." She said, uncertainty laced her voice, Peter thought that he had never heard a prettier sound. Elda bustled over to her and placed her hand on the girls shoulder.
"Now Anna, what have I told you about confidence. I have absolute faith in your abilities girl, I want you to reflect that." Anna looked at the ground. Her shoulders beginning to tremble. Elda suddenly wrapped the girl in her arms. "Now, now dear. We can't have your pretty face stained with tears in front of the High King. He might decide that you aren't able to handle the kitchens, and move you to some other position. Maybe serving one of the queens, though that might be a blessing from Aslan for you." Peter stood and walked over.
"Elda, do you..." He never got the chance to finish as Elda glared at him.
"Now don't you worry your head off about this little one, you've enough on your shoulders already, and I won't be letting you add her problems to yours. Let one of the queens come down here and see about taking her as a servant for one of them. Now you go sit down and wait for your food or there'll be whacks with the rolling pin for you." Peter grinned as he went back to his seat in the corner. He had no doubt Elda would carry through with the threat, as she had in the past.
"My lord. King Edmund said that you would be down here, although I didn't expect to see you on the business end of one of Elda's lectures." Peter smiled at Oreius as the centaur took a seat next to the table and rested his arms on the wooden surface. He followed Peter's gaze to Anna's form as she hurried around, trying to keep up with Elda's orders.
"Oreius, remind me to talk to my sisters about possibly having that girl transferred to one of them." Oreius looked over his shoulder.
"I may not have to remind you." Peter looked at him curiously before the elegant figure of his sister caught his eye.
"What's this about having a girl transferred to me or Lucy?" Peter pointed to Anna's form. Susan immediately saw what he meant. "Elda." She called. The cook hurried over to them, placing a bowl of stew in front of Peter.
"Now you eat that right down. It won't do to have the High King of Narnia thin as a stick. Now what was it you wanted lady Susan?" Susan pointed to Anna.
"That girl, how is she handling the kitchen work?" Elda's face fell slightly.
"Not as well as I'd hoped. She's a delicate creature she is. Probably more suited to being one of your maids than kitchen help. She's a fine girl, but too soft-spoken for down here. I think this environment terrifies her." Susan caught the girl staring at them and motioned her over with a smile.
"Then we shall have to help the situation, won't we?" Elda nodded, a gentle smile adorning her face. Anna looked at them, fear evident in her eyes. Susan frowned when she saw it. "Come now girl, we're not going to hurt you, just the opposite. I was wondering if you would prefer life as a maid to this busy kitchen?" Anna's eyes displayed her shock.
"Do you mean that, milady?" she asked, her eyes hopeful. At Susan's nod she started chewing her lip slightly and looked sown at her toes. "But what if milady decides that I'm unsuited to that work as well?" Susan looked at her, gentleness radiating from her eyes.
"I doubt that will happen, you seem far more suited to a more relaxed environment. And my maids usually have a great deal of time for relaxation. I'm sure you'll do fine." Peter cut in.
"As fascinating as the conversation is, I must go. I have matters that must be discussed with Oreius and Edmund." Susan waved him off with a warm smile, then turned back to Anna and Elda. Peter walked out of the kitchen and made straight for his office, with Oreius in tow. Edmund was already present and was looking at several documents when they entered the room.
"Ah, there you are. I was beginning to wonder how long Elda was going to keep you." Peter shot an annoyed look, which went ignored. "Peter, the situation in the Ettinmoors has deteriorated to the point that we need a constant watch there, but one that is subtle, and we have no such force. And the Calormene riders that have been seen scouting the border of Archenland you already know about, and we have no force that can dissuade them." He threw the papers onto his desk. "I'm getting so frustrated trying to find a way to take care of these shortcomings in our forces that I'm about ready to just declare a state of war and be done with this dancing about." Peter watched as his brother raged on about how their current forces were neither ready nor trained for the task they found themselves assigned.
"There's not much we can do Ed. You and I both know that. We can only search for a solution." Ed nodded, his shoulders still trembling with his anger at his helplessness. Their meeting was interrupted as Lucy burst into the room.
"Aslan's here." Peter and Edmund stared at her in shock. Edmund was the first to recover.
"Are you sure?" Lucy nodded her head vigorously. "Okay, okay, no needed to shake your head off your shoulders." Lucy's smile faded as she glared at Edmund. Peter though, had only just recovered from what he had heard.
"Lucy, where is he?" Lucy didn't look at him as she spoke.
"In the courtyard, with a..." She turned to find Peter already gone, the door swinging on its hinges, and Oreius staring after him.
Peter raced into the open courtyard, and immediately came to a halt. A large number of men, clad in green, hooded cloaks and holding great longbows stood next to the Lion, who turned as Peter stared.
"Mathias, I present to you and your men, the High King Peter the Magnificent of Narnia, and his brother, King Edmund the Just." All the cloaked figures bowed to the two kings. Peter could only stare. Edmund, however, managed to gather enough of his wits to satiate his curiosity.
"Aslan, while it is good to see you, I can't help but wonder who these men are." Aslan let out a laugh, full of cheer that warmed the hearts of those who heard it.
"These men are the Narnian Rangers Edmund. They will be your scouts, your spies, and your silent watchers. They are stealthier than the dryads, and as accurate with their bows and Queen Susan is." As luck would have it, Susan had stepped into the courtyard just in time to hear the last comment.
"May I test them on that then?" she asked, an innocent smile adorning her face.
"Of course. Mathias, choose your best man." The ranger nodded, though it was barely visible beneath his hood. "And reveal your faces so that the Kings and Queens may know you." Mathias removed his hood as he spoke, motioning for the other rangers to follow suit. All but one revealed their faces.
"Yes sir. Braden! You will be the one to face the Queens skill." The one man who had not showed his face stepped forward. Lucy stepped forward immediately.
"Aslan said to show your face, so you should." The man made no move of any kind, simply staring at the young queen. Lucy, unused to being ignored, reached up to try and pull his hood down, but was unable to reach it as the man stepped backwards.
"Hold still!" her brothers started to chuckle as Lucy began to chase him around the courtyard, the ranger always staying just out of her reach. Susan giggled then joined her sister in the chase. Aslan laughed at the sight of the Queens of Narnia chasing after a ranger who wouldn't remove his hood. A simple misstep caused Susan to trip and fall, right on top of the man, who went down with her. Susan found herself staring into cold blue eyes fringed with sandy brown hair. As she stared, she became aware of her brothers howling with laughter, Aslans deep, warming laugh, and the numerous chuckles of the rangers around them. She stood up quickly and recovered her bow.
"I suppose we should carry on with the test, shall we?" Susan's statement only made her brothers laugh harder as she walked to one end of the courtyard. The young ranger, after replacing his hood, followed her. Susan took up her position, her face still burning, and fired off her first shot after taking a moment to aim. The arrow arced through the air and planted itself in the bull's-eye. A smirk etched itself in her face as Braden stepped up to the mark. His longbow hung in his hand, his body completely relaxed. Susan watched as his figure swayed with the slight breeze, wondering when he was going to take aim.
"How can he hit anything if he doesn't aim?" Lucy's voice cut through the air. In the moment it took to finish her question, Braden moved. His hand shot up and pulled a heavy, black arrow from the quiver as his bow came up. Without pause, he knocked the arrow, drew the bow back, and fired. Susan was breathless, she had seen his hands move, but had been unable to keep up with them. The arrow had been fired before her mind could even register that his hand had held an arrow. Looking down the range, she gasped at what she saw. The rangers arrow had not only struck the bull's-eye, but had split her arrow down the center.
"How did he do that?" her thought went unanswered as she took her position once again. As she drew her bow back, she was vaguely aware of him watching her. As she fired, she thought she saw movement from his position, and turned to face him. His bow was up, and his hand in a position to have released an arrow, but she couldn't imagine what he had been aiming at. Looking to her brothers, she let a triumphant smirk cross her face. Then she noticed their expressions. Shock and disbelief were etched across their faces. Looking back at the targets, she realized that her arrow was nowhere to be seen. She began wondering what could have happened. She had aimed correctly, taken the wind into account, the arrow should have pierced the target. It was then that she noticed that Braden was walking across the range to a large oak that stood to the side. Adorning the center of a knot on the trees side was a black arrow, piercing through the shaft of a smaller, lighter arrow, her arrow. She could only stare in awe as Braden pulled his arrow from the tree, then pulled her arrow from his. As he walked past her, he placed her arrow in her limp hand.
"Pride always leads to humiliation." He said. Susan couldn't respond as he walked back to the rest of the rangers and took his place among them. Aslan turned to Peter.
"Well, what do you think?" Peter quickly recovered his senses and looked at the men.
"Very impressive. If all of them perform as well, they will be a valuable asset to Narnia's forces."
Aslan nodded, his mane ruffled by the breeze.
"And so they are yours to command. King Edmund." Aslan turned to Edmund, who had managed to scrape his jaw off the flagstones and return it to its proper place.
"Yes Aslan?"
"I trust you know where they are needed."
"Yes sir. Their talents shall not go to waste." Aslan smiled before turning to the gate.
"Then I must go, take care, all of you." The siblings watched as the Lion walked out of the gate and disappeared. Edmund turned to Mathias.
"Commander Mathias." The older ranger straightened as the Just King turned to him. "Come with me, we must discuss the deployment of your forces. You may dismiss your men to the barracks for now, they will be briefed as soon as our business is complete." Mathias snapped his hand to his chest as he bowed.
"Of course your excellency." Turning to his men he made several hand signs, and the rangers began to disperse. Mathias then turned to follow Edmund into the main keep.
Susan watched as Braden made his way not to the barracks, but to a tree near the wall. She stared as he swung himself up the tree and onto the wall itself. She jumped as Peter appeared next to her.
"If you want to talk to him, at least take the stairs, you're not as agile as he is." Susan could feel the blush heating up her face.
"And what makes you think I want to talk to him?" Peter glanced at his sister, knowing her well enough to keep his thoughts to himself. Instead, he simply shrugged and walked inside.
Oh boy, sparks are already flying. Please leave a review to let me know what you think.