Author's note. I am going with movie verse on this one, partly inspired by the amazing job Pierfrancesco Favino did with the part of General Glozelle. I do know that there are a couple other one-shots dealing with this character, but I made a point not to read them until I finished with this, so if there is overlap, it is not intentional. This story does however involve my other Prince Caspian one-shot, "Broken Promise". This story is NOT SLASH and is not intended to be seen as such!! Many thanks to elecktrum for betaing!
Disclaimer, these characters aren't mine. Anything you don't know already from the books or movie is mine, however.
No Free Man, I
He owns me, body and soiled soul. I am no slave but I'm hardly free either. I was young and foolish when Miraz first entrapped me. To be honest it was my own cowardly fault.
It started out with a drunken argument between me and another guardsman. I still don't remember what it was we were fighting over, likely the attentions of a barmaid with no interest in either of us. I do remember going from drunk to stone sober when I saw my comrade dead at my feet with my dagger in his chest. My mind started racing like a rat in a trap. What was I to do? I was a murderer now and not yet nineteen. I had thought my life was over when the king's youngest son stepped from the shadows of the alley to confront me. I knew that Prince Miraz would turn me over to the guard and I could do nothing to prevent it.
But to my shock the prince leaned down and grabbed the dead man's arm and started dragging the body away.
"Are you not going to help me?" Miraz asked in an arch tone.
I stumbled to my feet and picked up my foe's legs. The prince didn't say a word throughout the whole dark journey to the river, where we tossed the evidence of my crime into the silent water. I wanted desperately to ask him why he had helped me, but fear stilled my tongue.
"You are mine now, Glozelle," Miraz said to me softly. "I know things about you that you could never weather should I reveal them. When I call, you will come and if I even suggest you do something, you will take it as an order from your god. Do you understand?"
I felt a cold shiver go through me. I had never been counted a coward and had never let another man pin me down, but the sheer matter-of-fact cunning in his tone had me put firmly in my place on his chessboard. I wanted to shake my head and run from him and the aura of unlawful ambition that he had, but I did not want to hang. So I hung my head and bowed in acceptance.
My duties as Miraz's man were not onerous, and even had their rewards. I was highly ambitious myself and with the prince's eye upon me I quickly rose to lieutenant. I wondered once if it was Miraz's influence that enabled me to rise so quickly, but I knew that I had worked hard for my post.
Over time the old king died and Miraz's elder brother Caspian the Ninth took the throne. I was the one who saw the fit of fury that Miraz indulged in behind closed doors. I came away from that encounter thankful for my black eye and nothing more.
King Caspian's young wife soon grew large with child and I could see the wheels turning in my master's head. I mentally shook my head and dreaded what plots Miraz might be coming up with. I ultimately decided that I was safer not knowing and I hoped that he would be merciful enough not to involve me in his treason.
The queen finally delivered a son, but perished in the feat. King Caspian was utterly destroyed by the death of his wife and welcomed Miraz's offers of assistance with running the kingdom. I was unnerved by how smoothly he managed every little aspect of ruling and the thought had crossed my mind that younger son or not, Miraz would have made a very efficient- if tyrannical -king.
King Caspian recovered himself over the first week of his son's life and threw himself into bonding with the little prince. I had seen young Caspian the Tenth while on duty guarding the royal family and he looked just like any other baby I had seen, but in his father's eyes he was redemption personified.
I was guarding the king's chambers one night when Miraz came to the door. I felt my stomach drop into my feet with dread.
"You are mute and deaf until I come out of that room," Miraz whispered. I wanted to bar the door and stand up to him, but I was in too deep. I knew that I had no other choice than to throw myself without reservation to Miraz's cause and pray that I'd live to see the end of the maelstrom.
I did not want to know what happened in that room, but I could hear the soft sounds of a struggle and the newborn prince's shrill screams. I still wake in the dead of night to the sound of those pitiful cries. Miraz came out a few minutes later, the baby still screaming in the room beyond us.
"Let him scream for another minute then raise the alarm," I was told, and sick at heart, I obeyed.
The King's death was not ruled a murder and Miraz stepped gracefully into the gap, being named Lord Protector of Narnia and king in all but name.
Time passed and I watched the new court of Lord Miraz grow. Those who spoke against him were banished or "disappeared." I was ashamed to know how many of those disappearances I had a hand in. My sins were not in vain however, I rose to the rank of general from a combination of my own hard work and my master's patronage and soon was the highest ranking commoner in the land. Miraz married a young noblewoman named Prunaprismia and she helped to raise the young prince who was officially the heir to the throne. I dreaded the day I'd be told to ensure that there were no rightful competitors to Miraz's ambitions. Thankfully, Miraz remained childless and young Caspian grew like all children did.
He was a bright if quiet boy, and he enjoyed spending time with his nurse. Frustrated and angry by the fact that said nurse had been teaching the boy the old legends, Miraz dismissed the nurse and the lonely boy was put into my care with instructions to "make a man out of him." Miraz may have wanted his nephew dead eventually, but until then he had better be an heir worth having. I knew nothing about children, but I still tutored him in the fighting arts as I was instructed. He was quick and light on his feet, taking to my instruction fairly easily and he soon became a pupil I could be proud of. Even after his new tutor, Dr. Cornelius, arrived Caspian still showed up regularly on the lists and would spar with the guardsmen under my eye.
I watched the Lady Prunaprismia with dread as her body grew large with child and I knew the time of my reprieve had ended. Caspian was very nearly grown to a man's estate and would soon be ready to take the throne and I knew he lived on borrowed time.
I waited outside the lady's chamber as her cries filled the air. I fervently thanked the stars that I was male and thus had no need to fear the pains of labor. By all the skies, she sounded like she was being racked in there! I prayed that the child was a girl for I had no wish to see my student dead by my hand. Miraz had pulled me aside when his wife first went into labor and told me that if the child was a son, I was to ensure that the new baby was to be crown prince. He didn't outright tell me to kill Caspian, but he never needed to speak his orders. I could read his face well after all these years and knew exactly what he wished.
One of the handmaidens poked her head through the door and bade me tell Lord Miraz that he had a son. My heart sank into my boots but I schooled my expression and followed my orders. I led a group of well-paid archers to the prince's room and waited until all were in position before touching the trigger. I was grateful that the bed drapes concealed the victim within. I did not know if I could make myself kill Caspian if I could see his face.
The crossbow bolts sang through the air as they pierced the bedding and I knew in seconds that the royal falcon had flown the coop.
I chased Caspian throughout the forest, but soon realized that the skills I had taught him served him well. I did not see the Prince again for weeks, and only when he helped lead an insanely brilliant raid on the castle itself.
I tore through my chambers throwing things against the stone walls in rage. How dare he!? My men were still in that courtyard. I was not general of all Telmar's armies simply because Miraz wished it. I took care of my men and they knew that while I would not hesitate to send them in danger if needed, it would be because it was needed. The heedless slaughter tonight was in no way honorable or worthy. I did my best to protect my men and by the whim of a madman all my work had come to nothing.
I could no longer serve Miraz's interests. I may have been willing to sacrifice my own honor and life in his cause, but the lives of my men were another tale entirely. I could not openly defy him, but it was more than time to start evading his orders.
The three men I had been ordered to kill in that 'bloody' Narnian raid were on their way to Archenland with a purse apiece and I prayed that Miraz never found out I had defied his unspoken command. It remained to be seen what else I could do to further Miraz's downfall.
I spent my time on campaign against the Narnians plotting, and taking each opportunity to shame or maneuver Miraz into unwise or dangerous tactics. I knew I would pay the price if my plans came to naught but I would at least die attempting to redeem my long-lost freedom.
As we prepared for the duel between Lord Miraz and this High King Peter from beyond the mists of time, I knew that if Miraz survived and won the day, his reckoning with me would be swift, painful and deadly.
"If it should appear to be going poorly," Miraz said to me softly, with a pointed glance at the crossbow in my hands.
I nodded to him and swiftly said, "Understood, my Lord." I was simply grateful that he had not actually given me outright instruction, and thus allowed me to follow my own intuition on what exactly 'going poorly' might entail. I knew that I would see my king dead at my feet before firing a single bolt in his defense unless outright ordered to.
The High King strode from the How at his brother's side. I had briefly seen this manchild fighting with unsurpassed skill in the attempted raid and knew that he was no novice to armed combat. He seemed different now, and I noticed the ease with which he wore the armor and the deadly intent in his stride. His face sent a shiver down my spine and I straightened my spine unconsciously. This was a king that had fought a lifetime worth of battles, bled and suffered for his country and had lived to rise from the ashes.
I tended Miraz during the short reprieve from the mighty battle. I could tell he was furious with me for allowing him to be injured. I simply nodded and hoped that the skill I had seen in the High King would be sufficient to kill Miraz or I would be lucky if I only took a week to die in Miraz's torture chambers.
It was amazing. For all I was facing sure death if my defiance was useless, I felt more free than I had since I was a child. I would likely die today, and I didn't care!
My heart leapt in my breast when I saw Miraz driven to his knees and his foe standing before him with a sword ready to strike the deathly blow. I was confused when King Peter turned away, but all was understood when he offered the blade to Prince Caspian.
Every muscle in my body clenched as the prince approached his kneeing uncle. I could not hear the words Miraz spoke, but I could see every evil Miraz had done racing through Caspian's eyes. For all his evil, Miraz deserved to die and at the hand of the one he had most wronged.
Perhaps Miraz saw in Caspian's eyes the same thing I did, for he said, "Perhaps I was wrong. Maybe you do have the makings of a Telmarine King after all."
With a pain-filled cry Caspian drove the sword down. With the blade quivering in the grass at his feet he leaned close and spoke. "Not one like you."
Four simple words, but they shook my world to its core. Before me stood a man who was unwilling to stoop to his enemy's level, one who would hold his honor as a thing worth dying for. This man was a king worth following. I fought the urge to fall to my knees in homage. In a single moment Caspian had brought honor and hope back to the race of Man.
"Keep your life," he said. "But I am giving the Narnians back their kingdom."
This meant that Miraz would live, and thus I would die, but I counted it a small cost. I would still lead my armies against the Narnians, but this was a battle that was honorable. It was a fight for our homes regardless of who may have lived here centuries ago.
Lord Sopespian hurried forward to aid Miraz to his feet and I turned away to gather up the chair and other things we had brought. I knew that Miraz would still attack and was mentally planning out battle strategies. Behind me Miraz gave a choking gasp and I turned to see him falling to the ground, a red-fletched arrow in his side. I barely had time to comprehend that he was dead before Sopespian was crying "Treachery!" at the top of his voice. I leapt to my horses back and rode back to my soldiers, ready to lead them into the fray, ready to live or die as a free man.
The blood lust was filling my every sense. I hacked my way from one opponent to the next without pause. I didn't even bother noticing the species before I was engaging the foe. Faun, Centaur, or other creature I had only heard of in myth, it didn't matter. My world was reduced to slash, parry, duck, strike.
I pulled my halberd from my latest opponent and bore down on the enemy on the ground before me. His sword had been knocked from his hand and he lay helpless at my feet. His face was sweaty and dirty as I knew mine must be. I looked into Caspian's eyes and saw the boy I had taught to swing a sword and shoot an arrow. I could hear his infant cries echoing in my ears like they had the night I stood aside and let my true King fall to a false brother's villainy. I lowered my sword. I could not harm Caspian, somehow in that moment he had spared his uncle, he had become my king.
Something grabbed me from behind and yanked me into the air. I crashed into the embankment hard enough to see stars, then my head hit a rock and the world went dark.
I hadn't expected to live to awaken, but I did. A strange creature, half-man and half-goat was tending the cut to my head. My hands were bound, but as soon as I gave my parole I was released and allowed to check on my men. I spent the next few days in a haze. My world had been picked up and shaken like a child's toy and I was not certain what to make of it.
When King Caspian called everyone to a courtyard, I didn't know what to expect. When he spoke of Aslan's offer of sanctuary in a new world, something in me started quivering in hope. There was no place for me here. I didn't completely trust the word of a Lion out of legend but if they had wanted me dead the Narnians likely wouldn't have bandaged my wounds and set me free.
"It is a good place to make a new start," Aslan said. It seemed as though he was speaking directly to me. The other men around me murmured to each other and no one stepped forward.
"I will go," I said, firmly. Then, in order to not allow my fear to give me cause for second thoughts I repeated, "I will take the offer." I stepped to the front of the crowd and bowed as I met King Caspian's eyes. He was a king I would willingly have served to my death, but there was no place for me here. I wanted a chance at redemption, but it needed to be through my own actions and for my own sake, not because I wanted to prove myself to any man.
The Lion's breath and blessing upon me, I turned and walked on steady legs to the portal to my new life. I was in all ways, a free man.
The End.