Author's Note: After spending a long time reading a lot of great Narnia fanfics, I thought I'd give it a try! I know i'm taking a big risk by writing two multichapter fanfics at the same time, but it's up to you readers whether you want me to continue with this story or not. If you're not fans of it, I'll keep it as a single chapter fanfic. If you like it, I'll keep writing. If any of you out there are also the Legend of Zelda fans, check out my other story titled Dragonflies! What also made made me want to write a fanfiction for Narnia is that I absolutely love the series! And I hope that this chapter really captures the aspects of the books that you love!
Chapter 1
Tenth Year of Pevencie Rule During the Golden Ages...
They were hosting a ball. Just for the pure fun of it. Sometimes, when palace life became too boring, the siblings threw a party. Peter often explained (though it was more of an excuse than a reason) that having healthy contact with diplomats and nobles from the surrounding nations of Calormen and Archenland was good for the safety of the nation.
Except, due to Susan's meddling, their little get together turned into a grand and luxurious ball.
It was in the ballroom, of course, a huge room made of the same sandy colored stone. It was the size of those American football fields and twice as tall. There were huge, monstrously thick marble pillars that rose up to the glass roof, and giant sashes made of red and gold silk dipped and soared around them. Behind the pillars were two hallways, one on each respective side of the room, where the many party goers of Narnian, Calormenian, and Archenlander descent alike gossiped, discussed politics, and nibbled on the fine cuisine. At the very end of the hall was a giant entryway for the guests to come through. At the other end of the room stood a small platform of stone where four metal thrones sat, each the same height. Hanging from the glass ceiling were two huge chandeliers, their warm glow comforting the guests as well as allowing them to see the dance floor, where one hundred or so people of all races in glittering gowns and fancy suits danced to eloquent music provided by a native orchestra.
Susan had been so excited. "I've had just about enough of all of our little play-dates!" The second oldest of the four declared.
Peter, sitting in the head chair at the breakfast table, or breakfast buffet table, rolled his head lazily towards his younger sister, black hair hanging over his eyes. "Hm?" He groaned, not yet equipped for the morning.
Susan, ever the civilized lady, was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed already, and she pressed her hands down on the mahogany and stated, "I'm going to plan this time! You and Ed did a dreadful job!"
Edmund stopped mid-chew to glare at his elder sister. "We did fine." He retorted nonchalantly.
Susan arched a perfectly shaped dark eyebrow at her brother. She flipped her braid, which was down to her feet, over her shoulder and coolly replied, "You were the one that let that Minotaur near the punch bowl."
Edmund and Peter glanced at each other and exchanged triumphant smiles. The punch happened to spill all over the wife of a Calormenian warlord, and they, with their dark auras, stormed out of the building.
"This is no joke! This time I will not allow our family name to be disgraced...again." She ground out. And with that, the twenty one-year-old queen went to work. And she created the most extravagant party any royal family anywhere had ever seen. With careful planning, logic, and calculations, she made it appear as if from a story book.
And this made the young, seventeen-year-old Queen Lucy the Valiant grin brightly as she danced and danced in the center of the floor during the solo dances.
While Queen Susan was busy speaking with the many awaiting bachelors, the youngest of the four was also dealing with her own boy troubles. Her long, golden hair shimmered like stardust in the candlelight, her tiny figure twirling and twirling in her priceless tan and golden dress, her white teeth showing as she laughed. She had, as always, this sunny aura about her, that drew people in like the giant yellow star itself. So, the princes of the nearby kingdoms who were too young or unqualified for the Gentle Queen lined up to get a dance with the Valiant Queen. And she gladly took their arms and let them lead her to the dance floor.
Of all of the siblings, Lucy had the least duty and responsibility. In the diplomatic sense, anyways. Peter worked on the overall governing; he focused on laws and very important matters. Susan worked on diplomacy with other nations. Edmund focused on military organization. But Lucy was not involved in any of the official duties.
But her role was important.
She, out of all of the siblings, was the most faithful to the Lion. And she treated her people as he would; with love, kindness, and compassion. She made sure that they were all cared for and happy. And not only that, you would often find her on the battlefield, much to her older brothers' chagrin. She took joy in fiercely protecting the land and the people that Aslan loved.
Her time in Narnia was filled with the most joy. Every moment was pure bliss, much like her moments in the ball.
By the thrones, finished speaking with the generals and ambassadors regarding international relations, was the High King and his brother the Just King, watching their sisters from their place on the platform. Peter, the Magnificent and at the time twenty two-years-old, turned to the second youngest, who was nineteen, and called to his attention,
"Edmund."
The younger turned to the older. "Yes, brother?" He replied.
"Is it just my imagination or is that..."
Edmund followed Peter's line of sight to see that it was who the High King had feared it would be.
Bojan.
The highly celebrated warrior and general of all of the Calormenian armies. From what they had heard from their own forces, Bojan was bloodthirsty, violent, and disrespectful to others he considered "inferior." So unlike the way the four monarchs ruled. Above all though, he was greedy, and in need of a wife. And worse of all, held a dark secret.
And to their annoyance, he had his sights set on Lucy.
She finished the dance with an elegant curtsy when the flute performed it's last trill. Prince after prince kept introducing themselves to her and she had no choice but to dance with each and every one of them. She didn't have the heart to turn any of them down. She would never purposely hurt anyone that was innocent. This prince, a not-so-good looking fellow, waved sheepishly and shuffled away, shoulders hunched.
She giggled at the silly sight.
Fatigued from from the dancing, she started to journey to her throne when a firm hand dropped on her shoulder and held her in place.
Her heart jumped in her throat from surprise and she turned to see who had stopped her.
He was very tall, most likely twenty years old or so. He had the trade-mark dark skin of the Calormenians, for their skin had tanned in the desert sun of their homeland. He had sleek, pitch black hair even darker than Peter's. But what struck her as the most odd was his eyes, which were the color green one would find in a serpent's scale. Wearing a formal suit, and gloves, he looked to be rather wealthy and high in social or government rank.
He was...rather handsome.
His lips parted to reveal rather long incisors and he said, his voice as smooth as chocolate, "May I have this dance, your Majesty?"
From what she heard from her siblings, Narnia and Calormene Empire did not get a long.
"Unwilling to make any peace negotiations." Susan screeched.
"They've got a pretty impressive military considering the fact the only thing they do is conquer other lands and fight with everybody." Edmund grumbled.
"A rather unfriendly bunch, but a developed and advanced nation. It's best that we stay on their good side." Peter told her simply.
His tone of voice was not even close to commanding or threatening as she would have imagined, and she turned around to face him, his emerald eyes burning.
He looked...dare she say it...trustworthy.
Gentle.
The music began to play and he let go of her shoulder.
Just as he was about to take her hand to start, another hand wrapped around her waist and she was swept away.
The opposite hand clasped her hand and she blindly grasped the shoulder of whoever had taken her away.
She looked up to see that it was Edmund.
But he was not in the jolly mood she expected him to be. Under blond bangs, his chocolate brown eyes darkened to the color of black coals as he glared dangerously at the Calormenian who'd almost danced with her.
"Ed!" Lucy snapped. They continued to sweep with the music, and he snapped out of it to focus his attention on her. She glared up at her older brother.
"That was very rude of you!" She complained.
The Just King just arched an eyebrow at her.
"May I ask why you were so bold as to take me away from my dancing partner?" She demanded.
Edmund just shook his head at her and remained silent.
She was about to blow a gasket. Even as an seventeen-year-old, already an adult, her older siblings still treated her like a child. They never included her in the loop. They always deemed her too immature to handle the truth, so they kept secrets.
"Edmund." Her voice dropped down an octave as she tried to be as threatening as possible. "I'm getting tired of this. Tell me the truth now!"She snapped in his ear, so as not to make a scene.
He growled before hissing, "You're really annoying, do you know that?"
And an angry Lucy barked back, "Maybe I wouldn't be so annoying if I didn't have to ask what in the world is going on every five minutes!"
He twirled her around before they stepped back into their original dance positions.
She narrowed her eyes as Edmund's dark gaze once again found the Calormenian and continued to glare.
"Look, all you have to do is stay away from that guy, okay?" He declared.
Her chocolate orbs widened angrily. "Why not? On who's orders?" She screeched.
As they spun, their feet twirly expertly on the polished stone floors (for they had done this dance numerous times) Edmund growled, "That man is a Calormenian warlord. Do you know who they are? They're men that lead their military into unsuspecting kingdoms just for the sake of bloodshed and power. They don't stop until there are no survivors left and the land is theirs to take."
He lifted her up, spun her one hundred and eighty degrees around, set her back down, and then explained, "And as for the orders, they're from Pete. And since he's the High King, he can order us around however he wants. So you're being ordered to go and sit next to him where he can keep an eye on you for the rest of the night."
The music finished, and she huffed, puffing out her cheeks like a child and stormed off towards her second, elder brother, whom she was going to direct all of her fury towards.
She was more angry out of principle than anything. She wasn't angry because she wasn't allowed to dance with the Calormenian. She was angry that she was being treated like a child. As a seventeen-year-old, she'd developed a new rebellious streak, and she began to desire more than anything; freedom.
Because for so long, her problems were always dealt with by her siblings. Whatever the case, they'd take care of it for her. But not in the way she wanted it to be taken care of. And she wanted to have the independence to do it herself. She guessed, to wrap it up nicely, that she wanted to gain the trust from her elder siblings that she'd been working so hard to get all these years.
For instance, when she discovered that one of the palace guards, a minotaur, had been operating a slave trading system within Cair Paravel's very walls, she was outraged. Furious. She'd never experienced such blind rage. Because a citizen of Narnia was treating his fellow people as property to make a profit. At that moment, she rushed to Peter and demanded that she and several other guards head over to his post, arrest him, and free the slaves in the castle dungeons. But Peter, although he was just as enraged, had a clear enough head to say to her, "No Lu. You stay here, it's too dangerous. I'll go. Thank you for reporting this to me."
Or when Lucy discovered that somebody had sabotaged the trading negotiations between Narnia and another nation, and how she declared to Susan that she would take a boat to that kingdom immediately and try to settle the issue, and how her elder sister said, "I'm sorry Lucy, but I believe I would be more qualified to settle this. I have more experience, so you just stay home. You've got a good eye, thank you for noticing that."
The younger of her two older brothers was the worst of them all, though.
Edmund, she'd noticed, was particularly overprotective of her.
Why, she knew not. Her other older siblings were that way just because she was the baby of their family. But Edmund was much more serious. She'd hear that he was heading south to keep Calormenians at bay and she'd come riding along with him, eager to protect her homeland and he'd growl, "You're not coming. Go home Lucy." Just like she was a little child incapable of the simplest of tasks.
Was she not also crowned a Queen of Narnia? Was she not in control of the glistening eastern sea? Was her title Queen Lucy the Valiant meaningless? Was she not a part of this government? She wanted more than anything to protect the one place she loved more than anything. She loved Narnia just as Aslan did. And it was unjust to exclude her from protecting this land when she was bestowed the same power as her brothers and sister for that very purpose. Aslan had blessed her with her authority to lead and guide Narnia, and now her elder siblings were keeping her from doing that. And that frustrated her more than anything.
She approached her eldest brother, who was standing tall, arms crossed. He cast her a stern look with his dark brown eyes. She huffed in anger at his controlling ways and flopped ungracefully on her throne, the last one to the left, and watched as Edmund followed. While walking steadily up the stairs he exchanged a mysterious look with Peter before turning his back to her to continue watching the crowd. She could tell that he was only watching one person; glowering menacingly at the "warlord" who had only asked her to dance. There was something else though.
Something that they were hiding.
After her lady's maids had cleaned her up for bed: taken her hair down, washed her face, helped her climb out of her elegant ballgown, kick off her shoes and throw on a white nightgown, she sat on her bed and thought. She decided to wait for all of the footsteps outside her bedroom door to cease. It took a few hours, but the servants soon retired to their living quarters. There were guards posted outside every door, including hers, but they never disobeyed an order, not even from her.
So, she hopped off of her red velvet covered mattress, grabbed a mahogany bedpost with one hand, jumped, used her weight and the post to help her turn in midair and was launched across her bedroom to land gracefully and silently at her door. She took one last look back to her room, decorated with the dark red cashmere of the Narnian royal color, grabbed the handle, and opened the door...
End Note: So what did you think? Please review! If you really like this story and want to read more chapters, review to let me know! Do you not like it at all? Same deal. Thank you all for taking the time to read this! Hope to see your reviews!