Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OC.
Lucy Pevensie woke to the snap of a twig, her eyes snapping open at the miniscule sound in the seemingly endless forest. Slowly, she pushed herself off of the forest floor, careful not to disturb her sleeping siblings and the D.L.F.
"Susan," she whispered, "wake up!" Her elder sister, partially awake, rolled onto her stomach.
" 'Tis early Lu," she mumbled, her mind still under the influence of sleep, "whatever you like." Susan settled her cheek onto her folded arms as she stilled, falling back into the embrace of sleep. Lucy frowned slightly before another noise drew her attention once again back to the forest, her head snapping around to look, hair fanning out as she did so.
Sparing one last glance at her sleeping sister, she padded into the woods, re-tracing the footsteps that she followed in her dream. Contrary to her dream however, the golden light that bathed the trees was absent in the waking-world; the trees and forest itself seemed to carry an aura of foreboding, darkness and shadows blanketing the land in front of her. Nevertheless, the Queen of Narnia continued to follow the path she had walked while sleeping. Approaching a tree, she brought a hand up to softly touch the bark,
"Wake up," she pleaded softly, looking up into its branches sadly before continuing to walk. She approached the rocks from her dream, searching profusely around her, eyes combing through the forest for any sign of the Great Lion. From around the bend in the path, on the other side of the rocks, a slight growling sound was emitted, and a smile graced Lucy's face. "Aslan?!" she exclaimed, grinning and moving to round the bend. Before the young Queen could go to far, a pair of arms snaked around her, a hand moving to cover her mouth, as her older brother Peter grabbed her shoulder and pulled her behind the brush. She struggled at first, but seeing her brother, the youngest Pevensie stopped fighting and the two siblings moved to peer around the corner.
Instead of the great lion that Lucy had been hoping for, a massive Minotaur was walking through the woods, its giant hooves and weapons laden back producing an element of fear in the girl, her mind remembering the beast that she once fought against when she and her siblings helped Aslan to defeat the White Witch. Peter brought his finger up to his lips, signaling for his sister to be quiet, and moved to engage the creature, drawing his sword as he silently moved towards the giant Narnian.
Without warning, a young man emerged from the forest, seemingly out of nowhere and with a loud cry, swung his sword at Peter. The man looked to be around Peters own age of 18, possibly a few years older, but his shaggy dark brown hair, brown eyes, and olive skin were in stark contrast to Peters own blonde hair and blue eyes. Without much delay, the two began what can best be described as a sword fight, the two young men moving with a grace that would leave many dumbfounded. Between the ducking, parrying and blows, Peter was able to land a blow, his fist and sword hilt finding the other man's jaw.
His opponents recovery was quick, and the two once resumed the violent dance until Peter swung his sword, twisting the dark haired man's sword away, sending it flying to the forest floor. Peter swung at the man's head, who ducked, causing Peter's sword to become embedded into the bark of the tree from the force. The dark haired man delivered a swift kick to the High King's ribs, sending him skittering to the ground. Peter grabbed a rock as the other man moved to pull the sword from the tree, and moved to use it as a weapon before a startling cry drew both of their attention.
"No, Stop!" Lucy cried emerging from where she had watched the entire ordeal fearfully. Both men stopped to look at her, before Peter looked around, hearing noises from all around him. Much to his surprise, animals, fauns, dwarves, minotaurs, centaurs and other Narnians emerged from the woods, distracting him as the other man succeeded in removing Peter's sword from the tree. With his own sword pointed at him, Peter narrowed his eyes slightly before a flash of recognition sparked through them.
"Prince Caspian?" He said slowly, eyes studying the man in front of him. Caspian narrowed his eyes, his lip bloody.
"Yes. And who are you?"
"Peter!" Susan's voice rang out clearly through the woods, both men turning as Susan, Edmund and Trumpkin joined Lucy. Understanding and disbelief flickered across Caspian's face as he looked at the four Pevensies and the sword in his hand.
"High King Peter," he said, a hint of confusion and awe in his voice as he realized the young man standing in front of him was the very same his professor had told him stories of.
"I believe you called," Peter responded smartly.
"Well yes but," Caspian glanced around at the 4 again, "I thought you'd be older." Peter looked at Caspian, an unspoken chord had been struck, and the High King had taken the prince's statement personally.
"Well if you like, we can come back in a few years." Peter said, inclining his head to his siblings and taking a step toward them.
"No!" Caspian said quickly, "That's alright, you're just not exactly what I expected." He looked at the three other siblings again, his eyes lingering on Susan a moment longer than the rest.
"Neither are you," Edmund spoke up, casting a warily confused glance at a Minotaur standing on a ledge near him, no doubt recalling his first visit to Narnia.
"A common enemy unites even the oldest of foes," Trufflehunter responded, looking at Nikabrik beside him.
"Jesus Caspian, I leave you alone for 5 minutes and you get into a swordfight with the High King." An exasperated voice rang through the clearing. Everyone turned to look at the lowest branches of a tree to the side of the Pevensie children, where a figure had seemed to appear out of thin air, standing atop the branch with her eyebrow raised at the Telmarine prince, shoulder leaning against the trunk, an entertained expression clearly visible across her features. The Prince cast her a look, to which she only rolled her eyes before jumping down to stand next to the young man. To a stranger they could have been siblings, the girl having long dark hair, the same color as Caspian's, falling to mid-back, and the same olive complexion as the man next to her. The only difference between the two were the girl's eyes, a gray that mimicked the clouds on a stormy day. She was dressed in a simple black dress, a black leather corset, and matching arm guards around her wrists. Strapped to her back was a leather quiver, fully stocked, and what seemed to be two long daggers, and a longbow was gripped in her hand. A leather belt encircled her waist, with several daggers strapped to it. The girl returned the bow that had been in her hand to its position on her back, curtsying slightly to the 4 Kings and Queens of old.
"And you are?" Peter asked her, not nearly as amused as his siblings had been by her entrance, an expression of indifference on his face. If this bothered the girl, she did not let it show.
"Embry Black, at your service!" She grinned eyes twinkling mischievously. Peter cocked his head at her, but it was Edmund who spoke.
"You don't sound like a Telmarine, in fact, you almost sound American." He stated, looking at the girl cautiously. Her smile dropped slowly into a grimace, her fist tightening around the dagger on her hip out of reflex. Caspian put his hand on her shoulder, giving it a reassuring squeeze and she shot him a grateful look. She opened her mouth to speak, but at that moment, Reepicheep chose to butt in, and her shoulders visibly relaxed, she so owed the mouse.
"We have anxiously awaited your return my liege. Our hearts and swords are at your service." He proclaimed bowing to the eldest Pevensie. Lucy leaned over to Susan,
"Oh my gosh he is so cute!" she whispered to her sister. Reepicheep's ears perked and he spun drawing his sword,
"Who said that!" He exclaimed, sweeping his sword through the air. Lucy looked at him guiltily,
"Sorry," she said sheepishly. Embry had to cover her mouth with her hand to keep from laughing aloud as the mouse in question attempted to recover himself.
"Uh, your majesty," he said moving his sword behind him and lowered his ears and tail, stepping forward with a bow as he continued, "with the greatest respect. I do believe courageous, courteous, or chivalrous might better befit a knight of Narnia." He finished by sheathing his sword. Embry was watching the mouse with a small smile on her face, remembering when she had said the same as Lucy but had received a sword in her face instead.
"Well," Peter said, obviously amused by the mouse, "At least we know some of you can handle a blade." Embry narrowed her eyes at the hidden blow at Caspian, but let the exchange continue.
"Yes indeed," Repicheep responded. Embry narrowed her eyes further as Caspian looked at the ground, obviously upset in some way. "And I have recently put it to good use securing weapons for your army sire." Embry shot a confused look at the mouse. It was Caspian's army. She could see that Glenstorm shared her thoughts as he looked at Caspian, who had a look mirroring her own.
"Good, because we're going to need every sword we can get." Peter said, turning to look at Caspian again, his eyes briefly flickering to Embry.
"Well then," Caspian stated, "you will probably be wanting yours back." He shifted his grip on the sword so that Peter could grasp the hilt, which he did, swinging it and sheathing it with a look on his face that made Embry want to smack him. With that, Peter turned and began walking, most following behind him. Embry glared at the back of the blonde-haired boys head before shaking her head and following Caspian. He looked at her, "Are you alright?" he asked her softly. She huffed and looked up at him, him being an inch or two taller than her 5'10".
"Blondie is pissing me off and he's only been here 5 minutes." She stated bluntly, causing Caspian's eyes to widen slightly and a snort to sound from behind them. Embry looked over her shoulder at the dark haired boy who was trying, and failing, to conceal his laughter, raising an eyebrow at him. He raised his hands in mock surrender. "What's your name?" She asked him, taking him by surprise, her gray eyes peering at him inquisitively. He slowly lowered his hands and stuck one of them out in front of him, testing a theory.
"Edmund, Edmund Pevensie." He said cautiously, waiting to see if the girl would shake his hand. Embry moved forward and grabbed his hand with her own, shaking it firmly.
"It's a pleasure to meet you," she dropped his hand and curtsied, "your highness." She stood up, her lip quirking up in a smirk as Edmund looked at her dumbfound. Why had she asked if she clearly knew who he was? She turned back to Caspian who was watching the entire exchange amusedly. "I'm going to go on ahead, get things ready for your return." She moved to bow politely but Caspian stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.
"I have told you many times, there is no need to bow to me, little sister." He smiled at her as she returned the gesture, clapping her hand on his shoulder and smiling at the term of endearment he had begun to call her within the last few days. Although they had only met a few weeks ago, the two had quickly formed a sibling relationship, surprising many of the Narnians, she had been rather tentative around everyone for a while when she first arrived. Well, everyone except the prince, the centaurs and Trufflehunter.
Turning to the woods, Embry placed her fingers to her lips and let out a shrill whistle, waiting a moment before a horse galloped into view. It was a large buckskin horse, golden in color, with a black mane and tail; fully saddled, the horse approached her and whinnied. Embry smiled at her friend, gripping the saddle. Caspian reached down, and with one hand on her ankle and the other on her knee, he helped her onto her horse.
"Are you sure you are okay to ride on your own?" Caspian asked her. Embry nodded,
"I'll be fine Caspian, besides, Brego makes it easy, I don't have to do anything." She replied grinning and squeezing the horse with her legs, urging him on as she galloped past frazzled Narnians, all scrambling to get out of her way. Caspian watched her go, shaking his head before moving to walk next to Peter. Susan and Lucy began to walk but Edmund stayed frozen, stuck in his thoughts. Susan turned to look at her brother quizzically,
"Edmund," she said snapping him out of his thoughts.
"Sorry," he muttered moving quickly to walk beside his sisters. One single thought kept tumbling around in the Just King's mind as he walked: She shook his hand without hesitation – she was not Narnian.
So I hope you all liked the first chapter of this story, which, as I'm typing this I haven't come up with but as you are reading this you probably know the title. Either way, thanks for reading! It feels really really good to be writing again, and to all the people who might have read some of my other stories, i'm really sorry i've been away for so long and hopefully I can get working on updating some of my other stories fairly soon! So thanks again and please Read and Review!
-TheGirlWithTheDorkyDad