Hello, readers! This is my sequel to The Mercenary and its companion fic Eternal Blossom. It may be tricky to read this without first reading The Mercenary (The other fic is mostly covered by reading The Mercenary alone). Nonetheless, feel free to try and PM or review with questions! And as always, please review!
A huge shout out to ResOmnesBeneFacere. After the end of The Mercenary, he sent me a list of every loose end he found so I could be sure to address them here.
Warning though, both that fic and this one have dark themes involved.
Six armed, strong men dressed in Calormene armor against a weaponless, emaciated figure. She didn't know why they were attacking her in one of the many dark, abandoned streets on the outskirts of Tashbaan. But they had said her name. Her real name that is, Nzinga. The only people who would know that name would mean trouble. Deathly trouble. She ducked as a sword came towards her. She jumped onto the man, distracting him to the point that as he swung his sword wildly, he managed to hurt one of the other men instead. Fools. She used all her weight, what little she had left of it, to snap his neck in one swift movement, too fast for anyone else to track the motion. As his body fell, she wretched his sword away from him. Now, she had a chance of survival. She ducked and twisted through the men. Her concentration was on survival, but when she saw an opportunity, she struck without hesitation. She would have run, but they had managed to corner her. And scaling the wall would merely make her an easy target for the man with spears.
It wasn't as hard as it could have been. Despite her easy elimination of the first man, the five remaining still underestimated her. They weren't fighting nearly as hard as she imagined they could. Or if this was their best, then the Calormene army was in trouble.
Soon, only one was left. She fought with more careful precision, aiming to disarm, not kill. But soon he was defenseless and she raised his own sword to his throat and said in a low hiss, "Did he send you?"
"I…I don't know what you mean," he said panicky.
"My former master. Has he tracked me down again?" she hissed, pressing the blade against his neck just deep enough for a trickle of blood to escape. She refused to return to slavery. She'd kill for her freedom, as lousy as it may be.
The man fearfully gaped for breath and said, "No! No! It wasn't him."
"Then who?" she said, gritting her teeth. She wasn't exactly surprised to know she had other enemies. All the work she had done for her master when he owned her had garnered her many dangerous enemies. Even though she had only been following his orders.
She heard footsteps behind her and whirled to see a richly dressed man approaching, with a heavy guard around him.
He slowly applauded her in a way that chilled her to the bone. "Impressive. The stories they tell of you hardly did justice to your prodigious skill."
"What do you want of me? Who are you?" she hissed. Without removing the sword from the man's throat, she aimed a stolen knife at new threat.
"You have adeptly passed my first test. Let's see if you can pass my second," he said, beckoning to her leeringly. "See if the stories of your other talents are equally warranted."
She knew instinctually what he meant. She crouched and snarled at him. She had long had enough of the touch of vile men, no matter how much they might pay for such liberties. But if he only wanted her fighting ability, that was a different story. But she hardly understood why he would test her against six men. "Not unless you tell me what goal you are aiming for."
"I seek a treasure that teases me by extending her hand before wickedly pulling it back. And you, vile as you may be, can help me get it."
"What treasure are you seeking?" she said exasperatedly.
"The barbarian queen."
Meanwhile, far to the North and deep in the forest, more intrigue of a different nature was forming.
"Spiritus salutus. Beati penates," a hooded figure intoned, her breezy voice forming the ancient woodland words of magic with ease. She then threw her head back as she chanted. Her two companions watched in amazement as piles of leaves began circling in front of her.
"Adahy, the seeds," she said to the youngest companion who silently handed her the seeds which he had placed into a pouch he had made by curling his own leaves.
"Nahele! The vines," she called and the taller dryad gave her the vines he had been carrying. The vines climbed upwards, twisting its way up, making the leaves form into a screen. Soon, vague shapes could be made out in the leaves. But it wasn't clear enough for her tastes. "Give me your strength." Her companions held their hands out to her. While neither of them had magic, all dryads could give each other strength to perform magic. They rooted themselves into each other as she directed her magic to find the information she was looking for. Ever since a centauride had warned her of the dark age Narnia was doomed to, she had been trying to see the future for herself. For she must control it. She despised leaving the future to chance. She must know it; she must control it.
The youngest dryad nearly keeled over in shock as familiar figures appeared in the leaves.
"A funeral," Nahele said breathlessly. "Ana, it's your parents."
Aiyanna simply shrugged. "This scene is unimportant. Deinde."
The leaves reformed, and they saw the Queen Susan with a man in bed.
"By the Mane," Nahele swore. "Ana, call for the next scene. The Narnian queen would be furious should she find out we invaded her privacy this way."
"I had my suspicions…" Aiyanna said breathlessly, recognizing him. Without any prompting, the scene shifted again. The same man was alone.
"What is this? What are we seeing?" Nahele insisted as they saw the man with a sword in hand, blood dripping from its blade.
Aiyanna looked stricken as she watched the scene unfold. She turned to leave, but her friend stopped her, easily guessing her plan.
"You do not understand love," her friend cautioned. "If they already desire each other, nothing you may say will move their mind."
She shot him a sharp look, but merely said, "I feel it has one more story to tell us. Deinde."
The scenes was less clear this time.
"Tash," Aiyanna suddenly said.
"Since when do you use such curses?" Nahele said, rather shocked. But she ignored him, her stare never wavering from the scene before her that only she make out.
"… I cannot believe…it… I have to stop this future from happening. Your romantic notions of love are unimportant. I will find a way to stop this," she vowed. "Fin."
The vines collapsed, the leaves quickly falling without support and soon the forest was returned to its normal state.
The dryad lost no time in carrying out her plan, finding the two Narnian queens engaged in an argument.
Before Aiyanna interrupted them, the two of them had been arguing about a certain man who was soon to return. She listened outside, her magic allowing to hear through the solid wall. She was relieved to hear Susan being insistent that she was interested in the Calormene Prince, but Lucy seemed to think Susan's true interests lied elsewhere. Aiyanna could only hope whoever they were talking about wasn't yet the man she had seen in her visions. She turned around the corner and entered, the guards recognizing her and not bothering to stop her.
"Ana," Susan said a bit too sweetly, sensing a likely ally. "Do you think a royal should marry for love, or for political gain?"
"Gain, of course," the dryad said instantly as Susan knew she would.
"I really don't want to hear the wife of my own brother say that," Lucy grumbled, mostly annoyed that the comment would make Susan feel her reasoning for considering Rabadash's advances was validated. The fact that Aiyanna's and Peter's marriage was mainly for political reasons was not news to her. "But of course you would say that. You have no idea what love is!"
Rather than being offended, Aiyanna just shrugged her stick-like shoulders and said, "Well, I am a tree. Not exactly the most feeling and emotional of creatures. But I understand love for one's people. As does your sister. I assume we are talking about the possibility of an alliance from a marriage between you and Rabadash?"
Susan nodded, so Aiyanna continued, "I highly recommend it. If not, perhaps that Telmarine prince who keeps dropping by."
Susan wondered what made her so adamant. There was no way Aiyanna could have known about her and Darius…
"She should marry whoever she loves the most," Lucy insisted.
"And anger every other suitor interested in her hand? They will take it as an insult if she passes them over for someone of significantly lower rank. Perhaps cause for war," Aiyanna pointed out.
Susan really, really began wondering if Aiyanna knew anything. Even though she didn't know how the dryad could.
"Anyways, my magic says that a ship is just out of sight. It is likely the ship you are waiting for."
"Not a word," Susan warned Lucy as they rushed out to the docks. Aiyanna disappeared to go inform her husband.
"Mmhmm," she agreed, mainly because should Peter find out, he would ensure nothing happened between Susan and Darius. And he would have good reason to object seeing when they had first met, Darius was trying to assassinate her. Not that Peter was that much more amicable to men who had yet to threaten her life. He barely agreed to Prince Rabadash sending ambassadors to seek her hand for him. Although that might actually be what bothered Peter about it. But soon Peter would have his chance to judge the Calormen prince for himself when he came to Narnia.
"Even with all the time it took to get down here, I can just barely see a speck in the distance," Lucy commented. "Her magic's getting so good that it's almost creepy."
"Father says dryad magic confuses him," Prince Corin said as he sauntered up towards them.
"Corin! How are you?" Susan said fondly. She and Corin had grown close when she and her adopted nephew, Pheneus, had traveled to Anvard for a month to help ease them with the passing of his mother, the Archenland queen. After that month, Lune asked if Corin could stay with them until things were more settled in Archenland and Susan had reluctantly agreed. So far the prince hadn't been as much trouble as she had imagined he would. But that wasn't saying much since she had imagined quite a lot of trouble. Thank Aslan for Pheneus though. The quieter, strictly rule-following boy managed to sometimes keep Corin out of trouble. And Corin got him to loosen up more often as well. They weren't quite friends exactly. It was more than they were the only boys each other's age and had somewhat bonded over the deaths of their mothers. But much to Susan's disappointment, the two boys were just too vastly different to truly understand and become friends with one another. Pheneus right now was with his sisters, waiting impatiently at the edge of the dock for the ship to land. Darius was their uncle by blood, so they were anxious to see their only remaining blood relative return home safely.
"Very good, thank you," he said politely, before being distracted by a young griffin who had just appeared. "Kethias!" he hollered to his friend at the top of his voice.
"Well, at least half of the time he had manners," Susan said, more amused than annoyed. They had forgotten about Corin as the ship grew closer until they hear screams, screeches, and shouting.
"Corin fell in the water!" the breathless griffin finally explained breathlessly.
They ran to try to help, even though their skirts would weigh them down should they jump in. Pheneus was already running back from wherever he had managed to find rope.
But an Kethias' father who had been on the ship flew out and dove for the young prince, pulling him out easily. But Susan still went to give Corin a good scolding for his behavior. It seemed she had to scold him at least once if not several times a day, much to her annoyance.
Soon everyone began disembarking. As much as she had protested against it, Susan was eager to see Darius again… but rather terrified too. Their correspondences had been careful about not revealing anything incriminating. She knew that Darius had seen Aslan, but the letters said nothing more, not even a hint at what may have happened. Edmund had said in a letter that And while she had mentioned Prince Rabadash to her brother, she had no clue if Edmund had passed that along.
"Sisters," Edmund greeted, pulling them both into a firm hug. "You'll be pleased to hear that our relationship with Galma is stronger than it was before."
While that was in fact good news, it was not what Susan was anxious to know.
Peter greeted Edmund as Edmund gave him a much fuller report. Susan only half paid attention, knowing Edmund would repeat it all at council. She greeted everyone else as they came off the ship with her customary grace as Lucy gave everyone cheerful hugs.
Lucy actually saw him first. She elbowed Susan a bit too conspicuously and pointed him out with her eyes. Susan looked over to see Darius' nephew and nieces piling on him eagerly to greet him. She tried reading his face, but could determine nothing, especially at such a distance. Other than he seemed freer. She didn't know quite how to describe it. But it was if a heavy burden had been lifted from his shoulders. And yet, like something was eating at him.
When he eventually freed himself from the children and made his way over to them, she held her hand out for him to kiss. He took it and did so, taking the slip of paper she held in her hand which said, "I'll come calling on you late tonight. We have much to talk about." He knew enough to furtively hide the slip of paper to read later.
Lucy greeted him with a friendly hug, not caring about decorum. Susan thought quite possibly Lucy was trying to distract those who had been whispering about her connection with Darius by giving them another rumor to whisper about.
"Darius, where's your friend? Taire? That other mercenary?" Lucy inquired. Darius had asked for his old mentor and friend Taire, who had been in the Narnian dungeons for aiding in Edmund's capture, to accompany them.
"He ran off the moment we set foot in Galma. And… get this. With a mole," Edmund said. Everyone but Darius stared blankly at him. "A mole? Remember, they had a mole inside of Cair Paravel? It wasn't code for a spy, but rather literal. Or so I believe."
"And where are they now?" Peter asked with a frown.
"Don't know. We didn't search too hard. I say we just make sure they never return to Narnia and good riddance."
Peter chuckled. "He was that obnoxious?"
"More."
"But what about him wanting revenge for Lisette's death?" Susan asked with a frown.
"Your Majesty, he probably lied. Or else, it wasn't as important as what has always been his first priority, himself," Darius said gruffly. Susan wasn't fooled. Darius' mannerisms always became tougher when he was hiding his pain. While he had no misconceptions about how obnoxious and immoral Taire was, Taire had been him mentor and one of his earliest friends when he was at some of his most vulnerable moments of his childhood. To have Taire abandon him probably hurt much more than he let on.
"Darius, how did your…quest go?" Peter inquired. "Since I assume you didn't succeed in your ill-advised attempt to kill Aslan."
"No, Sire," Darius said with a bow. "I…I rather not go into details."
Peter looked like he was about to protest, but Susan elbowed him. "How would you like it if people asked you such deeply personal questions in front of everyone?" she whispered.
"Anyways," Peter said. "Edmund, Darius, will you both be ready to restart training tomorrow for the upcoming tournament? The Calormens are being particularly insistent on only humans and what they consider 'near humans' should participate. And only males."
"And since when do we give in to Calormene demands?" Edmund protested furiously.
"Once the other countries heard Calormen was insisting on it, they backed them too. Except for Archenland which is quickly moving from Narnia's ally to its good friend," Peter said.
"I noticed," Edmund said, jerking his head towards Prince Corin. He knew the boy had been visiting, but hadn't realized the prince had quickly become a part of everyday Narnian court life.
"Corin! Please don't try to ride that horse!" Susan called as she saw the boy attempting to mount a rather spirited, wild horse with Pheneus trying to talk him out of it. One of the Talking Horses kindly went over and graciously offered for him to ride her so that the prince would be safe from his own daring idiocies.
"Boys will be boys," Edmund shrugged until he saw Susan glaring at him. "But…. It's a very bad thing for him to do. Very bad indeed," he hastily added.
"He's been driving Su crazy," Peter said, rubbing the small of his sister's back comfortingly.
"Let's go inside before Corin manages to break anything, most likely himself," Susan said exasperatedly.
"And you still want to entertain the notion of marrying this dark-faced lover of yours? You do realize that having children will be just like this," Edmund teased. Susan couldn't help laughing. Edmund was probably the only one who could find a way of criticizing her choices that made her laugh rather than get angry.
"Dark-faced lover?" Darius suddenly interjected, clearly disturbed. Susan held her breath. Evidently Edmund hadn't mentioned him to Darius. This… this could be bad.
"Prince Rabadash. He's coming in a few days, ergo the tournament including Calormens. Please tell me you can beat him. I bet he'd be so furious that a titleless person was able to beat him," Edmund said jokingly, but with a note of seriousness in it. He hadn't even been around all the Calormene ambassadors and was already annoyed by them.
"Ed, please don't try to antagonize the prince," Susan protested.
"Fine, fine. Not on purpose at least," he teased, much to Susan's annoyance. She jokingly pushed him and then mussed his hair. She just couldn't be too upset with him when her little brother had finally returned after such a long trip.
"Calormens?" Darius repeated, stricken.
"No, Prince Rabadash of the Lone Islands. Of course Calormens," Edmund said sarcastically.
But Susan understood what had bothered Darius so without him saying it. "We've been keeping an extra close eye on Pheneus and the girls. There's no way any Calormen could carry through the threat to kill them for you not completing the assassination job. Besides, they've been safe at Cair Paravel so far."
"The Calormens weren't swarming inside Cair Paravel before," he muttered under his breath.
"They're my wards now," Peter reminded. "And Aiyanna's. While she is still uncomfortable with being a mother, her watching out for them means her magic could give us another advantage in protecting them."
"Yes, Sire," Darius said. He only seemed partially placated. Susan had a fairly good idea what was bothering him.
As soon as she was free that night – meaning an incredibly late hour – she made her way to Darius' room.
"My queen?" he whispered as he opened the door. As soon as she was inside, he almost slammed the door and turned to her. "Prince Rabadash? Are you crazy?"
"No," she said crossly, perturbed that he choose to greet her with such an insult. She supposed she might get this out of the way though. Although she was anxious to find out what had happened with Darius and Aslan. "You knew this could happened."
"I figured it would happen with a half-way decent man," he growled.
"I have yet to meet him," she said coldly. "I'll judge him then. But so far, what I have figured out from his ambassadors is that he is interested in Narnia, wishes me to be his queen, and believes himself to love me. And before you say it, he already knows that marrying me would come with the condition that he forsakes having a concubine or harem. I've also mentioned that I am interested in helping the Calormene poor should I live there. While the ambassadors didn't seem ecstatic about that, he continued sending them, so I consider that a positive response."
Darius looked at her incredulously. "You've seriously thought this all out."
"Can't you see? This is my chance. To finally do something good," she said, her face shining bright.
"Finally? You do good all the time! All you do is help others! No matter the cost to you," he said, stricken.
"Narnia will still have three rulers and be just as strong. Here's my chance to help the people of another country who need my help more than Narnia does," she said.
"Not if you die from taking such a foolish risk," he shot back. She rolled her eyes.
"Don't be such a pessimist."
"Then don't be such an idealist."
"Don't you think that all my siblings save Edmund have already given me this talk? He'll most likely do so the moment he finds an opportunity. And most of my advisors have too," she said angrily.
"Then maybe you should listen to them," he retorted. She must have looked more upset then she thought she did, because he suddenly softened and gingerly pulled her into a hug. "I'm sorry, your Majesty. I…I didn't mean this to be how we greet each other after six months."
"Then how did you mean to greet me?" she asked flirtatiously. She wasn't exactly sure where the two of them were. Especially now that he knew about Rabadash. But a girl could hope…
"I… I often dreamed about holding you in my arms like this, my queen," he said slowly, pulling her in slightly more. He had dreamt about her? She caught his eye and could see he was wondering about their relationship as she did. She quickly decided that finding out what happened between him and Aslan could wait.
"And then what happened in those dreams?" she said quietly, giving him a not-so-subtle hint to continue. She knew him well enough to realize he was unlikely to initiate anything unless she made it obvious he should.
"I…I might cup your face in my hands like this," he said, putting his hands under her chin and rubbing it softly with his thumbs.
"And would I tilt my head back like this?" she said, a smile playing on her lips.
"Mhmm, and I would kiss you next," he said uncertainly.
"You're not going to give a demonstration of the kiss?" she teased, somewhat disappointed, although she found it unlikely he would pass up such an invitation.
"Just making sure that such a demonstration wouldn't get me punched," he smirked before kissed her. She felt a sudden rush of heat throughout her body. This. This is what she needed. It was more freeing than even archery was for her. For as long as this kiss might last, all the struggles and pressures of being a queen disappeared, and she could just be herself, act how she wanted to do rather than how she was supposed to. Soon the kiss escalated. Susan wasn't sure how far this might go, a thought which both frightened and invigorated her. Everything was in that kiss. All her frustration about everyone trying to tell her how to live her life. How much she had missed everyone who had been on the ship to Galma. Her loneliness from no one save Darius understanding how she was still a woman with desires no matter how virtuous she might be. All her fears about Calormen.
He responded in kind, making her adrenaline rush so fast that she felt she might pass out.
"My queen," he murmured, which took her out of the moment for a bit, making her guiltily remember decorum and remember what an incredible breach of this it was. Rather than pull away, she decided to go farther so she could completely forget. Her fingers expertly ran up and down his strong chest. Sometime felt a little strange, but she ignored it as she was distracted by the pleasant feeling of his lips moving down her neck, making her gasp in delight. She eventually led his face back to hers to kiss him again. She could feel her head spinning as her fingers fumbled at the ties in front of his shirt as she continued to exchange hot kisses. She could feel him attempting to undo the strings at the back of her dress. She managed to succeed first and pulled his shirt off.
She took a step back, horrified as she stared at his chest. "Wha- who-what…" she stammered, unable to express herself in words. She finally took a steadying breath and asked, "Did… it wasn't.. it couldn't have been… did Aslan do that?"