Disclaimer: The wonderful world of Narnia belongs to CS Lewis. This is a fanfiction, written by a fan.

Prologue

It was cloudy; the sky caked in the condensed water. Despite this, by some beautiful chance, the sun had found a small gap in this wall and the golden light of dusk was bathing the forest leaves in a holy glow, turning them from a dull green to a wonderful golden yellow. This enlightened colour was at odds with the grey of the grim sky behind it. It made for an eerie scene; the pious colouring of the land at the mercy of the menace of the darkening sky.

There would be a storm.

And indeed, barely a moment after the sun had fully disappeared behind the horizon, taking with it the last of the golden light, there was a low rumbling from the sky and the wind rose up a notch or two, and then the first droplets of rain fell, splattering down into the grey forest and onto the dry earth.

And amidst the beginning of the impending chaos the sounds of thudding horse hooves could be heard as a young girl riding a silver white mare came cantering out of the forest. The horse was obviously frightened of the sound of the thunder for her nostrils flared and she kept on whinnying nervously.

"Calm down Silver," the girl said, though she also looked worried by the oncoming storm, "It can't be far now. The deer said that if we went directly through the forest and headed towards the mountains we wouldn't be able to miss it."

What this girl was trying to find was Anvard, the capital of Archenland and the castle where she hoped to find some sort of sanctuary. According to the deer she had spoken with earlier that afternoon, all she had to do was head towards the mountains and she 'wouldn't be able to miss it'. At the moment however, she was having trouble finding even a hint of it.

Silver splashed across a bubbling stream and they both came out the other side completely drenched. Over the mountains she could see flashes of lightning and a few seconds later the rumble of thunder could be heard. The storm was moving closer. The girl spurred her steed onwards and up the crest of a gentle hill. At the top she looked down into the valley and there it was, flags flapping in the wind and the last of the evening sunlight dancing on the highest towers. Anvard.

Ellen Galion, the slave girl from Tashbaan, let out a sigh and smiled. She had made it.

King Lune of Archenland, the once merry monarch, wore black robes as a sign of mourning. His son, Prince Cor, the Crown Prince, was gone, kidnapped by Lord Bar. Lune had sailed out after the treacherous Lord as soon as he'd realised what had happened, and had defeated him in a deadly sea battle. But when they had searched the traitor's ship, from top to bottom, there had been no sign of his son. He was gone and beyond doubt dead. Lune stared out of the window, watching the sun disappear beyond the western horizon. Rain was hammering down on the window and occasionally there would be a flash of lightning above Mount Pire, followed by the rumble of thunder.

Lune raised his head and turned from the window at the crying of the baby. His other son, the mischievous Prince Corin was awake and wailing to be fed. The wet nurse awoke from her sleep in the chair by the fire and was startled to find the King in the same room as her.

"Your majesty," she said, standing up to curtsey. She looked at him and then to the prince, "Won't you hold him, your majesty? He needs his father more than ever now that - " She cut off.

Now that he is alone, Lune finished her sentence in his head, now that he has lost his twin brother.

"Your majesty," She gave an awkward curtsey and hurriedly left the nursery. Corin's wailing continued.

Lune walked over to his son. His only son. Even in the early months, Corin was more hassle than Cor. He would wake up in the middle of the night whilst Cor was sleeping and scream and scream until they both were awake and wailing, and the whole of the castle was woken by their cries. He looked down at him, the little tyke was crying, his face scrunched up in upset. Did he realise that he had lost a brother? Did he miss the warmth of his twin beside him? Was that why he cried so?

Lune bent down and picked up his child. He rocked him in his arms and made cooing noises to quieten him.

"My dear boy," he said softly, tears now running down his face, "My sweet sweet child." Corin slowly stopped crying and instead stared as if fascinated, up at his father. His podgy arms reached up and tugged at the King's beard. Lune chuckled at this and gave him a kiss on the forehead.

"What are we going to do with you, hey?" He smiled, "Now go to sleep." Corin smiled as Lune continued to rock him slowly to sleep.

Suddenly there was a loud knocking on the door. Corin awoke and started to cry again and Lune turned to the door in surprise. Who could it be? The wet nurse knew not to knock so loudly and who else would come to the Royal Nursery at this hour?

"Your majesty?" It was his servant, Turil the faun, "Your majesty, are you in here?"

"Yes Turil," said Lune, "Come in but do be quiet; I had almost got him to sleep." The door opened and in walked a faun with ginger hair and hooves of the palest white.

"I am sorry, your majesty." Answered Turil, "But we have a..." He paused, searching for the right word, "A guest."

"A guest?" Lune asked, curious.

"Yes," said Turil, "A young Calormen girl by the looks of it – seeking refuge from the storm." Lune's face darkened. It was the Tisroc who had been behind the kidnapping of Cor; the Calormen were no friends of Archenland.

"Send her away."

"But your majesty," Turil said, "The weather; we cannot leave a young lady outside in a storm like that. It would not be right." Lune turned to look out of the window. The rain was much heavier than it had been before and the lightning flashed across the sky so much closer. He looked down at his son who had stopped crying and was instead staring up at him with an expression of wonder.

"She's quite distressed, raving about slavers and kidnapped children." Turil said quietly, watching his King thoughtfully, "She is only a child herself and seems frightened of the storm. Her horse is in need of looking after, a nervous creature, who seems to be mainly skin and bone. I don't know what horrors they have been through but they are in dire need."

"Of course she must stay here, at the castle. I do not know what came over me," Lune said, still looking down at the Prince Corin who was slowly falling back to sleep again, "Sort out a chamber for her and make sure her horse is well tended."

"Yes your majesty," Turil said, and quietly left the nursery.

Lune went over to the cot and placed his remaining son gently down. Prince Corin gave a small little snuffle and turned in his sleep. Lune looked down at him tenderly.

"Well now Corin," he said softly to his son, "It appears we have a guest." He moved a whisp of hair out of his son's face, "Perhaps she may have news of Cor?" He sighed and shook his head at his own foolishness, "Of course she won't. It is curious though," He said quietly, turning back to look out of the window at the lightning and the rain, and to where Mount Pire stood, outlined through the gloom by the flashes of lightning, "It is curious that she should be so very far from home."

A/N: Hello and welcome to this fanfiction. I am TheSortingHatsSunglasses and I shall be your writer for this story. Just some safety briefing: keep your eyes on the page at all times and make sure you enjoy the story. Please feel free to review but readers are reminded that this is not obligatory though always a nice thing to do.

Ok so that was just the prologue part. It's just sort of setting the scene and easing you into the story. Or at least, that's the plan.

Anyway, keep calm and carry on reading.

SHS

:D :D :D

P.S. Reviews are the bomb