Jewel's Bravery
Beta'd by Jesus' girl 4ever
Disclaimer: I don't own Chronicles of Narnia, CS Lewis does, and Disney owns the movies.
The dark clouds were moving around in the sky trying to hide the sun, and making the atmosphere look grey. King Tirian and his friend Jewel the Unicorn felt a bit chilly while they were walking home from their friend Pippy the Mouse's house.
They were walking in an open field with wild flowers here and there including amarylllis, tulips, and geraniums, and there were also trees which were spread apart from each other including chestnut, oak and ash. They enjoyed the visit and hoped that they would get home before it began to rain.
"I hope we get home before it rains," said Jewel. "I don't want to get wet."
"Me neither," said Tirian. "I don't think it's going to rain yet though. The sun is still out and the clouds haven't covered it yet."
"Yes, but the air looks grey, and when it does it is usually soon followed by rain."
"It doesn't mean that it will rain immediately."
"No, it doesn't," Jewel agreed.
"That was a nice visit, your majesty," said Jewel, deciding to change the subject. "Pippy and his wife were good hosts."
"They were," Tirian agreed. "Pippy was good company. I loved how he talked about swimming in boats."
"That's something that the two of you have in common. As for me, I never liked boats."
"You do like fishing though," said Tirian.
"I had a lot of fun fishing with you and the others last week."
"Especially when you caught a very large trout," Tirian added.
"That is not as big as the one you caught two months ago," said Jewel.
"The fish that Pippy's wife served tasted good."
"I like the grass and the nuts a lot better," said Jewel. "As you know, I don't care to eat fish."
"You just like to catch them and give them to other Narnians."
They came by Badger who was sweeping the porch of his home.
"Greetings, your majesty and Jewel," Mr. Badger said as he stopped sweeping and bowed.
"Greetings to you, too," Tirian said to Mr. Badger. "How are you on this fine day?"
"I'm good," said Mr. Badger. "Where are you headed?"
"Back home," said Jewel. "We were just over at Pippy's house."
"Pippy is a very nice mouse," said Mr. Badger.
"So you are friends with Pippy, too?" Tirian asked.
"Yes, I am. He is very popular."
"He certainly is," Jewel agreed.
"Have a good day," said Mr. Badger. He resumed sweeping.
Tirian waved goodbye to him, and Jewel nodded his head.
They walked for about ten minutes before they entered the area where the grass was growing tall and where numerous wild flowers were growing including primroses, daisies, and blue bells.
"I love daisies," said Jewel. "They are one of my favorite foods to eat: sweet, but not too sweet."
"I like looking at daisies and the other flowers; they make the fields look beautiful, don't they, Jewel?"
"They certainly do, your majesty."
The sun was almost covered completely by the dark clouds, but it parted letting the sun's rays make the sky look a little lighter.
"See, the sun is coming out," said Tirian. "Maybe it won't rain after all."
Jewel had his doubts, but he said nothing because he did not like to talk about the rain too much.
They soon came began to climb a small grassy hill, and when they came to the top of the hill, they saw Shift the Ape sitting on a rock about 20 feet away from them eating a banana. When Shift saw them, he scowled at them, and Jewel scowled back at him.
"I don't like Shift," said Jewel. "He's rude, obnoxious, and has bad manners."
"He also treats poor Puzzle badly," added Tirian.
"Hey Jewel!" Shift yelled. "When are you ever going to get married, or are you going to be King Tirian's slave forever?" he laughed.
Jewel started towards Shift, but Tirian held him back.
"Let me get at him!" he exclaimed angrily.
"Just ignore him; he's not worth it," Tirian said quietly
"But you heard what he said," Jewel said angrily.
"He's ignorant," said Tirian. "He obviously doesn't know a good friendship when he sees one."
"I can believe that, the way he treats his friend."
"I hope that Puzzle will find a better friend someday."
Jewel's brief anger cooled down and they continued to walk. They passed by a lake and a few ducks were swimming in it. The ducks bowed their head to them in greetings, and they likewise bowed their heads to them.
They walked for another five minutes until they came upon two of the trees. The trees shook their branches and leaves at them showing them that they did not like them. They walked for another ten minutes before they came to a birch tree which was a lot friendly than the other two trees.
"Good day," Tirian said to her.
She ruffled her leaves in a friendly greeting. A minute later a few colorful leaves began to swirl around until it took the shape of a woman. She bowed in front of Tirian.
"How are you?" she asked them politely.
"We are fine," Jewel answered her. "We had a nice visit with Pippy the Mouse and are on our way back home."
"I had a nice visit with my friend Willow Tree," she said.
"I'm glad," said Tirian.
"Have a good day, your majesty and Jewel, and get home safely."
"Thank you," said Tirian.
They continued on their way home and saw a forest in the distance ahead of them. They also saw that the clouds were trying to hide the sun again, and the sky began to grow darker. They walked for about 10 minutes until they came by some rocks and loose stones. Tirian picked up a stone and threw it.
"What would you like to do after supper?" Tirian asked Jewel.
"I would like to play a game at chess," said Jewel.
"Maybe I'll beat you at the game this time," said Tirian.
"Not if I can help it; besides, I am better at chess."
"Yes, you are, but I have been practicing the game lately and my strategies are getting better. Perhaps I will win this game."
"We'll see," said Jewel.
A few minutes later they entered the woods. The trees in the woods grew so close together that the leaves and the branches blocked the little of the sun that was left showing in the sky making the forest look very dark. They continued to talk to each other, unaware that they were being followed.
"That was a great game of Parcheesi we played today," said Jewel. "I had a lot of fun."
"I did too, and Pippy was really good. He won this game."
"He wins a lot of games; he…"
All of a sudden a small group of Calormene soldiers appeared in front of them with their swords out. Tirian unsheathed his sword and he and Jewel began to fight them. Tirian was busy parrying with two of the soldiers and did not notice the third Calormene soldier approaching him with a sword pointed toward him. Tirian continued parrying the two soldiers, found an opening, and quickly stabbed one of them in the chest. The soldier fell down dead. Jewel saw the third soldier about to stab him and cried out a warning to Tirian.
"Tirian, look out!"
Tirian quickly turned and sliced the soldier's arm off. The soldier screamed in pain; Tirian quickly stabbed him in the chest. The other soldier he was parrying with raised his sword and was about to chop off Tirian's head, but Tirian returned quickly and met the soldier's sword with his own. While he was fighting the soldier, two more were coming at him on either side. Jewel saw this and knew that Tirian needed his help, but he could not help him because was busy fighting four soldiers who were surrounding him. Two of them were near his back, one was near his front, and the last one was in front of him. Jewel lowered his horn with the intention of goring the soldier, but the soldier met his horn with his sword, and they began to parry. Another soldier helped him. One of the soldiers who was near the back of him was about to stab him, but Jewel kicked his head and knocked him out, and he did the same with the other one. He then knocked down the sword of the one of the soldiers and gored the other soldier. The soldier whose sword had been knocked down bent down to pick it up, but Jewel kicked him on the head, making him unconscious.
He was now able to give aid to Tirian who was fighting three soldiers at once. He joined Jewel in fighting the three soldiers. They were unaware that a few of the soldiers were hiding behind trees with bows in their hands waiting to shoot King Tirian and Jewel if the other soldiers did not kill them. The soldiers that Tirian and Jewel fought could not be easily defeated. They swung their swords at the soldiers, but the soldiers always met their swords. They nicked each other with swords causing bruises, and cuts. Finally Jewel was able to gore two of the soldiers to death, and Tirian was able to run the third one through.
Tirian wiped the sweat off his face. He and Jewel were tired but relieved; they thought that the short battle had ended. They looked at their own injuries and began to tend them when all of a sudden an arrow that seemed to appear from nowhere was heading straight toward Tirian's heart. Jewel, knowing that there was no time, quickly jumped in front of Tirian and the arrow went straight through his side. He felt sharp pain before he fell to the ground.
For a few seconds Tirian's eyes were wide and his mouth was opened in shock before he realized that Jewel took the arrow for him. Tirian looked down at Jewel and saw the arrow sticking through him. He knelt down hoping that Jewel was still alive, but feared that he was dead.
"Jewel, Jewel," Tirian said in his ears hoping that Jewel would answer, but Jewel said nothing.
Tirian crawled to the front of him and shook him lightly.
"Jewel, wake up, please!" Tirian said in anguish.
But Jewel did not move. Tirian checked for signs of life in Jewel, but there was none. Tirian's heart began to break in pieces because he knew that Jewel would never wake up in this world again. He closed Jewel's eyes, bent over him and began to weep. His tears were pouring out in torrents showing the anguish of his heart. Jewel was his best friend, and he meant a lot to him. He and Jewel were always there to help each other in battles and other times that they needed each other. They also enjoyed each other's company and had lots of fun together. Now he was gone, and Tirian's heart ached with deep loneliness and sorrow over the loss of his friend. He also felt warm inside because he knew that his friend loved him enough to give his life for him. If Jewel did not jump in front of him at that time, the arrow would have surely killed him. Tirian knew this.
"Oh Jewel, you were such a good friend. If only you didn't jump in front of me. I didn't want you to go, and I will miss you, but I am thankful to Aslan that I have a true friend."
Tirian's heart still ached and he still felt empty, but he realized that Aslan would fill his heart again. He trusted in Aslan.
While Tirian was weeping over his friend, the soldier pulled back his bow and was about to shoot an arrow into Tirian when he felt that he was grabbed behind by the Narnian Tree that just woke up from his deep sleep. It twisted the soldier's arms and made him drop the bow and arrow. Then it knocked him on the head with his branch and dropped the unconscious soldier to the ground. A few other Narnian Trees were also beginning to wake up. They caught the last two Calormene's and threw them down rendering them unconscious.
They began to silently watch their king mourn over his friend. They dared not disturb him while he was weeping over him. The dark clouds burst and rain began to pour on them. Tirian felt wet, but he took no notice of it because he was busy weeping over Jewel. After a while, he lifted his head and saw the trees watching him with sympathy.
"Anything we can do, your majesty?" one of the trees asked.
"Yes, can you carry Jewel back to the castle? I want to bury him with honors because gave his life for me."
The End
Epilogue: Tirian had Jewel buried with honors. Many of the Narnians came to the funeral. Most of them wept for him. As for the soldiers that attacked Tirian and Jewel, they sent them back to Calormene in boats after they were punished (not tortured,) and the dead was sent to them for burial.