Author's Note: Hey all! So this is part two of the Lion's Daughter series, comes after Believe, and was previously titled "I promise to love you forever." It takes place during Prince Caspian. That's really all I have to say, so thank you for reading!
Disclaimer: The Chronicles of Narnia characters and themes do not belong to me, I'm just borrowing them from C.S. Lewis.
It had been nearly 1300 years since the disappearance of the High King Peter and his royal brother and sisters. Nearly 1300 years since the end of the Golden Age. Narnia was not as it had been in those days. Back when two sons of Adam and two daughters of Eve ruled, Narnia was a peaceful land. All countries had been reintegrated and new alliances had been formed. But once the four had disappeared, all of that had fallen apart. The Lone Islands had been captured by Calormene. Etinsmoor and the Seven Isles declared its independence. And on top of all of that, a new threat entered Narnia. They were known as Telmarines. Led by King Caspian I, the Telmarines slowly started to invade and seize Narnian lands. The Narnian army was strong, as it always was, but not as strong as it once was. It had not been able to defend Narnia the way that it once could.
It was a new army, a younger army, no longer the same one that the Kings and Queens of old once had. That army had been strong, old and united. That army was all dead and gone. All except one.
The Lady Airies, once friend of the Pevensie family, still lived. She had lived these 1000 years, but she was not as her friends would remember her. Instead of growing old, she seemed to regress in age until she was the image of an eighteen year old once more. Her theory for her regression was that her heart was connected to Peters, so when he returned to England he became a child once again and so did she. Her second theory, which she hoped was not the one, but that she was also sure was the correct one, was that her magic connected her to Edmund instead. She had heard his heartbeat before he left. When she had saved him with her fire those many, many years ago, she theorized her magic connected the two of them in a way that she would never connect with someone else, in a way that frightened her yet comforted her all the same.
But none of that mattered anymore, because she was still alive, and she was alone. Everyone she had known and imagined herself growing old with was dead. Of course they had grown old, but she had not. She had seen and been there for most of, if not all of, their deaths. She was not dead, though she so wished to be, so she had to live on and continue to fight for Narnia.
Cair Paravel had been destroyed and Airies was now on the run. Narnians now lived in secret, meeting only in the dead of night, and in the deepest of forests. The talking beasts were now something to be feared, a scary story that Telmarine parents told their children to frighten them into staying out of the woods and being good. There were not many Narnians left, but those that were vowed to fight for Narnia until their deaths. Airies made that vow as well, and now she was a wanted person for it.
She had done something out of hatred years ago, when Miraz the Telmarine declared himself the new leader after the death of King Caspian the Ninth. He was the worst of them all. Airies had found out about his coronation, and went to hear his speech. She had not planned to act. She had merely wanted to watch from the shadows. However, her plans never went the way she wanted anymore. In this speech, he declared that there was a dark magic running through Narnia, and that they had to act in order to destroy the Narnians and their black magic before they tried to take over the Telmarines and kill them all. Magic, he claimed, was something to be feared and hated.
"You lie!" Airies had shouted out in anger from the middle of the crowd, where she had moved to get closer to him. "The only thing that is to be feared and hated in Narnia is you!"
Those words did not sit well with Miraz. He was not used to people challenging him. "Seize her!" Miraz had cried, but just as Aslan had told her many, many years ago, she had some of his magic mixed inside her as well, and she utilized it now. She made fire spin around her and then she disappeared. It took less than a day for her face to be up on wanted posters throughout the entire country. Everyone was looking for her under Miraz's order. She now had a new title: Wanted person, dead or alive.
She sat now in a tavern in Archenland, drinking ale from a large mug with the hood of her cloak up over her head. The door of the tavern burst open, and a cold breeze drifted in. Airies could sense danger in the air immediately. Slowly, she looked over her shoulder to see two Telmarine soldiers walk in and speak to the barkeeper. They looked in her direction, speaking roughly in whispers, and she did not wait a second more. She hopped up from the bar and ran out the back door.
"Thorin!" she called as she ran into the woods, and a wolf came bounding up to her side. She could hear the Telmarines shouting behind her. "Get to Narnia. Find the Narnians, and let them know of my plan. I'll catch up."
"Yes, m'lady," the wolf barked before speeding past her. Airies spun around, her cloak whipping behind her, and pulled out her sword just as the soldiers came bursting through the trees.
"Things will be much nicer for you if you come quietly," one of them said.
"I'm not one to come quietly," she sneered right before charging at them. She whipped her sword so fast between the both of them that it actually frightened the Telmarines. They had heard the stories of course, but they had never fully believed in this Daughter of Aslan or her strength. Seeing it up close was not something they had wanted. She disarmed one of them and took his sword. For that soldier, she flung out her hand and fire flew from her fingertips, engulfing him entirely.
"He got off easy," she said to the second one, shouting over the screams of the first. She twisted both swords around the second and disarmed him. Quickly, she kicked his sword away as he knelt on the ground before her with his head down in surrender.
"On your feet, Telmarine, and hands in the air," she ordered, and he did as he was told. "Send a message to your king," she spat the word, and the soldier quivered at her tone, "He will never catch me. And if he tries to come after me again… well what happened to your friend, there's much more where that came from." She paused and looked the soldier dead in the eye before bringing her sword up in the air and then slashing it down on one of his arms, taking off his hand completely at the wrist. "I am not to be trifled with," she added before turning and walking away, leaving the soldier screaming in agony on the forest floor next to his burning partner. The years had made her cold, and she no longer cared for the lives of men. Narnian lives were all that mattered, however few and little they may be.
It was not long before it started to get dark and Airies needed to find a place to sleep. She found a little stream which she decided was the perfect place. She went down by the water and placed her hand lightly on the surface. Ripples spread out from under her hand, and then an image appeared in the water, one of her precious Pevensies. It looked to be night time too wherever they were, and they all sat in one room talking quietly together. Not much time seemed to have passed in their world from what she could tell. They all looked the same, if not somewhat older. She narrowed in on Peter. He stared off into space, his eyes looking distant and sad, but he smiled at something Edmund said, and soon they were all laughing. Airies went to sleep with that image in her mind: her family, alive and happy together.
A crunching sound made Airies' eyes snap open. The stillness in the air told her that a few hours had gone by. She sat up and listened closely. Someone, or something, was moving towards her. She stood up and held her sword at the ready. Out of the bushes tumbled a short little man with round spectacles and a long white beard. His hands were up in front of him in a peace offering.
"Who are you?" Airies asked.
"I am a friend. I have been looking for you for quite some time. You do not know me, but I know you, Lady Airies."
"Who are you?" she repeated the question, this time a little more fiercely.
"My name is Cornelius. I am a half dwarf. I have come to ask for your help."
"And I should trust you why?" she questioned him and let her sword lower just a little bit. This man was half Narnian, and that counted for something. But he was also half man, which counted for a little more.
"Because I have this." With one hand still up, he slowly reached into the pocket of his cloak, and what he pulled out made Airies' eyes widen in shock. It was Queen Susan's horn. He explained all about how he knew everything of Old Narnia and that he believed the horn would bring them help. Airies was listening now. She had been looking for that horn for centuries. How had he found it?
She lowered her sword fully and put it away. "So how can I help?" she asked him, and Cornelius told her all about the prince he looked after and how he was in danger from Lord Miraz.
"And why should I help a Telmarine? They've done nothing for me."
"Because he knows all about Old Narnia, and he is on our side. If he blows the horn, it may bring back our kings and queens. Is that not what you want?" He gave her a knowing glance over the top of his spectacles. It was in fact what she wanted more than anything else in this world. "Prince Caspian wants a free Narnia. He will help us. But I need you to lead him to the Narnians. Please, my lady, help him."
Airies closed her eyes in thought. It was very dangerous for her to follow this half-dwarf to Lord Miraz's castle. That was the exact place she was trying to avoid. But if she could see Peter again… then wouldn't the danger be worth it? The answer to that was simple.
"Alright," she agreed as she opened her eyes. "For Narnia."