A/N: Hello, all! I wrote this story about a year ago, so it is finished, but is in need of editing. So, the chapters will be posted after they are edited. By the way, the title is liable to change. This is set in the Golden Age, and after the Horse and His Boy. I took some liberty to change the ages, so don't kill me!
Disclaimer: I don't own Narnia and any one or anything you see in The Chronicles of Narnia.
Chapter I: Paintings and Parries
Another boring day. This past week had been full of meetings and councils, and paperwork had piled up in the process. Edmund sighed as he tried to concentrate on Tumnus, who was speaking about taxes, paychecks, treaties, and other things involved with running a country. Edmund gave a Peter a glare. He had promised that today they would be free from councils. Unfortunately, some issues arose and stole Edmund's leisure time. At last, Tumnus had finished speaking and the council was over.
"Finally," Edmund muttered under his breath after everyone else had left.
"Ed, let's go get some lunch before sword practice," Peter suggested.
Edmund stood up. "Good, I'm starving! I'll race you to the dining room!"
He dashed out of the doors and ran through one of the large marble hallways full of paintings. His brother smiled and shook his head before pursuing Edmund.
When they had arrived in the dining room, their food was already laid out. Susan and Lucy couldn't join them that afternoon, so the two dove straight in their roasted stag (of course, not talking stag) sandwiches.
"King Lune is visiting this evening with company," Peter said, taking a bite of his sandwich. "They're here for the ball and all." Edmund groaned at the mention of the ball.
Peter continued, " But I've been warned that Prince Cor and Corin will probably race ahead of their party and arrive here later in the afternoon."
" Of course. You know, they remind me of you and me once upon a time," Edmund mused.
"You mean, last week?"
Edmund swatted his brother's arm with an unused spoon. "I suppose Aravis will be accompanying them?"
"Yes," replied Peter. "Susan and Lucy will be delighted to have some company. They've really been quite lonely lately, since we've been so busy. Oh! And also, King Lune is bringing the princes' new tutors. Our age actually."
" How in the world does a sixteen year old manage to teach?" Edmund looked confused. He himself still had lessons from time to time.
"Well, he did mention it was the older sister who did most of the teaching. The—"
"Sister? They're women?" Edmund spluttered.
"Yes, Edmund," Peter rolled his eyes. "Women are capable of teaching. I know it isn't common. But, nonetheless, they are capable. As I was saying, the younger is still only assisting or something like that. I think the real reason they are there is that they are in need of a place to stay and the elder needs employment. Apparently, the king rescued them out of an unfortunate situation."
"And he's all right with them teaching and caring for his sons?" Edmund asked in disbelief.
"If King Lune trusts them, I'm sure they're all right. Oh! And he asked us not to say anything to the princes."
Edmund laughed, "It will be a rude awakening for the princes to find their tutors have followed them to the ball."
"At least Susan and Lucy will be happy for a while," Peter shrugged. " They've been pestering me about a ball for a while."
" Yeah, well, it's poor Lu has been particularly bored lately," Edmund said with a mouth full of sandwich. "Susan has been replying to all those letters from suitors. She says she has a horrible time finding 'kind' words to decline them. I think she should just simply write a letter saying: 'No. Sincerely, Queen Susan the Gentle of Narnia."
" But, Ed, that would hardly be lady-like, queen- like, or gentle."
" Perhaps, but it would save me from having to visit them all, and then trying to flee for my life, and then going to war with their country!"
They both laughed. Ever since the battle with Calormen the previous year, there had been an endless amount of jokes on Susan's choice of suitors.
" Well, I'm going to go into the library for a bit. I shall see you at sword practice," Edmund concluded. He placed the last bite of his food in his mouth and exited the room.
He strolled down the enormous hall that he had not long ago bolted through. He took some time to admire the paintings. He briefly examined one of a Narnian flower. The background was gloomy which heightened the effect of the bright, pink flowers. The next painting was one of the Narnian beach. It was so life-like that Edmund thought, for a moment, that he was standing on the shore, watching the glistening sea and listening to the waves crashing against the sand. He let out a wistful sigh. He hadn't been to the beach ever since his work load had almost doubled. He moved on to the next painting. This one he had seen before but had never really looked at it. It intrigued him. A half- blossomed tree was on the left, with squirrels dancing around it. There were a few bushes near the front of the picture, obviously bearing buds. But that was not what caught Edmund's attention. In the far back of the picture, there was a cave. The cave was emitting a blue light. Actually, it seemed more as if the cave itself was glowing blue. The blue reminded him of the color of White Witch's wand; but he quickly shoved the idea out of his mind. He was so absorbed in the picture, he did not hear Tumnus come beside him.
" Ah, yes. That was painted by Simone, the faun."
Edmund jumped, startled by the faun. " Oh, Tumnus," he breathed. " Do you know where this picture was painted?"
"Hmm, not really. It is very old, but I am sure he painted it in his home."
Edmund laughed. One needed to cultivate a taste for the humor of fauns. He rephrased the question,
"No, no, no, I mean, of what place is this painting?"
"That is unknown, sire. That painting was found lying in the ruins of a poor faun's home. Probably destroyed by Her." Edmund felt a shiver run down his spine at the remembrance of the wish. He quickly shook it off, not wishing to meditate on the past.
"Alright, thanks, Mr. Tumnus," Edmund replied. He wanted to examine the picture further, but he knew Tumnus was sent to relay a message from Peter nagging him to do the paperwork piled up on his desk. He slowly inched away, but his attempt to escape failed as Tumnus called after him, "The High King sent me to remind Your Highness not to be late for practice today!"
" Of course not! Thank you, Mr. Tumnus." Edmund replied, quickening his pace.
" And, your majesty!" Tumnus called again. The young king turned stiffly to face the faun.
" Yes, Mr. Tumnus?"
" His majesty, Peter, also wanted me to warn you that there would be consequences if you were late again."
Edmund clenched his fists. " Thank you, again."
He turned back heading to the library. What did Peter mean by "consequences"? He was only five or ten minutes late the last time!
Edmund arrived in the main library of the Cair. (All the Pevensies owned their private library near their own rooms.) The room was filled with towering shelves that almost touched the top of the high ceilings. There were several large ladders all around with several large, wheeled ladders for easy access to the books placed on higher shelves. Several chairs were placed all around the room along with couches, two long window seats, and two tables. This was Edmund's favorite room, other than his own, in the castle.
For some reason, he still could not get the painting in the hallway out of his mind. He wondered whether there might be a book containing a description of it. He decided to look for a title that said Narnian Paintings. He was forced to look through it years ago for a history lesson. Of course, at the time, Edmund had no interest in any paintings, or history for that matter.
"The library is in alphabetical order so it shouldn't be that hard," Edmund thought.
He could not find it on any of the lower shelves. He looked up at the ladders as if climbing them would lead to his doom. He had a bit of a fear for heights. (In this case, however, no one could blame him, for these shelves were very high.)
He placed one hand on the ladder and took a deep breath and slowly made his way up the first five shelves, saying a prayer as he increased height. He was now around the seventh shelf. To his despair, he couldn't find the book. He climbed even higher. Now, he was around the tenth shelf. Still no book.
" By the lion! Why are there so many books that start with the word 'Narnian'?"
Before he knew it, he was by the highest shelf.
" Don't look down, Edmund. Don't look down," he kept repeating aloud to himself as he scanned the shelf with his eyes. He read the titles aloud,
"Narnian Houses, Narnian Homes, Narnian Humans( hmm, that's an odd one).These are H's, idiot!"
Edmund gulped. He knew what he had to do. He had to pull on the top of the shelves and move the ladder, while he was still on it. He cautiously let go with one hand and quickly placed it on the top of the shelf. He was moaning quietly as he pulled the ladder. He hoped no one would walk in at the moment to hear their king whimpering like a frightened dog. He really was slowly getting over his fear, but, old habits die hard.
He was careful to find the P's although it took him several shelves across.
" Finally," he sighed. "Let's see, Narnian Pegasus, Narnian People. No, no, no. Too far. Here, Narnian Pains, Oh! Narnian Paintings."
In Edmund's rush to pull the book off the shelf, he accidentally pulled off another one, a very small one. However, the small book slipped through his grasp. He heard a fairly loud thump, thirty- two shelves below.
" Oh, bother! Of course, I have to drop something, now don't I? And I suppose I will have to make another trip to climb back up and put it away."
He groaned in frustration as he gingerly climbed down the ladder. He had to do so with one hand since his other was clenching the other book. Finally, he reached the bottom. He placed the first book down, leaned over to pick up the small book, and carefully made his way back up to the top of the shelf without even reading the title on the cover.
When he did reach the top, he caught a glimpse of the title-well, what could be read of the title. The book was obviously very old since the cover was torn and the title mostly faded out. It read Ki_ _ran_ Re_ -Ca_ Cr_s_ Sh_. The blanks for the parts faded out. Edmund was so intrigued that he was at the bottom of the ladder with the book in hand before he knew it.
Edmund opened the front cover, careful not to tear it off. He turned a few pages in and began scanning the passages:
" King Frank thought it best to hide the item in the cave lest it cause anymore war…. The gold from this glass , apparently, held some evil magic placed by a witch… His followers were soon killed as they were assassinated by another unknown country…Queen Helen first suggested a secret room in their castle to be built. This was soon objected as…These shards of crystals which had a blue glow were found in the cave. If touched by one without a gift to wield magic, he was instantly shocked, either to death or to unconsciousness if he was lucky. Some turned into stone…"
Here he was interrupted as a servant entered the room. Edmund jumped when he spoke, "Sire, your practice begins very soon," the polite faun said, smiling at the young king.
" Why, thank you," he replied, trying his very best not to sound nervous. Why he was nervous, he didn't know.
"Of course," the faun replied cheerily. "Anything I can help you with?"
Edmund opened his mouth to ask about the book. But the thrill of mystery overtook him. No, that won't be necessary. Thank you, good sir!"
The faun bowed and left the room. Edmund sighed and sat down with the two books. He found a description of the same painting as the one in the hallway in Narnian Paintings. Then, he pulled out the other and scanned the pages for anything useful and explanatory. He was so distracted by all of this, he did not realize the time.
Suddenly, Susan stormed into the library.
"Edmund Alexander Pevensie! You are forty-five minutes late for your sword practice; Peter is absolutely livid!" she scolded him. Edmund slipped the small book underneath his chair, and closed Narnian Paintings.
"Er- I will just fetch my sword and be off and-" Edmund began calmly when Susan interrupted.
" I have your sword here. What were you doing, anyways?"
" Nevermind that. You having a bad day?" Edmund asked, grabbing the sword out of Susan's hand.
"What do you think?" she replied. "Now, go!" He dashed outside hoping that his curious sister would not be snooping around the library and find the book. He wanted to keep this to himself for now.
He ran as fast as he could to the training fields. He could tell his brother was upset, but not "livid" as Susan had said, or more like shouted.
"So much for gentle," Edmund thought as he approached Peter.
" I'm really sorry, Pete. I was just so absorbed in this book, I-"
Peter held up his hand to silence Edmund.
" We won't discuss this any further, but, as I warned you, there will be consequences."
Edmund had to smile. " Like what? Aren't I a little old for punishments from you?"
"Not really," Peter said with a serious face, but his eyes twinkled with mischief.
Edmund laughed. " Peter! I am sixteen years old, for the sake of Aslan."
"And I am nineteen years old, and I am your older brother, and your High King. All good examples of why I have the right to punish you."
At this Peter pulled his sword out from his scabbard and finally released a smile that was hanging on his lips.
"Oh, dear brother," Edmund said putting his hands in the air. "You would not draw your sword before your opponent has even unsheathed his."
"Considering my opponent is my younger brother, I think I can make an exception."
Peter pulled back getting ready to strike. Edmund chuckled as he unsheathed his own sword , blocked Peter's blow, and returned a blow in a what seemed a singlestroke. Peter did some kind of spin behind Edmund and tried to strike him from that position. However, his brother quickly parried, pivoted, and once again easily blocked the new oncoming blow.
" Maybe you have been practicing more than three times a week," Peter remarked, panting a little.
" Naturally! Why else would I have all those bruises? The centaurs actually give me a challenge, unlike y- oof!"
At this point, Peter had blocked one of Edmund's strokes from above and, keeping both swords above their heads, managed to punch Edmund in the stomach. Their swords were dulled for practices, so they never had any serious accidents. But it never prevented either from punching or tackling.
" Two can play at that game," Edmund said. He performed the one sword trick that he used to win tournaments in other countries. He clashed his sword with Peter's, twirled his own in a small circle, tapped the hilt of Peter's sword so that it flew up in the air, disarming his brother. He caught the sword in his other hand and triumphantly pointed them at Peter.
The match soon resulted in Peter tackling Edmund, leaving them both disarmed and brawling on the ground.
Presently, a centaur came along with Queen Lucy and Queen Susan.
" Oh dear!" Susan giggled. "Oreius, it seems like your training still hasn't knocked out the playfulness it them." .
Oreius lauged. " They are brothers, my queen. You cannot expect any different."
"I'm afraid that our kings will be awfully dirty for the arrival of Prince Cor and Prince Corin," Susan added.
"I don't think Cor or Corin will really mind much. Aravis says that they do the same in Archenland," Lucy joined in. "But Cor isn't as aggressive, so you can imagine the outcome!"
" Well, I have no problem whacking this one in the head once in a while. It might actually knock some sense into him," Peter said with some difficulty, for Edmund was sitting on his chest.
" Excuse me, brother. But, I have a great deal of sense. Now, if only if you would trust me with something I could-"
He was cut off by the neighs of horses. They turned their attention to the gate, and saw two horses with two young riders riding up to the gate of Cair Paravel.
" Oh! Look! It's Prince Cor and Prince Corin right now. Shall we greet them?" Lucy exclaimed.
They hurried to the gate and overheard a portion their guests' argument. ( They were always fighting over something.)
" I'm not saying that, Corin. But I think you let her win."
" I would not let her win! She would be very upset if I did! She's just an excellent rider is all."
" Quite frankly, I think Breeca's the better rider."
" Are you stupid? Why is Father paying for your horsemanship lessons! Can't you tell a better rider when you see one?"
" Oh, Corin, I'm tired of this argument. I'll just say it! I'm so-" began the compromising Cor.
" Cor! Don't you dare apologize or I will box you so hard you-"
" Greetings, princes!" Peter interrupted." Now, you two can't be fighting already. You have only just arrived."
Cor opened his mouth to say something when Corin began babbling, " Yes, your majesty! This blockhead doesn't know a better rider when he sees one. You see we- oh, Queen Susan! I haven't seen you in ages!"
This being said, the two friends embraced each other.
"Well," Edmund sighed. "Now to wait for the rest of your party!"
A/N: Well! There's the first chapter. What did you think? Just as a heads up: there will be some Original Characters in this story, however, there will be NO, NONE, ZILCH, romance in this story! Don't worry:) Oh, and not all the chapters will be quite as long:)
Reviews are nice!
