The Wounded Lion

I do not own the rights to Chronicles of Narnia or Game of Thrones

Chapter Three

And who are you

The White Witch said

That I must bend the knee?

Only children

And a weak old man

And you will fall to me

And so she spoke

And so she spoke

That Queen of ice and snow

Yet now the sun, shines across the land

And summer rules instead

Yes now the sun shines across the land

And summer rules instead

Margery listened silently to the familiar tune with new words. It was strange. It was a parody but not a cruel one. The song was filled with an upbeat joy where it was once a dangerous warning. Since they had been ambushed their attackers, the men and those, creatures, had put thick sacks over their heads and marched all of them for miles through rough terrain. She could feel the painful blisters on her feet and her ankles ached. A lifetime in castles with servants had made her unused to walking for a long time. She guessed though that they must have been walking for about a day. Still, she was glad that they at least took the bags off their heads when they reached their final destination. Unfortunately that destination was a stone cell. She and Loras with the four others were sitting there in a circle with their hands tied behind their backs. There was no one on guard at the barred door fortunately but Margery guessed there was probably a guard room close by because of the singing. They had taken away all of their weapons and Loras had his armour taken away.

'You never told us your names,' she heard Loras say to the others at last.

'We were interrupted,' said the elder girl.

'Well, nothing to interrupt you now,' Margery said to her.

'Susan. This is Lucy and my brothers Peter and Edmund.'

'Well, do we have any plans for escaping?'

'They took our weapons,' said Susan but then Margery saw a glint in young Lucy's eyes. In fact, Lucy appeared to have been concentrating on something for a while. She then moved to show her bonds had been cut and she was holding a small dagger in her hand.

'Where did you hide it?' Susan whispered to her sister.

'Shoe,' she answered and silently moved over to Peter to begin cutting him free.

'Well done Lu,' he said as she was easily able to cut through the rope.

'You didn't have any lock picks in your shoe did you?' Loras asked in a voice which Margery knew meant he was annoyed.

'I do,' Margey told him.

'What?'

'Hairpins. I'm not taking any chances after High Sparrow locked me away.'

When Lucy cut through Peters bonds she gave him the knife to cut the others free as he was stronger while Lucy herself took the lock picks from Margery's hair.

'Do you know how to use them?'

'I learned years ago.'

'Shush,' Susan suddenly said as they heard footsteps coming towards them.

'Damnit,' Peter said and he and Lucy moved back into place, holding the cut rope behind their backs to make it look like they were not trying to escape.

Seconds after they were back in place a woman, followed by a Man and a Faun, both wearing armour coated in Narnian colours. The woman herself though was tall and slim with cutting green eyes, high cheek bones and blonde hair which went down to her waist. She wore a red gown with gold stitching around the edges. On her head rested a gold crown studded with rubies. One of her guards unlocked the door and the woman stepped in. Margery took one look at her and saw the Lannister traits easily.

'You don't seem intimidated,' she said coldly and put her hands on her hips. 'It's unusual to say the least. Do you even know who I am?' When they said nothing back to her she told them who she is. 'I am Cersei Lannister, Queen of Narnia, Empress of the Lone Islands, descendent of King Tywin Lannister the Mighty. My men told me you were Telmarine looters preparing to destroy my ancestors grave.'

'That's a lie!' shouted Lucy.

'I know,' Queen Cersei stated simply. 'For a start none of you look nor sound like Telmarines. And I'm certain my soldiers would have spotted our enemies so deep into Lannister territory. Still, I am annoyed that four of you looted the treasure if the Pevensies.'

'Is it looting when you take your own property?' asked Peter.

'What?' the Lannister asked him as suddenly realisation crossed her face. She spun on her heel to the Faun and snapped at him. 'Bring me the Pevensie Portraits. Now!'

He bowed and hurried off while Cersei looked at the four Pevensie children. For about ten minutes time dragged by until the Faun returned followed by four young men, each one carrying a painting. Margery looked at them and, with surprise she recognised them. In each painting she could see the children before her except they wore grand clothes of the finest make and on their heads were perched crowns of silver and gold. The Lannister looked at them and then back at the children and, to Margery's surprise, the elegant, noble woman fell to her knee.

'Forgive me Your Graces. I did not know it was you.'

What? Margery asked herself. The four children were rulers?

'You need not fear,' Peter said as he stood up.

'Untie them,' Cersei said to her guards who moved forwards at once to remove the ropes, and they were surprised to see that some were already cut.

'Them as well,' said Lucy and pointed at Margery and Loras.

'And who are they?' the Lannister asked her.

'Margery and Loras of House Tyrell,' said Margery. 'I am also the wife of King Tommen, lord of the Seven Kingdoms and the grandson of Tywin Lannister.'

'But, but Tywin Lannister has been dead for thousands of years. How can his grandsons wife be here?'

'Time passes differently in our worlds,' Peter explained to her. 'It's only been a year for us since we left.'

'It has not been two years since Tywin Lannister died in Westeros,' Loras spoke up.

'I see,' the queen said, clearly overwhelmed by all of this. 'Well, it will be supper soon. I will be honoured to dine with all of you.'

'Thank you,' Lucy said, eager for some food.

'I hope you could tell us where "here" is,' said Susan.

'New Cair Paravel,' she answered. 'After the Telmarines sacked Cair Paravel we had to rebuild but we didn't have enough money to restore our old capital to glory so we built a smaller castle here.'

'Where's here?' asked Peter.

'It is close to where you made camp before you defeated the White Witch.'

'Thank you,' said Lucy.

'Now,' Queen Cersei said and nervously bit her lower lip, 'I'll have servants show you to chambers so you can freshen up. Once again,' she said to Peter, 'please forgive us High King.'

'I told you, there is nothing to forgive.'

'Thank you Your Grace.'

...

New Cair Paravel, Loras discovered, was not the grandest of castles. It was built with three layers of defences on a hill. The first layer was a circular wall with many towards and outside a moat filled with water. The next layer was another wall, taller than the first and the final defence was what was called Tywin's Tower, the central keep of stone in the heart of the fortress. It was incredibly tall and sturdy with a tall tower on each corner, many arrow slits in the walls and a portcullis defending the only way inside. On top of each tower hung a banner portraying a roaring lion. There were many buildings in the castle, armouries, stables, barrack, houses and shops. Everything he had seen from the keeps walls had suggested functionality before leisure. He sat in the main dining room, a fairly simple hall where the only real decoration was the stained glass window at the east wall. He looked at it as he ate his food. It portrayed a woman dressed in white standing on a hill while four children and an old man charged towards her with their weapons ready. There was a lion with them as well. He turned his attention back to his food, a hearty meal of sausages, eggs and vegetables. Desert were simple fruit cakes and tea. It was simple food but gave him strength. He, his sister and the four children had all been given a change of clothes before their meal even though Loras didn't think they were fashionable. Still, after the dungeons and rags he was grateful for anything. As he enjoyed his food the new Queen Cersei explained everything she could to the four children.

'After the Dance of the Lions, my ancestor ruled over a kingdom so weakened by war, we were in no shape to resist the Telmarines. The First Telmarine War was a brutal one. Thosands died and it ended with Cair Paravel being sacked. Queen Susan Lannister died there. Apparently she was the last standing, fighting in the throne room itself. Her son though was taken away from the castle by her retainers. They escaped and continued the fight. In the end we agreed to a peace treaty with the Telmarines. The border is now the Great River, we control all which is south of the river, the Telmarines hold what's north of it. The peace has been fragile though. There are skirmishes every year but it looks like the Telmarines are preparing for a full invasion.'

'Can't we do anything to stop them?' asked Peter.

'I don't know,' she answered and he shoulders slumped.

'What do you mean?' asked Edmund. 'When we left Narnia the army numbered over twenty thousand.'

'That was a long time ago. As part of the treaty, all the Narnians north of the river had to stay there. They were enslaved by the Telmarines, treated like animals,' as she spoke Loras saw a streak of rage in the Lannister queen which he had seen before in the Cersei he knew. 'Eventually many died from sorrow, others, they became savage animals, no better than the beasts of burden of other lands. We lost half of our population in the treaty. Our army, it numbers eight thousand at best. They have over thirty thousand men.'

The four children looked devastated. Loras could sympathise. They had lost what they once ruled. Their kingdom was a shell of what it once was.

'My people,' the queen said, calmer now, 'they prayed. They cried out to Aslan. They cried out to you. They even prayed to Tywin. Some danced in circles for days before collapsing, praying that you and Tywin Lannister would return to deliver us from this tragedy. But now you have returned. King Peter, you have to do something to help us. Why else would you be here?'

'You said they prayed,' said Lucy. 'Where did they pray?'

'Let me show you,' she said and stood up from her chair before looking at Margery and Loras. 'Would you care to join us?'

'Of course,' Margery said confidently and stood up.

Loras stood up after her and they all followed Queen Cersei through the corridors and down the stairs through the keep. As they went down, deeper and deeper, Loras knew they had to be underground. There were no windows and the only light came from torches on the walls. Eventually they came to the bottom of the stairs and Loras was surprised to not see any signs of a dungeon. The queen led them through a long corridor to an oak door guarded by a pair of men carrying halberds. They stood aside for their queen who pushed the door open and the four children gasped at what they saw. Loras didn't understand why. All he could see was a cracked table made of stone in the middle of the room. Standing beside the table were six statues. With surprise he recognised five of them as being the four child rulers and the fifth to be Tywin Lanniser. The fifth was a lion wearing a crown.

'This is where my people pray,' the queen told them. 'Please King Peter, save Narnia again.'

'We will,' he told her and Loras was impressed with the young man's certainty of voice. He seemed to look at the statue of Tywin and then said, 'I promise you I will.'

AN: So, here's the next chapter. Let me explain a few things. The main reason Narnia fell so quickly to the Telmarines in canon was due to Narnia having no strong leadership after the Pevensies. There were monarchs but none of them it seems were able to keep the kingdom united. However, in this version the Lannisters held onto power who copied Tywin's style of leadership. As a result, Narnia wasn't as strong as it was under the Pevensies but it was stronger than in the official canon. Also, yes New Cair Paravel is located at Aslan's How in the official canon. I just thought it was appropriate. So, what do you all think. Any good? Bad? Review and let me know.

Review Responses:

Child of Dreams:
I've just given up on getting the names right at this point.

mpowers045:
Yep, the Lannisters still rule Narnia. I hope you liked the explanation of what happened in Narnia.

JannaKalderash
I'm really glad you liked that part of it. When I wrote it I tried to imagine how an old man who has come to regret about half of his life would write a last farewell to the people he cared about. Also, yeah, Tyrion would probably assume there was anthrax on the paper or something. Also, I have given thought on how the afterlife should happen in this series. You'll just have to wait and see.

WhisperOfTheHeart0925:
yep, my aim was to go full AU with this fic. When I wrote Lion Lord I really didn't think anyone would notice it because of how few fics were in this category. Thanks very much for your review.