Disclaimer: I don't own Narnia or any characters you may recognize from the books or the movies, I wish I did but I don't... I also don't own the Narnian Calendar. It belongs to Elecktrum who was kind enough to let me borrow it for my story. Her own stories are awesome and you should go read them too.

Summary: 21 Yule 1006 will see the first lunar eclipse to occur on the Winter Solstice in four hundred years. Enemies of Narnia rejoice! For the time of the Golden Age will come to an end with the spilling of royal blood and Jadis will be revived!

A/N: If you have not read the first three stories in the A Light in the Darkness main story arc (Awakening, Shadowed, and Revealed), I highly recommend you do so. However, if you want to give this one a whirl on its own, you can.

Chapter Three: Of Stars and Hags

32 Stormfall 1006

Oreius stood just outside the camp, studying the stars, but tonight they gave no indication of danger coming. "General?"

He looked down to see the High King walking toward him, his current guard, Kumbali, having stopped a short distance away. Oreius bowed slightly, "Your Majesty. I had thought you and your brother both retired."

The High King looked down and Oreius knew he had heard the faint reprimand for not resting, "Well, we did, that is I did. Edmund's still checking his packs." Oreius raised an eyebrow and King Peter grinned, "He managed to theorize his way into believing that Kat slipped some prank into his packs, which he won't find until right before the more important diplomatic meetings unless he searches it thoroughly...tonight."

Oreius smirked at how Katerina Alambiel was enacting her revenge simply by allowing King Edmund to imagine the worst. But, considering how ill she had been when they left, he doubted she had done anything to the Just King's packs. "You should be able to reassure your brother that she was incapable of doing anything to his packs since she was too ill to move."

King Peter looked up sharply, "I thought Kat was just suffering from a cold. That is what she told us when we went to say goodbye and for Edmund to apologize...again...the day before we left."

Oreius sighed, "What Katerina Alambiel decided was an inconvenient cold, Tuulea and Alithia called a mild case of pneumonia." When King Peter started to look worried and a little guilty, Oreius gently reminded him. "She told you both it was a cold so you would not worry or feel guilty, you know how she is when it comes to her own health...she could be coughing up her lungs and she would still try to convince everyone that she was just fine, much like you, my King."

The High King laughed a little, "You know she says the same thing about you, General."

Oreius nodded, "So she has told me in the past. But, it is getting late, and both you and How should be resting. We've still another two days' journey to Anvard and we don't need the two of you falling asleep in your saddles come morn."

The High King chuckled, "Yes, Oreius." He turned only to pause and look back at him, "Did the patrols find the remaining Werewolves?"

Oreius hid his displeasure at the reports he had received when they stopped for the night as he calmly replied, "Only four wounded stragglers, the rest of the pack vanished. The patrols continue the hunt and I have sent word back to Cair Paravel and Captains Sherket and Cletus will ensure additional precautions are taken though it seems unlikely the Werewolves would journey northeast instead of fleeing west and north." King Peter nodded then tramped back through the snow toward the camp. Oreius cast one last look at the still-peaceful stars and prayed that the Werewolves would not come near Cair Paravel as he had told the High King. After all, why would they risk the certain death that would come from attacking the Cair?

ӁӁӁӁӁӁӁӁӁӁӁӁӁӁӁ

"Hag, you must cloak my entire pack. I demand it!"

The Hag matriarch clacked her beak menacingly as she pointed a crooked finger at Brutus, "You cannot demand anything of me, Werewolf. You are indebted to me and it would take nothing for me to take the price of healing you out of your dying breath. I have cloaked most of your miserable pack. Those who die at the hands of the Narnians pay the price for your idiot beta's mistake."

Brutus snarled, "Frome was overeager, but we have waited so long that you had better not cause us to fail."

The Hag matriarch bristled and slammed her gnarled staff against the cave floor, "I? I cause us to fail? You dare forget who I am? I am Beira! Matriarch of all Hags, I prophesied our Mistress conquering Narnia, I told Her of the threat from the royal family, from the line of Frank, I told Her of the prophecy the Great Cat gave to the Centaurs before the stars were silenced."

Brutus dared to snarl at her, "Did you tell Her of Her end with the coming of those four usurpers?"

Beira hissed and slammed her staff again, causing the trinkets of stone, silver, and bones wrapped around the length of it to click against the wood, "She did not come to my cave nor did She summon me to Her side. No need of sacrifices and reading of the blood She decided after crushing the resistance." She narrowed her eyes at the Werewolf and pointed her staff at him, causing Brutus to fall back slightly as he well knew the power of the magic Beira wielded, as she hissed. "Do not think you can accomplish this ceremony with any other Hag you might find, Brutus. Only I am able to perform it. Now keep your miserable pack of curs under control and remember if they blunder across the Narnians, the cloaking spell only works until direct line of sight is established and once you are seen the spell will no longer disguise your tracks or your scent. Now leave my cave before I decide that you are not so valuable to the carrying out of the ceremony as to overlook you and your pack's sloppy behavior."

Beira tapped her staff against the ground twice after the Werewolf withdrew summoning the most loyal of her daughters. The younger Hag brought her scrying bowl and filled it with the last of the blood from their most recent sacrifice before retreating to wait along the cave wall. Beira mused that she would complete the younger Hag's training then send her to form her own nest soon...unless one of her other daughters killed her in order to receive the higher training. A single beckon brought the younger Hag forward as Beira dipped a talon in the blood and tasted it, checking to ensure it was still fresh enough to do what she wanted. She pointed imperiously and the younger Hag fetched the switch for the second part of the ritual. Beira was no fool, she would teach her daughters to hold the magic Hags could access, but for now she kept the most valuable piece of the coming ceremony secret. None, not even the daughter she considered most loyal, knew where Beira had hidden the broken wand of their Queen. Soon though, soon Jadis would be returned to life and this time She would not forget how crucial Beira was to the taking of Narnia.

ӁӁӁӁӁӁӁӁӁӁӁӁӁӁӁ

A/N: Please Read and Review! Okay, so not quite the chapter I thought I was going to post, but next chapter is definitely going to cover the visit to Anvard and then back to Kat and the girls. Leave a review and let me know what y'all thought about this one.