"No!" Pheneus screamed, pushing Peter away forcibly and running in front of his uncle. He hugged his uncle around the neck, buried his head in his uncle's tunic and began crying. Sirius started convulsing and crying. No, Pheneus, don't beg for his life. I couldn't handle it if you did.
"Please no! Uncle don't leave me! Please don't kill him," Pheneus cried out. I was about the same age when I begged for my father's life. But no, this is different! He gripped the sword tighter.
"Pheneus, I said no, don't fight for me," Darius murmured. "Sirius, my buck, no! Run, don't fight!" Sirius shut his eyes to try to not see the painfully similar scene.
"If I may," a soft voice pierced through his head. He looked up and saw Princess Aiyanna looking at him. "There is no reason to turn to enacting violence upon one who has turn away from it. Or do you want Pheneus here to become hardened by the death of his uncle just as you were by the death of your father?" Sirius was shaking so hard that he could not hold onto his sword. It fell to the ground with a clatter. Pheneus turned to see what the noise was. Sirius saw the tears in his reddened eyes and couldn't help it. He ran out of the room and just kept running until he was in one of the more secluded gardens. He began convulsing again and crying. Father, I couldn't. Why couldn't I? I should have. I should go back. I should KILL him.
He heard sound behind him and grabbed his sword in case it was Darius.
"My father knew your father," a summery voice, certainly not belonging to Darius, said. Sirius saw Princess Aiyanna walking up to him. She knelt by his side. "He was only supporting fighting the White Witch because he believed it would lead to more peace in the end. I do not believe for one second that he would wish for you to kill a man who intends to hurt no one any longer. I know you do not trust him, but Aslan came, and Aslan would not have come unless Darius was important to the protection of Narnia. In blood spilt from protecting Narnia, not from revenge, should Darius atone for his past sins and the death of your father."
"Why are you here? To tell me I was wrong for how I treated him?" Sirius said bitterly. "I do not regret that. I only ran because of what you said about Pheneus."
"I understand. And no, I'm not here to scold you. But rather to give you an offer. My cousins can take you in. There is tender woodland magic which helps to heal a heart. Carrying inside so much hate and pain for so long will make it difficult and long, but there is nothing more peaceful then a life of solitude with the forest. There is a part we call Passaic. Sleeping trees guard the way there, so it is undisturbed. Many dryads go there to be at peace. With the help of trees, you too can enter there and perhaps eventually find peace to accept your father's death."
Lucy was nervously tapping her foot against the ground. Everyone but Sirius and Aiyanna were still sitting in the interrogation room. Aiyanna had asked for permission to follow him, saying she had a way to help him find peace. Peter had seemed reluctant to let her take charge, but she was insistent and Peter had a tendency to give in to her, something which made Lucy question Peter's assertion he was over any romantic interest in her. Darius was still kneeling on the floor, as though in shock. Pheneus had eventually pulled his head out of his uncle's shirt, but was still hugging him. Peter seemed to be half-heartedly trying to get Pheneus to get up. Edmund was comforting Susan who seemed particularly upset by the whole ordeal.
Lucy walked over to Pheneus and Darius.
"Do not fear, Aslan will always protect us. Unless Aslan decided that it is time for your uncle to join him in Aslan's country, he will move Sirius' heart to not seek revenge," she said to Pheneus. Pheneus looked somewhat comforted at her words. Darius shook his head ever so slightly in disbelief. Lucy frowned. She never liked it when people were unsure of Aslan's love for them.
Then Aiyanna returned. "He agreed to travel to Passaic, where I will arrange for my trees allow him passage and care for him. Peter, can you arrange for an escort to travel with him to Passaic's borders?" Peter looked surprised, but nodded. Everyone, except maybe the minotaurs, looked relieved. Lucy couldn't quite tell; the minotaurs weren't very expressive in general. She was surprised to see that even Arianis looked relieved with how things had turned out.
"There's a few knights who are headed that general direction anyways to deal with rumors of a dragon," Edmund said, looking at Peter for affirmation. Peter nodded, so Edmund said, "I'll tell them they have another person coming with them as soon as we're done here."
" Siblings, Darius, Pheneus, Oreius, let us move to a more comfortable place. Everyone else, you may leave. Please keep quiet about what just occurred here," Peter commanded.
"A more comfortable place? What, is an interrogation room not cozy and comfy?" Ed said sarcastically, trying to ease the tension in his normal way.
"Most comfortable interrogation room I've ever been in," Darius muttered. Lucy overheard and giggled.
Darius sat awkwardly in the chair. He wasn't quite sure why High King Peter wanted them gathered to talk. Especially him. Queen Susan seemed to notice his discomfort and smiled reassuringly. Darius meekly smiled back. King Edmund seemed to notice their exchange and gave them a strange look.
"Darius, was Sirius the only one who gave you trouble these past few months?" Peter asked. Darius started in surprise. Not expecting that. Um, okay…
"Um, mostly, your majesty," Darius said. The High King frowned.
"Darius, please don't underreport here. If there's a likelihood there will be more problems like this one, I'd rather know now before it escalates like this one did."
"No one has been violent about it, mostly just saying and threatening things."
"Any likely to follow through?" Oreius asked.
"No clue, sir. I don't know them well. Most everyone tries to avoid me," Darius said, trying to shrug it off to not bother them. Susan looked upset anyways. Why does she always have to care about me so much? Heck, this almost bothers her more than me. Actually, her being upset over it is what bothers me the most.
"Pete, I think he should be transferred anyways. Some, friends of Sirius especially, might be even angrier now if rumors of all this came out," Edmund said. Peter looked uncertain, but then Oreius nodded, affirming Edmund's advice. Darius was surprised to see Edmund care.
"Alright. Where to?" Peter challenged, figuring .
"How about his main job be guarding? No one's going to give him trouble if any of the four of us or Oreius are there to stop it. Plus, he'd have an ahhh insider's experience when it comes to assassins and such that might be after us," Edmund said. Darius awkwardly shuffled his feet and stared at them at Edmund's reference to "insider experience." "And we'll be able to, I mean it'll make people less likely to make false accusations against him because we'd have been there." And you'll be able to keep an eye on me... that's what you were about to say, isn't it? Not that Darius particularly blamed him for it if that was what the king meant.
"Alright," Peter said clapping his hands together. "Darius, report for training at 8 am sharp on the main training field. Rest today so your wounds can heal."
Oreius and Edmund looked like they were about to protest but Peter gave them both a hard look, and they shut their mouths. Darius briefly wondered why they were so against him training. Pheneus predictably looked delighted.
After he rested in his room for awhile, Darius went over to see Lisette and update her on what was going on. He was surprised to find Queen Susan was in there, talking to Lisette's youngest, Helena.
"And then Edmund ran in with his sword, and cut the Witch's wand in half! Of course, she was furious, and attacked Edmund so bad he fell. And- Oh! Hello Darius," the queen said. She smiled at him sweetly. If she hadn't said his name then he would have looked behind himself to see who the smile was meant for.
"Your majesty," he said with a bow.
"Oh, there's no need to be all formal and distant like that. I was just telling Helena here about the battle against the White Witch. Are you looking for your sister?"
"Yeah. Why are you here?"
"I… I just needed a break," Susan said, pushing a hair back. Darius thought he understood. There was nothing like spending time with a young child to make one's heart feel lighter. And right now, the two girls were the only little humans at Cair Paravel. "Lisette's in the North Garden. Do you know where that is?"
"No, but I'm sure I can find it, your majesty," he said. And I'm sure it's labeled. After all, what isn't?
"Here, I'll show you where it is. Helena, do you want to go out and see the garden?" Susan asked, rising and pulling the little girl up with her. Helena nodded enthusiastically. Susan smiled and walked towards the door. Darius quickly reached to open it for her. They chatted a bit on the way to the garden, mostly Susan talking about the crazy antics of her brothers when they were younger. Darius was happy to let her do most of the talking, loving the sound of her voice.
"And they are horrible at directions and even worse at admitting they're lost, especially Peter. That's why I began labeling everything," Susan said with a laugh. So that's why! Still seems a bit overzealous to me. But why am I not surprised that Susan was the one to put the labels up?
They arrived at the North Garden. "What a surprise. It's labeled North Garden. I wonder where I might be," Darius said sarcastically. Helena and Susan laughed.
"Farewell. I hope to see you again soon," Susan said, extending her hand. Really? You do? Darius was tempted to ask why, but instead simply took her hand and kissed it with a bow. He then gave Helena a hug and walked over to where Lisette was serving tea to some visiting nobles. Susan and Helena wandered off towards the other gardens.
"Darius, how goes it? I heard some say you were attacked, others said you attacked someone, but I hardly believe that."
"Of course I haven't attacked anyone. Lisette, I've been transferred to guard duty," he said, trying to evade the topic of nearly dying, even though he knew Pheneus would tell his mother everything.
"Stop trying to change the topic and I am proud of you," Lisette said, hugging him with her free arm. "Although training may take longer than you imagine, since you're mainly used to techniques to fight humans, not the varied assortment of creatures here. Phen's been having some issues with that."
"I had some of that sort of training when I worked for the Witch," Darius said, waving it off.
"Over here, darling," one of the ladies called. Lisette hurried over in annoyance, Darius following her. "Is this dashing man your… suitor? He looks rather young for you."
"What? No!" Lisette cried out. "Milady he –"
"It's alright dearie. We know how much fun secret courtships can be," the lady said. The other ladies giggled.
"She's my sister," Darius said awkwardly.
"Oh," the ladies said, annoyed that their fun gossip was gone.
Edmund barged into his brother's bedroom the next morning.
"Pete! Time to get ready for breakfast before training, sleepyhead," he said energetically. He went over to his brother's bed to push him over, but realized the lump was his blankets bunched together. Peter walked into the room.
"Hey, Ed. Sleepyhead yourself. I've been in my study working on paperwork for the past hour."
"Shut up," Edmund said. Peter grinned.
"So why are you in my room anyways?" Peter asked.
"A million questions. Do you fully trust him? Why is he training with us? I mean, his nephew, okay he's your squire, but Darius? Oh, and the most important question, do you know what's for breakfast?"
"Alert the dictionaries, a million has been redefined to mean three," Peter said sarcastically. Edmund threw a pillow at him.
"Are you gonna answer me or not?"
"So… No, but other than you, our sisters, and a few others like Oreius, I don't fully absolutely trust anyone. I trust him enough though. And for your second question, why not? We could use some change in our training, I know Pheneus'll be delighted, and it'll get us more practice in fighting humans. And why the heck would I know?"
"You would know because it was your decision…" Edmund said, confused. He was a bit annoyed that Darius would be training with them. There were a million – well at least Edmund's definition of a million – soldiers that he felt had much better reasons to train with them who had other training times.
"Huh? I don't decide what's for breakfast."
"Oh, I thought you were still talking about training. Well, let's go find out what's for breakfast then. It better be good because I'm starving!" Edmund exclaimed. Peter laughed and walked down to breakfast with him.
Oreius was surprised to see that Darius had arrived at training before he did and was already practicing archery. The centaur had to admit, this did put the former mercenary higher in his esteem, especially since the centaur had shown up 15 minutes early.
"Since you're here so early, would you like to help me set up?" Oreius asked.
"Of course, sir," he responded. Oreius gave him some things to do, and was pleasantly surprised how adept and swift he was at setting up equipment. Maybe having him train with the kings will be an asset after all. Pheneus showed up about ten minutes early as well and did his regular routine as squire of helping set up.
Soon Peter and Edmund came running, just barely on time. Oreius frowned at them, but since they did make it on time, he said nothing. Pheneus handed them their swords.
"Darius, there's a few swords over there. Use one of those for now, and we'll eventually send you to get your own sword," Oreius said. "So I can judge where you are at, we are going to start with you facing off against Peter. Don't hold back at all." Peter nodded and gripped his sword as he walked to the practice ring. Darius followed uncertainly.
Peter raised his sword in front of him like Oreius had taught him. Darius, surprisingly, just held his sword loosely at his side. Peter made the first move, slashing his sword down. Darius quickly raised his sword and pushed back hard enough to make Peter take a few steps back. He's definitely got strength, Oreius thought. It wasn't surprising though, based on some of the stories Oreius had heard about him. Peter continued attacking offensively, with Darius only blocking his blows. Oreius frowned. He had expected the former mercenary to have a more offensive strategy, having presumably been an attacker more often than a defender. Well, his good defensive skills will be much more helpful in protecting the kings and queens. After a few more strikes, Orieus realized he had assumed wrong. Darius had been letting Peter attack him so that he could have time to see what Peter's fighting style was and deduce his weaknesses. When he had figured it out, Darius jumped aside and ducked from one of Peter's blows and sneaked behind him, with some sort of fancy footwork that Oreius could never do, being a centaur. As Peter turned, sword raised, Darius easily performed a spinning trick with his sword to make the sword fly out of Peter's hand. Oreius was very impressed. If he truly is on our side now, he will indeed be an asset.
Suddenly, Darius' facial features hardened. Oreius knew that look. It was the look of someone ready to fight. But Peter's unarmed! Why did I ever trust that mercenary? Oreius thought furiously. He gripped his two swords, but knew there was no way he was close enough to get to the High King in time.
