My eyes fluttered open as I felt someone doing something to my waist.

A woman with olive skin and dark hair was bandaging me. She looked up at me and her eyes widened and mouth opened into a small 'o'. "Lioness!" She curtsied deeply. "It is an honor!"

I looked around. I was in a well furnished room, some light made it through the window though so I knew it was daytime. "Where am I? Who are you?"

"You are in the castle, Lioness," the woman said without looking at me, "And I am a servant, my name is Helena."

"Nice name," I mumbled, "Why am I here?"

"The king found you barely alive in the piles of beastly bodies," Helena said, "One of the scholars recognized your description from our histories and pictures. You are as beautiful as the stories tell."

Beautiful. Blah.

I made a move to sit up. "Thank you. Now I-."

She interrupted me happily, "Need to see the king? I'll go announce that you are awake." She practically ran out of the room in glee.

Finally I managed to sit up, though with much pain. I couldn't leave the bed, however. So I was forced to wait for Miraz to come to me before I could even think about leaving.

"I see you are awake," he said and walked in with his wife, holding his child, behind him. "It is an honor. I did not recognize you when the Narnains made an attack on the castle. You, a great figure of history, much have been misinformed on what has happened."

"I don't think so," I said in a monotone. I looked to Prunaprismia's arms, "Is that your son?"

She nodded.

"May I?" I gestured to me holding him.

"Of course," she handed me the tiny babe. The sight reminded me of my envy of all mothers. The little boy, even now, had lightly tanned skin and small tuffs of black hair. "Lioness Will, would you bless him?"

I looked up at her, "It is not my place to bless a child. I am no god or goddess; I'm just a woman with the same strength as any other woman who would fight after years of training." I handed the boy back to her, "I envy you your happiness."

Miraz smiled. "You were once a friend of the Telmarines. Join us again to defeat our enemies."

"I did fight for your many times great grandfather, Caspian the First." I said, "However these two times are different. The first I defended your home. Now I defend my people's home."

His eyes narrowed, "I would suggest you choose carefully. Be a symbol for all of Telmarines, a symbol of my right to rule or I'll destroy you."

I wasn't scared of him. "I do not care for the safety of myself."

"Then your Narnains," he spat, "if you do not join me I'll destroy every single one of them."

"You'd do that anyway."

He went to slap me, but his son began to cry.

Prunaprismia tried to calm the child. But the boy just cried louder.

"Do you know why I envy you?" I asked the woman and not her husband.

She woman shook her head.

I reached for the baby boy again and managed to calm him. "For years, hundreds of them ago, my husband and I tried to get pregnant. But no matter how hard we tried it never happened. And now I see you and your child. I can only imagine the joy you had when you realized you were pregnant, and now you go after your nephew who was chased from his home. The same nephew whom you had raised since your husband killed his father. You have used this simple child as a reason to betray not only your nephew and brother-in-law, but your country."

"Silence!" Miraz finally said.

Prunaprismia took the boy and stared at me.

"If you do not join me then I will kill the kings and queens as well," he growled.

"You'd do that anyway."

"Not if you act as a symbol to my people." He rose from his seat, "The great Lioness of the Battlefield, return to save the Telmarines once more from the Narnians who threaten our peace."

My eyes narrowed at him.

How dare he threaten the ones I love?

But there was nothing I could do. If I didn't listen to him he'd kill not only the Narnians, but my family and he'd most likely lock me up until it was all over. At least if I pretended to go along with him then I could get back to Aslan's How and maybe even rejoin the others.

"Do we have a deal, Lioness?"

"Yes, we do."

I would be a symbol. A symbol of what the Telmarines should be doing.

Leaving Narnia and her inhabitance alone.