Best to upload in clumps so I don't forget again and get penalised for neglect.
DISCLAIMED
Jarqual grinned as she leapt into the river with a yell. She had spent the entire morning in the pits, and she was filthy!
Well, not for much longer. She dived, opening her eyes under the water to watch the fish. Harpies could hold their breath for a long time, almost five minutes, so she floated on the surface, smiling down at the fishes for as long as she could before pulling herself out and clambering up the bank.
The fastest way to dry off was to run, so Jarqual did just that. Her feet flew over the ground as she ran faster and faster. Her thoughts turned suddenly to the King's return from the sea. Apparently he had docked only last night, and she planned to visit him soon. Jarqual shook her head and drove the thoughts from her head by running even faster. The trees flitting by, some of them waving to her.
The trees had come back to life soon after she had returned from Caspian's castle, and some of the younger harpies who had not been alive before the trees slept were spending all their time up in the branches, amazed by trees that talked and moved without the wind.
Jarqual smiled, enjoying the feel of air across her face when suddenly it changed.
She tripped and fell heavily, feeling the change scream into her mind, making her clutch her head in fear, staring around with wide eyes. It blared loudly; CHANGE! CHANGE! CHANGE!
Everything was different! Jarqual stared around her. She was no longer surrounded by tall beech trees and sun no longer streamed through the leaves to pool on the forest floor. Instead she was crowded in by squat oaks choked in ivy. The leaves above were so dense it was impossible to tell what time it was. Jarqual tried to calm herself, but her fear was rising in her throat, making it impossible not to panic.
Sounds!
Her head whipped around to glare at the direction the sounds of crashing undergrowth and shouting was coming from. Sounded like…children. Males. She inhaled deeply, but they were downwind and all she could pick up was the mouldering leaves under her and the thick stems of ivy.
They would know where this place was.
She stood up and her foot nudged something. She looked down. A ball? She picked it up and held it, frowning. A hard, white ball. The voices became clearer and she swiveled her ears to listen.
"It can't have gone far!"
"Typical Ed! Batting the ball right into the trees."
"It wasn't my fault! You bowled it!"
They laughed, drawing closer. Jarqual hissed and backed away into a small clearing, waiting. The first boy who came through had red hair like hers and round glasses. He gaped at her.
To him, Jarqual was a girl his age, maybe a little younger, dressed in the most peculiar manner he had ever seen. A black bodice encased her upper half and there was a sleeve made of what could only be net on her right arm, held up by a cord around her neck. A similar sleeve clothed her left leg, which was covered above the knee up by a purple skirt. Her eyes were covered in black, the lines extending almost over her nose, and her hair was spiky, flaring out all over the place. He could do nothing but gape.
She hissed, her lips pulling up over her teeth in a snarl, and his senses returned to him in a blinding flash. He turned to run, his mouth already open to scream when something hard hit the back of his head, knocking him forward. His head knocked into a tree and blackness overcame him. When he woke up much later he remembered nothing of his encounter.
Jarqual snarled silently in frustration as she turned the creature over to see that he was unconscious. She rolled her eyes, then frowned and studied him closer. He was undoubtedly a son of Adam, but he was clearly not a Telmarine, and he was dressed in the strangest clothes she had ever seen.
White shoes of a strange material were on his feet, partially covered by white trousers. He wore a long-sleeved white jersey-type thing and a strange sleeveless knitted slipover over that. He looked perfectly ridiculous.
"Tom! Tommy!"
"Where are you, Tombo?"
The voices were too close, and Jarqual snarled, leaping upwards into the trees. Where was she? One of the Lone Islands? Archenland?
The crashes in the undergrowth grew louder as one of the others drew closer. "Tom? Where are you?" Suddenly a dark-haired son of Adam stepped forward, also wearing ridiculous clothes (white trousers and a white t-shirt this time), and saw his unconscious friend. He gasped and dropped to his knees, shaking the boy's shoulders. "Tom? Can you hear me?" When the boy didn't respond he checked his pulse and stood up, opening his mouth to yell.
Then the branch Jarqual was clinging to broke and she fell next to him with a yowl like an angry cat. She twisted on the floor and jumped up to face the dark-haired boy, whipping her knife from her belt and using her left hand to back him into a tree. He was quite tall, she noted idly. Taller than any harpy male, though not by much. Her right knife kissed his throat and she hissed threateningly.
"Tell me quickly, son of Adam," She snarled, "Where is this?"
His brown eyes were wide and he opened his mouth to answer, but no sound came out. She pressed a little harder. "Speak quickly and I'll let you live! Don't think that I will hesitate to kill you, son of Adam!"
"You're…a harpy." He whispered. "This is impossible!"
"Don't you believe it!" She growled. Suddenly a spark of recognition flashed in her eyes and they widened in horror. "King…Edmund?"
He nodded mutely and she stepped back, unable to speak for shock. His eyes roved all over her as if verifying her reality. Sense returned to her in a shock and she knelt, holding her knives out to him by the pommel, the lions walking on her palms. "Sire."
"You're a harpy." He whispered again. "How…how did you get here?"
"I do not know." She shook her head, not meeting his eyes. "I was running in the western woods when I was suddenly running here instead. I don't understand why it happened, or how."
He stared at her – she could feel his eyes burning on her skin. Then he suddenly came to his senses. "Rise." As she did he lunged forward and grabbed her in a rough hug. "You have no idea how glad I am to see you." He breathed before pulling back. "Listen, you'll have to hide here. You're lucky it's the last day of term and my aunt's house is close. If you stay here, right here, I'll come and get you in a few hours. Okay?"
She nodded. "Of course, Sire."
He grinned sheepishly. "Don't call me that here. Here I'm just Edmund."
She frowned. "But you are a King."
"Not here." He shook his head. They both turned as two more voices began to grow louder. "I'll explain later." He promised. "For now, just hide."
She bowed her head and melted into the trees. Edmund waited a moment before yelling for the other two. "Hey! Will! James! I've found Tommy! He's knocked himself out!"
Laughter, and then two more sons of Adam burst into the clearing. "How did he do that?" The taller one laughed.
Edmund shrugged. "Who knows? I've found the ball though. Come on – let's haul him back to school so the matron can have a look at him. He might have concussion."
"He'll be a right side better than normal then." The tall boy grinned, but bent down and took Tom's arms while Edmund took his legs. The other boy grabbed his middle, and they wobbled a bit, getting used to Tom's weight. "He needs to lay off the sausages." The tall boy gasped. "Come on then, chaps. Heave!"
They laughed as they carried Tom away, and Jarqual watched cautiously from the shadows. A few hours, he said. Well she could wait.
The sun was low in the sky when King Edmund returned to the clearing. He wasn't decked out in white, but he still looked a little ridiculous in shorts and a shirt with the sleeves rolled up. "Erm…" He looked around. "Harpy?"
"My name is Jarqual." She leapt down from the trees behind him, making him jump.
"Jarqual." He frowned. "I've heard that before." He suddenly caught sight of the necklace and gasped. "You're the Queen? But I thought that was –"
"Don't!" She sprung forward, slapping her palm over his mouth before he could say her sister's name out loud. She stepped back carefully when she was sure he wouldn't speak Rijal's name and draw her spirit to them.
"I'm sorry; I forgot you believe that speaking the names of the dead will bring them back."
"Aye." She nodded. "And my sister's spirit will be restless indeed."
He frowned, about to ask why, but then shook his head, collecting himself. "Wait, first we have to find a way to get you into my aunt's house without being too suspicious." He studied her thoughtfully. "Ah!" He grinned. "I've got it. These woods connect to the woods right behind Aunt Mary's house. She told me to walk back to her, and I'll take you. Right now she'll be listening to the radio in the sitting room, and she won't notice if a steal one of Susan's old dresses for you. We'll make it look as though I simply found you lost and alone in the woods. You can pretend to have lost your memory, and when she reports finding you to the police no one will know who you are and claim you. She's kind hearted, and will most likely take care of you. It's perfect!"
Jarqual thought it through and nodded slowly. "Sire?" She asked after a moment.
"Don't call me that." Edmund said automatically. "But yes?"
"Is this your home world? Where you really came from when you appeared in Narnia for the first time?"
He nodded. "Yes. This is where we all come from."
"And…" She looked around. "I've been looking around. There's…nothing here. No talking beasts, no fauns, satyrs or centaurs, nothing. And the trees are sleeping."
Edmund bit his lip, then took her wrist. "Come on. I'll tell you about it on the way."
And he did. He told her about how this place was a country called England and all the things like fauns and talking animals were fairy tales. He told her that they were at war, and laughed when Jarqual asked why he wasn't fighting.
"I'm just a kid here." He shook his head with a sad smile. "Not a King, not even important. I'm just another schoolboy. Peter will be joining up soon, I suppose." He looked troubled. "I don't want him to."
"But…he is a great soldier." Jarqual frowned, not understanding. "Why would you have him stay here?"
"He was a great soldier in Narnia, with sword and shield." Edmund explained. "Here we don't use swords. We have guns and planes." At Jarqual's look of confusion he chuckled weakly. "I'll show you later. Right now, you have to stay here. That's my aunt's house." He pointed between the branches up a hill where a small cottage leaned comfortably to the left. "I'll be right back." He promised. "Try to get your makeup off, alright?"
"My makeup?" She shook her head. "What's that?"
"Uh…the stuff around your eyes." Edmund explained. "You need to get rid of it. The knives too." He added, casting a pointed look at her belt where the black blades gleamed. "We can come back for them later." He reassured her before running away up the hill.
Jarqual made a face. Remove her battle charcoal? Well…he was still her King, and she had sworn loyalty…she sighed and started rubbing at her eyes furiously, smudging the charcoal into two huge panda-marks around her eyes. She spat on her fingers and did her best to clean as much of it off as she could.
By the time she was done, Edmund was running back down to her, a whiteish sheet-thing flapping from his hand. He flopped down next to her and thrust the thing at her. "Here."
"What is it?" She asked, making a face.
"A…a dress." He tilted to get a better look at her face. "Well…it's not much of an improvement, but at least you don't look too much like a warrior anymore. I'll, erm, stay here. You can change over there." He pointed and turned to stare at his aunt's house.
Jarqual rolled her eyes and went away. A dress? It was like a skirt and t-shirt combined. She shimmied out of her harpy clothes and stepped into the skirt, pulling the t-shirt bit up over her shoulders and doing up the line of buttons at the front. She grimaced. It was uncomfortably tight around the front of her neck. When she stomped back to Edmund, he stifled a laugh. "What?" She snapped.
"It's just…you've got it on backwards." He smiled apologetically.
"How am I meant to do up buttons at the back?" She demanded, striding away and returning with most of the buttons at the back undone. "You do it."
"Er…" Edmund closed his eyes briefly. "Okay. Turn around." She heard him take a deep breath, then warm fingers brushed her back and began to pull the two parts of the dress together. He exhaled noisily when he was done. "There. Now we need to muddy it."
"Why?"
"Because you've been wandering around in the woods, and girls are expected to be clumsy and scared, so you'll've fallen over and torn it up a bit. Plus, we need to make it look as though it's not Susan's. Aunt Mary probably won't notice, but it's better to be on the safe side."
Jarqual rolled her eyes but dutifully ripped a few holes in the skirt with her knife and smeared a clod of dirt over herself.
"Put some on your face too."
Jarqual growled but obeyed. She threw the clod of dirt away and glared at Edmund. "There."
"Your hair." He said thoughtfully. "No girl has hair like that here. Let it out and mess it up a bit." Jarqual rolled her eyes but unclipped her hair, letting it tumble in bright flaming tangles, still a little damp from the river in Narnia. She touched her tongue to a wet patch lightly, tasting the clear water with a sigh before mussing it all up.
"Looks a bit too messy now." Edmund smiled. "Can you plait it? Two pigtails?"
"Two what?" Jarqual stared at him like he was a lunatic.
"Pigtails. It's another name for plaits. You know plaits, surely?"
"Aye, centaurs and nymphs do strange things to their hair." She looked at him suspiciously. "Do humans?"
"Only human girls." He grinned. "So you don't know how to plait?"
"No."
"Never mind then. Just…smooth it down a bit. It looks like you've been dragged through a hedge backwards."
"I thought that was the intention."
"Not quite. Come on." He took her hand and tugged her up the hill. "Leave your things. I'll come back for them later, I promise."
"So long as I get my knives back." She said cautiously. "What's your aunt like?"
"Old. She's my great-aunt really, but that's too much of a mouthful, so she told me just to call her aunt. She's kind though, and quick, so watch what you say. She doesn't like rudeness either, so…don't talk back, don't speak at all unless spoken to, don't talk with your mouth full or chew with your mouth open, always ask before you do anything, say please and thank you a lot and she'll love you."
"So…don't act like a harpy." Jarqual said dryly. "What am I supposed to live on? I can't fight myself."
"Oh!" He slapped his head with his palm. "I forgot harpies live off battle-glory or whatever you call it. Okay…I'll fight you. How long can you go without fighting from now?"
"Two days at most."
"Right. I'll take you into the woods as soon as I can and fight there."
"You'll fight me?"
"Well I don't think the squirrels will be much competition." He grinned. "Here we go." He schooled his expression. "Brace yourself. Act…nervous. Scared even. Can you do that?"
"I can try." Jarqual sighed.
"Then on with the show." Edmund pushed open the door.
