King Peter was the first of us to go to War. There had been rumbling from Ettinsmoor for quite some time. Giants were massing at the border. He took a quarter of the forces at our disposal, along with siege weapons I'd engineered and left for the North.

Calormen sent an ambassador to us aboard a boat. Seeking peace. After some discussion, Susan, Edmund and Harpina left Cair Paravel via mirror. They would meet up with Prince Col in Archenland, and traveling in a caravan from there. This left Lucy and I to mind Cair Paravel in their stead.

Two weeks had passed. Summer had come to the castle. Lucy and I were in the summer kitchens enjoying tea. That's when things went to hell.

A loud reverberating boom sounded out.

"That was a cannon shot." Lucy said. I nodded. I mentally reviewed my scheduling. There weren't any training sessions today. Nor any drills. Suddenly a hum of magic filled the air. I knew that hum. The watchtowers had just activated.

"Lucy, I'll find the children. Find out what's going on." I said. She nodded pulled out a mirror from her pocket. I unrolled a map from my pocket. It was designed to work much like a map I'd read long ago in a book.

"Show me the citizens of Cair Paravel." I said, ink filled the page. Sketching an outline of the castle, I saw the children's names in green. Their governess's name was in red. They were on the grounds. Cad was near them and drawing closer. A fourth name I didn't recognized appeared. Then the three of them vanished from the map.

"We're under attack!" Lucy said. I was already on the move. I threw the map at Lucy. Then when I reached the front courtyard, I waved my wand.

"Piertotum Locomotor!" I yelled, a wave of magic flew out of my focus.

"The castle is threatened! Man the boundaries! Do your duty to this family and your keep!" I said. Statues began animating. Stone centaurs and fauns. Dwarves and griffins. Lions and Leopards. A dozen gargoyles took flight.

I flew into the air, activating the spell on my boots and gloves. I saw three ships in the harbor, hastily sailing away. I saw smoke, two of our man of wars were destroyed. Atop the two watchtowers, smoke came from one. The other fired it's ballistae and cannon time and time again. But these ships were fast, enchanted by magic for speed and defense.

I let out a growl. I drew up power, to begin casting a spell that would call up the sea and swallow these ships whole. I stopped mid cast, and allowed the power to drain. One of those ships had the children.

I apparated to the spot on the map where I last saw the children. Cad, Lucy, and a dozen centaurs were there. Lucy had conjured a white sheet and covered the dwarf governess.

"Tom!" Cad hissed.

"I'm sorry, I was hunting on the far side of the castle, I didn't know they were in danger." I patted the basilisk on the head.

"Cad, you didn't know they were in danger. I've no faith lost in you."

I turned to Lucy.

"My queen, I ask your leave to find our Princes."

She nodded.

"Make them pay Tom." I nodded.

"I wouldn't dream of not." I said, then I apparated away to my study.

I wasted no time. I dressed in dragon leather armor and an invisibility cloak. Godric's sword was on my hip along with my guns. A bandolier of throwing knives soaked in Cad's venom. My bone bow. A quiver of my deadliest arrows.

I stalked over to the map I had of the world, and pricked my finger.

"Pater sanguinem, locus." The drop of my blood flew unto the map. I traced the route with my eyes. Straight to Narrow Haven.

I let out a howl of anger. This time, I wouldn't be lenient. I'd learned a lot about magic since that ambush, and it had been a long time since I was in the fight.

I closed my eyes, turned on my heel and popped away to the portal room. When Narrow Haven had defected. I employed spies to set up a safehouse. Then I had obliviated them, got unbreakable vows out of them to never reveal they were employed by me, and set the fidelus around the small room we had rented in Narrow Haven. I traveled to that room, activated my cloak. And went to work. I waited until night fall. I had a mirror in my pocket that linked into the control room for the runic array. With a word, the two satyrs monitor it cut Narrow Haven's connection.

It would still be a day until the ships arrived. I flew high above the town and began waving my hands and wrists in gestures I'd drilled into myself. Soon a constellation of Geometry surrounded me. I threw the spell down, and the docks turned to ash. Then I drew my wand.

"Infernus! Nex Infernus! Spirit of fire I call to thee, Fiendfyre, unleash thyself!" I said. A tongue of flame wrapped around my wand. I forced it down, subsuming control. Then I threw my concentration into letting it grow. The cursed flame poured from my wand. Basilisks and dragons. Lions and wolves made of purple-red fire came into being. The island was soon consumed by infernal creatures. Screams filled the air. Soon, Narrow Haven was a burned out husk.

I ended the flames. Then I threw my magic into creating an illusion that the town was still whole and alive. I used the day until the ships arrived to rest and improve the illusion. They arrived in the morning. I performed the spell to locate the boys, found that ship and landed silently. I found the stateroom they were being held and put their guards to sleep. Then I covered the room in privacy spells, and dropped my cloak.

"Da?" Edward said. His face was grubby, and I cleaned them both, and nodded.

"Da's here now. Don't worry. I'm sending you to Aunt Lucy. You'll be safe." I said. I scribed a portal into the wall for Cair Paravel. Then I sent them through, along with a patronus telling Lucy that I would be along shortly.

I closed the portal. Then I renewed the disillusionment charm. I popped up to the top deck, and took to the air.

I activated a sonorus charm and dispelled the illusion. I changed the sonorus charm to make my voice deeper, and more graveley.

"This, this is what happens when you kidnap the innocent. This is what happens when you harm those who have done no harm. The island of Fair Haven is no more. It's citizens are gone, burned in their beds because they aided those who hurt the innocent. Behold, your doom."

I said, waiting for the sailors to assemble on their ships. I saw a rowboat heading towards the beach stop. I conjured illusions of flame that held it in place.

"Behold, I am the flames of justice! I am the fire of hell! I come for those who seek harm against those who have no defense! I am the defense of Narnia, unasked, unbidden! Now, you shall feel my wrath!" I said, and unleashed fiendfyre again. The cursed flames began consuming the ships. I shot my flintlocks downward. These were armed with explosive reductos, and fragmented upon impact, adding to the illusion of hellfire. Soon the three ships were burned to cinders. I looked down on the rowboat, and ended the illusions and the fiendfyre.

"It is your corrupt I claim. It is your evil that will be sought by me. Do not kill, do not rape, Do not not steal. These are not polite suggestions, these are codes of behavior and those of you that ignore them will pay the dearest cost. If you do you, one day you will look behind you and see my flames, and on that day, you will reap it. And I will send you to whatever god you wish!" I said, I let out a cannon blast charm from my wand, and apparated away to Narnia.

I arrived in my study, and stripped out my battle gear, and after a shower, I changed back into my normal clothes.

Lucy was waiting for me.

"How are the boys?" I asked.

"Fine for the most part. I gave them each a dose a dreamless sleep. Hopefully they'll think it was a bad dream." She said, I nodded.

"They're dealt with?" She asked. I nodded, and poured myself a cup of tea. I quickly added sugar and cooled it.

"How bad was it?"

I put my tea down.

"It was easily the worst thing I've ever done, Lu. I used fiendfyre."

I explained to her what I'd done. The anger was draining out of me. I felt a mix of satisfaction and weariness. I didn't feel guilt, and I long ago had gotten over any feelings of remorse from killing. They had deserved it. She nodded with satisfaction.

"We protect our own." She said. I nodded. Lucy went outside to practice with her daggers. I went to the library and curled up with a book. Cad had long since outgrown the castle, and I was really toying with hatching another basilisk, if only to have a couple years of cute snakey goodness before that one outgrew the castle as well.

Edmund and Susan came back that night from Archenland. The Tisroc had wanted her as a bride. There was a fight, and they escaped. Along the way, they'd discovered a plot regarding an invasion of Archenland. Edmund and Lucy soon left with an army in tow to help the Archenlanders repel the Calormen invasion.

That night, I was walking along the beach, alone. When Aslan appeared. I quickly bowed.

"Ryse son of Adam." He said, and I did so.

"Walk with me." He said, we took on a steady pace.

"Your time here is drawing to an end." He said. I frowned. There were so many things I'd needed to do still. So many ways I could improve life here.

"But surely, we haven't been here that long?" I said. It seemed as if England was a dream. A dream of a dream. I didn't even remember how we came to be here. I remember the battle, and trees. Something about a fur coat? And Godric's sword? I had been an age since I'd even thought about England.

"You've been here for long than you realize Tom." He replied with a purr of amusement.

"What about our children? Will they be able to come with us?" He shook his mane.

"Those who are born in Narnia, must stay in Narnia. They will be looked after, no harm will come to them." He said.

"But they're our children!"

"Narnians born in the land, are mine first and foremost." He said. There was a tone of something akin to possessiveness in his voice.

"That isn't fair!" I retorted. Feeling much like a child again.

"You use that word, I wonder what your basis of comparison is?" He replied.

"When will we leave?" I asked.

"Surely you remember the story?" He said. I did, but I'd learned so much in the time I'd been here, it had been locked away beneath a decade and a half of other memories. I frowned, and realized I'd been in this universe for nearly as long as I'd lived before. Much like our arrival in Narnia, I couldn't quite remember.

"I do have a few issues with your conduct here." He said.

"Oh?"

"Your handling of the Narrow Islands. Your speech. Narnia is a land of magic. Magic has a habit of bringing beliefs to life. Believe something enough, and allow that belief to flourish, and it may just come to life. You gave those three boys plenty of belief and fear with your demonstration."

"What will happen to them?" I asked.

"That is not my story to tell." He said.

"You're damned cryptic when you want to be." I said. He purred, and I swore he smiled. We had reached the courtyard of the castle. I felt a lump begin forming in my throat.

"I don't want to leave." I said, I felt hot tears run down my face, and choked back a sob. I'd built a life here, and this was the happiest I'd been in years.

"Son of Adam, there is a time and a season for all things. Your season is coming to an end. Now I must leave." The Lion said. He departed. I wiped my tears, and left for my quarters.

Months passed. Peter came back from the North. The giants had been repelled. After seeing our formidable siege weapons, and losing nearly a dozen of their kind. They had retreated. We commissioned watchtowers along the Northern borders. I spent my days over seeing my mages and packing furiously. Recalling a fascination I had as a boy, I took to carrying around my possessions in shrunken trunks on my person. Summer faded into fall, and then into winter. Spring came once more, and soon summer set in. A stifling heat came across Narnia. The five of us became restless. It was Edmund's idea to hunt a white stag. We left the children with their governess, and set forth on our hunt.