Jaerin

Jaerin stared in perplexity at the door to the armory through which half the captains, his brother, father, General Oreius, and the two kings had vanished. Then he turned and looked at the twenty-foot tall reason for their sudden abandonment of the training grounds. One of the Slinkdorslunk giants—who he thought were not supposed to be there until noon—huddled against the wall listening with half his attention to the Great Cat on the battlements beside him. The rest of his awareness was centered on the same door that everyone else in the courtyard stared at.

Frowning, Jaerin watched as the various soldiers trickled out of the armory. Jaer came last looking terribly worried. His frown deepening, Jaerin started toward his brother. Rickat stopped him partway.

"There will be no more training today, Peridanson. You are free to go."

"Yes sir," Jaerin replied, his eyes never leaving his brother. "I'll tell Jaer."

The Faun nodded and kept walking. Jaerin continued his interrupted course to Jaer. The moment he could, he seized his brother by the arm. "What is going on?"

"I don't know," Jaer's reply was woeful.

"What just happened with King Peter and King Edmund?" Part of Jaerin's mind wondered if he should have called them "Sir" instead of "King" since they were in the training yard but he ignored it.

"It was the giants."

Jaerin rolled his eyes. "Yes I know. But why? They aren't Ettins. They're Narnian."

Jaer rounded on his brother with a ferocity that surprised him. "Do you think that matters to Peter? Do you think that if you'd been captured, tortured, threatened with worse torture, seen your guard killed and eaten, been told that your land was going to be conquered, fought a battle to the death against a sadistic giant, watched your brother fight to the death against giants, and only just begun to come to terms with it all, you would make any distinction between the kind of giants? Or do you think you'd just go berserk the instant you saw one you weren't expecting?"

"Oh. Ohhh. I think I understand now. Sort of. Like Rien and spiders. That's why we were supposed to keep King Peter occupied during the meeting today."

"Exactly." Jaer shook his head. "He's only just beginning to recover. I hope this doesn't undo everything."

"Me too. That would not be good."

"Come on. Let's get breakfast and then see if we still need to keep the king…both kings distracted."

The genial giants grinned and waved at Jaer and Jaerin as they headed back to the castle. However, they were careful to keep their greetings to gestures and did not bellow out a "Good morn!" as their fellow had done. Returning the wave, Jaerin trotted after his brother.

At breakfast, Peridan expressed the same worries that Jaer had and told the boys that their services as distracters would not be needed. But,

"Since you know what is going on better than many and the soldiers are needed at their posts, and the general and several of the captains in the council room, Orieus has asked if you will be willing to help make sure the kings do not leave Celer's chambers without warning. Consider this your substitute training for the day."

Jaerin had only one question. "Does this mean we don't have to do school today?"

Thankfully, neither king tried to emerge from the barracks during the course of the Giants' visit. Around lunchtime—by which point Jaerin was thoroughly bored—the queens and their ladies converged upon the officer's quarters with food. Peridan followed them and gave both boys leave to return to the castle for their own meal.

Though he shadowed the kings for much of the rest of the day, nothing happened that was terribly out of the ordinary. At least, if you could count on being cornered every hall by various females who could not wait to tell King Edmund their wedding stories. Who really wanted to listen to that sort of girly rubbish anyway? He did learn one valuable piece of information though—there were other violinists in Narnia. Rabbits to be precise. Jaer would like to know that.

After training the next morning—which he thought was rather easy considering they got off on the previous day—Jaerin watched as the two kings set themselves as if preparing for a race. They had done this every week and his curiosity was getting the better of him.

"What are you doing?" Jaerin asked.

A mischievous grin spread across Sir Edmund's face and even Sir Peter smiled slightly. General Oreius clopped closer.

"What did you ask, Peridanson?"

Despite having spent many, many hours in the centaur's company, it was impossible not to feel intimidated when he loomed over you. Jaerin swallowed hard. "What are you doing?"

"Racing," Sir Peter answered lightly.

If Jaerin had been paying more attention he would have seen the wary look that suddenly appeared on his brother's face. But the non-answer only served to make him more curious.

"I can see that. Where to?"

"The Queen's Pavilion."

"Where's that?"

"If you want to find out, you will have to join them, Peridanson," General Oreius said.

"Can I?"

The two kings exchanged a look and Jaerin almost regretted asking. It was the same look that Jaer gave him when they knew something that their victims did not.

"Put your helmet and vambraces back on and line up with them." The centaur extended the line behind which the king's stood. "Will you also race, Jaer?"

"I don't know…"

"Come on!" Jaerin said clamping his helmet down on his head. "Or are you scared that I'll beat you like I did yesterday morning?"

"You cheated yesterday. Again."

"And I'm going to win today because you're too afraid to try it."

That settled it, as Jaerin knew it would. Jaer's face hardened and he reached for his helmet. It took them a moment to tie their vambraces back on but soon the Peridanson brothers were lined up next to the Pevensie brothers.

"Ready and…"

"Wait!" Jaerin cried, realizing he had just forgotten one very important facet of the race. "Which way do we go first?"

"Just follow us," Sir Edmund said.

"Go!"

With a shout, Jaerin tore after the two kings. Jaer followed at a slightly more conservative pace though Jaerin thought it silly. Surely the Queen's Pavilion must be in one of the gardens—if he did not try hard enough, Jaer would come in last.

For all their armor, the kings sped along, running straight for the castle. Deciding that there must be some short cut through Cair Paravel that he did not know about, Jaerin galloped up the stairs after them. But the kings did not make for any of the other exits. Instead they raced through the halls and clanged up a flight of stairs inside the tallest tower of the castle.

"To the top, Jaerin!" Peter yelled before disappearing around a bend. Jaerin's heart plunged. The Queen's Pavilion was not in the gardens—it was at the top of the tower!

At the foot of the stairs, Jaerin hesitated, wondering if he could make it all the way. But the sound of his brother's footsteps spurred him on. He passed the first landing. Then the second. Jaer was gaining. The third. The fourth. Jaer was on his heels. At the fifth landing, he had to stop for breath and Jaer passed him, somehow not breathing terribly hard. He kept going.

At the twentieth landing, Jaerin stopped counting. He could not spare the concentration it required. All he could think about was dragging one leg after another up the endless stairs. A Monitor Lizard with some hissing name that he could not remember at the moment passed him with what sounded suspiciously like laughter. Labored breathing echoed down from above so at least he knew that Jaer was struggling too.

One step. Then another and another and another. He had to stop now between stairs to gather the strength to pull his leg to the next level. Would these stairs never end?

Finally, a different sound reached him from above. Voices! One gave a gasping cry of relief and Jaerin knew it had to be his brother. He redoubled his efforts, pausing for only five seconds between steps instead of ten.

There! Light ahead. Jaerin stumbled up the last few steps and collapsed at the top of the tower every muscle trembling and with sweat pouring down his body.

"You look…like…you…got water…dumped over you," Jaer gasped.

Jaerin managed to roll his head sideways and saw Jaer leaning against the wall, a damp cloth replacing the helmet and a glass of something yellow in his hand.

"Well done, Jaerin. I'm impressed. You made it a bit faster than we did our first time." There was definitely laughter in King Edmund's voice.

Though he wanted to say much more, "Water!" was the only word Jaerin managed to push past his lips. He pushed himself off the floor.

"Easy there." King Peter helped ease him against the wall and plucked the helmet from his head. Jaer moved weakly as if he would have helped undo the vambraces but the blond king waved him back. "Sit. You're still trembling too much to help." Jaer subsided.

When his breathing had calmed enough and his thirst was quenched, Jaerin managed to look around. He could not see far over the walls but a strip of blue sky wavered between the brightly colored scarves that sheltered them from the sun. The Monitor Lizard peered over the far wall by which the kings and queens stood. The kings' armor was stacked in neat piles on either side of the Pavilion. Jaer was standing now, peering over the edge of the wall and looking a little uneasy.

"Jaer," he croaked, and his brother turned. Jaerin took another drink. "Don't ever, ever let me volunteer for something again. I never want to race up another tower."

"Oh don't think you'll get off that easily," King Edmund said turning from his contemplation of the skies. "You asked for it. I dare say Oreius will have you join us every time now."

Jaerin groaned. Queen Lucy giggled.

A/N—The race up the tower and the Slinkdorslunks unannounced arrival is lifted in part from elecktrum's A Blessing of Rain. It occurs less than a week after Thole ends.

Aren't you happy that I got another chapter up sooner? I know I am! It always helps when I've had bits of the story floating around in my head for a while before I start to write it.

Chapter next—In which boys will be boys.