Chapter 20
Falaah slept a restless night only to be woken in the early hours of the morning by her door opening. When she looked she saw Simon standing in the doorway with a scowl on his face. Behind him stood Susan with a look of betrayed anger on her face.
"Come with me!" Simon commands. His hand resting on one of his guns.
Doing as she was told Falaah gets up and followed them both down to one of the main gates of the castle that was where Peter and Oreius were waiting. Oreius had three centaurs with him all of them gear for battle and travel except one. He was wearing a saddle and was most likely to be ridden by Falaah.
Unable to look at her Peter spoke to the captain of his guard. "Bring her to the tisroc and return as soon as possible it is likely that there are more ambush teams along the way so be careful."
With a nod the centaurs took their places and Falaah was lifted by Simon into the saddle. As they rode out Peter had to head back into the castle he couldn't allow the people to see him cry.
…
Simon was standing in his room looking out over the ocean, he felt something and he didn't like it but he also had no idea what it was, just that it was coming from the sea. When his door opened he knew who it was, Susan had never explained what she was doing in his room two nights before. In fact she had seemed very nervous about the topic. Now with Falaah gone she needed something to distract her and dealing with the awkward air between her and Simon was her distraction of choice.
"I wonder what you were up to?" he asked, not needing to explain further. She knew what he was talking about.
"I was checking on you after you took Edmund's curse." she answered with ease. Too much ease, that wasn't what was bothering her.
Suddenly a thought occurred to him and he turned to his desk. The letter addressed to Peter was still there but the one to Susan was missing. That was until he looked at her and saw it in her hand
"When did you find that?" he asked.
"I grabbed it when we went to go see what Peter had fired at, do you really mean…"
"Every word of it," Simon said, cutting her off. Simon had no way of knowing what Susan did but all she had accomplished was slowing it further. Simon could still feel the curse sapping at his life.
Susan looked like she was about to speak when Simon felt it again. The force from the ocean. Turing fast he ran to the window and looked out. His eyes saw nothing but his soul knew better. Just as he did this a fawn appeared at the door. "Queen lucy has gone missing, High King Peter is organizing a search party please come quick,"
Instead of rushing off with the fawn Simon kept looking out the window which got Susan's attention, what was so important that he was more concerned with it than finding Lucy.
"We have bigger problems," he said. " a storm is coming."
…
Simon had gathered together Peter, Susan and Mr. Tumnius in the throne room and looked out the window at the eastern ocean. "During my time with Jadis we discussed many things." as he spoke he paced back and forth in front of the window. "One of the things was how to keep Narnia from falling into the hands of her enemies in the event that the land was captured or destroyed. The final form we agreed was the most effective was to use the connection that Jadis had to the deep magic and create a mammoth ice storm."
Stopping he pointed to the now barely visible clouds that were on the horizon. " That storm," facing Peter he continued. "It seems that either in her last moments before her death at your hands or your brother's she conjured the storm."
"Can it be stopped?" Peter asked.
Simon shook his head. "No, there is no way to stop it without the direct power of Aslan and since this is a failure we have wrought upon our selves I am uncertain if he will intervene in such a massive way."
"What can we do?" Susan asked.
"Run," SImon answered. " the storm will not go any further than Narnia. If you leave the country you will be safe. But anything inside of the boundaries of the spell will face a winter colder than any before."
Returning his gaze to Peter he stated. "I can slow it down but only for a time, you have a few hours to get your people moving, any longer and the storm may outrun you,"
"What about Lucy?" Mr. Tumnius asked, his concern showing heavily in his tone.
Peter answered him saying. "Go into the forest find Otim and his men, tell them everything and then he will,"
"He already knows," a voice from the main door interrupted. When they looked it was an old grey wolf. "My general sent me to tell you that this storm was coming though you seem to have figured it out, in addition Queen Lucy is with us and she is safe in our care."
"Did you call her Queen Lucy?" Tumnius asked in a shocked tone. The witches army had in large part refused the Pevensies as their Kings and Queens.
"She is the queen of my general and so she is my queen as well." the wolf answered before turning back and leaving the room to return to his lines. "We will tell the centaurs of this as well as aid any who are outside the city/" he shouted over his shoulder as he ran off.
…
Peter was supervising the Satyrs caring Edmund to the cart. He was healing but the process was a slow one. The city was ready to move out and Simon was getting ready to face the storm. Peter saw him talking to Susan and thought about the fact that they seemed to be closer than he first thought.
Shaking any notions free for now he went back to his work. There was still much work to be done if they were to survive. He had sent out messengers to every major settlement in the area, though there were only a few on account of how many Narnian's moved into Cair Paravel.
As he was thinking about what task needed his attention first Orieus and his centaurs rode through the main gate and Peter chose to let him know of the situation and go from there.
…
Simon looked out over to the water. The storm was closing fast and he was going to be able to hold it back for a few hours at best. Looking back he saw that Peter had already dispatched men to the outlying villages. That was the only other thing that Simon was worried about. He was confident that Peter, Susan and the others would have time to escape; he just wanted to make sure the distant villages weren't forgotten.
Watching them leave Simon thought of what he had said to Susan. He told her that he was going to catch up with them once he had slowed the storm. It was a lie of course, in private he had told Peter that he was going to buy them every moment he could even if it meant that he froze to death in the storm.
It was a small price to pay for ensuring that Susan would live. Furthermore he had failed to save Narnia last time but he refused to let that happen again. This was a mess he made if his life was the price for dealing with it then that was his price to pay.
Shrugging off his long coat Simon went to the cliffs overlooking the ocean. Taking a deep breath to ready himself for what was to come he raised his arms and began to mutter in the tongue of the old magic. Words that carried great weight in this world, words he had learned from Jadis and now would use to render her final act of evil toothless.
…
They had been riding for an hour when Peter turned back to Cair Paravel, the city was now hidden from view by the clouds of snow and ice. Clouds that seemed to have stopped moving at the edge of the city for the past twenty minutes. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Susan riding towards him with a worried look on her face.
He had been afraid of this conversation. Simon was overdue by now and Susan was going to start asking questions. The answers weren't going to be easy. Peter could see that she had grown fond of the man. And she was going to mourn his loss for a long time.
"Where is Simon?" she bluntly asked already afraid that she knew the answer she was about to get.
"He is buying us as much time as he can, he doesn't plan to be joining us." saying the words hurt him as well as Susan, Simon was complicated but Peter had a level of respect for the man. Simon had made his mistakes but he also owned the mistakes and worked to correct them. And that was a good mark in his books.
"You knew!" Susan growled trying to maintain her calm in spite of her anger.
"Yes," Peter said, unable to look his sister in the eye as he replied.
At once she took off for the city and Peter was about to go after her until his judgment stopped him. He wasn't Susan's father, he had no right to command her to do anything and no matter how much it stung to see her ride to what had to be death he refused to compromise right and wrong in order to save Susan from her own choices.
It was neither his right nor his task. His heart heavy with the grief of the loss of a love, a friend, and now a sister he gritted his teeth and rode on trying to let the others see that he was crying.
…
Susan was riding hard until her horse refused to go any closer to the snow covered city. Not in a mood to argue Susan leaped from the horse and went on foot. The main gate was wide open and for once she was glad that no one had bothered to close it. As he passed through the gateway she was engulfed by cold and wind. She ducked behind a house and after she readied herself menally and physically by pulling on her travelling hood she went back out into the storm.
The wind was disorienting and she had no idea what she was going. In spite of this she pressed on, she had to find Simon that was not up for debate.
Her search seemed hopeless; she was blindly wandering the city and had honestly no chance of finding the castle and especially Simon. Almost slipping on a patch of ice she caught herself on a railing and when she looked up she saw something move in the storm.
Following it she soon found herself in front of the castle's main doors. As she opened the doors she saw it again this time it looked like it may have been a tail of some kind but Susan was still uncertain. Going after it she realized that it was leading her through the castle to the door near the cliffs. A door that was open against the wind.
Pulling her hood tight again she pressed onward when she heard it. Simon was shouting in a language she had never heard before and whenever he would shout the storm would seem to reply with a howl of wind.
Following the voice she found him. Simon's bread was covered in ice and he was visibly exhausted. When he saw her his eyes sank in sadness. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!" he yelled over the whistling wind.
Reaching his side Susan wrapped an arm around him before yelling back. "FINDING YOU!"
Shaking his head he told her. "GET OUT OF HERE, THIS PLACE WILL KILL YOU IF YOU DON'T."
Holding him tighter She answered. "NO, i LOVE YOU, I WOULD RATHER A DEATH NOW BY YOU SIDE THAN A LONG LIFE WITHOUT YOU!"
Hearing her say that she loved him caused a shift in Simon. He had to stop the storm, Susan had to live. Lowering one of his arms to cover Susan he remembered one thing about this storm. Something that at first seemed irrelevant and the avenue that it opened was risky at best. But now he was desperate.
Calling out one last time to the deep magic he made his bargain. Susan knew not what he was saying but she knew that the storm was stilling. Her heart stopped when Simon collapsed to his knees and as the storm faded his body went limp supported only by Susan.
Unable to hold his weight she fought to lay him down on his back reaching for his neck to feel for a pulse she felt the storm falter. The wind had stopped but the cold and clouds were still strong.
That is until a mighty roar cleared the skies and warmed the had been standing just out of their sight covered by the clouds. Simon wasn't breathing and Susan couldn't feel a pulse. "What happened to him?" she asked the great cat.
"Simon offered the debt that he owed to Jadis in return for the storm being stopped. The deep magic accepted this but the price is that Simon soul now belongs to them." he answered, stepping closer.
"Save him please!" Susan pleaded.
With a voice filled with sorrow Aslan answered. "No, Simon's debt to the witch may have been forgiven but that doesn't mean his acts are without consiquence." as he spoke his gaze lifted to the horizon like he was following something.
Susan had no idea what he was doing and she didn't care. Wrapping her arms around Simon she held him close and cried. That was when she noticed that even though he had no pulse Simon was still breathing.
"Interesting," Aslan said, drawing Susan's attention. His gaze was now halfway to the horizon when he explained. " Simon's soul has been tethered to Narnia. The deep magic is trying to claim it but they can't." turning to Susan with a knowing smile he asked her. "Would you have any idea who would have used the deep magic to bind their soul to Simon's."
Susan remembered the spell she used to save Simon from the curse. What it had done was unknown to her but she recognized that he was breathing so she let it go. "Aslan what have I done?" she asked worried that her actions may somehow be to blame for what happened.
"You spread the curse between two souls and in doing so you bound your soul to Simon's. The deep magic was not offered your soul so they will not take it. But with SImon's soul bound to you then there is only one option left."
As he spoke he looked back to Simon and all at once his pulse returned and his eyes opened with a start. Looking around he saw Aslan and saw that the storm was gone. "How, my soul was given to the deep magic, how am I here yet the storm is gone?"
With a light chuckle Aslan replied. "The dark magic doesn't care about what they keep, they care about what is sacrificed. You gave up your soul and even if they didn't receive it they were content with the sacrifice. As for the how, well perhaps Susan can shed some light on that fact."
Turning to see her Simon sat up and asked. "What is he talking about?"
Susan was starting to figure out what Aslan was getting at and it was turning her cheeks red. "I red from one of the deep magic books in the library two days ago, the curse was killing you and I had to do something"
"Which book?" Simon asked as he spoke the ice in his beard started to melt. It revealed that parts of his beard had frozen and broke off in the storm.
"The book of souls, volume 1 chapter 2 spell 25." Aslan answered knowing that Simon would remember which spell that was.
As expected Simon's eyes flashed with understanding leading him to ask Aslan "if I was asleep then how was that possible?"
Before Susan could ask what was being discussed. Aslan replied. " the binding of souls in accordance with volume 1 chapter 2 spell 25 is from the soul not the conscious or even the unconscious mind. If the souls are willing then the tie is made."
"What tie, spell of binding, what are you two on about?" Susan asked with clear mild frustration. "I used a spell that was supposed to be able to lessen the effect of curses. What did I do?"
It was Aslan who explained it best. "In the eyes of the deep magic and now in my eyes as well you and Simon are married. Man and Wife." there was finality in the lion's tone that left no room for debate not that Susan would have even if there was.
They were in love and frankly all she had done was expedite the process, well that and take Peter out of the brother would be mad but she knew that he would learn to live with it.
…
Peter could see that the storm was halted when he heard someone running up to his horse. The sound was from a satyr waving a white flag and wearing the armour of the white witch. A wave of his hand allowed the satyr to approach unhindered.
He handed Peter a sealed scroll and left just as fast as he came. Opening the scroll it read.
High King Peter the Magnificent of Narnia.
My name is Bryson Davies of the Calormen Empire. The Tisorc may he live forever has sent my north in order to make certain that war between our people is avoided. I have been made aware of the fact that your brother Prince Edmund was attacked. I assure you that this attack was not carried out with the permission of the Tisroc may he live forever. If you will allow me to bring Rabdash back to his father then he will face harsh punishment.
I have also been informed that there was a spy in your ranks. I can confirm that the traitorous fawn Joshua has been by mine own had slain for his honorless actions. Furthermore he mentioned that he was to frame a woman named Falaah as the spy. This is un true on nearly every level and it is my hope that this letter reaches you before it is too late.
I write this from the tent of a minotaur general whose name seems to be Otim. He is taking his orders from a young woman he refers to as Queen Lucy the Valiant. I hope that we can prevent this war and needless bloodshed.
The letter was signed by three people Bryson Davies, Otim of the western woods, and Queen Lucy the Valiant. The signature for Lucy matched hers too closely for it to be fake. Looking back the storm was gone and more that he thought about the letter the more sense it all made. Rabdash wanted two things. Falaah and war. If this letter was true and if Lucy signed it then it was, that meant that Rabdash was about to get everything he wanted.
"Get to Cari paravel and find out what happened!" Peter commanded a group of satyrs. "Oreius you and the fastest men you have follow me."
With that Peter spurred his horse on in the direction he had sent Oreius earlier. He needed to get to Falaah before Rabdash could kill her.