All I own is Jewel
"Edmund, Peter, boys."
Lucy stopped to catch her breath, hands resting on her thighs.
"WAIT."
That scream got their attention, trying to ignore the stitch in her side she ran to catch up with her brothers, she never knew that they could run that fast. Trying not to trip over any tree roots, and not always succeeding she finally reached them, while she was caught her breath she grabbed onto a sleeve from each of them, making sure they couldn't run off and leave her again. Eventually she could talk again.
"What are you planning, she could be anywhere in those mountains, and we have no clothes, no food, we need a plan."
"We have a plan, these are the Magpie woods, we had a chalet here remember, in theory it should still be there. And because no one else ever came here apart from the four of us all the food was put in stasis so that it would be fresh when we arrived. And we always came here to go hunting so everything we need for a trek into the mountains is there. Stop panicking Lu, everything's going to be fine."
With Peter's declaration still ringing in the air the boys each grabbed her arm and pulled her after them into the forest, she gave up worrying at that point. There was no point to it,
Peter was right, even if he wasn't they would just continue along, and she wouldn't have it any other way.
Raven's Peak, Raven Mountains,
"JEWEL!"
Looking up from the dirt-strewn floor Jewel found herself looking directly into the very angry eyes of Lord Hanak, refusing to show pain when he grabbed her arm and began to twist it she just stared at him with clear sapphire eyes that seemed to look into the soul, a side effect of living about a thousand years she supposed.
"What?"
Her voice was quiet, there was no sign of the vibrancy that had throbbed through every syllable when she had lived in Cair Paravel, when she had been married to Edmund.
"You're needed in the hall, it's time for the festival."
Hanak's face was crinkled; lines ran through the over tanned skin, the cracks filled with dirt and grease, a large black wart with several hairs poking out was prominently displayed in the centre of his chin. His large nose was hooked over like a beak and at one point in his life it had been broken and not set properly so there was a large bump that further disfigured him. Beady eyes were set deep in their sockets, his body was flabby, not fat, but bits seemed to fly off at various angles, his clothes were shapeless, hanging off of him, like well made rags, and the funny part was he thought he was absolutely gorgeous.
The festival, the one time a year she was allowed out without chains, insead she was placed on an old wooden litter and paraded around the hole settlement non-stop for a week. The litter bearers changed every few hours but she was trapped up there. Her clothes were rags basically, a shirt with no sleeves and cut off well above her belly button, the skit fell to mid-thigh and she was allowed not another stitch on her. The theory was that the more skin available the more that could be reached by those who wanted a longer life. The clothes were died a dull grey, supposed to show the limbo between life and death, people thought that if they stole some of the mid-way life from her, as soon as it entered them it would be transformed into full life. Hell in a hand basket if you wanted her opinion, being paraded around that much and touching, always touching, for a girl who had hardly left her cell in eight hundred years, except for when someone was too rich to be brought down to the cell and she was taken to them.
Sighing she stood up on her own, refusing to give Hanak any more opportunity than he already had to touch her. Holding her head up high she walked out of the door, Hanak looming behind her. She was a Queen of Narnia once damn it, and he wasn't going to control her anymore than he already did.
In the forest
"Aahh!"
With a crash Lucy tripped over a trailing piece of ivy. She was trapped face down in the grass, unable to get up because of the weight of the bag on her back. Her brothers were standing in front of her, only having turned round when they heard her scream, and they weren't doing a very good job of stifling their laughter either.
"You alright Lucy?"
Smiling Peter stepped forward and pulled his dishevelled sister to her feet. Edmund was as tactful as his older brother and had erupted into gales of laughter when she first started screaming into the grass and pounding her fists.
They looked very different than they had when they first stepped out of the tunnel onto the bank of the pool. Gone were the sensible English travelling clothes, instead they had changed into the clothes that were stored in their forest chalet, also under stasis so they hadn't disintegrated with the years that had passed.
Peter was wearing one of his loose white cotton shirt with flowing sleeves and an open collar. The hem was tucked into thee tight brown cotton trousers which in turn were tucked into calf high brown leather boots.
Edmund was wearing another billowing white shirt, which he wore in the same way as his brother, only his was tucked into trousers of dark green cotton, again with calf high brown leather boots.
Lucy was in a pale blue cotton shirt with sleeves that flared as they reached her wrists, over that she had a dark blue tunic, all this was worn over dark blue, nearly black flared trousers, that were designed to look like a skirt, and under the trousers were calf high black leather boots.
They were all wearing a plain gold circlet around their foreheads, Lucy and Edmunds were the same, as Peter was the High King his was a little more intricately designed, not much, just an extra twist at the front.
They looked just like they had when they had gone hunting as Kings and Queen, except they were missing the fourth, it wasn't the same without Susan, but in a strange way it was better, she had changed so much since the last time she was in Narnia, she wasn't the girl she had been.
They had packed bags with food when they were at the chalet; they had all sorts, cheese, bread, all kinds of things that would stay fresh while they were travelling.
The Narnian air was giving them the strength back that they had once had for these treks, and a lot more energy. It had been three days and in that day they had covered most of the forest, it was a good thing that they had started at least halfway through the trees, they should be out of its shadow by that evening, and the next day they would start the climb up the mountain. They knew exactly were to go, Edmund and Jewel had been exceedingly close when they were married, before that even, the marriage vows just solidified the bonds that had already existed between them. That bond was now giving him an excellent sense of direction as to where to find Jewel, and it had been growing stronger and more detailed everyday.
"Come on Lu, we've got to keep moving. If we can get out of the forest tonight we can spend tomorrow getting into the mountains."
"I know that. But I'm really starting to hate this forest. I'm sure there weren't as many things to trip over the last time we were here."
Grumpily Lucy strode on ahead of Edmund and Peter, ignoring the sniggers, and she held her head high as they caught up on either side of her and threaded their arms together. Looking at their smiles Lucy couldn't help but smile alongside them, chattering they soon left the cover of the forest. The mountains loomed close, the footpath that led into them was only a few feet in front of them, but they did not move on, it had been a hard climb when they had ruled, and undoubtedly it still was, they would need all the strength they could muster the next day.
But as Peter and Lucy slept, Edmund lay in his blankets and looked up at the mountains, what he hadn't told the others, was that even as he could sense Jewel's location, he could sense her emotions. It wasn't just her fear of being alone, that had been tempered into a steady throb of fear that was hidden far below the surface. But that morning a new sense of fear had arisen, it sent spikes through her psyche, even through she was burying it he could still feel it, and it frightened him. Knowing that Jewel was so deathly afraid, and had been for so long that she could barely even notice it anymore scared him more than anything else could do. All he could do was hope that she could sense him, and know that he was coming.
Raven's Peak
What the hell! While she was being herded onto the litter Jewel could have sworn she felt Edmund in her mind, but it wasn't possible, was it? She had no time to contemplate it, the gates had opened, and she was being taken into the crowded streets.
Two days later, the road up to Raven's Peak
"What's that?"
Peter stopped, throwing an arm out behind him to stop Edmund, which in turn stopped Lucy. He could faintly hear bells jingling, the sound of a horse and cart. Sure enough a few moments later a mule appeared around a bend in the road harnessed to a rickety wooden cart that rolled along on two equally dilapidated wheels.
Driving the cart was what can only be described as a whistling bundle. When the driver registered the presence of the three observers he looked up and the whistling trailed off. He was old, probably in his sixties, a weathered tanned face that was covered in lines that were the product of both age and laughter. A shapeless grey hat rested on grey, dusty hair. He wore faded blue robes and the edges were ripped from were they had caught on a splinter from the cart and he had ripped it getting down. They knew that was what caused it because they cold see a broken piece of wood poking through a corner of his outfit. His eyes crinkled up with laughter as he surveyed the well-dressed teenagers before him.
"Well, we don't see the likes of you around here that often. You here for the festival up at the peak?"
The three looked at each other, confused, but then Peter took the lead.
"Yes, at least we are if we're talking about the same thing."
"We must be young fella, there's only one inhabited spot in Raven Mountains, only one place that's possible to inhabit for more than a few nights anyway. If you're looking for anything to do with civilisation in these mountains, that's the place to look."
Peter looked at his brother and sister, silently communicating, nodding his head Peter looked back at the old man.
"Mind if we travel with you?"
"Hop on."
A smile lit up his face, making his look much younger as wrinkles smoothed. As they travelled Peter asked him about the festival he spoke of. He was sitting on the driver's seat while Edmund and Lucy hunkered down in the cart amongst various wares.
"It's the festival of Eternal Life, or that's what they call it anyway. Me, I think it's just an exhibition of sadism. They parade that poor girl around day in day out for a week, letting people jump up and grab at her, hoping to snatch a piece of her longevity away from her."
"What girl?"
"No one knows her name anymore, it's been lost in the sands of time, all I know is that I've been to this festival every year of my life for the trading, and my father before me, and my grandfather before him, and that girl has always been there.
The legend is that she appeared from somewhere about eight hundred years ago, and the Lord at that time took her in as a serving girl, but as they years passed and he saw that she didn't age a day he took her into custody. He believed her to be a sign from Aslan himself, a gift to show what life could be like for he and his people if only they were pure enough. Since then it's degenerated until she's just passed around for everyone to try and take a piece of her life away from her, and keep it for themselves. What they don't see, or don't care about is that they're not creating a longer life for themselves, they're just destroying the poor chit."
With that the journey cart fell silent as it trundled along it's way, each occupant lost in their own thoughts. Edmund's thoughts were whirling, how could this have happened.
"Jewel, my Jewel."
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