I don't own Narnia or the Pevensies. I just manage to find references to them in every ordinary thing.


The grey clouds they'd seen earlier that day were thickening above the two Pevensie sisters as they made their way through the forest. The sky was rapidly descending into darkness, its edges aflame in violent orange and pink. Every so often they called their brothers' names, growing more and more uneasy; each step brought them further from the village and closer to the unknown. Stumbling across the cluttered ground, Lucy glanced at her older sister's tight jaw and swallowed hard. Too much time had passed. They should have found them by now.

"Edmund!" she shouted. The sound was deadened by the trees, swallowed by the moss and leaves. "Peter!"

Susan hurried along, hand creeping to her horn. She had not used it since before their coronation and was reluctant to do so now, because she was unsure of its actual properties. The first time had brought Peter to her aid. Aslan had said, though, that it would bring help wherever she was, and she had the feeling that if she blew it again she would summon something else, something that might be too much for the relatively small task of finding her brothers.

Lucy flinched as a tiny drop of cold water struck her cheek. Her eyes flew to the dark sky to find it full of swirling, rain-bellied clouds, leaking the first threatening drops of a downpour. She called her brothers' names again, trying to keep the fear our her voice, and ran a few steps to catch up with her long-legged sister. All around her there came little threatening noises of rain hitting forest, growing more and more frequent. Soon it was a steady drizzle that made the two searchers pull their cloaks about themselves and draw the hoods up.

Suddenly, there came a sound in the undergrowth. Lucy and Susan froze, torn between hope and dread, hands tight upon their weapons, staring in the direction it came from. It grew louder and louder as they attempted to peer through the dense foliage. And then, a moment later, they caught a glimpse of two cloaked and mail-clad figures hurrying towards them and both breathed a deep sigh of relief.

"Peter! Edmund!" Lucy exclaimed as they came through the trees. The elder of the two had his arm around his younger brother, an affectionate grin on his face, while Edmund was looking reluctantly grateful. With a pang, Lucy noticed that his eyes were red as if he'd been crying. Both looked up at her yell. Edmund looked away quickly, choosing instead to look at Susan, but Peter's eyes met hers and the disappointment within them was enough to make her want to burst into tears. It was a look that left no room for interpretation – he knew what she'd said, and he expected her to make amends for it the first chance she got.

"We'd best be getting back," said Susan, practical as ever. "This isn't going to stay a light rain for long and we shouldn't be out without the centaurs, anyway."

Peter nodded, giving Edmund's shoulder a squeeze before releasing him and looking to the rest of his siblings. They set off again in silence. Neither sister asked where their brothers had been, or what they'd been doing, because it was quite clear without words and they did not wish to make Edmund recount it. For a short while they carried on without a word before Ed gave a small cough and they stopped to give him questioning glances.

"Are we sure this it the way?" he asked quietly. The looks on his siblings' faces said everything. And as luck would have it, nature chose that moment to open its floodgates and the rain exploded into a hammering torrent. Lucy squealed in surprise and discomfort, pulling her cloak as tightly about herself as possible.

"Watch for dryads," Peter said grimly over the noise. "They'll know the way back. But we need to keep moving. It isn't safe to just wait around."

They moved on, four damp and tense forms cutting a wandering path through an unknown forest. The ground was becoming sticky with mud and the unpleasant odor of wet compost was hanging thickly in the air. Stumbling across the many tree roots, Lucy tried to watch for any sign of life in the wood but there was nothing to be seen, only the dank and darkening shapes of the sickly plants.

Something caught her eye – her head snapped back and she focused between several of the tress, squinting to see in the bad light.

"Look!" she called to her siblings, pointing. Someone (or something) was coming towards them, a shadowed figure surrounded by a swirling cloak. The four froze, watching it, when suddenly Susan gave a shout and whirled around, at which Lucy realized that there wasn't one, but more than a dozen of the same mysterious persons closing in on them. Almost instantly she found herself one side of a square that she and her family made up – Ed on her right, Susan on her left, Peter behind her, all with weapons drawn. She raised her dagger as the shapes came nearer.

"Who's there?" Peter demanded. The first of the figures reached them. Its face was shadowed by a grey hood, but it was the size and shape of a human; it sounded like one when it gave a low, disdainful chuckle.

"This is a rare treat indeed," said a cold male voice, barely audible above the pounding rain.

"Two Sons of Adam and two Daughters of Eve," a female one added in a singsong tone. Then a cruel laugh. "No doubt the prophesized Kings and Queens that Her Ladyship told us of."

"What do you want?" Susan asked angrily.

The circle that had formed around the monarchs tightened, and the Pevensies moved closer together. One of the group stepped forward with a long spear. He pointed it at the closest person to him, Susan,and declared in a louder voice,

"By the order of Queen Zale, we are to arrest the four false monarchs of Narnia."

"Then I must say you've got the wrong family," said Edmund, after a tense moment. His voice was light, but there was a fear behind it that Lucy could not ignore. "Who would this Zale be?"

"We serve Queen Zale of Castle Lake, defender of the oppressed peoples of Narnia," a cloaked woman replied.

"Oppressed peoples?" questioned Susan, and Lucy realized they were stalling for time, hoping that the centaurs might come looking…

"Yes, stupid girl. While four children from an alien world make decrees about things they do not understand, citizens of Narnia are persecuted by their own neighbors. Her Ladyship was born of this country. It is only natural that a true daughter of the land should sit upon its throne."

"We did not make such a choice," said Peter. "Aslan charged us with the task of governing Narnia. If ever we have overlooked the suffering of our people, we will do everything within our power to make amends, but please do not sink to this level – if you truly advocate a just cause, you would not murder to achieve your ends."

"If you truly are King Peter the Magnificent," the spear-wielding man retorted, "you would not try so desperately to prolong this conversation. I have no words to waste with you."

And they attacked.