Wow! I got this done faster than I thought I would. And thanks for the reviews! Enjoy!

THE BLACK FIRE

Chapter 6

The Medallion

"G'morning, Wade," greeted Mallory as Wade stepped out of his bedroom door the next morning. Wade's eyes were adjusting to the bright, sunshine filled hallway of Cair Paravel when he stepped out of his room. He was just about to reply when he looked at Mallory; he felt his heart do a flip and then he did a double take.

"Mallory, you…you look…, ah…nice dress." Wade just couldn't help himself from staring. Mallory looked so beautiful, but decided to keep that thought to himself. She was wearing the dress that was presented to her earlier that morning. The dress was light turquoise and it had a boat neck neck line that was trimmed with lace. The bottom of the dress was also trimmed with lace. The dress was so long Wade couldn't even see Mallory's shoes. Her hair was twisted into a loose bun near the top of her head and a few strands were left hanging down, faming her face.

Mallory seemed puzzled by Wade's response. "You like this dress?"

Wade didn't respond; he continued staring at Mallory.

"Wade?"

"Oh, well…, ah, Iwouldn'twanttowearitofcourse, but itlooksgreatonyou." He could feel himself begin to blush and was starting to feel very embarrassed.

"Thanks. You don't look too bad yourself." Wade was also wearing the clothes that were presented to him that morning. There was a black velvet coat, trimmed with golden colored fabric and buttons gold in color. Underneath the coat was a white shirt and Wade's pants were also white. For shoes he was wearing tall, black, leather boots that nearly reached his knees. Then Mallory noticed Wade's hair. Today he didn't have it spiked up as usual; instead he wore it naturally. Mallory sighed. Very nice. She concluded. Now it was her turn to blush because she just realized she had been staring at Wade.

"What?" Wade questioned. A slow smile then crept across his lip. "You like what you see?" He continued, in hopes of trying to make Mallory blush even more.

Mallory could feel heat rushing to her cheeks and knew she must be blushing furiously. She knew how she would answer that question, but dared not say anything. Wade gave a satisfied smile when she rolled her eyes and sighed. "Should we go find Matt, then?"

"Sure. My guess is he's in his office."

The pair decided to walk to Matt's office in hopes of finding him. When they knocked on his office door and heard footsteps, they knew Wade guessed correctly. The door handle slowly turned and the door swung open.

"Mallory, Wade! Good morning!" said Matt happily.

"Morning," replied Wade.

"G'morning, beautiful day isn't it?"

"Yes, it is. Now if you'll just wait a moment while I pull my boots on, we can go to breakfast together. Matt was wearing an outfit similar to Wade's: a dark green coat trimmed with golden colored fabric and golden buttons that complimented his green eyes wonderfully, a white shirt underneath it, sand colored pants, and brown knee high leather boots. And on his head sat the king's golden crown, set with diamonds and emeralds. Mallory thought he looked just as handsome as Wade. In fact if she was to choose which one looked better, she didn't think she could decide.

As Matt pulled on his first boot, Mallory and Wade were examining the contents of the king's office. There were books--big and small--scattered everywhere, on the floor, on his desk, or in bookcases. Along with the books, were papers carelessly thrown all over the place. There were also many portraits hung on the walls of Matt's predecessors--the earlier kings and queens of Narnia. Wade was busy viewing the portraits, when a group of four caught his eye. How does that work? Puzzled Wade thought as he studied their names. High King Peter, Queen Susan, King Edmund, and Queen Lucy.

"Matt, how can there be two kings and queens at the same time?" he questioned, motioning to the four portraits. Matt walked over with only one boot on his foot, to the four pictures. He looked at them with great admiration.

"Ah, King Peter the Magnificent, Queen Susan the Gentle, King Edmund the Just, and Queen Lucy the Valiant. They were the four that filled the thrones at Cair Paravel many centuries ago, riding Narnia from the evil White Witch. To this day they are considered four of the greatest rulers in Narnian history." Wade gave a satisfied nod.

Meanwhile, Mallory was looking at the many trinkets and ornaments, odds and ends, that were laying on Matt's desk, when one of them caught her attention: it was a golden medallion with about a two inch diameter. It had many intricate designs engraved on it, and carefully set in the gold were several large, beautiful, sparkling diamonds. Mallory thought it had to be one of the most gorgeous pieces of jewelry she had ever seen. Matt had just finished answering Wade's question when Mallory asked one of her own.

"Where did you get this?" Matt walked over to his desk and saw the medallion Mallory as pointing at, then gently picked it up between his hands.

"This I actually found."

"Oooh," was about all Mallory could say. Seconds later Wade walked over to see what the others were doing.

"When I was about seven years old, I was exploring on the beach near a cave when I found it," Matt explained as he held the medallion up to the morning sunlight that was streaming through one of the many windows in his office. All eyes were on the medallion. Then one of the sun's rays reflected off the beautiful item and instantly it seemed to sparkle majestically casting a sunny and cheerful glow in the room, but at the same time this glow seemed strange and mysterious, as if it were holding a secret. Mallory and Wade were completely mesmerized by this, but the king whom had seen this before continued talking.

"When I came back to the castle, I showed it to my--" Matt paused and took a deep breath and slightly lowered his head, "--my father. He told me he wouldn't be surprised if it once belonged to a pirate because many years before I was born, pirates sailed the seas and often unloaded their treasures in caves near the shoreline. His guess was that when the pirates were driven out of Narnia by my grandfather, who at that time was king, in all of the rush of them trying to bring their loot back on their boats this piece was left behind or dropped. Then my father told me that there were probably more pieces that never made it back to the boat either. I was greatly excited by that bit of information, so the next day I went back to the beach in search of more pirate treasure. I searched for weeks, and found many useless items, but never anything like this."

"How disappointing," said Mallory, eyes still on the medallion.

"Yeah," added Wade, whose eyes were too, still glued to the medallion. Matt nodded his head in agreement.

"You like it?" Matt asked Mallory.

"Oh, yeah."

Matt then tossed the medallion into the air and smoothly caught it in his right hand. "You like it, you can have it."

"I couldn't," Mallory protested.

"No, really, can have it," Matt replied as he slipped the long golden chain around her neck. The medallion hung just below her breasts and she thought it was the perfect compliment to her dress. As Wade saw Matt slipped the medallion around Mallory's neck, Wade couldn't help but feel a little bit jealous that she got something and he didn't. Matt noticed his jealousy, but he was already planning on giving something to Wade also.

"Thank you," Mallory said sincerely.

"And Wade, this is for you." Matt handed Wade what looked like a very old, small flashlight. "I had never seen anything like this before I found it. It seems to be a 'flameless torch,' for when you push the button it produces a light."

Wade was holding the 'flameless torch' between his hands, examining it carefully. He then pushed the button on its side and sure enough, it gave off a bright light. He then began to laugh. "This is called a flashlight. It runs on batteries and the light comes from the light bulb." Matt was completely amazed by this. "You said you'd never seen anything like this before, right, Matt?"

"Right."

"Strange. So it mustn't be from Narnia then."

"You mean, it's something from your world," Matt asked, confused.

"I think so."

"Wade," said Mallory, "look at the engraving on the button. CHALLENGE, wasn't that a flashlight company in the 1930's and 40's?" Wade turned the flashlight on its side so he could read the writing.

"Yep, it's a CHALLENGE flashlight alright."

"Well, that means it's gotta be from your world and be at least 60 years old because they don't make them like this anymore; it's got a walleye lens and everything."

Wade nodded his head. "But why is a flashlight this old, and from our world, doing in Narnia?"

"This is strange. And it still works, too."

"Wade, can I see the flashlight a moment?" Wade handed the flashlight back to Matt.

"Look," he said. Wade and Mallory stepped closer, trying to get a better look at what he was showing them. They all looked at the spot where his thumb was resting, and could clearly see the letters 'Ed.'

"Ed?"

"No…," Matt then scraped his thumb nail over the letters, removing some rust that was covering up the rest of the letters. "Edmund Pevensie."

"Edmund Pevensie? That's not another company, is it?"

"No, I think it's a name. I know it's a name." Mallory gave a frustrated sighe and the other two could tell that she was thinking very hard by the look on her face. "I've heard it before, somewhere…" her voice trailing off.

"Well, the only Edmund I've heard of is King Edmund," Matt said, gesturing to his portrait hanging on the wall. Mallory walked over to the picture. He had brown--almost black--hair and blue eyes, but something grabbed her attention: on the very bottom of the frame was a small tag that read:

King Edmund, 1000--1015

Mallory thought it was odd that his years of power weren't very long. Her eyes then moved to the portrait on its right.

Queen Lucy, 1000--1015

She then looked to the left of King Edmund's picture; two more portraits.

High King Peter, 1000--1015

and

Queen Susan, 1000-1015

It was then she noticed those portraits were in a group of four and they all had the same dates next to their names. Mallory, just like Wade, was puzzled by this. How could this be?

Matt could see the confusion building up on her face and knew what she was about to ask. So he told her what he explained to Wade minutes earlier.

"Well that answers only one of my questions. But, did they all die in the same year, since they all ended their rule in 1015?"

"Actually, one day they all disappeared," Matt snapped his fingers, "just like that."

"Strange," Wade commented.

"But it gets even stranger. I've read in some of my history books that hundreds of years later they suddenly returned to Narnia, but they didn't look like they did when they were last seen here. They looked nearly the same as on the day of their coronation

"But how is that possible?" Mallory asked.

"You got me."

All of a sudden Wade's stomach gave a long and hollow groan. He gave a sheepish grin. "What can I say? I'm starving!" Mallory and Matt began to laugh. Then his stomach gave another groan only this time louder and longer than the first.

"I'm so hungry I could eat a--"

"Sorry Wade, you are not going to eat any of my horses!" This made Mallory laugh even harder. She was laughing so hard her eyes were beginning to water and her stomach muscles were starting to ache. Wade himself was laughing with the two of them, but his eyes were drawn to Mallory. She looks even more beautiful when she laughs.

"All right, just let me pull my other boot on, and then we'll go and eat."

A/N: So what did ya think? Hum, where has Mallory heard Edmund Pevensie before? What role will the flashlight play in my fanfic? Why doesn't Matt like to talk about his father? And what's up with the medallion? Don't forget to R&R!