A/N: Heya. I am terribly sorry for not having updated in a long time. Nursingschool and clinicals have been kicking my arse, and taken so much of my time, that I simply have not found the energy to write. But now, I have a weekend off, and thought it was well about time to publish another chapter. I hope this will be something you enjoy.
Warning; dark theme approaching.
Soundtracks:
"We Are The Watchers On The Wall" – Ramin Djawadi
"The Realm of the Fallen King" – Brunuhville
Enjoy your read! x
Before a fortnight, the royals could tell that abnormal things would soon start to happen at court - well, even more abnormal than things already were…
There had been no more sightings of the cloaked rider after Caspian and Drinian's talk. Caspian wasn't sure of what to do with the fact that he hadn't been seen since, and after conferring with Peter, Edmund, Lucy and Susan about the matter, he did not get any wiser. Surely, he must've hallucinated?
As an attempt to get his mind off current events, Peter had suggested the two of them went hunting in the woods day. And so, both Kings rode in the deepest parts of the forest, until the sun ascended over the mountains, reminding them that yet another day had passed.
The hunt had been successful. Peter caught three grouses and a hare with the help of a hound and his crossbow, and they were now bound by their feet on the leatherstrap slung over his shoulders. Caspian had chased, and shortly after shot down a fallow deer, which was now tied behind him on the saddle on the back of his horse. The hound had run ahead of the two riding Kings, who laughed and reminisced the hunt. Both horses were sweaty and spent after the arduous ride; finding good game had indeed made both Peter's and Caspian's spirits rise.
After some time reminiscing the hunt between the two men, when they rode past the outskirts of the woods past Beaversdam, the hound ahead started a persistent round of barks, disappearing ahead on the path.
"Think he caught a trail?" Peter asked his fellow King, who tightened Destrier's reins.
"Possibly. Come on," Caspian agreed before ordering the draft horse into a fresh trot.
The barking became distant, leaving Peter falling behind in wonder. He looked to the ground; no fresh tracks of wild game to be seen.
"Baelish!" Peter heard Caspian call ahead, and he followed shortly by kicking his gelding forwards. That was a valuable hunting dog, and he would not risk losing it as darkness ascended. Cantering ahead until the path divided, he halted his horse sharply to call for Caspian.
"Peter, over here." He heard from his left side, somewhere into the thicket. Finding the overgrown path there, he rode down it until he heard whimpers of Baelish the hunting dog and saw the ebony coat of Destrier. Caspian met Peter's gaze as he appeared onto the well-hidden path, and before a wooden, slightly decayed gate. The only people passing through that gate was usually people going hunting or harvesting on foot, or couriers.
"What…. Oh… By the mane…" Peter muttered as he rested his eyes on the startling sight.
On the wooden gate was two foxes nailed up by their tails, both slaughtered and mangled, their eyes pulled out, along with their teeth. Caspian recognized the two foxes as Leaf-Dancer and Keen-Paws (what was left of them, anyways), as members of the party he had sent out a week ago to scout the woods at nightfall.
On the upper wooden bar of the gate between the two carcasses, was a message written in their blood;
"GET AWAY"
Well, at least it wasn't cryptic…
Caspian and Peter shared sombre looks as they tried to analyse the sight before them. Both quickly realized they had no clue as to why someone would do this.
. . .
Lucy's servant maid Saralynn, she was a peculiar thing; she had been spotted several times in places within the castle, and that was well enough. But the matter was that she was alone and seen places a chamber maiden such as herself had no business at all, such as in Caspian's study, in the Professors Laboratory, and studying ancient texts in their common room. Furthermore, Lucy had received report from Peter one afternoon that she had been observed along the western wall of the castle, as if waiting for someone. Susan had given Lucy a wooden necklace one night in the common room and asked if it belonged to her. Alas, it had been Saralynn's, for Lucy recognized it as it usually hung around the girl's neck; what had she been doing in Susan's chambers? Lastly, Edmund had told her over dinner that he had walked into her one morning, and she had been rushing off with blood-stained sheets, her eyes glowing that dangerous golden of theirs. Of all the strange happenings with this girl, the fact she had been caught with bloody sheets in her arms alerted Lucy the most, when just a day before, Ava, Lucy's old, kind chambermaid had been found dead in the hospital wing. Apparently succumbing to pneumonia, a guard reported to her.
Hence, Lucy felt the need to talk to this girl about her strange behaviour.
In fact, she was currently waiting for her in her chamber by her desk. The fire was crackling softly in the hearth, and Lucy was sat staring into the embers, tapping a quill impatiently.
A soft knock on her door told her that Saralynn had come as planned. A leopard courier brought her forth.
"Your maiden as per requested, your majesty," he purred.
"Thank you, Kiai, you are dismissed," Lucy told the leopard with a small smile before standing up from her seat. Saralynn, who looked thin and unkempt, stood forth.
"You wanted me, your majesty?"
"Yes, Saralynn, I did. But, before we begin, I wanted to ask you if there is anything I should be aware off? Of… other duties you serve in court?" Lucy asked, as she poured two goblets of cider at her desk. She handed the girl one goblet, who took it, but looked at it as if not knowing what to do with it.
"I… Don't think I understand, your majesty," the girl said, her tone untouched of emotions.
Lucy sighed. "You see, it has come to my attention that you have been observed performing suspicious activities outside this wing, and I would want us to find an agreement about what is proper for you to be doing when you are not tending my rooms. As you are my chambermaid, I feel it my responsibility to have this conversation. Anything you wish to ask?" Lucy asked her calmly. The servantgirl looked taken aback at this initiative of her Queen. She stood for many moments in silence, before clearing her throat and speaking:
"My lady, I can assure you everything is a misunderstanding." She said firmly, but was soon distracted by the wooden ornament Lucy held in her palm.
"I'd also like you to explain why this was found in my sister's chamber." Lucy asked her, a bit firmer this time as she looked her square in the eyes.
"I… The Queen needed assistance with moving some furniture, my Lady, I must've dropped it there," Saralynn said, her voice cracking. Lucy turned to pace.
"Why are you lying to me, Saralynn?" she asked the girl quietly. "The Gentle Queen had been with me that day and mentioned nothing of the sort." Saralynn started fidgeting with her hands.
"I can explain, I…" she started, but she interrupted herself. Lucy sighed before turning towards the girl. She was growing impatient.
"I will not tolerate lying, and I hope you know what consequence follows trespassing. I do not wish to dismiss you, Saralynn, but if you will not tell me the truth, then I have no other choice."
The girl's golden eyes shimmered darkly now, but it was not from the flickering flames of the hearth. Lucy stepped closer as the girl looked uncomfortable and slightly pale.
"Saralynn?" she asked as the girl swayed slightly from where she stood. Her hands shook, and her whole appearance changed into an even paler form.
"Are you alr-" Lucy started to speak as she stepped closer, but was soon startled as Saralynn pulled her skirt up, and pulled a dagger from her boot.
"Too many questions!" she hissed, in a voice that was not her own and charged after Lucy with a swing of her blade. Lucy backed up and missed the dagger by an inch.
"Guards! GUARDS!" she shouted as she ducked away from Saralynn's swinging arm that still came after her.
Not two seconds after, two armed Telmarine guards barged into the room, and immediately came to the Valiant Queen's aid as she was unarmed.
One attempted to disarm Saralynn, but she turned swiftly and buried the dagger in the man's shoulder through the weak spot in his chain-mailed armour. He screamed in pain and released his grip on her, but before she could back up and away from him, the second guard locked her arms behind her and pulled her away from Lucy. Saralynn screamed and wailed as if she was in great pain whilst the man dragged her away. The remaining guard had fallen to his knees as he held his hand to the weapon buried in his flesh.
The wails and shouts must have alerted others, as two more guards, Edmund, Susan and Trumpkin barged into the room. They rushed to Lucy's side. Edmund took her arm, quickly making sure she was unarmed before facing the party of guards.
"What happened here?" Edmund demanded to know.
"An attack on the Queen, sire. This is her servant. What should I do with her?" The guard struggled to hold the girl as she screamed and tried to pry herself free.
"Take her downstairs and put her in chains. Keep her under close guard, we will do a hearing of her later on."
"Yes, my Lord." The guard said as he pulled Saralynn with him, along with a second guard. Her wails could be heard long after they had taken her away.
"The song of ice and snowstorm shall be heard! The song of ice and snowstorm shall be HEAAARD!" she wailed.
"Lu, are you alright?" he asked with brown eyes of worry. Susan too, looked at her with concern as she helped the guard up from the floor.
"Yes, yes… I think so, I'm just… I don't know what happened, she just…"
"Snapped?" Trumpkin finished for her as he walked up to join the others.
"Well, yes." Lucy said, her breath hard and uneven.
"Come on, let's get you out of here and sit down somewhere," Edmund said as he led her out of the room.
. . .
Once Peter and Caspian had returned to the castle, they were urged into Caspian's study by Professor Cornelius.
"Professor, we have something we must discuss with you," Peter said as they followed the old man's striding steps. Once they reached the doors of the study, Cornelius turned to face them, his spectacles down his nose.
"Right now, your majesty, I think it must wait." Cornelius said in a voice neither of them could disobey. The half-dwarf Professor looked them both in the eyes with his own eyes of old wisdom, but also fear.
"Court might not be as safe for any of you as it once was." He stated in a low voice before rushing them inside and closing the doors behind him.
They walked in to Lucy sitting on a couch by the hearth staring into nothing, Edmund beside her with a guard nearby, and Susan attending the wound of another by a bench. A bloodstained dagger lay on the table as he winced and groaned whilst Susan sutured his wound shut, murmuring apologizes as she did so. She was bloodstained from the work.
Caspian walked up to the party with Peter at his side.
"What happened?" he asked. Lucy startled at the voice, making Edmund put an assuring hand on her back as he turned to face his brother and best friend.
"Lucy was attacked." Edmund said. The two men sat down to hear of the incident.
"Her chambermaid attacked her in her room as they had a conversation. Went berserk, apparently. Luckily, we-" Edmund begun, but was interrupted by his younger sister.
"No."
Peter, Edmund and Caspian looked at her expectantly.
"She didn't go mental. It was as if her whole…. Being… changed. She wasn't herself. Her voice changed, her skin…That feral side was not her." When she looked up to find her brothers' and Caspian's puzzled gaze upon her, she sighed. "It's hard to explain, I'm not even sure what happened myself, but… It's as if someone took over her mind. Why else would she change like that?" Lucy said, looking at them in turn.
Susan's voice behind them caught their attention.
"If Lucy's right, then that person had been planning an attack for some time," she stated whilst cleaning the leftover blood on the guard with linen cloths. The guard sat bare from his waist and up, looking rather pale and sickly. He was sweating and shivering at the same time. The wound on his shoulder had been tended to nicely by the Gentle Queen but would leave a nasty scar no matter.
"What do you mean?" Peter asked. Whilst putting supportive dressings on the wound, Susan nodded towards the dagger on the table before them that was still coated in blood, along with a bronze substance on the silver blade. Their gaze fell on the weapon.
"That dagger was poisoned. My guess is that it's coated in some anticoagulant." She speculated as she made an arm sling for the guard. He had been bleeding a lot more than a stab usually made a person do, and as he looked quite sickly beside the large amount of blood he had lost, her speculations were proven true when not even Lucy's cordial would heal him.
"Poison to make her Majesty bleed to death…" the Professor translated, horrified at the thought. "Yes," Susan sighed.
After a thoughtful silence, Caspian turned to Edmund.
"Where is this servant now?"
"Kept under custody in the dungeons. I suppose we are giving her a third degree?" he replied expectantly.
"Of course. But before we do, we have something to tell you as well…" Caspian told him as he turned in his seat to them all, preparing to tell them of the horrific sight Peter and he had discovered in the woods.
. . .
Later that evening, Susan sat by the guard's bed in the hospital wing, talking with the court physician in low voices as to not disturb the other patients in the room.
Outside, Caspian stood watching the scene by the doorframe. He watched as the Gentle Queen held the guard's hand as he winced in pain whilst the physician put a herbal dressing on the man's shoulder to stop the reoccurring bleeding after Susan had sutured the wound.
He watched the physician, a kind-looking, middle-aged woman with a plump figure said a few words, nodded to Susan and shot her a thankful smile. The guard, sweaty beads covering his body, shot Susan as weak smile between the winces, and pat her hand weakly. He watched as her plump lips turned into a small supportive smile before she stood up and took her leave. The guard was in good hands.
Susan spotted Caspian a distance away, and she read him well enough to know that he desired to have a conversation. She made her way over to him with her eyes turned to his face. He looked as tired as she felt.
"How is he?" Caspian asked as she exited the room and walked down the hall with him.
"Alive." She merely replied. Well, if the man was this ill, Caspian would have to speak to the man about the attack once he was in a stable condition. He did, however, feel a pang of jealousy poke at his heart despite the seriousness of the incident. Stop being silly, he scolded himself internally.
"It was… Kind of you, to tend him." Caspian tried assuring and appreciatingly. He didn't want anyone else's blood on his hands, and wished the man survived. He turned to Susan when she scoffed a small smile.
"I'm a nurse in my world, Caspian; I wouldn't leave the man like that. I just hope he makes it," she said calmly, quoting his own thoughts mere seconds ago.
"I know you wouldn't. The Gentle Queen indeed…" Caspian replied kindly as he returned her smile.
"Have you visited the chambermaid yet?" she asked him, turning up to find him look thoughtfully into the stone floor.
"No, I was hoping to talk to the guard first, but as he is too unwell, I am gathering your brothers to do so now. Are you coming? You were there after all," he asked, turning to meet her gaze.
"No. I have nothing to provide that Edmund cannot do, and besides, I think it's better for me to stay with Lu." She explained in a quiet voice. She would not be able to hear the screams of that girl again.
"Of course, I understand. I'll come to check on her later." Caspian offered, making Susan smile softly. It was sweet, the way he cared so for her family. They walked down the hall in silence before Susan's voice piped up again.
"Caspian… That message you found in the woods. The murders, and now the attempt on Lucy's life…" She sighed, fidgeting with her hands. Caspian turned to face her properly, now leaning against the stone wall. "It will be endless attacks like this until either one or all of us are dead, you know that, right?" Caspian looked her dead in the eye, her solemn cerulean eyes such a contrast compared to his determined dark brown ones.
"I'm not letting that happen to either you, or your siblings. I will do my very best to find the one responsible behind all this, and once we do find him, he will pay for his actions." Susan's gaze changed to one of acceptance, but she still looked away, her head troubled in thought. Caspian stepped closer and took one hand in his. Her hand was cold, and yet he had to admire the pale velvety softness of her skin against his.
"I will not let anybody hurt you." He vowed, gaze meeting hers. He rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand.
"That's a compromising promise to keep," was her reply, cold, yet true. Uncertainty hovered over the court like a cold fog, and no one knew what to do next. Caspian, however, had yet to hear out the chambermaid, and only after then, would the fog start to dissolve.
"Then so be it. I am not giving up. Whoever responsible for all of this wants a message to come through to us, to have us removed. And by Aslan himself, I will not let that happen," he told her earnestly. His words were true, like the true King he was, and for that, she felt pride.
"Just…" she began and raised a hand to touch his jaw tenderly. He shivered at the gentle touch. "Don't get yourself killed over it. And be careful down there," she said, her pale gaze that pierced him so made him swallow hard. He dared not speak against that, and to even do so would be foolish.
With that, she left his side to find her sister that was in her brothers care in that moment. When she first entered the room, she sent both Peter and Edmund down to join Caspian in the dungeons.
Sitting down by Lucy's side on the bed, she grasped her hand and rubbed her shoulder, hoping now that the situation would be resolved.
She stayed with Lucy that night, comforting her in her silent matter as Lucy said little, before falling asleep in her sister's lap.
A/N: And there it is. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this chapter. It was fun to write, and I hope it starts to give you some insight on where I am going in this story. I apologize once more for the late update, but from now on, I will try to get better at publishing x
Until next time,
Dragon
