Sorry for the horrible delay. I finally had the guts to quit a job that was making me miserable but needless to say, Real Life has had to take priority for a while. I also had to deal with mutating plot bunnies again... But I've come through and here is your next chapter in the ongoing epic that Leona's story is becoming! As a warning, this chapter picks up right where chapter twenty-four leaves off, so you may want to re-read the last chapter if you don't immediately know what's going on.
Disclaimer: I am merely borrowing C. S. Lewis' charming characters and world, and will eventually return them. The only thing that is mine is the plot.
Disclaimer 2: If this story in any way resembles any other fanfiction it is by complete accident, as I go out of my way to avoid reading fanfictions that resemble mine until mine are completed. My apologies to any other great minds.
Author's note: This story is set pre-, during- and post- The Last Battle. I am a first time fanfiction writer and any reviews are appreciated.
Chapter Twenty-Five: Leona's Story: Fear
Leona and Adara quietly crept through the darkness of the hidden passageway leading from the Tisroc's rooms, following the bobbing light of the High Priest's lantern. This passage was far longer than the short one connecting the empty Queen's chambers and the Tisroc's, where they had first infiltrated the Tisroc's rooms. Leona idly wondered if this tunnel was something that had been included when the palace was built or if it was a later, secret addition.
Only the sight of the lantern up ahead descending downwards warned the two women that the smooth floor beneath their feet changed into stairs, but it still came as a shock when Leona stepped forward and met open air instead of stone. She gave a swiftly muted gasp as she caught herself against the stone wall and looked ahead, wide eyed and breathless, at the lantern for any sign that she had been heard. The light seemed to pause momentarily but continued. Leona restrained the urge to sigh in relief.
The passageway seemed to go on forever, though the stairs did end after a while, and Leona tried unsuccessfully to keep track of the turns and think of what direction they would be heading. They had traveled far enough to be underneath the city proper by now, and she had a horrible feeling that the only place a hidden passageway such as this would lead would be to the temple of Tash. She fought the urge to turn back. Now was not the time for cold feet. They had no idea of how to open the secret door, and if the High Priest was using necromancy on the Tisroc's body, every moment lost was a moment that Tash could get a firmer grip on all of Calormen. She and Adara needed to find the Tisroc, dead or alive.
After what felt like eternity, the ground rose again and the bobbing light that they were following was eclipsed by the brighter light of another door opening ahead. Leona blinked hard in the light after so long in the pitch darkness of the passage. The two women had stayed far enough behind the High Priest, and his unknown companion, quite likely the Tisroc, that they would not be seen when the door opened, but they still froze in place until the door had slid shut and they could approach the end of the passage. Leona could hear Adara's excited breathing next to her. If it wasn't for the need for silence she would have reminded the other woman that this was not something to be excited over.
Leona put her ear to the thin wooden panel of the door and listened hard for any sounds from whatever room was on the other side. She had no idea where they were, but she wasn't going to just jump out without thinking about it. She could hear nothing and started to cautiously slide the door open, letting a slim crack of light through.
Suddenly, the panel was wrenched out of her hands and shoved open. Blinded by the sudden light, Leona and Adara both staggered back and the strong hands that grabbed them and pulled them from the passageway were met with little resistance for the first few seconds. As soon as she had recovered enough from the shock to realize that she was being attacked, Leona started fighting back for all she was worth. Her eyes still streaming tears from the light, she couldn't see her attackers, but nevertheless tried to get to the small dagger she had strapped to her ankle. But before she could even properly grip it, a violent blow knocked it from her hand, and her arms were quickly pinned behind her. The sounds of scuffling beside her told Leona that Adara wasn't going down without a fight either, but the other girl was swiftly subdued as well.
Now that her eyes had stopped streaming and she could see what was going on, Leona realized that their captors were dressed in the robes of Tash's acolytes. She felt sick and her heart couldn't seem to decide whether to sink to her shoes or climb out her throat and settled for simply pounding like never before. Cords were wrapped around her hands and she could see Adara getting similar treatment. Without saying a word the acolytes pulled the women from the otherwise deserted room and down a dimly lit hall.
Leona didn't even bother trying to talk her way out of the situation. Their arrival had obviously been expected and there was nothing she could do to escape just yet. With Aslan's grace, an opportunity would arise later. She wanted to turn and comfort Adara, who was whimpering in fear beside her, but she needed to focus on getting them out of this predicament.
The group came to a halt outside a heavy wooden door and one of the acolytes knocked. The door swung open and the two women were pushed roughly inside, with the acolyte closing the door behind them.
"So, I was being followed," a voice said from beside the fireplace. High Priest Hador looked each woman over and Leona fought the urge to cringe at the look in his eye. Rather than meet the priest's eye she looked around the room for any other ways out or anything that could help her escape. The dimly lit room seemed designed to inspire fear in anyone exposed to it. Strange bottles filled with unknown contents littered the shelves and a human skull or two had been used as paperweights on the large wooden table against one wall. Leona tried not to snicker. Just because the High Priest liked being cliché didn't make him any less dangerous, particularly if Tash was backing him.
The two figures against the opposite wall caught her attention for a moment. They were two men, identical down to their clothing, only one was obviously dead. The Tisroc's body lay on a cot in the corner and she could smell the faint hint of decay in the air. The other figure stood next to the corpse, still as a statue and with as little expression. She had been right and the Tisroc that was seen around the palace was only an animated puppet. Her stomach clenched at the thought of the evil intent that would have been needed to fuel a spell of such power and darkness.
A cold hand brushing her cheek brought her attention firmly back to the High Priest who had somehow silently made his way to her side. "I had not expected you though," Hador said, leaning closer. She tried hard not to show her revulsion as he brushed aside the hair by her ear in a lover's caress. His thin lips were nearly touching her ear as he whispered, "Guardian."
Leona's heart stopped beating for a moment in sheer cold-blooded terror. No one in this age of men knew that she was Aslan's Guardian. There was no way that Hador could have known who she was. Unless, the man before her wasn't only Hador...
She tried to stop her body from shaking, but her fear had gotten out of control. Fear wasn't something she was particularly familiar with. Any situation she was ever in that was worth being afraid over was something that she had Aslan's help with. What need had she to fear with him on her side? This was vastly different. She started frantically calling Aslan's name in her head trying to reach him through the link that he usually used when guiding her actions as Guardian, but there was no answering reply.
Hador turned to Adara who had silent tears of terror running down her cheeks. If Leona hadn't been so worried about her own fate she would have felt more sympathy for the other girl. Adara had never been in a situation like this before. She had almost thought of this whole job of breaking into the Tisroc's chambers as a lark, or a daring adventure. Leona knew that it had never truly crossed Adara's mind that they would get caught as spies. Hador looked the other girl up and down, then opened the door and gestured for one of the acolytes to take Adara away.
"Take her to the guard barracks, I'm sure that the soldiers will find some use for her there," Hador said, casually. Leona was held in place by Hador's cold hands as her friend was dragged from the room, screaming in terror. Tears started crawling down Leona's cheeks as the sound of Adara's cries were shut off by the closing door.
Leona stood still as Hador slowly circled her, looking her up and down like an interesting puzzle or an animal he'd never seen before.
"Why are you here?" Hador asked her simply.
Leona didn't reply. What could she say? If Hador believed that she was involved in the situation under Aslan's orders would he believe her if she told the truth, that she was helping the rebellion of her own will?
"How did Aslan know I am so close to obtaining a body of my own?" Hador said.
Leona looked at him in only slightly faked confusion. "Why would you need a body, High Priest?" she asked, trying to appear as a simple Calormen maiden. "You are standing in front of me. I'm afraid that I don't understand what you are asking."
Hador again stepped close to her and whispered softly, "Do you know how Tash chooses his High Priests? Much the same way Aslan chooses his Guardian. Only Tash has no interest in guiding the actions of a mortal when he can simply take over and do things himself. So, when the newly chosen High Priest does his first blood sacrifice, Tash enters his mind and body as far as can be done without killing the mortal. Some priests were weak and closed their minds to Tash in fear, others open their minds and bodies to him and let him always remain in the back of their heads, guiding their actions and supplementing their magical powers. Unfortunately, their bodies can rarely tolerate a foreign presence for long and they simply die or go mad. Why else do you think that a High Priest of Tash rarely lives longer than a few years? But Tash grows weary of this constant transfer of his power and wishes a body of his own so that he can be on equal standing with that... Lion." That last word was said with such venom that Leona almost cringed.
"Tash is almost there, the experiments he has had his subjects doing are nearly finished. I believe that enough death can create life, and it will only take a few more human sacrifices and Tash will be able to have a body of his own. It took many years and many dangerous challenges to find the right combination of spilled blood and concocted potions to get as far as I have," Hador said, eyes gleaming with a frightening madness and fanaticism.
Hador leaned closer to Leona, who was now shaking uncontrollably. "But, until then, in a way, a High Priest of Tash... is Tash. So, I ask you again, why are you here?"
Nothing could have convinced Leona to tell Hador anything. If indeed the High Priest was housing Tash's spirit or intelligence the same way that she sometimes housed Aslan's, the last thing that she should do was tell him so much as 'good morning'. Also, if he was in any way supplemented by Tash's evil, she was in serious trouble without Aslan's backing... She continued mentally calling Aslan's name in her head, but she may as well have been screaming at a brick wall for all the reply she got.
"It would do you good to answer me," Hador said, still in a silkily soft tone. "You are not the only one who can suffer for your silence. Your little friend is being taken to help the other servants in the guard barracks, and that is not a nice or safe place for a beautiful woman. Your co-operation will set her free. I have no use for her myself and will let her go if you tell me what I want."
Tears ran down Leona's cheeks at the thought of gentle Adara. She had a loving man waiting for her return. Leona couldn't let anything happen to her, particularly not the kind of horrible fate that would await her at the hands of Tash's fiendish guards.
"What do you want to know?" Leona asked quietly. There was no point in denying her position as the Guardian. Tash would have recognized her from the times that she had fought with Aslan against his attempts to gain power. Hopefully, all he would want would be information on the rebellion, and she didn't know all the details of the Prince's plans, so she wouldn't be able to betray them.
"Everything," Hador said. "What Aslan does, how he does it, what are his plans, how he rose from the dead so many centuries ago, if I can kill him and make sure he stays dead. I want to know everything you know about Archenland and Narnia, where their secret strongholds are, the best ways for a spy to infiltrate those lands, who I must have killed in order to take over."
Leona almost threw up at his words. He wanted her to betray everything she believed in and fought for over the past centuries! The truly frightening thing was that she knew most everything that Tash wanted to know. She couldn't tell him! No matter the cost could be she couldn't betray Aslan, Narnia and Archenland to a demon that would ravage and destroy everything that defied him until there was nothing left of goodness or hope.
"On the other hand, if you don't help me by telling me what I want to know, your friend won't be the only one suffering. Your death on Tash's altar as the final sacrifice needed for Tash's body can aid my cause quite well, if I can't make use of you any other way. I'll leave you to think it over," Hador said, and he dragged her over to the cot by the wall that the dead Tisroc was laying on, and tied her hands to the cot legs. "Oh, and I'd better make sure you don't decide to go wandering..." A whispered spell later, and Leona could not so much as twitch, only lie there next to the rotting corpse. The puppet Tisroc simply stood there, unmoving and unresponsive.
Picking up his cloak, Hador swept from the room, saying as he left, "I'll come back for your answer tomorrow." Then he was gone, leaving Leona alone with a corpse, a spell-animated puppet and her own thoughts.
Aslan, help me!! she screamed in her head, trying to get any response from the Lion who usually was only a thought away. Nothing happened, no answering reply, no mental pulling in the direction of an answer to her difficulties. She started panicking. Never had Aslan not helped her when she felt she had need of him. He'd always been there in the back of her head, guiding her actions as she did his bidding throughout the centuries. But, now, he wasn't answering her pleas.
No one knew where she and Adara were. They had been supposed to try and find evidence of what was wrong with the Tisroc and be out of the palace within an hour. It had been far, far longer than an hour, and Prince Daronon must be frantic with worry over Adara by now, but to all extents and purposes, the two women would have vanished into thin air. He would never be allowed to search for them in the Tisroc's rooms nor would he try, thinking it would jeopardize the mission. Rescue was highly unlikely unless, somehow, Daronon found out that they had been captured by the High Priest, and he managed to cobble together enough men to storm the Temple and rescue them. Leona would have snorted if she could move. The odds of Daronon managing that in time to be of any use were astronomical. The situation seemed hopeless, unless Aslan intervened. She called again in her mind for Aslan to respond and help her, but again, silence was her answer.
Leona wanted to scream but the spell Hador had put on her kept her from doing much more than breathing, crying and swallowing. She was frightened and the fact that she was frightened frightened her even more. She kept telling herself to pull herself together and focus, but horrible images kept running through her head. She had been captured by evil forces many times in her centuries as Guardian, but it had always been under Aslan's instruction and for a purpose.
This was different. She had been captured by a High Priest of Tash who obviously had more than a little bit of Tash's power and knowledge, and Aslan did not seem to be backing her in any way. The thought was enough to send her into a mental panic. Without Aslan in her head guiding her, she was in most every way, a normal human, with no extra abilities or talents that could help her.
Adara was another worry. Her friend was in an even worse situation that Leona was in at the moment, but she could think of no way of rescuing either of them. Leona could only pray that nothing too terrible happened to Adara before they either escaped or were rescued. Leona couldn't give in to Hador, no matter what the cost to Adara or herself. She hated that an innocent was going to suffer for her decisions, but the destruction and devastation that Tash would wreak on the world with the information Leona could give him outweighed anything that one person could suffer. But could she ever forgive herself for letting Adara suffer a horrible fate when all it would take to save her would be words?
Her mind whirling in confusion and distress, Leona closed her eyes and cried herself to sleep, feeling more like a frightened child than she had since her family had died.
TBC...
Author's notes for chapter: Sorry this is kinda short and leaves on a cliffhanger, but that's just the way it ended up working best. It shouldn't take as long for the next chapter to come out, so hopefully you guys won't be too upset with me. :) Sorry if Hador seems really cliché, but I'm still figuring out how to write villains and canon Tash tends to be really two dimensional. Don't forget to review and let me know what you think!