I'm back!! Now that I have my new job mostly understood, I can put some creativity into this story . . . WARNING! This chapter is a bit more graphic than I've ever been before. I believe that the rating is appropriate, but please let me know if you think I should bump it up.
Many thanks to elecktrum for becoming my new beta!!
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-six: Leona's story: Victim and Survivor
Leona's dreams were dark and terrifying; images of frantically running down dark passageways looking for help or a way out as something evil and malevolent followed behind her. As she would cry out loud for anyone to come to her aid the darkness seemed to swallow her voice and her pleas went unanswered. Waking didn't improve her situation and after a few moments of reflection she rather wished to be back in the nightmare.
A cold, clammy hand softly stroking her face was what had woken her. The night before Hador had used a spell to remove her body from her control, and she still could not so much as twitch in protest as he knelt by her side and ran his fingers softly up and down her face. If her body had let her, she would have vomited at the sheer revulsion that his touch caused.
His hand gently ran from her forehead to her chin, then in a lighting swift mood change he gripped her chin in his hand, hard. The helplessness was starting to crowd in on her again.
Aslan! Where are you? She called in her mind over and over down the mental path that usually connected her to the lion when she was doing his bidding as Guardian. There was no answering reply and no hint that she was anything other than alone.
"Get up," Hador hissed, and to her incredible discomfort, Leona obeyed. Her mind tried to tell her body to disobey, but it was as though she was simply a passenger. As she stood facing Hador she tried to be brave, but there was an undercurrent of panic running through the back of her mind.
"I asked you last night to tell me what I wanted to know," the High Priest said. "You have centuries of information on Aslan and his ways, and I want to know everything that you do. I want to know what his weaknesses are, and how best to exploit them. I want to know about Narnia and Archenland, and how to destroy them. Will you tell me?"
His voice was soft and calm, but Leona could hear a tone of steel underneath. If she didn't do as Hador asked, he would kill her, and do it slowly. She felt the spell loosen and she could speak.
"No," she said simply. She might be scared, but there was still Aslan to remember. He had never let Tash win a fight before and she seriously doubted that he would start now. Even if he wasn't responding to her calls for assistance that didn't mean that he wasn't still coming for her, or wouldn't help later on. She had to keep the faith. Aslan would come. Now if only she could be sure he would come in time . . .
Hador smiled. "I didn't truly think you would. Someone who has been loyal for as long as you have would not break simply on command, and I doubt torturing you would do me any good either. Well, so be it. Your death will serve a purpose at any rate. It should take but one more sacrifice to give my lord Tash his own body."
Snakes seemed to be twisting in Leona's stomach. She hated feeling helpless, and faith in Aslan or not, the great Lion didn't seem to be here now and her situation was becoming more and more dire. Until that blasted spell wore off or was taken off she was in no position to help herself. She still didn't know what had happened to Adara and since she needed to rescue the other girl along with herself, she was in more than a little difficulty.
"Come," Hador commanded, and Leona's body followed him out the door without a fuss.
She trailed behind the High Priest down a dimly lit stone hallway and up several flights of stairs. She tried to turn her head to look around for possible escape routes, but the spell would not allow even that small of an independent motion.
They seemed to be moving from the private wing of the High Priest into the more active, public parts of the temple. She wanted to scream for someone to help her, but even if one of the lesser priests, acolytes or servants saw something unusual in a woman meekly following the High Priest, it was unlikely they would even be inclined to help.
It was terrible being unable to get her own body to move. She wanted to run away, to flee, to hide, but all she did was walk on behind Hador like an obedient shadow.
There was a stop to the acolytes' mess hall where two burly assistants were chosen and they left their meals to fall in step on either side of Leona. Another couple of stops at various storerooms and closets for ecclesiastical robes and strange potions had the assistants following with full arms. A long, jeweled dagger that looked very old, and was rusted with what seemed like dried blood went into Hador's belt.
Any time now . . . she thought. Aslan, I respect your sense of timing, but please hurry!! But there was no answer, the spell remained firmly in place and there was not so much as a whisper of a rescue on the way.
Hador led them across a large courtyard towards the temple proper, where the sacrifices were done and where he presumably was going to do the final human sacrifice needed to give his evil master a body. Suddenly, he stopped short and turned to face Leona. She didn't like the look on his face in the slightest; it was a cold, excited smirk.
"I had forgotten your little friend," he drawled. "You must want to see her before the end, and I may need another victim if you prove... insufficient."
No, no, no... not Adara too! Leona moaned in her mind. Let her at least stay safe! But her mental pleas were again to no avail and Hador turned a corner and headed to a large, squat, dark building by the temple gates. Leona could hear rough, riotous laughter coming from inside when one of the acolytes managed to open the door for the High Priest. Her heart in her throat, Leona followed him in.
It was the temple guard barracks and like most other barracks she had seen, this first room was mostly tables and benches with a few rough cots against one wall for the men to catch a quick nap between shifts. Gone were the days when the Temple guard was mostly ornamental or even functional. The soldiers filling the room with coarse laughter were swarthy, ill-kept, and acted no better than tavern thugs. It didn't particularly surprise Leona that this current batch of temple soldiers was so bad; it took a particular brand of man to do the sort of dark things that were currently being demanded. Most of the good men, those with a strong mind and firm conscience, had already left the service of the High Priest.
To her surprise, Hador did not immediately draw attention to himself, but let her look her fill on the room. She couldn't see Adara anywhere, but that didn't necessarily mean anything good. Then the crowd of chattering men in the corner shifted and Leona could see her friend.
Adara was trying to serve the men drinks, but was hampered when one, then another would grab at her dress or her hair and pull her down into their laps. Her dress was torn and disheveled and her hair had been yanked out of its bun to wave in tangled strands around her shoulders. Worst of all were her eyes and her demeanor. She wasn't even putting up a token resistance to the men groping her and her eyes were dead and defeated.
"Consider yourself lucky, my dear," Hador whispered into her ear. "Even dead, your bedmates were far more congenial than hers."
Leona wanted to vomit. She wanted to cry, scream, rage at the people who had done this to her friend. Adara lifted her head a little and met Leona's eyes for a brief second before turning away again.
"Bring her," Hador instructed one of the soldiers, motioning towards Adara. Finally, the girl showed some spark of life and started pulling away as she was dragged towards Hador. Her face was full of fear, and it cut Leona to the heart to see the smart, happy woman she knew reduced to this state. At the sight of Adara's struggles Hador instructed the soldier to bind her hands to keep her from running away and the rope attached was given to one of the burly acolytes. Now bound, Adara's fear turned into defeat and she followed meekly, head down.
Even if she had been able to move on her own accord, Leona wouldn't know what to do to help Adara. She was overwhelmed by the feelings rushing through her; rage, grief, and a horrible feeling of guilt at her inner relief that it hadn't been her. . .
Leona knew they had reached their final destination when she saw the temple, empty except for a work table, and a blood-stained altar against one wall with a man-sized carving of Tash behind it. With four arms, and a bird's head the stone carving was grotesque and she mentally cringed at the blood stains that had splattered up from the altar to dot the statue. Unless something happened soon, her and Adara's blood would be decorating the statue. . .
"I must not be disturbed for anything," Hador instructed the acolytes following him. "Any distraction could be disastrous. Tie the serving girl hand and foot, gag her, then put her in the corner where she can't bother me. Then leave."
The two acolytes obeyed and Leona could hear Adara's whimpers of fear as she was tied securely and gagged. Leona could only stand there, helplessly bound by magic. Aslan would be coming soon, she was sure of it! She'd never seen Aslan stay out of a fight with Tash, so he must simply be waiting for the right moment to help.
Hador put on the robes he had brought with him, and Leona would have giggled if she could. She had run the gauntlet of emotions already. What had started out as nervous worry had turned into what was almost hysterical panic. Hador started assembling the bits and pieces of his magic, putting various ingredients into a potion and making gestures over the cup as he did so. Hador attracted her attention again as he finished whatever concoction he was mixing and turned to her.
"Drink it," he instructed her. To her inner horror, her hand reached out, took the cup and brought it to her lips. The drink was vile, with a metallic taste that reminded her of blood. It settled in her belly like lead, but much as she wanted to vomit it up, the spell kept it down. She didn't know what it was suppose to do, but she felt a bit dizzy.
"You hate me, don't you," he said, drawing close and dropping his voice to a low whisper. His voice sounded odd, like it was two men speaking at the same time. "You are frightened of me." He reached out and stroked her cheek. She could smell him, a sour, musty scent, like something already dead and rotting in a crypt. "You have reason to fear me. Lie down on the altar."
Inside her head Leona started screaming in terror, and her pleas for Aslan to help her, to come for her, to do anything, had no reply. She was alone with a servant of pure evil, and a helpless Adara in the corner.
Her body walked over to the bloody altar and climbed onto it. A single tear managed to work its way past the spell to trickle down her face. Hurry Aslan, I'm scared! she cried in her head. I can't move, I can't stop him and I'm scared! Gone was the experienced woman with centuries of experience and knowledge and left behind was a frightened girl who only wanted someone to help her.
"Do you want to know why I gave you the potion? Why you are still under the spell rather than tied so I can watch you struggling?" Hador asked. "The potion opens your mind to Tash's, letting him speak to you, feel you. He likes to feel his sacrifices die. The spell is to keep you from interrupting the ritual. I cannot have attendants because they add another level of danger. I will die if anything goes wrong, and I could even take most of Tashbaan with me. You are a strong woman, and being utterly helpless is what you fear most. If you are allowed to struggle, you can feel like you are still fighting, but if you are simply lying there, you... are... helpless." The last three words were whispered softly into her ear and another tear escaped. In her eyes, Hador almost flickered for a moment and the image of a bird-headed monster was superimposed over him. Tash leered, as much as a creature with a bird's head could leer.
"You are mine, now, Guardian," Hador/Tash said. "And now you will bring me to life and I will be free to destroy."
Leona's heart nearly stopped. Where was Aslan?!
Hador slowly drew the sacrificial knife up her arm, leaving a thin trickle of blood behind. She could feel her sleeve being cut away and the knife dragged along her skin leaving a line of blood that ran up her arm to her shoulder. A harsh tug tore her dress to expose her heart. With a slow, almost loving motion, he continued to cut, leaving a line of pain from her fingertip to her breast. When the point of the knife was poised over her heart, still cutting into her, he looked up to the statue of Tash looming over the scene. His eyes began to flicker and twitch as though he was trying with all his mind and might to summon his dark god to his side. In her mind Leona could hear the sound of a clicking beak, and a breeze whistled through the windowless room carrying with it the stench of something long dead.
"I have waited for your death a long time, Guardian." The voice was inside her head, and left behind a feeling like slime oozing on her soul. It wasn't a man's voice, it rasped and cawed in places. "You have fought me for centuries, but now you are mine. The Lion has abandoned you. He isn't coming. You aren't on one of his missions and thus are of no importance. Or maybe he thinks your death will serve some higher purpose. Either way, you die and I will feast on your blood."
Hador started chanting something, and though she couldn't understand the words, she could feel the power building in the air, making her hair stand on end and her muscles twitch. Whether it had been the potion confusing her mind, the pain of the cuts, or simply her overwhelming fear, she didn't know. Slowly, the priest started leaning on the knife, driving it slowly, bit by bit into her flesh towards her heart. With each hairsbreadth the dagger descended the pressure built until she could feel it like a blanket covering the room.
In that moment, Leona lost faith. All she knew was that Tash was right. Aslan was not coming, the doors were not going to burst open for a rescue to come. It was too late. She was going to die. The pain as the knife was pushed deeper and deeper into her chest was enough to make her want to scream, but the spell still held her passive.
Hador leaned down to whisper in her ear. He opened his mouth to speak a final chant to seal the spell and loose Tash upon the world. Suddenly he lurched forward, the knife pulling out if her and cutting a jagged line across her chest. A look of stunned horror crossed the High Priest's face as all the pent up power that had been summoned for the ritual snapped like a cord stretched too tightly, ripping through the conduit that had created it. Hador convulsed then screamed, a scream that was echoed in Leona's head by Tash. She could feel Tash's presence vanish as blood poured from the High Priests mouth and he collapsed.
With Hador's death the spell holding Leona docile vanished and she sat up, holding one hand to the still-bleeding wound on her chest. She started crying from shock, fear and pain and couldn't seem to stop. Looking down at Hador's body she saw Adara, still bound but kicking the body with all her might. She had crawled, belly-down, over to Hador and kicked him, distracting him enough to break the ritual. Her eyes were no longer blank and defeated, but filled with life and fury, rage and pain. They were the eyes of someone who had come to the conclusion that the only way to truly be a victim was to decide to be one and give in.
The room gave a tremble and Leona vaguely remembered Hador mentioning that breaking the ritual could bring the whole place down as well as kill him. She hopped off the altar and started untying Adara. Without a word, the two survivors hurried from the room into the courtyard. The first thing they noticed was the screams and the sound of battle. Once her eyes adjusted from the dimly lit temple to the bright sunshine of the courtyard, Leona could see small fights throughout the complex. Temple guards were fighting with what looked like a motley group of civilians. One fighter was far from a civilian though. Prince Daronon was fighting like a madman against a soldier who looked to be the captain of the guard. With a swift cut, blood fountained and the guardsman fell. Daronon looked up to find the next fight, then saw Adara and rushed to her side. Even bloody and wild, Adara didn't seem to fear him and threw herself into his arms with a cry.
The ground gave another, greater heave beneath their feet and all around them, masonry was falling as the earthquake started breaking the temple apart. Guardsman and rebel alike started running for the temple gates and then stood watching as towers began crumpling and heard the crashes as stones the size of small houses fell to the earth. The earthquake was over quickly and the damage seemed to be focused on the temple itself rather than the surrounding city. Leona couldn't seem to bring herself to care.
There were still tears running down her face, mingling with the dust. One hand was holding her dress together to cover the wound on her breast. She was utterly numb. She didn't die, but Aslan hadn't come. She didn't bother trying to call down the mental pathway she usually shared with the Lion. She didn't notice Adara bursting into tears and clinging to Daronon, who rocked her back and forth in his arms and crooned softly to her. She barely noticed the large ginger cat who came up to her side and rubbed against her legs. Without a word she turned and walked away.
Leona never remembered exactly how she got to the lamppost in Lantern Waste. She had no memory of crossing the Great Desert, or making her way across Archenland. All she remembered was curling up at the base of the lamppost, with Prowler tucked next to her side, crying herself to sleep and praying to go home.
Leona woke curled up next to a large furry something that was softly purring in her ear. The purr was so deep and warm that it reverberated through her entire body. Without a word she turned her face into Aslan's side and wept. She was horribly shaken by the experience in Tashbaan. The memory of the terrifying presence of Tash in her mind, a mind which up until then had only experienced Aslan's beautiful and gentle presence, was enough to make her bury her face even deeper into the Lion's side. Aslan just let her cry, occasionally nuzzling her with his muzzle in comfort.
The tears didn't stop completely, but she finally raised her head to look at him. "Why didn't you come? I called and called for you, but you didn't reply. I was so frightened and you didn't come."
The Lion only sighed sadly.
Leona sat up, tears still running down her cheeks, her face red and blotchy. "Every other time I ever needed your help you have moved heaven and earth to come to my aid. You have never let me face Tash on my own. Why didn't you help me?"
"You were not on a mission," he said softly. "I told you when you first became Guardian that if you weren't on a mission for me, you had no more right to a miracle than anyone else. I watch out for you when you are between missions, but I cannot save you from yourself and the choices you make. This was one of the few times when it was possible for Tash to be defeated by the mortals he wished to enslave. I did not need to interfere, though I did tell Prowler where you were and he brought Prince Daronon."
Prowler curled up in her lap, trying his best to comfort her simply by his presence. She stroked him with trembling hands and he didn't seem to mind her tears falling into his fur. She understood what Aslan was telling her, but it didn't lessen the pain or aftereffects of the fear.
"I won't ask how you could let such horrible things happen to Adara. I know you would just tell me that you can never tell me another person's story, but can you at least let me know if she will be alright?" She knew that she would not be able to stand being in Calormen for a long time. Very few things got past her emotional armor, but when something did, it stayed burned into her memory.
"She will heal," he said.
Aslan rose to his feet and she looked up at him from the ground. Her tears had finally stopped and she felt miserable, with a stuffed up head and sore eyes from all the crying.
"I feel silly," she said. "I've seen horrible things happen before, I don't know why I'm carrying on like this."
"You may have seen horrible things," Prowler said from her lap, "but they've never happened to you before. It's understandable that it's a shock."
"You will heal," Aslan said. "But not here. If I let you stay in the Land at the Edge of the World you would heal eventually, but it would do you no good to lock yourself away from human companionship. Narnia or Archenland would give you company, but you need someplace different, where you can leave all of this behind and make a fresh start until you are ready to come back. I will send you to London again. You've been there once before so you won't have difficulty blending in."
Leona gave a small protest. "There's no need to go to such an effort, I'll be fine. I just need to get over the shock and everything will be back to normal." But her still trembling hands gave away her words as mere bravado.
"Consider it a mission then," he said. "You will make a life there, find work, laugh, and simply be a young woman again. You must not answer any questions about your previous life however. If anyone asks simply say that you cannot tell them. If you feel it safe, you may answer a few questions about your family, but give no names. While you must not lie, use terms that will not give away the fact that you are from another world. Above all, relax, and heal. Don't be afraid to make friends, their friendship will be worth any pain at parting. I will call you back when it is time."
Leona's tears had dried and she put Prowler down and stood. "Very well, then. I'll go. I'll do my best to follow your instructions."
"Lie down then, and let yourself fall back asleep. When you wake, you will be in London." Aslan nudged her briefly and she wrapped her arms around his neck in a hug.
"Wait!" Prowler cried. "Might I come too?"
Aslan looked down at the cat. "There are no Talking Beasts in London. If you were to go, I would have to take your voice and you would have to live there as a dumb cat."
Prowler cringed a little at that news. Every Talking animal had been told stories of how Aslan had given the Beasts a voice at the beginning of the world and if they were bad, that he would take it away again. Being made into a dumb beast was the worst punishment they could imagine. Then he gave himself a little shake and trotted to Leona's side. "Even a Dumb Cat can still give comfort. I don't want to leave her alone without someone familiar."
Aslan looked pleased. Leona was incredibly touched and knelt down to hug her small friend. The knowledge that he was willing to give up his voice to help her was enough to almost bring her to tears again.
"Very well, my noble one," Aslan told Prowler, who perked up at being called noble by the mighty Lion. "You may go as well."
"I will get my voice back when we return?" Prowler clarified.
Aslan laughed and nodded. Leona curled up in the soft grass and Prowler made himself comfortable in her arms. As she drifted off to sleep, she felt the fear ease. When she woke in the nave of the same church she had arrived in the last time she had come to London, she felt that this was a new start. Maybe she could truly heal.
TBC...
Author's notes for chapter: Most of the delay on this chapter can be blamed on Evendim introducing me to the Sharpe series. Fourteen movies, several books and much fanfiction later, I can get back to my own story! Leona's part only has one more chapter then it's back to Real Narnia and our usual heroes. Don't forget to review!