*Chapter 16-The Patronus and the Tale*
Hello everyone! I'm back! So sorry for the poofing, school is a lot harder than I figured it would be and I haven't found time to update :( But now we're on fall break for a week, so I plan on updating a lot :D
As usual, I thank all who reviewed my previous chapter, confusing though it was. The random new character was necessary for the development of the plot.
Special huge shoutout goes out to my totally awesome fanfic friend, imprintedjet09!! I love you crocodile hunter! *insert secret handshake here* Everyone go read her story 'The Golden Age: A Second Generation' it's the bomb-diggity yo! lol xD
Without further interruptions, here's the next chapter of The King and Queen of New! As always, ENJOY OR DIE
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A thick silence enveloped the clearing, broken only by Susan's staggered breathing. Edmund was the first to speak after the introduction.
"Patronus?" he asked, scrunching up his face as though the unfamiliar word had an awful taste. Iridescent offered only a short nod as an answer.
"It's Latin for protector." came Susan's ragged voice.
"So you mean you're her.. protector?" Peter asked uncertainly. This seemed strange, even for Narnia. He had never heard of a Patronus, not in Narnia or any other world he'd visited.
"Yeah, that's what I said, isn't it?" Iridescent snipped, suddenly sounding like a sassy 8 year old who got caught sneaking a cookie from the cookie jar and was being forced to explain it to both parents. It took Peter aback to be spoken to like that from someone that wasn't Lucy.
"What does a Patronus do?" asked Edmund, again making the face as if rotten centaur dung was being waved under his nose.
Iridescent shook her head some before tucking her hair being her ear, drawing attention to the abnormally pointed tips. "The job is in the name. I am Penelope's Patronus, or Protector. My job is to guard her, even at the cost of my own life, and make sure she fulfills her prophecy."
Penelope turned to Edmund, looking as eager as a young child on Christmas morning when they realize all the biggest presents are theirs. "Iridescent is the elf I told you about who helped to raise me until she was kidnapped and married to that Telmarine." she said, the words tumbling out in a rush. Then she frowned and turned back to the elf. "What are you doing here?"
The Elvin lady's smile slid from her face for a mere moment before she caught it and plastered it back onto her face; only this time, it failed to reach her eyes.
"Well I heard that your brother's plans had gone terribly wrong and you were one of the victims, so naturally I came as quickly as I could." she said, throwing Peter a dark look.
Penelope frowned. "I wasn't a victim, it was my own fault I didn't make it to the gate in time," she said bluntly. "And anyways, that's not exactly what I wanted to know. What are you doing away from your husband? I thought you said you two were leaving for Telmar to live there?"
Iridescent sighed deeply, rubbing her temples with her two forefingers. "You haven't changed a bit, Penelope. You're still the same over observant little thing I remember you being." Penelope looked affronted, and she chuckled lightly. "Just as sensitive too, I see."
"I am not!" Penelope snapped, her face growing red as she frowned indignantly. Iridescent threw her head back as a tinkling laugh filled the air, drawing admiring breaths from the men and envious glares from the women. Even Penelope, who had grown up and been raised by the elf, found herself casting a very lovestruck Caspian a furious stare and wishing she would shut up.
"I see also that your stubborn nature has not yet left you either." Iridescent said, again shaking her head and sending rays of sunlight reflected everywhere. The men were so entranced they were gradually edging closer to her without realizing it. Again, Penelope wished she would stop, as Caspian was in the front of the group.
"Yeah, some queen she'll make.." came a dark voice from the edge of the group. Iridescent's head whipped around and the Narnian's followed suit, their gazes coming to rest on Nikabrik. It was at that moment Penelope, whose face was as red as a ripe tomato, realized how evil the dwarf really looked.
Iridescent was on her feet and, so quickly if you had blinked you would have missed it, had crossed the distance between her and the dwarf and was towering over him. Her lovely face was twisted in rage, her fists were clenched and her eyes were gleaming in anger.
"You dare to insult the Savior of Narnia?!" she bellowed in a voice that echoed and cause Lucy to flinch and cover her ears. "She, who has given so much already in her young life for the sake of you and your people?"
Nikabrik was staring up at her in challenge. "Do you realize how much I've had to give up for her? Of course not! It's all about Penelope! Penelope this, Penelope that! Let's all bend over backwards to make sure everything Penelope wants is perfect for Penelope!!"
By this time, Iridescent wasn't the only one on her feet. Caspian, Trufflehunter, Peter, Edmund, and a good dozen or so Narnians, including tiny Reepicheep and Glenstorm, were on their feet and ready to have a go at the black dwarf. Penelope, however, still sat, glaring coldly at him with tears brimming her eyes.
"I could always tell you had a problem with me." she said in a quiet, level voice, quite contrasting those who had spoken previously. Nikabrik turned his beady black eyes to his former ward, his scowl remaining but changing from that of anger to disapproval.
"It's not you, I suppose. I mean, you've been at least decent to have around. You helped around the hut, so I guess I don't have a problem with you personally."
Iridescent lurched forward with a snarl. Edmund willingly jumped after her, throwing his arms around her waist and pulling her back a little too happily. She hardly put up a struggle, she was so busy glaring at Nikabrik and shouting.
"Wretch! You little lying wretch! How dare you tell such a degrading, bold-faced half truth to your future queen?!" her voice sounded on the verge of hysterics she was so infuriated. "GET BACK HERE!!" for Nikabrik had turned his back to her and started for the How, angrily kicking stones on his way. The group stared disbelievingly after him, sitting in a stunned silence until he was consumed by the shadows of the entrance.
"That conniving little-" Lucy started angrily, sounding shocked and angry, but a stern look from Susan stopped her midsentence. Lucy looked abashed, but continued grumbling under her breath, angrily drawing her cordial and moving along the line of mortally wounded, which included Trumpkin the dwarf.
Penelope, noticing Nikabrik's exit had done nothing to calm Iridescent, decided to change the subject back to her still unanswered question.
"Iridescent," she said, drawing her attention. "Why have you come?"
The elf's expression softened considerably, and she took her ward's hands in her own. "I heard you were dying, Penelope."
"How?" Penelope asked, her brow furrowing ass he looked up at Iridescent, who was a good deal taller than herself even sitting down.
"I am your Patronus, it is my gift to know all about you." she answered.
Irritation bubbled in Penelope's chest. The conversation just kept going in circles, and she wanted answers, for Aslan's sake! "But how?"
Iridescent sighed and ran a long, thin hand through her hair. "This is a long, long story. I suppose it would be easiest to start at the very beginning." she said, although it sounded aimed more to herself than to her audience. He hands went to her hips and she looked up into the baby blue Narnian sky. After a moment of standing like this, she abruptly dropped to the ground, crossing her legs Indian-style. Penelope stared down at her in confusion and she motioned for her to follow suit, shielding her eyes against the glaring sun as she did so.
"It's a long story, you might as well get comfortable." she said. With a confused glance around the group, Penelope gathered her skirts about her legs and kneeled down into a sitting position in front of her elvin friend.
"You all too, you'll want to hear this too, and I'm not likely to tell it again." Iridescent said somewhat forcefully to everyone else. With a great clanking of armor, metals, and weapons, the raid party had settled themselves and were eagerly leaning forward to better hear what the elf had to say.
"Alright, so you're starting at the beginning?" Penelope asked as Peter and Caspian took the seats at her sides. Iridescent stared thoughtfully back and forth between the twins as she gained her train of thoughts.
Then, with a deep breath, she began her tail.
"It started over 1300 years ago," she said. "I was still very young, and very naive. I lived with my family in our home village of Aidar. I was rebellious and was starting to act out against my parents. Well one day I got into a bad fight with my parents over something, I can't even remember what, I did. Now in our particular village, when something happened between a family it became the whole town's business. So once everyone else found out, the entire town started treating me like a common delinquent-that is to say, they completely ignored me and only acknowledged my presence to spit at me as I passed. It got so bad I couldn't take it anymore and so I packed everything I had to my name, snuck out in the dead of night, and ran away."
She paused at this point and an expression overcame her features that can best be described as mournfully recollective. After a moment she shook herself off and continued. "Our village was in a valley between two mountains in a range somewhere, as I remember, in the northwest. So as I got out of the valley, I found myself climbing the tallest of the 2 mountains and the higher up I got, the colder it got and pretty soon I found myself in the middle of a full-fledged snowstorm. Up until then, the game had been pretty easy to find and I had not had to break into what I had brought from home, but obviously that changed as it started snowing. So I had only brought about enough for a week, but thank Aslan for me, it only took me just that to get over the peak of the mountain. Then things started to get harder for me-I ran out of food and was stuck in the middle of a snowstorm worthy of the White Witch. I told myself that if I went ahead and tackled the rest of the higher-altitude part of the mountain I would be a lot better off. So I took off at the top speed I could go-which was a lot slower than I can go now but still faster than a cheetah-and I'll say I made the journey in about 2 days. I found a nice little cave now that I was in the warmer region and scoured for food, considering I was about ready to die from exhaustion and starvation. There I planned to wait an rest until I got better.
"Now this is where the story picks up." she said, causing those assembled to shift forward in their places. "One night I was out hunting with my bow and arrow, when-far below me at the basin of the mountain, I saw a firelight surrounded by what appeared to be 2 very large, oddly shaped boulders, each with smaller boulders connected to them, eerily similar in shape and contour although I didn't at first notice or acknowledge this. Figuring, in my worn and delirious state, that it was the light of an elvin camp that would come to my rescue, I put an enchantment on an arrow so that when it hit its target it would issue red sparks and explode-a sign of utmost distress to elves, I shot it off and watched as it launched, fizzing furiously, down into the valley. It embedded itself into the side of the boulder nearest to me, and exploded with a loud BANG and a great mess of what could be called fireworks. Suddenly, as the arrow burst into flames, the smaller boulder connected to the one I'd hit lifted from the ground and, turning to the explosion, gave a tremendous roar that shook the ground, and as it came into the light I saw the boulder was in fact a head- the head of a giant. A very angry giant. The other boulder, which was also a giant, stirred and angrily smacked its howling companion, mad about being woken up. This made the first one jump up in a flurry, right near causing an avalanche, and the second one followed suit. The first one, my arrow still fizzing in his side, punched the other one right in his face, and the other started wailing like a banshee. I swear, giants are the dumbest creatures.. Anyways, after a minute or so of hopping up and down and clutching his face, the second giant pushed the first hard and he came flying back at my mountain-he was about the same size as it-and fell backwards into it. The mountain caved in on itself at the impact."
A gasp rippled through the Narnians. Penelope's hands flew to her mouth and her eyes widened in horror. Iridescent smiled sardonically, clearly torn between enjoying the reactions and the painfulness of the memory, both literally and figuratively.
"I made to run for the cave as I saw the great brute coming at me, but I think that was the dumbest thing I could have done. The roof caved in on me as the mountain collapsed on itself from the top down, so I got the brunt of the top of the mountain. The weight of the accumulating wreckage knocked the floor of the cave in, and the last thing I can remember of being conscious that night was freefalling before I got hit over the top of the head with a rock and fainted.
"Suddenly, a strong smell I still haven't figured out how to describe or forgotten filled my nostrils, and light poured through my eyelids. I roused myself and found I was in a meadow surrounded by the tallest trees I'd ever seen, which bore delicious looking fruits I had never seen and was dying to try. As I continued scoping out the land, I found that I wasn't alone. Indeed, sitting across from me, separated by a small stream, was a magnificent lion the size of a small elephant. But it wasn't just any lion, it was-"
"Aslan," said Penelope and Peter at the same time, Peter in a tone of a student answering a question no one else knew the answer to and Penelope in the tone of a God-fearing Sunday school student. Iridescent looked at them affectionately. At some point during the story, Penelope had rested her head on Peter's shoulder and he had wrapped his arm securely around her.
"Yes. Well I knew I should have scared, but I just wasn't. So I stood up and approached him, staring into his beautiful eyes as I went until I was right at the edge of the stream opposite him. Then I sat down and for a while we just stared at each other in silence. The I spoke-
*AN-words in italics are words spoken during the flashback :)*
" 'Am I dead?' I asked, and to my surprise the lion chuckled.
" 'Why is that the first assumption you would make?' he asked.
" 'Well it just seems like I ought to be, seeing how wonderful of a place this is.' I said, indicating around me at the meadow. The lion's face grew serious.
" 'You're right, my dear. But don't fret, you are not dead. At least not yet,' he said, and I'm sure I must have looked petrified because he carried on. 'I have called you here and am choosing to spare your life if you will do as I ask you.'
" 'Of course,' I said, obviously. It's not like I wanted to die.
" 'Somewhere far beyond your village, there is a land called Narnia. In this land, an evil witch has caused a perpetual winter to befall the good Narnians. It has been foretold that 4 children will appear and defeat this witch, restoring peace to the land. Far away, in a different world on this night the first of these four has been born, and a twin sister is soon to follow. I, who know all things past, present, and future, know that this girl will be, in the far future, the savior of Narnia and her allies. This is where you come in, dear one,' as he spoke, he held his huge paw out to me and I saw, sitting in the middle of the pad, a golden necklace with the pendant of a roaring lion rearing on its hind legs.
" 'How?' I asked, staring longingly at the necklace. I was, at this point, generally curious. I had, of course, heard of Narnia and her perpetual winter. Who were these twins? Who was this all-knowing lion? How was I connected to any of the three?
" 'With this.' he said, indicating for me to take the necklace. I did, and as I put it on he elaborated. 'With this, you will go to the world of the twins and, without being seen or causing any harm or disruption to anyone or anything, recover the little girl and bring her back to me.'
" 'Oh, but what of her mother and her brother? Surely this cannot be the right thing to do?' I said, horrified.
" 'I know this sounds immoral and wrong, but it is right. Trust me. The twins will meet again someday.' said the lion, his eyes taking on a somber look. And as I watched him, I knew in my heart what I had to do. I had to take the girl.
" 'I will do it.' I said. The lion smiled at me warmly.
" 'I knew you would. This is why I chose you for the task. You, Iridescent, will be favored above all others. Have faith in me and be strong, as is your nature. Now, take the necklace in your hand and think strongly of what I have told you about where you need to go.'
" I did as I was told. Pulling myself into a standing position, the world around me started to swirl together and I started spinning. It was the strangest feeling-it felt as though I was being jerked upwards and spinning at the same time. I don't know how long this carried on-a few seconds, a few minutes, a few hours- but suddenly I was standing in a room like that which I had never been in. It was square with chairs made of fine material used for dresses and had yellow walls and a wooden floor. There was a large, open window on one wall, and under this was a crib with two tiny bundles of blankets lying in the center of it. I approached and found two sleeping babies that looked exactly alike-Peter and Penelope."
"I could at a glance tell which was Penelope; she was the smaller one on the right that was sleeping with her tiny fist crammed in her mouth and was twitching. Peter was on his stomach, drooling and making little cooing noises as he slept. They both had tiny tufts of white blond hair on the tops of their heads and both of their noses were bright pink from the breeze in the window. You," she said, looking at the twins, "were absolutely adorable. I wanted to take both of you and keep you, but I knew I couldn't."
She sighed mournfully, then continued. "As I stood staring down at you two, I heard voices outside the door, and quickly grabbed Penelope, accidently nudging Peter in the process. He woke up and stared up at me uncomprehendingly until he saw that I had Penelope. He made a sad face and reached an arm up from the blankets, grasping for her and wimpering. It was the most heartbreaking thing I'd ever seen," Iridescent's voice had quieted considerably, and her eyes had glazed over. Penelope looked up at Peter sadly, and he squeezed her shoulders reassuringly.
"So, as he voices grew nearer, I hastily put a sleeping spell on Peter, grabbed the necklace and felt the same spinning jerk upward right as the door burst open. Penelope started wailing right as we landed in the meadow again, and I was greeted by a somber looking lion.
" 'Well done, Iridescent.' he said, and proceeded to take the babe from my arms and laid her gently down next to the stream. I watched precariously.
" 'What are you doing?' I asked curiously, watching as he took a single lap of water from the stream an brought his tongue across her forehead. She immediately stopped crying, and at a closer look I saw she had stopped breathing.
" 'What have you done?!' I screeched in alarm, thinking she was dead and having mental pictures of her brother reaching out to her in distress. The lion calmly looked up at me.
" 'Calm yourself, dear one. It is not what you think.'
" 'Then what is it??' I demanded, staring at the limp bundle of blankets.
" 'I have put her under an enchantment. This is the Stream of Life, and as its name suggests its waters give you everlasting life. In addition to this, I have put her under a spell where she is not alive and not dead, but suspended between the two. As long as she remains in My Country, which is where we are now, she will remain under this enchantment. And she will remain in My Country until the time comes where she will be needed to fulfill her prophecy. And when that time comes, dear one, you will take her to Narnia.'
"I was considerably calmed by this. And so, we waited. There came a point, a few years later, where Aslan had to go to Narnia from his Country to help the Four defeat the White Witch and save Narnia, but then he came back and we waited. Time passed very quickly for us, and all the while the baby slept. Eventually, and it felt like no time had passed at all, came the moment I had to take Penelope to Narnia.
" 'Lay her under the great oak that you appear under when you get to that world. She will be found by a happy group of Narnians who will raise her well. But I want you to stay in that world and, after a period of 8 years have passed, appear to offer your help in raising Penelope. I want you to stay with her until I further instruct you.' he said.
" 'Will I see you again?' I asked. He smiled sadly.
" 'One day in the future. But make sure your only priority is Penelope. You are her Patronus, and there will come a time where her life rests in your hands.'
"I wrapped my arms around his neck, ignoring the fact that I couldn't reach all the way around to make my fingers touch, and then, gathering up Penelope, I took my necklace in my hand and found myself in a dark, freezing cold forest. I was standing under a great oak tree, just as Aslan had said I would be, and I gently laid Penelope at the foot of the tree, wrapping her up tightly in her blankets so she would be as warm as possible. I noticed, as I pulled away from her and prepared to leave, that she was now awake, and as I took off into the trees she began to wail. I stayed watch as the dwarf and the badger collected her and took off into the night, and the rest of the story I'm sure you all are enlightened on. When I had to appear to help raise Penelope, I did. When I left her because I was supposedly abducted, I went back to Aslan for further instruction and waited with him, watching to make sure she was safe from a distance up until about 2 hours ago."
Drawing a deep breath, she concluded, "And that is the tale of the Savior of Narnia and her Patronus."
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Longest chapter yet! Wootwoot! Sorry for the lack of action yall, but that chapter was necessary. Coming up there we'll be getting to the duel and then something surprisings gonna happen. :)
As always, please review! I spent like 5 hours working on typing that and even longer brainstorming. I will admit, I was overcome with a terrible case of the dreaded writer's block *cue flash of lightening and dramatic music* Buuuuut I'm cured now, due to the lovely imprintedjet09 :D
By the way, I'm cleaned out for my signed scarfless Tumnus pics-imprintedjet09 stole them all. lol xD
NOW ? :D
Best wishes,
~Queen Lani Kaulitz the Hyper