I don't own Narnia or the Pevensies.
I do have a very strange request, though. If anyone feels up to it, I would absolutely love to have voice recordings of a few of the oneshots I've written - rather like a book on tape, if you know what I mean, only just with the shorter works. I know this sounds ridiculous, but if anyone is at all interested, please drop me a PM and I can give you my e-mail address. There's something really refreshing about hearing someone else's voice give life to a work of writing; I really appreciate the support I get from all of you, and I'd love to hear things how you hear them. Thank you so much.
She quickly stepped away from the figure in the corner, though she noticed a moment after that it was chained to the wall and couldn't have moved anyway. Why the door to this cell was open was beyond her, but she saw its inhabitant could have escaped anyway because of the manacles, and because he – she decided it was a man – looked as though he'd barely be able to stand on his own anyway.
"Hello?" she said nervously. The longer she waited, the more she could see; this man was dressed in rags, his sallow face cast in shadow. He shifted at the sound of her voice.
"Who's there?" asked a weary, raspy voice.
"No one," said Lucy quickly, heading for the cell door. She had to find her brothers – she didn't want to deal with a criminal at the moment. What if he had been put here for murder? She wished she'd never spoken in the first place.
"No, please, just a moment," the man suddenly intoned. He sounded quite hoarse, but beneath his voice Lucy heard something earnest, something a little desperate, and she had to stop.
"Who are you?" she asked him, pausing in the doorway.
"Garbage, you may as well call me," the man sighed, his voice bitter and cracked. "Once, I was a king, though."
"Why are you in this place?" Lucy asked, though she was anxious to move along. Still, she had a soft heart, and he was so clearly suffering. The man shifted dully in the corner.
"My brother could not share his throne. Most of the kingdom thinks I'm dead," he told her. "Please, tell me – what is happening here? What news from outside?"
"Wait, your brother…" Lucy said slowly, connecting the dots. "Who is your brother?"
"His Highness King Valin, of course," said the man. She could see the ghost of an ironic smirk on his gaunt face, though it was still quite dark in the cell, and suddenly she could see the resemblance. An older, sadder, wiser version of the man she'd encountered in the hall upstairs. He was thin and battered, but there was something regal about him anyway. What strange luck had brought her to his cell, she didn't know, but she realized that she had a duty to help him. But right now, her first duty was to her own family and her own country. She took a step towards the cell door, preparing to leave.
"Well…with any luck, King Valin will be off his throne soon," Lucy whispered. She wished she had something to give him – food, water, a weapon – but she had only reassurance. "I'm sorry, I haven't much time to explain, but your brother is planning to marry my sister against her will tomorrow. I'm tryi – going to rescue her. If you're telling the truth, I'll come back for you. This I promise."
"Who are you?" the enchained king asked, surprised by her bold words.
"Queen Lucy of Narnia," she told him, stepping out of the cell. "It's a very, very long story and I haven't much time. I need to find my brothers."
"I wish you luck in your quest, Queen Lucy," said the man, touching two fingers to his forehead and bowing his head to her. Even here in the dark, grimy cell, he looked grave and noble.
"Goodbye, King…" she paused, uncertain.
"Vareth," he told her, sighing. "Such a long time since I've used that name…"
"Goodbye, then, King Vareth," said Lucy. "And good luck."
She left the cell, hurrying through the dark towards the other cells, but it seemed he was the only one in this block. She searched for another door, like where the first had been in the other block, but she couldn't find one. She knew she probably had only about fifteen minutes until the guard at the entrance would be fully alert once more. Suddenly, she heard the king's voice from behind her again.
"If your brothers have been captured recently, they have been taken to the detention room," he called to her in a powerful whisper. Lucy did not like the sound of that. She returned to Vareth's cell quickly.
"Where?" she asked him, anxiety coiling tight in her stomach. Peter was already injured – how far would Valin go to ensure his wedding would go smoothly?
"It is a secret room," he told her, dark eyes weary. "I know it well. If you find me a way out of these shackles, I can take you there."
"Please, sir," she said, shaking her head. "I don't have time or a way. Can you tell me how to find it?"
He paused. After a long, long moment, he gave a resigned sigh.
"Six years I've been here," he muttered to himself despairingly. He looked up at her once again. "But I suppose I can wait a little longer. It's dangerous, young highness. If you are caught, they will certainly take you there too, and then we'll all be lost. But go back through this passage and back into the first chamber. Did you not wonder why no prisoners are kept there? It is not a prison but a passageway. In the centermost cell on the back wall – " – he indicated the side in their own block – " – you will find a tunnel dug into the back corner, covered by a dirt mat. Follow it, and you will find them. Godspeed, little Queen."
Unsure to trust him at first, Lucy decided she didn't have much of a choice.
"Thank you," she whispered, and crawled back into the stone tunnel between the blocks. The heels of her hands were raw and dirty by the time she reached the first block again, but perhaps it was fortunate she could not crawl faster, for just as she was about to step out into the walkway between the cells, she heard sounds from within and pulled back.
Just as Vareth had said, there was certainly some kind of passage in the center back cell, because two men were emerging from it, stepping out of the ground and dragging something behind them. With a muffled gasp, Lucy confirmed what she'd already dreaded – their burdens were bodies, one limp, the other hobbling behind one of the soldiers who'd come out of the hole. Without a doubt, they were her brothers.