Chapter 9 Inside the Locket

The next few days were solemn at Cair Paravel. Brind did his best to avoid being seen by Susan. It didn't stop him from walking past her room in a nonchalant manner listening for crying. She hadn't cried since the night Peter came back unconscious. He was glad, but still upset to see her in such a worried state. She took over as a sort of High Queen in Peter's (for lack of a better term) absence. For reasons unknown to Brind, Edmund remained especially silent and even broody around anyone. He didn't bother to ask knowing it had to do with the High King.

Brind spent most of his time with Kendra in the courtyard and in the apple orchards. They argued about telling the Pevensie's the truth about the locket. Kendra seemed deathly afraid of what might happen were they to tell the truth. She didn't want to lose her new friend Queen Lucy. Brind couldn't blame her. He didn't want to know what Susan would think of him when she found out it was their fault.

Walking about the castle's corridors for over an hour now, Brind decided he couldn't stand the idea of not knowing what Susan would say. Not to mention she would be even more cross with him when she found out he had hidden the truth for so long. A bit of courage began to rise in his gut as Brind approached the throne room. He walked past the two faun guards giving them a slight nod with his head.

Surprisingly enough Susan was actually inside. Brind planned on this being the first stop, not the only stop. She was staring at her older brother's throne. Brind swallowed as a dark scenario ran through is head. It involved Brind and Kendra being beaten and locked in the dungeon. Did Cair Paravel even have dungeons? It was such a beautiful place it was hard to imagine a dungeon.

"Brind, how nice to see you here." Susan's voice brought Brind back to reality. He looked up and stopped half way across the room.

"Am I interrupting you?" Brind asked his head bowed.

"No. I was just thinking. I've been doing that so much lately, I'm afraid I have no thoughts left in my head."

Brind looked up and smiled at her light expression. She really was the gentle Queen. His stomach dropped knowing what he was about to do. He tried to keep the smile though best he could. Susan lifted the skirt of her dress slightly so she wouldn't trip walking down the steps toward Brind. His legs wouldn't work so Susan had to meet him.

"I don't believe that at all your majesty." Brind licked his lips and lifted his head up.

Their eyes met. She made a face that scolded Brind for not calling her by her name. Her beautiful grin returned shortly after. This was the end of everything wasn't it? The last time he'd see Susan smile at him.

"I wanted to tell you something."

Susan continued to smile but there was a small flicker of concern that crossed her eyes. She said, "What is it Brind?"

He swallowed and took a deep breath before going on. "In Calormen, I found the locket. And I didn't know that it belonged to the Tisroc. Well, I did know it belonged to him it fell of a cart heading to the palace. I didn't think they'd miss such a dusty old thing and I knew Kendra would love it."

Brind was talking a mile a minute. Susan shook her head, "Brind, slow down. What locket are you talking about? I don't understand."

This was it, the deep plunge. Brind drew in another breath before the rest of the confession.

"This is all my fault, High King Peter's condition. It's all my fault. We weren't escaping from Calormen because we were slaves. We escaped because I stole the locket Kendra now wears around her neck. We were never slaves. A cart full of odd trinkets was heading toward the palace and a small old dusty box fell off. I picked it up. I thought about giving it back but when I looked inside and saw the locket I knew that Kendra would love it. I figured the Tisroc has many more grand pieces of jewelry and treasure, why would his miss it. So I kept it and gave it to Kendra."

Susan was quiet for a minute letting everything settle in her mind. She tilted her head to the side.

"Brind, how does that make Peter's memory loss your fault?"

Brind blinked. "Because your majesty, I lied to you! I lied, we both lied and if I hadn't taken the locket they wouldn't be searching for it and pursuing us for it. They wouldn't have come here."

There were tears in the corner of Brind's eyes. Susan just stared at Brind. She reached out and took his hand.

Calmly she replied, "That may be, but I don't blame you for this. I am a little disappointed that you lied about what really happened back in Calormen but I'm not going to blame you for the accident."

Her voice held an understanding that Brind couldn't comprehend. It didn't even register that she was holding onto this hand.

"I don't understand. We lied to you all. And you're not going to throw us back to Calormen?"

A look of hurt crossed Susan's face. "Is that the kind of people you think we are? Is that the kind of person you think I am? You've been here for a few weeks Brind, how could you think that I would do anything like that?"

Another layer of guilt crushed Brind's heart.

"It makes sense as to why they were after Kendra now. They just wanted the locket back. Though it is very odd that they would go through all of this trouble to get such a small thing." Susan sighed and let go of Brind's hand.

It was when her hand was no longer there did Brind realize her touch and miss it. He glanced down at his hand and flexed it hoping Susan's would appear back in it. She walked around him toward the doors. At that very moment a small satyr clopped his way into the throne room with a piece of parchment rolled up in his hand. Susan met him, knelt down and took the parchment. She thanked the satyr who turned and took his leave.

Brind anxiously watched Susan as she unrolled and read the note. By the changing expression on her face, the message could have been anything of good tidings. She quickly rolled the parchment back up and looked to Brind. Her eyes glittered over with tears.

"Your majesty?"

"Would you mind summoning Edmund, Lucy, and Peter. I need to speak with them right away." Susan crossed back to the thrones and sat down heavily in her own. Brind wondered what she had read but didn't ask. As he turned to leave Susan spoke up again.

"I would also like for you and Kendra to be here too. It's involves the both of you."

Brind didn't like this piece of information at all. It was at that moment that he knew the message had come from Calormen. And as far as Brind was concerned anything from Calormen was a bad news.

Once all of the Kings and Queen were present, along with Kendra and Brind, Susan handed Edmund the parchment she had received earlier. He took it and unrolled it reading it silently to himself.

"War." Susan muttered looking around to everyone. "The Tisroc has declared war on Narnia."

Lucy gasped and clasped her hands over her mouth. "Over Brind and Kendra? That's ridiculous!"

"I agree Lu, but it's not just because of them." Susan replied. Her eyes fell on Kendra. She was playing with the brass locket that hung around her neck.

"They said they'd call off the war, so long as we hand over Kendra?" Edmund exclaimed. His eyes shot up from the document. "Why do they just want Kendra?"

Susan glanced over to Brind. She didn't need to say anything. Brind took the hint. He stepped forward feeling the palms of his hands beginning to sweat. He eyed Kendra for a second apologetically before explaining the situation to everyone else. Kendra shied away from Lucy but much like Susan's reaction, Lucy didn't seem offended by the lies that were told. She merely went over and looped arms with Kendra and held her tight.

"They want Kendra all because of some stupid old locket?" Edmund tossed the parchment onto the closet throne.

"Why not just give them the locket if that's all they want?" It was Peter who spoke this time. Everyone looked to him. An awkward and uncomfortable silence filled the air around them.

Peter had hardly come out of his room during the day and all were aware that while Peter spoke, it wasn't like he remembered anything. Brind felt awkward mainly because he knew how it upset Susan to think about the matter. Peter shifted on his feet for a moment.

"It sounds like a logical solution." Susan commented. "But even if we hand them the locket who is to say they won't come back for Kendra. They specified Kendra, not just the locket. For some reason they want or maybe even need her."

Peter frowned. His mouth twitched as his input was shot down. Lucy saw the disappointment and smiled in his direction.

"I thought it was a nice idea Peter." She said encouragingly.

He looked up at her and the corner of his mouth turned up.

"Why does the Tisroc want that locket for anyway? He's willing to go to war for it. I'm willing to bet its not just any piece of old jewelry." Edmund walked forward toward Kendra. "Can we see the locket Kendra? It'll only be for a minute."

Her grip only tightened around the locket. She didn't say anything. The color had drained out of her face. Lucy let go of Kendra at Brind's motion. He moved in and wrapped his arms around her in a brotherly fashion. For an instant Lucy was jealous. If she tried that with Edmund, well he wouldn't remain still enough for her to get the second arm around his waist. Unfortunately Lucy was afraid that Peter would react in the same way.

"Kendra, I'll give it back." Edmund said his hand still held out.

"It's alright Ed." Susan said, "Kendra have you noticed anything unusual about the locket?"

She shook her head. "No. It's a locket and a gift from Brind."

Susan sighed impatiently and glanced over at Brind. He merely shrugged.

"Kendra, have you tried opening it at all?" Brind looked down to her. She craned her neck back to see his face and she shook her head again. It was like speaking to a three year old. "Maybe there is something inside that'll help us figure out why the Tisroc wants it so bad."

She considered this and slowly dug her nails into the clasps and pried the locket open with a jerk. A piece of folded up paper fell softly to the ground. Lucy knelt over and picked it up. She looked to her siblings and when none objected or said anything Lucy carefully unfolded the paper. It folded out to a small rectangular blank piece of tan parchment.

Lucy's brow furrowed. "It's completely blank. Who would leave a piece of blank—"

A blood-curdling scream cut Lucy short. Kendra was on the floor in Brind's arms holding her hands over her ears and screaming. Her body jerked wildly and it was all Brind could do to try and keep her still. It was as if someone was torturing her.

"Kendra!" He cried. Edmund and Peter both rushed to her side and attempted to hold the girl still. But it proved harder than originally thought.

"What's wrong with her?" Edmund called amongst the screams.

Peter shook his head as he tried to hold her legs down failing the first try. It would no doubt lead for a bruise tomorrow where Kendra had kicked him in the face. Edmund assisted Peter while Brind worked on trying to calm his friend down.

"Kendra it'll be okay." Brind tried to coo in her ear. She didn't hear him or did not care to listen. The screaming and kicking went on for another minute before it subsided.

Kendra's body went limp and she fell unconscious. All of them stood silently in shock at what had just occurred. Alerted by the screams guards now flooded the throne room. Susan ordered that Kendra be taken back to her bedchamber and the remaining guards clear out.

Susan looked sick and Lucy had tears streaming down her face. She had dropped the paper from inside the inside the locket. Edmund sat on the floor trying to gain the hearing back in both of his ears.

"What in Aslan's name was that about?" Edmund gasped after the last few guards had left. No one responded.

Brind didn't take his eyes off of the floor. His stomach felt uneasy and there was a feeling in his gut that told Brind he was going to throw up any second now. He fought down that feeling. Brind had never seen or heard Kendra like that before. If Brind didn't know better he'd have said someone invisible came up and jabbed her with a red hot poker and held it there.

Susan comforted Lucy and then bent down to pick up the paper.

"Lucy, I thought you said this was blank before."

"I did." Lucy said faintly.

Susan examined the paper again, now there was small black writing on the front of the paper. Edmund and Peter wandered over but Brind remained where he sat. Not truly caring about some stupid piece of paper. How could anyone be worried about that insignificant thing when something could be seriously wrong with Kendra?

Peter leaned over Susan's shoulder and read the words aloud.

"The Relics of Pawne. This magical item is a fragment of the true power of Pawne. The Brass Locket is a key, the starting point to which your journey now begins. Power comes at a price, death is in your future." His voice caught in his throat at the last line.