The Council
"Discussion is an exchange of knowledge; an argument an exchange of ignorance." ~Robert Quillen
Edmund stirred.
His foot was cold and he jerked it back under the blankets.
The next instant all of his blankets were ripped off.
With his eyes still closed, he reached out for them.
"Ed!" Peter's voice broke into his foggy brain, "Time to get up, its tomorrow!"
Edmund pulled his eyelids open and started when he saw that they were in a large well-furnished room. There was a fireplace with a roaring fire and it was beautifully warm in there. Peter was wearing very odd clothes; he had on a tawny golden velvet tunic, a fur lined cloak, hose and knee-high boots. Rhindon hung at his side.
"What happened to our old clothes?" Edmund moaned.
"They're over there," Peter said, "but you won't want to wear them."
A small faun stepped forward, "here are your clothes your majesty," he handed Edmund a dark blue velvet tunic.
"Is there any chance of breakfast?" Edmund asked, swinging out of bed.
~o*o~
Lucy sat on the bearskin in front of the fire in the girls' room while Mrs. Beaver brushed her hair. Lucy loved her dress; it was crushed velvet of a dusty rose. Susan's was a rather cool silvery violet.
"I wonder if the boys are up yet?" Lucy asked, looking over at Susan.
"I'm sure they are," Susan sat down next to Lucy. "At least Peter would be, I not sure about Edmund."
"I'm sure they must have woken by now, dearies," Mrs. Beaver said, beginning to braid Lucy's hair and working in ribbons of the same color as Lucy's dress.
A gentle tap came at their door and a slim willowy girl came in, "I have your breakfasts."
She set them down on a table by the window.
"This is almost like breakfast in bed!" Susan said standing up, "thank you very much…I'm afraid I don't know your name."
"Clyte," the girl said, "I shall be waiting on your majesty."
"Your majesty?" Susan exclaimed, "No, just call me Susan."
"Yes…Susan," Clyte said.
"Good," Susan said, "Come, Lucy."
They sat and ate and Clyte watched, shyly.
"Will you tell us about yourself?" Susan asked, unable to bare the silence.
"I'm a Narnian," Clyte said, "My parents are dead and I live with my brothers Lord Peridan and Baeth and my Uncle, Lord Paladin."
"Really!" Susan said, taking a bite out of a frosted biscuit, "Tell us about Narnia…or the Narnians here in Archenland."
"My grandfather came to Archenland when a hundred years ago the witch took over Narnia. They fought, but she was too strong for them. King Lune's grandfather was king of Archenland at the time and he gladly took them in. in return we work for Archenland, we help defend her, we help grow crops, we do anything we can."
"I suppose it's sort of like living in someone else's house," Lucy said, getting up and walking to the window. She looked down into the front courtyard and saw a myriad of life bustling to and fro. There were women in bright gowns with baskets of washing and men leading horses. There were carts and horsemen coming in and out of the gaits. And there was laughter. It was like an aimless brilliant dance.
"Exactly like that," Clyte said, smiling. "What about you? Begging your pardon."
"Us?" Lucy asked, looking over her shoulder, "Oh, we came from England."
"Somewhere else," Susan explained hurriedly.
"Oh, I say!" Lucy exclaimed and there was a clatter as she fumbled with the window and a gust of cold air followed by a poof of feathers as she opened the window.
Susan looked up, then leaped to her feet.
"Why Chibb!" she exclaimed, "Come in!"
"Hello! Hello! So glad you got in!" Chibb exclaimed.
"We are very grateful to you, you were very brave," Susan said as Chibb landed on her outstretched hand.
"Oh it was nothing!" Chibb twittered modestly, "I came to tell you that Queen Deidre would like to meet you! Properly this time."
~o*o~
The faun had just fastened a silver brooch on Edmund's cloak when a scratch came at the door.
Peter bounded to the door and threw it opened.
"Treve! Come in!"
The little fox strode importantly through the door, closed his eyes, tilted his head to the ceiling and said, "The Great Narnian Counsel requests your majesties presence as soon as you are able to grace them with your time," Treve opened his eyes and smiled at them, "they made me memorize that. That was my first job as page."
"Well," Peter said, "can you show us to where they are?"
"Certainly!" Treve snapped to attention and marched stiffly out the door with his tail sticking up like a pipe cleaner. Peter and Edmund smiled and followed him.
~o*o~
Chibb perched on Susan's shoulder and directed her and Lucy down the tapestried hallway to the queen's apartments. On the way, they passed Treve stiffly leading Peter and Edmund down the hallway in the opposite direction.
"Where are you off to?" Lucy asked Edmund.
"Narnian counsel," Edmund called, "Where are you going?"
"To see the queen!"
Chibb directed Susan and Lucy down another hallway, then up a flight of steps and finally they came to a door.
"This is it," Chibb said.
Susan knocked gently and a faint 'come in' answered her.
They opened the door and looked inside. The room was beautiful. There were heavy, beautiful tapestries depicting a king hunting, a great battle, a beautiful castle. There was the smell of perfume and thick Calormen carpets.
The room was large and around the corner, a door stood half-open, showing the queen's bedchamber and a few maids moving about.
The queen, herself, sat in a chair with her embroidery in front of her. She was beautiful, slim, with her thick brown hair curling down her back like rolling waves. Her dress was dark green velvet and her eyes, they saw as she looked up at them, were of the same color.
"Hello!" She said and stood up, dropping her embroidery on a table, "You must be Lucy and you…Oh, I am afraid I've forgotten your name! Anyway, I am Deidre!"
Susan swept a deep curtsy and Lucy quickly followed her example.
"Your majesty, we are honored to meet you!" Susan said, "I am Susan."
"Oh no!" the queen smiled, "just call me Deidre, Susie…may I call you Susie?"
"Of course!" Susan said, "I've been called Su and Annie, but never Susie."
"Well," Deidre said, "there is no time like the present to start! How was your trip?"
Susan immediately launched into a practical account of their trip.
"So?" Deidre said, "You were chased into Narnia by your housekeeper? How odd. Never fear, our housekeepers never chase a soul."
Susan grinned. "Ours don't usually, either."
Lucy caught sight of the embroidery hoop laid carelessly on the table. It had a piece of thin material as would be used for a handkerchief. Party embroidered into the corner of the fabric was a red rose.
"It's beautiful!" Lucy exclaimed.
"Thank you," Deidre said looking down at it.
"I never learned how to embroider," Lucy said, "Is it fun?"
"You never learned?" Deidre's eyebrows shot up, "there's no time like the present to start!"
~o*o~
Treve led them down a hallway to a door in front of which Martin, Flavis and Equus were discussing a subject heatedly. They stopped abruptly when they saw Peter and Edmund approach, which gave Edmund the uncanny feeling that they were just being discussed.
"Lord Peter, Lord Edmund," Equus said, "This way."
Martin gave Treve a look, before following Equus, and Treve, who was smart enough to know when he wasn't wanted, trotted away and decided to look for the kitchen.
Equus led Peter and Edmund through the door and they found themselves at the top of a set of shallow steps leading into a large chamber in the center of which was a long roughly hewn table. The windows were narrow and were set high in the wall. They cast a cold wintery light into the room.
The Narnian Counsel was largely made up of men, but there was a squirrel, a black leopard, two centaurs and a phoenix. Only half of the lords were talking, the others remained silent and watched them. The ones that were talking, though, were talking loudly and arguing among themselves. The noise was deafening.
"Who are they all?" Peter asked.
"Which ones?" Flavis asked.
"Any of them?"
"The ones that will be on your side are on the right side of the table, the centaurs, the squirrel, the black leopard, the phoenix, Lord Paradin, Lords Ron and Ronin and Lord Paladin, Paradin's uncle. The chaps against you are the other ten, the chap in purple ought to be the court jester instead of a lord."
"How did he become a lord of the counsel?" Edmund asked.
"Like the rest of them, born into it," Flavis said. "When you become king, kindly make a law banning that."
Peter and Edmund came down the steps and sat in two empty chairs at the table, largely unnoticed. Equus, Flavis and Martin stood at the sideline with their arms folded and grim expressions written on their faces.
"How do we know that they are really from the prophesy?" the lord in purple threw across to another with a curled mustache.
"I'm not going to follow a collection of children," another with a thick beard hollered.
"But how do we know?" curly mustache yelled, "what if they are working for the witch, what if they are just sorcerers in disguise?"
"I won't have anyone but a Narnian for king." Purple chimed in.
"I suppose we should give them a chance…" said a chap with something on his head that looked vaguely like a green muffin.
"Of course not!" curly mustache yelled.
"Why not?" said green muffin.
"You don't know what you're talking about!"
"I do too know! You don't know what you are talking about!"
"You are just a babe in lord's clothes!"
"I am not! Take that back!"
"Enough!"
Peter had jumped to his feet and slammed his fist down on the table. The room reverberated with the nose and the Counsel was instantly silent. Peter's golden eyes blazed and he looked like a cat ready to strike.
"Be quiet, all of you…that means you too…We will never take Narnia again if we don't agree! We must be united…I said be quiet… we must work together! You argue about petty things when Narnia could be retaken! You act like a bunch of children! I see you could have taken Narnia long ago if you had only been united!"
Peter took a deep breath and realized what he was doing and he said more calmly, "look, a stick by itself can be easily broken, but a bundle of sticks are much harder to break, one of you could never take Narnia by yourself, but together we can be invincible!"
"What do you propose we do then?" curly mustache asked.
"I think we should gather an army, be ready as we can and wait for Aslan to act, for he will act," Peter said, he didn't know how he knew, but somehow he did know that Aslan would come.
"Who will lead us?" Purple asked.
"Martin!" the other exclaimed.
All eyes turned to Martin.
"It is not my place to lead you," Martin said calmly, "that lot falls to another."
"What other?" someone asked.
Slowly Martin pointed to Peter.
"Him?" Purple squeaked, "He is but a child!"
"Sirrah! You overstep yourself, he has spoken the first word of reason I have heard in many a year!" a quiet voice spoke and Edmund saw that it was a young man, hardly older then Peter, who sat at the end of the table. The young man turned to Peter, "Will you lead us?"
Peter swallowed and glanced around at the faces along the table. Some showed anger, some worry, some eagerness and some, like Edmund's, trust. Peter stood up again.
"If the only way you can be united is if a boy will lead you, then, with the help of Aslan, I'll do it." Peter said. "Yes, I'll lead you."
Edmund knew, by the quaver in Peter's voice, that he was angry and when Peter was angry it was an event. Edmund looked over at Martin and saw that he was smiling, very slightly, and Flavis was grinning.
"What about the four children from the prophesy," Purple said, "They were suppose to lead us."
Peter closed his eyes and there was a strangled sound from Martin's direction.
"Blockhead," The quiet voice from the end of the table sounded, "They are the ones from the prophesy!"
"I don't believe it," Purple said.
"Who do you think we are, then?" Edmund shot out of his seat, "who else could we be then the ones from the Prophesy!"
There were some murmurings.
"How do we know this is true?" curly mustache asked and they heard a choking nose from the direction of Martin.
Edmund thought. How could he prove that they were whom they said? He drew his dagger and drove its point into the tabletop. The dagger stood quivering in the wood and the sapphire in the hilt gleamed, "this was a present Father Christmas gave me from Aslan, it was made in Bism. I think you will find that there is no craftsmanship like it on earth."
A lord pulled the dagger loose from the table and looked at it closely. Then he handed it to the next person and so on until all had seen it and it returned to Edmund.
"I think friends, we have made fools of ourselves," the same young man who had asked Peter to lead them said.
A few ayes of agreement followed.
The lord who had spoken rose and walked to Peter and Edmund. He drew his sword and knelt with his forehead to the hilt in front of Peter.
"I, Lord Peridan, do swear on my sword that I will faithfully serve you as my sovereign lords and pledge my lands, possessions and life to your cause."
Peter stared down at him, "thank you…!"
Lord Peridan stood up.
"Let me by!" a small voice from near the ground called from behind lord Peridan. Lord Peridan stepped quickly aside and the squirrel strode up to Peter and Edmund.
He was standing on his hind legs and he was about two feet tall. On his back was a quiver of arrows and a bow. His tail curled aristocratically and his ear tufts twitched importantly.
He knelt with his forehead to his arrow, "I, Lord Twang, do swear on my arrow that I will faithfully serve you as my sovereign lords and pledge my lands, possessions, bow and life to your cause."
Fifteen minutes more and all of the lords had done the same.
The last lord had just sat down again when the door of the chamber opened and a great shaft of silver light fell on them. King Lune stood silhouetted, looking down at them. Behind him stood Deidre, Susan and Lucy.
"King Lune!" Equus said, "Please enter!"
"You have talked the whole morning!" King Lune said and trotted down the steps into the room.
Lucy followed him, but Deidre and Susan stayed talking in the doorway.
King Lune walked to Peter and Edmund, "would you care to join my wife and me at luncheon?"
"Of course, your majesty!" Peter exclaimed.
"You mean we missed breakfast?" Edmund moaned.
A/N: Well, what do you think? This is the start to the wait of their lives. We both hope that you will enjoy this story. We know that The Wardrobe was read (over 1000 hits!), but we're not sure if anyone actually liked it. (: We assume so, but without feedback, we can't be sure. We love feedback of any kind!