"And where was the girl heading?" Miraz asked evenly as he looked out the tall window, his dark eyes resting on the distant forest. The night was still dark, only a few hours from sunrise.

The entire council had been summoned, barely awake in their high backed chairs that circled the room. Their tired eyes followed Miraz as he paced in front of the windows, like a dark predator waiting to be fed.

The hall was lit by only three torches and the moonlight that was falling through the glass windows. The council chairs lined the walls and the king's throne stood tall at the head of the hall, stained glass windows towering behind it.

Miraz stroked his black pointed beard slowly and his eyes looked up and rested on the girl that was standing in the middle of the hall. She watched him respectfully with three soldiers standing behind her, and she smiled cunningly.

"I do not know sire, but there are others who do."

The doors to the hall opened and two soldiers came forward, each dragging a young man in chains. The two hostages were thrown down on the floor in front of the girl and Miraz approached them, his dark eyebrows raised as he observed the men.

"Ah," he said after a pause, looking to the man standing at the head of the room next to the empty throne of the King. "Alvarez, your son was the instigator of this little plan. I might have guessed."

Miraz's dark accented voice was calm and Alvarez watched him expressionlessly, not looking at his son who was seething as he knelt before Miraz.

Miraz knelt before the young man and spoke carefully, "tell me son of Alvarez, why I was wakened at this late hour?"

Leland did not answer. His long black hair fell like a curtain before his face, and his friend Gabriel next to him stayed quiet as well, his hands in tight fists.

Miraz lifted his hand and hit Leland across his face and his voice was still calm, "tell me why I am not in my chamber sleeping. Or you and your friends will be punished worse than you can imagine."

Leland looked up at last, his cheek red from the strike. His dark eyes burned into Miraz's, "because we believe in a free Narnia."

Miraz waited for a moment. His voice was quiet as he spoke, "your son has a wild imagination, Alvarez."

Alvarez only stood silently next to the empty throne, his face like stone.

Leland glared at him, "I am no son of his."

Miraz stood and returned to the windows, "Then tell me about your sister."

"You won't find her," Leland said at once, a victorious smirk on his lips.

Gabriel allowed a small smile as well.

"Of course I won't," Miraz said lifting his head as he stared out the cold glass. "Because she is dead."

Leland and Gabriel's faces fell at once, their chests constricted as if the air had been stolen from them. Leland looked up at his father, who remained silent, and then looked back to Miraz's back.

"You lie," he hissed.

"On the contrary brother," Viria said, smiling darkly. "The soldiers who followed her into the forest saw her broken body at the bottom of a gorge. She's nothing more than a frozen corpse by now."

Leland let out a roar of despair and made to attack Viria but the solider behind him raised the hilt of his sword and hit Leland on the back of his head. Leland fell to the stone floor and breathed heavily.

Lord Sopespian, the leader of the royal council, smiled cleverly at Alvarez, "such a shame, Lord Alvarez, that you could not put your son's spirit to good use. He would have made a good solider no?"

Leland closed his eyes tightly as he listened to the council members laugh.

Miraz turned back to the two captives and waved his hand. "Take them away."

The two men were dragged out of the room and Miraz addressed the council, "we have reason to believe that Prince Caspian has been captured."

"Captured!"

The council members made noises of surprise as they sat upright in their chairs. Miraz turned and walked to the head of the hall and up the steps that led to the throne. Alvarez watched him carefully.

"Our prince was taken," Miraz said slowly as he turned to face the council, "by Narnians."

The council waited and then laughed again.

"My Lord Miraz," said lord Sopespian with a skeptical look, "cannot be serious."

"You chose to blame the prince's disappearance on some fairytale!" shouted another member.

"And you have my deepest condolences Lord Miraz," Lord Sopespian said carefully. "That only a few months ago you lost your nephew, the rightful heir to the throne, the very night your wife blessed you with a son." Lord Sopespian smiled, "and now, he has been captured."

"Captured by fairy tales!" shouted another.

The voices of the council grew as they argued and protested Miraz. But he only watched them silently.

"Ever since the death of Caspian the IV you yourself have been behaving as if you were king! And now behind his walls his own son has disappeared and you say he was captured!"

The council shouted in agreement and Lord Sopespian laughed as he watched Miraz.

"Give me a week, gentlemen," Miraz said gently, walking around the throne. He placed his hand on the armrest, "and I will give you proof that the Narnians exist. And we will fight for our dear prince."

The council fell silent and Miraz descended the steps and walked down the middle of the hall between the council chairs.

"Get some rest my lords," he said as the hall doors were opened. "We have work to do."

Miraz left the hall and soon the other council members followed. Alvarez left the hall without a word or a look to Viria and the doors closed behind him. The hall had emptied except for Viria and the three dark brothers. They watched her carefully as she went to the windows to look at the distant dark forest.

"She isn't dead," she said at last, her dark voice carrying through the hall.

"Then why did you lie to the council?" asked the oldest brother Antony.

"Let them worry about their council meetings. We'll take care of her."

"But she'll probably die tonight anyway," said the middle brother, Sapian. "Why not leave her there to die?"

"Because she is looking for Caspian," Viria said quietly.

The three brothers looked at each other in confusion, their armor gleaming in the torchlight.

"She'll ruin everything Miraz has been building. She must be stopped."

"But what about the Narnians?" Dolrozo, the youngest, asked timidly.

His older brothers looked at him in slight surprise and he hesitated.

"I mean, what if they are-"

"Real?" Viria said with a smile as she turned to face them. She laughed and went to the king's throne at the top of the steps, her long black dress trailing behind her.

"Let the council worry about their silly fairytales," she said as she sat in the throne, her dark eyes glinting cruelly in the dim light. "We need to find the prince first."

Her hand tightened on the chair.