20. Calormen's Grove
Firtkin led the five sovereigns down the stone steps towards an underground grove in the middle of the small forest. The five of them were tied together by a single rope and guarded heavily by the Calormene archers that waited at ground level to assure no one escaped.
The dark-dwarf glanced behind him as he stopped at the bottom of the steps. "May I introduce the tisroc... may he live forever."
The Pevensies and Caspian looked ahead into the grove. The trees below grew into the sandy roofs above approximately fifteen meters high. All around the room candles were lit along the walls to illuminate the haunting place. Also standing along the walls, were dark-dressed warriors with scimitars in their ready hands. At the very heart of the grove there was no vegetation but there stood a mighty stone table the size of a large bed. Blackened flowers grew along its base like the kiss of death.
Though it was a spectacular scene in its underground setting, something indescribable lingered in the air and touched their hearts. Near to the steps that led down to the sacred area, stood two men in close proximity. One had dark, tanned skin, a greying beard and a strong posture. It was this man that now stepped forward to greet his 'guests'.
"Welcome!" Goraidh spoke with barely concealed glee. Atop his dark hair rested a bright turban and around his arm a band of gold to signify his power. The elder man turned to the Pevensies and bowed his head. "... Welcome back, I suppose is a more befitting choice of words for the Kings and Queens of old." The tisroc stepped closer to Susan and his dark eyes sparkled in the warm glow of the candles. "For some of you, it could even have been called a home once, though the place was found wanting."
"It was the people I could not live with," the eldest queen breathed and her voice quivered with barely concealed anger.
"Ah... Yes, Rabadash the Peacemaker," Goraidh hummed. "Or as we prefer to refer to my ancestor: The Ridiculous. A coward and a disgrace as our leader. A true donkey, indeed."
"I see some things haven't changed then," Caspian muttered. The word had but died on his tongue when the tisroc slapped the king harshly with the back of his hand. The queens gasped at the unexpected gesture and the Telmarine man stumbled but recovered his footing quickly. A thin trail of blood trickled from the corner of his mouth as he glared down at the shorter assailant.
The tisroc's glare seemed to burn a hole in the Narnian king as he growled, "Barbarians..."
"I remember you," Peter hissed and stepped forward. He'd felt the tension rise and wanted to draw attention away from his friend and back to the matter at hand. "You led the attack on Narnia. You took my brother away. Where is he?"
The voice that replied did not belong to Goraidh. The slithering, hoarse tone instead belonged to the Sorcerer who spoke without stepping forward, "Hidden in plain sight."
The small group of royalty felt their blood chill as they turned their attention to the entity further away. The imposing man wore a long, flowing cape over dark, embroidered clothes. The fist-sized pearl at the top of his scepter seemed to shine like moonlight in the glow of the candles. A thin smirk lingered on his face, while his eyes remained impassive and unimpressed.
"Show him to us!" Lucy bravely commanded on her brother's right.
The Sorcerer smirked in mocking amusement and bowed low before the regents. His long cape flowed in the air around his legs as he turned towards the stone table. The man raised his scepter high into the sky and as he did, Edmund appeared upon the table in a transparent shimmer. The dark-haired boy remained still and his pale skin stood in stark contrast to the darker surface of the stone.
"Edmund!" Susan breathed and moved to step forward when a scimitar suddenly pressed against her throat. The young woman barely noticed the guard who had so swiftly reacted, as her gaze remained fixed on her darling brother ahead.
As the magician beheld their reactions, his face suddenly fell. In one fluid motion, he stepped towards the black-dwarf and growled, "You've lost someone on the way."
The dwarf's eyes widened in fear as he gazed about him, looking for the missing animal.
Reepicheep's short legs carried him swiftly through the low vegetation, keeping him out of sight and out of harms way. His heart hammered inside his small chest as he rushed toward the portal entrance in the middle of the forest.
When the dwarf and the other captors had been preoccupied with transporting the humans, the mouse had managed to slip from sight and hide in the green. If Aslan had blessed him with any luck, the others had yet to realize his escape.
His original plan had been to protect the queens at any and all costs during the coming trials, but High King Peter had given him a special task before setting out from Cair Paravel. The eldest Pevensie had appointed him with the important mission of returning to Narnia and report the danger to the Captain should anything go awry in Calormen. With the Narnian army, they would then rush to aid their king and the Pevensies and finish this once and for all.
Reepicheep haltered between a pair of bushes. He saw the tall, familiar oaks before him now and sighed in relief as he saw the shimmer still lingered between the stems. At least then, hope still remained. He wasted no more time as he sped through the portal and back home.
"Ignorant fool!" the Sorcerer's growl echoed between the trees in the cave like a feline roar and Firtkin cowered back. Evidently, the man understood the implications that had been missed by his servant.
The Sorcerer nodded to the assassin behind Susan, and the scimitar split the air relentlessly. Lucy suppressed a whimper and the elder sister turned the younger into her arms as the head of Firtkin rolled across the grass and stopped a few feet before them.
As all the excitment died down, a low groan disrupted the tense peace of the grove. Everyone turned and gazed at the stone table, where the young king was coming to. Edmund blinked his eyes to try and clear his thoughts from lingering shadows. Realization soon caught up to him as he attempted to rise from the stone table, but found he was held in place by strong, invisible chains. His eyes cleared as he searched for his siblings in the cave. With a mixture of relief and fear, he found them at last at the other end and breathed, "Tell me I'm dreaming."
"Are you alright, Ed?" Peter hurriedly asked and his brother nodded wordlessly.
"Why are you doing this?" Caspian said and his thick accent filled with hatred as he glared at the Calormene tisroc. "Did he offer you Narnia to rule? Surely you must see that the Sorcerer will give you nothing when this ritual is completed. If he gets the magical powers, you will have doomed us all."
Goraidh's smirk was aloof but fleeting, as he replied, "I do not believe you have any powers left to utter such words of ignorance. We shall see, soon enough, who shall rule Narnia into the future."
As Caspian and Peter took to debating with the tisroc, Lucy who was still closely enveloped in her sister's arms, whispered into her ear, "Su… Do you remember last time Edmund was almost sacrificed?"
The elder girl frowned and tried to follow her sister's train of thought. The moment she spoke of had been during their very first visit to Narnia, when Jadis had-… Susan's eyes widened as realization hit her swiftly. She nodded and held her sister's gaze. It was a possibility... Though far-fetched it was. The two of them turned back to the conversation between the men.
"I order you to release my brother," Peter commanded, but his words held no might since he was still a mere prisoner.
"Oh, be quiet!" the Sorcerer snarled back. "I will not postpone my ritual any longer. I brought you here to watch your own demise, so let's get to it. Shall we?"
The large man began to chant in a language no one recognized and held his empty hand outstretched towards the sky. The air around it shimmered slightly as a knife appeared within his firm grasp. The others knew it immediately as the Dagger of the Mist. Within the mysterious blade three different tendrils of dark liquid floated around each other in a morbid dance. The man threw a final glance of conquering delight at the Pevensis before he turned back to the stone table.
"Stop!" Susan shouted and the sound echoed hauntingly between the walls. "Take me instead!"
The Sorcerer faltered with his back to the small group. Plainly, her request had taken him by surprise and as he turned around, they could see he was genuinely contemplating it. At once, both Caspian and Peter shouted their refusals at the top of their lungs and tried to sway the magician's mind.
"It's not an option!" Peter hollered. "Take me instead!"
"Silence, boy!" The Sorcerer hissed and with a wave of the hand, Peter along with his youngest sister and the Telmarine king were thrown back and hit the ground hard. Meanwhile, Susan's bonds were untied and she slowly floated through the air towards the center of the underground grove. "It would only be fair of me to consider the first offer… wouldn't it?"
The woman's heart beat furiously inside her chest as she floated a few inches above the ground, trapped in the man's magical grip. "If I'm to be sacrificed, you will release my siblings and King Caspian without harm."
"No!" Edmund growled in desperation. "I won't let you do it, Su! Not for me, not for anyone!"
The young woman glanced down at her brother and as his eyes pleaded with her, her own tried to soothe him. "It will be alright, Ed... All will be well."
The dark-haired boy shook his head in refusal and glared up at the Sorcerer. "If you are anything akin to a man you will not let her take my place! You chose me for the sacrifice, and I will not let my sister take my place. Go through with it as planned."
"You can't sacrifice yourself for us!" Lucy whimpered as she and the other two had made it back up to their feet to watch the spectacle before them. "Please..."
The Sorcerer interrupted the moment as he finally drew a deep sigh and glared at the dark-haired queen beside him. "Though you drive a hard bargain, my dear, it's not an offer I can accept."
With another wave of his hands, Susan was thrown back through the air and landed on the grass in front of her siblings and Caspian. The latter knelt beside her to make sure she was alright, even as time seemed to slow for the rest.
"No, Edmund, please. No…" she cried as she struggled to her knees and brushed her dark hair out of her eyes, which glistened with unshed tears.
"You said it, Su… All will be well," the younger brother whispered back, tears glistening in his own pale gaze. "If one must die… It's better that it's me than any of you anyway, right?"
"…Edmund," Peter managed before his voice broke and he too knelt down beside his sister, while Lucy clung to his hand. As they held their sibling's gaze, the Sorcerer resumed chanting and the words echoed in the grove.
Edmund felt as if his heart stopped already when he saw the blade shine in the warm rays of the candles. Despite this, he felt no fear. They were in a bind here, there was no other way out. If he allowed himself to be sacrificed, perhaps his siblings could buy the time to regroup and later overthrow the new evils. This way, the could live to save the world and his sacrifice could be worth something good.
For a fleeting moment, Edmund wondered if it this was what Aslan had thought when he had stepped up to take the young king's place and be sacrificed so long ago. The young king let his mind wander to their old friend and lion, hoping the thought alone would give him the strength he needed now.
Aslan…
The Sorcerer stood above the king with his hand raised high into the sky. As his voice rose to a crescendo a strong wind blew through the grove and the candles flickered by the walls. The malice in the man's eyes showed Edmund the true entity that hid beneath the surface, and it was colder still than expected. The young man closed his eyes tight.
Just as the Sorcerer was to stab the king, a war cry echoed from the woods above. The Sorcerer halted and everyone turned to gaze up at the small entrance. The Calormene warriors above were all preparing for battle to fight a foe who remained out of sight. The horn that sounded between the trees was undoubtedly Narnian, however. They could hear swords clashing together and arrows being fired in the distance.
The Sorcerer sneered and raised his scepter into the air. The porcelain tip of the magical thing shone bright as a shimmering, transparent wall rose up and covered the entrance to the grove. They saw fired arrows getting stuck in the invisible force field, unable to penetrate the strong defenses that guarded the sacred area.
"No one will pass by that wall," the magician clarified as he turned to glare at the tisroc. "I hope your men are prepared?"
Goraidh bowed his head, and not a second later, another horn echoed through the forest. It was a darker note that belonged to the Calormene army, that evidently had been prepared for an attack such as this.
Susan, Peter, Lucy and Caspian all gazed up through the hole in the ground and helplessly listened to battle outside. They could do nothing but hope the Narnian soldiers would be stronger than their foes.
The Sorcerer smirked menacingly. "Even if your soldiers win, King Caspian X, I will soon kill them with my own two hands. And with a little help of… magic."
The dark man wasted no time then as he plunged the dagger into Edmund's heart. Lucy cried out in horror as Caspian held the weeping Susan in his strong embrace. Tears streamed down all their faces as grief overtook their minds.
The second after, mist suddenly exuded from the handle of the magical weapon. The Sorcerer jumped back in surprise as the mist continued to swell out in great proportion. Soon it had covered the entire stone table and no one could see even the shape of it beyond the thick, grey mist.
"What's happening?" Goraidh questioned in a suspicious growl as he drew his scimitar and stepped closer to his ally. "Is it done then?"
The Sorcerer turned around so that everyone could see his scepter. For a moment, the ball at the tip was black as the darkest night, before some of the emerging mist was sucked into the orb. As the others were busy watching the spectacle ahead, Caspian hurriedly disarmed the closest Calormene assassin in silence and used the scimitar to cut himself and the Pevensies loose. As the other assassins took notice of their fallen comrade and stepped forward to fight, the Sorcerer inhaled some of the mist that lingered in the air and let its power fill him to the brim. As he opened his eyes, his irises swirled with tendrils of mist, and there were no pupils visible in the haunting gaze.
"The power of the grove is mine…" he breathed to the tisroc and smirked. The sound of Caspian's scimitar clashing with one of the assasin's brought both men back to the present. With a wave of the Sorcerer's hand, the Narnian king flew across the grove and hit the wall hard. With another wave, Peter, too, flew far over to the side and hit a tree.
Susan pushed her younger sister out of her path as she picked up the scimitar the Telmarine king had dropped.
The assassins in her proximity chortled as they saw her tight, fearful grip of the weapon. The young queen knew she wasn't the best of sword fighters, having always preferred the bow. Still, she wasn't about to surrender when her family was in danger. From the corner of her eyes, she saw her sister sneak towards the location where their weapons had been dropped upon their arrival to the grove. Susan hurriedly circled the underground area in the other direction, hoping to draw attention away from her sister.
"One girl… against all of us," the closest assassin hissed and didn't even attempt to hide his glee. "Hardly seems fair."
Susan's heart hammered inside her chest and she mentally tried to slow her breathing back to normal. The battle outside the grove reached her ears and all she heard was death and despair from between the trees. She forced herself to stop listening at once. "I know. You don't stand a chance."
The assassin growled and stepped toward her but a loud voice stopped everyone in the grove and echoed in the ensuing silence.
"Oy! Step away from my sister!"
The brunette faltered and turned towards the stone table, which slowly became visible as the mist faded into nothingness again. She exhaled in relief as she saw Edmund standing by the table and the Dagger of the Mist rested in his palm. He was completely unscathed. By her younger brother's side stood the mighty Aslan himself.
"It cannot be…" Goraidh breathed in dismay. "It cannot be! You swore –" he pointed an accusing finger at the Sorcerer.
"We have not lost yet!" the magician snarled and the victorious smirk was still evident in his features. "I still have unlimited power."
"Yes, well, we'll see about that," Peter spoke. Lucy stood by his side, all of their weapons in her arms. Peter stepped in front of her and raised his sword. "This evens out the odds a bit."
With a war cry of his own, the eldest Pevensie rushed towards the Sorcerer to engage him in a dual, as Lucy rushed towards the others. Susan took her chance and engaged her own opponent in a sword fight. As the Sorcerer ducked Peter's attacks, the youngest Pevensie made it to the other kings and as they took their weapons and rushed off to fight, the young girl hurried to the lion's side.
"You came…" she breathed and hugged the golden feline's wide neck. "Thank you."
Caspian's gaze travelled across the grove even as he engaged other soldiers in battle between the narrow trees. The king constantly kept his eyes flickering between his opponents and Susan battling so far away. As he managed to knock one man down, a sharp pain rushed through his arm and he swiftly turned around. As a trail of blood trickled from the cut, Goraidh smirked with his scimitar raised high. The Calormene's dark eyes seemed to offer the Narnian ruler no other escape but death.
"You are mine, boy, you're going nowhere," the tisroc growled and swung his weapon at the king's head.
Peter swung his sword swiftly and managed to catch the Sorcerer off-guard as his weapon struck its target. The magician gasped in pain as blood stained his dark sleeve. The tall sorcerer covered the wound with his hand and as he lowered it mere seconds later, the Pevensie king noticed how it had healed without a trace. The Sorcerer swung his hand towards the king and Peter once more felt a punch of air throw him back into a tree. Everything swirled round and round for the king as he tried to regain his ground.
Caspian ducked a close call by the scimitar but found the tisroc's fist connected with his jaw instead. He stumbled backwards even as he tasted the iron on his tongue and wiped the blood from his lips. The Calormene tisroc was strong, there was no denying that, and Caspian knew that was not the only thing that reminded him of his uncle Miraz.
"You're good, boy," Goraidh smirked. "If you surrender now, you could serve as a general when I rule Narnia."
"I'll have to consider that generous offer," Caspian mocked and charged once more. The darker, shorter man ducked out of the way and managed to kick the back of the king's knee. As the Telmarine man fell to his knees on the grass, Goraidh circled him as a predator stalks his prey.
Caspian was just to rise from the ground, when a swift figure appeared in his peripheral view. Susan surprised the tisroc as well as she slammed into him, side first. The Calormene man stumbled and almost lost his balance entirely as the brave queen positioned herself between Caspian and Goraidh.
The tisroc turned his surprised gaze on the queen, who held her ground, still with the foreign scimitar in her hands.
"Sorry to interrupt," the brunette breathed, "but Caspian is needed elsewhere. And you and I have a score to settle."
The Telmarine king frowned and gazed about as he saw Peter about to lose against the Sorcerer not far away. The Pevensie king seemed to be crawling away from his opponent and no one else was close enough to aid him.
"Go!" Susan ordered without taking her eyes from the tisroc. As Caspian reluctantly jumped from the ground and rushed to Peter's aid, the tisroc smiled.
"You think you can best me?" he asked with plain mockery. "This is certainly not a fair fight. First of all, you're holding that weapon wrong. Your hands are too close together, for someone as small as you, that gives you no strength when you strikes."
The beautiful woman shifted her hands on the handle and shrugged, "Close combat never was my forté."
"I can tell."
The queen glanced past the tisroc's shoulder. "…And the bow was never my sister's."
Goraidh frowned just before pain penetrated his right shoulder and he fell to his knees with an arrow protruding from his back. The man gasped in tense surprise. The eldest Pevensie girl glanced over at her youngest sister close to the stone table, who held Susan's bow in her hands. The elder sister smiled reassuringly at Lucy, and the young girl beamed back.
"You should not underestimate either of us," Susan whispered down at the defeated tisroc as she held her scimitar against his exposed throat. She raised the weapon and struck the handle hard against the tisroc's head and watched as he fell unconscious to the ground.
Edmund cut down a dark-clad opponent and then gazed about the sacred grove. Most of their enemies had fallen, and but a few soldiers and the Sorcerer himself remained standing. As the young king gazed up at the battle in the forest, he realized the Narnians were victorious out there as well. Reepicheep stood with his paws against the force field and gazed down anxously, unable to join them. The mouse nodded once in the king's direction and Edmund returned the favor. The dark-haired boy then turned to gaze at Aslan, but the mightly lion simply bowed as he remained at the edges of the battle. This final battle was not one he would interfere with.
Wasting no more time, Edmund rushed to aid Peter and Caspian fight the Sorcerer, who cast curse after curse against his enemies. The frantic speed of the man's movements spoke volumes of his own growing fear and despair. Evidently, he had realized his predicament as well and knew he was cornered.
"Not as almighty as expected, are you?" Peter asked as he saw his brother join their fight.
The Sorcerer shook his head and breathed heavily. "I am still strong enough to defeat all of you."
He raised his scepter and a whip of fire appeared in a bright flash. He hurled it against the three men, who threw themselves upon the grass in order to escape a quick burning. A few trees behind them caught fire as they gazed about.
"No mortal weapon will kill me now," the Sorcerer spoke and with each word his own stamina seemed to strengthen. "Your only option is to acknowledge your own defeat, or die."
"You first," Edmund said through gritted teeth as he rose before the magician. Caspian and Peter circled the Sorcerer on either side, but their tactic didn't seem to frighten the strong man.
Instead, the Sorcerer turned his mist-filled eyes towards Susan and Lucy who had turned from the tisroc to aid their siblings defeat their great enemy. As the two of them saw the man's gaze, the sisters stopped at once in anticipation of the worst. When he waved his hand this time, the Sorcerer's fiery whip flew in their direction and formed a tight circle in the grass around the young women.
"No!" Peter shouted in despair as Caspian ran towards the queens. The two sisters were already coughing violently against the thick smoke that rose from the fire.
"That evens out the odds," the Sorcerer commented dryly.
Suddenly, there was a swift pressure on his hand before the Sorcerer felt a cool breeze greet the palm of his hand. He frowned and turned his gaze at his empty hand. Frantically, he looked around for his scepter and stopped short as he found it in the grass behind it. The porcelain ball at the tip was pierced by the Dagger of the Mist, and the broken pieces of the ball lay scattered on the green grass.
"Magic to undo magic, right?" Edmund asked and the furious Sorcerer turned his full attention on the knife thrower. The young king merely shrugged in innocent sarcasm.
With a final snarl, the Sorcerer drew his sword and advanced on Edmund, but the elder Pevensie stepped in and made the fight short. He plunged his sword into the Sorcerer's stomach and with a fading heart, the old man fell to the ground and drew his last shuddering breath.
To be completed!