Okay, enjoy and REVIEW!!!!!
Lyana laid awake in her amazingly adequate king sized bed complete with satin sheets and large, sky blue canopy. She'd never felt more out of place in her life. She had to see something familiar or she was going to lose herself in this new, maniacal lifestyle.
Lifting herself out of her bed, she slunk down the vast stone hallway that held the guest suites and made her way to one of the lower turrets where she could use the vantage point to decide the quickest way to the forest. Unicorns were rare, namely; hard to find. Even if she could locate some native Narnians… that might satiate her need for magical contact.
When at last she could feel the wind on her face and the dark moon casting a shadow on her back, Lyana sighed. She longed for this freedom… a freedom that she would never enjoy again.
On her way back to her room, after she'd realized there was no corporeal way for her to escape the castle, Lyana reluctantly began to accept that fate that was dawning on her.
He… doesn't seem so bad though… I'm just afraid that if I get attached… something bad will happen. Not to mention he probably doesn't even know about unicorns!
The plain simple matter of it all was that Lyana didn't trust humans. But Caspian… she was withholding judgment.
When the clanking of the guards boots alerted Lyana to company, she hid away in her chambers and retired from her midnight antics.
**
It had already been a week since Lyana had arrived at Telmar. The wedding was set for the rising of the full moon in ten days… plenty of time for the girl to accumulate stress and worry about her own mental preparations.
Lyana found her gaze resting on her malcontented body as her attendants fit her in her wedding gown, one of the most ravishing dresses she'd ever set eyes on.
This is… really happening.
After the fitting, Lyana made her way to the stables where she could at least talk to a familiar species.
The horses in the royal stables were extremely formal with her, seeing as they'd never talked to humans before. It was hard to coax them into conversations, and Lyana grew tired of her efforts. Not to mention it was nearly time for dinner.
**
Caspian had been apprehensive about dinners since the first night. He was inexplicably drawn to the mysteriously stunning Lyana and found himself being wound into her nonsensical charm and wit. Her complete ignorance of all the rituals he'd memorized as a boy was adorably refreshing, and he relished in teaching these new things to her.
After every evening, Caspian would escort Lyana back to her room for retirement where they would share brief insights on their day.
"So, you're fencing instructor is adequate?" Lyana had asked on one occasion. Like the first night when she'd spoke slightly out of turn, she grimaced at her word choice.
"You could say that. Do you know much of fencing?" Caspian offered, hoping to turn the tables away from the girl's embarrassment.
"I suppose my sword play skills are adequate as well. Would you like to see my blade?" A strange new light of excitement shown through Lyana's somewhat listless eyes, and Caspian nodded. He loved the way her gaze twinkled when something she was familiar with was mentioned.
"Perhaps you will bring it tomorrow and we can assess your adequate skills."
For the first time since she'd arrived at Telmar, Lyana smiled a true and heart felt smile. She nodded feverishly before bidding him goodnight and closing the heavy wooden door to her room.
Caspian tried to suppress the images of Lyana's celestial smile that rang through his dreams afresh as he lay sleeping in his bed that night. That is, until an unceremonious intrusion woke him up… one that would change the course of his life from that day on.
**
"Where is his highness?" Lyana inquired at breakfast the next morning, looking from Caspian's uncle, to his wife, to their new son that had been born in the dead of last night.
"He disappeared from the castle. We have search parties combing the forests as we speak-"
"Can I look also?" Lyana mentally chastised herself for interrupting Miraz, and gave him an apologetic look.
"I'm sorry my lady, but we'll handle it." The mysterious gleam in the councilor's eye gave Lyana a hint that something else was going on. Even if she was slightly ignorant of the formalities of royal society, Lyana believed that a figure of Caspian standing could not just disappear so abruptly, and so, she entreated upon the Prince's professor for further information.
"I'm afraid he's been suspected of treason, but that's not the sort of talk a man shares with his ladies of court," Miraz continued, attempting to change the subject.
Like with animals, Lyana could smell fear and aggression as easily as she could treachery, and Miraz was rank with it.
"Thank you my lord. I think I'll retire for a while." And do some investigating while I'm at it.
"The girl is becoming suspicious. There must be some way we can quell her inquisitions," the general, Lord Glazelle demanded that day in the council chambers as rumors flew about the true whereabouts of Caspian.
"Supposedly, he was abducted by the Narnians, but you're right. The girl is a problem." Lord Sopespian gave a suspicious glance at Miraz, who he suspected was the true reason behind Caspian's flight. It wasn't mere coincidence that their Prince disappeared the night that Miraz's son, next in line for the throne, was born.
"If you are worried about her inquiries, why don't you do something about it?" Miraz snapped, drumming his fingers agitatedly on the arm rest of his unnecessarily large wooden chair.
"Put her with the professor."
**
"Let go of me! What're you doing? I refuse to be treated this way!" Lyana cried as three of the Telmarine guards manhandled her down the stone stairs and into the cramped light of the dungeon where she spotted Caspian's tutor, Dr. Cornelius.
"Doctor?" Lyana whispered through the bars of her well sealed cell.
"I can't believe they are treating you in such a manner," the old man sighed, leaning against the adjoined wall and adjusting his round glasses on the bridge of his nose.
"Yes… and I hadn't even truly started snooping yet-"
"So the prince escaped?" the old man seemed desperately curious.
"Yes, but no one knows where he is." A decadent silence followed as Lyana straightened out the shear outer layer of her light pink and white gown as she sat with the many slips of fabric pooled on the ground around her.
"Surely nothing can happen to us down here? Not when we've done nothing wrong-"
"Miraz will go to any length to be king. He even killed Caspian's father." The old man entrusted. Lyana responded with a gasp. How heartless.
That is why I prefer the animals. They don't ever get into petty arguments that end with death or loss.
Lyana didn't like to be caged. Being in the large spacious castle was a cage, so the small, dimly lit room with one miniscule, barred window made her stay at Telmar Keep nearly unbearable… until one night.
After Lyana and the Doctor had been confined for nearly three nights, the alarum bells rang out loudly in the distant night. Someone was coming. Coming for them.
Lyana wasn't sure whether to be afraid or to be exuberant. She was pending the decision until she saw her savior, the Prince Caspian himself, fending off the guards and rushing down the stairs to their rescue.
"Your highness! I'm so glad you're alright!" Lyana exalted.
"I'm afraid there is not time," Caspian extended his free hand that was not clasped around the bloody edge of a blade to the forest princess and led her up from the dungeon.
"Come professor, we must escape from this place," Lyana coaxed, watching as the tutor mumbled angrily at Caspian under his breath.
Now is not the time for such squabbles! Where can we go to-
Lyana knew by the look in Caspian's eye that it was not her place to fight, however, he pulled an extra sheathed sword from his belt and squeezed it in her hands. The warmth and compassion flowed through their clasped fingers and Lyana nodded in understanding.
"You must leave. Now," he whispered urgently, rushing off in the direction towards the courtyard where both Narnian and Telmarine soldiers were gathered. The blonde haired heiress was left by herself in the long, hallways of the keep that echoed with the cries of injured humans and forest creatures alike. One particular sound had gotten her attention.
Griffons.
The very turret that Lyana frequented on her nights to get fresh air was bustling with soldiers. She held her sword firmly in her hands before she maneuvered around the archers who were now lined up, facing the courtyard below, threatening to release a barrage of arrows down upon the warriors.
Once the archers had spotted her however, she was their new target, along with a peculiar looking boy with fair skin and dark hair. Not a Telmarine, but…
"Are you a son of Adam?" she cried at him as together they blockaded the stairway and raced up the tower. Lyana had no doubt in her mind that the winged, graceful, half bird creatures would come to the rescue. The boy, however, looked nervous.
"Fear not," she comforted, taking his hand as the Telmarine guards broke down the door and she pushed him off the balcony.
The skilled griffon caught them in between its razor sharp talons and flew them to safety across the Narnian forest that separated the Telmarine forces from Aslan's Howl.
Once they'd collaborated at the front of the Narnian Keep, Lyana felt a rush of relief. This was where she belonged: among the centaurs, the fauns and dwarves and talking animals.
The sight of the battered and bruised Caspian, however, brought her back to her senses.
"Your majesty! Are you alright?" She gasped, reaching toward the shallow cut on his forehead before he flinched away. Lyana could sense from his demeanor that more than just his flesh had been wounded… his pride, his honor, his dignity, all lay shattered at the hands of his uncle.
"Caspian?" she added. It wasn't until she'd muttered his name in that sweet, musical voice which had captured his heart at the castle did the prince look up and meet her gaze.
"I'm relieved to see you made it out safely," he whispered, his dark eyes, just moments before filled with melancholy, were flooded with a new emotion; concern.
Before he could reach to grasp her hand, Caspian was interrupted by the beaten and battered forest army that had been recruited, and depleted in a matter of days. Leading the way across the field was the kings and queens of old; High King Peter, King Edmond, Queens Lucy and Susan.
When the rest of the soldiers had bowed before the supposed saviors of Narnia, Lyana looked up skeptically. King Peter appeared most confused by the action.
"Are you not from Narnia?" He asked her curiously.
"I am very young, in regards to native Narnians, but I do not see why I must bow to you. My duty is to protect the forest, and you have destroyed its keepers," she indicated the exhausted attack force before them. Peter was taken aback by the statement.
No one before the catacomb had even noticed that the young girl was there until she spoke out. When she did though, there was a sweeping admiration among the warriors.
"It was a mistake to attack the castle," Caspian hissed at Peter, after both the angered prince and the High king had separated from the pack.
"The only mistake was you thinking you could lead these people," Peter snapped back, unsheathing his blade in response to Caspian's outburst.
"Stop this!" the queen Susan, quiet up until then, rushed forward and seized her brother by the arm and giving him a pleading look.
When the two were finally pried apart, Lyana had rushed forward and taken Caspian's arm. He shook it off, not even acknowledging her concern, and rushed into the catacombs beneath the keep.
"Prince Caspian!" She called after him, dashing after him with a swish of her nightgown.
I… I don't know why I feel so compelled to consol him. This… can't be love, can it?
**
Lyana never sensed the dark presence that enveloped her as she entered the dome. Before she even knew what was happening, a dark shadow had crept up behind her and wrested her against its torso, wielding a dagger at her throat.
"Just one drop, my prince… and you could be king."
The White Witch appeared behind a mirror of ice that had been summoned by one of the shadow creatures in the tomb and beckoned Caspian to give her a drop of blood, his human blood that would revive her. Lyana struggled against her captor until she'd broken free and shouted the prince's name.
"Caspian!"
A sharp pain in her back made Lyana realize that these dark beings were not going to let her ruin their plot to revive their demonic mistress, the White Witch from her immortal prison behind the icy veil.
All she knew in that moment was that she was not going to be the one to save her Caspian from the fate the Witch held for him, and for that, she felt like a failure.