The swiftest of Narnian birds were dispatched to scout the Seven Isles to fully confirm Featherflip's tale. They conversed with the other Puffins of the White Cliffs Colony, as well as the non-Talking birds of the Isles, and flew home with the gravest of news.

It was all true. Redhaven was now in the control of a mysterious group of Telmarines.

Caspian and Isadora listened to Swiftwing the Falcon gravely as he told them how the city had retreated inside itself and now lay silent and cold against the White Cliffs. Worse, Swiftwing knew Lorrin by sight and confirmed that he had seen the Lord of Beruna conversing with the invaders in a manner that suggested that he was not against them.

It sent the cousins spiralling once more in disbelief and gut-wrenching betrayal. As Caspian stalked back and forth, ranting incessantly, Isadora sat curled up on a couch and thought back on her brief friendship with Lorrin. He had once told that they were fighting for the same cause, at a time when she did not know who she herself was truly fighting for, and she had believed him. She had trusted him and offered her help when he seemed overworked and stressed. It was simply inconceivable that he would turn against them and she felt as hurt as confused as she had been by Caspian during the Revolution.

"This is my fault," Caspian said weakly, flopping down beside her. "I should have gone to Brenn. I should have done my duty as a King instead of passing it off to another."

"Then the attackers would have you as well as Eilif," Isadora pointed out. "Lorrin may have aided them in this attack but I doubt he was necessary for the plan to go ahead. They had another associate already in Brenn, remember?"

Caspian looked troubled. "I want to go there," he said.

"Caspian," she said in a warning tone.

"We need to send help and I'll be damned if I send off someone again when I know I could help myself," he said, standing and striding from the room. "Someone send for Captain Swiftwing!" she heard him order as she ran after him.

"Caspian, this is madness!" she tried to reason but he silenced her with an angry wave of his hand. It was almost frightening to follow in his wake as he stormed through the castle. Was this how zealous he had been in the first days of the Revolution?

"Where is my ruddy Council?" he all but shouted as he ran down the main staircase.

They appeared, as if by magic, from whatever corners of the castle they had been in, and followed their King with some confusion to the Weapons Chamber. They stood assembled as he reached down his shirt for his own key chain and unlocked the door.

"Inside, now!" he barked as the door swung open and they all piled in quickly. He paused for a moment and stood aside to let Swiftwing swoop in and then shut and locked the door behind him.

He turned to face them. His anger had all but vanished, so quick that Isadora could not help but wonder if it was an act, and his face was now composed.

"My Lords," he said to the assembled room. "The situation in Redhaven is extrapolating at a rate that I am not comfortable with. Since this is one of the few rooms in the Castle which is truly private, I have gathered you all here to inform you that I mean to travel to the Seven Isles myself to aid them. I do not know whether I will encounter any resistance from the Sevenese themselves or whether I will be helped but I know in my heart that this is the path of action I must take and I would rather you advise me than attempt to dissuade me."

The Lords looked to each other in horror at his words. Isadora caught Trumpkin's eye for a moment and then returned to glaring at Caspian with arms folded. He was acting so erratically that she was almost afraid of what he would say next.

"Sire, this is most inadvisable," Glenstorm said. "If you wish to send a battalion to Brenn to aid them then that can easily be arranged."

"I don't want to make this a big invasion effort," Caspian said. "If anything, this should be a small, covert operation. I want to know exactly who this mysterious group is and where they have come from. There is not even to be a chance that they could escape. And, since we have reason to believe that Lord Sopespian has joined them, it will not be long before even Talking Animals will not be able to approach them. He will tell them of any advantages we think we have."

Here he turned to Swiftwing, who had perched atop the statue of the Black Eagle at the far end of the Hall, and bowed his head.

"Not to discredit the fine work of you or any of your scouts, Captain," he said, "but the window of opportunity in which we can use you is growing short."

"I understand, sire," Swiftwing said. "Is there anything we can do in the meantime?"

Caspian nodded and took a few steps down the Hall towards him. He paused in front of one weapon case in particular and Isadora took a few steps to the side to see which it was. As it happened, it was the Axe of the Ocean's Waves; one of the Weapons that still did not have an owner after its Lord was killed in the War of Deliverance. It was also supposed to be the Weapon that historically belonged to the Admiral but there had been no fleet for generations.

"Telmarines do not make good and hearty sailors," Caspian said, turning back to Swiftwing. "We have not maintained a navy for years for this very reason. Therefore there is no ship to take me to Redhaven. Find me one; even if you have to fly all the way to Tashbaan to do so."

"Your Majesty, I must protest against this plan!" Lord Casales said, stepping forward. "It would be foolhardy to send anybody into Redhaven at this time; and you are our King. You cannot expect us to let you go alone into this trap."

"He won't be alone," Isadora said. Caspian turned to her and the cousins stared each other down. She won, of course.

"Wherever Caspian goes, Isadora follows," she said, looking to the rest of the room. "This is how it has always been and it is my primary duty."

The Narnians in the room still did not appear happy but there was a change in the Telmarines; especially Lord Casales. The hairs on the back of her neck rose as they stared at her with fresh eyes. For once, she felt like they had complete faith in her. She pulled her shoulders back and stood a little taller. If she was to convince the Narnians then she needed to look as confident as she spoke.

"As you wish, your Majesty," Casales said. "If you desire to go to Redhaven then we will not stop you."

Caspian, having not noticed the shift in favour to Isadora, nodded and strode back towards the door. He unlocked it and left; continuing on in his frenzy. After a moment, Isadora followed and Swiftwing too glided out behind them.

The Narnians were left staring at the Telmarines but the three remaining Telmarine Lords did not notice.

Lord Casales walked towards the glass case that held the Bow. He reached out and pressed his fingertips to the glass although he could not open it. His own keys only opened the door to the Chamber and the case to his own Weapon, the Pike of the Farmers.

"Would you mind explaining why you are so happy to let our King go off into a serpent's den?" Glenstorm growled.

"He will be fine so long as Isadora is with him," Casales said absently.

"That is just an old wives' tale, surely," Holguín said, moving up to join the older Lord. "I've never thought it to actually be true."

"So did we all. I always thought Scythley was crazy but there was clearly some ring of truth in his obsessions," he replied.

"Would one of you please explain?" Trumpkin demanded.

Casales turned to the assembled Narnians. "I doubt any of you had much interaction with Lord Amancio Scythley, Lady Isadora's grandfather?" he asked.

"She speaks very highly of him but no, we never properly spoke with him," the Dwarf confirmed.

"Lord Scythley was obsessed with the Weapons and our connections to them," Casales said. "In particular with an old verse of ours."

He hesitated and glanced at Holguín and Oroitz.

"Who shall rule?" he asked.

"He of the Dirk," the pair of them answered immediately.

Casales took a few steps back towards of the centre of the Hall. "Who shall protect?" he asked.

"She of the Bow," they replied.

"Where shall they stand?"

"Upon the desert sands, the rising sun at their back."

"To whom shall they answer?"

The two other Telmarine Lords joined Casales in the centre of the Hall. Almost instinctually, the three of them turned to face the statue at the far end and, when they answered, all three answered as one.

"To each other alone, save for the Eagle of Feathers Black."

The Narnians looked at each other in the gathering silence.

"What does it mean?" Glenstorm asked. The three Telmarines looked at each other.

"In all honesty, we do not know. It very obviously refers to the First Caspian and Isadora, our nation's founders, but beyond that…" Oroitz said with a shrug.

"Scythley hypothesised that a bond existed between the owners of the Dirk and the Bow. While the owner of the Bow lives, the owner of the Dirk cannot be harmed. I would call it little more than a fairy-tale if I had not seen Isadora's willingness to selflessly protect Caspian with my own eyes," Casales said. "Wherever Caspian goes, Isadora follows, and as long as she does so then he will be safe."

"We cannot risk the safety of our King on belief in a fairy-tale," Trumpkin said.

Casales tore his eyes from the Eagle's statue and turned to face the Dwarf.

"You won one war with belief in your fairy-tales," he said coldly. "Maybe it is time for you to trust in ours."


Swiftwing and his scouts left immediately. They flew far and wide until they found a ship willing to take Caspian and Isadora to Redhaven. However, when they returned with the news, it was less than satisfactory.

"Sire, Bólivar and his men are pirates," Holguín said. "They mutinied against their previous captain and have been terrorising the coastline ever since."

"He is the only captain we spoke to who agreed to go to Redhaven. I did not mention who my Masters were, only that they had the gold to make it worth their while. They are currently sailing towards Easthaven as fast as the winds can carry them," Swiftwing reported.

Caspian did not look up from the papers littering the table he and Isadora were sitting at. "I'm sure Bólivar will help us just fine," he said.

"Sire-" Holguín tried to interject again but his King held up a hand and bid him leave. He did, grudgingly so - along with Swiftwing - and Caspian and Isadora were left by themselves once more.

"This is hopeless," Caspian sighed, rubbing a hand across his face. He cast an exasperated eye across their workload; any paper or scroll within the archive devoted to Brenn and Redhaven. "There used to be a detailed blueprint of the city streets; I remember us studying it with Dr Cornelius."

"Trufflehunter remembered it but he could not find it in the Archives," Isadora said. "The last person to check it out was Lorrin. He said his grandfather needed to borrow it."

Caspian made a face. "Of course he did. The more evidence we find of his treachery; the greater the fool I feel," he said.

"We should speak to his mother," Isadora said. "They are very close and I caught her berating him about something in Sevenese the night before he left."

She should have pushed him, a little voice in the back of her mind said. She should have pushed him until he said what he was so worried about. She could have prevented this all but she stood by and let him past.

He would not escape her again.


It did not take long for a guard to locate Pála for them. When she arrived, her face was stoic and calm. Dressed in her favourite grey dress and her blonde hair pulled back demurely from her face, she looked the picture of innocence. She refused the seat Caspian offered her, instead choosing to stand opposite them.

"Lady Sopespian," Caspian said calmly, leaning back in his chair. "No doubt you know by now what has occurred in your homeland."

Pála blinked at him. The corners of her mouth tightened but she did not speak a word.

"We also have reason to believe that your son is involved with what has transpired in Redhaven," Caspian continued.

Although she did not react, she did open her mouth.

"Am I under arrest?"

"No, no, of course not. Lady Orellana-Scythley and I just want to find out if you knew anything about Lorrin's business dealings."

She sniffed. "Lorenzo never let me know his business," she said. "Lorrin is the same."

Her blue eyes moved to Isadora and looked her up and down.

"Like father, like child," she added. Unnerved by her slight change to the saying, Isadora shifted in her seat.

"You seem very close to Lorrin," she noted.

"Just because I am close to someone does not mean I know their full affairs," Pála replied coldly.

"Why converse in Sevenese then, unless you are afraid of being overheard of course."

Two angry red spots appeared on her cheeks. "So I can't keep my own culture alive and well within my own family line?" she said through gritted teeth. "I speak Sevenese with Lorrin because we both enjoy speaking in my language."

"Lady Orellana-Scythley wasn't suggesting any-" Caspian began but Pála overrode him angrily.

"No, she was!" she spat. "I've been treated this way for years when I've done nothing wrong! All I've been guilty of is trying to instil honest Sevenese morals in my son instead of this uptight, Telmarine, bull!"

She made to leave in a swirl of angry skirts but thought better of it; turning back to them with a mournful gaze.

"I suppose your mothers never told the pair of you that we used to be friends," she said hollowly.

The cousins exchanged a look; they had known that their mothers had been closer than close as young women but Pála had never interacted with them beyond anything that of a mild acquaintance.

The older woman was nodding and holding back tears.

"They were my first friends here," she said miserably, "when I was shipped over. Eighteen, terrified, doomed to marry a man old enough to be my father. They were kind; they looked after me. I even saved their lives, once, believe it or not. You should have been raised alongside Lorrin; you should have been as close to him as you are to each other!"

Her brow furrowed and a tear slipped down her cheek. "And then they turned on me and left me alone when I did nothing wrong."

She looked angrily between the two of them.

"I don't know what Lorrin has done but he must be innocent; as I was," she said. "I know he is. Don't abandon him as quickly as your mothers abandoned me."

The door slammed behind her as she stormed from the room.

"Do you believe her?" Isadora asked.

"I think she's lying," Caspian said.

"About Lorrin or about our mothers?"

He chose not to answer that, instead bending over the parchments once more. She knew exactly why he didn't answer. He had been so young when his mother died and she had been ill for most of his life before that so she only existed as a figure of purity and kindness in his mind. Isadora understood why he would not want someone else to mar that image of her.

A pair of feet pounded along the corridor outside and Dr Cornelius burst through the door. His face was red and his glasses akimbo.

"Sire, another message has arrived from Redhaven!" he gasped, waving the letter cluttered in his hand. "It's from the Jarls!"

Caspian paled and he stood to take the paper from his old tutor.

"The Jarls? Who are they?" Isadora asked as her cousin unfolded the letter and began to read.

"The Jarls are the Lords of the Seven Isles," Cornelius told her. "They do not hold a lot of power under Telmarine law but their control and influence over their people is absolute. If they are with us it will make all the difference."

By now, Caspian had scanned the letter and he was beginning to nod.

"This is good; I think it is good news," he said.

"What does it say?" Isadora asked.

"We are your Majesty's loyal servants. We do not submit," he read. "And here, underneath, are four emblems and some more words but I don't know what they say or what these symbols are."

He passed the letter across to her and she examined them. A Sevenese ship upon a cresting wave, a pair of crossed axes, a mermaid, and a hammerhead shark had all been stamped upon the parchment under the note. Underneath were two words; Til Valhall.

"Does his Majesty not recall his lessons?" Dr Cornelius asked. "These are the sigils of four of the Seven Isles; Muil, Unst, Flotta, and Eriska to be precise. The sigil of Brenn we can expect to be missing since Eilif is held captive but we must presume that the sigils of Canna and Wyre are missing because they have either submitted to or are possibly even working with the invaders."

"And the words?" Isadora asked.

"Til Valhall. Valhall is the Sevenese name for Aslan's Country where it is said the dead shall rise again to walk beside Him in eternal sunlight," the old tutor explained. "Til Valhall means, quite simply, To Glory. They are ready to give their lives in battle for you."


No reviews on the last chapter? I'd have thought someone would have had something to say! :D

Thank you to Wildhorses1492 for the small feedback you gave me.

My Sevenese are decidedly Norse in influence (in fact they are a mix of Vikings, Chereks from The Belgariad by David Eddings, and Nords from The Elder Scrolls franchise, and of course the latter two of those are also based on the first) but the names of the Islands are not. C.S. Lewis only gave us the names of two of the Seven Isles, Brenn and Muil, so it falls to fanfiction authors to invent names for the other five. I chose lesser known Scottish islands, in homage to the country where I live. Canna and Eriska are in the Hebrides, Flotta and Wyre are in the Orkneys, and Unst is in the Shetlands. The Orkneys and the Shetlands were colonised by the Vikings at one point, so maybe these island names could be traced back to Old Norse - I've not looked into it.

The list of Face Claims on my profile has been updated to include Pála so go take a look if you are that way inclined. I'm intending to write a prequel to FaN which tells the story of Caspian and Isadora's parents and that will include exactly what Pála did to ostracise herself from their mothers. She might not be as innocent as she tells herself...

Until next time! On to a fateful meeting with Captain Bólivar, and onwards towards Redhaven!