Chapter 3: The Council

The day of the council meeting finally arrived.

The few Lords of Telmar who were requested for the meeting had arrived. During the adventures on the Dawn Treader, only few were found surviving and sane. Others were not as fortunate, for they had either passed away or had become insane from their travels.

The men filed into the great hall and sat in their seats. The Great Hall was a big room which had Nine seats, the biggest seat saved for the Great King of Narnia.

After all of them settled down, one of the guards announced,

"High King of Narnia, King Caspian, has arrived!"

And with that, the doors opened to reveal Caspian with his Professor. Upon his entrance, all members of the council stood and waited for Caspian to take a seat.

Upon settling down, Caspian began the meeting.

"I gratefully thank all of you who came to the council meeting upon short notice. I asked for everyone to meet here due to an urgent matter that required our attention. Just two days ago, Princess Lillian from the tribe nearby Taman, has come to request for assistance. She will explain exactly what the urgent issue is."

At that moment, Princess Lillian calmly stepped into the Great Hall. She curtsied to Caspian, who slightly bowed his head in return.

Living in a tribe, Lillian was not used to such customs, but she had prepared herself in order to get the full attention of Narnia's high council.

"Members of the High Council and Your Majesty, King of Narnia, I have come to Narnia in request for assistance with an upcoming terror."

Lillian calmly continued to state the predicament that she faced.

"Two months ago, my tribe members heard a rumor regarding a certain sorceress within a different tribe."

A murmur between the council sounded. The members were concerned that a sorceress that they did not know was creating havock.

Lillian continued speaking,

"That tribe was one that which supported Narnia assistance at the beginning of the war to reclaim the Narnian lands. It was said that she had great powers that could easily hypnotize people to do her bidding. But we did not know that she had plans to use her abilities for destroying the trust each tribes had for each other. In one week's time, the tribe that she had supposedly been in turned its back on all the others and began a great battle between us. Those very men and the chief of the tribe declared war on all of the other tribes. Soon, battle began and other tribes began joining the sorceress's army. Now, my tribe is the only tribe that has not fallen trap to the sorceress's power. I departed secretly from my tribe in order to warn you of this peril."

The murmur instantaneously changed into strings of questions fired at the Princess.

"Do you believe that she intends to harm Narnia?"

"How strong are her powers exactly?"

"Do you know if your tribe is still safe from her sorcery?"

"Does she have a weakness?"

"What else have you learned about the sorceress?"

Lillian did not have the chance to answer the questions until Caspian, who was shocked about this report from his friend, yelled,

"Silence!"

The hall silenced immediately. The members of the council were surprised that their king would be so angered by this news. They had expected him to know the reason as to the Princess's sudden visit to Narnia and request for a council meeting.

Caspian spoke,

"Princess Lillian, do you know if Narnia is in danger from her attacks?"

Lillian looked into the king's eyes. She knew that aged look in his eyes. It was clear that Caspian was exhausted from his recent travels and battles. Yet here she was, declaring that she needed Caspian to fight-well, at least prepare for one just in case. She slowly responded,

"Yes sire, I fear that Narnia will be in grave danger if the sorceress continues to expand her hold on tribes and their armies."

Caspian responded,

"Then what is it that you would have us do? Are you requesting us to provide you with soldiers?"

"No."

Lillian quickly responded.

"Your majesty, I believe you do realize that I, Princess Lillian, would never request something as such in this situation that could make your own, most talented soldiers, turn against Narnia."

Caspian froze. If his thoughts were correct, then Lillian only wanted Caspian and Narnia to prepare soldiers and wait behind the walls in case her tribe lost to the sorceress and attacked Narnia. That meant that either Lillian would fall victim to the sorcery, or die rejecting it to the end. This thought happened all very quickly and he dreaded what Lillian was going to say.

"I merely request that you prepare your forces and do not attack. Nobody from my tribe knows that I am here nor that I am contacting you in any way. But I have to go back to my tribe and assist fighting the sorceress as much as I can. All I want the council and you to consider is that you shoul-"

"I reject to grasp that thought. We will fight the sorceress with you. We will-" Caspian had interrupted Lillian in order to stop her from continuing on. But he didn't expect the Princess to interrupt him within the Great Halls, during the formal meeting.

"Your Highness, as the Princess of a tribe who has fought alongside you and your army, I am requesting you to prepare for war. But not to fight immediately. If you bring in your army at this moment, you are risking the lives of your very citizens, who need your protection more than anything at this moment!"

Upon this statement, one member stood up and requested to speak. Caspian gave his approval.

"Your Highness, I believe that upon traditional customs, we believe that the members of the council will vote in order to determine whether to heed Princess Lillian's request, or to prepare an army to battle as soon as possible."

Caspian sighed, as king, though he did have a vote, he realized that his friend was aiming for the voting process. She knew what the members of the council were like. These men, who supported Caspian and his views, would do anything to save Narnia and protect it from any harm. They chose the best solution. And he had known that his suggestion, as Lillian said, would only lead to more suffering. He granted the vote.

The voting resulted with Five to heed Lillian's request and Three to immediately dispatch an army. Only one lord abstained from voting. He would not express his opinion on the matter.

The meeting ended, and the members left, as they arranged separate meetings with other nobles in order to begin the busy preparations for an army that will be waiting for potential dangers to come.

As Lillian was going towards her quarters, Caspian ran and caught up to her. He quickly grabbed her arm and turned her around to make her face him.

"Lillian! Why! Why would you decide on a matter like that!" He shook her in his desperation to at least persuade her to remain in Narnia.

Lillian merely stared at him. Why, why indeed? For Narnia? No, she thought. It was for Caspian. It was for her. She could never bear it if she had to see him losing his men, feeling guilt despite everything that happened not being his fault.

"I'm doing it for Narnia." She lied. If Caspian knew the true reason, he would never let her go back to her tribe. And she, like Caspian, could never let her people fight alone.

"You possibly cannot go."

"I can- no I need to Caspian. My people need me. I don't even know if my people are alright. I risked my people in order to save a bigger population of people. It was the stupid thing to do, but I cannot risk Narnia falling apart either. That would mean the destruction of this entire land."

Caspian froze. He hated that Lillian was right. That she had thought this through carefully and risked everything important to her in order to help him. He knew and he hated it. And by the looks of how Lillian was speaking to him, he also knew that she was departing either tonight or early at dawn.

"When are you leaving?" Caspian whispered.

"Tonight, when everyone is most likely sleeping. Caspian, I'm terribly sorry..." Lillian whispered back...

I am terribly sorry that I did not tell you everything I know... Lillian thought as Caspian silently let go of her arm...