Chapter four: Many Things To Explain
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~ Narnia (Still) ~
Susan stiffened, wishing she could remember the language Lone Islanders spoke. She knew that none of their group, except for Arran, knew what was being said, and Arran was too weak to translate. When the man shouted something as they walked past, she looked fearfully up at Caspian.
"It's going to be fine, somehow we'll get out of this, you'll see. Don't cry Susan." He whispered, wishing he could put his arms around her.
"You don't know that, we don't know what that man wants." Susan said, nodding to the richly dressed man as he approached. Caspian looked up to stare at him. Caspian wasn't going to soon forget the way they'd been treated here, and as soon as he was able, these Islanders would know his wrath. He noticed the man was shaking slightly as he talked, the man's eyes never leaving his own. He scowled when Dev moved him away from Susan.
"Caspian! Please, don't separate us! Caspian, don't let him separate us!" Susan screamed, fighting the man holding her.
"Don't you dare hurt her, Susan, don't fight it, He'll just make it worse!" He stopped shouting to find he was now in front of the man, who was slightly shorter than himself. The man looked from him to shout something to Pug. Pug said some more numbers, finally relenting and stopping at one hundred and fifty. The man nodded in agreement, looking at the rest of the bunch. Every time he looked back, Caspian met his gaze with hate.
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"Pug, enough of your stupid games, I'll settle for one hundred and fifty and nothing less! That's all he's worth anyway as an untried slave." Bern felt an odd taste in his mouth as he uttered the word, knowing Caspian was anything but.
"Let's see what else you have." Bern muttered, walking around the nervous group. He was hesitant to look up, knowing most of them didn't know what was being said, but they had an idea of what was going on. He disliked meeting Caspian's gaze because he just stared at him with clear hatred. Bern stopped and looked at the dark haired woman that had been crying, then to Caspian.
He watched with pity as the young man's gaze turned loving when he stared at her. He met Bern's eyes and looked away when the man shrugged helplessly. He couldn't buy her, she'd be too high priced, and he hadn't expected to be doing this today. But, Bern knew, if his plan worked, then all these people could be saved, and Narrowhaven would cease to be a slave trade center.
"I'll take the half dead one as well. If he dies I can feed him to my dogs." Bern said, lying easily. If the Star died, he'd be buried the way a proper Narnian should be.
"Very well, 'e's free, since 'e's as good as gone anyways." Pug said dismissively; knowing that he wouldn't get anything for Arran at the auction. As the group moved on, Bern felt almost as low as a murderer; watching Caspian stare after them, hopelessness in his eyes.
He turned to Lord Bern and started shouting in rapid Narnian, but Bern just shook his head, motioning for him to slow down, he hadn't heard the language in so long it would take some getting used to. Bern's eyes lit when he came upon another idea. Trader's Talk. It was a universal language, not Narnian, Galmanian, Terebinthian, Calormen, or anything else, but a separate language, meant for times much like these.
"Do you know Trader's Talk?" He asked kindly in the language. The young man smiled in recognition.
"Yes." He said simply.
"Very well, forgive me for not taking the girl as well, but Pug is a shrewd trader, and she would've been far too high a price for me to pay at the moment." Bern winced again, noticing the wounded look return to Caspian's eyes.
"She's my wife. Please, if there's any way…" He trailed off, not sure what right he had to even ask the man.
"There is a way, but you must first tell me something. I bought you, er, rescued you, because you have a regal look to you-" Before he could finish, Caspian interrupted, running the risk that this admittance might change something.
"I'm King Caspian tenth of that name, I delivered Narnia from the hands of my usurping Uncle, Miraz, with the help of the four Kings and Queens of Old, Queen Susan is my wife. And if you don't help me think of some way to save her no man in Narrowhaven will escape my wrath!" Caspian shouted at Bern, but stopped when he noticed the older man's look of shock.
"So it's true then. Narnia is once again under Narnian rule, how many years I have waited for that news." Bern whispered softly as his gaze landed on the injured young man being tended to by his servants. He suddenly realized that they must act.
"Just who are you? And why do you wish for a free Narnia?" Caspian demanded.
Bern jerked out of his musings and suddenly realized that this was the King, and he was still bound. He reached for his dagger as he answered the question. "Bern, Lord Bern, a friend of your father's. I fled with several of my companions under the guise of exploring the Eastern Ocean. We arrived here and I stayed, married and never went back, never sent envoys or letters of inquiry to Narnia, fearing Miraz would hunt me down and kill me because of my loyalty to your father and you."
Caspian rubbed his wrists as Bern spoke, relieved to have the rope off. "Thank you for your kindness. Now, I must find a way to get my wife, her family, and several of my men back."
"I believe I know of a way, but you must come with me, we can better discuss this in the privacy of my home. I think my servants have tended to the young man well enough for now." Bern said, looking to his servants, they nodded.
"Very well, but time is short, I do not wish to leave my people with that man any longer than is necessary."
"Come with me." Bern said.
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Susan had grown very quiet as they walked toward the ship that would carry them across the cove to Narrowhaven. Lucy and Edmund shared worried looks about her. "Su?" Lucy asked hesitantly when they arrived at the docks, and the traders were too busy to notice.
"What Lucy?" Susan spoke softly, her voice catching. Lucy could tell she'd been crying.
"Nothing, I'm just worried for you." She said, before the Traders hustled them into the ship.
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"This'll be where you'll stay 'for the auction tomorrow." Pug sneered as they were shoved into a cell in Narrowhaven. Lucy looked up from where she stood in the corner and realized that they were taking Edmund and Eustace somewhere else.
"Edmund! Edmund, what are you doing with my brother?" Lucy screamed, turning to stare at the man.
"Y can't all be in the same cell, it just ain't sensible missy." Pug said, concentrating on Gavan and Zephyr.
The two Star's ropes were removed, but were quickly replaced with shackles. "If you let us out I'd promise you, you'd get a thrashing you wouldn't forget!" Gavan shouted threateningly.
"I really don't care t' make good on that." Pug said, slipping another thin chain out of his tunic and putting it around the boy's neck.
"Relax, this ain't gonna kill ya'." Pug muttered, moving as the boy slumped back against the wall.
"How can you know? You're not the one who's experiencing it." Gavan muttered, wincing at the pain.
The trader did the same to Zephyr before leaving. Susan and Lucy were glad they hadn't been shackled, but what did that matter since there was no escape anyway? The cell was twenty by sixteen feet, Lucy noted, walking around the perimeter several times.
"I wonder how long they've been dealing in magic bearing Narnians and other prisoners to know about the iron?" Lucy mused, staring out through the iron bars on the front wall of their prison.
"I don't know, but help me, this isn't right for them to suffer." Susan said, moving to kneel by Zephyr. Lucy came up to Gavan, who was still leaning on the wall.
"I'm curious, why does iron have this effect on you? I know it's painful for many Narnians, but this is far worse than I've seen." Lucy said, breaking the thin chain.
"Let me catch my breath first." Gavan said, breathing as if he'd just run a marathon. Zephyr was on the floor, his back against the wall, eyes closed, muttering something both girls couldn't make out.
"Zephyr, stop, it's just going to drive you insane, stop saying that." Gavan whispered hoarsely, looking to his brother. Then he turned to Lucy.
"You want to know why it has this affect my Queen? Break a bit of it off, very good, hand it to me, yes, I'm sure." Gavan said, holding out his hand for the small length of chain. He grimaced as he pulled it hard across his palm, causing blood to flow. Lucy gasped, remembering Arran's injuries, and the silver blood. It was uncanny.
"A Star's blood runs silver; it is this color because it is mostly magic. It's what keeps us alive, as your blood does for you, but our blood also gives unlimited power, the ability to live longer. We carry so much magic that it's almost like getting knocked off your feet to come in contact with iron. Most Narnians don't have this much, so it is merely painful." Gavan tore the hem of his shirt, using it to wrap around his hand.
"I didn't know that, I can't imagine what that must be like." Lucy said, recalling Arran's look of agony when he fell to the ground.
"If I might ask, how did you come to know my sister and - Caspian?" Lucy said, suddenly realizing that Caspian was more than just a friend now, he was family.
"We betrayed them." Gavan said, smiling grimly.
"What?" Lucy asked, confused.
"We were spies, and we nearly got them killed because we told every move they made, everything they did, to a traitor, a man who wished to see them killed, and Narnia returned to its Telmarine ways and customs." Gavan said by way of explanation.
"But…you're Narnians." Lucy said, not at all understanding this.
"Perhaps I might explain some other time? When I have the strength?" Gavan asked.
"Yes, sorry." Lucy said, realizing that he'd be exhausted, and that she needed to go see how Susan was. She walked up to her sister, who was once again sitting in the far corner, staring blankly at the opposite wall.
"Susan, how are you?"
"Oh Lucy, how I wish Aslan could save us!" Susan whispered. Lucy sat down next to her and reached for her hand comfortingly. "I know, I know." She replied. Lucy didn't know what would happen, and she was afraid, but she knew she had to be strong for her sister. As they sat in silence, Lucy became acutely aware of a shuffling, pacing sound coming from the other side of the wall on Susan's left. A low, animalistic whimper roused her curiosity even more. She crawled forward to a grate in the floor, and looked into the cell next to theirs.
A large white she-wolf with grey accents on her fur paced with her head down, a shackle on her hind leg, giving her space to move, but still greatly constricting her actions. As the she-wolf turned her head, smelling the air, Lucy noticed a thin iron chain around her neck as well. "Oh, poor dear." Lucy whispered, wondering if the wolf was a Narnian wolf, and if the chain prohibited her from speaking, or something crueler.
The wolf suddenly stared at her, having heard her whisper, and smelling her scent. Its grass green eyes met hers emotionlessly. Girl and wolf stared at one another, waiting for the first one to move. Lucy suddenly struck upon an idea.
"Do you understand Narnian, or anything?" Lucy asked slowly. The wolf gave a low whine in reply.
"I'll take that as a 'yes'. Now, to test if you truly do understand me; and I'm not just talking to a wild animal," Lucy muttered, wondering if she was going crazy in the cell from worry over her brother and Caspian's fate, "Walk to me as far as the shackle will allow. Good!" Lucy praised, as the wolf came up to the grate and lay down facing her. They were nose to nose.
"Okay, now I'm going to get that ugly thing off your neck." Lucy muttered, reaching her hands through the grating and sliding them into the thick white fur. It was several seconds before she managed to find the chain; she slid it around until she found the clasp. Opening it, she pulled it away from the wolf's neck and tossed it back behind the animal. It hit the opposite wall with a clang.
Lucy gasped, jerking her hands back through the bars as the wolf jumped up and away with a snarl, before coming to a stop in the middle of her cell and howling. Clearly that iron had restricted her, sobering her to almost complete inactivity.
In Lucy's cell, Susan jumped upon hearing the howling. Turning, she saw Lucy stretched out across the floor. She slid down next to her sister to find out what she thought so fascinating. Susan gasped when she saw the she-wolf.
"What-how..?" She asked, looking to Lucy for an explanation.
"I thought there was something over here, and so, when I looked, there she was. I wish she'd talk to me, but I'm afraid she might be too savage after being treated in who-knows-what-way." Lucy replied. As she spoke, though, the wolf walked back to the grate. Lying down again so she could look into their eyes, she started to speak.
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"Where is your ship?" Bern asked, turning to Caspian as they arrived at Bernstead, the Lord's estate on the sister island of Avra. It was quite a beautiful residence, if one wasn't distracted by more important matters of state. The manor was built out into the water, the lower terrace nearly level with the sea. It had most of its windows facing the ocean, so as to get a cool breeze, for the weather in the Lone Islands is rather like the tropics. Bern's land spread out in an ever widening radius from the manor. Lord Bern was a fair man, and he had tried, in all the time he'd taken residence on the Lone Islands, to cease the trading of men. As a result, he had many hundreds of servants he'd freed from slavery, but because his land was so fruitful, and the men and women so eager to serve, there were no worries over food, drink or shelter.
"Probably rounding to Doorn by now." Caspian replied as they disembarked from Bern's sloop onto the terrace, built for such a reason.
"I'll have Wrenn fly out to send a message before they enter the harbor, we don't want them captured as well." Bern said. Before Caspian could inquire as to whom this "Wrenn" was, a little girl ran out to them shouting excitedly.
"Father, Father's back! Everyone, Father's back!" Her auburn curls bounced wildly around her face as she ran. The hem of her white and lilac purple dress was torn and she was barefoot, but Bern either didn't care, or ignored those details as he smiled and knelt down to embrace her.
"Lily, what have I told you about shouting for your sisters when I have a guest or otherwise?" He asked, a twinkle in his eye as he spoke.
"I know, "Never shout because it causes Mummy to run and everyone to start asking too much questions at all the 'xact same times." Lily recited proudly.
"Well, that was more or less correct." Bern said, standing, but keeping her hand in his. Caspian watched the two interact with an amused expression, but he looked up sharply when more shouts and yells were heard from the terrace entrance.
"Oh darling! I'm ever so glad you're back! There is so much you need to do!" The woman, with similarly colored hair to that of the little girl appeared first, a rainbow of paint smattered on her hair and her dress. Her hair was back in a loose braid, wisps falling over her eyes. Her light summer dress was a spring green with yellow accents, and she was also barefoot.
"Look out father, mother, Lily, you, sir, move!" Two girls, one in a sky blue dress and brown hair, the other in a flaming orange, with hair to match, galloped past, bareback, on two grey mares. The animals, instead of stopping, plunged into the surf, their riders screaming in excitement. The mares dove beneath the surface, while the two girls climbed back onto the terrace.
"Water Horses." They explained to a stunned Caspian as yet another girl, this one in yellow, came out onto the porch and gave them thick, sandy colored towels, all the while reading a book.
"Dahlia, Celandine, Please, must you introduce yourselves in this fashion?"
"Darling, this is what I was talking about; they won't keep still long enough for me to paint a portrait of them!" Bern's wife said, ignoring the fact that there was a guest and her daughters had just jumped off a terrace on horseback. She acted as if it was a normal occurrence, which was true.
"How's that new book Buttercup?" Bern asked, looking at the other girl with a grin.
"Marvelous father…" the girl in yellow muttered, nodding and smiling to herself as she read, her short brown hair ruffled by the warm summer breeze as it blew off the ocean.
"Father, Jon stole my drawing pad!" A girl came running up dressed in dark pink, her long chestnut hair blowing back in the breeze as she ran.
"Well, Ivy took my pastels!" another girl, identical to the first shouted, running out after her sister, she was wearing light pink.
"Father, Missy is going to foal, and I don't know what to do!" A blonde girl wearing a dark purple shirt, black pants and brown knee-high riding boots ran out to her Father, a worried expression on her face. Before Bern could help her with her quandary, or even answer, yet another girl ran out to him. She had on a light green and pink dress, with reddish-brown curls.
"Oh father, I really need you, Wrenn says my skills aren't good enough! But I've told him and told him, I can treat injuries, I learnt from the best - you!" So saying she threw her arms around her father in a hurried hug, before going back to shouting over the cacophony of noise.
"Father I've had it! I really have! This piece won't sound right, I'm about to throw it into the ocean!" Another girl, this one in red and black came out, waving some music sheets in her hand. She had the darkest hair, nearly black.
"Oh father, I've got a splinter!" a little girl ran out, holding her right hand in her left in front of her as if it was infected. She had leaves and twigs in her long brown braid and her green dress was in tatters.
"Father, please, I wish you would help me with this poor tree, it's really quite pitiful." A girl in white said, pulling off her gardening gloves as she spoke. She had a dark tan and her brown hair had a sun kissed look to it.
"Oh, Father. I'm glad to see your safe home! You must tell us how your business trip was and – who's this?" a young woman stopped at the terrace entrance, her eyes glancing at Caspian with a question, before she looked back to her father. She had her hair up in a style that reminded Caspian of Susan, and her dress was, well, let's just say that it was wildly patterned with all the colors of her younger siblings.
"Roxy, girls, please, I have something to tell you, and I wish you'd all stop shouting!" Bern yelled above the noise. The silence that followed was deafening.
"Caspian, these are my daughters, and my wife. Roxanne, this is Caspian, King of Narnia, and these Islands." Bern said, talking to the paint-stained woman.
"Oh, goodness, my King, what you must think of us! Please, though, call me Roxy, everyone does. Except for those who call me Mother, "Mummy" "Ma" "Maman" and all other endearing titles a mother earns in her life." Roxy said, giving a shallow curtsy, more paint smearing across her dress from the brush she held as she did so.
"Of course." Caspian said, smiling at her sentence.
"And these are my girls. Azalea, the oldest, at nineteen," the young lady in the crazy patterned dress curtsied.
"Buttercup, next oldest, eighteen," the girl in yellow nodded, taking her eyes from her book for an instant.
"Celandine, next oldest, seventeen," The wet girl in orange smiled and nodded sharply, shaking water drops everywhere.
"Dahlia, next oldest, sixteen," The other wet girl in sky blue grinned.
"Eglantine, the oldest younger girl, fifteen," The girl with the worried expression over her mare smiled slightly, and bowed, which was unusual for a girl.
"Fern, next youngest, fourteen," The girl who had been complaining about reliance in her nursing skills curtsied.
"Ginger, thirteen" the musician who had been threatening to throw the music into the ocean nodded.
"Hyacinth, twelve," The girl in white who had been talking about some tree, curtsied deeply.
"The twins, ten, Ivy and Jonquil, or, Jon as she prefers," The two girls who had been fighting over art supplies curtsied.
"Kennedia, nine," The little girl crying about a splinter nodded, ran forward to shake Caspian's hand, stopped between him and her parents, then ran back and hid behind them when she realized what she was doing.
"And the youngest, Lily, she's six." Bern picked up the child who had been first to arrive, she giggled and put her arms around her father's neck.
"Twelve?" Caspian asked, surveying the large group.
"Yes, and that doesn't include the many servants, who are all great friends as well, and all the talking Narnian beasts and all the water horses, ordinary horses, goats, sheep, forest animals, pigs, cats, rats, dogs and the rest of the menagerie we keep around because of my girls - and my wife." Bern said, smiling indulgently as he looked at his family.
"Now, though, Azalea, please help your Mother with these children, Caspian and I must talk over something. It regards the future of the Islands." Bern said, returning to the somber state he had arrived in.
"Come with me, Sire." Bern said, motioning into the manor. Both men stopped when one of Bern's sailors shouted for him.
"What is it now Everyn?" Bern sighed, momentarily passing a hand over his face and muttering something about "too many people".
"What do we do with this injured man?" The Calormen asked, motioning to Arran, who was helped to the terrace by two other sailors, even though he was complaining that he could walk without help, in usual Arran style, wounded though he was.
"Arran?" The blonde haired young man looked up sharply, and his grimace of pain was momentarily replaced with shock.
"Azalea, what in Aslan's name are you doing here?" He replied, staring at the young lady.
"I live here. But what's happened to you?" She asked, running down the stairs to his side.
"I decided I'd had enough of easy living fighting on the sea, and decided I'd mess with fate. No, guess." He stated flatly, wincing as he tried to move forward. She replied something and looked at him with concern.
"I say, young man. I don't know you, but I dare say my daughter does. Just who are you?" Bern asked, his expression stern.
"Arran, captain of the pirate ship The Sea Serpent. I don't believe we've met either. I think your daughter had something to do with that too." Here Arran's gaze turned to Azalea's, and she blushed slightly, looking down.
"She refused to tell me who her father was, now I know why. I don't blame you if you want throw me back into the ocean, but, put me on my ship instead, as I don't think I can very well swim to her in this state." Arran continued, struggling to make light of the situation by mentioning that Bern would want to keep him away from his daughter.
Caspian interrupted before Bern could reply; "Your ship is still out there somewhere? I thought you sent her back to Galma."
"Yes and no. Yes to the fact that she is, indeed still out there, probably on the north of this very island, and no to the fact that I didn't send her back to port." Arran grinned weakly. He had said he wouldn't raid their ship, and he wouldn't harm Caspian's crew, he didn't say he'd sent his ship back, but that idea had been implied.
"Azalea, I think there is much you two have to explain, but for now, Fern, help him, girls, the rest of you wash up and get started helping with dinner. Caspian, I don't know how much privacy we'll have, but we need to talk." Bern walked away into the recesses of his house and Caspian followed, glancing back at the group on the terrace once more before he left.
A/N:
I know I gave Bern twelve daughters. There's really no reason behind that, except that I loved the idea of him being a reserved man with a rather wild, rambunctious family. it says simply in the books:
"Bern's gracious wife and merry daughters made them good cheer."
{Twelve daughters all with flower names has NOTHING WHATEVER to do with the Twelve Dancing Princess fable, I promise!}
I like the idea of Bern being a calm man, but when strangers see his home they can't understand why it isn't more like he is. I portrayed Bern as a Telmarine who is a free thinking man, and he listens to other people's ideas and thoughts, but he wasn't always that way. He stayed and married a girl of the Islands, a Narnian, who vastly changed his opinion.
Something the six other Lords, his friends, couldn't understand. Sure, they liked the Narnians well enough, but to marry one was probably considered below their rank, {Remember, they're Telmarines, not lost puppies (couldn't help it!)} They stayed friends, but when the time came to set sail and find some way to destroy the mist, Bern stayed with his family.
Roxanne is the leader of her girls, but she also is the grounding rock. She encourages their creativeness, but also curbs the wild side, the side they get from her. she disciplines them and loves them. She also brings out Bern's wild side, what little there is of that.
I don't know what the atmosphere is like in the Lone Islands, but whenever I read the book, I always imagine it to be tropical. I don't know, I suppose I like the idea of palm trees and tropical flora and fauna. I also like the idea of a large happy family living somewhere in a lush beautiful island. Try to put aside the movie and think in a new perspective with me, humor the writer if ya don't mind. {lol}
I have never read of Capaill Uisce {pronunciation: Cabyll-Ushtey: meaning roughly: 'water horse'} having an appearance in Narnia, so again I took a creative license there, as water horses are rather vicious and cruel. I kept them wild and unruly, but tamed down their folklore side. I hope this doesn't bother you, don't worry they don't come into the story many more times after this...About once more I think.
Remember, Bern already knows Caspian's name, because of Susan shouting it, and he knows that Caspian looks very much like his beloved, deceased king, which is why that went by rather smoothly. I also think that the character portrayed in the movie by Ben is not one to be doubted if he had said that.
{That is, if they had gone by the book more.}
Now, What else is there... {What else is there?! You should write a book: "How To Offend Women In Five Syllables Or Less".} Who can tell me where that's from? ;)
Oh yeah, tell me your ideas and thoughts about the Star-magic. Flames or whatever will be helpful.
I titled this "Many Things To Explain" because there was a bunch of stuff in book and movie that had been just barely touched, so I delved into it full force. {prison cell stays, and Bern's family}
I can't think of much else, except that this is slightly a filler chapter, fleshing out Bern and his family more than the book and movie does. If there are points that you wanted me to address, but I didn't and missed them entirely, please leave them in a review, I'll tell you about them in the next A/N or PM you immediately, {as soon as I can}
My favorite part is where Caspian meets all the daughters of Bern. Those kids have strong resemblances to my siblings, down to the shouting! Well, enjoy! ~ W.H.