Chapter Twenty: You Will Be Tested
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~ Narnia ~
Whether it was the magic of the house or the fact that the hall was long and deeply enchanted, Lucy had taken several hours to arrive at the library door, which meant that now, on the beach; the sun was rising over the waves of the ocean. When you're at sea, and there are no trees, buildings or other land to break up the sun's rising, it gets light out very quickly. And, as the sun grew brighter and warmer, the enchanted sleep of the people on the beach wore off.
The Stars, by nature a very alert people, woke first. Arran was dazed, trying to understand how in Aslan's name he had fallen asleep when he was a Star, and usually never did such things.
Zephyr rolled onto his back and muttered some nonsense about eating lunch at dinner and breakfast in bed, before jerking up with a start, realizing he had been asleep and dreaming for the first time in, well, decades. He ran a hand through his wild hair and looked around. "We... Were we sleeping?" He asked Gavan, who was yawning; and stretching from the uncomfortable position he had fallen asleep in.
"By the Lion, I believe we were," Arran muttered in reply, looking about.
Slowly the rest of their party began to stir a bit as the sun warmed them. Susan woke not long after the Stars. Glancing about, she began counting sleepers and making sure that all who had come ashore were ashore. She stood with a start when she noticed Lucy was not there.
"Caspian, Edmund, Lucy is gone. Get up, Lucy is gone!" She urged, shaking her brother and husband on the shoulder while looking around for her sister.
Both instantly woke, turning to her for answers. "Where could she have gone?" Susan worried aloud, brushing back the strands of hair that had fallen loose from her braid during the night as she spoke.
"She couldn't have gone far Su," Edmund soothed, trying to calm his sister as Caspian roused Drinian and reached for his sword.
"Get up, come on, and look alive!" Drinian whispered sharply, nudging the men with the toe of his boot to wake them. He could not believe that he had fallen into such a stupor; he'd never experienced the like. Inwardly he reprimanded himself for being so off-guard that he allowed a girl to get past him.
Susan tugged a confused, mostly asleep Gael to her feet as they left the beach and walked rapidly into the interior of the island. Everyone, in the rush and worry over Lucy, quite forgot Eustace, who was snoring enough to wake the dead.
~|:Xo0oX:|~
Lucy gave a small gasp when she opened the heavy cover of the Book. Her fingers tingled with what she knew to be magic as they brushed the first page. It was beautiful, she thought, looking at the wonderfully written, not printed mind you, words on the first page. There were illustrations around all the elegant first letters and around the words, like books from the medieval times in our world. The spells began instantly, there was no title page, nor title telling who had written the book or how old it might be, the spells simply began right off.
Lucy paged slowly through them, getting the feeling that one should not flip heedlessly through the pages as you might a novel or book of fairytales. The paper was crisp and smooth and the smell from the book was that wonderful smell you might find in a private library or the antique sections of a used bookstore. She glossed lightly over the first pages, reading things here and there, remembering what Edmund had told her in the Golden Age about reading spells and incantations full on, how dangerous it could be.
But, finally, she came to one page that was different, it was all black, and the words were white. Because she wanted to, she read them, intrigued. "'With these words, your tongue must sew for all around there, to be Snow'." She giggled slightly, more from nerves than anything else, when a single flake of snow landed on the black pages.
She gasped when more fell on her hair and started to cover the ground and objects around her. She laughed, unable to help herself, for this was much nicer than the snow and cold she had felt upon entering Narnia for the first time. This felt almost as play magic might, the kind Edmund used to dabble in when he had been king. It was simple beginner's magic, but still, Lucy loved it. She turned quickly back to the book when she realized that the snow would melt and perhaps damage it, forgetting momentarily that it was a magic book. And you know; magic books are seldom ruined. They wouldn't be very powerful if they could be, now, would they?
She blew the snow off in one hurried motion, and instantly, in a manner one finds common among magic books, the pages began to turn fast and thick, as if a fan had been switched on at the side of the room. Quickly, worried that the book might flip past the page she wanted, she held them down with her right hand. As she did so, however, a strange feeling came over her, the feeling of being watched, and that she should not have stopped the book. Now too, the snow, the innocent play snow of before, was gone, and only an odd chill was left. Shaking off her superstitions, she leaned over the pages that were now open before her.
Without thinking, she spoke aloud the words written there; "'An infallible spell to make you she, the beauty you've always wanted to be.'"
Guessing it was the next step to the spell, she glanced at the right-handed page. She was about to turn it, when the picture changed to that of herself. She gave a start when the picture morphed into Susan's.
"Susan how did you–" she broke off and jumped away in surprise when the picture spoke at the same time she had. She leaned back, looking over the mirror-like page carefully. 'I never wanted to be Susan, merely look pretty like she does,' Lucy thought uneasily. But still, something had caught hold of her – something malicious – and was carefully twisting things so that she began to think it all right; what she saw on the page. Perhaps the enchantment of the room was slightly more powerful over the evil, or maybe the magic inside of Lucy knew it was wrong. Whatever the case, she turned from the book and went over to a dark mirror to get a glimpse of her face, to see if she was permanently like Susan.
The mirror told no lies, it also showed all magic in the room, and, had Lucy seen close enough, she would have noticed the frustration in her eyes and the unusual mist hazing the floor in the shadowy background. As it was, she only glanced at herself before darting back to the open Book, the part of her that had been tempted craving more of the beauty from the picture-mirror of the Book.
"No – wait!" That part of her begged, though the sensible part screamed otherwise. She ignored the voice in the back of her mind shouting that this was wrong, and that she should go on before it was too late. "Make me she…" Lucy murmured, reading the tiny words written round the edges of the second page. Looking at the page, she decided, and in a moment, it was torn off in her hand.
At the same instant, a great roar echoed through the whole room, going on forever, causing the pages to flip wildly, as if in a mad rush to please the great beast. Lucy jumped back, shaking slightly she watched the pages as they turned, dust coming off ones not used in centuries and what looked like fine glitter and specks of light falling off others.
"Lucy… Oh Lucy…" A firm, powerful voice murmured as if in great sorrow, causing the girl to give a start. She just managed to keep from screaming when she recognized the soft voice calling to her.
"Aslan?" she stuttered fearfully. Almost for a moment in a long mirror not far away, she thought she saw Aslan's regal face peering back at her, eyes wide with regret and pain at what she had done. Then it faded, and she was alone once more, the Book rustling slightly as it flipped to its final page. For the first time in her life, Lucy realized she had done something that went strongly against Aslan, and she regretted doing it. But there was something that stayed her hand from returning the page, and she could not tell what. She walked back to the bookstand and nervously stared down at the open pages. What she saw surprised her greatly.
Unlike the many pages before these, this one was dull and rather boring in comparison. There were no colors, and the words were outlined faintly in black, giving the entire page a washed-out appearance. But at the top the title gave it away. "A Spell To Make The Unseen Seen" it read on those hollowed out letters.
'Like the 'P' in psychology, the H in psychiatry.
Invisible ink, and the truth in theology,
The sense in the words of a great politician,
Or the division of pi by a smart mathematician.
Like a leopard's spots in a field of snow
Nothing is simple we can't explain so,
That which has gone is there all the time.
Like rhymes that don't rhyme and worlds out of mind.
That which is gone will once again be,
Like the sun though it sets, will again rise
That which is gone is only disguise.
The spell is complete, and now all is visible,' Lucy read.
When she had finished, she looked up, wondering how much had been made invisible by the Voices, and if it was dangerous or perhaps angry. She also remembered their stories of the 'Oppressor', of whom she now recalled each and every detail. The pages, however, were another story. What had once been plain and ordinary, was beautiful, Lucy was sure it was much more lovely than any of the other pages, only now, she could not go back and look, as magic books are apt to do, one can only go forward, and you can't go back once you've opened it, unless you know a great deal of magic.
Lucy gasped when a shuffling sound came from one of the corners, and slowly, a man appeared. He walked slowly towards a table which Lucy now noticed held some food items. He dropped a book he had been holding onto a stack beside the table, and reached for another book while he sipped a cup of tea. She stumbled back a bit, and knocked into yet another pile of books. Abruptly, the old man looked up. His gaze was the intense one of a man, who has seen much, but the world and all that he has discovered has not yet wearied him.
"Why, hello," he said calmly.
~|:Xo0oX:|~
Lucy nodded slightly, wondering if he had been aware of what she had been doing, and had seen all that she had done. After a few moments of silence, however, she began to realize that he did not know, and relaxed. The man was quite different from how the Voices had described him as being. He was an interesting piece of work, as Polly Plummer would have said. His robe's burgundy hem dusted the floor and the dark maroon fabric was riddled with intricate designs and words that held little or no meaning to Lucy.
His beard and thick hair was a strange silver color, which, when he turned, seemed to shine slightly in the candle and firelight. His eyes were a twinkling blue that reminded Lucy of Gavan or Arran, though she did not understand why. He held a curiously carved staff, which reminded her of the beautiful doors in the hall. Strange things, strange words; swords, rings, dragons and knights all were intricately carved across the wooden object.
He was, as the Voices had said, barefoot, but it did not seem to bother him, nor did Lucy find it odd. She had seen far stranger and queerer from her time as queen over Narnia. A barefoot old man who was perhaps a foot taller than she, was nothing compared to those things. He returned to the shelves lining the room, as if searching avidly for something of great importance. After greeting her he shifted through a niche of scrolls, and with a flourish of his left hand, the room was gone over from floor to ceiling with a strange purple-to-blue light, sending all the books towards their rightful shelves.
"I only do that because this house is not mine, it is the Master's. I am a steward, if you will, dear Lady, for Aslan, Son of-the-Emperor-across-the-sea. I tend this as a punishment and as a responsibility. Oh yes, I know of Aslan, don't look so surprised," the man laughed lightly, as if amused, before it faded off as if he was recalling something that was bittersweet. "I know of many things – many worlds too. Though, it has been a while since I last visited any of them," he added with a sigh.
"W-what is your name?" Lucy asked, slightly confused and still rather nervous.
"My name. My name? It's been a long time since I had a name, hasn't it? No, no, I mustn't tell her that, she doesn't need to know, it will come into knowing soon enough. Now, a name, a name…" he trailed off thoughtfully, talking it seemed, to himself and forgetting that Lucy was there at all.
"Forgive me, dear Lady, my name is Coriakin. And you are Queen Lucy, I should think?" he asked, smiling slighting, eyebrows rising to say silently that he knew he had guessed correctly.
"Yes, but, how did you know?" Lucy replied, her curiosity overcoming her initial fears.
"Well, I know a great deal, as I have already made mention. I have, of course, heard of The Four. But I knew when I let the Duffers make themselves invisible that someone would be coming along presently to take the spell off. Didn't know who, exactly, but someone always comes. You have to come really, it's the way things happen," Coriakin murmured to himself once again. "I didn't know the time, or the day, but I knew all the same that around this time there would be someone, a girl naturally, who would lift the spell. Being made invisible makes me tired at my age, so I wasn't keeping watch for you as well as I should have been. I was asleep just now, up there on the shelf, among the books and the comfort of words." He pointed to what looked like a small alcove high in the shelves where Lucy could just make out a padded velvet green chair and a softly glowing lamp.
"Aslan told me you would be here soon. But I was not quite sure when. You see, He calls all times soon, so I was doing my best to be patient. That is what brought me to this punishment in the first place, impatience. I shan't go into it, a long, long ghastly story that," he muttered thoughtfully, drifting off into the infinity of his magician's mind where one man had a thousand voices and every voice spoke new and interesting ideas.
"You spoke to Aslan," Lucy nearly cried with relief and joy, "When?" she added, looking eagerly at Coriakin.
"Why, around noon yesterday. He tells me of what I don't know when I'm away in the Wood, supervising the Pools. Have to do that you know, after the accident. He said there had been a storm, and that just the party I was looking for to lift the spell would sail into the cove. I was excited, naturally, but fell asleep looking for them. He needs the documents you know, something to do with the beginning or whatnot," Coriakin confided.
Lucy, realizing it would be wise to nod, did so, instead of asking questions. Coriakin did not seem the man one asked questions of. You simply went along. He walked towards the doorway, and Lucy realized that he meant for her to follow. Hurrying after him, they walked side by side out into the hall.
"Has Aslan ever appeared to the- the Duffers?" Lucy asked, guessing that the 'Duffers' were her 'Voices'.
"Stars above no, He should frighten them out of their senses! Many Stars will grow old and come to take their rest in islands before my dear people are ripe for that. Oh yes, I know I used to be rather impatient with them, but, over the centuries I have become rather fond of their disagreeableness and their complaining company. As much as they dislike me, I have grown affectionate of them. By the way, my dear Lady, are you hungry?" Coriakin seemed to range over a great multitude of subjects, as wizards and magicians are apt to do, before coming to a reasonably understandable one.
"Well, I believe that I might be able to eat something," Lucy replied. "What time is it just now, I don't know at all," She added, looking over at the old man as they passed quickly by the last carven door in the hall.
"Well then!" Said the magician, "All times may be soon to Aslan, but in my home, all hungry times are eight and one o'clock!"
He quickly turned about and entered the last door they had passed. Upon entering it, Lucy found it closed off another hall, though this one was much narrower than the one they had come from. Before long, however, Coriakin stopped at a door carved simply full of foods and drinks and goblets of all kinds, some dishes Lucy even recognized as being from England. Upon passing in, Lucy found that the room was long and wide, filled with all sorts of flowers and plants too delicate to belong outside. The table in the center was bare, but, being a magic table, all the magician had to do was clap his hands and the food, along with silver, dishes and a wonderfully dyed tablecloth, appeared before them.
"Coriakin, if I might ask, just how big is this house, for it did not seem from the outside as if it could hold so many rooms," Lucy spoke up, as the magician led her to a seat.
"In Aslan's world, everything is not what the outside seems. The inside of things is often larger than its outside. And the lesson here, my dear Lady, is this; do not take anything at what it appears to be, for the inside often as not bear's even greater worth." He walked down to the end of the table and seated himself.
"Now, to turn to food; I hope that you find this enjoyable, for I tried to conjure up things you are used to from your world, instead of the dishes you have recently been dining upon." Coriakin smiled.
"It's lovely," Lucy reassured him. And indeed it was, an omelette, piping hot, cold lamb, green peas, a strawberry ice, lemon-squash to drink with the meal and a glass of crystal-clear water to follow. Lucy could not think to eat it all, and was surprised to find that the magician himself drank only wine and ate only bread. She asked why, and hoped that she was not offending him by eating all this other stuff. But he reassured her, in a way that reminded her again of Arran or his brothers; that food, from any world, really did not satisfy him. After a time, Lucy began to feel that she had known him for years and years. They talked of many things.
"When will the spell actually begin to work?" She queried, wondering how long it might take to make the Duffers visible if it had taken Coriakin only a few minutes.
"Oh, well, my Lady, they're all quite visible now. But probably all asleep, they sleep at this time of day. You may see them if you like, to be sure they're all right, and to satisfy yourself that they really aren't as ugly as they claim," Coriakin added, standing with a benevolent smile.
"So they truly don't look as they claim?" Lucy asked as they passed down several more halls and corridors, passageways and carven doors.
"Well, that is a question. You see, it is only they who think they have been uglified, but that isn't what I called it. Many people would say the change is for the better – at least – men and women more like myself," Coriakin explained.
"Are they really terribly conceited?" Lucy asked, trying to hide her amused smile.
"I am sorely afraid to say they are – or at least the Chief Duffer is – and he's taught all the rest to be. They always believe every word he says," he added in a softer tone.
"I noticed that," Lucy replied.
"I should get on better with them, without him, in a way. Of course I could turn him into something useful, or even put a spell on him so that none of the others would believe a thing he was to say, but I don't like to do that. It's better for them to admire him than to admire nobody," Coriakin said with a fond smile, as if talking about children who were hopelessly lost in a fantasy land, and he knew he would never get them out of it.
They passed what Lucy guessed to be an observatory for gazing at the sky, with all sorts of delicate and polished instruments for stargazing, making her wonder again just who Coriakin had been 'centuries ago' as he put it. Coming to a porch, the magician threw the double doors wide. "There, there are your Duffers," he commented softly, gesturing in a sweeping motion out the window, stepping back so Lucy might go ahead of him.
She gazed downward intently, and for a moment could not tell what she was looking down on. At first Lucy thought them to be mushrooms, and then she realized they weren't, the colors about the stalks and roots were too bright and diverse to be uniform plants. All at once she saw it. Monopods. The Duffers were Monopods. She laughed quietly, covering her mouth with her hand. "Oh, I see now, you turned them into Monopods!"
"Yes, yes, I did, I did," Coriakin replied quietly, laughing along with her. "Now watch," he coaxed. Suddenly, in the belfry not a great distance away, the bells began to chime the hour. As they struck nine, the Duffers jumped up. Here was the interesting part. Monopods don't walk about as humans or two-legged beings. They must jump – like frogs or fleas – as they have only one foot. And they jumped high in the air and came down with a thump, which Lucy related to her experience of the night.
They laughed with glee, jumping in unison. "Visible we are!" cried one with a tasseled red cap, whose voice Lucy quickly recognized as being the Chief Voice. "And I do say, I do say, when chaps are visible, they can see one another!" he added, giving a merry hop.
"Ah, there it is Chief, there it is," Added another.
"That's the point, that's the point, no one's got a clearer head than you!" chorused all the others.
"She caught the old man napping, she did," spoke up the Chief again. "We've beaten him this time!"
And with shouts and encouragements from the others, they hopped off into the trees, crying with joy and singing gleefully.
"But how do they go about talking of you like that? They seemed to be deathly afraid of you yesterday, don't they think you might be listening?" Lucy asked, looking to the old man with a hint of pity.
"That is one of the queer things about the Duffers. One moment they talk as if I ran everything and overheard everything and was extremely dangerous. The next minute they think they can take me in by tricks even a baby would see through – bless them!" The magician answered with a contemplative sigh and a wistful smile.
"What, if I might ask, were they before?" Lucy looked over at the magician curiously.
"Common dwarves, and not as nice as the kind you have in Narnia. Beastly little things from, well, never you mind where, that's my business, and my fault," Coriakin replied absently, fiddling with his carven staff. Both were silent for a moment, staring out the balcony.
"You – you don't think it would be cruel to leave them as they are? Because, well, they seem terribly happy like this; did you see the Chief jump? Perhaps I might tell them?" Lucy spoke suddenly, looking to Coriakin once more.
"Yes, later, but right now, I believe your party is in my courtyard, and quite worried about a certain young lady," he added with a fond smile, turning back the way they had come.
"Oh goodness, I had forgotten all about them!" Lucy cried, rushing after the magician.
"Come; let's go find them, shall we?" Coriakin bowed slightly, before leading the way.
~|:Xo0oX:|~
Meanwhile all this had been happening; her friends and relatives were searching apprehensively for her; with Drinian feeling worse and worse about himself as they went on. They came to the front of the house, and were startled to see six grey horses peering over their stable doors and several white and grey chickens in the yard. Two grey wolfhounds sat panting quietly beside the large ornate entrance doors to the manor, and a white cat with blue eyes sat on a windowsill grooming herself.
As they recovered from their shock and walked forward, the double doors swung open, and from the front hall two figures emerged. For a moment, both parties stared at one another, before Susan ran forward and brought Lucy into a tight hug mixed with relief and concern. "We were so worried, whatever happened?" she asked, pulling away and looking at her sister.
"Well, it's rather a long story," Lucy began, looking around.
"Who are you?" Caspian asked, causing Susan and Lucy to turn back to the group. Caspian was looking curiously at the old man who had come from the mansion with Lucy.
"Caspian, Ed, Susan, this is Coriakin, it's his island," Lucy quickly explained, coming to stand next to the man once more.
"Your Majesties," Coriakin said solemnly, bowing.
"Lu, tell me what happened," Susan said again, looking at her sister intently.
"I, I had been sleeping, when some invisible things carried me off. They wished to have me read a spell to make the invisible visible again. I entered Coriakin's house, and read from the spell book, making everything, it looks like that included animals and Coriakin too, visible once more. Why," Lucy frowned slightly and turned to the magician as the thought suddenly came to her, "Why did you allow them to make themselves invisible?" She asked, looking at him.
"Because at the time, it seemed the best way to protect them; from the evil." Coriakin glanced around, his countenance growing suddenly far more solemn and graver than before. "Come, inside, things here still have ears, but this house has only Aslan's eyes," he requested, turning and walking rapidly back to the mansion, giving the group no alternative but to follow him.
Everyone was quiet as they walked behind the magician. For a short time, they were too engrossed in taking in their surroundings as they walked down different halls and stairs than the ones Lucy had, to get to the library. Coriakin knew what Lucy did not; that there were some in this group, namely Eustace, who were not yet spiritually old enough to ignore the draw of the doors and the worlds beyond. It was Edmund upon whom the answer to Coriakin's words he'd spoken in the courtyard dawned first. Truly, he was not the wisest king for nothing.
"When you said evil, you meant the mist, didn't you?" he asked in a serious tone, as the magician shepherded them into the library.
"I mean what lies behind the mist," Coriakin elaborated slightly, closing the door after Caspian walked past.
Everyone was more awestruck then Lucy had been, upon seeing the magic placing books on their shelves and things moving without seeming being touched. Serene smiled and raised her hand, causing a light shade of green turning to orange to pass over the magic re-shelving the books. Coriakin nodded in respect and smiled slightly at her, acknowledgement of one magic bearing being to another. He began walking toward the wall, where several rolled up parchments were, when he stopped and turned around, looking over the group that had gathered about.
The last three people he had walked past had been the Stars, who had been standing ahead and slightly separate from the rest of the Narnians. He came towards them, and, as he did so, Lucy noticed something she hadn't before. Arran glowed. It was odd, like an aura, she supposed. The red color grew stronger when Coriakin approached him. The magician then turned his gaze on Zephyr, who seemed to shine a light green. The Star nodded, as if a silent exchange had gone between himself and the magician, before Coriakin looked at Gavan. The last Star seemed to give off a blue aura.
"I did not know you had Stars among you," the magician murmured, before coming closer to Arran. "How do the Stars fare in the night sky?" he asked.
"All is well, the moon still rises and the sun still sets. Aslan has not yet called us down," the pirate replied, as if it was some form of greeting. He sounded far more formal than he had ever spoken while in their presence.
"My time has not yet come then," Coriakin murmured to himself thoughtfully, before coming away. In a sliver of an instant, Lucy thought she saw a radiant silver aura shine around the magician, as if some great Star had fallen among them, but then it vanished and only Coriakin, the steward of Aslan, was before them.
"Now, before I became lost in the complications of land and sky, I was about to tell you something of great importance, something Aslan has forewarned me of and ordered me to tell you. You search to defeat a mist," Coriakin withdrew from the circle of interested listeners and pulled out a long roll of parchment from the niche of scrolls. He tossed it from his hand, and with the skill of centuries of magic, spread it smoothly across the floor.
"It's quite beautiful," Eustace murmured, walking forward and gazing at the map as it unfolded, the small paintings and drawings around the edges coming to life before their eyes. He looked up and hastily amended, "I mean for a make-believe map of a make-believe world!" He flushed slightly and looked down, realizing how foolish he sounded. Edmund and Lucy merely smiled at one another behind their cousin's back.
"Here is the source of your troubles," Coriakin suddenly spoke drawing their attention, after he had allowed the map time to unfurl. Walking across rolling seas and distant lands, he brought the picture of an island into their view. It was dark, covered in black fog and clouds, an eerie green light emanating from the darkness within. "Dark Island, a place where great evil lurks; it can take any form, it can make your darkest dreams come true, and over time, it has grown stronger. It has been left alone, and now turns from corrupting itself, to corrupting all goodness, to steal the light from this world!" He looked at each one of them in turn, intently watching reactions, wondering who had already been claimed, or had overcome.
The magician's gaze betrayed nothing when it rested briefly upon the Just King. He knew at that moment that Edmund had not been tempted yet, his spirit was too strong, and had already been tempted once, long ago by a great power, so he would have to be torn down slowly. Caspian, he could see doubt and uncertainty in his eyes as the king stared down at the island. He was strong-willed, but not nearly as strong as most, something would shake him, and strong wills cannot ward off great malice, only a strong faith could do that. When Coriakin's eyes came to Susan, they softened. Here was a woman not sure of much, but ready to face the world for those she cared about. Still, she would be tempted and waver. Lucy, when he looked at Lucy he felt pain and confusion, and knew that something had happened. But he knew she would overcome.
"You must break its spell," he continued. Suddenly Coriakin turned to Edmund. "That sword you carry, there are six others." He pointed at it, causing Edmund to subconsciously rest his hand on the hilt out of old habit.
"You've seen them?" Edmund spoke, looking at the man with renewed interest after glancing at Serene.
"Yes," the magician replied softly, glancing about. Looking to Serene also, he realized she knew the swords' value, but had not fully told the rest of her party.
"The six Lords," Caspian realized instantly, "did they pass through here?" He asked.
"Indeed," Coriakin answered, turning back slightly to the map before them.
"Where were they headed?" the King asked quickly.
"Where I sent them," once more the magician walked across the map, drawing away the picture of the darkened island and placing a new image before them, of a green and normal island, with thousands of waterfalls, and a soft blue light emanating from it. "To break the spell, you must follow the blue star to Ramandu's Island. There the seven swords must be laid at Aslan's table, only then can their true magical power be released, without the aid of their true bearers," Coriakin paused, staring down at the island thoughtfully as something new came to him.
"But beware," he suddenly spoke, startling them. "You are all about to be tested," he said.
"Tested?" Arran asked.
"Until you lay down the seventh sword, evil shall have all-power. It will do everything in this power to make you fall away and cease to trust in one another. Anything to keep the swords from ending its control of these far reaches of the Eastern Ocean." Coriakin turned and gazed about at all the people in his library, waiting for him to speak, to advise them. "Rely on Aslan, be strong in him. Please, don't fall to temptation," he requested, walking across the map, swirling the clouds around Ramandu's Island with the hem of his robe. He stopped in front of those who he felt would need it most. Edmund… Caspian… The Stars… "To defeat the darkness out there, you must first defeat the darkness, inside yourself."
"You will be tested. All who try are tested," Coriakin murmured as he passed by them and exited the library.
A/N:
Well? I hope you like this! I was surprisingly pleased with my work. Now, to answer questions I'll start ending to beginning, all right? Good (it's not as if ya'll really have a choice, lol). I changed around a few things from the movie, mainly because I thought them weak and inadequately done. But we're starting from the end, so let's go there.
Now I wish they had made Coriakin say "Rely on Aslan, be strong in him" instead of "Be strong, don't fall to temptation". I changed that for stronger effect. I think it's far better (not to praise myself or anything). I also like more "it will do everything in this power to make you fall away and cease to trust one another" versus "it will do everything in its power to tempt you" because yes, it [the green mist] is tempting them, but in reality it's trying to break their faith in oneanother. Once you lose that trust, it's hard to get it back. They acted that out well in the movie, but forgot to mention that point.
Course, you all know (if you've read or heard of my Seven Swords, Seven Lords {7s7l} fanfic about my Guardian of Narnia OCs.) who the "truebearers" of the seven swords are that Coriakin mentions.
Ok, in the movie, I always got the idea that when they did that swing shot, so we could see all the actor's faces after Coriakin tells them that they will be tested, that we're supposed to think Coriakin knows each character's situation and possible temptation. Because the actor who plays him, Billie Brown, looks as if he's doing what I wrote out, sort of analyzing each one. So that's what I wrote.
'The magician's gaze betrayed nothing when it rested briefly upon the Just King. He knew at that moment that Edmund had not been tempted yet, his spirit was too strong, and had already been tempted once, long ago by a great power, so he would have to be torn down slowly. Caspian, he could see doubt and uncertainty in his eyes as the king stared down at the island. He was strong-willed, but not nearly as strong as most, something would shake him, and strong wills cannot ward off great malice, only a strong faith could do that.'
I like this, because it sort of gives us (me mostly I'm guessing) a picture of Edmund from someone else's view. He's got a stronger faith in Aslan after being tempted by Jadis, and he's better for it (Which was why it really sucked in my opinion when they made him have to be the only one to fall for the gold pool in the film and then act like some sort of phsycotinetic {my brother loves Calvin and Hobbs}).
And then I enjoy, for some reason it gives me great personal satisfaction, I DO NOT know why, to write Caspian out the way I did in Coriakin's perspective. That sentence literally sums up how I saw (see?) Caspian as played by Ben Barnes. Literally. Caspian always seemed as if he had this personal agenda, but was also unsure of himself and what he was doing. Then in VOTDT he's better, but seems to have this willpower that separates him from everyone else, before once again getting back to the Caspian from PC, all uncertain and unsure, yet at the same time still having this agenda that he has to run through. 'Find the seven Lords. Sail the ocean. Defeat the mist, etc.' you get the idea. Not that I'm trying to give him flames, (heaven knows I couldn't act!) I'm simply being critical right now.
Moving on then! Now for the Stars. Ok, I realized that, for all my work, they didn't really have the full aspect of Stars that grace the Lumean night sky. I also realized that Liliandil glows. So, hence, my Stars shall too. The reason why (I giving excuses {to cover my blunder} as to why they don't glow the entire time see), is because they've been on land (sea) for a long while, and as time goes by, the glow wears off. They'd have to continually come and go between the sky and land to glow consistently.
Now; my reason why they all glow different colors:…Gavan explains this in Chapter Twenty-one (sorry, you'll just have to wait. But I think ya'll guess that pretty easily). I'm also going to gloss over why Coriakin reminds Lucy of Arran, Zephyr and Gavan constantly (ya'll also guess that one I'll bet).
I really enjoyed writing in the lines from the book. It was incredibly easy to make them fit (I think I've said this before). Most of the middle part, where they talk about the Dufflepuds, and where they eat breakfast are from the book, with my writing and the film added in here and there. The poem for 'That Which Makes the Unseen Seen' is from the film. At one point they give us a glimpse of half the page in the film, so I used the words I could see and supplied my own for the ones I couldn't. It's not the entire incantation, but it serves its purpose.
I think I didn't do half bad on Lucy's temptation. I wanted to do the beautiful spell from the book but that would have taken me far too long, and I wasn't fully sure I wanted to take too much from the book. For anyone wondering, the 'he' Coriakin refers to who needs some information is Gandalf (from all those times in The Hobbit (novel version) when Gandalf leaves the company), but that's just a miniscule plotline. Coriakin also refers to the Wood between the Worlds (The pools he has to supervise after 'the accident'; 'the accident' being Digory and Polly getting there and taking all those other people with them). (I thought you might like that too Jenneka!).
About the rings, knights, words, and dragons carved across Coriakin's staff:
The rings are of course; Digory and Polly's rings (should I say Uncle Andrew's?) the nine rings, the seven rings, the three rings and the One Ring. The knights; King Arthur, Ivanhoe, Robin Hood, the Riders of Rohan (at a friend's request) and etc.. The words; the Deplorable Word, the Elvish writing on the One Ring, the words carved into the Stone Table and the names of Merlin, Gandalf and Morgana, other magicians and wizards etc. The dragons; Smaug, Mezelzaz (of course! he's in my work of fiction, not just for Narnia), Saphira, and all those other dragons I can't remember!
Ok, I just love the idea of the Stars falling asleep and then waking up wondering what had happened to them! For some reason I love writing my OCs (is this bad?). I think it's safe to say the titling for this chapter is pretty obvious.
One last thing, can you believe this is 100,000+ words?! I'm so excited, this is the longest piece of writing I've ever worked on! Ya'll are witnessing an "on again/off again" writer become one of endurance (I never used to be good at finishing any of my works, published FFN and private manuscripts both).
ILoveFanfiction:
Thank you so much, and I'm so glad you enjoyed it! I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well! And you're totally right about the doors, I could have gone on forever (I had to edit about 2000+ words on the doors because it was simply far too long). Sorry about the grammar mistake, as I've said, first person and third person are a bit difficult for me to write, I get confused a lot. But I'm working on it, and that's the main thing I guess. I must say, while we're on this subject, that you have helped me so much on grammar punctuation and all that this past year, I have really progressed as a writer because of your helpful tips and advice, I could not have written (or continued) this quintet without your help, thank you!
Again, if there is anything I missed, {explanations, punctuations, grammar, misspellings, plot-that-doesn't-make-sense, something that I failed to clarify on, etc...} Please tell me so I can fix/tell you about it in a PM/Author's Note.
Happy reading,
W.H. 1492