Chapter Thirty-Four: Not What Many Can Claim
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~ Narnia ~
Long, silver-blonde hair fell down over his shoulders, nearly to his waist, moving in an almost nonexistent breeze as the being came to stand on the shoreline of rock. His clothes were silver but much more elegant than Ramandu's simple garments. These were fine, like the clothes Arran and his siblings had worn to the anniversary ball celebrating Narnia's four years of peace and freedom before the Dawn Treader had sailed.
Arran and his brothers rushed to the edge of the ship; as they came closer, though it was not much, they began to glow, and the light around the stranger turned dark, a mixture of the ill green color that floated about in the mist and black, making the light that emanated from him look like it was going out. They watched him say something, and suddenly the ill-looking light became pure again, like a lamp when, after it flickers in a draft, burns a little brighter.
"Denorla ie brena, Arran," the man said, his voice sounding silvery and soothing but at the same time too uncomfortable to be genuine. "Menla aal, Gavan, Zephyr," he added, raising his hand as if in greeting.
"Do not speak to me in a language not worthy of your tongue!" Arran shouted back, the red glow around his figure brightening as his anger grew.
"And it is worthy of yours, oh half-blood?" the man asked, raising his hand. "Ishlad ven surla!" he said rapidly, as his arm slowly fell back to his side. Had Edmund not been paying attention, the sword he held would have been wrenched from his grasp. Serene ran to him, shouting her own enchantments, barely keeping the sword in their possession. Edmund gasped for a breath, trying to get his wind back after the sudden assault.
"Nithalazaar, I have not done so great a sin as you; I have not turned the light that is in me into twisted darkness and malice!" Arran replied before turning away to see what had happened and to talk with Caspian, leaving his brothers to verbally fight Nithalazaar.
"That sword does not belong to you," Nithalazaar declared, a note of annoyance in his voice.
"Nor you, Avenilian!" Zephyr retorted, leaning over the rail.
"For the thousandth time, I am not lost! I have simply discovered what my destiny is!" Nithalazaar raged, his face twisting into a scowl. "I spent all those centuries thinking that I was weak and broken, crippled by the mortal blood I bear, when in reality I had just not yet learned how to use our language for its true purpose! It is a weapon, a most powerful and glorious one, and I have learned how to wield it!" he declared triumphantly.
"No, Nithalazaar, you are wrong! Aslan never meant for you to become this; he did not know how broken you were, the son of a traitor and a faithful one; He did not know this would turn you out into the darkness, He thought it would heal you; please, give us the sword; we can help you!" Gavan shouted imploringly, trying to discover if there was any remnant of light within the Star that was pure.
"You still follow after that devil, that creature who thinks he can control us? How pathetic you are, but you are young, merely children; time might bring you to realize the truth of Aslan!" Nithalazaar said mockingly. Lucy, watching Gavan and Zephyr try to talk to the warped Star, was surprised to hear them be referred to as children; for the first time she realized that by Star standards, they were very young.
"We are glorious! Meant to rule the worlds; Gavan, Zephyr, can you not see it?" Nithalazaar's voice rose and then softened as he finished his sentence, meeting their eyes across the expanse with his own icy-blue gaze.
"And what has fighting against the Great One earned us? Naught but separation, Dinniani," Zephyr insisted, his voice coaxing, pleading.
"Zephyr, Zephyr, Zephyr, what has your father taught you all?" Nithalazaar said with exaggerated forlornness. "Very well, if you won't give that sword to me, won't see what we could become, then I will have to take it by force; it is the only weakness in my power; by all I possess, I will not let you take it from here!" Nithalazaar said warningly, raising his hands from his sides.
"Caspian, Edmund, Arran!" Gavan shouted frantically as he turned from the rail to warn his friends and find his brother. Both he and Zephyr ducked under the rail as the barrage of weapons materialized from the green mist of Nithalazaar's magic. Gavan grabbed Lucy and pulled her down just before a black spear hissed passed overhead. One sailor wasn't as fortunate as the others who had managed to dive to the deck, and a pike pinned him to the mast.
As another barrage came at them, Serene rose from her crouch beside Edmund. Turning toward the volley of projectiles, she shouted in the most wondrous language any of the Narnians had ever heard, the language of lands beyond the sun, a language that she had learnt to master in Aslan's Country. It was not like the song of the birds' on Ramandu's Island, but it was just as beautiful. With a loud echoing crash, the weapons disappeared in a green cloud of hissing mist.
"What was that? I didn't know you had taken to harboring witches, Ca-liaani-lie," Nithalazaar noted with interest, pacing on his length of shore and staring at Serene, who glared at him, her power amassing around her in thin tendrils of mist that looked rather like light.
"Cease now, while I am yet lenient," she warned.
"Oh, but I want that power you have; it has captivated me since first I sensed it," Nithalazaar replied, smiling coldly.
Slowly Caspian stood, glancing at Edmund and a few of the sailors, including Drinian, who followed his lead. They watched Nithalazaar pace, wondering tensely what he would try next. "I will have that sword!" the broken Star suddenly raged, turning abruptly to face them, shouting once more in the language of the Stars. Green mist came from every direction, whispering. Hundreds of voices called out, echoing, overlapping one another. The mist flowed around them.
"You made it this far, but what happens when you must wage war against your own mind?" The Star's voice seemed distant, almost as if they were hearing him in a dream. It was in that moment that the mist changed.
~|:Xo0oX:|~
Caspian dropped to the deck when a sword, which called back to nearly-forgotten memories, swung at him as a human being walked out from the clouds of mist enveloping the Treader. Caspian stared, forgetting for a moment that the man before him had just tried to kill him. He thought he had forgotten, but faced with this, everything came back.
"Father…" he breathed longingly. He was shaken from the dazed state by the sword once again being directed towards him.
He jumped to his feet, quickly blocking the downward strike with his own sword, hands shaking slightly because he was staring at a man who appeared to be his father. He couldn't pause to wonder because the man advanced toward him and he was forced to back away. Something in the far corners of his mind told him that this was not his father; this was wrong; he should kill it while he had the chance, but another part of him could not bear to attack the man who looked so much like Caspian the Ninth.
"It's hard to know you must kill something you love or yearn for to live, isn't it? He never told you he loved you, did he? Not ever; I see that now. How sad, and now you must kill him to survive." Caspian was dimly aware of Nithalazaar's voice but could not make his mind focus on it, as hard as he tried; it was enough just keeping his attention on the man trying to kill him.
But the words the Star spoke were true; how he ached to know – just once – that his father might have cared for him; to be loved was almost too much to ask, but to know he had been cared for fondly, he wanted that desperately. Only when he had been forced up against the mast did Caspian reluctantly act in retaliation, sliding his blade between himself and the figure that bore such strong resemblance to his father.
"What a disgrace you are; you call yourself my son but are king to these people," the man hissed cruelly, using the word 'people' in insulting reference to the Narnians. He clashed his sword against Caspian's with brute strength.
Caspian barely managed to block the next lunge; he was so stunned. He could not fight this, even if it wasn't his father. He could not; he would feel like he had murdered his father, not Miraz.
"What a pathetic coward, and I had hoped you might have been a stronger, cunning man, but you're too much like those wretched barbarians; it's a wonder you've lived this long," the man sneered as they crossed swords, the hilts clashing together.
~|:Xo0oX:|~
Arran, Gavan, and Zephyr slashed through the opponents Nithalazaar had pitted against them. They weren't so easily fooled by the trick as their mortal companions. Though it was bizarre to "kill" their friends and family, it was not a challenge, just an obstacle; after all, it was only an illusion. Arran grabbed Edmund, pulling him away from the form that looked so much like his brother, who was about to run him through because Edmund couldn't see past the mirage. As Arran slashed at it, the green mist hissed angrily and faded.
"Edmund, don't fall prey to it; it's all in your imagination; kill it; only if it does not try to kill you do you hesitate. And remember, fear not, for if we kill each other this day in error, then you will all be in Aslan's country together for eternity; where is the anguish in that?" Arran cheered the king, giving him a fleeting smile before ducking away again.
Edmund closed his eyes momentarily and rolled his shoulders, trying to loosen the stiffness in them. "Breathe, Edmund Pevensie," he commanded himself, trying to regain control of his thoughts.
Peter was not trying to kill him; Peter was not the enemy; Nithalazaar was. An image of his mother lunged toward him with a dagger in her hand; he cut her down before looking twice. That one had been easier because he knew his mother didn't know how to use a dagger, but still, it wouldn't help to think about what he was doing.
"Just fight as if you're in battle, because you are," he whispered to himself, dodging a sailor who was swinging wildly at an opponent.
~|:Xo0oX:|~
The ship, without a man at the helm, began veering toward the shore. Drinian, sporting a long gash in his arm from an image that had looked strangely like his sister Mary, noticed the helm spinning loosely to the left and right. With a grunt of pain he forced himself off of the railing he had been leaning on and began moving toward the helm purposefully.
When another image materialized before him, he didn't pause, but simply ran it through. He hadn't the time or the excess amount of blood to play games; he needed to keep his vessel from colliding with the shore. It was his duty as the Treader's captain, and he would not shirk from it, not for all the battle wounds in Narnia.
As he struggled to turn it with his good arm, the bow scrapped against a boulder jutting up from the depths of the waves. Everyone on board stumbled, some falling to their knees at the force of the impact. As they hit, Arran had been trying to reach for the seventh sword, which Edmund had dropped on deck during his fight and forgotten long ago. Just when it was in reach, it slid away from him along the deck. To his left suddenly, a hand reached out, trying to grasp the hilt of the blade also.
Arran turned to look and found himself staring at Caspian. But the King was too intent upon reclaiming the sword to acknowledge the pirate beside him. Together they struggled to retrieve the weapon, Caspian fighting off mirages to give Arran time to go after it or Arran shielding Caspian from them. Time and again they lunged out to grab it, but it continued to elude them.
Arran scowled and tried to grab it once more, but as he reached out, a sailor's foot kicked it away again. Suddenly the ship groaned as it bashed against another boulder. He whirled when he felt the wind of a body move behind him, avoiding being skewered on the end of a lance by an image that looked like a man he once knew and had held in high regard.
"Arran, the sword!" Caspian shouted, diverting the Star's attention. The King was once again fighting with an illusion of his father and couldn't grab the blade himself. Arran tried to find the weapon in the chaos. When he did, he lunged toward it, but as he did, it slid toward the railing and off into the dark water.
"No!" He shouted, diving after it. They could not lose it now.
"Arran, don't–!" Gavan cried, trying to reach his brother, but he had already jumped over the side. Gavan rushed to the edge, followed by Caspian, but they could not see the Star. With a low sound of anger in his throat, Gavan turned back to the ship; he felt like setting something aflame.
~|:Xo0oX:|~
Lucy gasped as she warded off another blow from her opponent – one of her old friends from Narnia, a woman who had been a great help to Susan and her once. As she fought, her anger grew; this was a sick way to try to kill someone, and she had had enough!
Angrily she lashed out at the phantom before her. Suddenly the figure stopped its approach, stared at her, and vanished in a cloud of smoke and light. Lucy recoiled in fear. What had just happened?
She gasped, trying to catch her breath. A hand fell on her shoulder, and she screamed, jumping away and brandishing her sword. But only Eustace stood before her. "Lu–" his breath caught and he paused, doubling over, resting his hands on his knees. "Lucy, we must get to the – Nithalazaar, for I shan't call that thing a Star; he's nothing like Arran." Eustace shuddered.
"Eustace, we can't; we can't leave the ship; besides that, I don't think anything could kill him," Lucy replied, ducking a sailor's weapon as he charged past.
"I have something… that… might," Eustace declared breathlessly, pulling the dagger Arran had given him from his belt and holding it up triumphantly before her eyes.
"What… How…?" Lucy stared at her cousin.
"Arran," Eustace confided, leaning closer to her to whisper the word.
"How do we get to shore?" Lucy asked.
"Just get me there… I'll try to do the rest… and if I die, well… I guess being in Aslan's Country isn't so bad… and neither are my cousins. I'm related to royalty; not many boys can… claim that." Eustace grinned at her between breaths, wiping a trickle of sweat from his cheek.
"Oh… Eustace, I can't believe…" Lucy trailed off before gathering her young cousin in a tight embrace as she tried to hold back tears. She never thought she'd hear Eustace of all people say such selfless words; they meant a lot to her. "Let's see if we can tell the others and try to convince Drinian to steer close enough to the rocks," Lucy said, pulling away. Eustace nodded, hurrying after her as he put the dagger back in his belt.
As they made their way through the fighting, every now and then dodging someone or something, the ship again hit a rock. Lucy was thrown to the deck; when she looked up, she caught a glimpse of Eustace jumping from the rail and trying to grab at the boulders. "Eustace, you–" she couldn't finish her sentence, for a column of mist turned into a human-like figure and lunged toward her. Looking once more over her shoulder after Eustace, she began fighting off her newest opponent.
~|:Xo0oX:|~
" …On the deck!"
Zephyr looked up from pinning a mist-shrouded figure to the stairs with its own lance, trying to find the source of the voice. Suddenly he noticed something flying through the air from over the side of the Treader. Quickly he dodged to catch the sword, and when he turned around, Arran was struggling to climb onto the deck. Zephyr ran to his brother, smiling even in the midst of this nightmare because Arran was alive, and he had found the seventh sword once more.
"How do you ever manage it?" Zephyr asked, holding out his hand for the soaking Star to grasp.
"Don't ask me such a question, for I cannot tell the answer," Arran replied, a hint of breathlessness in his voice as he accepted the hand up.
"I'm just glad you're alive," Zephyr replied, catching his brother up in a warm embrace before turning back to the battle.
"So am I," Arran muttered, pulling his sword from his sheath.
Arran immersed himself into the battle, struggling to ignore the traces of Nithalazaar's voice trying to enter his mind so they could communicate by thought. He wanted nothing to do with the traitor of his people.
"Arran!" The pirate turned with a jerk when he heard his voice called. Lucy ran up to him, ducking swords and swerving to miss fighting men and Narnians.
"Lucy?" he asked, not really processing anything; he was still lost in the battle; coming out of fighting magic was harder than coming out of fighting Men.
"Arran, Eustace has gone to try to kill Nithalazaar – with the dagger you gave him!" she shouted, fending off yet another figure.
"Oh, Eustace, you are too brave and naive for your good," Arran thought to himself, looking toward the shoreline, which they were closing in upon steadily.
"I must stop him!" the pirate shouted back to her. As he turned away, he stopped, trying to catch a breath. He glanced back at Lucy. If only she realized how powerful she was, she could end this. He stumbled to the railing, tripped, and gasped, trying to escape the power and force of Lucy's magic, her faith, pressing down on him.
Dropping his sword to the deck and checking to make certain he still had one dagger left, he plunged back into the water, hoping he could rescue the brave but foolish boy before Nithalazaar did something to him.
~|:Xo0oX:|~
"Caspian, there's too many of these phantasms." Edmund gasped, coming up to his friend in the midst of the battle. He had fought his brother six times, Susan twice, Lucy once, his parents, well, them he had stopped counting; it was getting to be taxing, both emotionally and physically, to kill his family over and over so ruthlessly. He had started to think that if, had he sworn fealty to the Witch, he might have been forced to do just this to his siblings. It ached for him to think of the possibility, but it would not dissipate.
"I'm aware of how many there are, Edmund, except what other choice do we have to but fight or die?" Caspian answered, ducking a blow.
"I know," Edmund whispered before running toward Rhince who was fighting a man he bore strong resemblance to. At least they did not have to battle a sea serpent. Edmund glanced at Nithalazaar and saw something roil the water near the land. His blood ran cold. The Star wouldn't.
"Oh, yes he would," his mind contradicted, bringing to mind what Lord Rhoop had said.
"Do not think; do not let Him know your fears, or the mist will become them!"
~|:Xo0oX:|~
Arran ducked under an overhang, trying to find Eustace. He pulled back behind a rock when he heard footsteps, and suddenly Nithalazaar walked past, muttering in Davanrata as he stopped at the water's edge and bent down, running his long, tapered fingers through the water. Arran watched the Star, remembering stories of how great a musician he had been before his fall, how wise and brave. How could someone so good turn so bad? He wondered before tearing his gaze from the broken Star to search the area for Eustace or a sign of him.
"Da morna var na!" the broken Star suddenly shouted, rising and whirling with hand outstretched to face a large group of rocks at his left. Arran grimaced, knowing that Eustace had been found but not by the right person. Fighting and kicking, the boy was dragged by magic toward Nithalazaar.
"Arran, I cannot call you with your own language, but I know you are there!" Nithalazaar suddenly called out, smiling absently as Eustace collapsed on his hands and knees at his feet. The broken Star's eyes widened, and he reached down, forcing the dagger out of Eustace's grasp. "Du un berela, Rata-mere na mi!" he exclaimed, holding the weapon aloft.
"So, you're the little boy my kin has become overly fond of. My pets tell me you like to fly on dragon wings; is that so?" Green mist swirled near Nithalazaar's hand, and Eustace felt disgusted that the broken Star considered the vile substance to be his 'pets.'
"What about it?" Eustace retorted, narrowing his eyes at the Star.
"Oh, you see, I thought you might like to fly again," Nithalazaar replied nonchalantly, shrugging his shoulders in a careless manner.
"Are you threatening me?" Eustace stared up at him, bewildered.
"No," Nithalazaar bent down, grasping the back of Eustace's shirt. "I'm telling you the process of elimination. You're first," he whispered, staring into the boy's eyes, searching his face for even a hint of fear. But Eustace had no experience with this sort of thing, so the fear that Nithalazaar expected was absent; instead there was a steady resolve that confounded him.
"Since you do not object, Du Fenaranor, du cal-I morna vorn fon." He jerked Eustace away from him and then stepped over the boy, his robes brushing against him as he walked back down to the water.
Eustace gasped at the strange feeling that went tingling through him before everything changed quickly.
He could now see better in the dark, and he wasn't quite as uncomfortable on his hands and knees as he had been before. He also noticed, craning his dragon's head around to look, that he was much larger than before; the thought pleased him for a moment, the vanity of dragons clouding his mind, but it vanished when he realized that he was starting to forget his friends; the only thing that reminded him about them was a sudden scream of terror from the Treader that caused him to look in that direction.
He eyes widened in shock and outrage at what he saw. He spread his wings, intending to help his friends battle against the terrifying sea monster that was coming upon them, when a painful sound seemed to spring from all around him, loud and high-pitched. He roared in pain, tossing his head from side to side, hoping to be rid of the frustrating noise.
"You are my servant; you will do what I say, or that ringing will drive you mad and then to death!" Nithalazaar's voice threatened in his mind. Eustace shook his head once more, crashing backwards and sending a scattering of rocks into the water nearby as he tried to get the broken Star's voice out of his head. Frustrated that he could not attack Nithalazaar, he opened his maw and spewed a column of fire several feet into the air, his anger making him look terrifying.
But then, in the midst of the noise, in the midst of Nithalazaar's commands to fight his friends – commands that were growing harder to ignore – a voice was humming softly, soothingly. Instantly Eustace picked up Arran's particular aura – well, Eustace called it that, since he didn't know what to call the lights and emotions every different Star gave off – and tried to focus on its relaxing quality.
He'd always thought Arran darker than his brothers when he'd been a dragon, but now, with Nithalazaar to compare him against, Arran shone like the sun in his mind's eye. Eustace closed his eyes, focusing in on Arran, letting Nithalazaar's voice grow dim and fade. No amount of screaming or shouting on the broken Star's part could draw Eustace back.
"Eustace, let me deal with Nithalazaar; go and help the others defeat that monster, quickly!" Arran's voice did not have the commanding air of Nithalazaar's; it was a voice Eustace felt he could be ordered around by for the rest of his days as a dragon – if he lived that long.
Eustace exhaled and then opened his eyes, the black cat-like irises narrowing when he saw the Treader attacked by the sea serpent. He roared before spreading his wings and jumping into the dark sky, determined to ignore Nithalazaar's voice whispering for him to go against his friends.
~|:Xo0oX:|~
Everyone on the Dawn Treader stumbled to a halt when the phantoms they had been fighting vanished, and they were alone once again on deck. But they stared at one another uneasily when they heard something move in the water. Lucy glanced apprehensively at Edmund and saw a look of guilt and self-contempt on his face that she had not seen in years. Suddenly she had a bad feeling about what was going to happen.
"Edmund, what are you thinking of?" she shouted across to him, eyes searching his face.
"Oh, I'm sorry!" he moaned, running to the rail and staring out across the water.
Caspian glanced at Lucy uneasily, but before he could follow her, Susan was at his side. "What's happening? What's going on?" She asked, staring at the wounded men and trying to peer off into the darkness surrounding them.
"You must go back to the children, please, Susan. It's Nithalazaar; he's alive, and he will kill anyone who believes they can defeat him with the swords," Caspian explained before motioning for her to go back to the cabin. "Protect the children; I don't know what he might do next," he advised, moving away from her and rushing to Edmund.
Susan stared after him, lifting her eyes to the shore, where she caught sight of the Star for the first time. For a moment she was too shocked and startled to move, seeing something that no one thought was still alive must be just as unbelievable as rulers everyone thought dead returning with the winding of a horn in the middle of a haunted forest. But her senses quickly returned, and she ran back to the cabin; she knew she had to keep the children safe no matter the cost.
Edmund stared at the water, which surged up as some great creature writhed beneath it. "What is that?" Caspian asked, not wanting to believe what his mind was telling him and his eyes were seeing.
"I did not truly think he knew my fear!" Edmund pleaded, feeling like he had betrayed his friends and family for the second time.
"Nor did I. What do you fear?" Caspian asked urgently, grasping Edmund by the shoulders, brown eyes looking into Edmund's intently.
"I was relieved he did not pit us against a monster, a sea monster." Edmund winced, looking back at the dark water, which was eerily still and quiet. Caspian turned away from him, shouting to the crew, when a hideous shriek rose from the darkness on their left.
Lucy was the first to turn in that direction; as she did, she noticed her sister standing at the cabin door staring at the deck below anxiously. When she tried to peer into the darkness, she saw something that made her heart stop. Gael crouched under the rail, looking more frightened than she'd ever been as the shrieking came closer to the ship.
"Gael, run!" she screamed, willing the little girl to move before something happened to her. But the girl only raised her head and stared in Lucy's direction with a terrified expression on her tear-stained face. In that second, Lucy made a decision. She ran from where she stood to the little girl and grabbed her hand.
She ignored the sound of a dragon-like bellow from behind her and the shouts of the crew and Edmund while she pulled the petrified little girl to her feet. Both stopped, dumbstruck, when a great tongue of fire streamed at the sea monster that was rising from the water only feet in front of them. With an earth-shaking roar and air drafts that were large enough the rock the ship, a dragon flew from the shadows and attacked the sea monster.
Slowly Lucy backed up, tripping over debris and broken rigging, her eyes never leaving the scene unfolding in front of her. Then someone grabbed her, and she had no time for thought. Susan pulled them back to the stairs, checking quickly to make certain neither was unharmed; she wrapped them both in a tearful embrace, crying into her sister's hair.
"I thought you were going to die, I –" Susan broke off, cupping her little sister's cheek in her hand. "I could not have done such a thing," she admitted before pulling Lucy into another hug.
Lucy smiled at her sister, trying to quell the shaking in her hands. "Quickly, we must get Gael to the cabin," she said, knowing now was not the time for tears or laughter.
"Yes, hurry; Lucy, come with me," Susan said, rushing up the stairs with Gael by her side.
Susan left the little girl with Lucy, going to check on Rilian. "You must stay here with my sister until someone comes for you; don't leave unless someone comes for you, all right?" Lucy coaxed, trying to keep her voice from shaking as she smiled at the little girl and smoothed her dark hair back from her face.
As she spoke, the entire ship rocked, and the screech of monsters battling one another could be heard outside the small cabin. Rilian was crying when Susan rushed up to Lucy. "Take this and go!" she ordered, thrusting her bow and quiver into Lucy's hands.
"But, these are your –"
"Lucy, take them! I can't go out and fight in that battle, but you can, and you have always been far braver than I. Go!" Susan smiled encouragingly through her fear before picking Rilian up from his crib and tugging Gael close to her side. Lucy nodded and turned to the door, shutting it securely behind her. Susan pulled Gael with her into a corner of the room by the bed and sat down, keeping her son and the girl close. She closed her eyes, leaning her head back against the wall.
"Aslan, oh, Aslan!"
A/N:
Well, I'm back, with more dramatics and excitement! I actually can't believe that this story is almost over, can you? It's taking a little while to sink in, I must admit. I finished the last couple chapters 9/16/15, so now I'm simply publishing them as I get my notes back from my Beta.
(You're getting this chapter early because my sister is sitting behind me wishing to understand the inner-workings of FFN; she's from Wattpad and they have no consistency about updating {her words, not mine}. So, if you're going to thank anyone for this early and very much unexpected post, thank her.)
Speaking of betas, I must shout out thanks to Jesus girl 4ever for helping me through this book, she has taught me quite a few things and helped me with several silly problems I created! I hope she'll be there to help me with the next book!
So, I realized from going over my last chapter and the A/N that I forgot to translate the Star's language for you guys! I'm really sorry. So, here's what Arran says to Eustace in chapter 33:
"Verda, ni la atta fon anath-on, Kinador."
"Peace, I wish you have with you, Eustace."
It's a rather rough translation, but I'm still working on developing that language. Kinador really means friend, bravery, and courage. But I think that Arran can see those qualities in Eustace, so the name 'Kinador' and the name 'Eustace' correspond in his mind.
And, before I forget, here are the translations of the other words and sentences in the Star's language:
"Da morna var na!"
"Bring forth the hider!"
"Du un berela, Rata-mere na mi!"
"The blade to end Starlight!"
"Du Fenaranor, du cal-I morna vorn fon."
"The Dragon, I will call forth from you."
"Denorla ie brena, Arran."
"Greeting to you, Arran."
"Menla aal, Gavan, Zephyr."
"To you also, Gavan, Zephyr."
I understand, weak, weak, weak! But it's still patchy. I'm no Tolkien, nor do I plan on creating a 'dead language' with vowels, nouns, etc. like he did. Just a few words so that I can have my little OC world of Stars talk in a language that separates them from their mortal Narnian counterparts.
If I was to go into detail about it, it would be (in my imagination) the language Aslan sung them into being with, so it uses basic words for quite a few meanings. The meaning of the word depends on the context of the situation, really. Like 'verda' can mean 'peace' or it can mean 'fear not.' It's the situation that makes the meaning different.
But besides that, I think Nithalazaar is one of my greatest OC villains I've created since I started into the Narnian world. I'd spent a lot of time developing his character, building a back story for him (which sadly won't be coming into this Cycle), than I did with Lord Verius in Star Crossed.
The only thing that gets to me is the fact that most people will see him as an elf! (Like my sister... She read this and she's like, "Oh, who's that, Thranduil?") Some people might think I'm taking elves and changing them. But the problem is I see something totally different in my head when I talk about Stars than when I talk about Elves.
Sorry, pet peeve of mine...
But I'm moving on, I swear! Okay, what else is there?.. I actually don't have anything, surprisingly. So, I'm just going to write up the A/N for my dear friend the Guest Reviewer, and be off! Leave any questions in a review, if you please!
ILoveFanfiction
Well, now you have answers to your questions! (And yes, Nithalazaar had a hand in that.) And no, I have not read The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien. I've wanted to, but I've yet to obtain any copies, both new or used. Currently, though, I think its all right that I've not read the book, mainly because if I haven't, I can claim ignorance if something I write sounds like his writings.
That's one of my problems, sometimes I wish that I hadn't read the other books of his because it makes writing this a bit harder, wanting to use my ideas but hesitant to because people might think I'm using some of his, just changed a little. Whatever, right? I'll just have to work it out!
I hope you liked this chapter,
WH