Uproar in the Den of Snakes
The birds barely started announcing the beginning of morning, and yet the Hall of the Council was already full of sounds. Kelemo casually scratched his hand that was recently attacked by a mosquito. Unlike other lords in the room, he didn't look very tired, as he had been awake for two hours already and drank his favourite drink, coffee. Sometimes he joked with his sister, telling her to remember it's the only good thing that ever came from the distant Calormen.
The hall itself was massive, needing six fifteen-meter-long pillars to support the ceiling, decorated with paintings from the long and often bloody Telmarine history. A magnificent horseshoe-shaped table from white marble occupied most of the space. Behind it, twenty-nine tall chairs of many shapes and colours, above each a different banner. They were all reserved for the Telmarine lords, safe for one seat. A big royal throne in the middle of the table, vacant for almost ten years, since Caspian IX tragically died.
Only eleven were currently occupied, with many lords being either in their own domains or... exiled, dead, gone. It didn't really matter what happened to them, but they were gone. A similar thing happened to his father, Lord Octesian. He and six other lords were sent by Miraz to "explore" the Bight of Calormen and the seas beyond. "And may that terrible excuse of a father never return," he silently prayed. Although he technically wasn't a lord but a regent, Kelemo held all the power his father once had. Just the thought itself filled him with happiness.
In the blend of noises, he overheard someone whispering about a thief in the royal stables. " Rumours travel quickly. As always,"smiled Kelemo, adjusting his slightly curly hair black like a raven's feather. Although the youngest in the room by far, he himself had known already.
The whispering soon evolved into open talk, and then a full-blown argument between some of them, all wondering why the Lord Protector had summoned the Council this early in the morning. Only he was sitting quietly, almost appearing bored, because Kelemo Octesian already suspected what was happening. His lookout woke him up before sunrise, telling him he had seen the prince's horse running away, followed by six soldiers.
The bickering of the lords was suddenly extinguished when Lord Protector himself finally appeared before the great door. He stopped for a moment, examining every single face in the room. For a second or two, Kelemo made eye contact with him. Then instead of taking his seat next to the throne, he remained standing in the middle of the room on the huge carpet, depicting a map of Narnia, so everyone would directly see him. "My lords, thank you for being here."
Miraz was smaller and less muscular than his deceased brother the King, but otherwise, he shared many of the same physical characteristics. He had the same sparkles in his eyes, a Roman nose, and a short, almost coal-black beard, matching his similarly short hair.
Although he wasn't a king, he certainly dressed like one. An expensive black overcoat with golden buttons was over his favourite black tunic with white ornaments. He also wore a necklace in the shape of an eight-pointed star out of black diamond, a symbol of Caspian the Conqueror. The wealth of the Lord Protector was unmatched by any other living man. Miraz once showed him one of his many treasure cellars, when Kelemo was slightly younger. He never saw so much gold in one place after that.
"Tell us my Lord, what is so urgent that the Council was called this hastily?" voiced doubtfully his opinion Lord Sopespian. "Without many of its members here, one might add."
"A beyond serious matter concerning our Prince. I am certain we, who made it in time are more than capable of drawing the right conclusions," he responded almost annoyed, his voice sounding a bit like the hissing of a snake. During the reign of his brother, it was an unwritten rule the Council couldn't make any decisions without at least half of its members attending. Of course, Miraz changed this.
"And why is Prince Caspian not here when the matter relates to him? He is old enough and our heir after all, and should be discussing this with us, if he is ever to be a good ruler," asked the old lord Jeremi.
"That is exactly why I was forced to start the meeting cuanto antes, my lords," replied Miraz with feigned concern, his face indicating great sadness. The Protector was an impressive manipulator, Kelemo had to give him that. "Our beloved Prince was abducted...by Ancient Narnians," he whispered ominously. Some of the lords let out a laugh, others looked at each other, unsure what to think.
"I myself didn't believe it when his guards told me late at night, two of their comrades were slain in the attack. I first thought it could have been the work of some rebellious lord, wanting to rob Casa Caspian of its rightful place on the throne." With that, he abandoned his sad pose for a moment and again scanned the entire long table with his dangerous gaze. "We all vividly remember the unsuccessful rebellion of Lord's Uvilas and Belisar* after all, like it happened yesterday." The council members were now more silent than mute.
When Miraz felt satisfied with his intimidation, he again put on a grim expression. "It is true my lords. Far too long were we blinded by our relative peace and easy victories. The old demons still lurk in the deep wilderness, but something changed. They are growing in numbers and growing bolder." Suddenly, he yelled at the top of his lungs, a very unusual sight. "They dared to attack my castle! My Nephew! Your Prince!" he declared with his hand raised in a fist. There was again silence for some time, Protector's voice still echoing in the large hall.
"My lord, how can you assure us that it was the old Narnians as you claim," asked Scythley carefully. "That old bootlicker. The question from him was most definitely planned by Miraz. He has some ace up his sleeve that I don't know about," concluded Kelemo.
Whenever people knew some secrets he didn't, whenever they had the upper hand over him, a grey cloud engulfed his mind. Helplessness and silent rage often rained from it. Another mark of his father's abuse. The only person he ever told was Alysa, his dear sister. But that cloud didn't appear was telling him he will get his answer shortly.
Miraz sneered and gave the order to open the main door. Two soldiers stepped into the room holding someone unnaturally small and hairy, a gag firmly placed in his mouth. Both the man with messy red hair and the young woman with a neck tattoo were tightly holding the little man's shoulder. Kelemo stared intently at the mysterious prisoner, his hand buried in his chin. He hated being caught off guard like this.
The anticipation in the room was nearly tangible. To the shock of all, Miraz gritted his teeth, knelt down on one leg and punched the prisoner in the stomach. The hit was so hard Kelemo felt something that resembled compassion. The little man let out a quiet groan, his eyes pierced the attacker with hatred. Miraz was looking directly back at him from up close. "For what you have done to my nephew, you and your kind will pay a hundredfold."
Miraz broke the eye contact and turned toward the lords. "He was caught by our soldiers in the Shuddering wood, when they bravely chased after the prince and his abductors."
The redheaded soldier bowed slightly. "We shadowed the criminals on horses, on the Polvo road*. They led us into the forest and laid an ambush. We tried to get to the prince but... These little demons are fierce warriors. Two of our fellows perished."
"There were many others. A goat-like man, a big colosso* with horns and an axe, countless animals," added the girl with the neck tattoo. "We barely managed to escape with the prisoner to tell the tale. But the prince was still alive."
Kelemo was sure he had never seen those two soldiers. Sure, he didn't remember every face he had ever seen, but these two had outstanding characteristics. " There is something Miraz isn't telling us."The existence of these animals was perhaps even more worrying. The Octesian lands lay not too far from the Shuddering wood, just like Selwyg's and Sopespian's. "Had they really lived there the whole time, undetected in the shadows?" He made a mental note to bolster the defences of his home once the meeting ends.
Lord Selwyg jumped out of his chair. "We must immediately send more soldiers to recover our prince from their claws."
Miraz hadn't reacted to his outburst, just pointed his hand in the direction of Lord Glozelle, the General of the Royal Army who was patiently standing in the corner of the room the whole time, preferring it more than sitting.
"I had already dispatched two echelons* during the night to look for our Prince. A whole company is being prepared as we speak to reinforce them," he informed them in his deep voice.
Selwyg evidently wasn't very satisfied with his reply. "That is not nearly enough recourses. All lords should immediately mobilize their forces to help look for Caspian and root those beasts out."
General Glozelle clasped his hands behind his back and straightened up. "The search is being coordinated by the Royal Army. If anyone wishes to donate more devices and men, they are very welcome to do so. But I would advise to leave the control and command to my professionals."
"I think we all agree that slaying those beasts and bringing the prince back are our main priorities now," calmed the situation Lord Sopespian. The rest of the Council seemed to agree with him. "What is this man's game?" wondered Kelemo. He knew he was power-hungry and hated Miraz. But the rest was so far an enigma to him. "Alysa is a great friend of Sopespian's daughter, Enara," he remembered. Maybe his sister knows about the plans of this lord more than he realized.
"Indeed, and I can assure you. I will do everything in my power to get my nephew back," Miraz promised them. "And I would advise all in this hall to strengthen their castles and holdings. Tonight, they proved they can attack a castle with a mere token force. And we don't know how many more beasts are lurking in the woods," he hissed and left the meeting, followed by the two soldiers with their prisoner.
The lords immediately started to discuss what just happened, some still shocked. Kelemo scratched his hand again. It was an interesting meeting with some unforeseen revelations. Things were starting to move and a lot of work was waiting for him.
Xxxxx
The huge courtyard of the military barracks appeared before her. There were significantly more soldiers than yesterday, all from the Royal Army. These weren't some new recruits. They were preparing to march. She noticed the banner, a grey skeleton on a golden and black field. A whole company Francis Drake*. Enara remembered her time in military school where she had learned all the names.
"What is this about? There shouldn't be any training."According to her rank, she was a simple soldier as of now. But naturally, as a daughter of a powerful noble, Enara usually knew about everything important that was about to happen. "Maybe General Glozelle disclosed it to everyone, even to my father. Or it could be an emergency."
One thing was clear, there wasn't any space left for training. Flori was probably waiting inside with the other guards for the company to leave. She walked around them to the left door designated for the castle guards, whilst quietly admiring the discipline of the soldiers. When entering, Enara accidentally collided with someone, as her head was still turned towards the company in the courtyard. The chainmail on both of them jingled.
"HEY, look ou... oh Enara. I was looking for you actually. Good you bumped into me like that," replied the surprised Costen, his blond hair freshly washed. The blue eyes pierced a person like butter, an attribute that was only matched by her own eyes.
"Ohh really. Can I guess? You were playing cards with the boys, lost and now you want money from me. Again." Enara snickered.
"In my defence, I got much better since that little inconvenience. We should play sometime, for silver of course," he winked at her but then got surprisingly serious. "I was in fact going to ask you if you had seen Florien by any chance. You two are always together after all."
"What... no. I was hoping he would be inside."
Costen let out a minute growl and looked around the courtyard in a clearly pointless effort to find him. "I hadn't seen him all morning. Woke him up before his shift in the stables. He never came back to the barracks. No one I had talked to saw him today." He showed every single step on his fingers, perhaps to be sure not to miss something important.
Enara could feel the unpleasant feeling, the tension that started in her body as if someone had lit a match. Stress. If Costen was worried about somebody, it was serious. "If this is some kind of a joke you two prepared for me..."
"Do I look like I am joking? I even checked his place in the town."
"Flood it, that is bad. Navaro went to Beaversdam yesterday, he won't help us. Did you talk to Rodrik?" she looked at Costen hopefully.
"Three times. That drunken bastard wouldn't recognize his own wife, but he assured me Flori wasn't with him." Costen exhaled, visibly annoyed with the man. "And now the Royal Army company is preparing to march for god knows what reason as if there wasn't enough chaos right now."
Breathing was becoming more difficult every second. "You have asked them?"
"Hm," he confirmed. "The commander said I don't need to know. Frowning prick."
Enara looked back at the soldiers that were now leaving for the gate, the sound of their boots getting more distant and inaudible. "Could it be related to Flori? Did something happen last night, like her bad feeling indicated yesterday?"
"Fine. We must sort this out. Maybe.. he just went somewhere right after his watch and didn't tell anyone." She was lying to herself. That didn't sound like Flori in the slightest. "I will ask father if he knows anything about this." She pointed her head towards the leaving Drake company.
"You think they are tied to Flori?" asked Costen hesitantly, staring at the backs of the leaving soldiers. "It can be just a large training. In Ettinsmoor, we had them nearly every week."
"Costy… just trust me with this one. It sounds stupid, but I have a very strong feeling it is important, not just some training. Something ugly happened." She at least tried to sound confident. Costen looked like he was thinking about it, occasionally giving her a short glance.
"Sounds like a plan," he finally announced. "I will peek into the town again, but I doubt I will have much luck." Enara just nodded quickly and started walking back to the main keep. The company left and she could finally hear her heart pounding like it always did during training. Training with Flori.
"Hey En!" screamed Costen after a few seconds. She looked back immediately, her braid flew to the opposite side. "We will find him, do not worry." He smiled at her reassuringly. Enara wanted to believe that. She really wanted to.
Hi folks, hope you are doing well. Finally, Miraz made an appearance, the main villain. He is wealthy, manipulative, and lot more competent than in the books. Soon, the heroes and other protagonists will discover how dangerous he can be. For Enara of course, the priority right now is finding Flori, a path that might lead to other dangers. The next chapter will feature this struggle and also, a meeting with Doctor Cornelius. Thank you all for reading and see you soon.
Notes:
Cuanto antes –as soon as possible in Spanish.
Rebellion of Lord's Uvilas and Belisar –In canon, the two lords were simply killed of by Miraz for not supporting him. In this version, they actually rebelled and there was a quick civil war. However, the two loyal lords were soon defeated and killed, as they didn't get the support of many others.
Polvo road– Major road between Castle Caspian and southern Narnia.
Colosso –Meaning giant in Telmarine language.
Echelon and Company –Units in the military. The echelon usually has around 40 soldiers. Companies are much bigger, typically comprising 4 echelons, so 160.
Company Francis Drake –Companies are named by religious and military figures, that also serve as their symbolic patrons. This one is named after Francis Drake, well known pirate and captain. Telmarines view him as a mythical figure due to their English pirate ancestry.
Flood it –A curse used by Telmarines. In their culture, the sea is viewed with contempt and many are even scared to fit in, that's why they use this curse.
Character Summary:
Enara Sopespian -Daughter of Lord Sopespian, Telmarine soldier, Age 17, light olive skin, Dark brown hair, Sharp hazelnut eyes.
Kelemo Octesian –Telmarine noble and regent, brother of Alysa, Age 20, slightly curly black hair.
Miraz –Lord Protector, Uncle of Caspian. Age 34, short black hair and beard.
Lord Sopespian –Telmarine noble, Age 55, short messy hair, short and slightly greyish beard.
Costen Weidheim –Telmarine soldier, friend of Flori, Age 20, shortbattle scar on the left side of his face, longer dirty blond hair.
Kailani –Took part in the assassination attempt, Age 24, long dark hair dined in braids, a tattoo on the right side of the neck, olive skin, mildly slanted eyes.
Lord Glozelle –General, Telmarine noble, Age 46
Lord's Scythley, Jeremi, Selwyg –Telmarine nobles sitting on the council.
