The Call To The Old - An Edmund Pevensie fanfiction

Chapter forty-four

Once the pair had finished their dance, it wasn't long before the rest of the guests coupled up and joined them on the ballroom floor. The highest of the Narnian nobles were displeased at the ruckus that Edmund and Talia had caused, and were especially angered by the fact that people believed that the engagement between Caspian and Talia was now off.

Lord Dalvu was the highest of Narnian nobles; he also had strong connections to Talia's province and for him, the alliance between Caspian and Talia was of his highest priority. The man stood tall in his position by Caspian's side- he bore long, red hair that waved down to just slightly above his shoulders, and his face was scattered with a constellation of freckles. He turned to the King beside him, and with a slight passive aggressive smile, suggested the pair strike up a conversation.

Caspian stood up to be beside Dalvu, and responded to his gesture with a simple, "Yes?"

Dalvu cleared his throat and began, "you seem to be perfectly content with these displays of adultery presented before us."

Caspian quickly snapped his head in the elder man's direction, and the sudden burst of movement alerted Peter who already was on the move in the direction of the confrontation. "What are you insinuating?" Caspian queried.

"I am insinuating that Talia is making a mockery of you, of the agreement, the alliance, and of the whole of Narnia itself." Dalvu paused for a moment to assess what Caspian was feeling, and decided to try and lighten the moment with a joke, "you can never trust a whoring woman." which was, of course, in poor taste.

"Pardon?" Caspian asked, "What did you just say?" his hand now falling to grab the tip of his sword.

But any further movement was interrupted by a hand that fell strongly upon his shoulder, "Lord Dalvu." he spoke.

"High King Peter." Dalvu spoke, before bowing at the man before him.

His action earnt a laugh from Peter, "It is funny how you respect me here, publicly. And yet not the wishes of either my friends or family."

Dalvu recoiled slightly, "Forgive me, your highness, but Talia agreed to this arrangement, and so did King Caspian."

Peter stepped forward, "And would they have done, if your demands and pressure hadn't been placed upon them?" Dalvu did not respond, "And how come you did not ask for either mine or any of my siblings consent for this royal engagement, considering we are the monarchs?" Once again, Dalvu could not respond, "Because you knew that we would say no? Because you knew that Narnia doesn't need marriage alliances to survive, it merely needs unity. Narnia and Talia's province, Archenland, have been allies for centuries, even in the Golden Age- so I asked myself, if we were already allies, why would you be so intent on a marriage alliance to further cement it? Hmm?" he pressed.

Lord Dalvu stuttered, but again, no words came from his mouth. Caspian watched on, equally impressed as he was confused. Peter continued, "And then I realised, a married Talia means a Talia away from her province, leaving the nobles to continue to rule in her absence. And whilst normally I would trust a situation of that nature, my sister and I quickly came to notice that each of those nobles are heavily in debt to you, and although they appear to despise you they have to bend to your every command, which would then mean that you would presumably take over leadership of Archenland." the boy paused to laugh, "quite convenient isn't it?"

An emotionless expression fell over the face of Lord Dalvu, as his plan had ultimately been caught on to, and finally the man spoke, "I must say I am impressed, I suppose you have it all figured out. Except for one flaw," he pointed to the smiling face of Talia, who danced in Edmund's arms, and then spun to dance with both Lucy and Susan, and then along to Trumpkin- her laughs echoing across the whole dance hall. Dalvu continued, "What makes you think that she would return to Archenland, despite not even being married? The girl has been in this palace, or in that forest for almost her entire life- she was raised her. Her province may be in her blood, but it is not where her new family reside. The girl will stay here, and I will remain the highest noble in Archenland- I merely believed the marriage would cement her staying her further but now I have come to realise that she will stay here married or not."

Now it was Caspian's turn to speak, "The nobles of Archenland, now freed from the tyrant grip of Talia's father, are actually very reasonable people, I am sure that even with Talia here they would reign kind, the only problem is their debts to you- which would be easily remedied- surely imprisonment for treason would fix that." he smiled, turning to Peter, who smirked back. Caspian continued, "Or perhaps, seeing as Talia does not wish to rule, I get her to sign over her ownership of Archenland to one of my nobles, who I can assure, will be present in the province to rule and to rule fairly, without any debts to you. What do you say?"

Peter looked the man up and down once more, "I am not sure a frail man like you would last long in even the kindest of prisons."

Lord Dalvu frowned, and paused to ponder for a second, "I yield. You speak truth, I am not sure prison would be kind to me."

"Good." Peter spoke, "now make yourself scarce, because I am not sure my brother will be as forgiving once he finds out the strength of your hand in this situation." Caspian hadn't seen Peter so harsh in his words for a long time, but was glad that someone finally seemed to be on his side, and as he turned to look at the smiling, dancing face of his best friend, he was somewhat glad that the engagement had failed; although, he too was worried for what would happen when the Pevensies had to one day leave and return back to their faraway home.