serendipity - narnia [EDITING]

chapter 19

Chapter 19
The Beginning of a Downward Spiral

The mage and the just king went in first. Edmund, held within the claws of a griffin, was to be carried to a watchtower; he had his torch with him to signal their troops in stages. Dahlia flew in with him as a precaution, partially because the plan only needed Peter, Susan, and Caspian to get in motion. Or at least that was the intention.

The two guardians and the griffin quietly landed on the top of the tower, careful to stay out of sight of the guard. The griffin then swooped down and grabbed the guard, leaving Edmund and Dahlia to take the watchtower. Dahlia scanned the courtyard and other towers to see if anyone had noticed their arrival while Edmund used his torch to signal the others.

Several more griffins flew towards the castle carrying Peter, Susan, Caspian, and a handful of Narnians. Edmund used his torch to indicate where they should land; they took out a few guards and entered the castle. Dahlia and Edmund just had to wait.

"So how long was it for you?" Dahlia asked quietly; this wasn't the first stake-out they'd done as a pair in their fifteen years of ruling and they always ended up talking to pass the time. "Since you were last here, I mean. Susan may have mentioned it earlier but I forgot."

"Just a year," Edmund replied, looking out over the courtyard. "Long year though," he added mostly to himself. Dahlia checked the castle grounds again and everything seemed quiet, so she leaned against the parapet and looked at Edmund. He was deep in thought, which was a bad thing for someone who had to focus on a mission.

"It's just gonna get worse if you ponder it alone. Talk to me," she said. He nodded and she turned back to look over the castle; they could talk, but they did still have a job to do.

"It just happened so fast. Adults one second, kids the next. Plus we had no idea what happened to you, to Narnia...I think Lucy and Peter took it the hardest, though." Dahlia turned to look at him, her head tilted slightly in confusion.

"How so?" Edmund took a deep breath, looking towards the main part of the castle where his siblings were.

"Well, Lucy was the one who found this place. And Peter- he just got so used to being respected as the High King that he didn't know how to act. God, the number of petty fights I had to break up," Edmund finished, shaking his head slightly. Dahlia let out a breathy laugh.

"Yeah, that sounds like Peter..." she trailed off, looking at the pendant around her neck. It was glowing. "Ed-"

"Go." Dahlia wasted no time, leaping off the side of the tower and flying towards the castle. She didn't know how, but she felt like something was pulling her to a certain part of the building. She quickened her speed and kicked out, her boots connecting with the metal and glass of a window and smashing it in. She already had two fireballs conjured by the time she landed and realized her instinct was right.

She was in Miraz's bedroom; Susan and Peter stood by the door with weapons raised, likely having arrived seconds before she did. Caspian and Miraz stood beside the bed on the other side of the room, the prince holding a sword to Miraz's throat. Miraz's wife, whom Dahlia recognized from her visions, was kneeling on the bed and aiming a crossbow at Caspian. They briefly looked up at her abrupt and cacophonous arrival; everyone tightened their grip on their weapons.

"This used to be a private room," Miraz said with his hands on his hips. Dahlia bit down a sarcastic remark and moved her hands so only one fireball was aimed at Prunaprismia, Miraz's wife, and the other was aimed at Miraz himself. She didn't intend to injure Prunaprismia, however. The fire was merely a precaution: the woman had just given birth, and it wasn't her fault her husband was an awful person.

"What are you doing? You're supposed to be in the gatehouse," Peter said angrily, staring Caspian down. Dahlia glanced from the Pevensies to Caspian, already feeling like their plan was going to hell...which it absolutely was, of course, but their little stand-off was only the beginning.

"Caspian-" Dahlia said carefully, trying to get him to calm down. It didn't work.

"No!" Caspian yelled, startling Dahlia and the Pevensies. The mage's eyes darted between Caspian and the man as the end of his blade. "Tonight, for once, I want the truth." Caspian moved forward, forcing Miraz to step back. "Did you kill my father?"

"Now we get to it," Miraz said with a sickening smirk. Dahlia watched Caspian closely, worried for a second that he actually would run Miraz through. Though a part of her was also slightly intrigued; her visions told her that Caspian's father was indeed dead, but not how it happened.

"You told me your brother died in his sleep," Prunaprismia said, obviously as confused as the rest of them.

"That was more or less true," Miraz replied, much too smug for someone with the point of a sword leveled at their throat.

"Caspian, this won't make things any better," Susan said from across the room, trying to diffuse the situation. Caspian ignored her, staying focused on his uncle.

"We Telemarines would have nothing had we not taken it. Your father knew that as well as anyone," Miraz said. Dahlia and Susan exchanged worried looks; it just kept getting worse.

"How could you?" Prunaprismia asked, shockingly lowering her crossbow just a little.

"For the same reason you will pull that trigger. For our son!" Miraz took a step forward, as did Dahlia. Everyone re-positioned their weapons, Dahlia struggling to focus on all three Telemarines at once. Her view of Miraz was blocked by a bedpost, so she stepped closer to Susan to get a better angle. "You need to make a choice, dear. Do you want our child to be king?" Miraz continued to step forward; the tip of Caspian's blade pressed into his neck, drawing blood. "Or do you want him to be like Caspian here? Fatherless!" Then several things happened at once.

Miraz's wife cried out and fired her crossbow at Caspian, who grunted in pain as an arrow scraped his shoulder and doubled over on a chair. His sword clattered to the floor and Miraz took off. Dahlia and Peter started running around the bed and Susan tried to get a decent shot at Miraz, but couldn't because she would risk hitting Dahlia or Peter. Miraz escaped through a secret door that neither the High King nor the mage could figure out how to open.

After a moment the alarm bells rang and Dahlia knew for certain they were in trouble. She moved quickly over to Caspian, ignoring Miraz's weeping wife on the bed. She grabbed his good arm and forced him into a velvet chair in front of the fireplace, gently touching his injury. Caspian hissed in pain and Dahlia whispered an apology.

"It's alright, it only grazed me." The mage pretended not to hear him and pulled a few assorted herbs from the pouch around her waist, carefully pressing them on the wound. She muttered a quick healing charm to fix most of the damage, working as quickly as she could because they needed to get out of the castle immediately.

"You shouldn't have done that," she said as they rushed out the door after Peter and Susan.

"I know."