Growing Pains | a traitor's tale novel | Narnia

What Happened?

1300 years later

The Narnians had been in hiding for thousands of years after the Telmarines invaded and destroyed Cair Paravel.

The most recent Telmarine king, Caspian the Ninth, had died ten or so years prior. They were waiting for his son Caspian the Tenth to be of age to officially claim the throne.

Caspian IX's brother, Lord Miraz, did not want that to happen. He wanted the Telmarine throne for himself. For years he bided his time, waiting for his wife to give him a son. Once he had an eligible heir, he could stage a plot to get rid of the rightful heir, Prince Caspian X.

Miraz was the acting king until his nephew was of age. He knew his time to take the throne was fast approaching. His wife was pregnant, due to give birth in just a few days time.

He had everything planned. As soon as he knew whether his baby was a boy, he would have soldiers using enemy weapons that they'd confiscated from prisoners of war break into the prince's room while he slept. It would be so simple to make it look like an unfortunate accident. Miraz was practically giddy with anticipation.

Further to the east, past the old battlefield of Beruna and the Dancing Lawn, sat Aslan's How. The How was a secret protected fortress over the very stone that Aslan himself died upon. It was also the home to some Narnian refugees and two famous figures from Narnia's Golden Age.

Only Narnians knew about the fortress built around the Stone Table where Aslan sacrificed his life to save two children deemed 'traitors' by the White Witch. Only the descendants of those close to the kings and queens of old knew about the two statues housed there. The specific wing where they were kept was only cared for by trusted Narnians.

Sufak and his sister Smumbleshy were two of those trusted few. The two fauns had the job of making sure the statues were still intact every so often. They also had other jobs around the How to maintain it in case it was needed one day.

They were doing their job as they always did one day when they heard a strange cracking noise coming from the hidden wing. They stopped what they were doing, listening for more noises. They didn't hear anything at first, but as they listened closer, they heard a small child's voice.

"Mummy?" The voice of the small girl said. Her voice was followed by more cracking noises.

The fauns rushed to see what was happening. Upon entering the room, they saw one statue completely the same as it had always been. But there were supposed to be two. Instead of a second statue, they saw a young girl holding the stone woman's hand.

The girl looked at them. "Hello?" She asked them. "Do you know what happened to my mummy?"

Smumbleshy immediately recognized the crown on the small child's head. "Princess Genevieve!" She gasped.

"Yeah? Do I know you? Can you help me?"

"Of course, your highness," the faun rushed to the girl's side. She helped her slip her hand out of her still frozen mother's. She ushered the young princess over to her chest. "These are yours," she told her. "My brother and I will help you until your mother wakes too, alright?"

"O-okay," she said, still a little shaken up. "Are my mum and siblings going to be okay? Where's my daddy? And my aunties and uncle?"

"We don't know, sweetheart. But your mum and the babies are going to be just fine, we'll make sure of that."

"Why does mummy look so young? Is it still her?"

Sufak approached the two carefully. "It must have been Aslan's magic," he said.

"Aslan? Is he here? Can I meet him?"

"He's not here, actually no one has seen him in thousands of years. But we can introduce you to some of the others in the How. My name is Sufak, and that's my sister right there. Her name is Smumbleshy. We're fauns, you've met fauns before, haven't you?"

"Yeah, there was Mr. Tumnus and daddy's guard Oak. Do you know them?"

The two shared a glance. They didn't know how to explain to a child that they had been frozen for 1300 years and that everyone they knew was dead.

"Well, your father's guard, Oak Greenfriar, was our great grandfather. I'm sorry, but he's gone now. Oh but he shared some of the best stories with our grandfather about you and your family at the castle. He said you were his favorite princess he's ever met, and he knew a lot of them before you were born and after," Smumbleshy explained.

"Really?" The young princess' eyes lit up with joy.

"Oh absolutely," Sufak confirmed his sister's statement. "Come with us, we'll introduce you to some of the Narnians."

They led the young girl out into the main part of the How.

"Who is this you have with you?" A centaur named Glenstorm asked.

"My name's Genevieve," the girl said quietly.

A murmur spread throughout the room. "Genevieve? As in the Princess Genevieve?"

Another centaur noticed that the girl seemed to be getting overwhelmed. He stepped forward and knelt down so he was closer to her height. "Hello Princess," he greeted kindly. "I'm Tallheart."

"The Queen is still frozen, so until she breaks free, Princess Genevieve will be staying with us here," Smumbleshy explained.

"The Queen is here? Have they been here this whole time?" A squirrel asked.

The fauns glanced at the centaur kneeling before the Princess. He was one of the few trusted Narnians who knew the story well.

Tallheart took a deep breath before explaining. "On the day the kings and queens of old returned to their world, Princess Genevieve and her mother stayed behind at the castle. They didn't return with the other royals so to keep them alive until presumably the others return, Aslan turned them to stone. They were moved here shortly before the Telmarines destroyed Cair Paravel to keep them safe. I can only assume that since our princess is awake, the others won't be long. Change is coming to Narnia, I can feel it."

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Author's note: this chapter takes place before the events of Prince Caspian where the Pevensies are called back to Narnia.