A Narnia Tale: For King, Queen and Country

The Golden Age

Written on November 28, 1001

I left to the marching army a week later. After the pyrrhic victory that caused my injury both Edmund and Peter had won major victories. What was left seemed more a mopping up operation than anything else. Time would prove otherwise.

After the fiasco of two weeks ago, Archenland had withdrawn its troops. Officially because they were scared of a possible Caloromen invasion but in reality it was because we had killed most of them. Now Narnia was on its own. That didn't matter however, since Peter had defeated a large force in open battle and Oreius was besieging an entrenched horde north of the Witch's castle. According to our scouts, about five hundred battle ready enemies were left, no match for our two thousand. The problem was finding them. These five hundred weren't all in the same spot, they were scattered in small groups all over Lantern Wood. Peter would send out scouts, eagles and griffins to gather information. When they found a group, one of the Kings would take a couple hundred men and try to kill them. The problem was that by the time we got there, they had often already left. This wasn't a campaign against an enemy that wanted to fight us. This was a hunt against creatures who didn't want to get found. The Narnian army wasn't geared to fight like this, something had to be done.

The solution didn't come from me or the Kings, but from the men itself. Slowly, the scouts we would send out started to group up instead of travelling alone. An Eagle would provide eye's in the sky and the scouts would be dropped of by griffins. When they found a group, they'd attack them on their own. With about six men, they achieved results an army of two hundred couldn't even dream about. Within two weeks, we had killed fifty followers from the Witch, forty more than before.

When their effectiveness became apparent, the twenty scouts and ten griffins that had came up with this became known as Peter's Rangers. The name had been my idea, coming from an old British unit during the Seven Year's War. As soon as we saw that because of them this last bit of resistance would be ended before the end of the year, we went back to Cair Paravel, leaving a small force of five hundred behind in case there was trouble.

The journey back was a fun one, finally all the war and battle seemed to be over. We didn't go in a straight line to Cair Paravel but made a tour around the country. Narnia was small, so it didn't take us more than a month to complete.

In that month we took a good look at our northern border, the Giants of Ettinsmoor weren't of the friendly kind. Peter had a good talk with the leaders of the Marsh-wiggles. We then returned to the old battlefield were we had defeated the Witch and paid homage to the fallen. A small visit to dancing Lawn and glasswater concluded the end of the journey.

Dancing Lawn was a wonderful place. When the inhabitants had heard that the Kings were coming they obviously decided to make a good party. After accepting the invitation, Peter and Edmund started preparing for the festivities. I sat quietly in my chair studying some official documents while they were busy. Edmund suddenly looked at me: 'Erik, don't you have to chance clothes too?' 'My Lord, the invitations were for the both of you. I'm not invited,' I replied, unaware of the habits of Narnia. Peter couldn't help but laugh: 'Erik, everyone is invited. It is just normal that Kings and Queens are invited, I thought you knew this kind of stuff.' 'I never said such a thing, my Lord. I know a lot about politics, statecraft and military campaigns, not about protocol,' I told him. 'You don't have to call us "Lord", Erik. We are friends,' Peter said.: 'Now get changed and prepare for a party.'

The party was unlike anything I had ever seen. It wasn't a beautiful ball like you had in Cair Paravel, it also was vastly different to any party I had ever visited in England. A large crowd had gathered in the woods, tables with food stood ready and the beer barrels were full. Everywhere you looked you saw small bands playing joyful music. It invited you to dance and many answered that call. The two brothers had a lot of fun and disappeared in the crowd after a few minutes. I placed myself at a table overlooking the largest masses of creatures. The Narnian food was, as usual, fantastic. My only concern was the whiskey, nothing could beet some good old Scotch.

Peter appeared from the crowed, clearly enjoying himself. He grabbed a drink an took a seat next to me. 'God, dancing here is fun. It's unlike anything I've ever experienced,' he said exhausted. 'I see you have been enjoying yourself.' 'Yes, I've met some very interesting people already,' the king answered. He pointed at a young woman, about his age: 'That is the duchess of Archenpass. It got annexed by Archenland when the Witch took over and king Lune has given it back to us. I've danced with her for a while, she is very fun.' I couldn't help but smile: 'Be careful, Peter. People might try to get leverage on you here. Don't promise anything? Do you understand?' He nodded a little too quickly so I grabbed him by his shoulders: 'Do you understand?' I was still his advisor and thus needed to keep him out of trouble. I grabbed his drink, it was wine diluted with water: 'You have had enough alcohol for tonight, my king.' He lifted his shoulders, quickly grabbed some food and went back to dance. I carefully kept an eye on him. I hadn't heard anything about a "duchess of Archenpass". When we were back home I could try to find out more. For now she sure seemed to be good. Her dress was light green and clearly from high quality. Her long blond hair was equally well done and I thought I could see a beautiful armbrace around her wrist.

The party continued until the sun started to peak over the horizon. Edmund had fallen asleep long before that, I had carried him of too bed when I saw him sleeping against a tree. Peter had danced for a long part of the night and when his legs got tired, he and the "duchess" had sat down and enjoyed the large buffet. I had found out her name was Leleth. Now, almost everyone was either gone or had fallen asleep. Peter could barely keep his eyes open when our bodyguards escorted us back to the tents. He fell asleep within a minute. Strangely enough I didn't feel tired, so I went back outside with a fresh glass of Whiskey and stared at the sky while the sun slowly crept over the horizon.

Back in Cair Paravel we were greeted with a Triumph across the city for our victory over the last remnants of the Witch. That was followed by a banquet and a ball of its own. It seemed that life at court was mainly throwing parties. Susan showed off the old dress of Queen Swanwite. Her appearance of that night was the subject of most rumours of the next couple of weeks. The Duchess of Archenpass also attended the ball, which allowed me to find out more about her. I ended up writing a letter to King Lune to verify her story. The majority of the night I spend in the company of Luna, the daughter of the old and jealous nobleman. We seemed to have a lot of common interests and a dislike for dancing. We talked about Narnia, the past war and all that had to happen. At the end of the party, we made a walk in the castle gardens. The gardens were not lit well, just enough to see and just dark enough to look at the stars. There, under that starry night, we looked at the horizon. She said that she was going to sleep and I wished her a good night. Believe it or not, I was surprised when she pressed a light kiss on my cheek. She left without saying a word, leaving me behind in a light shock. About half an hour later I went back inside. There, Peter was waiting for me, a naughty smile on his face. 'Off to sleep?' he asked. 'Yes, had a good night?' 'Certainly. Be sure to go to your own chambers, Erik. We still have work to do tomorrow and I can't have you exhausted,' he said, unable to remain serious. I laughed, he certainly wasn't a kid anymore.

Sorry for the rather long wait, three essays for school certainly steal a lot of time. I hope you liked this part!