The Legacy's Return (#2)

The Offer

We rushed to the throne room as soon as Reepicheep told us what was happening. Caspian was pacing the room as we waited for the enemies to enter the castle, and I was shaking my feet in anxiety as we were waiting for the enemies to show up.

I couldn't believe that they were approaching the castle, but Reepicheep told me that it was common to enter the enemy territory with a white flag in hand. It was sort of an unwritten rule. The enemy could not hurt us even if they wanted to, but we couldn't hurt them either. 

The white flag was a symbol of no man's territory. I didn't know how far that would be true because nobody ever did that, at least not in the Other World. I guessed that there were many ways where that world and Narnia were different.

"Calm down, Your Majesties." The Professor said.

"We don't know why they are coming here." He said, continuing to pace.

The Lords were informed of the enemy's first contact and they were seated in their respective thrones. They were whispering indistinctively but I knew that some of them were still uncertain about the news.

The doors of the room opened and silence filled the room. A hag and a wolf entered the room. The hag was holding the white flag in one hand and a scroll in another. The wolf looked around the room at everyone and growled, intimidating many people. I stood up to show our dominance. The hag looked at me and stopped walking. Her cackle was loud and echoed throughout the room. She whispered something to the wolf and then he noticed me.

"What are you doing here?" Caspian asked them.

"We are here on behalf of her Imperial Majesty, Jadis!" The hag cackled once again.

"What does the scroll say?" Caspian was getting right to the business.

The wolf growled at me but I just continued to stare at him. The hag opened the scroll and started reading. "Her Imperial Majesty, Jadis, Queen of Narnia...." I laughed at that. "Empress of the Lone Islands..." Caspian smiled at that and turned to look at me.

The hag and the wolf noticed us. "She has sent a message asking you to give up your throne." She said. "Or else, she will bring her wrath once again."

Caspian stood straighter then. He knew that they were serious. Everyone knew that. "And here we thought that we could live in peace." 

The hag and the wolf were confused by our joking around. Caspian touched my arm and moved back. My eyebrows furrowed when I looked at him but he beckoned me to go ahead and take the decision. I knew what he was trying to do. I stood in his place, looked at every single Lord's face and came to a decision. 

"Tell the White Witch that Narnia will not be given up by us nor will the throne." The 'us' had them confused but I was sure that they would find out soon enough who I was. "Tell her that if she doesn't leave Narnia within the end of the week, we....." I took one step down for a dramatic effect. "We will be the one to bring our wrath."

"And who might you be to tell Her Majesty anything?" The wolf asked. He had a rough and deep voice. It sent chills through my back because it sounded like he was threatening.

I was about to tell them who I was but Caspian spoke for me. "She is the true Queen of Narnia." He said as he stood next to me. "Tell your Witch," I had never seen Caspian snarl anything before. ".....that the Heir of Narnia is back." 

He said and took my hand in his. I looked at him and smiled.

The hag and the wolf left the castle untouched. We could have killed them straight away but we knew that was not how we were supposed to deal with the enemy.

Right after they left, the Council agreed to go ahead with the war. I felt more confident because I had people on my side. I was starting to embrace who I was. And that war would be my only chance for revenge. I could finally avenge my parents and Caspian knew that.

When we were making our war to the armoury for making battle plans, he stopped me. "Are you sure you want to come with us?"

"I'm sure."

"Sophie, I know that you want to take on the Witch because of your parents." I just stared at him. He was right. But it was more than that. "I had a chance to kill my Uncle during the Raid." 

But I knew that already. "We need to think about the people as well, Caspian. My revenge is just a part of the ultimate goal – keeping Narnia safe."

"But killing the White Witch will not bring your parents back."

"I know." I nodded and then entered the room. "But I need to know what happened to them. And she is the only one who can give me the answers that I am searching for." 

Only problem was that at that time, I didn't know exactly how big things were going to get in the next few years because I didn't know what had happened in the past. I didn't know about them.

Trumpkin was already in position. He had the maps open and small figurines ready that represented the army. The figurines were of four colours. Two were on one side and two were on the other side. "We have a problem." 

"What is it?" Caspian asked.

"We don't have enough men."

"No." I mumbled to myself.

"The number of Narnians and the number of soldiers will not enough if our estimate of the enemy's army is right."

"And how big is your estimate?" 

The Professor and Trumpkin looked at each other. "Big."

"What do we have to do?" Caspian asked.

"If we are able to get around five hundred more men, we will be able to win this. Narnians can confirm their soldiers once we finalise ours."

"And how do we do that?" I asked everyone.

"Oh." Caspian said, realising the answer.

"Yes, I'm afraid so." The Professor said.

"What is it?" I asked, looking at Caspian but the question was for everyone.

"We need to meet with the Duke of Galma, for they are the closest political alliance that we've got." 

"Oh." I realised what he was meaning.

Caspian looked at me. "We need to talk to Duke Daniels."