Favorite of the King

Chapter 8

    By the time the next three dances had ended, Yvaine had a throbbing headache. She felt woozy and couldn't draw in a proper breath. The cuts on her neck stung as well, but she kept her hair pulled over them.

    Yvaine made her way across the ballroom as soon as the third dance had ended. Evolet caught up with her shortly. "Where are you going?"

    "Out for some air," Yvaine replied.

    Ev cast her gaze across the ballroom. "I suppose King Edmund will be there as well?"

    "He needs my help with something."

    "All right. I'll cover for you but don't be long. Queen Mira and King Hakan have been watching you all evening."

    "I noticed," Yvaine scoffed. She waited until the next dance started, before darting up a staircase. She walked down the hallway a short distance before she reached the appointed balcony.

    Yvaine stepped out into the cool night air. It was much better than the stuffiness of the ballroom. There was no sign of Edmund yet, so she sat down. After a few minutes, she rested her still pounding head against the stone railing.

    "Yvaine?"

    She raised her head as Edmund approached. "It's me. So, what's going on?"

    He let out a sigh and sat down beside her. "I need your help. I've tried to negotiate a peace treaty for weeks. I've been in Telmar a little over a month but I'm making no progress. Now, King Hakan is threatening war immediately and throwing accusations towards Narnia, accusations that are completely unfounded."

    "Tell me everything but slowly," Yvaine replied.

    Edmund removed his crown and ran his fingers through his wavy hair. "Tensions began when our scouts started to report Telmarine soldiers crossing the mountains all the time. Peter sent people to investigate, but they could never find anything. The Telmarines had already come and gone. We began to fear that war would come so we strengthened our forces at the borders."

    "Things just continued to escalate, so Peter wrote to King Hakan and asked if I might come and try to negotiate peace before a war even began. Hakan agreed and here I am. The problem is, your king won't agree to anything. He has a specific set of demands that the wants met."

    "What are they?" Yvaine asked. She drew in a shallow breath, hoping a bout of dizziness would pass.

    "He wants to move the borders and expand Telmar. He wants us to give him Susan's horn, Lucy's cordial, and he wants the remnants of the White Witch's wand. We can't give him any of those things. He refuses to listen to my counter offers."

    "I see." Yvaine raised a hand to her chin, thinking. "I have a few ideas that might work, but I can't be certain. What are his grounds for declaring war?"

    "He claims that Narnians have been crossing the mountains and murdering Telmarine soldiers and citizens. I asked for proof but he refused to give me any."

    "There's one answer, then. You have to find out if there is any proof," Yvaine said.

    Edmund pursed his lips. "Yes, but how is the question. I don't have time to go to the mountains and check for things that could be proof."

    "You don't have to. King Hakan gets reports from the soldiers in the mountains almost every week. If there really was an attack, it would've been mentioned in those. If you find no evidence of it and Hakan refuses to provide proof, then there is no grounds for war. The people will refuse to fight without cause."