༄ 𝑺𝒆𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑷𝒉𝒐𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒙 𝑾𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒓 (𝑽𝑫𝑻) ༄

Prologue

My third story in the series based on the movies. Book One: The Phoenix Archer and Book Two: Warrior With the Heart of Fire. This story is a little different from the first two as it will ALL be in 3rd-person. Thoughts and flashbacks are still in italics.

For this book, I have the children at these ages:
Ana — 15
Lucy — 14
Edmund — 18
Eustace — 13
Caspian — 22

**I'm assuming three years have passed in both England and Narnia. I know in the books it's a year but I don't think it mentions how long they've been home in the movie. (Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong). I also know that Edmund is not 18 in the movies as he tried to enlist, but it seems like he should be so we're gonna go with it.

᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽

Only months after the Pevensies' departure, Caspian made plans to have Cair Paravel restored as the capital of Narnia. Ana was in charge of overseeing the restorations, since she was the only one alive who knew what the castle should look like. He didn't care about the cost of the project as he just wanted to restore Narnia to its former glory. He knew rebuilding Cair Paravel was a start. Ana knew that the Narnians were happy about the task and many volunteered to work for free. Telmarines and Narnians alike worked together to complete the build. Though tensions were still tight among some of them, there were never any issues while taking on the arduous task.

Caspian was true to his word in many things. Ana was promoted to his top advisors and he often sought out her advice before anyone else's. It had angered some of the Telmarine nobles at first, too set in their ways to see a child as being valuable. Ana was forced to deal with malcontented nobles for several months before they saw her worth. Still, there were several who did not like having Narnians on the council. The lords selected for Caspian's council had been carefully chosen as a result of this.

Caspian's coronation marked the beginning of The Age of Exploration. Once Cair Paravel was complete, the old castle became an inter-special meeting facility. One of Caspian's first tasks as King was to restore Narnia's relationship with Archenland. He met with King Nain of Anvard, who was more than happy to realign themselves with Narnia. Next, he took a small army of some of his closest followers and traveled to Telmar. Being a direct descendant of Caspian the Conqueror, he negotiated for them to become allies with Narnia and Archenland. It took some convincing, but eventually, the Telmarine government had agreed. But doing so meant that Telmar cut ties with Calormen, which resulted in issues for them later.

Ana was involved in every meeting, negotiation, and battle. Even if it was just supposed to be a peaceful agreement, Caspian didn't wish to take any chances. He believed Ana to be the best fighter they had and everyone in Narnia agreed—though Ana would deny it if anyone asked. So while some Telmarines still distrusted her magic, they were grateful she was the one watching their King's back. Ana was just glad to know that she wasn't being treated like a little kid as she was before. That Caspian had been able to see the value and insight she could provide.

In 2304, only a year into Caspian's reign, they ran into troubles from an unforeseen source. Visitors from an unlikely ally unintentionally brought trouble with them. It put Ana's relationship with Caspian to the test. Threats came from both within their walls and outside sources. They forced Caspian to realize that Ana would do whatever it took to protect him, at the cost of her own life. And the events that occurred left Ana with even more scars. So when their guests left, Ana began drifting away, growing more distant. Caspian blamed himself.

Later that same year and into the next, Caspian had to deal with a threat from Ettinsmoor. This was the second time the Ettins had threatened Narnia's borders during Ana's lifetime. But it was the first time she was involved in the battle. Peter had brought the nation under his rule only a year before he disappeared. During the Dark Ages, they had claimed their independence and started pushing back once Narnia was being restored. The Narnian army came away victorious and the Eastern side of the nation became part of the Narnian Empire. Ana still seemed distant, but they still worked together.

As they both expected, negotiations with Telmar angered Calormen. Their alliance had been severed. Well over a year after Telmar cut ties, the Calormenes attempted to invade. By the time they had gathered their troops, the Narnian army had grown too strong for the invasion to be successful. The combined armies of Narnia, Archenland, Ettinsmoor, and Telmar forced them back. The Calormene army was defeated in the Great Desert. Peace was beginning to spread across all of Narnia and its Empire was being restored. Ana and the others were happy, overjoyed at seeing their Kingdom restored to its former glory. Caspian was working hard to keep his promise about bringing peace.

During all of this, Caspian also had to deal with other political matters. He had many potential suitors, as lords offered their daughter's hand in marriage to create a stronger alliance. But the King was not interested in such matters of state. Ana wondered if he still missed Susan and if she was still on his mind. Perhaps he wasn't ready to move on from her. Or perhaps he wasn't ready for marriage when there were so many other things to worry about. Ana didn't know how to broach the subject and never pressured him into even considering it.

Narnia spent two years fighting to bring about peace, and the rest of the time was spent creating peace treaties and alliances. By 2306, there was peace across all of Narnia. It was something that Ana hadn't been able to enjoy for a long while. Between being imprisoned for several decades and fighting battles, there weren't many peaceful moments. At least none she could truly enjoy.

With the peace across Narnia, Caspian made good on his word to search for some Telmarine lords that had gone missing. They had been close friends with his father and loyal supporters of his cause. So when Miraz killed Caspian IX, he spent years pushing them out of the Kingdom so they wouldn't prevent his ascension to the throne. Caspian believed that his uncle had tried to kill them and they were forced to flee to the Lone Islands. But no one knew if they were still there.

So, Caspian commissioned the build of a huge, majestic ship. One that was worthy of a King and the finest in the Navy. It took several months for it to be completed and the King was finally ready to set sail. But after everything they had gone through, he wasn't sure if Ana should come. If she even wanted to. He knew it would be dangerous and didn't wish for her to risk her life for his. He had grown quite fond of her and felt obligated to protect her just as much as she protected him.

But Ana knew there was no way she would let him undertake a dangerous mission alone.

᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽

This book references/hints to two crossovers I wrote. You do not have to read them to read this book. Any important details from those stories will be mentioned or shown in flashbacks. Both crossovers are standalones from each other so details are vague on purpose. And if you only read one of them, any scenes where the crossovers are mentioned I plan to make fit either story.