тwιlιgнт

THREE

everyone in the camp watches as the white witch approaches aslan, her gaze lingering on edmund momentarily while searching over the crowd. keeva retains a calm stare when meeting the eyes of jadis, while drystlin looked like he would try to snap the extremely pale woman in half if she made one false move.

"you have a traitor in your midst, aslan." her statement causes eyes to shift towards the younger son of adam, who keeps his head down in shame.

"his offense was not against you."

"have you forgotten the laws upon which narnia was built?"

aslan growls his next words, ordering, "do not cite the deep magic to me, witch. i was there when it was written."

a blue haired girl with pointed ears lets out a small whistle at those words, flinching when she was smacked in the arm by the fae princess who kept her eyes on the two the entire time.

"then you'll remember well that every traitor belongs to me. his blood is my property."

her claim strokes the angered fire burning in peter, who unsheathes his sword and raises it towards the witch. having heard the withdrawing of a blade, aster pulls the tent flaps aside enough to see the blond boy glaring down the witch while she just gives him a condescending stare in return.

"try and take him then."

"do you really think that mere force will deny me my right, little king? aslan knows that unless i have blood, as the law demands, all of narnia will be overturned and perish in fire and water." she points at edmund when continuing, smug as she states, "that boy will die on the stone table, as is tradition. you dare not refuse me."

it was quiet for a few seconds until the lion stopped the worried murmurs of the camp.

"enough. i shall talk with you alone."

jadis follows the lion into his tent, leaving everyone to wait and anticipate the conclusion to her claim on edmund's blood. the pevensie children were approached — not long after the two went inside — by the fae prince and princess, who both give them apologetic looks.

"i'm so sorry you have to go through all this. it isn't fair to you lot, you're just children," keeva states, glaring at the minotaur that had been watching her and aster's every move. peter just sighs, waving off the apology. susan, however, adopts a look of confusion as she stares suspiciously at the pink haired fae.

"why isn't she trying to claim aster's blood like she is with edmund? they were both rescued from her camp, right?"

the two fae give share a look between each other that only the two of them seem to understand, before keeva lets out a sigh and tries to avoid looking the dark haired boy in front of her in the eye.

"the witch isn't after aster because he never betrayed us."

the words hit the pevensie children hard, edmund especially, and the four of them look down in thought. it was true, jadis was after their brother because he had betrayed them along with all of narnia. but the words still stung, and aster giving the other former prisoner a sympathetic, understanding look just makes edmund's eyes water at yet another reminder of his horrible betrayal against both his siblings and this magical land.

eventually, the two walked back off to stand near drystlin and a few other guard fae, who were glaring at the leering members of the white witch's army. they especially stared at aster, who would glare and send cold looks to them in return, making the creatures turn away from his icy stare.

one would think they'd be used to it, considering who they work for, but it seemed that aster's stare was one even the most hardened creatures would shudder under.

"what do you think will become of the boy?" sage asks softly, biting into some of the bread one of their fellow fae had been passing around the army. she lets out a groan of pleasure, the bread practically melting on her tastebuds as the flavor encompasses her mouth.

"stop that, sage. aslan will find a way out of this. the boy is too valuable to the future of narnia to just let that witch get the pleasure of killing him," drystlin states, glaring down the minotaur that was once again watching his pink haired prince.

"he's right. aslan will find a way, he always does. i mean, that's why you decided to ally our people with him, correct?" aster's question makes keeva nod slowly while crossing her arms.

an even more serious look comes onto her face, the princess wondering, "but what if he isn't able to convince her to drop it? or to go with an alternative? this is a very serious matter, we all know this, but what if the witch doesn't comply to anything he proposes? this whole thing will go downhill much faster than we'd expect."

"and she'd most likely take edmund by force, kill him on the stone table, and conquer narnia wholly with one of the prophesied sons of adam dead. oh, this is very bad. very, very bad."

sage places a concerned hand on the shoulder of the prince, trying to calm him down from his rambling, but he was only snapped out of it when jadis and aslan both step out of the tent. the army surrounding them raises to their feet, awaiting any words that would come from their king.

"she has renounced her claim on the son of adam's blood."

cheers erupt in aslan's army, only dimming when the witch demands, "how do i know your promise will be kept?"

aslan roars threateningly at her, his bared fangs making the nearest people step back in fear of getting in his way. jadis sits down, nervous at his display while the army returns to its cheering.

as the white witch passes by the group of fae, her eyes immediately land on the prince that had escaped her torture. she smirks at him, obviously trying to intimidate the pink haired boy, but she was taken aback by the icy stare she receives in return. shivers went down her back at the harshness of his gaze, and she takes her eyes off him as her servants carry her out of the encampment.

aster and keeva both notice the aura that overtakes the mighty lion as he stands at the head of the pavilion. he locks eyes with the two after doing the same with lucy, the fae royals going wide eyed at the look in his dark eyes. he turns away then to head back into his tent, and sage pulls them along to go congratulate the pevensie children on getting to keep their brother out of the white witch's hands.

"congratulations! it's not everyday that someone manages to escape from her evil clutches," the blue haired girl says dramatically, grinning at the four as she does.

"thank you. we're just glad that edmund is safe, for now," susan responds, hugging her brother into her side before letting him go as aster comes close to the shorter boy.

edmund gulps slightly as the other former prisoner comes closer to him, but gives a sight a relief when aster just holds out a hand, saying, "looks like your luck just might be changing, young edmund. just make sure not to be so gullible the next time you meet some strange lady in the woods."

the dark haired boy tenses you at those words, unclasping their hands and asking, "how do you know how i met her?"

aster sighs, a weary smile on his lips. "the witch would talk about the 'interesting' parts of her days to me when she would come in to torture me. not fun in the slightest, but very informative at times. it's how i figured, when we sort of met, that you were the son of adam she manipulated that she mentioned multiple times."

edmund thinks over his answer before nodding in acceptance, about to continue the conversation until he was dragged off by some fawns and his siblings.

the fae royals watch the four pevensie kids as they wander off with some of the members of the army, keeva sighing at the situation.

"whatever aslan promised her cannot be good."

"no, not in the slightest."

"want to take on the task of figuring out what he promised?"

"why can't you?"

"i have other things to worry about, like, oh i don't know, you."

i love my sassy princess keeva