Chapter 13
Her story
The next morning I woke up and went down to the training yard for practice. I met Caspian in the armory and he helped me put on my armor. Though his gesture was one to help, I felt a sob in my throat. It was Edmund who had always helped me with the armor and when Caspian helped me, it just drove the fact home harder that my brother was not with me.
However, I did not break. Aslan had given me strength and I would use it to the best of my ability. Mourning over Ed won’t help him. I have to do that which will help him, i.e., lead the army in this battle and win the war. Caspian silently handed me Rhindon and I took it. Though it was still early and we were not expected for another half-an-hour, we both walked to the training yard. We had hoped to do some warm up but stopped short when the training ground came into view.
Oreius and Kanell were sparring there. All my life in the shadowlands, I had never seen my two swordmasters spar. The centauric fashion of sparring was entirely different than that of humans and thus was not a part of our lessons. Though Oreius had demonstrated some moves so that we could fight off Centaurs too, he had never shown a full fledged sparring. However, here they were. Oreius with his sword and shield and Kanell with his double sword. Both of them had many extra swords on their person.
Centaurs are considered the best swordsmen. They had the advantage of speed like the fauns and humans as well as the advantage of force like the minataurs. I saw Kanell block a really complicated strike from Oreius’ sword and give a returning stroke within a single second. Oreius was about to land a well aimed strike, right at Kanell’s shoulder when he saw us and stopped. Kanell too stopped and turned to look at us.
“Sir Peter, Sir Caspian. We had not expected to see you here so early. But since you have come you may as well begin your warm-ups.” Oreius ordered before sheathing his sword.
Caspian looked at me before we entered the ground. From the way Caspian looked at Oreius and Kanell, I could see that he had never trained under a Centaur before. I suppose he had continued training under his Telmarine masters than train under Glenstrom.
I unsheathed Rhindon and started my warm-up strokes. Caspian did the same and my guess that he had trained under Telmarine masters was confirmed. Once done with the warm-up, Oreius started instructing us about some of the more complicated moves. Though these instructions were mainly for Caspian so that he could learn the fighting style of different creatures and would be aware of their weaknesses, it was a nice revision for me too.
This time our training lasted longer than earlier. King Gale also joined us and Kanell, much to my unhappiness, proposed a rematch between Gale and me. I smiled a little to myself. No using Edmund’s underhand tricks this time; they were meant only for him and only he could carry it out effectively.
Once more I found myself facing the Dragonslayer with Tripund in his hands. At Oreius’ signal we began circling each other. From the corner of my eyes, I could make out people watching us in anticipation but I quickly focused back on my opponent.
“GO PETER!” Lucy’s cheer was the instigation and cheers broke out all around us. Gale and I just kept on circling each other. As I idly wondered when had so many people came here, I found what I was looking for. Gale had lowered his sword just a little and I could now see a small weakness in his defence. Not wanting to miss a golden opportunity, I lunged. Gale however, was definitely a seasoned swordsman and thus, was quick to block my sword. At the first clash of metals, the cheers doubled. Oreius, Caspian and Kanell had already left the courtyard and were now standing under one of the shades. I twisted just at the last moment to avoid Gale’s next swing.
Ducking low, I aimed at his calf but the triangular, metal shield blocked my swing and I had to quickly lift up mine to prevent Tripund from breaking my skull in two. I realised a bit later that ducking down was not the best thing to do since Gale was now showering blow after blow to the shield I carefully kept above me. Somehow I managed to stand up back and was now eye to eye with Narnia’ s most famous swordsman. Gale’s next aim was at my right hand and I to use both the sword as well as the shield to block it but that left my other side compeletly unguarded. Only years of practice enabled me to twist out of the way of his shield.
“Well done!” Gale complimented me before abruptly slashing at my middle. He was able to strike me but I was also quick to make up for the lost score as I got a hit at his shoulder. Round and round we went, strikes after srike, blow after blow were showered but none of us tired even a little bit. I have no idea how long, but after sometime, Gale’s second-eldest son (as per the history, Gale’s eldest son Ravi had turned a traitor) joined his father. A moment away from loosing this sparring match, help came in the form of Caspian. It was now a two-on-two match. Like with Edmund, now Caspian and I were fighting back-to-back and side-by-side. It was definitely better than fighting alone but was not even nearly as good as fighting beside my brother.
‘Stop it!’ I chastised myself. I shouldn’t be always comparing Caspian to Edmund. No doubt Caspian can never take Edmund’s place in my life, but he definitely can make his own place as my other brother; I think he already did that in shadowlands.
The next moment I could not help but thank Caspian metally and offer him a smile of gratitude because as I was thinking all this, Ravi had sensed my lack of focus and and had aimed a strike at me. Caspian’s shield was the only thing that saved me from being jostled back to reality with a very painful strike right on the head.
“Focus” I told myself and threw my entire concentration in this sparring match. Caspian again did me a favour and began to lead Ravi away from me with his strikes. Once out of the immediate vicinity, they stopped fighting, knowing the actual match was between Gale and me. I stopped my next strike midway as we felt a summoning tremor in the wind. Gale, no doubt, also felt it as he too stopped at the same time.
We both were not the only two. All the warriors that Aslan had selected began to make their way quickly towards the Council Chamber of Cair Paravel. Gale, Caspian, Oreius, Kanell, Tirian, Lucy and I met Sarah, Swanwhite, Reepicheep, Scarlett and Cor at the gate. Together we entered the Council Chamber where Aslan was waiting for us. In our hurry, none of us had removed our armor but Aslan did not seem to mind as we all took our places.
Like always, Aslan began without a preamble. “I have called you all to tell you more about the upcoming war, so, you all can strengthen yourself mentally for what is to come.
“The war will be fought in a neutral ground. None of you know what is beyond the hill with the garden. Even with your enhanced vision, you all cannot look beyond the garden.”
We all nodded. It was true but surprisingly none of us had ever noticed this before. When we looked to the west, we could see everything up till the Garden very clearly but it had never bothered me that we could not look beyond that. Actually, the sheer beauty of the Garden would hold our gaze and we were unable to take our eyes off it till we had forgotten why we had looked that side in the first place.
“Beyond that Garden,” Aslan continued. “Is all mountains and valleys and such. However, just before the sky and land meet, there is a huge plain present there. The plain is called the Samtal. Half of the plane is on this side and the other half is in Tash’s world. This is a Great Plain created by my Father and a part of it is in every world. It is on this plain that the battle for King Edmund will take place.”
The mention of Edmund’s name brought out many thoughts to my mind but I pushed them back. Now was not the time to think as Peter Pevensie. This all, this company was meant for Sir Peter, wolfsbane.
“You want to ask something.” Aslan stated looking at Scarlett.
“Aslan,” She began, sounding a bit nervous. “I was wondering why I have been selected as a warrior. I mean there are many people who are a far greater fighter than me...”
“You all were not selected because of your fighting abilities.” Aslan answered her as well as everyone else present in the room. “Each of you have a small weakness within you. In the battle, it is this weakness that you all will be fighting.”
I frowned. Whatever he said, went right over my head.
Aslan understood our confusion. “All will be explained at the right time.”
“In the war, each side will have 12 warriors. The side whose warriors fall first will loose.” He continued. “King Edmund has been selected by both the sides as a warrior. The reason for this will be told to you all eventually. We have two days time before we start on our way to Samtal.”
This council, like any other war council, went on for hours after hours. Aslan told us everything we needed to know about Tash and the battle. After that it was upto me to decide the war plan.
In a council made up of all the best warriors of all times, ideas came flooding in. As I sorted through the years of experience and innumerable tactics provided by my councillors, the battle plan began to take shape. One thing that all of us agreed upon was the plan had to be flexible. Many a great battle plans had failed in history because they did not have scopes for any ‘what if’ or unexpected situation. Aslan remained with us but assisted only when we asked him to.
Once our plan was ready, Aslan turned to Sarah.
“Child you too have a work to do.” He said. “I don’t want to take chances for the future. There has to be no way for Tash to make a claim on Edmund in the future. I sent you in the shadowlands once. I want you to go there and with the help of the Gentle Queen of Narnia, complete your task.”
Sarah nodded and Aslan dismissed us.
That night, I was standing alone on the beach. The waves crashed against the shore and the warm sea water soaking my bare feet was very soothing. Walking slowly further into the water, I climbed up a small rock. I let my legs hang from my perch on the rock. The sounds of the waves crashing was like a mother’s lullabuy; sweet and calming. I could see some sea-folk who broke the surface of the sea to bath in the silvery blessing of the moon.
I closed my eyes and let the moon bestow some of its calming blessing on me too. The rhythemic crash of the sea-waves also went a long way in calming the turmoil in my heart. I don’t know how long I sat there, but after a while, I could hear a disturbance in the rhythm of the sea.
“May I?” Sarah timidly asked. Without opening my eyes, I patted the place next to me. She huffed once before pulling herself beside me. We sat in a pleasant silence for a while before I opened my eyes and looked at her.
She had her eyes closed. Professor Kirke had once described Jadis as beautiful and as I looked at this girl I could find what was it in Jadis that he found beautiful. Sarah no doubt looked like Jadis but as I watched her now, I could not find a thing in her that resembled that witch. Just as she was opening her eyes, I looked away. How can she look like her, for apart from their physical appearance, there was nothing common in them?
“I am related to Jadis.” My eyes snapped to her when she answered my unspoken question.
She smiled a sad smile and questioned. “Do you know what led to the destruction of Charn?”
I wracked up my memory for whatever I could remember of the tales Professor had told me. “There was a war, I think, between Jadis and her sister. Jadis was loosing, so she used the Deplorable Word and destroyed the entire world.”
She nodded at my sparse knowledge of the topic.
“You are right.” She said, looking ahead. Then, she told me what I had wanted to know for a long while. Why did she look like Jadis?
“King Rakshak, was the last ruler of Charn. He had three daughters- triplets- Jadis, Bellatrix and Velma. The eldest daughter was Velma, the heir to the throne.
“Velma was against annexing the neighbouring nations, but this had been going on for as long back as history went. Any nation that would not accept a sub-ordinate position to the Kingdom of Charn would be annexed. That was the rule.
“Bharatwarsh was one such nation. The King of Bharatwarsh had just ascended the throne. He was a young man, filled with the confidence of youth. He was not ready to lower the prestige of his motherland by accepting a sub-ordinate position to anyone. He, instead offered an alliance in which both the nations would be friends but both would respect each others soveriegn equility.
“This was unacceptable to King Rakshak and he waged a war against the ruler of Bharatwarsh. The nation was annexed and the King was given death sentence. Every single man of the unfortunate country was arrested. Most were given off as slaves. Those who resisted were immediately beheaded. The fallen King too be killed; To be stoned to death.
“Velma was the only person of power with any sympathy for the young man. She would go to the dungeons in disguise and provide him with food and water. Two days away from the day of the King’s execution, Velma realised that unknowingly, she had fallen in love with the forsaken King.
“For Velma, it was a tough decision but eventually, it was her love that she chose. The night before the execution, she drugged the guards and eloped with the man she now loved more than her life.
“Her flight with the enemy King created an uproar within the King. King Rakshak was furious, so much so that he now did not even trust his two daughters. In his wrath, he walked upto his two daughters with naked sword, meaning to behead them. However, the queen intervened. She was able to convince him of his daughters’ innocence. She even got him to issue a message throughout the Kingdom saying that he was ready to forgive all the Bharatwarshi as well as his daughter and son-in-law.
“A reply came to the King from Velma saying that she would come back if he promised safety for herself, her husband and her unborn child. The term was accepted and the King was preparing to welcome his daughter back when the two younger sister killed their father. With Velma’s flight, they had hoped to come to the throne but things were now not going as per their choice.
“Now, with their father gone, only Velma stood between them and the throne. She was their next target. But, Velma was smarter. She had never wanted the throne, so, she sent a formal message to her two younger sister, renouncing her entire claim on the throne. Now, she was nothing but a common woman, and she was happy to be so. She was happy with her family.
“On the other hand, the two sisters, Bellatrix and Jadis now fought amongst themselves to claim the throne. Their mother was also killed. How the war eneded? You know the answer.
“However, just before Jadis uttered the Deplorable Word, a daughter was born to Velma. Velma was shocked, to see the resemblance between herself, her daughter and her two other sisters. She named the girl after her husband’s mother. Velma named her daughter Sarah.”
Saying I was shocked would be an understatement. I don’t know what I had expected but it certainly wasn’t this. However, it did make sense. Such level of resemblance could be expected only between close kin. Sarah looked like her mother who was in turn identical to Jadis.
“I should leave now.” She said, getting up.
I don’t know why but I held her hand and said. “Please stay?”
Immediately I looked down trying to hide the rush of blood to my face. What is wrong with you Peter?
Thankfully, Sarah did not question my strange demand and stayed by my side. We passed the entire night talking. She told me everything about her and everything she knew about Jadis. I was surprised to know that she too was a witch but then, what had I expected?
As the sun peeped over the horizon, Sarah looked at me and said firmly, “We will bring Edmund back.”
I believed her.
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