Fic: A Prince's Lullaby
Title: A Prince's Lullaby
Author: anachronisma
Recipient: adapationdecay
Rating: G
Possible Spoilers/Warnings: Vaguely movie-verse "Prince Caspian". Sort of.
Summary: Listen, my prince, I will tell you a story from the Golden Age of Narnia.
AN: Out of the darkness of my brain came a desire to tell another version of The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, changed by a thousand years of oral tradition, a human perspective on events, and the lack of understanding Telmarines seem to have about magic. Consider it both AU and worldbuilding at the same time -- a glimpse into an alternate history of Narnia. It also answers adapationdecay's question about how the Telmarines answer the question "where did all the humans go?".
AN2: Special thank yous to fisher_queen and draconity for feedback.
Listen, my prince, I will tell you a story from the Golden Age of Narnia. But, we must be quiet about it. You mustn't tell the story to anyone, even though it is the most marvelous you have ever known. I will tell you about the Kings and Queens. Ah, you have heard of them before, yes. They were not like men now, they say. They were full of magic -- hush, my prince. You must not talk of magic. There is no magic left in Men now. That is why your uncle, Lord Miraz, forbids these stories from being told. I risk much to tell you, my prince, of the Old Days of Narnia, when animals spoke and men and women possessed great sorcerous powers. Devilry, your uncle would say. But back then, it was not devilry. It was the way things were.
It began with a storm. A mighty ice storm, so cold and terrible that it laid the entire land under snow. All of Narnia was white, white as you have never seen it, my prince. From the cold and the ice there came the Witch of Winter. She was a woman made of cold, who could not abide the sun nor the spring. Instead of blood, her veins trickled with ice water. She was terrible and cruel, and after she had frozen Narnia, she attempted to conquer the whole world, to freeze even the sea. Yes, she thought she could master the sea itself, that monstrous deep. The Witch of Winter was a terrible woman. It is said she had no heart, that she plucked it out and replaced it with one crafted out of the finest Northern ice, and that that is why she hated the sun, because if it was warm, her heart would melt and she would perish.
Oh, do not ask me how she got that way, for no one knows. It is a story lost to time. She was a terror from the Old Days, from the Ancient Times, before Narnia was Narnia, before Telmar was Telmar, before Calormene was Calormene. Truly, when your uncle speaks of devilry, he speaks of this woman, for she laid a terrible curse upon Narnia, that it would forever be winter, and never Christmas. What is Christmas, you ask? It was an old Narnian holiday, from the dawn of time, my prince. It was a joyous occasion, when Narnians would give each other gifts and have feasts, and remember the warmth and hospitality of spring. They say, in the old stories, that there was magic in Christmas, and that an old man would travel the land, bringing gifts to all. But that is just a story. Pay attention, my prince, what truly matters is that this witch was cruel enough to deprive Narnians even of their joyous festivals, because hiding the sun away was not enough for her.
The Narnians lived in terror under the Winter Witch, for she could turn anything she touched into ice and stone, even men. Yes, my prince, even mortal men could turn to stone. A soothsayer once made a prophesy that her reign of evil would be ended if four thrones in the ancient castle of Cair Paravel by the sea were filled by two men and two women. So she killed every human she could find, sending the Men of Narnia away, into other lands, out of fear. She and her followers -- yes, prince, her followers, for even magical animals can be cruel, just as your uncle's dogs can snarl or bite without cause, and some aligned with her. Do not interrupt me again. She and her followers hunted humans, like your uncle chases down bears and boar, until there were no humans left, none at all, for they got in boats and fled across the ocean, or went to Archenland, or farther, into the desert, where it was too hot for her ice to reach.
One day, a mighty storm raged in the ocean, warm winds that blew at the icy land. They say it rained that day for the first time in a hundred years, and blew out all the way to the Western Wood, and the Lantern Waste. By then it was so cold it fell as snow, but the snow was made of sea, and four drops of this sea-snow fell and warmed in the land Beyond the Lantern Waste, where no one has ever gone. And out of the Lantern Waste came two brothers and two sisters. Men, my prince. Men came out of the Lantern Waste, summoned by the magic in those drops of sea. Do not ask me how they came, for that is a mystery. Adam's flesh and Adam's bone came out of the Lantern Waste, and into Narnia. And they were not like any men or women seen before or since, my prince. They were dark and light, tall and terrible, and full of magic. They were in all ways perfectly matched and perfectly equal -- and that is the other reason your uncle hates these stories, my prince, for the sisters were like kings, and fought like men, and were in all ways as powerful and important as their brothers.
Their names, my prince, you have heard before. Peter, the High King, fair-haired and glowing like the sun, and his brother Edmund, the Just king, who was dark like the men of Calormene. Their sisters, Susan, the Gentle queen, who was, they say, the most beautiful and perfect woman in all of time, and the fair Lucy, who was a sorcerous woman of great magic. The four came out of the Waste and into Western Woods, and there met a faun. Surely, my prince, you have heard of fauns. They are men who have the bodies of goats. Heads and arms and chests like you, and legs and feet like goats. They walked on two legs. This faun betrayed the four and gave King Edmund to the Winter Witch, who beguiled him. She enchanted him, with sorcery and spells, until he forgot his brother and his sisters, and she intended to keep him forever in her castle of ice, where he could never take up his throne by the sea.
Our story would have ended there, with a thousand years of ice, and no great golden age, and no conquest for Telmar, but for the braveness of the Lady Lucy. The golden-haired queen had a heart like a knight, my prince, a courage not seen in any land before or since. And in her way, she was as much a witch as the Winter Witch, though of a different kind. She heard of a sorcerer across the sea who could free her brother from the spell he had been put under, and bravely led her way through the ice and the snow to the land by the sea, to find the sorcerer Aslan, who knew the Old Magic. So great was the magic of the Queen, that where she went, winter lessened, and the spell of sorcery upon the land began to break.
Why do you tremble, prince? Aslan was a great and terrible magician, even stronger than the Winter Witch, and it was he who had prophesied the four would come and break her spells. They were great enemies, the Witch and Aslan, and Queen Lucy allied herself with him with many entreaties and gifts. Together they worked great magic over the land until the ice began to crack and the sun began to shine, and the Winter Witch had no choice but to make war upon the three of the Four who were opposed to her.
So great was the magic of the sorcerer Aslan that he made a secret deal with the Winter Witch, that she would give up the dark-haired Edmund, in return for the life of the sorcerer. But the queen Lucy and the queen Susan, devised a plan with the great sorcerer, that while he would die, great magic would bring him back to life. Magic such as this has not been seen since those times, my prince, for men no longer know the secrets to giving life back to those who it has been taken from. But the sorcerous queen Lucy could heal any injury with her spells, and when the Winter Witch stole the life from Aslan, the tears of the queen brought him back.
The battle that was fought between the forces of the Four and the forces of the Witch was unlike battles you see now. Birds of the sky filled the air and beasts of the wood stamped upon the ground, and at their head was the great king Peter. He was a warrior unlike any other, fearless in battle and undefeatable. He could destroy a hundred foes without a scratch upon him. Never had there been such a general. His brother, who joined the fight as soon as the spell upon him had been broken, was a warrior of no less skill and power, though he was full of tricks and plans, strategies of cunning and guile.
The battle raged -- together they fought with their forces, outnumbered and overpowered, and at a disadvantage. Their sisters, both fierce warriors in their own right, had ventured into the heart of Narnia to find reinforcements for the battle, and to summon mighty magic with the help of the sorcerer Aslan. The battle was going poorly because the two brothers had not the sorcery of their sisters, and the Witch used her ability to destroy with ice and stone to terrible effect, freezing and smashing the forces of their army with her wicked powers. But, in his time bespelled, King Edmund had not lost his wit entirely, and with cunning, he found a way to break the Witch's powerful spells, and render them useless. But it came at a terrible cost, for he was wounded gravely and lay on the field in death. This so enraged the King Peter that he began to fight the Witch himself, a feat no lesser man could ever have done, for even without her magic spells she was terrible to behold and impossible to destroy, for you could not make her bleed to death, nor exhaust her, for she had no heart to be wearied.
When it seemed all was lost, Aslan and the sister queens emerged with another army, found in the woods and the wastes. They turned the tide of the battle, and the sorcerer told Queen Susan, whose arrows always flew straight and to the heart, that the only way to kill the Witch was to pierce her through the chest and shatter or melt her heart of ice. As the King Peter became overcome with exhaustion and could fight no more, Queen Susan released a fiery arrow of such speed and strength as no woman now could ever shoot, and it plunged straight into the witch's heart. The arrow cracked her icy heart, the fire burned it away, and she became a pile of snow, melting in the sun. Her forces disbursed, the day had been won. But ah! I see you asking, what of King Edmund, could not the curse only be broken by four on the thrones? That is where you see the magic of Queen Lucy again, for she healed him of his wounds and saved him from death, and it is said, saved many that day as well through her magic.
That is how the Four came to sit in Cair Paravel. They were crowned by the sorcerer Aslan, who then returned to his home across the sea, and the Four reigned in a Golden Age where men returned to Narnia and lived peacefully with the talking beasts. You see how they were not like men and women now. You would never see a Telmarine woman lead armies and fight in mighty battles. No sorceress would ever sit as queen. Things were not like they are now. That the four shared the throne, and nothing ever came between them, ought to tell you they were not like ordinary men and women. The two brothers shared the throne in peace, and they worked, the four of them, as no princes or kings have ever ruled since, in building a beautiful country.
But that was a very long time ago. I see you have many questions, my prince, but now you must go to bed. It is late, and you must be up in time for your daily riding lesson. Remember, sweet, you must not tell these stories to anyone. They are only for you and I. Drink this milk and give me a kiss. That's a good lad. Oh, hush your questions, I'll tell you another story tomorrow night. Perhaps I will tell you how the beautiful Queen Susan stole the heart of a desert prince and caused the greatest invasion before the days when Telmar took Narnia. But not tonight. Tonight, you must sleep.
Sweet dreams, Caspian.
Original Prompt:
What I want: I am particularly fond of darkfic, crackfic, comedy, character studies, clever allegories, epistolary fiction, ridiculous crossovers and fics that deal with world-building, world-expanding or explaining gaps and mistakes in the canon.
Prompt words/objects/quotes/whatever: If you'd like a prompt, there are a whole bunch on my site. (http://www.freewebs.com/adaptationdecay)
What I definitely don't want in my fic: Pevencest really doesn't do anything for me.
Author: anachronisma
Recipient: adapationdecay
Rating: G
Possible Spoilers/Warnings: Vaguely movie-verse "Prince Caspian". Sort of.
Summary: Listen, my prince, I will tell you a story from the Golden Age of Narnia.
AN: Out of the darkness of my brain came a desire to tell another version of The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, changed by a thousand years of oral tradition, a human perspective on events, and the lack of understanding Telmarines seem to have about magic. Consider it both AU and worldbuilding at the same time -- a glimpse into an alternate history of Narnia. It also answers adapationdecay's question about how the Telmarines answer the question "where did all the humans go?".
AN2: Special thank yous to fisher_queen and draconity for feedback.
Listen, my prince, I will tell you a story from the Golden Age of Narnia. But, we must be quiet about it. You mustn't tell the story to anyone, even though it is the most marvelous you have ever known. I will tell you about the Kings and Queens. Ah, you have heard of them before, yes. They were not like men now, they say. They were full of magic -- hush, my prince. You must not talk of magic. There is no magic left in Men now. That is why your uncle, Lord Miraz, forbids these stories from being told. I risk much to tell you, my prince, of the Old Days of Narnia, when animals spoke and men and women possessed great sorcerous powers. Devilry, your uncle would say. But back then, it was not devilry. It was the way things were.
It began with a storm. A mighty ice storm, so cold and terrible that it laid the entire land under snow. All of Narnia was white, white as you have never seen it, my prince. From the cold and the ice there came the Witch of Winter. She was a woman made of cold, who could not abide the sun nor the spring. Instead of blood, her veins trickled with ice water. She was terrible and cruel, and after she had frozen Narnia, she attempted to conquer the whole world, to freeze even the sea. Yes, she thought she could master the sea itself, that monstrous deep. The Witch of Winter was a terrible woman. It is said she had no heart, that she plucked it out and replaced it with one crafted out of the finest Northern ice, and that that is why she hated the sun, because if it was warm, her heart would melt and she would perish.
Oh, do not ask me how she got that way, for no one knows. It is a story lost to time. She was a terror from the Old Days, from the Ancient Times, before Narnia was Narnia, before Telmar was Telmar, before Calormene was Calormene. Truly, when your uncle speaks of devilry, he speaks of this woman, for she laid a terrible curse upon Narnia, that it would forever be winter, and never Christmas. What is Christmas, you ask? It was an old Narnian holiday, from the dawn of time, my prince. It was a joyous occasion, when Narnians would give each other gifts and have feasts, and remember the warmth and hospitality of spring. They say, in the old stories, that there was magic in Christmas, and that an old man would travel the land, bringing gifts to all. But that is just a story. Pay attention, my prince, what truly matters is that this witch was cruel enough to deprive Narnians even of their joyous festivals, because hiding the sun away was not enough for her.
The Narnians lived in terror under the Winter Witch, for she could turn anything she touched into ice and stone, even men. Yes, my prince, even mortal men could turn to stone. A soothsayer once made a prophesy that her reign of evil would be ended if four thrones in the ancient castle of Cair Paravel by the sea were filled by two men and two women. So she killed every human she could find, sending the Men of Narnia away, into other lands, out of fear. She and her followers -- yes, prince, her followers, for even magical animals can be cruel, just as your uncle's dogs can snarl or bite without cause, and some aligned with her. Do not interrupt me again. She and her followers hunted humans, like your uncle chases down bears and boar, until there were no humans left, none at all, for they got in boats and fled across the ocean, or went to Archenland, or farther, into the desert, where it was too hot for her ice to reach.
One day, a mighty storm raged in the ocean, warm winds that blew at the icy land. They say it rained that day for the first time in a hundred years, and blew out all the way to the Western Wood, and the Lantern Waste. By then it was so cold it fell as snow, but the snow was made of sea, and four drops of this sea-snow fell and warmed in the land Beyond the Lantern Waste, where no one has ever gone. And out of the Lantern Waste came two brothers and two sisters. Men, my prince. Men came out of the Lantern Waste, summoned by the magic in those drops of sea. Do not ask me how they came, for that is a mystery. Adam's flesh and Adam's bone came out of the Lantern Waste, and into Narnia. And they were not like any men or women seen before or since, my prince. They were dark and light, tall and terrible, and full of magic. They were in all ways perfectly matched and perfectly equal -- and that is the other reason your uncle hates these stories, my prince, for the sisters were like kings, and fought like men, and were in all ways as powerful and important as their brothers.
Their names, my prince, you have heard before. Peter, the High King, fair-haired and glowing like the sun, and his brother Edmund, the Just king, who was dark like the men of Calormene. Their sisters, Susan, the Gentle queen, who was, they say, the most beautiful and perfect woman in all of time, and the fair Lucy, who was a sorcerous woman of great magic. The four came out of the Waste and into Western Woods, and there met a faun. Surely, my prince, you have heard of fauns. They are men who have the bodies of goats. Heads and arms and chests like you, and legs and feet like goats. They walked on two legs. This faun betrayed the four and gave King Edmund to the Winter Witch, who beguiled him. She enchanted him, with sorcery and spells, until he forgot his brother and his sisters, and she intended to keep him forever in her castle of ice, where he could never take up his throne by the sea.
Our story would have ended there, with a thousand years of ice, and no great golden age, and no conquest for Telmar, but for the braveness of the Lady Lucy. The golden-haired queen had a heart like a knight, my prince, a courage not seen in any land before or since. And in her way, she was as much a witch as the Winter Witch, though of a different kind. She heard of a sorcerer across the sea who could free her brother from the spell he had been put under, and bravely led her way through the ice and the snow to the land by the sea, to find the sorcerer Aslan, who knew the Old Magic. So great was the magic of the Queen, that where she went, winter lessened, and the spell of sorcery upon the land began to break.
Why do you tremble, prince? Aslan was a great and terrible magician, even stronger than the Winter Witch, and it was he who had prophesied the four would come and break her spells. They were great enemies, the Witch and Aslan, and Queen Lucy allied herself with him with many entreaties and gifts. Together they worked great magic over the land until the ice began to crack and the sun began to shine, and the Winter Witch had no choice but to make war upon the three of the Four who were opposed to her.
So great was the magic of the sorcerer Aslan that he made a secret deal with the Winter Witch, that she would give up the dark-haired Edmund, in return for the life of the sorcerer. But the queen Lucy and the queen Susan, devised a plan with the great sorcerer, that while he would die, great magic would bring him back to life. Magic such as this has not been seen since those times, my prince, for men no longer know the secrets to giving life back to those who it has been taken from. But the sorcerous queen Lucy could heal any injury with her spells, and when the Winter Witch stole the life from Aslan, the tears of the queen brought him back.
The battle that was fought between the forces of the Four and the forces of the Witch was unlike battles you see now. Birds of the sky filled the air and beasts of the wood stamped upon the ground, and at their head was the great king Peter. He was a warrior unlike any other, fearless in battle and undefeatable. He could destroy a hundred foes without a scratch upon him. Never had there been such a general. His brother, who joined the fight as soon as the spell upon him had been broken, was a warrior of no less skill and power, though he was full of tricks and plans, strategies of cunning and guile.
The battle raged -- together they fought with their forces, outnumbered and overpowered, and at a disadvantage. Their sisters, both fierce warriors in their own right, had ventured into the heart of Narnia to find reinforcements for the battle, and to summon mighty magic with the help of the sorcerer Aslan. The battle was going poorly because the two brothers had not the sorcery of their sisters, and the Witch used her ability to destroy with ice and stone to terrible effect, freezing and smashing the forces of their army with her wicked powers. But, in his time bespelled, King Edmund had not lost his wit entirely, and with cunning, he found a way to break the Witch's powerful spells, and render them useless. But it came at a terrible cost, for he was wounded gravely and lay on the field in death. This so enraged the King Peter that he began to fight the Witch himself, a feat no lesser man could ever have done, for even without her magic spells she was terrible to behold and impossible to destroy, for you could not make her bleed to death, nor exhaust her, for she had no heart to be wearied.
When it seemed all was lost, Aslan and the sister queens emerged with another army, found in the woods and the wastes. They turned the tide of the battle, and the sorcerer told Queen Susan, whose arrows always flew straight and to the heart, that the only way to kill the Witch was to pierce her through the chest and shatter or melt her heart of ice. As the King Peter became overcome with exhaustion and could fight no more, Queen Susan released a fiery arrow of such speed and strength as no woman now could ever shoot, and it plunged straight into the witch's heart. The arrow cracked her icy heart, the fire burned it away, and she became a pile of snow, melting in the sun. Her forces disbursed, the day had been won. But ah! I see you asking, what of King Edmund, could not the curse only be broken by four on the thrones? That is where you see the magic of Queen Lucy again, for she healed him of his wounds and saved him from death, and it is said, saved many that day as well through her magic.
That is how the Four came to sit in Cair Paravel. They were crowned by the sorcerer Aslan, who then returned to his home across the sea, and the Four reigned in a Golden Age where men returned to Narnia and lived peacefully with the talking beasts. You see how they were not like men and women now. You would never see a Telmarine woman lead armies and fight in mighty battles. No sorceress would ever sit as queen. Things were not like they are now. That the four shared the throne, and nothing ever came between them, ought to tell you they were not like ordinary men and women. The two brothers shared the throne in peace, and they worked, the four of them, as no princes or kings have ever ruled since, in building a beautiful country.
But that was a very long time ago. I see you have many questions, my prince, but now you must go to bed. It is late, and you must be up in time for your daily riding lesson. Remember, sweet, you must not tell these stories to anyone. They are only for you and I. Drink this milk and give me a kiss. That's a good lad. Oh, hush your questions, I'll tell you another story tomorrow night. Perhaps I will tell you how the beautiful Queen Susan stole the heart of a desert prince and caused the greatest invasion before the days when Telmar took Narnia. But not tonight. Tonight, you must sleep.
Sweet dreams, Caspian.
Original Prompt:
What I want: I am particularly fond of darkfic, crackfic, comedy, character studies, clever allegories, epistolary fiction, ridiculous crossovers and fics that deal with world-building, world-expanding or explaining gaps and mistakes in the canon.
Prompt words/objects/quotes/whatever: If you'd like a prompt, there are a whole bunch on my site. (http://www.freewebs.com/adaptationdecay)
What I definitely don't want in my fic: Pevencest really doesn't do anything for me.