The Queen's Tales

Chapter 25: The Storm

Turning around, Chloe saw Lucy walking out with a man who was clearly a magician due to his wardrobe. Lucy looked relaxed and the man didn't seem to have a threatening look on his face, so Edmund and Chloe both put away their weapons.

"Lucy," Edmund sighed in relief seeing his sister unharmed.

The magician put his hand over his heart and bowed to the royals, "Your Majesties," he greeted.

"Chloe, Caspian, Edmund," Lucy introduced, "This is Coriakin. It's his island," the kings and queen bowed respectfully to the man.

Meanwhile, the Chief dwarf scowled behind them, "That's what he thinks! You have wronged us magician!" The others all exclaimed in agreement.

Coriakin stepped forward, facing the creatures, "I have not wronged you. I made you invisible for your own protection."

"Protection?" They scoffed, hopping back, afraid to be too close to the magician, "That's oppressive! Oppressor!"

"I have not oppressed you," the man stated simply.

The chief and his counterparts continued to hop backwards into the garden, "But you could've! If you wanted to!"

With a simple flick of his wrist, Coriakin flung what looked like a bit of lint at them, "Begone!" He waved.

"It's a spell!" They screamed hopping back toward the entrance of the garden and away as fast as their foot could take them.

Lucy watched them leave before turning to the magician, "What was that?" She asked.

Chloe chuckled digging her staff a bit further into the ground, "Looked like lint."

"That's cause it was lint," he confirmed, turning back to this mansion, "Come."

"What were those things?" Eustace asked.

"Dufflepuds," he called behind him simply.

The boy rolled his eyes, "Right of course, silly me," he replied as though he should've known what they were.

Back inside Coriakin's mansion, Chloe couldn't help but take in all the magical energy as he led them through the halls. Meanwhile, Lucy still had a few questions;

"What did you mean when you said you made them invisible for their own good?"

The old man rubbed his hands together as they walked down a darker hallway with a dim light overhead, "It seemed the easiest way to protect them from the evil."

At that, Chloe stopped taking in the decor and architecture of the house, giving the magician her full attention, "You mean that green mist that took those people?"

The door to his library opened, and he stepped aside letting the others in first, "I mean what lies behind the mist," The library was astounding to witness, there were two whole levels of bookshelves, the room reminding her of one described in another one of her fairytale stories, "Would you move that podium to the side please," he asked Chloe politely as he grabbed a scroll.

With the podium out of the way, Coriakin threw the scroll onto the ground, showing a map of the sea and the Lone Islands. The map, of course, was enchanted; there were clouds floating less than a foot off the ground, and the waves rippled in the water. On the corners of the map were pictures of Narnia, one looked like it resembled Aslan's camp back when they fought the White Witch, there was a centaur blowing into a horn. The horn was muffled but they could see the centaur moving on the paper.

Moving along the bottom of the map you could see the Narnian army indeed charging into battle against the Witch and her forces, the giveaway was Peter riding on the white unicorn at the forefront.