soldier, poet, king || e. pevensie | slow updates

the soldier • 15

there will come a soldier, who carries a mighty sword. she will tear your city down, oh lei-oh lai-oh lord.

All she could think about was Dantus. She missed him. Coralia wondered if he missed her, too. She contemplated writing him again. Maybe it would make her miss him less if she wrote letters but didn't send them. It might seem like she was talking with him again. She wondered if they'd found a replacement barmaid.

Coralia sat straight up in bed. What time was it? Dasia wasn't in her bed. The sun was out. She was only supposed to sleep for a few hours, and be up in time to help King Edmund get ready for the day.

"Coralia!"

Surely she was dead. Her door was flung open and there stood the king, fully dressed. "Care to explain why you're still in bed? Or why I missed breakfast because I woke up late and had to dress myself?"

Coralia said nothing.

"Well?"

"I have no excuses."

"Figures. Get up, I have letters to write and an army to train."

Coralia waited for him to leave. He didn't.

"Get up!"

"I can't very well dress myself with you watching me!" She snapped.

"Don't speak to me like that."

Coralia got out of bed, ducking behind her screen. She grabbed her tunic and pants and started to get dressed. Edmund didn't leave, he just talked nonsense until she was dressed. She put on chainmail and grabbed her sword, following Edmund out of the room.

"None of that was necessary," Coralia grumbled.

"If I left, you would be slower than you already were. Now, I am going to a meeting with the High King and the queens. You have to stay outside the room because I can't have you listening in on us. Also we are planning something very important and big, but I can't tell you it yet."

When the two reached the throne room, Coralia waited outside. She stood next to High King Peter's personal guard, a minotaur called Kansus. They didn't speak to each other for the entire two hours of the meeting, then followed the kings to their chambers. When Edmund got inside his room, he had Coralia help him change from his formal clothes into a simple tunic. He kept his crown on, which was unusual for him. Mostly he put it in a case whenever he didn't have guests. Perhaps High King Peter had scolded him for being careless or something.

"I think you'll be pleased to hear what we talked about in the meeting. In a month, we are holding a feast and ball for the nobles of Narnia, as well as leaders of other nations."

"Other nations including Calormen?" Coralia smirked.

"Shut up," Edmund threw a pillow at her head. "I figured you'd be excited."

"Why would I be excited?" Coralia raised an eyebrow.

"Don't girls enjoy that type of thing? Dancing and the like?" Edmund waved his hands around in the air.

"I won't be dancing, sire."

"Of course you will!"

"If there are other nations here, I need to be guarding you as much as possible."

"I suppose. But maybe you could try to enjoy yourself," Edmund flopped onto his bed. "At least wear a dress."

"I'm not going to wear a dress." Coralia grumbled and walked towards the door to leave.

"Oh?" Edmund sat up again. "Just for that, I'm going to make sure you do. You'll find one somewhere, then you can keep an eye on me — if you'd like — while still dancing. All the other knights will be there enjoying themselves, too."

"Your Majesty, I'm not a dancer. I won't be doing anything of the sort."

"Keep telling yourself that. I'll find a way around it."

Coralia walked out of the room, shutting the door behind her. She prayed that Edmund would forget about it before the feast. Not that she didn't like dresses. In fact, she loved them. To own a ballgown would be a dream. But she had to keep Edmund out of trouble. Other leaders coming to Narnia opened up hundreds of opportunities for danger. She needed to be on high alert, focused on nothing but the king.

•

Coralia gave in and was writing to Dantus again. She wrote to Sowdin, updating him on what she could safely say in a letter. He'd been answering her, more than Dantus or her father was. She didn't think her father was angry, he was just never one for writing anything other than menus.

Dasia wasn't around much anymore. The army had a different training schedule. Whenever Edmund couldn't be teaching, Coralia couldn't be learning. There were just a few days left until the feast, and many of the leaders were already arriving. The King of Calormen had brought his whole family with him this time, and Coralia was too focused on keeping Princess Ailee from doing anything stupid to remember Edmund's threat from a few weeks back.

Until two days before the feast. The last of the nobles had arrived, and the dining hall was packed full with kings, queens, lords, ladies, and knights. The next day, Coralia entered Edmund's room to find him fully dressed.

"Good morning!" Edmund grinned. "Gather a bag, we're going on a quick trip."

"Aren't you supposed to be socializing with nobles?"

"This, dear Coralia, is much more important than that. We're going to a marketplace just a few hours ride away from here. I have some shopping to do."

Coralia's heart sank. "No. No, Your Majesty, please. It would be a wasted trip. I'm not going to dance. I have to guard you."

"Shut up, the knights are all going dressed formally and you will as well. You'll be allowed a weapon, but please attempt to look nice."

Edmund grabbed her arm and pulled her all the way to the gates, where they mounted their horses and headed off to the Great River.

The marketplace was bustling with people, the smell of food filling the air. Edmund seemed to know exactly where he was going, and stopped at a small booth. Rows and rows of dresses were hanging from everywhere possible. A very small old woman was sitting behind the counter. Edmund started grabbing dresses off the racks and holding them up. He was muttering quietly as he did it, but Coralia couldn't hear what he was saying. He'd narrowed it down to three very different dresses.

"Can I have a say in what I wear?"

"No." Edmund held each of them up to Coralia, examining it. "We're getting this one."

The dress was a beautiful pale gray color and made of velvet. The sleeves were sheer and embroidered with flowers. "This is too much, sire. Can't I have something more plain? I don't want to draw attention."

"You're wearing this." Edmund paid the woman and let her wrap the dress up and put it in a box. "We must get home, now. Make yourself presentable and dress. By the time we get to Cair Paravel, we won't have much time to prepare."

They got back on their horses and rode back to the castle.

Coralia had to help Edmund get ready, so she had little to no time for getting herself ready. By the time she got to her chambers, she'd passed every knight. They were all dressed formally, so at least that was reassuring.

Dasia freaked out when she saw the dress, and insisted that she help Coralia into it. Coralia couldn't deny that she had fun while getting ready. She put on her belt and strapped her sword to it. Edmund had said she could bring a weapon. All the other knights had brought either a sword or a small dagger. She hurried back to Edmund's chambers to follow him down to the feast. When she opened the door, he smiled.

"I told you I'd get into a dress. Now, all I have to do is get you to dance."

"Actually, what you have to do is keep the king of Ettinsmoor from killing us all."

"That's your job."

•

this story is going to be SO full of cliches but if you're still reading ik ur a sucker for it

anyway the next chapter is so bad and also predictable but i don't care we die like tumnus