Narnia- Life Out Of Shadowlands

Ch:19 Coriakin

Ch: 19 Coriakin

Jett’s words left me shocked to my core. The first though that flitted through my mind was, “Sarah, what are you up to?”

Caspian beside me was equally disturbed by this. He had a hard look on his face though I was not sure what it was about. Jett on the other hand was now getting restless. I still had those objects in the saddlebag.

Unsure of what to do about all this, I did the one thing that came naturally to me. Get Jett out of her discomfort. Quickly undoing the ties, I detached the bag from the saddle and took a couple of steps away from her. Immediately she took a sigh of relief.

“I think I need to talk to Sarah about this.” I was determined to go find her and confront her about this. Caspian’s words, however, halted me.

“She left for the shadowlands a little after she came out from your room.” Caspian’s voice was low and angry. “I think we should take it to Coriakin. He is a magician. He can tell us what to do with it.”

Nodding, I followed him out the stables. We tried to keep our manner confident and easy as we passed the soldiers getting ready to set out. People shouted and cheered as they saw us in their midst. I idly noted the irony of the situation. Here I was, boosting people’s confidence while my own was down somewhere in the gutters of Tashbaan. 

Coriakin looked up as soon as we entered.

“Your Majesty, King Caspian and High King,” He bowed, “How may I help you?”

I wasn’t sure what to say but Caspian saved me when he explained our dilemma to him. While Caspian spoke, Coriakin rubbed his chin and nodded. After Caspian had finished and I had given my input, Coriakin looked sad but not ignorant. After a pause, he began in a grave voice.

“The objects that you have described, they are not unheard of but still, they have an association with magic. One does not stumble upon them by chance. The first such object to enter this world was brought in here by Jadis herself. Her wand was such an object.”

The fact that Coriakin compared these things with White Witch’s wand made my heart sink. That wand was the thing that had held Narnia in the grasp of never-ending winter for a hundred years. Anyone except the witch avoided touching that wand. Now I knew. Even the fell creatures must have been repelled by the stench of dark aura that surrounded it.

“You mean these things are like her wand?” Caspian’s voice was steady but his face betrayed his alarm. He had voiced the question I now dreaded the answer to.

Fortunately, Coriakin shook his head. “No, not quite like it but yes, the same magic has been used in both of these.”

I was confused now. “What kind of magic exactly?”

Coriakin looked at the satchel bag in my hand and answered. “The magic to follow.”

Caspian and I exchanged a look and I frowned. He had lost us. Then Coriakin elaborated. “These objects serve varying purpose but they act in the same way. Once accepted, they will track and follow the acceptor until its purpose is served. Now that your Majesty has accepted these from Sarah, you cannot leave them behind. Bury them, burn them, drown them, do whatever you can but they will always reappear by your side.”

Mentally, I had beheaded myself with Rhindon a hundred times by now. Why? Why did I accept these things? Why did I trust Sarah? In the end, she shares the same blood as Jadis!

Apparently, my self-loathing was obvious to Coriakin and Caspian because the latter stepped towards me and said in a kind, gentle voice. “Peter, you cannot have known this. We all trusted her. I did that for a time longer than you did.”