Cold.

That was what the person was feeling all over.

Fast winds were rushing past their face as they made their way through the dark dense forest. The heat rising up to their face was fast, whether from the sudden chillness in the air or because there were tears in their eyes, that was unknown. 

The fading castle that had once been their home was what they were leaving behind. No. They were choosing to leave it behind. Light was glimmering in some places - torches, most likely. He had realised that they had escaped.

She had realised that they had escaped.

The person breathed out of their mouth to see clouds coming out. It really was unbelievably cold. The sky was darker than it had ever been as if a blackhole had been wrapped around it, and the moon was shining brighter than the sun. But the stars were missing. The skies that were filled with a blanket of stars were now almost empty. 

The horse they were sitting on neighed loudly as he jumped over a fallen tree, almost tripping but careful not to let his master fall. "Thomas?" The person whispered, not knowing why they were doing so. There was a certain unknowable tension in the air that was leaving a sense of uneasiness and gloom all over that made the rider hear their own heartbeat. 

They were afraid of something.

Or someone.

They were running away from home. They were running away from him. From her.

A million questions stormed their mind but Thomas had only one task in hand - getting out of Telmar as soon as possible. It was absolutely necessary that they got out of there. Why? They did not know. 

Something swished past their face and hit a nearby tree. The red against the green was unmistakable, and so was the quiver - an arrow. 

"Why is that horse following?" Normally, the rider would have asked why they were being chased, but that familiar black-coloured horse was running after them at a speed almost equal to Thomas'.

The horse kept shaking his head. "What is it?" 

Thomas read his master's confusion and turned only for one moment so that they could see that they were being followed not only by the horse, but by another rider. The master's eyes widened when they realised why they were running away and why she was afraid.

"Faster, Thomas!"

Several arrows tried to harm her but it seemed her luck that Thomas was able to predict their exact course. The female rider had only one place in mind because she couldn't seek shelter anywhere else so quickly, and she had to get there. 

"Sophie!" The chaser shouted for her, but his voice was different. The voice that was once deep like the great ocean, soft like cotton, that filled people with warmth like sunshine never could was now deeper, darker and filled with a wickedness that Sophie couldn't place.

She couldn't shake the feeling that she had deep feelings for this person. Her heart told her to stop running and talk to the person, to reason it out, but her instincts told her the opposite. Every time he shouted for her, she was fearing for her life more or more. It was a fear for her safety and for all Narnians. She was in search of someone. 

"There's no point running, Sophie!" He taunted her, the same voice that used to comfort her at nights at the small tower. 

Yet, she was running from him.

"There's no point running, little princess." A voice filled with coldness and cruelty spoke in her head.

"Get out my head!" Sophie screamed and the person's mocking laughing filled her ears.

Sophie tried to shake the cold feeling off and that's when Thomas stopped running. They had lost the rider and the horse. Sophie and Thomas hid behind some thickets when he dropped her to the floor by galloping in the air. She didn't even have time to shout why he did it because he looked her in the eyes, tears forming really quickly. "Run," they pleaded. 

Thomas brushed his face against hers and neighed loudly as he ran away in the opposite direction that they were intending to go. She didn't have any time to react except to not let the overwhelming feeling of losing her only friend get to her. She needed to get out of the forest. Thomas had sacrificed himself for her. It was time for her to not let his actions go awry.

Sophie concentrated on controlling her breathing because she had to get out without drawing attention to herself. The woods were awfully silent and she was the prey running through it. Loud noises of hooves was heard, making her hide behind a tree. The horse ran behind her horse - her Thomas. There were loud neighs from both of them that broke her heart. She had to stifle a gasp as the weight on her chest increased. She couldn't cry then, not after what Thomas had done for her.

She turned around and looked into the dark eyes of the one that she loved. She was tackled by him as she came face to face with the rider. Both of them fell to the ground and he pinned her to it. His grip on her arms were too tight. She tried to fight back, but screaming and trying to ram him against a tree did not work.

Because he was too strong. He was on her side. 

"I told you that you couldn't run away."

All Sophie could do was look into his dark lifeless eyes as he pulled his sword from his belt. She wanted to shout for help but her voice was stuck in her throat. Who would hear her in the vast forest? But right when he rose his sword up in the air, a loud roar filled the forest. 

The rider looked in front of him as something pounced on him, saving her.

"No!" Sophie screamed as she woke up in her bed for the second time in a really long time. She closed her eyes with her dominant hand. "It was a nightmare."

"Are you nervous?"

There was a squeamish feeling that had surrounded her ever since she had woken up. Sophie was afraid for a lot of reasons, but she took a deep breath and looked up at the person's calm eyes that she remembered being lifeless only a few hours ago. 

"Terrified." Her palms started to sweat and she wiped them on her dress.

Caspian smirked, making her scowl at him. "I apologise," he said, taking her hand in his and soothing the back of her hand with his thumb.

But the previous night's dream was crystal clear, making her take her hand away. She could not forget what had happened and the shiver that went down her spine when Caspian was only trying to comfort her. A part of her told her that he would never do that because the person in her dream wasn't Caspian. Those weren't his eyes and it wasn't his eyes. They weren't the same coffee colour. They were....cold.

That was when the Professor walked out of the throne room, his hands closing in on themself in the warm covers of his long sleeves. "Everyone is ready. We are only waiting for you, Your Majest...Your Majesties."

Caspian had sensed that something was wrong when Sophie flinched. She had never one to prefer romantic gestures but there must have been a reason that she pulled her hand away. He comforted her with a smile instead. "Shall we?"

He managed to win her over when she smiled back. "We shall." She then looked at the Professor, taking a deep breath. This was moment was going to change everything for them. "Lets do this."

The guards opened the double doors of the room that was much awaited, filled with a certain anxiousness of everyone's waiting thoughts. The council members seated in the room turned towards the sound of the door opening and every single pair of eyes were on the young girl accompanying their king and his mentor. From all the discussions that they had had in the past, everyone was gathered once again for another meeting called by the king. 

Deja vu filled through Sophie from the first time she had entered the room. 

Caspian walked beside her towards the throne. Or was it her throne then?

"Thank you for coming, my Lords," spoke Caspian. "I know that it is not a fixed date but I certainly do not regret for calling this meeting. Urgent matters are upon us and it requires all your attention and cooperation."

"What was the necessity, Your Majesty?" Lord Raindon, the leader of the council and the new representor of the Fae asked.

"Is everything alright?" Lady Freida, the daughter of the official representor of the Fae cut in, not trusting Lord Raindon to make the decisions that her mother would have made if she were still capable to give her advice to the king.

Sophie's feet were glued to the floor near the entrance. Everything seemed alien all of a sudden. Her throat was going dry and swallowing seemed hard. But she willed herself to stand next to the Professor on the right side of the throne, in case she needed support like they had feared.

"I'm sure all of you are awake about the Forbidden Prophecy. It is a tale that every child in Narnia grows up listening."

"It's a children's fairy tale! What does it have to do with us?" Lord Raindon spoke, making Caspian smirk.

"I'm sure everyone has a different opinion on the prophecy, but I'm here to tell you that it is, in fact, true. The Professor here," he pointed to his mentor. "Found the prophecy four months ago. I've read it with my own eyes. The Heir of King Frank and Queen Helen is standing right here in the room with us."

Sophie saw Caspian look so confident that she wished she could look the same. She was twiddling her thumbs together and rotating them in circles one over the other. Breathe, Sophie, she told herself.

"Who is it?"

Caspian looked at Sophie, indicating that she could speak now. "I am."

And suddenly, every pair of eyes in the room was on her.

"You are the Heir of Narnia."

Breathing is the key to life, and that was what was difficult as Sophie heard the words she had never seen coming. Acceptance of such heavy words was not what she had been expecting. There was no way that she was the daughter of King Frank and Queen Helen, the people that she had only known through texts. 

"I need to get out of here."

Caspian watched her storm out of the room on her own, tears clinging to her lower eyelashes. He wanted her to be safe, now more than ever. He wanted to be there for her, but the Professor asked him to let her go. She would need some time to process the information and he would give her that. He sat back down in his chair and read the prophecy again, reading Sophie like he had always wanted to.

Sophie couldn't face anyone. She couldn't control the weight on her chest that threatened to eat her up from the inside but found herself at the stables. "Good morning, Sophie!" Mr. Zahair wished as he swept the hay residues from the floor.

"Good morning," she said, speaking with all the energy that she had inside her. The words were barely out of her mouth when she realised that nothing was going to be the same again, which left a bitter taste behind. She asked for a horse from the keeper of the grounds but when he headed towards the one at the back end, she stopped him. "Not Thomas." She told him, making him shocked.

Sophie needed to get out of the castle as soon as possible. Everything was shutting her in and reminding her that she was the one who should be ruling Narnia in a castle like the Telmarine one. What happened to King Frank and Queen Helen, who were always Farhan and Helena, was not restricted to the pages of history lessons any more. This was Sophie's history that had been missing at every point of her life.

"Is everything alright?" Mr. Zahair was concerned. Ever since the young woman in front of him had found out about Thomas, she had insisted every hour of the day to ride on him. But suddenly hearing the words out of her made him scared for her.

"I need to get out of here for some time." And Thomas was yet another reminder that she was.... "That's all. Everything is fine." 

Or so she told people.

Mr. Zahair brought out the horse that Sophie had first trained with. He fixed the saddles on him and it didn't take Sophie long to leave the castle behind. She took the familiar path to Beruna, but instead of taking a right, she took a left at the arc and went deep into the forest, going South. Crossing some unfamiliar parts of the woods, the theory of that she had read was right in front of her. The maps and the structural design were floating in the absence of tears before her eyes.

Many trees blocked her path, as if not wanting her to accept the truth. Maybe she didn't want to, but at last, she came out into a clearing. Sun shone on the field of grass that lay before her eyes. And at the end of field, several feet from her, stood that hilly mound of earth that was a rock-built tomb - Aslan's How.

******

Hi! Welcome to the second Act. If you've read so far, I thank you with all my heart. When I first posted the italics, people were confused. I'm here to tell you that the italic scenes are what happened right after the end of the first Act. There are some parallels that I want to bring out by moving between the present time and the past (the previous act)

Hope you enjoy it!

There are many characters, I know, but I promise I'm planning to give them bigger roles. I hope you enjoy their stories as much as I'm going to!

About King Farhan/King Frank, I believe that period dramas are being whitewashed mercilessly. I want to bring my people's history into this as well, which is why I'm making this beloved character of mine an Indian.

Cast

Gemma Chan as Lady Gemhan Freida

John Rhys-Davies as Lord Raindon

Rahul Kohli as King Farhan

Jenna Coleman as Queen Helena