High Queen Layla, It Has a Nice Ring to It

“Layla, wake up.”

Peter’s voice broke through the black fog that was Layla’s sleep as she began to awaken.

“Layla, come on. We’re almost back.” He said.

Layla groaned. She didn’t want to wake up, not after surviving something that others didn’t.

“Layla I know you can hear me. Now come on.”

Grumble, Grumble, Grumble. That was all Layla responded. Then they stopped moving. Layla still didn’t move until she felt something against her lips. Something warm... Someone was kissing her, and she was kissing back. When they stopped she finally allowed her eyes to flutter open, to find Peter sitting behind her.

“There we are. We’re almost there.” He told her like nothing happened as he faced ahead and steered the horse forward.

Now came the hard part.

Peter stopped and allowed others to take the horses helping Layla off as they walked towards the howe. Layla felt Peter’s anger radiating off of him then, and realized that he was in denial.

When they got closer, Layla saw Lucy, Yvainne, and Carissa waiting for them.

“What happened?” Lucy asked her brother.

“Ask him.” He nearly snarled.

“Peter.” Layla and Susan both scolded, standing next to each other, but behind the two men.

“Me?” Caspian responded confused, and offended. “You could’ve called it off. There was time.” Caspian defended himself.

“No, there wasn’t, thanks to you. If you kept to the plan, those soldiers might be alive.” Peter told him hatefully.

“Peter, calm down.” Layla called to him, trying to send a spell to calm him down, but he knew what she was doing.

“Don’t even, Layla. You were supposed to make sure he got the professor and then got to the gate house. If it wasn’t for your mistake, he wouldn’t have made his and it all would’ve went off without a hitch.” He spat. Layla scoffed.

“Peter Pevensie, you asshole, you have no idea what you’re talking about, so just shut it!” Layla snarled, pushing her way past Peter and Caspian. Then she turned around. “And besides, if you had just stayed here like Caspian had suggested, those soldier would definitely be alive.”

“He called us, remember?” he reminded her.

“My first mistake.” Caspian said.

“No. Your first mistake was thinking that you could lead these people.” Peter said defiantly turning back around to face Caspian, and then trying to walk away from him.

“Hey!” Caspian shouted to get Peter’s attention. When Peter turned back around he said, “I am not the one who abandoned Narnia.”

Layla knew it was a low blow and knew that this was not going to end well, but truthfully, she hoped that maybe, just maybe, he’d knock some sense into Peter.

“You invaded Narnia. You have no more right to lead it than Miraz does.” Peter shouted as Caspian tried to storm past him. “You, him, your father...” Layla saw Caspian’s eyes ignite with a new fire as Peter mentioned his dad, “Narnia’s better off without the lot of you.”

Caspian let out a scream as he and Peter drew their swords, ready to fight.

“Stop it!” Edmund cried out, as did Carissa, and Yvainne.

The two stopped just long enough to look over and realize there were bigger problems at the moment. Edmund helped lower Trumpkin to the ground, and Lucy gave a small cry as she rushed forward pulling out her vial, and helping him. Caspian walked past everyone and into the howe, followed by Nikabrik, and Carissa. Yvainne rushed towards Edmund, and engulfed him with a hug. Layla turned to see the face of the mother of the centaurs, and nearly burst into tears from the look on her face.

Which is what she did when she turned and was met with Peter’s disappointed face. She turned and almost ran, before remembering Lucy’s words. So instead she just stood there and cried. Until Trumpkin asked where Nikabrik was.

“He followed Caspian.” Layla told him.

“Oh no...” Trumpkin ran into Howe followed by everyone else.

It was then Layla sensed it. Another Witch.

~*~

“No!” Layla called out as she entered the tomb. She knocked Caspian out of the way before facing the witch on her own.

“Hmmm... Hello my dear. You’re, new. You just got your powers didn’t you? Well I can show you how to harness them. I can show you how to do spells you never dreamed of doing. All I need is a drop of your blood.” The witch told Layla as she stared the witch down.

“I’m not like you. I have chosen to wield my magic for good, and not bad.” Layla told her defiantly.

“Oh but you are more like me than you think. And I know more about you than you know.” The witch told her.

“Stop!” Peter yelled as the rest of them entered.

“Like what?” She spat.

“Like I know that you came to Narnia before, and helped fight against me. I know that your brother and sister are not who you think they are. And more importantly—”

“Layla don’t listen to her!”

“I know you were raped. And that’s how you found yourself in Narnia the first time, because your precious Human Lover in that blasted world of yours raped you.”

The look on Layla’s face was one of complete shock, and embarrassment, and pain as she fell to her knees. She completely ignored all of the fighting going on as she felt tears fall down her face. She wiped them to find they were red. And then she looked at the Witch. “One drop.” The witch said.

Layla began to hold out her hand and nearly touched the witches hand until Peter pushed her out of the way.

“Get away from her!” he growled holding his sword to her.

“Peter, dear. I’ve missed you. Come. Just one drop.” She told him her hand extended again. “You know you can’t do this alone.” She taunted. Peter began to lower his sword. And that’s when Edmund stabbed her. Peter looked confused as she cracked and then burst. Peter stood in surprise to find his brother.

“I know.” He started. “You had it sorted.” Then he walked away.

Peter and Caspian turned back to see Carissa and Susan giving them disapproving stares, before they went over to comfort Layla who was now sobbing in a ball on the floor. They helped move her away shooting the boys one last glare before leaving them to clean up the mess they made.

And that’s when it clicked in Peter’s head.

The White Witch hadn’t just said that to say it.

Layla really had been raped by Dylan.

He then ran after her.

~*~

“Layla?” Peter called for her trying to find where the girls had taken her.

“Go away.” She muttered from a crevice she had crawled in after the girls had left her.

“But—”

“I SAID LEAVE!” Layla screamed at him before crawling out of her hole and running away again.

Peter sighed and walked away. It would take a lot to try and get this off of his mind.

~*~

3 Days.

It had been 3 days since the incident.

The girls had been able to get Layla to leave her newest hiding spot finally, but her terms were less than satisfactory, as she made them promise she wouldn’t see him if she did come out.

So now he was heading for the Stone Table room, but something changed his direction.

He found himself outside of the Howe, on a ledge which he had seen Caspian use many-a-times, but this time it wasn’t Caspian on the ledge.

‘Well maybe she can help me more than someone else.’ Peter thought to himself before taking a deep breath.

“Your sister won’t let it go.”

She turned in surprise. It was to be expected seeing as he rarely had the chance to speak with the young girl.

“And...?” She replied as if missing something. She was hesitant, probably unsure of exactly where he was going with it.

“I dunno... I just... I wish she’d let me in.” He answered going to sit next to her. “The night of the raid, she confronted me. Asked me if I was angry that we had been married before, and I was shocked. I didn’t realize that that was what she had been getting from my anger. I was in no way angry at that, I was angry that I couldn’t, and still can’t, remember those days. And...” He paused with a frustrated sigh and ran his hand through his hair before picking up again, “And then I tried to tell her that I love her, and I’ve loved her since I first met her, but they called the signal, so I wasn’t able to.”

“So why didn’t you tell her on your way back?” Yvainne asked him. He looked over at her and found her reading. She didn’t look at him, but her head was still in the book. When he didn’t respond for a minute she glanced up from her book with a look that asked him if he was going to answer her or just stare at her.

He chuckled. “I did, but she was asleep. And I was going to tell her when we got here, but then all that mess happened, and here we are with her practically begging not to see me and me coming to you for advice.” He said sadly.

“Bugger.” Yvainne chuckled. “Well if you really want my advice then you have to take it. I’ll help you, but only if you pay attention, alright?” She said closing her book and looking straight into his eyes, straight into his soul. Peter had never realized it before, but she acted almost like the older sister in the relationship with Layla, except when it came to physical protection. She looked so innocent to the outside world, but once you talked to her, you realized that her life had worn her down just as much as the rest of the world... well apart from the Pevensies who had had years of experience running a country before returning to the world. She’d been forced to grow up when her sister changed, and her oldest siblings had run off, and probably even more when her parents were killed just before we came back to school last winter.

Peter finally nodded when he realized that she had been waiting for a response. With a sigh she pulled her hair up into a ponytail. Then turned to him. “I’m going to get her and bring her down to the Stone Table. You’ll have 5 minutes to tell her, but my recommendation is to come out with it. Tell her what you want to, don’t let her interrupt you, because you know she will try. And when you’re done, let her do whatever she wants, bar hurting herself, because she will have a lot built up in her from the last 3 days. Got it?” she asked him. He nodded and she stood up. Before she left she turned back to him, “You have 10 minutes to head down there and prepare yourself for what you’re going to say.” She told him then left.

Peter began to stand when he heard her voice once again, “Oh and don’t let her seriously injure you either.” It shocked Peter when he realized what she was saying.

She would try to hurt him.

She was that badly hurt.

And that’s when it was no longer about him, but about them.

~*~

“Yvainne, where are you taking me?” Layla croaked as she was led down a hallway.

She had stopped paying attention back when Yvainne had first begun dragging her. She didn’t need to pay attention as long as she was being led somewhere.

Numb. That’s what she’d been for the last three and a half days. She’d allowed herself to succumb to it, let it over take her.

Then when she had realized that people had been telling her that Peter wanted to see her she had broken down.

She couldn’t face him. She’d had enough trouble opening up to him last time she had come to Narnia.

That’s right, she remembered everything from the last time she was in Narnia. There had been a few fuzzy spots, like the first year or so, and then a little while later, when she had given birth to a child.

“It’s a boy your majesty.” Pricilla, her midwife, told her bringing her baby boy to her. Layla took the child in her hands and smiled at him.

“Get Peter and his siblings.” She told Pricilla. She bowed and quickly left to fetch her husband.

Soon she returned with Peter at her heels. He rushed over to her and his smile was enchanting. Layla felt the tears coming as she looked at her child. She was wonderstruck. He was perfect. She felt Peter press a kiss to her forehead, and she turned to him. “Would you like to hold him?” She asked him. He nodded eagerly, and she chuckled as she handed their child over to him. Her smiled widened as she saw him begin to bounce the child. He was a natural. She felt the tears start down her face as Susan entered. The wonder on her face made Layla laugh as Peter allowed her to see the child.

“You did good, Layla. He’s beautiful.” Susan told her as she laid a kiss on his forehead. “Hey there. Hi!” She cooed.

Peter came over to Layla’s side once more and took her hand into his own. “You did do good.” He told her softly with a kiss.

She shook her head, “We did good.” She told him with a smile, and he kissed her again as the last 2 Pevensies entered.

“Okay if you’re going to do that then you need to wait until we leave.” Edmund commented. Layla laughed and threw a pillow at him. He just grinned at her as he and Lucy went over to Susan to see the child.

“What’s his name?” Lucy asked as Susan handed the child to her.

Layla looked at Peter, who nodded. She smiled at him.

“Jared Tumnus Pevensie.” She told them as Lucy handed him back to her.

How could she face him after remembering that they had had a child.

That wasn’t even the worst of it.

She’d seen Aslan again.

“You again. I hope your ‘Magic 8 Ball’ days are over.” He chuckled at her before turning serious.

“You’ve remembered your child. I imagine you have a question or two.” Aslan stated. Layla did, but she wasn’t sure if she wanted to hear the answer or not.

“What happened to him?” She asked him. He nodded as if approving of her question.

“It’s very brave of you to ask bluntly. He has died by now, as I believe you have come to realize.” Aslan states, Layla nods, a tear falling down her cheek unnoticed by its owner. “He was 10 at the time of the attack. They tried to get him away, but he had acquired your temper and Peter’s determination, and he wouldn’t let them take him. He fought bravely and was one of the last standing. When those remaining retreated, they left him open. He refused to leave your castle. He was killed by a soldier who thought he was a dwarf.” The tears were streaming down Layla’s face now. Her son had died at 10. It seemed unfair. “He was given a proper burial. He’s buried at my howe, actually. Find someone, and ask them where he lies. Everyone knows his name, and they all know how he died to protect his parents legacy.” Aslan told her. She crumbled to the floor. She’d probably passed it many times by now.

That was when she had woken up. It was also when they had convinced her to come out of her hole. They got her to bathe and eat, but she wasn’t herself as she did it. It was routine.

And now she knew she couldn’t see him, no matter how much she wanted to run to his arms and ask him to hold her, to keep her safe from these memories. She couldn’t bear to tell him of their child, or of how he died.

When she realized her sister had stopped she opened her mouth to speak but something caught her eye...

Or rather someone.