Categories > Cartoons > Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles > The Lion, the Cat and the Turtles
Meeting the Enemy
0 reviewsLeo and Moorwin finally meet the elusive Red Lady and discover that she might be even more dangerous than they'd thought.
0Unrated
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THE LION, THE CAT AND THE TURTLES
Chapter Nine:
Meeting the Enemy
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"Funny you should ask," said Portly, blinking near-sightedly up at Leonardo and Moorwin. "Why, it weren't no more than half a day after the two of you had left for Cair Paravel before the rumors began flying all over the forest: Werewolves in the woods! Never saw them myself, of course, but I've personally talked to a number of squirrels who all say they've seen them, and even a couple of dryads!"
Moorwin exchanged looks with Leonardo, who nodded. Immediately after they had left Cair Paravel, the Turtle had announced his intension to go back to the forest where it all began and seek out Portly. "Anyone who likes to talk that much," he'd said, "must be pretty well-informed about things that happen in his neighborhood." And of course, Moorwin had to admit that Portly somehow seemed to find out just about anything and everything that happened in the forest.
The badger had been very glad to see them when they showed up at his house (well, cave -- true to his nature as a talking beast, Portly wasn't much of a builder and preferred living underground in a self-dug cave he proudly called his Sett), even though they declined his offer of a late breakfast, and was more than happy to take a little time to talk to them
They'd all sat down on the grass just outside his main entrance and given him an abbreviated version of the events since they'd seen him last. And Portly himself, as it turned out, had a few things to tell them as well.
"Yeah, it was all over the forest," he repeated, nodding solemnly. "It was almost as big news as your appearance, Leo. I mean, we don't have a lot of Newyorkers 'round here, but werewolves are almost as rare. They stick to their own, secret places and don't get out much during the daytime."
"Could anyone say where they were headed?" said Leo.
"Of course," Portly replied. "They were headed to the southwest, to the mountains at the Archenland border."
"But there are no werewolves in Archenland," said Moorwin. "At least I never heard of it -- and Archenland is a small country with mostly mountain terrains and open plains. Invisibility spells or no, it would be near-impossible for any number of werewolves to stay there without anyone knowing about them."
"And given that Archenland is closely allied with Narnia," Portly added, "I doubt that their king would keep it a secret to us if he knew about werewolves staying there. They aren't exactly the most popular critters, neither in Narnia nor Archenland."
"And beyond Archenland is a desert, right?" said Leo. "I remember that much from the map. And beyond the desert, the kingdom of Calormen."
"Neither place being ideal werewolf territory," said Moorwin. "The desert is unlivable for all but a few, and as for Calormen..." She shook her head. "It's true that Narnia and Calormen haven't been at open war for over a thousand years, but the Calormenese strongly distrust any Narnian creatures -- centaurs, fauns, talking beasts and werewolves."
"Foul sorcerers and demons, they call us," said Portly cheerfully. "That, and 'uncultured barbarians.' No werewolf would last long in Calormen; he'd have the soldiers of the tarkaans and maybe even the Tashbaan City Watch after him the moment he set foot in the country. Maybe he'd last longer if he was invisible, but I can't see why he'd go through all that trouble when it's much easier to hide in Narnia anyway."
"In that case," said Leo with a sense of finality, "I think we can safely assume that they're still here in Narnia somewhere. Possibly close to the mountains, if the rumors are true."
"I never heard tell of a dryad telling anything but the truth," said Portly.
"What about this Red Lady?" said Moorwin. "Has anyone heard anything about her?"
The badger shook his head. "Not to my knowledge. Still, there might be one or two folks out there I haven't talked to in a while, of course, that might know a thing or two."
"Would you mind terribly going to have a talk with them now?" said Leo. "It's very important that we find this Red Lady. Business of the king."
"Why, anything for the good king Rilian, of course," Portly exclaimed. "I'll get right on it. Would you care to come along, maybe?"
"I would..."Leo began, but then another expression crossed his face, and he looked around, as if scouting for something he couldn't see. "In fact," he said in a completely different voice, "I think it'd be best if you went on about it alone. I mean, you'd probably be quicker about it if you visited them on your own, and in the meantime Moorwin and I could investigate the southwestern part of the woods and see if we find something. We'll cover more ground that way."
Portly blinked. "Well, if you're quite sure..."
"I am. Thank you for doing this, Portly," said Leo hurriedly. "The king will no doubt appreciate it, as do we."
Moorwin was about to ask him what in the world he meant with this sudden dismissing of Portly's suggestion, but then she recognized the look on his face.
It was the same look as the one he'd had several days ago, when he had first sensed the invisible presence of the werewolves.
"I think this is a very good idea, Portly," she said, hoping that her voice didn't reveal her sudden nervousness. Portly, like all badgers, could be fiendishly difficult to fool, but if she had interpreted Leo's expression correctly, it would probably be for the better for him if he went off away from them.
"Well," said Portly after a moment's hesitation, "I suppose there's no point in sitting around here if you're in such a hurry." He raised himself. "When should we meet again?"
"Let's say, in three hours?" said Leo, getting to his feet again. "You think you can find your friends in that time?"
"Of course, no problem."
"Thank you," Leo repeated, motioning for Moorwin to follow him. "We'll meet back here in three hours, then."
"You got it!"
Moorwin looked at Leo as they both walked away from Portly's house, desperate to ask him what it was he had noticed, but he just held a hand up and shook his head.
"You can go with Portly if you want," he said in a low voice, almost without moving his mouth. "You don't have to come along for this."
"Yes, I do," she answered. And that was the end of that discussion.
In some ways, she supposed it wouldn't have done much harm to let him go on alone on this trip at all. He certainly seemed to be the type to manage perfectly well on his own, no matter where fate might send him.
She hadn't known this strange creature for more than a week's time, but already she had come to the realization that if he truly came from the same world as the High King Peter and his siblings, as Puddleglum thought, the stories about the High King and his formidable strength and bravery either didn't do him justice, or Leonardo was quite remarkable even for the standards of his own world: Brave, strong, dedicated, and, if his battle against the werewolves was anything to go by, a fierce warrior.
But she had promised the king that she would stay with him in any and all circumstances, and she was determined not to let the king down.
Suddenly, and for no real reason, the image of the king appeared before her inner eye, just as he had looked the day before, when he had called her to him and asked her to go along on Leonardo's journey.
"It's always better to travel together with someone," he'd said, "and even better to travel with a centaur. I would feel better knowing that Leonardo was not going alone -- and since you already know him, however briefly, I thought you would be the best choice of centaur to send along with him. I will compensate you for your trouble, of course," he'd added.
"I would not dream of taking money from you, your majesty," she had protested.
He had smiled then, and all of a sudden the world had seemed a little brighter. And then he'd said --
Moorwin snapped back to reality the moment she realized that she was walking along, in a serious situation no less, and daydreaming like a little foal. This was no time for thoughts like that, even though they had began appearing alarmingly often as of late.
I can absolutely not be in love with the king, she scolded herself. I have only known him for a few days. And he is a human while I am a centaur. It's completely unheard of, and now I am going to stop thinking about it and focus on the matter at hand.
She glanced over at Leonardo, who was tensing up and looking ready to draw his swords -- and luckily, he didn't seem to have noticed her moment of weakness.
"All right," he called out in the air, taking a few more steps along the path. "I know you're there! Show yourself!"
For a few moments, everything was silent. But then, there was a rustling in the trees in front of them, and the air seemed to shimmer much like it had a few days ago, and slowly two formerly invisible shapes were fading into sight.
Moorwin didn't need many seconds to determine that the two shapes belonged to a hag and a werewolf --or to determine that the werewolf was the same one that she had seen before, the apparent leader of the pack that had been heading for Cair Paravel.
"Most impressive, green creature," said the werewolf. "This is the second time you have seen through the Red Lady's spells. What is your secret?"
"I don't see how it's any of your concern," Leo growled, drawing both his swords. "What do you want? How long have you been spying on us?"
"Not long," said the werewolf. "As for your first question, we're here to make a suggestion."
"If this suggestion is anything like I suspect it is," said Leo, "then forget it. You tell this Red Lady of yours that --"
"That is just the suggestion," said the werewolf calmly. "You want to meet the Red Lady, do you not? She is very eager to meet you as well. We can take you to her. All you need to do is follow us. The invitation even extends to the centaur, if she would care to join you."
Leo's eyes narrowed beneath his mask. "Nice try, but we're not that stupid. How do we know you're not preparing a trap? You don't honestly expect us to simply trust you because you have such an open, honest face, do you?"
"Now that you mention it," said the werewolf, "not particularly. But I would like to call your attention to the fact that you are surrounded."
And with that, more shapes came out from the forest, all around them -- werewolves, twenty of them, accompanied by ten or more evil-looking hags, flocking around Moorwin and Leo in a wide circle. No wonder he noticed something was wrong, the centauress thought fleetingly. How in the name of Aslan did that many of them manage to stay hidden for so long?!
"Now," said the first werewolf, "I will ask you once more, politely, to come with me. You may be a great warrior, green creature, but you could not fight against all of us. The hags are also under order to throw any kinds of enchantments at you if you try anything."
Leo paused. "All right," he said, but without sheathing his swords. "You win. I'll come along willingly. But," he added, his voice defiant, "Moorwin stays here. She doesn't have anything to do with this."
Moorwin didn't know whether to feel insulted or honored that Leo was trying to negotiate with the werewolves on her behalf, but it turned out that they weren't open for negotiations.
"The centaur comes with us," the werewolf snarled. "Or she dies. Your choice."
"You'd be amazed at how many of you I could manage to kill if you so much as hurt a hair on her head."
"If you did, you'd find yourself extremely sorry extremely fast. I still owe you for killing two of my brethren, creature."
"Hold it!" said Moorwin. "Leonardo, I will come with you. I knew when I agreed to be your companion that there would be risks, and I'm not about to leave you behind in the face of danger."
"Such loyalty," said the werewolf dryly. "How very touching. Now -- no more talking. We'll go to see the Red Lady, and if you both do exactly as you're told, you might get to live."
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If the werewolves or the hags hadn't been so completely focused on Leonardo, they might have noticed a black, white and gray shape hiding underneath a nearby bush and following the conversation with great interest.
As Portly would often point out, and not without a certain pride, while badgers were hardly the biggest, strongest, swiftest -- or even smartest -- of all the woodland creatures, they were among the most steadfast and hardest to deceive.
And this badger had at once picked up that something was off about Leo and Moorwin's sudden insistence on splitting up. Given that he had personally experienced Leo's ability to see and hear what other people couldn't, Portly had correctly surmised that there was someone else nearby that weren't supposed to be there and didn't want to be seen.
It wasn't that Portly didn't think that the Turtle and centauress couldn't take care of themselves, but the situation had worried him enough that he decided to keep an eye on them for a little while. Since all badgers' dens had many entrances and Portly's Sett was no exception to this rule, it had been an easy matter to pretend to go off in search of his friends, but instead double back and enter the Sett through one of the side-entrances and following the sound of Leo's and Moorwin's footsteps from underground (badgers have excellent hearing and the footsteps of a centaur are easily identified) through his many tunnels.
As luck would have it, they hadn't gone off too far before the invisible foes apparently revealed themselves, and voices were heard from above ground. As even further luck would have it, another of Portly's entrances was located pretty close to where they had stopped, and the badger had managed to sneak out and hide underneath that bush just in time to see the hags and the werewolves surround his two friends.
Of course, there wasn't much one badger could do against twenty werewolves and ten hags, but Portly could follow the conversation and make a few choice decisions based on the information it gave him.
They're about to take them to the Red Lady, eh? It can't be too far, because travelling a long way with prisoners, particularly unbound prisoners, is a real bother and they're not making any moves to tie them up. That means that the meeting is probably going to happen here in the forest... Portly thought. And if it's in the forest, I'll be able to find out where it is in no time! Time to rally up a few friends and give this Red Lady a little surprise... I just hope I can act quickly enough.
As the werewolves and hags moved off in one direction with Leo and Moorwin, the badger slipped -- surprisingly silent for a badger -- away from underneath the bush and vanished underground again.
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They hadn't walked very far before they reached a larger clearing in the forest -- Moorwin at once recognized it as one of the many clearings where the fauns used to dance with the dryads on moonlit nights. She'd often come here in the past to watch them and enjoy the music and merriment, because it was impossible to stay in a bad mood around a group of fauns.
At the moment, however, there were no fauns or dryads to be seen, and precious little music and merriment.
In the middle of the clearing stood a tall, dark-haired woman, clad in a form-hugging red dress and with many jewels adorned to it, and a particularly large ruby rested in her breast, hung from a golden necklace, to complete the image. Moorwin thought she was quite possibly the most beautiful woman she'd ever seen, and it certainly seemed like the woman herself would have heartily agreed, from the way she was staring into a handheld mirror, looking a little too much like a woman in love, staring into her lover's eyes.
When they entered the clearing, however, she tore herself away from the image and smiled, very sweetly, to Leonardo and Moorwin.
"Ooooh, hello," she cooed, in a voice that sounded both melodious and lovely -- and more than a little childish. "How nice to see that you could make it! Not least because my friends here would have killed and enchanted you both if you hadn't been able to, and that would have been such a great pity, wouldn't it?" She giggled
"The Red Lady, I presume?" said Leo, looking at her and not seeming very impressed with her beauty. "So, are these your headquarters?"
"My headquarters are always where I am at the moment," said the woman, winking coquettishly and twirling around in a circle, as if wanting them to get a good look at her. "But please don't think me rude, even if I don't offer you anything to drink. No-one has wanted to drink with a witch for more than a thousand years, so I have stopped bothering to ask."
The werewolf and hag who had revealed themselves first both came up to stand on each side of the Red Lady, the werewolf with a sort of fierce pride and the hag with a somewhat defiant scowl. Moorwin now noticed that the hag seemed to have a wound on her throat, and wondered briefly if werewolves ever mauled people on their own side as well, or if this was the result of some other battle or accident.
"You should feel honored, you know," the Red Lady smiled. "This is the first time in centuries I have chosen to talk so openly to any of the king's subjects. But you intrigue me, green creature, I'll honestly admit that. Who are you?"
"My name is Leonardo. Anything else is unimportant."
"Oh, aren't you going to tell me anything more than that?" The Red Lady pouted cutely, and childishly. "How very mean of you. And what a dreadful name. Leonardo. Whoever gave you such a dreary and ugly-sounding name? It certainly wasn't a Narnian -- you can say a lot about Narnians, but even they have better taste in names than that."
Leo frowned. "You are, of course, free to judge my name in any way you see fit. But unless my name was all you wanted to know, you're wasting your time here, because I'm not telling you anything else."
"Oh, I rather think you'll be telling me quite a few things more," said the Red Lady. "Ylgameth, be a dear and enchant him using your... oh, no, that's right, you can't talk anymore," she said to the hag standing next to her, and Moorwin was certain there was a bit of glee in her voice. "Oh, too bad. Now, don't frown," she added as the hag started doing exactly that, sending her hateful glares, "if you're not careful, you'll get stuck like that, and then your pretty face will be ruined."
The hag just continued scowling, and the Red Lady giggled cutely before turning back to Leo and Moorwin. "Well, in that case, we'll have to think of something else," she continued. "Oh, I know! Werewolves, kill the centaur."
In one swift move, Leo had drawn his swords again and stepped up in front of Moorwin. "I welcome you," he said with a slight growl in his voice, "to try. She is my companion, and I'm not about to let anyone harm her. Anyone who gets near loses their head."
"And I will fight with hooves and hands as long as I draw breath," said Moorwin, glaring at the werewolves who were trying to sneak up from behind. "I swear by the Lion's mane that the first one to come close enough, dies!"
Leo smiled at her and moved slightly to the side,as if he'd decided to give her more room to kick if she should need it. "So, how many werewolves can you afford to lose, Lady?" he said. "I'm betting those hooves could crush a few of them before they managed to overpower her. That is, the ones who don't feel the sting of my katana first!"
The werewolves hesitated.
"Oh, this isn't fair," said the Red Lady, her melodious voice turning into a whine. "Why can't you just play along? Why do you have to make everything so difficult? All right, werewolves, don't kill the centaur. See if I care."
Moorwin stared. If this lady was really a witch, and the same kind as the White Witch of old and the Lady in Green from the king's stories, she certainly didn't act like any of them.
"I was hoping to at least get some fun out of you first," said the Red Lady with a sigh. "But since you're going to be difficult, I'll just skip directly to the plan. But I must say you disappoint me, Leonardo. Allowing a female to fend for herself in battle? Have you no proper views on women fighting?"
"Of course I do," said Leo with a grin. "If they choose to join in on fights, I expect them to be good at it."
All of a sudden, a few things about Leonardo made somewhat more sense to Moorwin.
Unfortunately, she didn't have time to ponder this further, because now the Red Lady turned her eyes on her... and smiled, widely and wickedly, as she grabbed and clutched the ruby on her necklace.
This doesn't look good... was all Moorwin had the time to think before the unmistakable feel of magic filled the air around her and washed away all her thoughts.
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To be continued....
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Author's notes: And so, the hero and the villainess finally meet... but what happens to Moorwin will not be revealed until chapter eleven! Patience, my dearies...
It's true: Moorwin has developed a pretty powerful crush on king Rilian. In one way it's an extension of your typical Narnian attitude towards royalty -- Narnians all adore their kings, after all (with the exception of king Miraz, but then he was a usurper and not the "rightful" king), and as the kings are also, in general, described as pretty good-looking, it's easy to imagine that a few Narnians might harbor some secret crushes. For a centaur to do so is probably not very common, though.
Leo's "I expect them to be good at it" comment might, at first glance, clash with his two attempts to protect her, but keep in mind that both these attempts were made before Moorwin stated her intention to fight. Many fanfics portray Leo as overprotective, but I really think to be a good leader he'll have needed to learn how to let people fight their own battles. He'd act the same with his brothers: Ready to dish out serious punishment on anyone who threatened to hurt them, but at the same time letting them protect themselves when they could.
THE LION, THE CAT AND THE TURTLES
Chapter Nine:
Meeting the Enemy
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"Funny you should ask," said Portly, blinking near-sightedly up at Leonardo and Moorwin. "Why, it weren't no more than half a day after the two of you had left for Cair Paravel before the rumors began flying all over the forest: Werewolves in the woods! Never saw them myself, of course, but I've personally talked to a number of squirrels who all say they've seen them, and even a couple of dryads!"
Moorwin exchanged looks with Leonardo, who nodded. Immediately after they had left Cair Paravel, the Turtle had announced his intension to go back to the forest where it all began and seek out Portly. "Anyone who likes to talk that much," he'd said, "must be pretty well-informed about things that happen in his neighborhood." And of course, Moorwin had to admit that Portly somehow seemed to find out just about anything and everything that happened in the forest.
The badger had been very glad to see them when they showed up at his house (well, cave -- true to his nature as a talking beast, Portly wasn't much of a builder and preferred living underground in a self-dug cave he proudly called his Sett), even though they declined his offer of a late breakfast, and was more than happy to take a little time to talk to them
They'd all sat down on the grass just outside his main entrance and given him an abbreviated version of the events since they'd seen him last. And Portly himself, as it turned out, had a few things to tell them as well.
"Yeah, it was all over the forest," he repeated, nodding solemnly. "It was almost as big news as your appearance, Leo. I mean, we don't have a lot of Newyorkers 'round here, but werewolves are almost as rare. They stick to their own, secret places and don't get out much during the daytime."
"Could anyone say where they were headed?" said Leo.
"Of course," Portly replied. "They were headed to the southwest, to the mountains at the Archenland border."
"But there are no werewolves in Archenland," said Moorwin. "At least I never heard of it -- and Archenland is a small country with mostly mountain terrains and open plains. Invisibility spells or no, it would be near-impossible for any number of werewolves to stay there without anyone knowing about them."
"And given that Archenland is closely allied with Narnia," Portly added, "I doubt that their king would keep it a secret to us if he knew about werewolves staying there. They aren't exactly the most popular critters, neither in Narnia nor Archenland."
"And beyond Archenland is a desert, right?" said Leo. "I remember that much from the map. And beyond the desert, the kingdom of Calormen."
"Neither place being ideal werewolf territory," said Moorwin. "The desert is unlivable for all but a few, and as for Calormen..." She shook her head. "It's true that Narnia and Calormen haven't been at open war for over a thousand years, but the Calormenese strongly distrust any Narnian creatures -- centaurs, fauns, talking beasts and werewolves."
"Foul sorcerers and demons, they call us," said Portly cheerfully. "That, and 'uncultured barbarians.' No werewolf would last long in Calormen; he'd have the soldiers of the tarkaans and maybe even the Tashbaan City Watch after him the moment he set foot in the country. Maybe he'd last longer if he was invisible, but I can't see why he'd go through all that trouble when it's much easier to hide in Narnia anyway."
"In that case," said Leo with a sense of finality, "I think we can safely assume that they're still here in Narnia somewhere. Possibly close to the mountains, if the rumors are true."
"I never heard tell of a dryad telling anything but the truth," said Portly.
"What about this Red Lady?" said Moorwin. "Has anyone heard anything about her?"
The badger shook his head. "Not to my knowledge. Still, there might be one or two folks out there I haven't talked to in a while, of course, that might know a thing or two."
"Would you mind terribly going to have a talk with them now?" said Leo. "It's very important that we find this Red Lady. Business of the king."
"Why, anything for the good king Rilian, of course," Portly exclaimed. "I'll get right on it. Would you care to come along, maybe?"
"I would..."Leo began, but then another expression crossed his face, and he looked around, as if scouting for something he couldn't see. "In fact," he said in a completely different voice, "I think it'd be best if you went on about it alone. I mean, you'd probably be quicker about it if you visited them on your own, and in the meantime Moorwin and I could investigate the southwestern part of the woods and see if we find something. We'll cover more ground that way."
Portly blinked. "Well, if you're quite sure..."
"I am. Thank you for doing this, Portly," said Leo hurriedly. "The king will no doubt appreciate it, as do we."
Moorwin was about to ask him what in the world he meant with this sudden dismissing of Portly's suggestion, but then she recognized the look on his face.
It was the same look as the one he'd had several days ago, when he had first sensed the invisible presence of the werewolves.
"I think this is a very good idea, Portly," she said, hoping that her voice didn't reveal her sudden nervousness. Portly, like all badgers, could be fiendishly difficult to fool, but if she had interpreted Leo's expression correctly, it would probably be for the better for him if he went off away from them.
"Well," said Portly after a moment's hesitation, "I suppose there's no point in sitting around here if you're in such a hurry." He raised himself. "When should we meet again?"
"Let's say, in three hours?" said Leo, getting to his feet again. "You think you can find your friends in that time?"
"Of course, no problem."
"Thank you," Leo repeated, motioning for Moorwin to follow him. "We'll meet back here in three hours, then."
"You got it!"
Moorwin looked at Leo as they both walked away from Portly's house, desperate to ask him what it was he had noticed, but he just held a hand up and shook his head.
"You can go with Portly if you want," he said in a low voice, almost without moving his mouth. "You don't have to come along for this."
"Yes, I do," she answered. And that was the end of that discussion.
In some ways, she supposed it wouldn't have done much harm to let him go on alone on this trip at all. He certainly seemed to be the type to manage perfectly well on his own, no matter where fate might send him.
She hadn't known this strange creature for more than a week's time, but already she had come to the realization that if he truly came from the same world as the High King Peter and his siblings, as Puddleglum thought, the stories about the High King and his formidable strength and bravery either didn't do him justice, or Leonardo was quite remarkable even for the standards of his own world: Brave, strong, dedicated, and, if his battle against the werewolves was anything to go by, a fierce warrior.
But she had promised the king that she would stay with him in any and all circumstances, and she was determined not to let the king down.
Suddenly, and for no real reason, the image of the king appeared before her inner eye, just as he had looked the day before, when he had called her to him and asked her to go along on Leonardo's journey.
"It's always better to travel together with someone," he'd said, "and even better to travel with a centaur. I would feel better knowing that Leonardo was not going alone -- and since you already know him, however briefly, I thought you would be the best choice of centaur to send along with him. I will compensate you for your trouble, of course," he'd added.
"I would not dream of taking money from you, your majesty," she had protested.
He had smiled then, and all of a sudden the world had seemed a little brighter. And then he'd said --
Moorwin snapped back to reality the moment she realized that she was walking along, in a serious situation no less, and daydreaming like a little foal. This was no time for thoughts like that, even though they had began appearing alarmingly often as of late.
I can absolutely not be in love with the king, she scolded herself. I have only known him for a few days. And he is a human while I am a centaur. It's completely unheard of, and now I am going to stop thinking about it and focus on the matter at hand.
She glanced over at Leonardo, who was tensing up and looking ready to draw his swords -- and luckily, he didn't seem to have noticed her moment of weakness.
"All right," he called out in the air, taking a few more steps along the path. "I know you're there! Show yourself!"
For a few moments, everything was silent. But then, there was a rustling in the trees in front of them, and the air seemed to shimmer much like it had a few days ago, and slowly two formerly invisible shapes were fading into sight.
Moorwin didn't need many seconds to determine that the two shapes belonged to a hag and a werewolf --or to determine that the werewolf was the same one that she had seen before, the apparent leader of the pack that had been heading for Cair Paravel.
"Most impressive, green creature," said the werewolf. "This is the second time you have seen through the Red Lady's spells. What is your secret?"
"I don't see how it's any of your concern," Leo growled, drawing both his swords. "What do you want? How long have you been spying on us?"
"Not long," said the werewolf. "As for your first question, we're here to make a suggestion."
"If this suggestion is anything like I suspect it is," said Leo, "then forget it. You tell this Red Lady of yours that --"
"That is just the suggestion," said the werewolf calmly. "You want to meet the Red Lady, do you not? She is very eager to meet you as well. We can take you to her. All you need to do is follow us. The invitation even extends to the centaur, if she would care to join you."
Leo's eyes narrowed beneath his mask. "Nice try, but we're not that stupid. How do we know you're not preparing a trap? You don't honestly expect us to simply trust you because you have such an open, honest face, do you?"
"Now that you mention it," said the werewolf, "not particularly. But I would like to call your attention to the fact that you are surrounded."
And with that, more shapes came out from the forest, all around them -- werewolves, twenty of them, accompanied by ten or more evil-looking hags, flocking around Moorwin and Leo in a wide circle. No wonder he noticed something was wrong, the centauress thought fleetingly. How in the name of Aslan did that many of them manage to stay hidden for so long?!
"Now," said the first werewolf, "I will ask you once more, politely, to come with me. You may be a great warrior, green creature, but you could not fight against all of us. The hags are also under order to throw any kinds of enchantments at you if you try anything."
Leo paused. "All right," he said, but without sheathing his swords. "You win. I'll come along willingly. But," he added, his voice defiant, "Moorwin stays here. She doesn't have anything to do with this."
Moorwin didn't know whether to feel insulted or honored that Leo was trying to negotiate with the werewolves on her behalf, but it turned out that they weren't open for negotiations.
"The centaur comes with us," the werewolf snarled. "Or she dies. Your choice."
"You'd be amazed at how many of you I could manage to kill if you so much as hurt a hair on her head."
"If you did, you'd find yourself extremely sorry extremely fast. I still owe you for killing two of my brethren, creature."
"Hold it!" said Moorwin. "Leonardo, I will come with you. I knew when I agreed to be your companion that there would be risks, and I'm not about to leave you behind in the face of danger."
"Such loyalty," said the werewolf dryly. "How very touching. Now -- no more talking. We'll go to see the Red Lady, and if you both do exactly as you're told, you might get to live."
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If the werewolves or the hags hadn't been so completely focused on Leonardo, they might have noticed a black, white and gray shape hiding underneath a nearby bush and following the conversation with great interest.
As Portly would often point out, and not without a certain pride, while badgers were hardly the biggest, strongest, swiftest -- or even smartest -- of all the woodland creatures, they were among the most steadfast and hardest to deceive.
And this badger had at once picked up that something was off about Leo and Moorwin's sudden insistence on splitting up. Given that he had personally experienced Leo's ability to see and hear what other people couldn't, Portly had correctly surmised that there was someone else nearby that weren't supposed to be there and didn't want to be seen.
It wasn't that Portly didn't think that the Turtle and centauress couldn't take care of themselves, but the situation had worried him enough that he decided to keep an eye on them for a little while. Since all badgers' dens had many entrances and Portly's Sett was no exception to this rule, it had been an easy matter to pretend to go off in search of his friends, but instead double back and enter the Sett through one of the side-entrances and following the sound of Leo's and Moorwin's footsteps from underground (badgers have excellent hearing and the footsteps of a centaur are easily identified) through his many tunnels.
As luck would have it, they hadn't gone off too far before the invisible foes apparently revealed themselves, and voices were heard from above ground. As even further luck would have it, another of Portly's entrances was located pretty close to where they had stopped, and the badger had managed to sneak out and hide underneath that bush just in time to see the hags and the werewolves surround his two friends.
Of course, there wasn't much one badger could do against twenty werewolves and ten hags, but Portly could follow the conversation and make a few choice decisions based on the information it gave him.
They're about to take them to the Red Lady, eh? It can't be too far, because travelling a long way with prisoners, particularly unbound prisoners, is a real bother and they're not making any moves to tie them up. That means that the meeting is probably going to happen here in the forest... Portly thought. And if it's in the forest, I'll be able to find out where it is in no time! Time to rally up a few friends and give this Red Lady a little surprise... I just hope I can act quickly enough.
As the werewolves and hags moved off in one direction with Leo and Moorwin, the badger slipped -- surprisingly silent for a badger -- away from underneath the bush and vanished underground again.
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They hadn't walked very far before they reached a larger clearing in the forest -- Moorwin at once recognized it as one of the many clearings where the fauns used to dance with the dryads on moonlit nights. She'd often come here in the past to watch them and enjoy the music and merriment, because it was impossible to stay in a bad mood around a group of fauns.
At the moment, however, there were no fauns or dryads to be seen, and precious little music and merriment.
In the middle of the clearing stood a tall, dark-haired woman, clad in a form-hugging red dress and with many jewels adorned to it, and a particularly large ruby rested in her breast, hung from a golden necklace, to complete the image. Moorwin thought she was quite possibly the most beautiful woman she'd ever seen, and it certainly seemed like the woman herself would have heartily agreed, from the way she was staring into a handheld mirror, looking a little too much like a woman in love, staring into her lover's eyes.
When they entered the clearing, however, she tore herself away from the image and smiled, very sweetly, to Leonardo and Moorwin.
"Ooooh, hello," she cooed, in a voice that sounded both melodious and lovely -- and more than a little childish. "How nice to see that you could make it! Not least because my friends here would have killed and enchanted you both if you hadn't been able to, and that would have been such a great pity, wouldn't it?" She giggled
"The Red Lady, I presume?" said Leo, looking at her and not seeming very impressed with her beauty. "So, are these your headquarters?"
"My headquarters are always where I am at the moment," said the woman, winking coquettishly and twirling around in a circle, as if wanting them to get a good look at her. "But please don't think me rude, even if I don't offer you anything to drink. No-one has wanted to drink with a witch for more than a thousand years, so I have stopped bothering to ask."
The werewolf and hag who had revealed themselves first both came up to stand on each side of the Red Lady, the werewolf with a sort of fierce pride and the hag with a somewhat defiant scowl. Moorwin now noticed that the hag seemed to have a wound on her throat, and wondered briefly if werewolves ever mauled people on their own side as well, or if this was the result of some other battle or accident.
"You should feel honored, you know," the Red Lady smiled. "This is the first time in centuries I have chosen to talk so openly to any of the king's subjects. But you intrigue me, green creature, I'll honestly admit that. Who are you?"
"My name is Leonardo. Anything else is unimportant."
"Oh, aren't you going to tell me anything more than that?" The Red Lady pouted cutely, and childishly. "How very mean of you. And what a dreadful name. Leonardo. Whoever gave you such a dreary and ugly-sounding name? It certainly wasn't a Narnian -- you can say a lot about Narnians, but even they have better taste in names than that."
Leo frowned. "You are, of course, free to judge my name in any way you see fit. But unless my name was all you wanted to know, you're wasting your time here, because I'm not telling you anything else."
"Oh, I rather think you'll be telling me quite a few things more," said the Red Lady. "Ylgameth, be a dear and enchant him using your... oh, no, that's right, you can't talk anymore," she said to the hag standing next to her, and Moorwin was certain there was a bit of glee in her voice. "Oh, too bad. Now, don't frown," she added as the hag started doing exactly that, sending her hateful glares, "if you're not careful, you'll get stuck like that, and then your pretty face will be ruined."
The hag just continued scowling, and the Red Lady giggled cutely before turning back to Leo and Moorwin. "Well, in that case, we'll have to think of something else," she continued. "Oh, I know! Werewolves, kill the centaur."
In one swift move, Leo had drawn his swords again and stepped up in front of Moorwin. "I welcome you," he said with a slight growl in his voice, "to try. She is my companion, and I'm not about to let anyone harm her. Anyone who gets near loses their head."
"And I will fight with hooves and hands as long as I draw breath," said Moorwin, glaring at the werewolves who were trying to sneak up from behind. "I swear by the Lion's mane that the first one to come close enough, dies!"
Leo smiled at her and moved slightly to the side,as if he'd decided to give her more room to kick if she should need it. "So, how many werewolves can you afford to lose, Lady?" he said. "I'm betting those hooves could crush a few of them before they managed to overpower her. That is, the ones who don't feel the sting of my katana first!"
The werewolves hesitated.
"Oh, this isn't fair," said the Red Lady, her melodious voice turning into a whine. "Why can't you just play along? Why do you have to make everything so difficult? All right, werewolves, don't kill the centaur. See if I care."
Moorwin stared. If this lady was really a witch, and the same kind as the White Witch of old and the Lady in Green from the king's stories, she certainly didn't act like any of them.
"I was hoping to at least get some fun out of you first," said the Red Lady with a sigh. "But since you're going to be difficult, I'll just skip directly to the plan. But I must say you disappoint me, Leonardo. Allowing a female to fend for herself in battle? Have you no proper views on women fighting?"
"Of course I do," said Leo with a grin. "If they choose to join in on fights, I expect them to be good at it."
All of a sudden, a few things about Leonardo made somewhat more sense to Moorwin.
Unfortunately, she didn't have time to ponder this further, because now the Red Lady turned her eyes on her... and smiled, widely and wickedly, as she grabbed and clutched the ruby on her necklace.
This doesn't look good... was all Moorwin had the time to think before the unmistakable feel of magic filled the air around her and washed away all her thoughts.
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To be continued....
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Author's notes: And so, the hero and the villainess finally meet... but what happens to Moorwin will not be revealed until chapter eleven! Patience, my dearies...
It's true: Moorwin has developed a pretty powerful crush on king Rilian. In one way it's an extension of your typical Narnian attitude towards royalty -- Narnians all adore their kings, after all (with the exception of king Miraz, but then he was a usurper and not the "rightful" king), and as the kings are also, in general, described as pretty good-looking, it's easy to imagine that a few Narnians might harbor some secret crushes. For a centaur to do so is probably not very common, though.
Leo's "I expect them to be good at it" comment might, at first glance, clash with his two attempts to protect her, but keep in mind that both these attempts were made before Moorwin stated her intention to fight. Many fanfics portray Leo as overprotective, but I really think to be a good leader he'll have needed to learn how to let people fight their own battles. He'd act the same with his brothers: Ready to dish out serious punishment on anyone who threatened to hurt them, but at the same time letting them protect themselves when they could.
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