blood from stone; cold as ice

[katrina]

Here, in the moutains, few things lived for the time being. The presence of the shape-changeing lion that had taken refuge here so long ago had driven most of the fauna away. The earth was stone and the air was thin so high above the sea. Higher still, from where she stood, snow coated the ground at an altude too cold for rain to come. A single peak rose higer being nothing more than a chunk of stone, being too high for even the clouds to reach.

Katrina wandered here, her wand tightly in hand, as she reached the small remains of a split willow. It was from this tree that her wand had been formed from. So many moons of singing had been put into that young tree that held no life now. The only proof that it had ever lived was the fact that she held a small part of it, known to her people as the heartrings, known as simply the trees center to humans, was in her hand now embedded with a dragon heartstring.

How dare she, The thought came again and again. She hurt Caspian, she left him. Caspian would die without her by his side, he had made that clear enough. And still she left without any true reason. She had toyed with his heart intentionaly for this purpose. All she wanted was to see him break. Caspian deserved far more than the lieing, miserable, cheating, self-absorbed, self-indulding, dung-splattered, villinous, yellow-bellied, tallow-faced, runt of a bastard toad that was the gentle queen. Yet she had fooled him. She had cheated her way into his heart only to let him fall. Her emotions boiled only with anger, more so than ever before. Her love for Caspian, her pride in her strength and wand-weilding, both combined could not compare to this anger that consumed and controled her body. She had wounded Susan last time she had seen her, but the witch was still alive and that alone was something that could be punished.

Movement.

Some creature bounded out of the world around her that she had become obvlious to in her hatered for Susan and her plots to end the life of the queen. Both startled and wanting an outlet for this anger she raised her wand torward the incredibly nimble beast and shouted her spell, "Duro!" Light shone from her wand for an instant and the creature fell, silent as the stone that he had become. The creature was a faun, with it's goat legs and tail coated in stone now. She could not tell the color of his fur, hair, or torso now that all of his skin was coated with the dull gray color, but she was certain she had seen this face before. He had looked torwards her, following the sound he heard suddenly, only to scream something as he knew something was happening. His face was now locked that way, eternaly in fear. For a moment she had wondered what a fawn was doing this far into the moutains, but she decided she didn't care. She kicked the stone away and sat on a boulder next to it.

"You would understand, wouldn't you," she said as though her statue could speak, "I will protect Caspian from any further pain with my doing. Perhaps he will die as well, but at least he would have no more pain." She looked to the statue again, and then back at the stars as they turned far above her.

"He dosen't love me," She said to them, "He will never love me agian. Everything I loved is in him and now he's forsaken me for a traitor. Is this Aslan's will that I should lose my love to her. Is is Aslan's will for me to suffer? Is this your way of punishment for my crime of killing my good lord and king? I have asked forgiveness of my crime and worked countless moons to repent what I have done, but I would do more if it be your will, O great lion." She dropped her head as she realized she was crying. She didn't know why and didn't care. She was only glad that no beast, save for her stone audiance, could see her and speak of her weakness and shame to another. "If only he loved me," Her voice had lowered almost to a whisper at this point, "Why dose he not love me? What have I lost or gained to let his hear wander so far from me? What can I do to have him back? Why dosen't he love me . . . why can't he love me?"

She shook her head and held her wand tight, pressing it to her arm close to her elbow. "Diffindo," She said and a thin line of blood appeared on her arm. She whiped it away unsatified with the result it gave. She moved the point of her wand further down, closer to her wrist then and repeated the spell twice. This time two lines appeared searing her body with pain. It did not ease the pain in her heart, but it distracted her from it. Suddenly affraid of bleeding to death she sucked the marks on her arms until she could taste no blood and then pressed them with her other hand. Even she would admit it had made her feel better, if only by a little, as she rocked herself on her rock.

[King Caspian X]

Caspian walked through the mountains that night. One of the servants had said that she had seen the witch walking this way, so Caspian followed her direction and finally came upon the liar come nightfall. Anger boiled inside of him. At first, he thought of simply running up to her and yelling, perhaps getting into a fight. But no, Caspian would make her pay for what she did. He would break her wand for breaking her promise that she had even sworn through magic. He would break her heart for what she had done to Susan. Caspian put on a smile of love, something that he despised to do because it felt fake. But it looked real. It seemed that he had inherited his acting from his mother. "Hello darling." he said, sitting down beside her. Caspian couldn't believe that he had said those words without throwing up. The only lady that would ever own his heart was Susan. No one else.

[katrina]

Katrina looked up at his smile and covered her arm in shame. He came to her for reasons she did not yet know. His voice was perfect and pure, with no hint of anger within it and it gave her comfort. She spent only a moment to whipe her tears praying he did not see her weakness and shame. Had he realy called her darling? No, he said he didn't love her already. Why would he change his mind so soon. She may have been a fool, but she was not stupid. She knew his mother and father very well, knew what they were like. "Why do you come here," She asked, "Surely not to search for the love you abandoned." Still she could not help but lean against the warnth of his body when he was near. It was just as before, only the moon had decided not to shine this night and hid below the horizion for hours to come. The stars were the only supply of their light but her elven eyes could see his perfect face just as detailed as she could in day. If only he would have done this before, if only he had said he loved her before, so much would not have happened. She wouldn't hate Susan like she did, she wouldn't be as lost and confused and afriad, she wouldn't have run away to her wand's birthplace, she wouldn't have transformed the fawn, and she would not have hurt herself. If only he had loved her.

[King Caspian X]

"But I did come for you." Caspian said. God, he was good. This was for Susan. This was to teach Katrina not to break promises. The King wrapped his arms around the body that was foreign to him. It should have been Susan that he was embracing. But this whole thing was for her. It was for what Katrina had done to her. The man brought his soft lips down against her neck and kissed softly. "I'm sorry, lover. I was blind." It took all of his strength not to shiver from dislike.

[katrina]

The embrace was unlike any he had given before. It was soft and tender, just as before, but his grip was firmer only by a fraction. Her skin tingled as he kissed her neck, a move he had never been bold enough to try before. "So it is to torment me," She sighed placing her hand over his where it rested close to her shoulder, "I understand. Your heart wanders like wind and you find joy in my pain. I understand." No matter how blind he may have been it didn't pay for how he had treated her before. There was no possible way any being, even one as perfect as Caspian, could go from complete hatred of her to falling deeply in love.

[King Caspian X]

"No." Caspian said. "My week away from Susan has cured me." he said. Katrina didn't know that Caspian and his wife had met just the night before. There was nothing to be cured from. Caspian was madly inlove with Susan, and this was killing him. But he knew that if he worked hard at it, it would pay off. He sat down beside her and rested his head on her shoulder. He wanted so badly to get away from this girl. But soon, he knew, she would be getting away from him. Caspian took her arm gently. "What's this?" he asked, looking at the blood on her arm. His voice sounded concerned, but inside, he was satisfied. So she had been hurting herself? The least she could do, perhaps if she had been feeling sorry for what she did to poor Susan. But they were small, and weren't good enough. The strike that Caspian would leave across her heart this night would be bigger than those tiny cuts, or perhaps the shame from a broken wand would be her most sorrow. Either way, they would be even. Soon.

[katrina]

"How can you be cured?" She asked as if the words had insulted her, "You think that by staying away from a demon it makes everything they've done go away. How can you sit here and tell me you love me again." She pulled her sleve up her arm so he could not see her marks. Anger began to form for being careless and letting him see them. Once they were covered she said nothing of them, as if they never existed. "If you truly are cured then you can remember what we have done together, the moments we have shared, the kisses we gave, and the promise you made. Tell me, my dearest Caspian, the promise you made the night I was driven away from you before the witch came and stole you from me. Tell me your promise and, if what you say is still as true as you claim, carry it out. Only then can I believe that you have been cured."

[King Caspian X]

"I promised that I would marry you." he answered. His voice held love, but Caspian was simply thankful that he hadn't choked on the words. They were like poison coming from his lips. "I don't have a ring." he said. "My only thought was to be with you," he said sweetly, "I couldn't think of anything else." Caspian said. He was doing well. "I'm sorry." he told her. "I truely am." A lie. A big, fat lie. But so long as it sounded like truth, it was fine. "How can I ever show this to you?" Caspian asked, taking her arm and pulling back her sleeve, as if he really cared about her gashes. He didn't. He liked to look at them, actually. It meant that she was in pain. Not as much pain as Susan had been in, but pain none the less. Emotional and physical. And what was better, they only helped strengthen his lies, allowing him to show worry for her. Things were working out well, and for his benefit.

[katrina]

"You made that promise long before I left," she told him pulling away hurt. He hadn't been healed, it was a lie. He would have remembered a promise he gave that has never been given in all history before. She remembered the promise all to well, the one he gave the very night she was forced to leave. The one he gave for the next time they were alone, seperated from the world with the blessed stars as their witness. That was the promise she looked for. And he had failed to give it. "You are still her prisioner and unless you can tell me your promise then I cannot believe you speak truth."

[King Caspian X]

Not it? Caspian held back a sigh. He couldn't keep up with this girl's make-believe fantasies about him. He would have to try again if this was going to work. "I was going to sweep you off you feet, whisk you away." he tried. It sounded like something out of a story book. Something that all girls would dream about. Surely it must have been in her fantasy, being swept away by a Prince. He twirled her around off the boulder and pretended to run away, encouraging a game of chase. This will pay off. he had to keep telling himself to keep his feet from carrying him farther than would be worth risking. Far away, away from this creepy little elf that was so in love with him it wasn't even funny. He smiled back at her charmingly.

[katrina]

"You think me a child?" She growled unwillingly leting her anger show in her voice. If she had known how to identify emotions she would not have been angry, but heartbroken. Even as fury reached out to him with every silibal she spoke tears still began to leak through the corner of her eyes. lies, more lies. "I am not some girl trapped in a story. Your promise was one that cannot be ignored, for once done the people of both our races will sing of its happening for several of our long-lived generations. You would do what was not only rarely done by our kind alone, but what has never been done between elf and human."

[King Caspian X]

Caspian nearly puked, but she didn't see the look on his face. He hadn't been facing her. The King turned back. Are you kidding me?! his mind shouted. God, he hoped that he was wrong. That was disgusting. He didn't love her. Caspian grinned none the less. Oh, how he hated this. Perhaps he should just do something and get her wand. "I know." he said. "I was only joking." He wrapped his arms around her. Now... which sleeve did she keep her wand in? It wasn't the one with her gashes, so it must be the other one. He almost felt guilty doing this. But she obviously didn't feel guilty about what she did to Susan. His lips ran up her neck, and then down her jawline. This was aweful. But soon, if she responded like he hoped she would, he could take the wand and snap it, and then run home. Her heart and wand would be broken, and his mission would be complete. She would never hurt Susan again.

[katrina]

He wrapped her arms around her and she longed to turn in them and wrap her arms around his neck and let his hold her by her waist. But instead she pushed him aside, forcing herself to look at him. "If you were only kidding before then why did you act as though you truely did not know? Do you enjoy seeing me suffer?" She sighed and her head dropped for a moment before she lifted it and looked to his eyes again. "Tell me your promise or the lie you have told me all these moments will not hold. I am not stupid, Caspian, though I am a fool. Do not think I cannot see through the demon's traps she has laid to destory me. She fears me, I know it, and sees me as the only threat to her false lover. Tell me your promise or I will run now and you will not be able to catch me. My body can run for days on end withoug tiring and can run faster than the greatest of stallions. Tell me the promise."

[King Caspian X]

His face may have been smiling, but inwardly he grimaces. What gruesome fantasies this girl had. Caspian knew that they had never been together, and that this was all the doings of a crazed mind. But still.... urgh. Disgusting. Those who knew Caspian knew that he would never do such a thing unless he was married, forever in love. Those who knew him better knew that he would die before doing something like that before marriage. And he certainly was not going to marry Katrina. For heaven's sake, she used to babysit him! She was so much older than him, it made things strange. But still, he had to lie. "I'd take you away, where we could be alone." he started, trying to think of something at least semi-romantic. He had to say something about the stars, because he had heard her mention something about the stars. "Only the stars will see us." he said slyly, but his tongue pulsed in pain from the words. Caspian kissed her hand. "Somewhere you've never been before." Caspian wanted to jump in a lake and drown himself.

[katrina]

"Again you lie!" She cried stepping back, "What joke is this you play with me? How can you not remember? It was not long ago, only a year, though I suppose you humans regard a year as much more than my kind. What is time to those who cannot meet death from old age?" She calmed herself and steped back again almost triping over the statue she had created. "Do you not remember the songs?"