Big Bang Fic: The Red Leather Trousers Escapade (1/17)
Title: The Red Leather Trousers Escapade (1/17)
Author: wingedflight21
Rating: K+
Word Count: ~24K
Disclaimer: The Chronicles of Narnia do not, never have, and most likely never will belong to me.
Possible Spoilers/Warnings: Occurs in an AU of The Silver Chair.
Author's Notes: A huge thanks to snitchnipped, rthstewart, and especially accidentalsquid as well as anyone else who helped me through these last few months and numerous chapters.
Summary: An assassination attempt gone wrong sends Jill and Eustace off to solve the mystery behind the attacks, all while playing dead. SCAUverse.
-X-
Prologue
-X-
January 10, 1945
Lucy,
I must begin by thanking you for the letter and apologizing for not replying sooner. I received it in the midst of packing for the return to school and had to wait until the comparably peaceful train ride to read it. Even then, it was difficult to find the privacy; Gladys was acting particularly moody and would not leave me alone. I was only able to calm her down by reading her parts of the story included in your letter. (She believes that’s all it is, after all - nothing more than a fairy tale story.)
Of course, that would not be excusable for the tardiness in and of itself. The arrival at the school was a bit of a mess - although not nearly so awful as it had been three years ago when the entire school was under review with half the staff gone. That had been a disaster. This time, Gladys had managed to misplace one of her bags somewhere between the station and the school and it took a good while to track it down. I roped Scrubb into helping once he arrived. We were able to cover more ground and managed to find it in Milicent Fetchner’s room, of all places.
It was only after dinner that I was able to show Scrubb the letter and attached story. He, of course, was most interested in the mechanization of the pirates’ cannons. He also wonders if you could explain further the aerial tactics of the gryphon squad - I believe his exact concerns were the ability to bank given described air current conditions.
I was most surprised by the mention of the island country Halua, actually. Eustace once told me, years back, that he’d never heard mention of it on the Dawn Treader. For all the stories he had heard of sailing adventures and royal trips to the various islands scattered in the Eastern Ocean, he was sure neither you nor Edmund ever spoke of Halua. I would almost have thought it hadn’t been discovered at the time of your reign, except the histories of the island disprove that theory.
It was the thought of Halua that has finally prompted me to write the story I have been promising for some time. Some background information before you begin: The tale occurs in the sixth year that Eustace and I had been in Narnia. We sailed as a part of a delegation to Halua to deal with the trade crisis with Ambassador Jordis Glozelle. (You met his father, I believe, after the second Battle of Beruna.) The events I write of occurred after we’d been there nearly a fortnight - talks with the Akinua (that is, the Haluan king) and his council had been going very ill, with neither side willing to give, and time was running out before the delegation was to return to Narnia.
I send this in the hope that my letter finds you in good health and that you are adjusting well to the start of another term. I do hope you enjoy these humble scribblings of mine which, I am afraid, are not nearly so well-written as your own.
Aslan’s Blessings,
Jill
-X-
Lucy - I read over the final copy of Jill’s version of events and just wanted to note that I do feel I have been misrepresented in this particular tale. Although to speak in defence of this fictitious version of myself: For one, it must be difficult for anyone to act sufficiently heroic after receiving such an injury, and second, absolutely anyone can be tricked into getting drunk. Grain of salt, cousin. - Eustace Scrubb
Prologue | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Chapter 13 | Chapter 14 | Chapter 15 | Epilogue|
Author: wingedflight21
Rating: K+
Word Count: ~24K
Disclaimer: The Chronicles of Narnia do not, never have, and most likely never will belong to me.
Possible Spoilers/Warnings: Occurs in an AU of The Silver Chair.
Author's Notes: A huge thanks to snitchnipped, rthstewart, and especially accidentalsquid as well as anyone else who helped me through these last few months and numerous chapters.
Summary: An assassination attempt gone wrong sends Jill and Eustace off to solve the mystery behind the attacks, all while playing dead. SCAUverse.
-X-
Prologue
-X-
January 10, 1945
Lucy,
I must begin by thanking you for the letter and apologizing for not replying sooner. I received it in the midst of packing for the return to school and had to wait until the comparably peaceful train ride to read it. Even then, it was difficult to find the privacy; Gladys was acting particularly moody and would not leave me alone. I was only able to calm her down by reading her parts of the story included in your letter. (She believes that’s all it is, after all - nothing more than a fairy tale story.)
Of course, that would not be excusable for the tardiness in and of itself. The arrival at the school was a bit of a mess - although not nearly so awful as it had been three years ago when the entire school was under review with half the staff gone. That had been a disaster. This time, Gladys had managed to misplace one of her bags somewhere between the station and the school and it took a good while to track it down. I roped Scrubb into helping once he arrived. We were able to cover more ground and managed to find it in Milicent Fetchner’s room, of all places.
It was only after dinner that I was able to show Scrubb the letter and attached story. He, of course, was most interested in the mechanization of the pirates’ cannons. He also wonders if you could explain further the aerial tactics of the gryphon squad - I believe his exact concerns were the ability to bank given described air current conditions.
I was most surprised by the mention of the island country Halua, actually. Eustace once told me, years back, that he’d never heard mention of it on the Dawn Treader. For all the stories he had heard of sailing adventures and royal trips to the various islands scattered in the Eastern Ocean, he was sure neither you nor Edmund ever spoke of Halua. I would almost have thought it hadn’t been discovered at the time of your reign, except the histories of the island disprove that theory.
It was the thought of Halua that has finally prompted me to write the story I have been promising for some time. Some background information before you begin: The tale occurs in the sixth year that Eustace and I had been in Narnia. We sailed as a part of a delegation to Halua to deal with the trade crisis with Ambassador Jordis Glozelle. (You met his father, I believe, after the second Battle of Beruna.) The events I write of occurred after we’d been there nearly a fortnight - talks with the Akinua (that is, the Haluan king) and his council had been going very ill, with neither side willing to give, and time was running out before the delegation was to return to Narnia.
I send this in the hope that my letter finds you in good health and that you are adjusting well to the start of another term. I do hope you enjoy these humble scribblings of mine which, I am afraid, are not nearly so well-written as your own.
Aslan’s Blessings,
Jill
-X-
Lucy - I read over the final copy of Jill’s version of events and just wanted to note that I do feel I have been misrepresented in this particular tale. Although to speak in defence of this fictitious version of myself: For one, it must be difficult for anyone to act sufficiently heroic after receiving such an injury, and second, absolutely anyone can be tricked into getting drunk. Grain of salt, cousin. - Eustace Scrubb
Prologue | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Chapter 13 | Chapter 14 | Chapter 15 | Epilogue|