Title: Between golden worlds
Author:
pamymex3girlRating: T, just to be on the safe side
Pairings/characters: Susan, Lucy, Edmund, Peter, Mary Tudor, Thomas more; Susan/Caspian, Susan/OC, Peter/OC, all normal Tudor couples
Disclaimer: I do not own neither the narnian characters nor the historical characters, just my story.
Possible Spoilers/Warnings: death, spoilers for the first three Narnia movies and three seasons of the tudors
Author's Notes: I’ve used some scenes from the series the Tudors and although I’ve tried to be historically accurate I’ve changed some things. I’ve also changed the age of the Pevensies when they went back to Narnia for the second and the third time
Summary: It is August 1524 and the Pevensies are being send to the English court. Having just lost their own world they must now learn to walk in this world. They must accept their place and live their lives, but they must be careful. For the court of Henry VIII is a dangerous place, one step in the wrong direction could prove disastrous...
Chapter 10
July 6, 1535
He wanted to scream against everyone in sight.
He knew he wasn’t the only one; many at court felt that the arrest and trial of Sir Thomas More had been too much; however, like with everything else they were laying the blame at Anne Boleyn’s feet. But he, who’d seen it all, knew that the king made his own choices; that Anne Boleyn did not have that much power, and that it was him who was moving against one of his closest friends. Perhaps, some said it was just a warning; he'd surely relent at the last moment; nobody thought the king would truly execute such an honest and good man. However, he remembered the story of the duke of Buckingham, whom everyone had also believed; everyone had thought then too he would live; that nobody would dare to execute a duke, but the king had and nobody had been able to save him.
He hadn’t been there when they arrested More.
He had heard, however, that More had offered the king a way out; he would swear to the legitimacy of his new marriage; he would swear that Elizabeth was his heir, he’d even swear he’d never say anything against them; but for the king it was not enough. He wanted More to swear that the Pope was wrong, that the king stood above him; that he was the supreme head of the church of England, and he did not need to listen to anyone but God. Edmund knew that More would never swear to it, his conscience would not allow him too, and he knew that would be his undoing; he just never thought the king would go this far.
He didn't go to the trial; he knew he never would have been able to hold his tongue.
He would have gone, but Susan had come to him; begged him to think of his family, of his daughter, of his wife and of his siblings. It wouldn’t help More if he said anything, in the end it would only be used against More, he’d probably be accused of brainwashing a poor unfortunate boy, who was under his care. Edmund would end up in jail, and his entire family would come under scrutiny. So he did not go to the trial, he would have if he thought he could shut up. He had friends who had gone to the trial; he had friends who told him everything that had gone, and he knew what had happened. There was no real proof; the only problem was he would not swear.
And since a few weeks ago that was high treason, and high treason was punishable by death.
From the moment, he heard what the sentence was he knew there was no way back; the king would never relent; even those who said that he’d never do it did not really believe it.
***
Today was the day it would all end.
He remembered the day he met More, so many years ago; it was so fast that sometimes he wonders what More saw in him. He knew he was smart, knew what he was capable of; after all he had already grown up once and knew his strengths, but the people in this world did not. However, More had seen something in him and taking him under his wing and Edmund would gladly testify that he had learned more from that man than from anyone else in the world, even all the people in Narnia.
He’d heard from a servant how down the king looked when he heard of the conviction.
But that meant nothing, nothing to anyone in the world, except that the king would one day use to ease his conscience. He wouldn’t come; he wouldn’t send a message to More; he'd pretend he’d never known him. He was the only one; the greens were filled with people; but unlike with other executions there was no cheering. They brought him out, wearing nothing but a simple with shirt and simple pants, and he walked on his own towards the scaffold. Edmund would have liked to have reached out to him, hugged him and told him he loved him; but he did not, too afraid of what it would mean for his own live.
More looked stronger and better than he ever had before.
He obviously believed in what he stood for, and he would die with dignity; his eyes scanned the crowds, and finally, they landed on him. He smiled softly and Edmund smiled back, though he’s not sure if he actually managed to smile. He saw all the other man from court; none of them looked happy, but none would save the man who stood before them.
‘Tell the king, I died his good servant but God’s first.’
The man he looked up to, the man he loved more than his father, laid his head on the block.
The executioner chopped off the head of the best man in the entire court and all he could do was watch.
He was angry, extremely angry.
And who could blame him; after all he had just witnessed his best friend’s execution. He walked briskly trough the castle, doing his best to make sure that nobody noticed him. The ones that did notice him ignored him, they all knew how close he was to More after all; thankfully, he made it to his chambers without drawing too much attention to him. Unfortunately, his cousin, the newly arrived Eustace, who despite only being here a day had already made trouble for himself. Edmund, who was supposed to take care of him, had been reprimanded by his father, and truthfully he wanted to strangle the boy.
The water came out of the painting before he could do it and the next thing he knew he was in Narnia.
He hugged Lucy; he was happy to see Caspian and to be in Narnia, but his anger would not stay in check for long. It was Caspian who was the recipient of most of it, though he did not mean to take it out on him. He could not explain it either, wanting to forget about it, to be able to erase the awful image of the axe swinging in the air (he had not been able to watch the actual execution; he'd looked away before he had been able to) and destroying everything he believed in.
Aslan appeared to him the third night they were there.
He’s not sure if it was a dream, or if it was real, if Aslan had somehow managed to take him far away from everyone else. Perhaps he thought the sight of him would calm his anger instead it exploded. And Aslan allowed him to scream, he allowed him to yell out all the things he had been wanting to say for years; he allowed Edmund to throw around everything he could get his hands on, and then when his anger finally abated, when he finally felt better; he allowed him to cry.
He Allowed Edmund to hold on to his mains and cried her eyes out.
Afterwards, he felt calm again, as if somehow. More had sent him some kind of message; and when he woke up his anger was completely gone.
He wished Aslan could take away the pain as well.
Prologue |
Chapter One |
Chapter Two |
Chapter Three |
Chapter Four |
Chapter Five |
Chapter Six |
Chapter Seven |
Chapter Eight |
Chapter Nine |
Chapter Ten |
Chapter Eleven |
Chapter Twelve |
Epilogue