Disclaimer:I would be much honoured if you did infact mistake me for the genius C.S.Lewis but I am certainly not he.

Author's note: Special thanks to Morhotar who is betaing this for me and to everyone at E-Inklings at the lion's call who helped out. Anyone who is reading the Narnia letters, I'm still working on them but my beta was busy an inspiration for this hit hard.

The Siege of Fallamore Mill

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Tumbles and quarrels

This is a story that takes place primarily in the western parts of Archenland in the late summer about three years after King Lune's lost son Cor was restored to him and Rabadash's treacherous attack on Anvard was thwarted. That story is written in a book called "The Horse and His Boy" which if you haven't already read, you really ought to. Anyway on with the story.

In the western hills of Archenland, under the bright sun of late afternoon Cor and Corin ran as hard as they could up a low wooded slope. Up until a few minutes ago they had been taking a leisurely stroll to the nearby village of Fallamore to get a few supplies for their hunting camp. But that had been abruptly put to an end by several very sharp looking arrows suddenly making an appearance in tree trunks alarmingly close to their heads.

No more arrows were launched but Cor caught a glimpse of their attackers taking pursuit over his shoulder. Before their breathing became heavy, Cor made a sharp detour and climbed among some rocks. Corin clambered up after him.

"Do you see them Corin?" Cor asked his brother who had a better view from his position.

"Umm..." Corin craned his neck and sat up a little higher. "No... Not yet -- Oh! There they are coming up the little gorge, not very well armed. There's only about... one, two... only four. We can take them." Corin said, straightening up and reaching for his sword eagerly. Cor nodded but looked grave.

"We must challenge them of course, in case they mistook us for someone else." Cor said.

"They certainly didn't give us that courtesy." Corin grumbled. He looked slightly disappointed that there may not be a fight, but he sheathed his sword obediently and followed his brother.

The first thing Cor noticed as they turned the corner, bringing their pursuers into view, was that there were a great deal more of them than Corin had counted and secondly that there was no time for diplomacy. Cor made a quick tactical decision and ran in the other direction. Corin followed suit.

They ran hard for several minutes, weaving in and out of trees, over logs and under branches, always hearing their chasers behind them but not daring to look. There breathing became heavy but they kept running. After awhile their pursuers seemed to have lost them or else given up, but the twins ran on to put some more distance between them. Corin mentioned that he thought there was a valley around here somewhere.

Cor noticed that there was a break in the trees ahead, and then suddenly there wasn't any ground under his feet. It was a horrible feeling but hitting ground a split second later was even worse. He found himself somersaulting down an exceedingly steep hill narrowly missing a large tree. The next tree he didn't miss. It wasn't enough to break his fall though. He rolled over roots and through brambles so that by the time he finally came to a stop he ached all over.

After a moment he groaned and opened his eyes. He was lying in a very grassy place. He could hear small creek chattering nearby and there were a lot of birds singing. A blue wild flower, whose name he couldn't remember, was sticking into his face. Apart from these things he had very little sense of his surroundings.

In a few minutes he could hear Corin noisily making his way down the hill.

"Well you sure found a quicker way down" Corin said with a laugh when he finally got to Cor. "Are you alright?"

"Absolutely, why do you ask?" Cor propped himself up with his elbows and gave a grin which looked more like a grimace. "I think I found your valley." Corin chuckled and offered his hand to help his brother up but Cor declined it. "Thanks but I think I'll stay down here for a bit" He said resting his head back on the soft grass and closing his eyes again. Corin filled his canteen from the creek, drank some and brought it to Cor who took a good long drink then poured the rest over his head.

"Have any idea who that could have been?" Corin asked. "Or why they were trying to kill us?" Cor shook his head and looked very thoughtful.

For a few minutes the boys sat in silence then they heard the rhythmic sound of hooves from down the valley and in a little while Aravis came galloping into sight on a chestnut mare. Her long black hair streamed out behind her and her eyes were bright with the thrill of the ride. She wore a long green dress and a bow and quiver of arrows hung at her back.

As soon as she saw Cor and Corin she slowed her horse and steered it towards them. Her expression changed to one of concern when she saw Cor for he really was a sorry sight. His clothes were torn and had blood and grass stains on them, he had several scratches on his face and his lip was swelling. He looked on the whole, the way Corin had the habit of looking every now and then.

"Oh Corin, what happened to you?" Aravis asked, though she thought she already knew. The real Corin tried rather unsuccessfully not to grin and answered:

"Oh not much Aravis, but thank you for asking" Aravis looked, for a moment, as if somehow another Corin had come into existence. Which you must admit is a rather frightening thought. But the truth soon became clear to her and she immediately became concerned for Cor. In reality he wasn't quite so bad as he at first appeared. His most serious injury was a bruised knee which was beginning to turn an extraordinary colour.

"What happened?" she asked after she had dismounted and was inspecting his injuries.

"I fell," Cor answered simply. Aravis surveyed the trail of broken branches from the top of the hill to where he now lay.

"I see" she said.

"We were being chased," Corin informed her.

"By what, a wild pig?" asked Aravis.

"No, it was a gang of armed assailants." Corin said trying to look offended.

"Really?" asked Aravis. Cor nodded and he and Corin then told her the whole story. After a bit Corin and Aravis helped him to his feet. His knee throbbed terribly but he limped a few steps and tried to give the others a reassuring smile.

"Can you ride, invalid?" Aravis asked.

"I'll walk."

"Don't be ridiculous Cor. That would be much harder than riding." Cor stared at the toes of his boots.

"I could not ride while the lady goes on foot. It wouldn't be right." He mumbled.

"Cor, you're injured. You can't very well go limping all the way back to camp!"

"I think I could manage alright," said Cor somewhat obstinately and took another step testing out his hurt leg. Aravis gave an exasperated sigh.

"Oh do be reasonable Cor. We'd probably get there the next morning with you limping all the way."

"And we want to get there in time for supper," put in Corin.

"Why must you always think of food?" Cor retorted somewhat crossly.

"Must you always be so stubborn?!" Aravis exclaimed, even more crossly.

"Oh so I'm the one who's always stubborn!" returned Cor rather angrily. Corin sighed, the type of sigh that means "not this again"

The quarrel went on for a little while (I would rather not write it all down) until Corin reminded Cor that they needed warn the camp about their ambushers as they had no idea of their numbers or intentions.

Cor saw the reason in this and finally consented to mount Aravis' horse though his face coloured a little and he said next to nothing on the journey the back. Aravis was also considerably quiet so Corin compensated by chatting eagerly on a number of subjects.

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Thankyou for reading, I'd really appreciate a review to know what you think and just to know that someone is reading it.