PROLOUGE
Tofor crawled forward, pulling himself forward by mainly using his hands. His back legs were nearly useless; one hoof was surely clinging on by merely a bloody strand. He was positive his other leg was broken in several places. It probably wouldn't have mattered anyway; he was sure those axes the giants used had severed his spine.
Oh, those bloody giants. The fawns of Cedarwind forest had heard tell of giants gathering at the nearby mountains, and joined forces with the centaurs to dispatch of them. Giant uprisings were common in this part of the land, though they usually failed. The important thing was to head them off before they got to the trees, or else there was the possibility of one of the oafs accidentally starting a forest fire.
Tofor groaned and pulled himself up onto a tree stump to rest a minute. Behind him were the bodies of hundreds of fallen warriors, Fawn and Centaur. He shuddered. The sight of their bodies caused him to involuntarily recall images of death, blood, and battle that he didn't care to recall. It had barely been a battle; slaughter would be a better word. All those warriors against a handful of giants, and they had failed, failed miserably. He had no idea what had happened. The giants had fought in formation, for Aslan's sake! Giants were far too dull to attack with more intelligence than it took to swing their weapons at the right people. But these giants had been taking orders from the lead giant, and when he had fallen, another giant had taken over. There was no second in command in normal giant groups; The most savage and largest giant of the pack could keep a loose amount of control over the others, but that was it.
"Are you going to sit there until the giants find you," A soft voice called. "Or would you prefer to get the hell out of here?"
Tofor turned his head around slowly, gripping his dagger. He relaxed as he saw a centaur limping over to him. It was Barzain, one of the centaur bowmen. Tofor waved grimly.
"Just resting myself for a minute." Tofor said, sheathing his dagger. "I fear I am paralyzed."
Barzain gave Tofor's legs a quick glance over. "You big- Your legs are perfectly fine."
"Aye, it's the back." Tofor sighed despondedly. "Afraid the spine snapped right in two."
Barzain skeptically examined his back. "Nasty gash, but you'll live."
Tofor tentatively tested his weight on his feet, and to his surprise they held without any serious complaint.
"Well what do you know." Tofor said, nodding to Barzain. "You must be a mighty powerful healer. My life is yours."
"You forgot the 'for what it's worth' part." Barzain commented dryly. Tofor didn't even acknowledge the insult.
"Come, let's flee this land of possessed giants." Tofor said, offering her his arm for support. Barzain took it, and they began walking.
"Possessed giants?" Barzain asked. "What do you mean by that?"
"Aye, lass, they were obviously possessed." Tofor said wisely. "They had the strength of giants, yet the intelligence of a centaur or fawn. Who is it the work of but demons?"
Barzain got a haunted look in her eyes. "Do you mean to tell me you didn't see the figure?"
"Aye, I was pretty busy looking at the giants, so pardon my ignorance." Tofor grumbled. "What figure?"
"The figure-cloaked in red robes, standing on top of the rocks," Barzain said, dropping her voice to a whisper. "With eyes that seemed like you could lose your soul just by looking into them. That was what had been controlling them, although it might as well have been a demon."
"I'm guessing you got a pretty good look," Tofor said. "And a pretty good memory."
"I will never, ever forget that creature as long as I live." Barzain whispered urgently. "We need to warn the king."
"Why?" Tofor said. "How was that creature any different than the other thousand evil magic-users running around?"
"I possess the sight of many waters." Barzain said quietly. "The ability to detect those who are not from Narnia. For as far back as I can trace my family lineage, nobody else has had the sight. I believe I was given the sight because there would one day be a need for it. We must warn the king, because I believe that need has just been filled. That creature was not of this world."
