The rolling hills flew past me, nothing but a smear of green to my eyes. Caspian's horse was running as fast it could manage, so fast that the normally one hour horse ride, took half an hour. I took a deep breath and clamped down on my roiling feelings, locking them away. I couldn't break down now, Narnia needed my help. As we rode into the valley, Peter and Edmund's heads turned our way. The horse slowed to a canter, to a trot, to a walk, until he finally stopped. Caspian vaulted off his horse then stood next to him, arms outstretched, ready to help me down. I smiled and wrapped my hands around his upper arms. His arm's wrapped carefully around my hips, so as to not hit my wound, and he lifted me off. As Caspian placed me on the ground, Peter and Edmund jogged over, there faces a mix of worry and anxiousness.
"Where's Lucy?" Peter said, as he wrapped his arms tightly around me.
With a hiss of pain as his arm tightened around my side, I carefully manoeuvred out of his hug. "I had a bit of trouble…I had to let her go on her own".
He didn't seem to be listening to me, instead staring intently at the thin line of red seeping through the green material. "What happened? You're bleeding."
I sighed. "I had a bit of a run in with the Telmarine's…and one of their daggers".
"So Lucy is okay?"
I hesitated in answering. "I'm not sure, but I hope so…But enough about me, what has been happening here?"
"The Telmarine's are advancing, and we are readying the troops to fight. We are severely outnumbered though, so I don't expect us to win, unless Lucy finds Aslan." His voice may have been hopeful, like he was expecting to win; that Lucy was going to succeed, but his eyes told a different story. They looked like the inside of a tomb, dark, without so much as a spark of light, signalling that he even had the slightest bit of hope.
I thought this over while Caspian, Edmund and Peter started talking about what they could do, what they should do. I wasn't listening to their conversation at all, I was concocting a plan of how to beat this army, so when they called my name, I was startled and jumped a bit.
"Susan, are you okay?" Edmund said, peering at my face.
I nodded, too excited to vocalise my answer. "I have an idea", I finally exploded, "He's a king right, and all king's are prideful, so if you challenge him to a swordfight, he won't be able to resist, and Peter has never been beaten in a sword fight." When I said that all King's where prideful, Peter and Edmund had spluttered and made objectionable noises. Caspian ignored the to adolescent boys and grinned at me.
"That's actually a good idea Susan. He won't be able to say no, because that would be saying he's weak. Especially if he is in front of his army."
Peter and Edmund had stopped arguing over who was the most prideful, and were listening to the conversation.
Edmund spoke up then, a smile on his face, "I'll take the white flag over and tell him our proposition".
I smiled and stepped back, away from the conversation, letting the boys take over the planning. I walked slowly away, trying not to pull my stitches out, towards a grassy patch of ground in the shadow of the cliffs. I sat carefully, ever conscious of the pain in my side. I glanced towards the boys again and watched them share their plans with the Centaur's and Minotaur's. They listened and nodded while a fawn helped Edmond put on some armour. Edmund glanced my way and waved. I waved back then started absentmindedly picking grass, staring at my baby brother as he rode towards the enemy. It tore at my heart knowing that one, or all of us could die today, never return to Narnia, to our beloved Cair Paravel.
I'm not sure how long I sat there for, but when Edmund returned sometime later, I stood and rushed, as fast as I was able, towards him. I hugged him hard, hurting myself in the process, but I had to make sure he was okay.
"Owww…put me down Su," he grumbled, trying to escape from my arms. Once Peter and Caspian and the rest came into sight, I let him go. I wasn't that mean as to lower his 'manly pride' because his sister was hugging him.
"How'd it go Ed?" Peter said, gently punching Edmund's shoulder as a sign of brotherly affection.
"Well he accepted, and will meet you in the stone circle at midday today".
Peter nodded, and walked away, towards the entrance to our hideout. I suspected he needed time to think on what he had to do, and how he had to do it.
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Midday came all to quickly. A small group of us headed to the stone circle. Everyone else was on alert, ready to attack the enemy army if we gave the signal. The fight between the two was horrible. We very nearly lost. When the second round came, it was a fast and dangerous fight, which Peter won. The scum surrendered and we thought we had won, until one of HIS soldiers murdered his king, his leader. The fight that followed was nasty.
Half of the other army was swallowed by the ground, which evened the odds, and heightened our chances of winning. Our army, our friends, were dieing around me. My arrows were flying hard and fast, as fast as my friends were dieing. We were losing, and I could see my brothers and friends losing hope, quickly.
Aslan's roar made the whole entire army, ours and the enemy, pause in their fighting and face the sound.
I span around and let out a joyous cry. Lucy was okay! She was seated on Aslan's back, gripping his massive mane of fur between her hands. The Telmarine's fled towards their camp, regrouping with their comrades along the way.
Our army ran towards Aslan, shouting in joy at the return of our leader. The four of us ran to Aslan, and bowed low.
"Rise King's and Queen's of Narnia", Aslan said, his great voice reverberating through the valley. Peter, Edmund and I rose, yet Caspian still kneeled beside me. "Did I not say for all of the King's and Queen's of Narnia to rise? King Caspian." Caspian rose, a bewildered look on his face.
"But I am not king Oh Great One."
Aslan gave a small chuckle. "Ah, but you are young child, the Telmarine King is dead is he not, and you are the heir to the throne are you not, so that therefore makes you the rightful king does it not?"
"I…I..guess it does", Caspian managed to stutter out.
Lucy scrambled off Aslan's back and ran into my arm's. "Susan, you're okay", she cried, hugging me fiercely. I winced in pain and gently loosened her arms from my waist. "Yes, I am okay Lou, but I didn't escape with out injury." I pointed to the line of red on the side of my dress. Lucy was about to remark on this when a Centaur ran up.
"Your highness'", he panted, "The Telmarine reinforcements are coming. The bridge has been finished and an army, three times bigger than this one, is on it's way to march over it."
Lucy gasped. "What can we do?"
Aslan was the one to answer her question. "Susan will be able to help us there."
Everyone's heads swung around to look at me. "Wh…What? I don't have any idea what you are talking about Aslan!" I shrieked, my voice rising through several panicked octaves.
"Ah, but you do My Queen", he replied, bowing in front of me. I gasped in shock. So did everyone else.
"I don't have any idea about what you are talking about Aslan."
"You are Queen of the Forest, you can awaken it from its sleep, it will help in the fight."
"But I don't know how Aslan, and I don't have enough power to awaken the whole forest anyway. Why can't you do it, you've done it before."
"I think you will find Susan, that your powers have grown considerably since you used them earlier this morning. Come, do it."
I sighed in defeat. Stupid Lion. "Fine, I'll do it."
Throughout the whole discussion, everyone had been silent, their heads whipping backwards and forwards from me to Aslan.
I glanced at them then raised my hand in front of me. I took a deep breath and clenched my fist, saying "Avanti" as I did so, my voice wavering, lacking any conviction or authority.
"Try again Susan, and mean it. Reach inside yourself and find your power. Thrust it outwards, AWAKEN THE FOREST!" The last bit was growled at me.
I took one step forwards, away from the group and knelt to the ground. I placed a hand onto the grey stone at my knees and made it rise up, with me on top of it. Once I was a fair height off the ground I stood. I took a deep breath and shut my eyes. I reached inside myself, felt the power growing, bigger and bigger, waiting to escape, awaken the hibernating forest. I breathed out slowly then opened my eyes. The crowd below me gasped. I stretched out my hand and clenched it into a fist. I mentally reached inside myself and grasped my power, pulling it to the surface, out into my fist. I gave a small smile then spoke. With a cry I yelled the word. "Avanti" was echoed throughout the valley. The trees creaked and groaned, their boughs moving, waving at me. They stood up straight, like soldiers in front of their commander. I knelt and lowered the pillar of stone to the ground, rejoining my family.
I could see the questions were about to start being asked, but I started talking before they were voiced.
"We need to go. I will answer your questions after the war is over. Come on, lets go!"
They nodded and ran with me to where our horses where tethered. I went to jump on mine, but a hand caught my elbow.
"Susan, ride with me." Caspian asked.
"Why Caspian?" I replied, looking confused as I watched my family jumped on their horses, Lucy on Aslan's back again and the remnants of our army ready themselves.
"You are still injured, and while I ride the horse, you can control the forest, or shoot arrows."
"Okay, I see your point Caspian."
He nodded and held his arms out to me. I grabbed hold and he boosted me onto his black steed. He jumped on in front of me and grabbed the reigns. With that, everyone's voices joined in a battle cry and we rode to meet the enemy.
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We reached the river in record time, and sure enough, we could see the army approaching. We sat on our side of the river, and waited for them to cross. Once they were halfway across, Aslan did something to awaken Poseidon, king of the Ocean. He drowned the men on the bridge, then returned to a peaceful slumber, ready to be awakened again. A cheer went up, as the remaining Telmarine's retreated in defeat. The happiness was overwhelming, until someone's, a Centaur I think, piercing scream ripped through the frivolities.
Everyone span around, expecting the worst, and sure enough, a Centaur was standing sentinel at the back of the crowd…without a head, blood and gore running down the bloodied headless corpse. The last of the Telmarine army we thought we had beaten was standing behind us.
The fighting began again, the enemies having a clear advantage of sheer numbers. There were at least three times as many of them as there were of us. Eventually the fighting slowed, stopped. Our numbers were severely diminished, more than before, but so were theirs. We had the Telmarine's surrounded, no way of escape. A cheer went up as they dropped their weapons and surrendered. Caspian jumped off the horse, then pulled me down too. The Minotaur's were taking the weapons off the prisoners and searching them for more, before tying them up and carrying them off to who knows where. Once they were all done, the crowd was exuberant. Everyone was hugging and some were kissing, but the general feeling was happiness that the war was over, and we were all still alive. I span around an smiled happily at Caspian. He grinned back and pulled me into his arms, boosting me up high so his arms were wrapped around my hips in a tight hug. I was laughing loudly as he span me around when I felt a sharp pain tear through my side, the opposite to where I got hit earlier that day. I went limp in Caspian's arms.
As my laughter got abruptly got cut off, I heard Peter's agonised yell. It felt like I wasn't in my body anymore, kind of looking on at the sidelines. I could see a huge red gash spreading blood all over Caspian's hands as he tried to staunch the bleeding, but it was to hard, the gash was too big, the blood was coming too fast.
I saw Edmund battling with a severely injured man, who I guessed must have thrown the sword at me. He was yelling "For the King and for all of the Telmarine's!!"
Edmund's sword slid through his neck, silencing his cries. I looked back down at my disabled body, when I felt a sharp pull yank me unceremoniously back to my body. All I could feel was pain, red hot pain. It tore at me, tried to tear me apart. I managed to open my eyes a crack, and over the metallic blood in the my throat, I murmured "sorry". The pain grew to much for me, and I felt myself grow light-headed with lack of blood. My heart started to beat slower and slower, until it finally stopped. The pain grew then, past the unbearable stage. My brain was growing dim, and the darkness was closing in, whispering to me, calling me. I forced myself to ignore the whispers and grasped hold of the light, refusing to let go. My heart gave one last stutter, then died, never to beat again. The light disappeared and I fell then, having nothing to hold onto. I gratefully fell into the black, the darkness embracing me in its cool arms. The darkness overcame me, and the whispers were finally quiet.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own this, but I do, however, own the plotline and the extra characters.
A/N: I updated this chapter because a reviewer kindly let me know my two MAJOR spelling mistakes; Edmond instead of Edmund, and Tullamarine's instead of Telmarine's. I have never read the book, so I never new the correct spelling of Edmund, and with the heavy accent in the movie, it sounds like 'Tullamarine'…so again…sorry, it wont happen again. I will try and update again tomorrow okay, sorry for the long gaps between updates, but apparently I thought I could keep 5 stories going at the same time updating them all every week….
Thanks to all my reviewers and thanks to all the people that added this story to alerts and favourites.
Jenni
