Disclaimer: I do not own The Chronicles of Narnia

Hello peoples! I'm back! :)

You guys are so cool...thanks for the reviews! Thanks Britta-I really appreciate the advice. I thought I might have strayed a bit into modern talk, but I wasn't sure. Thanks for putting me back on track, I will definitely watch out for that. :)

And here we go....

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"Peter."

I closed my eyes tighter, hoping that the person who was trying to wake me up would go away. I had no such luck though.

"Peter!" An insistent nudge on my shoulder caused a thrill of pain to run down my back.

My eyes flew open as I gasped.

Susan's apologetic face hovered over me. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you."

"That's fine." I grunted as I tried to adjust to the throbbing pain in my back. Then I remembered that I wasn't supposed to be asleep. I began to sit up. "I'm sorry, Su, I didn't mean to fall asleep....it just happened. Are you okay? Nothing attacked us, right? How is your side?"

She chuckled. "Calm down, Peter. We're fine. I want to introduce you to someone who is going to help us."

"Help us?" How in the world did she managed to get help in this ominous forest? I had gotten up into a sitting position by now and I quickly scanned over my sister to make sure that she was okay. She was still pale and one hand pressed against the makeshift bandage on her side, but other than that, she didn't look any worse off. I didn't see anyone else but her though. "Where are these helpers?"

"Right here." Susan waved her hand to her left.

I still didn't see anyone. The idea came to me that maybe she was delirious and only imagining that help had arrived. My tone must have conveyed what I was thinking, "Susan-"

Her gaze grew irritated. "Look down, Peter, I am not delusional."

My eyes shifted to the ground. Instantly, two little men who were at my sister's feet bowed to me.

"Greetings, O Hoo-man of the Pretty Face, I am Manis of Oaken," introduced one.

The other bobbed his head. "And I am Cristof of Oaken, O Pretty One."

Susan was chuckling.

I wasn't quite sure what to say in return. I settled for whispering in my sister's ear. "Why are they calling me pretty?"

Between giggles, she explained, "Because you don't have a beard. I believe they would find you much more masculine if you had a lot of hair."

I grunted. "Well I'm not going to grow a beard just for their sakes."

"I think they're waiting for you to properly introduce yourself."

Sure enough, both of the little men were staring at me expectantly. My voice still sounded gravelly and hoarse from my earlier strangulation. "Greetings, Manis and Cristof, I am Peter Pevensie of Narnia."

"Delighted to meet you!" Manis exclaimed. "We were just informing your sister that we would take you to Oaken and provide you both with squigums. If you would be so kind as to follow, we would be most appreciative."

I shot a quizzical look at Susan, hoping she could explain what squigums were. She only shrugged. I addressed the little people again, "Very well. Give us a moment to get to our feet."

"Take as long as you like, O Deep-voiced One."

Excellent. Now I had another nickname. I decided to correct them before it went any further, "I don't usually sound like this, I was nearly strangled earlier and my voice is still recovering."

Both of them looked disappointed. Cristof was the first to speak though, "You might want to consider getting this strangled done to you every day....it really would add to your appearance, O Beardless-One."

Susan started laughing as I blushed.

It was quickly becoming obvious that I was just not masculine enough for these people. I wasn't going to waste any more time trying to prove to them that I was every bit as manly as they were. So, instead, I tried to stand up.

Bad move.

I cried out when my back protested my sudden movements. Before I had even risen a few feet, I crashed back down to the ground, breathing harshly.

"Peter!" Susan edged over to me, wincing as her own wound gave her problems. Her fingers brushed my sweaty locks off of my forehead. "Are you alright?"

To be honest, I wanted to tell her to leave me here to rot. But that's not what any self-respecting older sibling says to the younger ones. I gasped. "Yes....just...give me....a moment."

I could hear Manis talking to Cristof. "Looks like they're in more need of squigums than we thought."

"Yes, we'll have to get Teala, I think."

After I caught my breath, I started to stand up much more slowly. It still hurt, but not nearly as badly as before. My vision was sprinkled with little black dots by the time I reached my full height, but after a few moments, they disappeared.

I turned to Susan and extended my good hand. She gulped, mentally preparing herself for the pain that her next actions would cause her. She grabbed on and I lifted her up. She leaned against me heavily, face pale.

When I was fairly certain that we could walk without collapsing, I nodded at the little men. "We're ready."

Cristof and Manis looked between us with concern, probably just now realizing how wounded we were. Manis finally turned and started pit-pattering away. "This way, O Great Giants."

Cristof joined him.

I smiled at Susan. "There is one good thing about being this much bigger than them."

"Oh? And what's that?"

"We won't have to walk very fast."

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My back and arm ached fiercely as we continued to trudge through the forest. Susan was panting beside me, her face scrunched up to keep from making any noise.

Cristof and Manis continued to walk ahead of us, every now and then shooting a glance behind them to see if we were still there. They whispered together now and a few seconds later, Cristof scampered off into the trees.

Manis stopped and turned to face us.

Susan and I gladly came to a halt.

"O Great Ones, we are here. Cristof has gone to inform the chief guards of our arrival. We have only a few more minutes to wait."

I took in our surroundings, wondering where all these little people-or "sprites" as Susan had informed me-were hiding. Nothing looked any different than what we had already passed through-just trees, moss, and stones.

"Peter," Susan panted, "I can't stand up too much longer."

"Ok, just hang on as long as you can. I'll try to find you a comfortable spot to rest as soon as Cristof returns."

No sooner had I spoken, then Cristof came jogging back with two official-looking sprites. I assumed they were the guards of this Oaken place.

They both examined us suspiciously and finally one of them announced in what, to them, was probably an intimidating voice, "Giants of this far-off land of Narnia, we have heard of your predicament and we believe that you mean us no harm. However, we cannot allow you to enter Oaken."

I felt like crying. Susan slumped against me, and even Manis looked rather dismayed.

Before any of us could say anything though, the guard raised his hand. "It is not because of anything that you have done, O Great Ones, it is merely because of your size. If we allowed you into our country, you would trample our homes. But, because you are injured and in need of care, we have decided to bring food and squigs to you if you solemnly swear not to harm us or bring destruction to Oaken."

Thank you, Aslan. The Great Lion had provided for us even when I began to doubt. I swallowed and tried to speak clearly through my abused vocal chords. "Valiant guards of Oaken, we will respect your wishes. We promise to not set foot in Oaken nor bring evil to your people. We thank you for your hospitality and for your care."

The guards seemed impressed that we were actually intelligent beings. The leader gave a short nod. "Very well then. If you will wait here, we will bring you what you need. Cristof, come with us. Manis, stay with the giants."

The three sprites disappeared into the trees again and Manis smiled up at me. "Pretty One, you have pretty words to match your face. You are a great diplomat."

I decided to take that as a compliment. "Thank you, Manis. Is it alright if we sit down? Neither of us can remain standing for very much longer, I'm afraid."

"Of course! Of course!" He backed up a few steps in order to insure that he would not be crushed when we sat.

I lowered Susan down carefully. She fell back against a large boulder, her lips turning a chalky white.

"Are you okay?"

She just nodded, her eyes squeezed shut.

I eased down beside her, feeling a bit nauseous and dizzy.

Manis hopped over to us. "Where are you injured, exactly? Teala, our Chief Squig, will need to know when she gets here."

Well, at least that answered one question. I guess a Squig was some sort of healer and squigums were merely plural for healing....or something like that. I pointed to Susan's side since she didn't appear to be up to talking yet. "Susan was stabbed and the dagger was twisted when it was in her body."

Manis flinched. "Goodness gracious! Why didn't you say so before? We wouldn't have made her walk so far if we had known that."

I shrugged tiredly.

He eyed me now. "And you, Pretty One? Where are you injured?"

I sighed. "Could you please stop calling me pretty?"

"But you are."

"Please, just...don't. It's rather insulting."

Susan giggled.

Manis looked alarmed. "I did not mean to offend Your Immenseness! I apologize."

I nodded, accepting his apology. "I broke my right arm and slid down a cliff on my back. I think some of my ribs are broken too."

Manis cocked his head. "Ribs? Cliff? What are these things of which you speak?"

My head fell back against a nearby tree trunk with a thunk. This was going to be very hard to explain. I pointed to a tall tree not too far away. "You see that tree over there?"

He looked and nodded.

"Imagine falling down the trunk on your back and you'll have some idea of what happened to me."

"Good heavens! Why on earth would you do a thing like that to yourself?"

This was getting to be almost comical. "I didn't do it to myself, I was thrown off along with my sister."

"Ah, bad business that. Yes, very bad business." Manis shook his head. "And ribs? What are they?"

Susan put her hand on my chest. "They are bones that lie under the surface of his skin. They are broken, which means that it is difficult for him to breathe and move, which means that he should have told me."

I winced and avoided looking at her.

"And don't forget that you were strangled," she added.

As if I could forget that.

"You mentioned this strangled earlier. What does this mean?" Manis stared at us eagerly. I think he was enjoying learning about us a little too much.

Susan gestured to the sprite's throat. "It's when someone takes your neck into their hands and squeezes until you cannot breathe anymore."

The little man's hand flew to his throat as he gawked at me. "How dreadful! I take back what I said earlier, you most definitely should not get strangled every day!"

"Thank you for pointing that out to me," I remarked dryly.

A crackling of twigs and roots announced the arrival of more than one sprite. Both Susan and I looked in the direction the sounds were coming from. A whole troop of sprites, led by Cristof, came marching into the area. Several of them were women and each of them carried tiny little baskets on their arms.

"Ah!" Manis clapped his hands together, delighted. "The squigs have arrived."

Excellent.

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Once again, not much action, but I promise it will come. :) I hope you enjoyed and thank you for reading!