Chapter 6

Lucy felt Susan gently push her in the back and Lucy stuck her head out. She crawled out and looked at the chaos around her. The witch's fury had wrecked the dam. The walls of wood lay in tatters, the stone walls had great gouges in them from where her magic had scoured through the Narnians. Rivers of blood discoloured the floor, speckling it like a duck's egg. Narnians lay on the floor, no more than discarded toys, playthings destroyed in their owner's rage. Lucy choked back a sob as she saw feathers streaming from the ceiling, floating down, like dust in a sunbeam. She saw the the bodies of Narnians, wolf fur trapped under their fingernails in their attempt to save the children's life. The softness lay around the dam, like the morning after snow. The lights and screams of battle had faded into creamy morning air, undisturbed air, air with its ears pricked to the slightest noise. Lucy stumbled out of the dam and bit back a scream. Lying in the snow, their arms and legs tied back in an unceremonious bundle behind their back, were five Narnians. Ribbons of ice crackled through their hair and fur, a light dusting of snow served as their winter cloaks. Lucy saw Mr. Tumnus, mouth open in a yell, his teeth and tongue covered in frost. Turning her head she saw Fleetwing plucked of feathers, his raw skin pierced with icicles. Lucy dropped to the ground, the horror playing through her mind on replay. She saw Mr. Tumnus' eyes open wide in panic, an old mouse, half-skinned, gnawing through his bonds till the wintry handmaidens of death took him to the midnight kingdom. But the most horrible of all was the total resignation on the face of the aged storytelling owl. The pride of having protected children who could not even protect him. Lucy looked up, her tears flowing in hot rivers down her cheeks, as Peter laid a hand on her shoulder.

"We should have helped!" she said bitterly.

"I know Luce. We will next time."

"It shouldn't be next time!" she yelled standing up. She turned away from her brother and ran off pushing past the welcoming arms of her sister, the tears flying off her face as she ran. She dashed through the trees and threw herself on to one trunk, the tears racking through her small frame. She looked up, angrily dashing away her tears. She gasped as she saw an auburn fox regarding her from a few metres away. The fox stood up and flicked his tail at Lucy, then trotted primly away. Lucy glanced around her, then followed the fox, an unnoticed tear leaking out of the corner of her eyes. She pushed past the shaggy firs, avoiding the storms of snow she dumped on the ground as the branches swayed the heavy snow off. She quickened her pace, trying to keep that glint of red still in sight. She pushed past a tree and gasped. All around her stood animals, sitting, standing, some lying down, but all of them with their eyes on Lucy. The fox curled his tail, and the front part of his body sunk to the ground in a bow, leaving a print in the snow.

"Your majesty." he said and the animals all stood and bowed and the tears dried on her face, forgotten. Lucy turned, hearing the soft crashes of snow falling from trees and she laughed as Peter and Susan broke through the white greenness and gasped.

"Your majesties. News travels fast. The dam is not the only point of refuge for Narnians, but it is a great loss." the fox said.

"Next time the Narnians will stand strong against the enemy." a bear growled, his voice carrying like the buzz of angry bees.

"And the witch will fall to children of Adam and Eve." a centaur said, his dappled grey body covered with a coat of snow.

"But I don't know how. None of us know how!" Peter said, pointing to himself and his sisters, then he thought again.

"That's not quite true. Susan's a fair shot with a bow." he conceded, his head titled. Susan shook her head and began to protest, but a centaur stepped forward, unslung his bow and handed it to the girl. She took it and took the arrow, staring at them for a few moments. She looked up, glancing around the crowd a lost expression on her face. Then she sleekly fitted the arrow, drew the bow and let the arrow fly into the throat of a wolf. The wolf whimpered and the Narnians swung into action as the wolves broke through the trees, surrounding the Narnians. A dwarf threw a sword to Peter.

"I can't use this!" Peter said, staring at the heavy wieght in his hands.

"I don't care. Try." the dwarf said and launched himself at a wolf. Peter stared at it, then swung the sword desperately as a wolf flung itself on the boy. He gasped as the wolf slumped to the floor and he swung the sword round in a deadly arc, swooping through a circle of wolves. Lucy smiled and looked about for a way to help. She searched desperately for a weapon and a dwarf wordlessly handed her a little dagger. She thanked the dwarf with a smile and leapt on the wolves, her anger for them searing through her little body, the memory of Mr. Tumnus, Fleetwing and the little boy huddled in fear away from his mother flashing through her mind. The wolves fell in swathes an the rest turned and ran with a helpless whimper dashing through the trees, a grey flash in the green. Lucy stood their gasping, the hate flowing out of her veins. She she swallowed in horror at what she had done. She stared at the little blood-stained dagger in her hand and bent down and wiped it on the bottom of her cloak. She walked over to the dwarf who had handed it to her and held it out to him. The dwarf shook his head.

"Keep it. It looks like your lucky weapon." he told her and backed away. Lucy looked at the weapon in her hands and for a moment she hesitated, then she stuck it in her belt defiantly. She turned and saw a dwarf shaking his head at Peter.

"That was a good sword." the dwarf told him and Lucy smiled when she saw the shattered blade still clutched in her brother's hands.

"Never get to excited, or this happens!" the dwarf reprimanded Peter and he turned away shaking his head, walking off tutting and muttering "who does he think he is, breaking perfectly fine swords like that?"

"Oh dear." Peter said, jokily grimacing. Lucy laughed and smiled as Susan came over and put her arm around her younger sister.

"Let's go. We've got a long way to go."

x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

And I'm finally writing this again! I have had serious writer's block over this one, I just couldn't get ideas! Normally I get little scenes, but zilch! Oh well, we have a slightly voilent chapter here... Well, I'm in violent mood! Hope this chapter was worth the wait!