Well it's after spring break so I didn't break my promise about a story update...okay yeah even I knew that was weak but hey you don't know when my spring break is so as far as you know, I could be just getting back from it ;p. Anywho, before I jump into thanking my awesome reviewers, I wanted to give you a little bit of good news. Remember how I said I had a lousy chemistry professor last semester and I got a C+ in the class because of it? Well, I got a new chem prof this semester and he's 500% better than my last one so now I have a solid B+ average for chemistry (after test grades of 94, 86, and 92)!
And now that I've divulged my little personal success, it is my pleasure to thank the following people: tinkbooklover (yeah I know that chapter was super overdue, and of course I would mention the people who cared enough to review chapter 4), TellYouAllAboutIt (thanks, that means a lot), GwendolynPenguin22 (I love your enthusiasm, plus you're supposed to love Dyani and Edmund and sorta hate Dyani and Peter), and halcyontides (well thank you very much, and while Orion and Lucy may only be 13, they're still old enough to be beyond the "eww cooties" phase).
Disclaimer: maybe I should switch to an English major...that way some future fanfiction writer would have to say they don't own MY story like I have to say I don't own THIS story
After Orion's little scuffle with Ivan, Dyani sent him to join one of the fauns on lookout duty so he would have a chance to cool down. The brown-haired fae had only been up there for a few hours when he spotted a Telmarine soldier on horseback spying on the Narnian hideout from behind some shrubs. Orion ordered the faun to go warn Peter and Caspian while he tried to use his plant magic to snake the shrubs' and trees' roots around the horse's legs. Unfortunately, the soldier was too far away and that distance weakened Orion's powers.
'First I let my anger get the better of me, and now I let a spy escape. Some knight of Narnia I am,' Orion thought bitterly.
...
"It's only a matter of time," Peter announced as the war meeting began. "Miraz's men and war machines are on their way. That means those same men aren't protecting his castle."
"What do you propose we do, Your Majesty?" Reepicheep questioned.
Unfortunately, there were two young men in attendance who were accustomed to the title of 'Your Majesty'...both of whom simultaneously voiced their suggestions.
"We need to get ready for it," Peter recommended.
"To start planning for-" Caspian advised.
The two teenage boys locked eyes, waiting to see who would back down first. Eventually, Caspian nodded in submission and Peter pushed ahead.
"Our only hope is to strike them before they strike us," the blonde king proposed.
"That's crazy! No one has ever taken that castle!" the Telmarine prince argued.
Dyani stood beside the Stone Table, trying to focus on the matter at hand, but it was rather hard with Ivan taunting her from across the room. The fire fae steamed as the ice fae would flash her that infuriating smirk before winking and blatantly flitting his wings. The only thing that brought her attention back to the meeting was the sound of a raised voice.
"But we have the advantage here!" Caspian insisted.
"If we dig in, we could probably hold them off indefinitely," Susan reasoned as she stepped up to stand at Caspian's side.
Peter's glare shifted from Caspian to Susan, cloaking the entire room in silence.
"I, for one, feel safer underground," Trufflehunter spoke up.
However, Peter carried on. He turned directly toward Caspian. "Look, I appreciate what you've done here, but this isn't a fortress. It's a tomb."
"Yes," Edmund joined in. "And if they're smart, the Telmarines will just wait and starve us out."
"We could collect nuts!" a talking squirrel offered enthusiastically.
"Yes! And throw them at the Telmarines!" Reepicheep pretended to agree before switching to a serious expression. "Shut up!"
Dyani couldn't help but chuckle at her rat teacher. He would give them the same double-attitude treatment when she or Orion made an impractical proposition...at that age, it was usually Dyani.
"I think you know where I stand, sire," Reepicheep proceeded, this time in a much more respectful tone because it was directed toward his king.
Peter sighed as his eyes roamed over the troops gathered in the room, stopping when they reached Glenstorm, the leader of the centaurs. "If I get your troops in, can you handle the guards?"
Glenstorm's eyes flickered toward Caspian, as if he was trying to decide which king to obey, but eventually he settled on Peter. "Or die trying, my liege," the centaur promised with a solemn nod.
"That's what I'm worried about," Lucy chimed in from her seat on the Stone Table.
"Sorry?" Peter replied as he squinted at his baby sister, like he had suddenly remembered she was in the room.
"You're all acting like there's only two options: dying here...or dying there."
"I'm not sure you've really been listening, Lu-" Peter began to patronize.
"No you're not listening!" Lucy cut in. "Or have you forgotten who really defeated the White Witch, Peter?"
Peter's face hardened into stone. "I think we've waited for Aslan long enough."
And with that, the High King of Narnia turned his back on the Great Lion - both literally and metaphorically - and stormed out of the sacred room.
...
That night, once the sun set behind the trees and the night sky shrouded the land in darkness, Peter's plan was put into play. Edmund and Orion suited up and waited for their ride to Miraz's castle. Meanwhile, Dyani was inspecting her little brother's armor to minimize the number of vulnerable spots.
"Ani?" Orion said in an even quieter voice than normal.
"Yes, Ri?"
Orion gulped as he looked at Edmund standing only two meters away. The last thing he needed was for the Just King to think of Orion as an even bigger mess-up than he already was.
"An féidir leat a chur ar mo áit?" Orion murmured.
Dyani was taken aback at her brother's request. "Cén fáth go mbeadh tú ag iarraidh a leithéid de rud?"
"Tá tú an ridire níos fearr. Thairis sin, tar éis an méid a tharla níos luaithe, ní féidir liom dul a bheith iontaofa den sórt sin post tábhachtach."
Dyani sighed and placed her hands on the shoulders of the only family she had left. "Orion, chosain tú an onóir do dheirfiúr agus do theaghlach ar fad. Chonaic tú agus iarracht a ghabháil ina shaighdiúir namhaid. Tá tú níos mó ná fiú do theideal mar ridire...agus ba mhaith liom a muinín agat le mo shaol."
Orion's eyes watered and he threw his arms around his sister, who kissed his forehead and gently stroked his hair, just like their mother had done when they were little. Suddenly, a griffin appeared overhead and slowly descended until it landed on the roof of the temple.
"Ready, Orion?" Edmund asked softly.
Orion looked up at his sister.
"Time for you to ride on your namesake," Dyani said with a smile.
Orion couldn't help but grin at Dyani as he stepped away to join Edmund.
"We'll see you soon," Edmund added.
Dyani nodded, and before she knew it, the griffin wrapped its talons around both Edmund and Orion and took off into the starless sky. The fire fae sighed, silently praying that she was doing the right thing. 'Mother, Father, if you can hear me, please guard over Orion tonight. He is the only family I have left. And Aslan, somewhere deep in my heart I know you are real, so I am begging you, with every ounce of my being, to keep Edmund out of harm's way. He has shown me so much kindness in our short time together and I would never be able to live with myself if his generosity was repaid with the cold steel of a Telmarine's blade.'
"Typical Edmund! Always taking the easy jobs and leaving the real work to the big boys!" Peter commented from the door. "Anyway, come on Dyani. You need to get suited up. I wouldn't want anything to damage that pretty little face of yours."
Dyani swallowed the bile that crept up her throat and shuffled back toward the entrance back into the fort. "As you wish, Your Highness."
Suddenly, the blonde boy grabbed Dyani by her upper left arm, causing her to hiss in pain. "My wish involves something a little different," Peter whispered into her ear.
"Now is neither the time nor the place, my king. In case you have not noticed, we have an ambush - one planned by you - to attend to."
The young knight's logic seemed to satisfy the oldest Pevensie, causing him to slacken his grip. Dyani nodded her head tersely before quickly descending into the fort, nearly knocking over both Susan and Caspian.
"What was that about?" Caspian asked as he gestured toward Dyani.
"She's just playing hard to get," Peter responded casually.
"Or maybe she just doesn't want you to 'get' her," Susan proposed, putting air quotes around the 'get'.
Peter seemed to consider the idea for a moment. "Nah!" he dismissed with a wave of his hand.
Meanwhile, down in an abandoned corner of the armory Dyani had to bite the inside of her cheek to stop herself from squealing as she pulled on her armor. 'This is ridiculous!' Dyani thought in frustration as she removed her left shoulder guard and began to pull down on her blouse. The bear attack was a couple days ago. There was no reason that her arm should still be...infected?!
"Cac!" Dyani cursed under her breath once she saw her left bicep. The five slashes the bear's claws had left in her arm were red and inflamed - but not in the good way (AN fire fae...red and inflamed...get it?).
"Oi! Dyani, you comin'?" a gruff voice called out.
Dyani squeaked in surprised as she clapped her hand over her wound - in retrospect, a foolish move on her part - and spun around to face a certain blonde dwarf.
"Well, you comin' or not?!" Trumpkin asked irritably.
"I will meet you up there momentarily," Dyani replied with a forced grin.
Trumpkin raised an eyebrow suspiciously, but he continued upstairs nonetheless.
As soon as the dwarf was gone, Dyani let out a long, breathy "Ow!" Perhaps slapping an infected wound was not the best idea. But she was determined to grin and bear it, just as her father had always taught her, just as her older brothers had always taught her, just as Reepicheep had always taught her, and just as Dyani had always done. And so, the redheaded fae dressed her wound, put on her armor, and joined the others for a night that Miraz would never forget.
...
The griffin silently soared through the night sky before stealthily landing on one of the towers of the Telmarine castle. The guard glanced up but, seeing nothing, returned to watching for invaders...not knowing he was about to be snatched by one The griffin released Orion and Edmund before wrapping his talons around the guard and shooting up into the air.
The two boys dropped to the floor and Edmund immediately moved toward the edge of the tower. He glanced down, the castle courtyard hundreds of feet below, but he swallowed his fear and pulled out his electric torch. Edmund clicked his flashlight on and off in the exact sequence Susan had taught him. The Narnians on the ground noticed the signal and began to move in...including Reepicheep and his mice brethren, who snuck into the courtyard from underneath the cobblestones.
Meanwhile, five more griffins flew in carrying Susan, Peter, Caspian, Trumpkin, and Dyani. Caspian whipped out his blade and, dangling from one of his griffin's talons, knocked the guard off one of the towers. Edmund took that as his cue to wave his flashlight back and forth, which unfortunately caught the attention of two of the guards below. They aimed their crossbows up at the tower, but neither of the griffin-riding-girls would let Edmund get taken down by a bolt to the neck. Susan took aim and shot down one of the guards with her arrow while Dyani knocked the other one unconscious with a single throw of her gold chakram. The griffins landed on the platform just long enough to drop off their passengers before taking off into the sky once more. Peter slashed down the last of the nearby guards with his sword, allowing the five of them to check their surroundings for any more attackers.
(AN I'm not going to describe everybody's role in the ambush because that would require rewriting a whole scene out of the movie and as good as that whole scene may be, that's just too tedious, so I'm pretty much just going to focus on the role of the Pevensie's, Caspian, Dyani, and Orion.)
Orion and Edmund kept watch from the lookout tower while everyone else carried out their parts. Caspian was the first to scale down the wall, followed by Peter, Susan, Trumpkin, and Dyani.
"Professor?" Caspian hissed as he quietly knocked on a dark window. When he heard no reply, the former Telmarine prince picked the locked with his knife and proceeded inside.
Once Dyani, being the last one to climb down, gathered the rope and made it inside, she closed the window and joined the others.
"I have to find him," Caspian stated as he cradled a pair of spectacles.
"You don't have time," Peter insisted in hushed tones.
"You need to get the gate open," Susan reminded the dark-skinned boy.
"You wouldn't even be here without him!" Caspian argued. "And neither would I."
Peter sighed and glanced up at his companions with a conflicted look in his eyes.
"You and I can deal with Miraz," Susan admitted.
"And I can still get to the gate in time," Caspian added.
Peter nodded in submission. "Dyani, I need you to-"
But the redheaded fae would hear none of it. "If you think I am going to stand guard and let someone else take care of the man who wiped out my people and has haunted my nightmares for five years, you are sadly mistaken. If anyone is going to kill that bastaird tonight, it will be me."
Seeing there was no negotiating with Dyani, Peter surrendered. Caspian raced to the dungeons to find Professor Cornelius while Trumpkin headed out to meet up with Reepicheep and the other mice.
...
Several minutes later, Dyani, Peter, and Susan poked their heads out from behind a column turning into the corridor leading up to Miraz's bedchambers.
"Now, Dyani, remember that we're only here to lock Miraz in the dungeons, not to roast him like a human campfire," Susan whispered in a patronizing voice.
"I promise I will not burn a single hair on his head," Dyani swore with a hand over her heart.
"Good," Susan sighed in relief.
"At least not until after we have him locked in a cell," Dyani added with a smirk before she crept to the next corner.
Susan groaned in exasperation.
Peter, on the other hand, seemed anything but displeased with the fire fae's plan. "This probably isn't the time...but man that's hot!" he said in a husky voice as he moved to follow Dyani.
Susan face-palmed at Peter's hormonal distraction.
Dyani snuck down the hallway, but stopped when she saw the two dead guards laying at the door to Miraz's room. She looked back to the two older Pevensie's and jerked her head toward the bodies.
"Uh oh," Peter muttered under his breath.
Dyani pressed her ear to the door and heard several muffled voices, one of them sounding just like Caspian's...and then the definitive click of a crossbow.
"Put the sword down, Caspian," a woman, probably Miraz's wife, ordered softly.
Dyani glanced back at Peter, who pulled out his sword and gave her a nod of approval. Susan notched her arrow while the fire fae got to her knees and shot flames at the door's handle.
"I don't want to do this," the woman inside continued.
The redheaded knight stepped back, now that the doorknob and its lock had been melted, and kicked the door open.
"We don't want you to either!" Susan cut in as she, Peter, and Dyani strode into the chambers to find Caspian holding his sword to Miraz's neck while Prunaprismia aimed the crossbow at Caspian from her position on the bed.
Miraz huffed in exasperation as he put his hands on his hips. "This used to be a private room."
"What are you doing?!" Peter exclaimed, his question pointed at Caspian but his sword pointed at Prunaprismia. "You're supposed to be in the gatehouse."
Dyani lifted up the visor on her helmet, her glare unwavering as she stared down the leader of the Telmarines.
"My, my, my," Miraz breathed out as he recognized the young fae. "Look who's all grown up and following in her general's footsteps, foolishly stumbling into a battle she knows she cannot win."
Dyani's breathing quickened and it took every ounce of resolve to keep her sword hand from trembling.
"Oh wait, that general was your father, wasn't he?" Miraz continued in a pretend-oblivious voice.
The tears welling up in Dyani's eyes were answer enough.
"Ah yes, I should have known. Brennain was the only one with a glare like that...only his was partially blocked by an eyepatch. Nonetheless, it still struck fear into the hearts of many soldiers, but not me."
"Because you were the one who sat atop your horse, laughing as your fiery cannonballs destroyed the only fae village in Narnia and your men slaughtered the surviving members of my family!" Dyani choked out.
However, Prunaprismia had not heard that version of history. "Miraz?" the tyrant's wife spoke up as her grip on the crossbow weakened. "What is she talking about? I thought the fae were extinct."
"That was the plan," Miraz whined, "but clearly it looks like I missed one."
"You wiped out an entire people?" Prunaprismia murmured in disbelief.
"Fae were not people!" Miraz spat out. "They plagued our land and threatened our safety! They were beasts...greedy, bloodthirsty, savage beasts! And I would gladly kill them again if I had to!"
Dyani's vision suddenly went red with fury. She growled like an animal as she flung her sword to the side and summoned her fire. Her golden eyes were glowing so brightly that the flames went beyond her hands and crept all the way up to her elbows. Forgetting her promise to Susan, Dyani stormed over toward the bearded man. "I am going to burn you like a piece of kindling, you son of a-"
"No!" Caspian cried out as he held an arm to block Dyani.
Peter took the opportunity to grab the enraged knight by the shoulder and pull her away from Caspian, Miraz, and anything flammable.
"Tonight, for once, I want the truth!" Caspian re-gripped his blade and forced Miraz up against the window. "Did you kill my father?!"
After a moment of hesitation, Miraz nodded in confirmation. "Now we get to it."
"You said your brother died in his sleep," Prunaprismia challenged, keeping the crossbow locked on Caspian.
"That was...more or less true," Miraz admitted.
Susan kept her arrow aimed at Prunaprismia, but she moved her eyes toward the Telmarine prince. "Caspian, this won't make things any better."
"We Telmarines would have nothing had we not taken it," Miraz pointed out. "Your father knew that as well as anyone."
"And when you killed him, you killed the only peace that Narnians had known in over a thousand years!" Dyani spat out.
"How could you?" Prunaprismia questioned in disbelief as she lowered her weapon, disdain for her husband dripping from every word in that sentence.
"For the same reason you will pull the trigger," Miraz replied in an authoritative tone. "For our son!"
Maternal instinct kicked in and Prunaprismia immediately snapped the crossbow back into place. "Stop!" she cried as Miraz winced from Caspian's blade penetrating the surface of his neck.
"Stay right there!" Susan ordered, shifting her aim from Prunaprismia to Miraz.
"You need to make a choice, dear," Miraz said to his wife as blood trickled down his neck. He began to walk forward, pushing Caspian back. "Do you want our child to be king...or do you want him to be like Caspian and our little fae friend here? Fatherless!"
"NO!" Prunsaprismia screamed.
"Caspian!" Peter called out, but it was too late.
Prunaprismia pulled the trigger and shot a bolt straight into Caspian's left arm, forcing him to cry out in pain as he dropped his blade away from Miraz's throat. Miraz ran out the side door, just barely escaping one of Susan's arrows, as his wife lay sprawled on the bed, still screaming for her family. That screech echoed throughout the castle, even startling Edmund all the way up at the lookout tower and causing him to drop his flashlight.
Edmund leaned over the edge of the wall and flinched at the loud clatter made by the metal torch clanking on the cobblestones. "Orion! Do something!"
"Like what?!" the brunette fae challenged.
"Ay! What was that noise?!" a guard from inside the tower called out.
"I don't care, just do it fast!" Edmund hissed.
Orion rapidly paced around the tower for a few seconds before he came up with a plan. "I have an idea!" He rushed over to the edge of the tower and pointed his hands down at the ground. His green eyes shone brightly as a few dead vines tangled on the tower came back to life and grew at an impossible rate toward the flashlight sitting on the platform below.
Edmund descended down the stairs of the tower until he reached the middle window. All he had to do was wait until the vines wrapped around the metal torch and then he could pull them up and grab it...and the plan almost actually worked. Orion did manage to twist the vines around the flashlight, and Edmund did manage to pull the vines up toward the window, but unfortunately a guard came out of the tower and saw a strange metal object dangling from vines just a meter above his head.
Edmund ducked away from the window as the guard wrestled with the vine for a few moments before managing to rip the flashlight out of its hold. The guard inspected the odd find, pointing the side with the lightbulb straight at his face just as he discovered the switch. The metal torch shone directly in the guard's eyes, blinding him for a second as he waved the flashlight back and forth across the sky. Unfortunately, the light allowed the guard to see the source of the strange vines: a foreign boy hanging over the edge of the lookout tower.
"Narnian!" the guard hollered. At the same time, the alarm bell began to toll across the castle.
Edmund knew he had to get that flashlight back to signal for reinforcements, so it looked like there was only one thing left to do.
"Nar-" The guard's call for backup was interrupted by a fifteen-year-old boy diving out of a window and tackling the guard to the ground.
...
The four teenagers who had invaded Miraz's bedroom were now sprinting through the corridors to escape the awakened soldiers. Suddenly, Peter veered off in a different direction.
"Peter?!" Susan called out to her impulsive older brother
"Our troops are just outside! Come on!" Peter yelled back.
The other three glanced at each other unsurely, but Peter was the High King so they did as he said.
Peter tore across the courtyard, whipping his blade out of its sheath. "Now, Ed, now! Signal the troops!"
Dyani glanced up to see Edmund literally being forced to the edge of the tower by one of the guards.
"I'm a bit busy, Pete!" the dark-haired Pevensie panted as he tried to push the guard's sword away from his neck.
"Edmund!" Dyani cried out with a gasp. She unsheathed her blade and started to run toward the tower, but she was stopped.
"Dyani, no!" Peter ordered. "I need you down here! Ed'll be fine!"
The redhead looked back up at the tower just in time to see Edmund knock the guard unconscious with his metal torch, which unfortunately damaged the flashlight. Meanwhile, the blonde king raced toward the controls for the castle gate.
"Peter, it's too late!" Susan insisted. "We have to call it off while we can!"
But Peter refused to listen to reason. "No! I can still do this! Help me!"
Susan, Caspian, and Dyani nervously looked back to see troops flooding into the courtyard.
Suddenly, Dyani knew just what to do. "I will hold them off! You two go help King Peter!"
But the two seventeen-year-olds remained unmoving, not convinced that a single teenage fae - and a wingless one at that - expected to distract dozens of soldiers on her own.
"Trust me!" Dyani snapped. "And no matter what happens, just keep pushing that wheel until the bridge is down and the gates are open!"
Susan and Caspian shared a look before giving in and joining Peter to turn the wheel.
Dyani slowly spun around, her gold eyes smoldering dangerously, and faced her demons. "This is for the fae... Thar ceann mhaithe leis na daoine a bhfuil cónaí orthu i bhfianaise, anois beidh na fir ina gcónaí i ndomhan chomh dorcha mar an oíche!" And with a single jerk of Dyani's hands, every torch in the courtyard snuffed out.
"An féidir leat a chur ar mo áit?": "Can you take my place?"
"Cén fáth go mbeadh tú ag iarraidh a leithéid de rud?": "Why would you ask such a thing?"
"Tá tú an ridire níos fearr. Thairis sin, tar éis an méid a tharla níos luaithe, ní féidir liom dul a bheith iontaofa den sórt sin post tábhachtach": "You are the better knight. Besides, after what happened earlier, I do not deserve to be trusted with such an important job"
"Orion, chosain tú an onóir do dheirfiúr agus do theaghlach ar fad. Chonaic tú agus iarracht a ghabháil ina shaighdiúir namhaid. Tá tú níos mó ná fiú do theideal mar ridire...agus ba mhaith liom a muinín agat le mo shaol": "Orion, you defended the honor of your sister and your entire family. You spotted and attempted to capture an enemy soldier. You are more than worthy of your title as a knight...and I would trust you with my life"
"Thar ceann mhaithe leis na daoine a bhfuil cónaí orthu i bhfianaise, anois beidh na fir ina gcónaí i ndomhan chomh dorcha mar an oíche!" : "For the good of the people who live in the light, now these men will live in a world as dark as the night!"
Okay so I wrote that opening for the chapter within two weeks of getting back from spring break...and now I'm on summer break...which is still after spring break so I didn't break my promise about an update. And as of now, I have the best news EVER! Even though I got an 82.5 on my final chem exam, I finished up the semester with an A-! HALLE-FREAKING-LUJAH! Plus, I got back my other grades and I averaged an A- in all my other classes for the semester! Wahoo!
On an actual story-related note, I'd like to apologize to everybody who was hoping I would cover the whole ambush in this chapter, including me, because I really did expect to do that, but it's just such a long battle and I have yet to figure out exactly how much the battle will change now that Dyani and Orion are in it. But hey, I reached so many potential stopping points in this chapter, but then I'd remember how long it had been since I last updated and I figured you guys deserved an extra long chapter for waiting so long. And please remember that Peter is 18 in this version, which is why he acts like a chauvinistic horny idiot around Dyani (it's an extension of his superiority complex from the movie). Also remember to leave reviews and keep an eye out for the next chapter because it's going to include the battle for Miraz's castle, the quarrel between Caspian and Peter, and perhaps the biggest moment in the Edmund/Dyani/Peter love triangle in this whole story!