The Telmarine guards surrounded the two siblings with drawn swords and spears. Edmund covered Susan's body with his. "Please! She's hurt," he begged.
"Step away from her or we'll kill the both of you," a knight hissed. Edmund slowly removed himself from her, placing his hands on his head. Two soldiers patted him down roughly, removing his sword. The entire time, Edmund kept his eyes on his sister, praying for some sign of life from her.
As the soldiers began tying up Edmund, he thought he saw maybe a small twitch of life from Susan, but he couldn't tell if that might just be his hoping to see something.
"Where did my wayward nephew go?" Miraz growled.
"He ditched her as soon as it looked like we'd get caught," Edmund lied with a growl, hoping that Caspian may have managed to get help. He resisted looking up where he had last seen the Eagles, wondering if they had seen them yet. None of the soldiers had been looking up, so if the Eagles were in fact coming, they would be undetected and better aimed to fly in. But he instead kept his eyes on Susan as they shoved him about.
Miraz barked out a laugh. "My nephew showing his true cowardly colors," he sneered. "Although he's been quite helpful in delivering you into my hands."
"Our troops will come for us," Edmund defended weakly. He stared despondently at Susan. He hadn't even seen signs of her breathing for quite some time.
"Oh, I hope they do," Miraz mocked. "We will demolish them. And the random will ruin Narnia for once and for all."
"They'd never give you a single farthing," Edmund bluffed, knowing that there probably wasn't any price that Peter wouldn't pay for them.
"Not for the High King's precious brother?" Miraz mocked. He then leaned down to stroke Susan's hair patronizingly, saying, "Or the famed beauty, the dear gentle – "
But at those very words, Susan suddenly stabbed him, straight into the heart. For a moment, no one, not even Edmund knew how to react. Even with his eyes on her, he had barely noticed any breathing.
Susan threw Miraz off of her roughly, stabbing him a second time just for good measure. She was relieved they hadn't thought to disarm her. She had managed to stir back into consciousness quite some time ago, but knew she wasn't strong enough to be much use. So she simply waited her time,
"Oh, and me being hurt isn't the only thing we have lied about. Caspian? He's returning with troops any moment. So I'd recommend you make yourself scarce," Susan threatened. The blood dripping down her body made her stating she wasn't hurt suspicious, but Edmund couldn't help thinking it also made her all the more terrifying. If she wasn't his sister, he'd be terrified of her.
The guards themselves seemed unsure. But that's all Susan needed. She had just barely peeked her eyes open to see that some Eagles had spotted them a little while ago. She knew all she needed now was to stall until Caspian came. With Miraz gone, Prince Caspian was their leader, their Crown Prince. If they were indecisive now, it wouldn't be hard to sway them.
"Surrender now, and you can have your lives and you have our royal guarantee that Prince Caspian will allow you to continue your employment to the Telmarine crown," Edmund bluffed, picking up quickly that Susan was bluffing. Worse, he could see she was straining. He wasn't sure how long she'd last, but he couldn't imagine it would be long.
The Telmarines seemed to be all looking to each other, unsure how to act. Finally, a general jumped off of his horse and walked up to them.
"How do we know you're not lying?" he questioned harshly.
"You want to risk your life on that?" Susan spat, hoping he wouldn't notice the tremor in her voice.
"General Glozelle!" one of the soldiers yelled up to him. "Just kill them now. We can say it was Miraz's orders!"
To Edmund's and Susan's horror, there seemed to be some yells of support to that.
Susan's breath caught. She wasn't sure if in horror, or simply that she wasn't sure if she could stand for even a moment more. And from a look of realization in General Glozelle's eyes, she realized he had noticed as well. She flinched away as he stepped towards her.
"Prince Caspian is our Crown Prince. If he does in fact return now, we will follow his command," Glozelle declared, much to Edmund's and Susan's relief. Susan couldn't hold herself together anymore and swayed, falling to the ground.
Edmund watched horrified as Susan passed out. Caspian could return any moment now, but there wasn't much he could do to protect her right now, particularly as Glozelle hovered above her. All the same, he ran to his sister.
He stopped just shy when he realized Glozelle was simply checking for a pulse. He was even more stunned when the general helped bind a bandage over Susan's wound.
"She needs to see a medic straightaway," Glozelle announced as Edmund stared on in confusion, worried about such a statement about their compromised situation, but the soldiers seemed even more confused on how to act.
Edmund leaned down to his sister and whispered fervently, "Thank you."
"E-Ed," Susan managed.
"Shh," Edmund said, keeping an eye out for anyone who might be creeping up on them.
Suddenly, he heard shouts from the soldiers. He looked around frantically, but was relieved when it turned out to be Caspian gallantly leading the Narnian forces. But before he could shout out to them that everything was alright, Caspian shouted a battle cry and the Narnian troops descended on the Telmarine soldiers.
While the Telmarine troops were hesitant before, being attacked stirred them up and they quickly responded to the Narnians, spiraling into an all-out brawl.
"Susan," Edmund breathed, worried his sister would get further hurt in the middle of the fight. He whistled loudly to the Eagles and Griffins, gesturing them for them to fly down to pick up Susan.
"Sire!" the first Griffin who made it to them squawked in alarm.
"Get her out of here! She's seriously hurt!" he shouted, sword out and ready to defend. The Telmarine soldiers seemed more interested in facing the Narnian troops thankfully, but it wouldn't take long for one of them to turn to them.
"She'll fall off if you don't help her," the Griffin insisted.
"I – I – " Edmund began, looking around at his troops, desperate to help Susan, but also terrified for them.
"Without a commander or Miraz, it won't take them long to surrender," Glozelle said, realizing Edmund's hesitation.
"You're a commander," Edmund challenged.
"I taught Caspian since he was a little boy," Glozelle answered. "And her too when Caspian insisted having his dear friend there."
While Edmund would normally want to cross-examine him to see if that was true or not, he knew Susan needed him, so he hoped that Glozelle truthfully meant what Edmund believed him to mean. He gingerly picked up Susan, Glozelle defending them from any other Telmarines attacking. He lifted her onto the Griffen who helped by kneeling as much as she could and extending a wing. He knew it must hurt the Griffin, but was grateful for the help. They took off the moment Edmund was sure Susan wouldn't fall off, flying back to their ship. There wouldn't be many there, but he could at least find some sort of help.
Back in the middle of the skirmish, Caspian could see his side was losing. As determined as the Narnians were, the numbers were simply not on their side. He stabbed the soldier in front of him, narrowly missing being struck by another soldier's sword. He had never been in such a dangerous brawl before. Or at least, not in the heart. Until Miraz had his own heir, Caspian was kept safe as Crown Prince. Now he realized just how bloody the heart of war was and felt sickened to the core.
He screamed out as a sword tip pierced his side, not having looked where another soldier was advancing on him. To his dismay, he suddenly realized he had no nearby allies, and three Telmarines surrounding him. Having never even been in so much as a fair fight as everyone treated the Crown Prince differently, he was terrified of being outnumbered. But there was no other choice. There was a chance he could make a run for it. But he couldn't betray Narnia. Not again. Susan and Edmund would never forgive him if he turned coward again. He was going to fight. Even if it could very well kill him, as it looked like it would.