Sorry about the long wait. I got sidetracked with life and work and things like that. Please review! Chapter Seven: Betrayal
The first rays of the dawn were glimmering in the eastern sky as the exhausted and bedraggled survivors of the castle raid trickled across the field toward the How. Susan and Arrani were walking side by side a few paces behind Edmund, Peter and Caspian, drawing strength from each other the way only two young women can. They saw Lucy run out of How to meet them, her gentle face bright with worry. Her eyes seemed to take in their severely depleted numbers and disheartened features in an instant.
"What happened?" she asked Peter as he approached her.
"Ask him," he replied stonily, tossing his head at Caspian.
The dark-haired Telmarine pulled up short. "Me? I was the one who said we should call off the attack."
Arrani touched Susan's arm warningly and the younger girl looked up, ready to intervene if things got nasty, which seemed more than likely.
Peter scoffed. "Well if you'd been at your post instead of trying to play vigilante, we could have gotten our forces in sooner!"
Caspian's eyes flashed dangerously. "I'm not the one who waited until the last possible second to call off the attack," he said coldly.
Infuriated now, Peter stomped up nose-to-nose with Caspian. "If I remember correctly, you called us for help!"
The Telmarine prince didn't flinch. "My first mistake."
"No," Peter retorted nastily, "Your first was thinking that you could actually lead these people."
Faster than a snake, Caspian had his sword out of its sheath and resting against Peter's throat, but the High King was only a fraction of a heartbeat behind him and before Arrani, Susan or Edmund knew what was happening, his sword was resting identically against Caspian's.
"Wait!" Susan snapped, jumping forward to intervene. She stepped in front of Peter, blocking his view of Caspian while Arrani took a few steps forward and put a hand on the flat of Caspian's blade, pushing it down and away from Peter. When it appeared that Caspian might step aside and raise his sword again, she put her other hand on his arm, hoping it would be enough to restrain him while they attempted to cool both tempers to a manageable level.
"Peter," Lucy said, putting a hand on her oldest brother's wrist, "this isn't the answer."
Several tense seconds passed before Peter re-sheathed his sword. "Fine," he said with a sneer in Caspian's direction.
The other young man curled his lip in disgust as he shrugged away from Arrani's hand and moved toward the How, Nikabrik at his side. The little Black Dwarf wore a look of deep satisfaction that sent shivers crawling up Arrani's spine. He smirked once more at the Pevensies before following Caspian inside.
She watched them go for a moment before a small commotion diverted her attention back to those still behind her. Turning, she saw several Narnians parting to make way for a stretcher bearing a battered and unconscious Trumpkin. Instantly the Pevensies rushed to his side. Arrani followed close behind, unsure if she could handle any more death this day, especially of another who had become her friend. The Red Dwarf was normally gruff, blunt, and more than a little grouchy, but he had coached her through her first real battle and, in those brief minutes on the ramparts, he had become her friend. She knelt down beside him and clasped one of his hands.
"Lu, your potion," Susan whispered.
Arrani watched with fascination as Lucy withdrew a diamond vial containing bright red liquid from a small pouch at her side and carefully allowed one single drop to fall into Trumpkin's mouth. To her disbelief, the Dwarf suddenly took a shuddering breath and opened his eyes. He looked slightly puzzled as he took in the faces gathered around him, but he smiled slightly as his eyes came to rest on Arrani. "You got out, did you?" he rasped, "Probably just got lucky."
She allowed herself a small laugh, understanding his meaning. Lucy smiled warmly. "Oh, D.L.F." she murmured fondly.
He looked sharply at her. "I though we agreed on not patronizing me," he grumbled, but Arrani thought he looked pleased.
Edmund and Susan also expressed their relief that he was alright and he took each sentiment with good humor. Only Peter still seemed distracted, his eyes flicking anxiously between them and the door to the How. "Something's wrong," he said suddenly, causing the skin at the back of Arrani's neck to prickle.
A kind of sinister aura seemed to be emanating from the How's entrance and many of the Talking Beasts lingering nearby seemed to be more nervous than usual. Peter rose and drew his sword and began walking toward the How. Edmund followed suit while the girls helped Trumpkin to his feet and followed a few paces behind, their hands resting warily on bows or dagger-hilts.
"Where did Caspian go?" Peter asked the first Narnian they met inside the How.
"I don't know," the Faun replied with faint agitation, "he and the Black Dwarf looked like they were in council about something; they probably went to the Stone Table."
The Faun had barely finished his sentence when Edmund and Peter broke into a sprint, tearing along the corridors toward the hall that housed the Stone Table. Arrani, Lucy, Susan and Trumpkin followed apprehensively, feeling a mounting sense of foreboding the closer they got to the Table. Arrani didn't need to glance down at her hands to know that she was more terrified now than she had ever been during the battle.
The final stretch of hallway leading up to the Table was humming with dark energy – the blackest of magics. It was exactly the kind of magic that had buzzed in her ears the night the Three Sleepers had taken up the Stone Knife to fight each other and fallen into a deep, deathlike slumber.
The scene that spread out before them in the flickering firelight was enough to make Arrani stop short. Nikabrik was rolling around in a kind of catfight with a Badger she knew was named Trufflehunter, while a cloaked and curiously hunched figure stalked threateningly toward Edmund, drawing in deep, rattling breaths that make her blood run cold. Caspian was lying spread-eagled on the floor, pinned down by the long scythe-like blade of a wizened and shriveled but nonetheless nasty-looking old woman. By far the most frightening thing in the room, however, was the one which Peter stood facing: between the two tall pillars that flanked the Stone Table, a sheet of blue-white ice had formed. Suspended in the ice, with one deathly white hand extending beseechingly toward Peter, was the White Witch. Even Arrani knew enough of the old stories to recognize her immediately.
"Peter, dear," the Witch was saying over the muffled groans and hisses and snarls of the others, "Just one drop of your blood and I will be your faithful servant forever. Just. One. Tiny. Drop." Her eyes flicked coldly toward Caspian. No doubt she had made him the same offer. Arrani found herself feeling pleased that he had refused to give in, despite the motivations he surely had.
Whether Peter really was tempted, or whether the Witch's words had cast some spell over him, the High King began to lower his sword. Slowly his other hand reached towards the Witch.
"Peter, no!" Lucy cried, dashing forward before either Arrani or Susan could catch her and pull her back out of harm's way.
The Witch flinched as the pure-hearted young girl raced forward, but Nikabrik subdued Trufflehunter and pounced on Lucy before she could even reach the Table.
"Lucy!" Susan screamed as the youngest Queen scrambled to draw her little dagger and fend off Nikabrik. She fitted an arrow to her bow and tried to look for a clear shot, but there were none. Arrani dashed forward, plowing bodily into the little Black Dwarf and falling into an end-over-end tumble with him. She tried not to cry out as Nikabrik's fists – and the stone floor – encountered the various scrapes and bruises she'd amassed in Miraz's castle. When she finally came to a stop, she could see that Lucy had gotten to her feet, but before she could register anything else, a small strong hand clamped down on her throat and she looked back into the glowering face of Nikabrik, feeling his blade resting against her throat.
"I knew you were trouble," he hissed, his rank breath filling her nose and making her choke.
Afraid to move because of the knife, she settled for trying to ply his hand from her throat and glaring scornfully back at him. "Likewise," she sneered. This wasn't strictly true, but the sentiment seemed appropriate, and she had long since carried a grudge for the mean little Dwarf after his harsh treatment of her that first day.
Just as he pulled back to strike, several things happened at once. There was a loud, echoing shriek, accompanied by the sharp crack of shattering ice. Susan and Lucy let out a combined shout that culminated in the unearthly shriek of something brittle and disgusting crashing onto the floor, and Edmund's voice echoed coldly in the room: "I know, you had it sorted," while at the same time, a brownish blur bowled Nikabrik's weight off of Arrani's stomach, followed by the flash of steel and sharp, cut-off cry from the Dwarf.
The cacophony of noises that had prevailed only minutes before suddenly fell silent, leaving Peter standing weakly in front of the remains of the Witch's ice-wall; Edmund turning away from the shattered ice with a stony expression; Susan and Lucy leaning on each other in relief over the crumpled body of the old woman; Trumpkin and Trufflehunter dusting themselves off, and Caspian standing over Arrani, his unsheathed sword in his right hand, blood from his palm trickling down the hilt.
His expression was inscrutable as he reached down and pulled Arrani to her feet. "That's twice today."
She nodded grimly but gratefully. "Thank you," she said, knowing the words were painfully insufficient to cover the extent of his actions on her behalf. Gingerly feeling the now-expanded bruise on her hip, she turned to look at Peter, who was staring sadly and reverently up at the etching of the Lion behind the pillars. Very slowly, his gaze moved from the Lion to the spot just over her shoulder where Caspian was standing. The expressions of both young men were identically sober and resigned. They nodded to each other and Arrani sensed that some form of truce had been reached, because Caspian's expression softened, and he turned away without any sign of malice, walking out of the room without another word.
Again, sorry about the long wait! I hope I haven't lost you guys on this! I was wondering how Arrani would even recognize dark magic for quite a while, then it occurred to me: she would have been there when the Three Sleepers fell asleep and since Lucy recognizes the knife in VotDT as the White Witch's, it seemed logical to me that they would feel the same.
Again to the people who have me on their favorites list and haven't reviewed, PLEASE REVIEW!
Thanks! Elena
