~Returning Home~

Chapter Eight – Into the Fray Part I

Peter drew his sword from its sheath, eliciting thunderous roars of cheers from the Narnians. Not to be outdone, Miraz also put on his grotesque looking helmet, and forcefully took his shield from Sopespian. He then unsheathed his own weapon, and faced his younger opponent. All was silent as both Peter and Miraz slowly walked forward to face each other. They moved in slow circles, seizing each other up and waiting for any chance to strike.

"You still have time to surrender," Miraz sneered. Peter didn't rise to the bait.

"Well, feel free," he replied.

"How many more must die for my throne?" Miraz asked as he tensed his sword arm.

"Just one." Peter slammed down his helmet and got into a ready stance.

Miraz jumped up on one of the fallen pillars of the arch. He ran up its length until coming to the edge and jumping off, slamming his sword into Peter's. Narnians and Telmarines alike roared with yelling and cheering as Peter blocked the attack from above with his sword and shield. The battle had begun.


Susan gripped the reigns tightly, and maneuvered the horse through the dense forest. She tensed as they leapt over a log, landing with a thud. 'Where could He be?' she thought.

"Su! I saw something, over there!" Lucy said. She pointed to a small break in the woods.

"What did you see?" Susan asked, bringing the horse to a halt.

"It was only a glimpse really. But I could have sworn it was something besides the trees," Lucy replied. Susan was skeptical, but her younger sister had been right before. 'Might as well. We don't exactly know where we're going anyway.'

"All right," Susan said with a sigh. She turned them around and headed into the clearing.


"Peter is taking some bloody awful hits," Edmund murmured.

"He's holding his own," said Caspian.

"True." But the Just King couldn't help a wince as Peter was hit in the face with a shield. He reared back a couple steps. Before he could regain his balance, Miraz knocked him to the ground, and stepped on the shield attached to his arm. Peter cried out as searing pain laced through his shoulder. But he managed to roll away, blocking hits from Miraz as he went.

When he reached the other side, however, he was blocked by broken pillars and rocks. He rolled in the opposite direction and swept Miraz's feet from under him. Peter rose to his feet, while the older man desperately tried to get up from the ground. Once he was able to regain his balance, he glared.

"Does his Highness need a respite?" Miraz sneered. Peter was loath to admit it, but yes, he did. Already he was exhausted, sweaty, and his arm, limp at his side, was throbbing in time with the heartbeat he could hear pulsing in his head.

"Five minutes?" Peter suggested. Miraz paused, and glanced at his own sustained injuries. He then returned his gaze to Peter.

"Three," he relented. Both kings walked slowly back to their respective sides. Alexa ran and retrieved Peter's helmet, while Edmund walked closely next to Peter. He somewhat helped his older brother to their side of the field.

"Are you all right?" Alexa asked him softly when she'd returned. Peter nodded, wiping the sweat from his brow.

"I'm fine."

"My uncle is waning. The scratch you gave behind his knee is going to slow him down, but not by much," said Caspian. "You can't give him any mercy."

"Believe me, I don't intend to," Peter replied dryly. He winced as he tried moving his hurt arm.

"Keep smiling," Edmund said quietly. Peter then turned to the Narnians, and raised his good arm to them with a pained smile. They cheered for their king, assured that he would be victorious. Peter slowly sat down, and let Edmund pry the shield carefully from his arm.

Alexa took Peter's sword and shield from him. She clutched them as Edmund probed Peter's shoulder, eliciting jerking movements and painful cringes.

"I think it's dislocated," said Edmund. Peter sighed and turned his gaze to the floor. Miraz was fighting hard; Peter would have to step up his game. Losing was not an option. If he was defeated in battle, it could be the end of the Narnian people.

And it will be the end of me, he thought, and glanced at his silent queen who stood by his side, fingering the hilt of his sword. He then regarded his brother, who was examining his arm with a grimace.

I don't want to lose them, he realized. Never. For all the wrong he had done in his life, if he could be redeemed, he prayed it wouldn't be in death.

"What do you think happens back home…if we die here?" Peter asked. I want to live for them, for my family, for Narnia, and for Aslan.

Edmund chose not to answer and, instead, grasped Peter's arm and shoulder.


Alexa shook her head at him but also said nothing.

Stop worrying, she admonished herself. He knows what he's doing.

Her thoughts were disrupted when Peter turned to his brother.

"You know, Ed…you've always been there, and I never really—AAAH!" Peter cried out as Edmund snapped Peter's shoulder back into place. Alexa winced and, despite herself, combed her fingers soothingly through his sweaty hair. He bit down a gasp as he breathed in and out deeply, and clenched his fist tightly over his thigh.

Edmund patted Peter's arm in sympathy.

"Save it for later," he said, helping Peter stand. Alexa stopped her ministrations to hand Peter his sword, purposefully brushing her fingers with his. When he looked up at her, she couldn't help but notice the conflict in his eyes. He looked as if he wanted to say something, but thought better of it.

"Peter," she started.

"It looks as if Miraz is ready," said Edmund, who offered Peter his helmet. When he shook his head negatively, Edmund put the armor piece on the ground.

At seeing this, Miraz also refused his offered helmet, and strode back into the fighting circle.

"I'm sorry, I have to go," Peter turned back to Alexa. He hesitated only once before touching her cheek briefly with his armor-covered hand, and he turned around.

"I..." she whispered. Her words died off as Peter continued walking away from her. But she looked to her left as she felt a hand grasp her shoulder.

"It's all right," said Edmund. He gave her a small smile and squeezed her shoulder lightly in comfort. "He'll be fine."

Alexa reciprocated the smile, then turned her gaze back to the battle as Peter stepped closer to the waiting Miraz.

The usurper smirked and gave no warning before charging Peter head on in ferocious attack, wasting no time to let Peter get a hit in. After blocking a slash from Miraz's sword, Peter swung at his adversary with his own. The older man ducked, spun around and used his weight and momentum to slam into Peter with his shield, knocking Peter back face first into a pillar and back onto the ground. As Miraz continued forward, Peter was able to trip him from the ground and regain his footing, forgetting his shield on the ground.

Miraz also got back onto his feet and charged Peter, who not only blocked, but grabbed the other man's sword and wrenched it from his hands. Miraz was able to dodge the first, but not the second hit aimed for the middle of his thigh with his own sword. Peter then let the weapon drop from his hand, and used his own to repeatedly swing down onto Miraz, who barely blocked every attack with his shield. When Peter decided to lunge, however, Miraz was able to forcefully make Peter drop his sword, and slammed his face with the shield.

Peter grabbed it at the second attempt, and twisted it around, making the older king's hands trapped behind his back. Yet, the older man was able to get an arm free. Elbowing Peter in the face, Miraz was able to momentarily stun his younger opponent. In his daze, Peter was not fast enough to react as Miraz threw him into a nearby pillar.

The air rushed out of his lungs on impact. But he managed to roll over, nearly avoiding being sliced through his middle with a sword. Peter rocked onto his feet, and blocked a hit aimed at his unprotected face with his arm guards, knocking the sword away. Now left unarmed and open, Peter swung a punch into the gash in Miraz's leg. The man as searing pain tore through the flesh of his thigh, and fell back onto the ground, momentarily defeated.

"RESPITE!" Miraz called out over the sudden cheering and shouting of the Narnians for their victorious King.

"Respite!" he shouted again, grabbing Peter's attention. He hesitated, but stopped his attack to grant the usurpers wish.

"Now's not the time for chivalry Peter!" Edmund called from the sidelines. Neither he, nor Alexa could tear their eyes away.

All was quiet as Peter turned from Miraz, and began to make off the arena. Edmund almost smiled. But his lips pressed into a thin line as a flurry of movement caught behind his brother. Edmund heard Alexa gasp in fright at his side, and out of the corner of his eye, saw her point to what he had seen. Both of them called out to his brother.

"PETER!" Peter swiftly turned, and narrowly avoided impalement with a pointed sword. When Miraz lunged again, Peter grabbed hold of the sword, whipped around and stabbed Miraz under the arm. Miraz cried out in pain and sunk to his knees. Peter then raised the sword above the king, and tensed to make the final blow…but he hesitated.

"What's the matter boy, too cowardly to take a life?" Miraz sneered. Peter practically seethed with anger at the spiteful man. It would give him pleasure to, but it wasn't his right.

"It's not mine to take," he grounded out. Peter turned slowly, and offered the sword to Caspian. The prince hesitated, but soon walked forward and accepted it. Peter reclaimed his own weapon off the ground and walked off the slab of cement.

Caspian poised the sword above Miraz's head.

"Maybe I was wrong…maybe you do have the makings to be a Talmerine king," Miraz whispered. Caspian nearly shook with the force of his emotions: anxiousness, trepidation, a certain self-righteousness, perhaps. But he knew in his heart that he had already made a decision. And Miraz bowed his head, accepting his fate.

Prince Caspian stabbed the sword downward…into a tuft of grass that had grown between cracked stone—between Miraz's hands.

"Not a king like you," Caspian replied. "Keep your life, but I am giving the Narnian's back their freedom." And the triumphant roar of the Narnians resounded.

"Peter," said Edmund. Peter looked up at him, and the brothers clasped arms in greeting. They exchanged grins, relief in both of their expressions.

"Good to see you in one piece."

"Feels good to be in one piece," Peter returned. Edmund had to grin as his brother pat him on the shoulder, but when he noticed a head of dark hair from behind Peter, he took a step back, gesturing for Peter to look behind him.

Peter's grin softened into a smile as he pulled his wife into his arms. Her hands reached his face and she guided him down to her, but he needed no prodding to meet her in a kiss, no more than quick steals of each other's lips, until he can ease the desperate anxiety he'd seen in her eyes.

Alexa then rested against him in relief, but ignored the tears that fell as she remembered her guilt, and how close she could have been to losing him.

"I'm sorry...Peter, I'm so sorry," she said quietly. Peter pressed a kiss at her hairline before bowing his head close to her ear.

"Alexa—"

"No," she shook her head. "I was wrong in the worst possible way."

Peter pulled away just enough to be able to meet her eyes with a small, wry smile. "I believe that was me."

She raised her hand to his cheek once more, sweeping her thumb over his bottom lip tenderly. She had loved this man for so long...but had she come to take it for granted that he had been beside her, that he had loved her in her grief for their son, forgetting it was theirs. Or maybe not forgetting, exactly, but she knew then that she hadn't given him that same support he'd given.

"I love you," she reminded him. He smiled. His reply was on the tip of his tongue before his brother grabbed his attention.

"Peter!" His head swiveled in the direction of Edmund's voice, and he slowly pulled away from Alexa. His eyes widened in shock as he saw King Miraz lying lifeless, unseeing, on the ground.

"TREACHERY!" Sopespian shouted. "They shot him! They murdered our king!" He ran along with General Glozelle toward their waiting troops.

Oh, bloody perfect, Peter thought grimly.

"BE READY!" he shouted, and with his left hand still on Alexa's waist, he unsheathed Rhindon. Perhaps this wasn't quite over yet.

"Go!" he commanded Caspian. The prince obliged, and rode down to the underground portion of the Howe where the rest of the army was waiting. All they could do now was turn and wait.