DISCLAIMER: I still do NOT own anything Narnia related or the songs used.

Song(s) for this chapter: Fire It Up by Thousand Foot Krutch

Ice Queen by Within Temptation

(Stand My Ground could also be used.)


Chapter 8: On Cold Wings She's Coming (or Fire It Up)

Elizabeth urged Aquarius to go faster. She felt bad for pushing him so hard, but she knew they had little time to get to Beruna before the battle began. She could feel Jadis' wrath, for reasons she did not know, which meant they must be drawing nearer to the battlefield. She could barely hear herself think over the thundering of hooves and paws behind her. Although she was surrounded by a small army, she had never felt more alone in her life. She was the Warrior of Narnia; she was meant to lead Aslan's army. Gulp!

At last, they reached the battlefield. When Peter and Edmund saw them, relief and hope swept over their faces. Maybe they had a chance now.

"Get in formation!" Elizabeth called over her shoulder before turning her attention to Tyler.

"I want you to stay with Edmund and the archers." Her tone left absolutely no room for argument, but Tyler was never one to give up easily.

"Why? I should be in the front lines fighting by your side. I don't even have a bow!" he responded. Elizabeth growled.

"I don't need your protection, Tyler! What I need is your safety. If Jadis and her army get past the front lines, we'll need you guys to back us up. If that happens, don't try to be a hero, just eat your pride and run like the wind. Got it?" she said, her voice firm, but with an undertone of desperation she was attempting to hide.

Tyler clenched his jaw. He felt so inferior in that moment. He couldn't understand why Elizabeth wanted him out of the way. The he realized that he also did not have the gift of sight and had no idea what she'd seen. He sighed with resignation.

"Fine, but if you need me, call for me," he replied at last. Elizabeth leaned as close to him as she could.

"Always," she whispered.

Before Tyler could respond, she was kissing him with more passion than he had ever been kissed with. She pulled away and galloped ahead of everyone else to the head of the battle, leaving him to wonder why that kiss had felt so much like goodbye.


Elizabeth slowed Aquarius to a halt next to a very grateful Peter. She looked out ahead; there was still no sign of Jadis' army…yet.

"Where did you find all these reinforcements? And where have you been all this bloody time?" Peter asked in one breath. She held her hand up to silence him.

"It's a bit of a long story I'm afraid—one for another time. Now, I'm here to help you lead Aslan's army," she answered.

Peter's mouth opened and closed several times before he decided that he had lost whatever he was planning to say. They turned to face the spot where Jadis' army would undoubtedly appear and waited.

Hours seemed to go by as the army stood waiting, but nobody moved or let their guard down for a second—they needed to be ready. Some of the gryphons passed around nuts, dried berries, and water to keep the soldiers hydrated and energized. As she munched on some dried berries, Elizabeth kept her eyes narrowed, searching the horizon for any sign of movement.

Suddenly, Peter tapped her on the shoulder and pointed upward. She looked up and watched as one of their gryphons circled around the battalion and came to land on a rock beside Aquarius.

"What's the verdict?" Elizabeth asked.

"Their numbers and weapons are almost equal to that of ours, but still greater," the gryphon answered.

"Numbers do not win a battle," said a centaur, General Oreius. Peter exhaled nervously.

"No, but I bet they help," he mumbled. Elizabeth chuckled at him, though she couldn't help but agree with his logic, and turned her eyes back to the battlefield. She could feel Jadis' presence, like dry ice running down her spine.

Finally, she saw it—the head of the witch's army, a big black Minotaur, coming into view. He raised his weapon and bellowed, signaling the rest of the army to come forward. All at once, the opposing army began to appear like ugly dots on the horizon. Every evil thing from giants, to werewolves, to hags, to harpies, was there to get a piece of Aslan's followers.

Elizabeth straightened up and unconsciously put a hand on one of her sai. That's when she saw her—Jadis, riding in a chariot, wearing what could only be Aslan's mane around her neck. She saw Peter's fists clench out of the corner of her eye.

The witch moved to the front of the battle and stopped—her eyes locked on Elizabeth. Traitor, is what they seemed to say. The Warrior stared back, unflinching; hoping to convey all the venom she had within her. Her eyes zeroed in on the icy wand—that would be the first thing she would need to destroy if Aslan's soldiers were to have any chance.

She watched as the first part of Jadis' army began to charge towards them. Her breath hitched in her throat and her heart started to race. This was it. This was really happening. In that moment, everything that had happened since she fell into the fountain flashed before her eyes. She never would've thought that a world like this could have existed. She never believed she would be the Warrior. She certainly never believed that her crush would become her lover and embark on this fantasy with her. But it was really happening; it wasn't a fantasy. If she died, that was it, game over. Elizabeth took a deep breath and turned to Peter.

"Signal the air attack," she said. The future king nodded and unsheathed his sword, using it to signal the gryphons that were waiting with boulders in their talons.

All at once, they flew off, including the one standing next to Elizabeth. They waited until the position was right, and then let loose a torrent of heavy rocks upon the enemy. The Warrior smiled as she watched many of the witch's soldiers get struck down like ants under feet. Unfortunately, her smile was wiped away when she saw the witch send harpies after the gryphons. In a panic, she raised up on Aquarius as much as she could and pointed her wand to the sky.

"Get under your shields!" she cried as she summoned hail, each icy ball the size of her fist at least. She hoped that this would deter the harpies and take out some of the smaller enemies. The hail worked to destroy the arrows from the witch's archers, but some gryphons still fell with the harpies. Still, it was an improvement. She looked to Peter and Oreius.

"Are you ready?" she asked.

"As I'll ever be," Peter replied.

"To the death, my Warrior," Oreius said nobly. Elizabeth nodded and pointed her wand out in front of her. She glared at Jadis.

"This is war, bitch!" she exclaimed as she pulled Aquarius' mane, causing him to rear up; Peter's unicorn, and Oreius, followed suit.

"For Narnia and for Aslan!" Peter called out. The Warrior motioned for him to throw his arm forward to signal the charge to begin. He nodded and followed suit and every creature in Narnia that was loyal to Aslan began rushing forward as one wave.

The two armies charged at each other at full speed, anticipating the inevitable clash. Elizabeth pointed her wand at the opposing army, surrounding them with as much mist as possible, hoping to make them trip over their own two feet. It worked to a small degree, and those who fell were trampled to death.


Up with the archers, Tyler's body twitched all over as he watched the scene unfold. He hated to be kept away from the fight. He began to wonder if he could use his power to help tip the scales in their favor. He remembered that Father Christmas had told him that spirit was also light and he was curious to see if that meant energy as well. The Heart concentrated and sent waves of cowardice towards the enemy to see if he could affect them from such a great distance. He was both pleased and disappointed to see that he could affect the closest enemies to them, but no one further out.

Tyler turned his gaze to the sky and focused all his power on the clouds that Elizabeth had made. He grinned when bolts of lightning began to streak down from the grey expanse and strike down enemies here and there.


When the two armies were seconds away from merging, Peter slid his visor down and lowered his sword as though it were a lance. Elizabeth put her wand in the sheath on her back and retrieved her two sai from her hips. Let's do this.

In one, abrupt moment that seemed to hit like a train, the two armies closed the distance and crashed together.

Everything was one big blur. Although she was alert, Elizabeth's body was running on pure adrenaline as she pierced through her enemies. She only had one priority: get to Jadis before she got any closer to Tyler.

Suddenly, an ankle-slicer slashed at Aquarius' legs. He stumbled and tripped, throwing the Warrior off his back and tumbling to the ground. Elizabeth rolled out of the way just in time to avoid being crushed and crawled over to her fallen friend.

"Can you get up?" she asked, panting. Aquarius looked at his bleeding ankle.

"I think so, but I cannot fight like this, my Warrior," he replied, his voice pained. Elizabeth nodded, checking her peripherals for any approaching enemies.

"Get up and get out of here. I don't care where you go, just get to safety. You've been a good friend. Now move!" she commanded. Aquarius nodded and managed to stagger into a standing position. Following her orders, he turned and loped as well as he could away from the thick of the battle.

Elizabeth turned back toward the direction of her target and began to cut her way through the enemy soldiers once again.


When the first half of Jadis' army had been reduced to mere corpses, the witch nodded, sending the second half in. This time, she urged the polar bears pulling her chariot to move forward, intending on joining the battle at last. Up on the cliffs, Edmund and Tyler turned to each other and nodded. They raised their weapons.

"Fire!" they shouted.

On cue, one archer raised her bow and shot an arrow that turned into a Phoenix. The Phoenix dove down and lit the field on fire, stopping the witch's army dead in their tracks. Most of the soldiers, Peter included, stopped and removed their helmets, cheering. Elizabeth turned and looked up at the spot where Tyler was standing. The two of them knew better; fire would not be enough to stop Jadis for long.


Just as predicted, the witch turned the fire into ice and destroyed it. Elizabeth was dying to slash the smug look right off the witch's face as Peter galloped up to her.

"What should we do now?" he asked, trying to hide the panic in his voice.

"Fall back. We need to drive them to the rocks," Elizabeth replied. She grabbed Peter's hand and swung herself up behind him on the unicorn.

"Fall back! Drive them to the rocks!" Peter shouted. Aslan's army turned and retreated from the advancing threat.


Tyler and Edmund signaled for the rest of the archers to start shooting. The Heart used his magic to keep them focused and calm, while trying to manipulate the closer enemies into feeling despair. His head ached and his ring couldn't decide what color to settle on.


As Peter and Elizabeth galloped toward the rocks an arrow came from the side and shot Peter's poor unicorn in the leg. They were thrown forward and onto the grass. The Warrior felt a sharp pain in her temple and pressed her fingers to it—she was bleeding. Great. As if she hadn't been thrown from a large equine enough times today. She pulled the arrow out of the unicorn's leg and slapped it on its side, making it limp away from the battle.

She turned to look at Peter and saw him staring—with seething hatred—towards something behind her. She spun around and her eyes narrowed. Jadis. Suddenly, Oreius and a rhino flew past her towards the witch. Shit! She thought in a panic.

"Peter, stop them!" she exclaimed.

"How?" Peter asked helplessly.

The two of them turned and watched, horrified, as the rhino was brought down by ankle-slicers and Oreius was turned to stone by the witch's wand. Elizabeth growled; a rumbling sound from deep within her throat that echoed across the rocks. It was time to end this. She sheathed her sai and took out her own wand.

"I'm finishing this once and for all," she snarled. She began to make her way toward Jadis, but was stopped by a giant. She stared up at him as it appeared to contemplate whether or not to eat her or just kill her.

"It looks like you're getting a bit dehydrated," she said with a deadly tone, pointing her wand at him.

Slowly, the giant's skin began to shrivel up like a raisin. He choked and sputtered on foamy spit as his throat began to dry up. Before long, he looked like a prune and had fallen to his knees, shaking the ground and squishing a couple of ankle-slicers. Elizabeth watched as all the water in the giant's body dried up, dehydrating the creature to death.

She turned her attention back to Jadis, watching as she took out creatures by turning them to stone. Peter stood in shock as he watched the scene unfold around him. Elizabeth knew he felt helpless, but if he kept standing there, he would be killed. She turned around to see how Edmund and Tyler were fairing, only to find them in the midst of the battle! Mr. Beaver was pulling a reluctant Edmund away from the fight and Tyler was taking out creatures with his whip.

The Heart wound his whip and lashed it out at creatures in his path. The weapon, reading his will, would curl around anything in its way, slicing into them with its blades and ripping them to shreds as he retracted it back to him. Gruesome, and Tyler seemed to be enjoying it a bit too much at times. If he wasn't careful, he'd become reckless. If he doesn't die I'm gonna kill him myself for being so impulsive! Elizabeth thought angrily.

She turned back around just in time to see Jadis stabbing Edmund in the gut with her broken wand. She gasped, her own wand almost falling from her fingers. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion after that. The last thing she saw before a Minotaur rushed her was Peter charging towards the witch with fury in his eyes.


Tyler took out some of the ugliest creatures he'd ever seen with his whip. He looked up, searching for Elizabeth, and found her fighting a Minotaur. She was fairing quite well. A few feet away, he saw Jadis fighting against Peter, and winning. He wasn't about to let the boy die before coming king. He wound his whip around his fist and sprinted around creatures to help him.

Just as the witch knocked Peter to the ground with her swords, Tyler leapt in and lashed out at her with his whip. She was caught in the whip's grasp as it constricted her tighter and tighter like a viper, cutting into her chainmail. Then, she did something he never would have anticipated—she grabbed the whip as though it were nothing and pulled him close to her.

"You cost me my servant," she growled. "Oh well, two sacrifices for two traitors." With those words, she plunged one of her swords into Tyler's heart.

His eyes widened and his scream was cut short by the gurgling sound of blood spurting from his mouth. The sentient whip went slack as he fell to the ground. Jadis stepped around his body, ready to finish the fight with Peter.


Elizabeth dropped her wand and screamed in agony as she felt a stabbing pain rip through her chest where her heart rested. She looked around for any wounds, but saw none. She spun around—that's when she saw it: Tyler was lying on the ground, mere feet from where Jadis and Peter were fighting, bleeding to death.

The Warrior roared loud in anguish and fury. The sound reverberated off the surround cliffs, grating on the ears of all who heard it. As she did, the sky opened up and rain began to soak the battlefield in heavy torrents.

Elizabeth gripped her wand in one hand and a sai in the other. She waited for the right moment and when it came, she rushed at Jadis, tackling her off of a pinned Peter and onto the grass a few feet away.

The witch's swords were knocked out of her reach. Elizabeth threw down her weapons and began pummeling her in the face relentlessly.

"You bitch! I. Am. Going. To. Kill. You!" she shouted with each punch. Jadis' face swelled and bled, but she never flinched; she merely smiled.

"You really are like me," she whispered. Elizabeth growled and slashed at her face with her nails.

"I will never be like you! I am nothing like you!" she screamed. Jadis chuckled. The Warrior gritted her teeth in rage; she grasped her wand and raised it over her head.

"Let's see how you feel about me boiling your blood!" she exclaimed.

Elizabeth began to bring the wand down on Jadis' chest, but was stopped by a pair of strong hands enclosing around her wrists. Jadis looked past her and gasped.

"Impossible!" the witch whispered breathlessly.

Elizabeth turned and saw Tyler, alive and well and restraining her from finishing off the witch. She gasped and stood up, forgetting all about her victim.

"You're all right! How is this possible?" she exclaimed, observing the lack of a wound on his exposed chest.

He didn't answer; instead he tackled her to the side just in time for Aslan to fly out of seemingly nowhere and leap onto Jadis. The two shared a look of acceptance for a minute, and then all was done as the lion ripped her throat out. Elizabeth was stunned as he turned his golden gaze to her.

"I am sorry, Elizabeth, but Jadis was not yours to end," he said, his voice deep and warm. It was so much greater than she'd imagined.

Tyler stood up and pulled her to her feet, mentally checking her body for wounds. She was battered, bruised, and bleeding a bit, but still in one piece. They stepped closer to Aslan and bowed low to the ground. The lion chuckled.

"Rise Elizabeth, Warrior of Narnia and Tyler, Heart of the Warrior," he said kindly. The two humans did as they were told and exchanged looks of confusion.

"Heart of the Warrior? I thought I was the Heart of Narnia?" Tyler asked quizzically. Aslan smiled in a way that only a lion can.

"In a sense yes, but you were not brought here just for Narnia, my child; you were brought here for its Warrior," he answered. "You see, the Warrior had to face a great temptation, a temptation which she was prophesied to fail."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, people," Elizabeth mumbled under her breath. Aslan chuckled.

"The Warrior needed to fail to be saved. For quite some time, she was broken, bitter, and hurting inside. In order for her heart and soul to be restored to their former selves, she needed to fail and be saved by the Heart; he could only do that once she was completely shattered. In time, you will understand," the lion explained. "So, by being the Heart of our Warrior, you are the Heart of Narnia."

Elizabeth stared at the ground, letting these words process in her mind. He wasn't sure she liked the idea of needing someone else to save her, but she supposed everyone needed help sometimes. She turned to Tyler.

"But how can you still be alive? I saw Jadis kill you," she asked, baffled. Tyler chuckled.

"You saw her run me through, but I never died. Thanks to Aslan here, Lucy got to me while you were beating the pulp out of Jadis and healed me with her potion thingy," he answered.

Elizabeth was quiet for a minute. Tyler sensed relief, happiness, thankfulness, and assorted other emotions radiating from her right before—

"Ow!" he exclaimed as she punched him in the chest where his wound had been. "What was that for?" The Warrior glared at him and crossed her arms like an angry child.

"That, Tyler, was for not listening to me!" she exclaimed. Aslan, Peter, Mr. Tumnus, Susan, Lucy, and a healed Edmund all broke down in laughter. After a moment, Elizabeth could no longer remain serious and began to laugh as well, leading Tyler to follow suit.

So there they were: the heroes of Narnia—and Aslan—rolling on the battle field laughing until their sides hurt.