Sorry this is a little late today. I wrote it all last night, instead of over the week. Oops.


Two hours into the ball, whenever Edmund saw Courtney out of the corner of his eye, he was still so shocked to see her there. He kept expecting her to disappear, that she was just his imagination.

"Any ideas?" Courtney asked, snapping him out of his thoughts. "For our great escape?" She clarified.

He shook his head, "Not really. I was hoping you had something."

"If this is up to me," Courtney said, "I think we're sunk." One thing Edmund had learned in the few weeks he had known Courtney, she hid her nervousness behind humor. He appreciated her ability to keep things light.

"We should dance." Edmund said, realizing that an unknown prince talking to the new king's niece would be suspicious.

Courtney followed his lead. "I'm not very good at this whole avoiding suspicion thing." She admitted. "It scares me, thinking that something as small as talking could get us killed."

Edmund hadn't considered that, but she was right. They were playing a dangerous game, and the sooner they got a plan, the safer they would be. He hoped that Peter had more success than them in that department.


It wasn't safe, but we had to risk it. Hopefully we could make it appear as a diplomatic arrangement, instead of what it really was, a meeting to plan an escape. While we could just leave periodically, people would notice that I was gone, considering that I was a close relative of the new king.

Edmund started up a conversation with Peter, my cue to join them. "Anything?" I asked in a low tone, just in case people were listening. I then said at my normal volume, "How are things in Galma?" I cringed at my vague question.

"Of course, things could always be better," Edmund answered. "But despite the troubles in the past, our country is doing well." Lowering his voice he said, "We have a rough sketch of a plan, but it needs fine-tuning." Raising his voice again, he said, "What changes will be made now that your uncle is king?"

"The whole country will become a hellhole." I muttered under my breath. I pasted what I hoped looked like a genuine smile and said, "With King Miraz, the economy will be booming." Quieter, I added, "Care to clue me in?" It was hard to keep track of both conversations, and to continue them at the appropriate volume.

"Cause a distraction and leave." Peter said quietly, the first thing he had said during the whole exchange. "Trade with Galma will commence, I presume?"

"This is ridiculous," I complained under my breath, "Does anyone even care?" I cleared my throat. "Of course, we need more food to fear the country, and you need weapons in case of an invasion." Both those statements were actually true. "Fire always attracts attention." I said softly. "Although people could get hurt."

"One of us could alert the people before someone else starts the fire." Edmund said. "I'm sure we could negotiate a fair price that would be mutually beneficial."

"The fire should start outside this room, but close enough to spread here." The guests would have more time escape, but it would focus the attention on it, not us.

Peter and Edmund exchanged a look before nodding. "Twenty minutes." Peter said, keeping his voice low. "I'll start the fire. No one pays attention to the non-royals."

"I'll scream and point." I responded in kind, "Easy enough."

"Thank you for your time, Princess Courtney." Edmund said formally, ending our 'trade agreement'.

We all went our separate ways. "Who was that?" I cursed violently in my head, my favorite uncle.

"The prince of Galma." I answered. "And his bodyguard. We discussed an arrangement, but nothing was decided."

Miraz smiled. "I knew you would fit right in." I would never fit into the world of cunning plans and backstabbing. Instead of voicing those opinions, I smiled sweetly and excused myself, catching a dance with the prince of Archenland.


Nineteen minutes later, Edmund caught my eye and mouthed 'now'.

I pointed to the main door. "Fire! Fire!" I screamed. "Everyone get out!" A bit of smoke floated in through the window, reinforcing my alarm. I silently resolved to thank Peter. The effect was almost instantaneously.

The whole room was a mess of people scrambling to escape. I ran to Edmund. There was no way I was leaving him again, after just finding him.

"Follow me!" I yelled in his ear. I reached under my dress and pulled out my dagger. I used the hilt to smash a nearby window. Edmund took my hand and we jumped out together.

"Stupid heels!" I nearly broke my ankles. I ripped off said heels and threw them as far as I could. It felt good.

"Come on!" Edmund shouted, pulling my hand, which he was still holding. "We have to find Peter!"


As it happened, starting a fire wasn't as easy as it looked. It took Peter most of the twenty minutes striking two rocks together to get a spark.

Finding material that caught fire quickly was surprising easy to find. There was an office nearby with stacks of paper on the desk. He hoped he didn't burn anything too important.

The fire spread quickly, the flames licking up the papers and moving on to the drapes on the window. The castle was beautiful, he would regret if he destroyed the whole castle

He was a little early, but that would help when Courtney raised the alarm. As if on cue, he heard shouting from the great hall. People started flooding out of the doors, screaming and running.

He fought against the flow to peek inside. After a quick scan of the area, he spotted Courtney's blue dress, next to Edmund. The next moment, she had smashed through the window and they had jumped out.

Peter pushed people out of the way, making his way to the window. It took a few minutes, but he jumped out the window, almost tripping on a pair of blue heels. He spotted two figures a hundred meters to his left. "Ed!" He yelled across the castle grounds. His younger brother turned.


"It's Peter!" Edmund shouted in my ear. I turned.

We both ran to the tall silhouette. "We have to leave." Peter said, "We only have two horses." He pointed to the stables.

"She can ride with me." Edmund said. It would probably be awkward, but we didn't have time.

Peter nodded. "Let's go." We made our way to the stables. There was no one in sight.

Edmund, the ever gentleman, gave me a leg up, though I didn't need it. He climbed on in front of me. He flicked his reins and we set off, with Peter on our left on his horse.


"She's gone?" Miraz snapped at the unfortunate guard who had to be the bearer of bad news.

The guard gulped. "After the fire was contained, she was nowhere to be found."

"Were there any other missing guests?" Miraz's suspicion was slowly mounting.

"The prince of Galma had disappeared." The pity one would have for the guard was growing rapidly. It made one wonder what the guard had done to deserve such a job.

"I knew it!" Miraz exploded, startling the guard. "I knew there was something off about that 'prince'." He said at a normal volume. "They've taken my niece away!" He shouted, one again causing the guard to jump. "I'll kill you, little Narnias." He muttered.


Returning to the camp was like coming home. I had never felt at home in the castle, even before I ran away.

Caspian, Susan, and Lucy were waiting for us. I wished I could have captured the look of shock on their faces; priceless. Caspian was the first snap out of it and hug me.

"Courtney!"

"Yes," I said, "It's me. And if you're not careful, it'll be me with broken ribs."

"Sorry." Caspian loosened his embrace slightly. "How are you alive?"

I sighed. "Gather everyone who would want to hear this. It's a long story." I looked down at my filthy dress. "I have to change my clothes."


"And we rode here." I said, finishing my story in my normal, mostly clean outfit. "You know what happened after that."

"You were in the dungeons?" Caspian asked. "For a week? Courtney, if we'd known-"

"You couldn't have known." I cut him off. "Even if you did, you could hardly launch a full-scale invasion."

"But still." Caspian said, "If there was even the slightest possibility that you were alive, we should have gone to get you."

"And ended up dead?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "This is not the time for 'what ifs'."

"I never would have been able to forgive myself if you were dead because I didn't save you." Caspian said quietly, the words meant for only me to hear.

"We can't sit around here wondering what we could have done." I said resolutely. "We have to prepare for battle. Miraz isn't sitting around on his behind, and neither should we."


Question of the chapter: I've changed Courtney's character a lot since the beginning. Do you guys like the old, innocent (ish) Courtney, or this determined one more? I love hearing my readers feedback!