Chapter 10

"What?!" all occupants of the room shouted in bewilderment; everyone except Penthesilea who only stared at Susan blankly for a few seconds, the gears of her brain whirling as she analyzed the situation. Then, to everyone's utter shock, the huntress sniffed unconcernedly and lay back down on her straw bed.

"What are you doing?" Lucy cried. She had strongly predicted that Penthesilea would jump up and lead them to attack Caspian and stop him from communicating with their old enemy, the Witch. But that wasn't happening; Penthesilea simply curled up on the straw and closed her eyes, looking like she was going to take a nap.

"That doesn't concern me," she replied heedlessly without opening her eyes. Then, she twisted a little in her bed to get comfortable, making it clear that she couldn't have cared less about the situation. "You two can handle it," she murmured sleepily, gesturing blindly to Lucy and Edmund. "I'm going back to sleep."

Everyone in the room stared at Penthesilea's resting form in sheer astonishment. Reepicheep was glancing from the huntress to Lucy and then to Edmund, unsure of what to do. Susan was quite confused as she did not know what her brother and sister had been talking about to Penthesilea. Edmund noticed that Lucy was shaking with anger, tears, giggles; he did not know which until the youngest Pevensie shouted very uncharacteristically, "GET UP!"

The order was so unexpected and completely abnormal for Lucy that even Penthesilea jumped in surprise, her eyes widened which was a rare sight as they were normally narrowed in a concentrated glare. The huntress cautiously sat up to look at Lucy more closely. Penthesilea stared at the girl, half wondering if she was an imposter of the valiant queen.

"Lucy… are you feeling alright?" she questioned slowly.

"Me!?" Lucy shrieked, a little more quietly this time. "I'm wondering if you're feeling alright! You used to be an inspiration to us before we go to a fight! What happened to you?"

Penthesilea let out a pitiful sigh and said in monotone, "I don't have Aslan's Blessing anymore; that's what happened to me."

Lucy looked like she had plenty more to argue, but Susan quickly intervened, "We don't have time, Lu. Peter's already at the Stone Table; he's trying to stop the connection between Caspian and the Witch. We've got to help him!"

Penthesilea looked between the three Pevensies' faces and saw a silent agreement between them. It appeared that, for now, they had to leave the matter of the huntress until after the situation at the Stone Table is resolved. Before Penthesilea could say more to them, the Pevensies left the room in haste.

Once they were gone, Reepicheep fidgeted slightly, determining whether he should follow Susan to the Stone Table room or stay with Penthesilea and listen to her rant about losing her Blessing which was probably what the huntress was going to do after that short argument with Lucy.

"Reepicheep?" Penthesilea said before the mouse could scurry off to help the kings and queens.

"Yes, my lady?" Reepicheep responded as politely as ever.

"Do you think I'm being unreasonable for not taking too much worry about Caspian and the Witch?" the huntress asked uncertainly. "I mean… I can't do much, really."

Reepicheep debated between lying and comforting her or telling the truth and probably getting shouted at by the quick-tempered warrior. But of course, being the chivalrous rodent he is, Reepicheep could not tell a lie. "I agree with Queen Lucy, my lady," he paused, waiting to hear Penthesilea quickly become defensive. But the huntress remained quiet to hear what else the mouse had to say.

"Continue," she said, when there was a long period of silence following Reepicheep's comment.

"You used to inspire us," the mouse went on. "When hearing the stories of your hunts as a mouseling, I had always wanted to be as brave as you, my lady. In fact, all of my mice were encouraged to become what they are now because their mothers told them your stories. Even now, many of our soldiers are utterly terrified of the Telmarine army. We need you to inspire them the way you did to my mice and I."

"Please don't think I am disrespecting you, my lady, but to neglect a fight because you don't have your Blessing would place you as the most cowardly warrior of the Narnian army."

Apparently, Penthesilea did find this offensive and she opened her mouth to retaliate, but Reepicheep continued hurriedly as to not give the huntress any time to speak until after his speech.

"None of us," said the mouse. "the Kings and Queens, my mice, the centaurs, the fauns, nor the dwarves had ever been blessed by the great Aslan. And yet, we still bravely charge into battle without it. You often speak of courage and duty, my lady. To truly be brave, you must take the risk of injury, or our people would see your previous feats only as a trick; a cheat because you had the highest level of assistance from the Great Lion himself."

Reepicheep stopped to take a breath before going on, "It is time to show the enemy and our allies that the legendary huntress can stand up and fight without the Blessing of Aslan. You don't want to be labeled as coward, I am sure, but it won't be long before our troops begin to think that if you continue to stay here and have these talks with me. I am a mouse, my lady, and I am telling you, the great huntress, what to do in order to be chivalrous. Does that not sound backwards to you?"

Penthesilea's eyebrows furrowed in focus as she carefully processed Reepicheep's lecture. After a moment, she gave the mouse a genuine smile, "You truly are a little one with the most courageous of hearts, Reepicheep. I know you will be worthy of Aslan's Country someday. You might even replace me as Aslan's lieutenant if I am ever disowned, which could happen very soon. But I will be happy that it is you who takes my place, brave mouse. Thank you for sharing your wisdom with me.

Reepicheep beamed and puffed his tiny chest out, feeling quite proud of himself. "Now, you must assist the Kings and Queen, my lady. They will need your help with the Witch."

Penthesilea shakily got up from the straw bed and dusted herself off, "You're right, Reepicheep. To stay here will only make my image worse than it already is since I lost Aslan's trust. The least I can do is be respected among the commoners." She attempted and failed to fix her hair before taking a wide, dignified step forward and promptly falling on her face.

Spatting dirt out of her mouth, the huntress cursed as she gingerly lifted herself up again and realized that her legs were asleep and very stiff from disuse. She glanced over at Reepicheep who was visibly resisting a smile. Penthesilea narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously, "I meant to do that; don't judge me."

Reepicheep mentally gave himself a pat on the back as he realized that that was what exactly what the blessed Penthesilea would have said if he had happened to witness her ungracefully tumbling to the ground.

After taking a few quick seconds to stretch her legs and wake them up, Penthesilea looked around for her bow and knives but could not locate them. She decided that she didn't have time to go around the How looking for them. With her head held high, the huntress marched out of her room and ran toward the Stone Table room, praying that she hadn't wasted too much time drowning in self-pity.

She turned a sharp corner and nearly crashed into a faun pushing a wheelbarrow full of newly crafted weapons. She swerved out of the way, narrowly avoided tripping over the faun, swiftly pulled a rapier from the wheelbarrow and kept going.

After a few more turns and chambers, Penthesilea saw the Stone Table room dead ahead. She bolted toward it as quickly as possible after two days straight of sleeping on a straw bed that wasn't exactly the softest place in the world. When she stormed into the room with the rapier raised in defense, she saw a most peculiar sight.

A mountain of shiny shattered ice was piled up in front of the Aslan carving. There was a dead werewolf scrawled on the floor a few feet away from her near the Stone Table. Nikabrik was lying face down beside the beast, showing off a fatal wound where someone had stabbed him in the back. An old, shriveled vulture-hag was knocked out near a fallen column, and Caspian was on the ground, nursing a long cut he had on the palm of his left hand. And Peter stood in front of the shattered ice heap in a circle that was drawn in the soft dirt. Edmund was sheathing his sword while looking at the ice with great loathe. Lucy kept looking over at Nikabrik's body and then glancing away again, as if she could not stand the sight of the dwarf for more than a couple of seconds at a time.

Penthesilea lower her rapier when she saw that there was no enemy to fight, "It seems that I have missed the interesting part," she said when the occupants of the room turned to look at her. "Pity that."

Lucy was the only one that caught the inspiring tone to her voice; the tone that challenged anyone to contradict her. Realizing that Reepicheep must have done something amazing to bring back the spirit in Penthesilea, Lucy broke into a grin and forgot about Nikabrik's body.

Penthesilea smiled back, and the others couldn't quite understand why they were so happy.

"Look," Peter's voice jerked Penthesilea out of her state of deep thought.

The huntress sat on the Stone Table alone a couple of days after Caspian attempted to call the power of the White Witch. She spent a lot of time there after Reepicheep made her think about the real meaning of bravery. The carving of Aslan became a sort of reminder that the Blessing only made her a cheat. She had deeper musings now than she had ever had in her millennia long life.

Now, the High King has interrupted her train of thought, much to Penthesilea's annoyance. But she refused to get moody and looked away from the Aslan carving to watch Peter sit down beside her.

"Ed told me what you said about the apology," Peter continued once he saw that he had the huntress's attention. "And if it makes you feel any better, you can be my lieutenant."

Penthesilea surveyed his face with calculating eyes, waiting for him to finish.

"I mean – I know it's not as good as being Aslan's second, but I thought that it's better than serving as an ordinary foot soldier." Penthesilea tilted her head at this, wondering if Edmund had told Peter her exact words.

"You don't have to give me that position, Peter," she replied with a soft smile. "It is only fair that I work my way up the ranks of the army, like I should have done from the very beginning. And besides, isn't Edmund supposed to be your lieutenant?"

Peter appeared slightly surprised that Penthesilea refused the offer he presented. But he swiftly recovered from the shock and said, "No, Ed and I are both Kings. Just because I'm the High King doesn't mean I can tell the other King what to do."

"What about Caspian, then?" the huntress went on. "He'd make a good second, would he not?"

"I think Caspian and I have established that we are equals. I did save him from the Witch. Anyways, I don't want him thinking I'm trying to be better than him."

Penthesilea nodded, "That is very wise. It's good that you two have made truce. Do you have any idea how much work Edmund has been trying to do while you and Caspian bickered like an old married couple? I feel like you and your brother's personalities have swapped since I last saw you 1300 years ago."

Peter raised an eyebrow curiously, "Really?"

"Very much, actually. You see, 1300 years ago, Edmund was the whiny little brat who had a rather annoying talent of holding grudges. You were the cool, calm, and collected one who only wanted to protect your sisters. And now… Edmund has become the mature one while you have a temper and had been resentful toward Caspian ever since he attacked you in the forest. Not to mention – "

"It's not because he attacked me in the forest that I don't like him," Peter said defensively. "It's just the way he looks at Susan and how Susan is always taking his side. She's my sister and I have the right to be guarded about who – "

Penthesilea busted out laughing at this worry of Peter's, which caused the High King to glare at her. "Is that it?" the huntress asked in between giggles. "You're concerned because you think Caspian and Susan fancy each other and might end up getting married, is that what you're trying to tell me?"

"Oh, shut up," Peter snapped half-heartedly while Penthesilea continued to snigger uncontrollably. "You don't know what it's like, belonging to another world. I think, after this is all over, Lucy, Edmund, Susan and I will have to go back to our world."

Penthesilea's laughs were abruptly cut off after he said this. "Oh," she responded quietly. "That's right…"

"I don't want Susan to not want to leave Narnia because of Caspian. We belong in our world, Penthesilea. This could cause pain for my sister."

The huntress was quiet for a long time. "Well," she tried to lighten the mood. "Let's first get rid of the Telmarines, then we can worry about you and your siblings leaving Narnia. Perhaps Aslan would want you to stay," she remembered her talk with the Great Lion many, many years ago in the glade with the dragonflies and cherry blossom trees.

Before Peter could reply, the sound of a horn reached the chamber, and the High King recognized it as the signal for "enemies approaching." He and Penthesilea exchange grim looks.

"The Telmarine Army, they're here," the huntress said softly. "Let us pray that they are few in numbers."

Peter and Penthesilea rushed to one of the stone ledges outside of Aslan's How in order to survey the enemy ranks which were spewing from the surrounding forest like a sea of black sludge. Caspian, Cornelius, Susan, and Edmund were already there, watching in horror as waves after wave of Telmarine soldiers marched out into the open.

Penthesilea drew in a short breath when she saw the sheer size of the army. There were hundreds and perhaps thousands of men wearing identical navy blue armor. They all carried a large shield and a spear. A few held up the Telmarine flag in the air while others pushed enormous catapults into position for fire. They even had a cavalry which would surely prove to be a problem.

At first glance, everyone; Penthesilea, the Kings and Queens, Caspian, and Cornelius knew that the Narnians would be brutally outnumbered, and the chances of defeating the massive army of Telmar were smaller than that of winning the lottery every day for a month.

"What now?" Trumpkin, who had arrived at the ledge, asked gravely.

"They'll crush us, I know it," Penthesilea replied without looking at the dwarf. She knew with every fiber of her being that the Narnians won't succeed in repelling the Telmarine forces, at least not alone. "Our only hope is that Aslan will come and help us."

"But things never happen the same way twice," Lucy responded, taking the Great Lion's words. "Aslan said it himself. He's not coming, Penthesilea."

Penthesilea thought back to before she lost her Blessing, before the raid of Miraz's castle. She recalled having a conversation with Edmund in which she decided that Aslan must be brought to the battle; he won't come himself.

"You're right," the huntress's head snapped in Lucy's direction. "Things won't happen the same way as with the White Witch. Last time, Aslan brought you to the battle. Now, you must bring Him."

A/N: Okay, so this was sort of short, I know. But, like I said before, I want to keep all the main events separate. As you can see, Penthesilea has recovered a little bit. The main reason I wrote this these past three chapters about her losing the Blessing was to tone her down a little and make her less OP, which I had realized was a HUGE problem with Penthesilea. She's really overpowered; can shoot arrows and fight with knives, can't be injured because of Aslan's Blessing, can lead an army without any hesitation, etc. I decided that she didn't need to have the blessing to be a good character, so I stripped that away. Hopefully it will work out. What do you think? Was that a good move? Tell me in the reviews, please!

Next Chapter: The first part of the battle against the Telmarine Army! I'll probably split the battle into two parts or three. And I suppose this story has about three or four more chapters before finishing up.

Also, I just watched 'The Voyage of the Dawn Treader' last night, and I got a who shit load of ideas for the sequel to this story, so stay tuned to read more. Buh-bye!