Disclaimer: I do not own The Chronicles of Narnia.

Hello everyone! I apologize for the lateness of the chapter-I had several big assignments due this week and my stories kind of fell by the wayside. I promise I will get review responses out to you all as soon as possible. Thank you for all of the great reviews!

Also, Puzzler had a good question for me and to clear up any confusion you all might have, I decided to answer it here. The question was about how old the Pevensies are at this point and how long they have been in Narnia. My impression from the books, and I may be wrong about this (I don't know if they ever give a precise age for each of the children), is that when the Pevensies first arrive in Narnia, Peter is 14, Susan is 13, Edmund is 11, and Lucy is 9. That's just my opinion, so if I'm wrong, feel free to correct me. And this story takes place about a year since they have been in Narnia. Sorry about any confusion I caused you all! :)

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I could scarcely breathe as I ran away from the horrendous shrieks that the creatures attacking my brother made. My vision blurred in and out of focus as I tried hard not to cry.

I reached the woods that Peter and I had been heading towards and paused at one of the trees to look back. I could no longer even see my sibling for he was completely surrounded by hags, dwarves, and harpies.

My heart ached in fear with the thought that he may have already been slain.

Keep going, Susan, I told myself, or you will have run in vain.

But it was hard to get my feet to obey. Nevertheless, I tore my gaze from the gruesome sight and stumbled on into the forest.

My gasps for air bordered on hyperventilation as I tripped and staggered through the trees. The forest was not nearly as dark or thick as the sprites' forest had been, but though it was much easier to travel through, I felt like I was making hardly any progress.

Hang on Peter! Hang on! I pleaded desperately.

Twigs and leaves crunched under my feet as I darted around tall trees in my path. They were the kind of trees that did not have branches low to the ground, so I wouldn't be able to climb them if I got attacked.

I snuck a glance behind me to see if anyone was following me. All was still, except for the leaves that were fluttering back to the ground after I had dashed through them.

Perhaps, if they were so busy with Peter, they would not come after me. It was a faint hope, but one that made me slow my pace.

My sides ached too much for me to keep running at the speed that I had been running. So I began to walk as fast as I could through the trees, ears and eyes alert for anything that could attack me.

I was so frightened and distraught, for I knew that I had to go nearly a day's journey to reach Narnia in order to even get help for Peter. And then we would have to travel a day's journey back and then we would have to find where the creatures took him and then he might be dead and then-

Peace child, a gentle, but authoritative voice told me.

"Aslan," I murmured, scanning the area for the Lion. But he was nowhere to be found.

Trust me.

I let out a deep breath, releasing all of my fears and worries. "I trust you, Aslan."

Then keep going.

So I did.

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My head drooped in exhaustion as I staggered through the trees. It seemed like I had been walking through the trees for days, but I knew it had probably only been a few hours, if that.

Only the thought of Peter dying kept me going, but I was so tired and hungry and thirsty-for I had dropped my water pouch when I ran away earlier.

The sunlight filtering through the leafy branches above me was waning and still there was no visible end to the forest. Just trees, trees, and more trees.

A sudden rustle in one of the trees made me look up, but it was only a small squirrel. It looked at me curiously and, for a moment, I thought it might be a talking animal. But the lack of intelligence in its' eyes confounded my hopes and, with a flick of its' tail, the creature vanished.

I sighed.

"Is her highness all alone?" A voice cackled from behind me.

A thrill of fear darted through me as I whirled around. I screamed as I found myself face to face with a hag...and she was not alone.

In my distraction, I had not noticed that company of creatures that had crept up behind me. They hadn't given up on me as I had thought; they had been following me all along!

"No!" I cried, turning and running again-all previous exhaustion forgotten.

The creatures hissed and cackled with glee as they gave chase.

A wolf leapt in front of my path and I turned to the side. I got a few paces away and then a dwarf threw an axe on my intended escape route. Everywhere I went, I was cut off. But they always let me think that I had escaped before they assured me that I was just as trapped as I was before-like a mouse that a cat bats around.

"Now, now," a dwarf taunted as he tripped me. "Don't worry your pretty little head. We'll take good care of you."

I sprawled onto the ground, scratching up the palms of my hands. As the creatures closed in around me, I frantically tried to scramble away.

But they caught hold of my boots and dragged me back, laughing at my pitiful attempts to escape. And in the midst of my frantic struggles, I felt the jagged fingernail of a hag stroke my face.

"Such a pretty thing," the she-creature crooned. "It'd be a pity to ruin such a lovely face....but you know, accidents happen."

I gasped as the nail dug into my cheek.

A dwarf joined in her mocking, waving his cruelly-shaped dagger in front of my face. "Yes, such a tragedy that the queen of Narnia fell on a dagger and gouged out both of her eyes."

I whimpered and tried to twist out of their grasps, but they held me firmly. The dagger's edge came to rest right below my right eye and I shut my eyes, terrified at the pain that I was about to feel.

But instead of experiencing a dagger cutting into my eye, I heard a terrible shriek and then suddenly, the knife's edge was gone. Several of the hands holding me released me as terrible screams rent the air.

I tentatively opened my eyes to see what had caused the change and nearly wept in relief as Narnians came running into the area to rescue me-with Edmund and Lucy leading them.

"Don't think you're out of danger yet," a dwarf hissed at me as he brought his dagger up, ready to kill me.

Oh no you don't, I thought, I'm not getting this close to being rescued to be killed now.

I grabbed a hold of his wrist and twisted it around so that the blade pointed at the dwarf, just as he lunged forward to kill me. His eyes widened as he felt the blade sink into his chest and I winced with him-having never cared to see anything die.

As the light faded from his eyes, I grabbed the dagger and jerked it out of his chest-gulping at the nasty squelching noise it made as it came out.

I shook off the hand of a hag who was busy watching my siblings rip her companions to bits. She turned to me in surprise, but she was too late to defend herself as I stabbed her in the throat.

I struggled up to my feet as I pulled my weapon free. I was trembling badly, my recent scare rendering me almost useless.

Across the clearing, Edmund's dark eyes met mine. He looked worried as he called over his shoulder, "Oreius! Get Susan out of here!"

The centaur galloped toward me, brandishing his sword. I felt so relieved at his appearance that I let the dagger drop from my hand.

But I had let down my guard too soon. A vicious growl to my right attracted my attention and I turned just in time to see a wolf getting ready to pounce on top of me.

All I could do was put my arms up in a meager defense.

The wolf jumped.

Swish!

A dagger imbedded itself into the wolf's side in mid-air and the animal fell with a feeble moan. I caught a brief glance of Lucy smiling triumphantly over her kill before Oreius came to a halt in front of me and extended a hand to me.

"Come, my Queen."

I grabbed his hand and swung myself onto his back. I wrapped my arms around his waist and then we were off, galloping out of range of the battle. As I clung to my rescuer, I saw that we were reaching the end of the woods. I had been closer to Narnia than I had originally thought.

We came to a halt outside the tree line. I slowly slipped from Oreius's back and rested my head against his side. Now that I was out of danger, I let the tears fall.

"My lady," the centaur spoke to me gently as one of his hands smoothed my hair back. "What is wrong?"

"Oreius," I choked on my words. "They took Peter. I-I don't kn-know if he's alive or n-not...and... and I j-just....left him."

"Ssh," the centaur comforted me. His strong hand slipped under my chin and lifted my head up so I could look him in the eyes. "We will find your brother and I am sure you did nothing that he didn't want you to do."

I sniffed and rubbed away my tears with the back of my hand. "I kn-know. He t-told me to run away. But I still f-feel as if I should have d-done something."

"You wouldn't have been able to do anything and had they captured you as well, neither of you would probably be alive at this moment."

I rested my head against his side again. "I just hope he's alright. We got separated a while ago; I don't know where they took him."

"We'll find him....are you injured at all, my lady?" His concerned gaze swept over my rather bedraggled form.

"No, I'm just exhausted and frightened....and I want to go home."

"Don't worry, your majesty, you are safe now."

We stayed like that for several moments. I relished in the security that I felt around Oreius-who had become sort of a father-figure to my siblings and I ever since we had arrived in Narnia. He stroked my hair and wiped away the traces of tears on my cheeks.

A moment later, he announced, "I believe your siblings are almost here."

I looked up at him in puzzlement and then at the trees, for I could see no sign of either Edmund or Lucy. But I suppose that he must have been able to hear them with his bigger ears better than I could hear. I stared eagerly in between the trees, longing to be reunited with my family.

"Susan!" Lucy's call came before I could see her, but I finally managed to catch a glimpse of my sister's bright smile as she ran to me.

I stepped away from Oreius and opened my arms to her. She flung herself into the embrace, squeezing me so tightly that I could scarcely breathe. But I didn't care. I laid kiss after kiss on her forehead as my tears fell afresh.

Strong arms wrapped around both of us and Edmund's deepening voice sounded in my ear, "I'm so glad you're alright, Su."

I hugged my siblings tightly to me-the very same siblings I thought I would never see again-and I couldn't help but cry, "Thank you, Aslan."

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So, Edmund and Lucy are finally here! Yay!

I hope you all enjoyed and thank you for reading!