"No! Get away from him!" Peter screamed and leapt to his feet, completely ignoring the soreness in his ankle.
"Peter! Don't!" Susan yelled.
But Peter ignored her and dashed over to Jacen, his face furious and his shield raised high in the air. He dived right in front of his friend and held his shield up for protection. He did it just in time as well, for Darth Maul released Force lightning from his fingers with the intention to hit Jacen. Peter's arm trembled as he strained to hold up his shield and continue to block the Force lightning.
"You foolish children! How dare you do that!" Darth Maul exclaimed as he finally relaxed his hand and stopped shooting Force lightning
"What the blazes…?" Susan asked with surprise at what just happened.
Darth Maul whipped his head around and glared at her, then turned his attention back to Peter and Jacen. Frightened but determined, Susan slowly pulled another arrow out of her quiver and loaded it into her bow, taking aim right at Darth Maul who had his fingers straightened out again as he was getting ready to try and shock the boys again. And Susan wasn't the only one frightened by what was about to happen.
"Stay away from them!" Jaina suddenly yelled and thrust her hand forward, Force pushing Darth Maul away from Peter and Jacen.
While her Force push didn't knock Darth Maul over and only made him stumble, it was still enough to make him very angry. Enraged and growling at Jaina, he thrust his hand forward and Force pushed her back against the wall quite hard, this time almost knocking her unconscious.
"No! Jaina!" Susan yelled and fired off her arrow.
It would have hit Darth Maul square in the neck, but he was able to see it coming and stopped it mid air with the Force, twirled it around, and Force threw it right back at Susan, much to her surprise. Knowing how deadly her arrows were, she ducked just in time and instead of hitting Susan, the arrow hit the wall right where her head was and fell to the ground.
"That was very close, my lady. Are you alright?" Mr. Tumnus asked as he rushed over to a very shaken up and trembling Susan.
"I'm fine, Tumnus. But we really need to help them." she said and pointed over to the boys.
Peter was still a little dazed from his near encounter with the Force lightning but still had enough sense left in him to continue holding his shield in front of him and Jacen, who by now was almost fully awake. He rubbed his eyes as he slowly sat up and began to fully realize what was going on around him. He saw Susan scrambling to load an arrow into her bow, Mr. Tumnus gripping onto Aslan's mane, Jaina moaning in pain as she struggled to stand up from being thrown against the wall, Peter with his shield raised up in front of him, and Darth Maul cackling evilly as he straightened his fingers and readied himself to throw more Force lighting at the boys.
Jacen immediately snapped to his senses, realizing that he had to do something. He quickly Force retrieved his lightsaber from the ground and activated the humming blue blade. This made Peter turn around and notice that his friend was alright.
"Jacen, nice to see you're ok." he said with a half hearted smile.
"I'm just fine, Peter. But you better keep that shield up!" Jacen exclaimed as he rolled out from behind Peter and shot to his feet, his lightsaber right in front of his face.
"What the bloody hell…?" Peter asked in surprised as he carefully peaked out from behind his shield at what Jacen was doing.
Jacen was facing off a very angry Darth Maul, who straightened his fingers out and growled evilly at the boy as he shot off some more Force lightning at him. While Jacen was able to block the lightning with his lightsaber, his arms trembled and shook under the mounting pressure of the lightning as he moved his lightsaber around as Darth Maul shot lightning in various places in an attempt to hit Jacen.
"My word!" Peter exclaimed softly as he looked at his friend straining under the pressure of absorbing all of that Force lightning into his lightsaber.
Darth Maul, while not usually being one to give up, finally lowered his hands and stopped shooting the Force lightning at Jacen. He gave the boy an evil stare as he slowly withdrew his lightsaber from his robe and prepared to activate it.
"You are indeed strong with a lightsaber, young Padawan. But you are weak minded with anger and hate, just like your pathetic grandfather was." Darth Math hissed at Jacen.
"My grandfather was not a weak person! But you are!" Jacen shouted and Force pushed Darth Maul backwards.
Everyone was surprised at Jacen's sudden outburst, but they were even more surprised at how much more angry Darth Maul was now that Jacen had a chance to Force push him. Enraged, he activated both blades of his lightsaber and charged at the boy, who was quick with his own lightsaber and blocked Darth Maul just as he was about to stab Jacen in the stomach.
"Peter! Get away from there!" Susan yelled and grabbed her older brother by the arm to pull him away from the melee between Jacen and Darth Maul.
Peter was stunned when his sister suddenly grabbed him, but desperate to get away from the fight before he got hurt again. He stumbled to his feet as Susan pulled him away from the fight and squeezed her hand tightly in thanks.
"I just don't want you to get hurt again." she said.
"Well, as grateful as I am to get away from that, we can't just stand here and watch Jacen get beat up." Peter said, indicating that Darth Maul was starting to gain the upper hand against Jacen.
It was very true, as both of them were straining as they held their lightsabers against each other. Darth Maul then violently shoved Jacen backwards and laughed evilly as the boy stumbled and fell, dropping his lightsaber again. Jacen tried to Force retrieve it, but was stopped by another Force push from Darth Maul.
"I'm going in there, Susan. I will not let him harm another one of my friends again." Peter said and, with his shield raised, charged at Darth Maul.
"Peter, don't!" Susan screamed.
She was too late to stop her brother, as he ran right into the middle of the fight. Darth Maul growled angrily at Peter and twirled his lightsaber around, ready to stab the young king. But Peter had other ideas as he turned his shield sideways and raised his arm up. As Darth Maul raised his lightsaber high above his head, Peter ran at him and roughly shoved him backwards with his shield.
"Peter! What the blazes was that?" Susan exclaimed as she ran over to her brother.
"That was a distraction, Su. Now I believe it's high time that you all covered your ears." Peter said and raised his hand high into the air, clenched in a fist.
Mr. Tumnus, Jaina, Jacen, and Peter all dropped their weapons as soon as Peter gave the sign and place their hands firmly over their ears. Susan, meanwhile, pulled out a pair of fuzzy earmuffs from her cloak and slipped them over her ears. She would need her hands on her bow and arrow for what came next.
"What in the name of the Sith are you all doing?" Darth Maul angrily asked.
That would be the last thing this Sith Lord would ever say, for Aslan marched right up to him and let out a fierce, high pitched, ear splitting roar. Darth Maul collapsed to the floor, writhing in pain and agony from the roar. Seeing the opportunity, Susan took aim with her bow and fired off another arrow right into Darth Maul's neck. He jerked a little at the prick in his neck, and then fell limp on the ground, dead from the poison flowing through his body.
"Good work, my children. This evil has now been vanquished." Aslan said and stepped away from Darth Maul's body.
Peter, Susan, Jaina, Jacen, and Mr. Tumnus were in awe that this evil man was finally dead after such a long, difficult battle. They were even more surprised at the simple way that he had been beaten.
"Beaten by a poisoned arrow and a lion's roar. That is truly amazing." Mr. Tumnus said.
"And as Master Yoda would say, 'How embarrassing. How embarrassing.'" Jaina replied.
Aslan chuckled softly at Jaina's comment and said to the group "Now, gather your weapons. Somebody is waiting for her rescue."
Everyone smiled as they each collected their respective weapons from the floor and stood by Aslan. He glanced over at Jaina, who promptly drew Lucy's turtledove necklace from her pocket and clutched it firmly in her fist with her eyes closed. Everyone stared at her until she finally opened her eyes and glanced at a back exit hallway that led out of the audience chamber.
"Lucy is that way." she said.