Chapter 12
Hey guys ^-^ Gabby here. Big thanks to Jordi for doing all of chapter 11, poor sick creature that she is. 3
Now read. Enjoy. REVIEW. IT'S REALLY NOT THAT HARD PEOPLE. Gabby and Jordi are still sad we have so few reviewers ):
Onward with the chapter!
Oh, and sorry about the massive delay. Its Jordi's school's fault. :|
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Maria-
I watched Peter's horse gallop away and clear the rising bridge, disappearing from view. I stood frozen for a few seconds, my eyes trained on the spot he had vanished from as the reality of my situation came crashing down upon me.
I was trapped like a mouse(no offense to Reepicheep) along with the hundreds of other Narnians who had been left behind. I was going to die, there was no doubt of that. I was more likely to sprout man bits and become Narnia's next king then I was to make it out of this courtyard. And Peter had just.. left me.
I drew a deep, shuddering breath. All around me, the Narnians who had shoved me to the front for a final glimpse of my king were falling, arrows grotesquely sprouting from their bodies. A deep calm washed over me, and I turned and faced the onslaught of arrows.
I'd never been one to conform to the norm, and was known for my grand and slightly bizarre actions and styles. So hell no, I wasn't going to stand there and get shot down like Bambi's mom. I was going to make a statement, a dramatic exit.
I charged forward, my arrow notched and ready to be fired, shrieking like a hooligan. "FOR DUMBLEDORE!"
I took aim at one of the archers lining the wall and shot. My arrow pierced his forehead, and he collapsed off the wall, sliding down the tiled roof and came crashing down to earth-er, Narnia. I whipped another arrow from the quiver on my back and shot the man next to him, hitting him in the shoulder and sending him slamming down onto the stone floor of the courtyard. The third man had by then realized the pattern and was already releasing a crossbow belt, which I narrowly dodged by jumping to the side and taking refuge behind a stone pillar.
From there, I took a moment to look around the courtyard and assess the damage. Narnian and Telmarine bodies strewn the floor, their causes of death varying from mortal blows from swords to well aimed crossbows. There were still a few brave souls fighting from both armies, but as I watched many of these dropped like flies to join their deceased companions. Glenstorm's son, the one who had shoved me to the front of the crowd by the gate, was galloping forward towards the opposite end of the courtyard, and as he ran crossbow belts from the merciless archers accumulated in his body. He only made it halfway through the courtyard before, with an agonized whinny, his legs gave out and he crashed to the ground, where his head lolled and he became absolutely motionless.
I yelped shrilly as I watched the brave warrior fall and felt a fiery anger consume me. I jumped from my hiding place and sprinted across the courtyard, dodging the many crossbow belts that were fired, and whipped out an arrow of my own, taking aim at the bearded figure that was watching the whole scene unfold atop a balcony with a malicious smile painted on his lips.
I aimed my arrow right at Miraz's chest, and as I was preparing to release the bow, he and his general caught sight of me. Miraz's smile only spread and he grabbed the crossbow the man had been holding and aimed down at me. We were like two cowboys in an old Western movie having a face off on the dusty dirt road in the middle of the town, guns drawn, fingers itching to kill.
He fired before I could. His shot caught me in my right shoulder, and with a cry of pain I released my own bow. As I dropped like a sack of potatoes to the ground, I heard an angry bellow, and looked up to see Miraz also nursing a wound in his upper arm, my arrow protruding from the bloodstained shirt. A dull satisfaction pounded through the throbbing pain that was consuming me as I landed very uncomfortably on what I pretended wasn't another body, and indeed I was quite proud to say I had gotten one in on the usurper. It made up for earlier, when his wife had shot Caspian.
"GET HER!" Miraz was roaring, and I heard obliging men sprinting down the stone stairs from all directions to the spot where I lay. It was then that the absolute silence reached my ears, and I lifted my swimming head to see no signs of life from any parts of the courtyard. I looked to my left and let out a broken gasp- laying next to me was the mutilated body of Glenstorm's son. I had fallen on his stiff hind legs, which were bent at awkward angles. It was horrific to think that every inch of the courtyard was like this, covered in bodies so bountiful that they were piled on top of each other.
Rough hands gripped my arms and yanked me to my feet as tears for the massive loss of lives filled my eyes and poured over. I hissed in pain as the ruthless Telmarines dragged me along behind them, carelessly disrupting my injured shoulder. They carried me into the castle and down many winding flights of stairs, through countless dark hallways, down some more stairs and into a rank smelling room which I didn't have to be out of highschool to realize was the castle dungeons. The men took my bow and arrows before roughly throwing me into the nearest cell and slamming the door shut after me, taking posts at the front of the cell. I laid in a crumpled heap on the cold floor and clutched my bleeding shoulder as the tears poured down my face.
My skin began to prick, and I knew that the Telmarine guards were watching me. I looked up at them and glared defiantly into their tanned faces, which held expressions of humor and slight pity. When they realized I knew they were looking, they quickly looked away.
I don't know how long I sat there before I heard footsteps echoing down into the dungeons, but eventually they came. I didn't look up as whoever it was entered the dungeon, followed by a few more people, by the sounds of it, and stood staring down at my miserable form.
"Well, well, well," came the thickly accented voice of the Telmarine usurper. "If it isn't Narnia's future queen."
I made no move to acknowledge him, instead just laid there like the bleeding sack of potatoes I was. What I wouldn't have given for some Ibuprofen at that point.
The screeching of rusty metal bellowed through the chamber, and I realized that he was coming into my cell with me. I shot up like a bullet and scooted as far away from him as I could get and felt my back press against the cold stone wall. The light from the tiny window on the wall illuminated the trail of blood I'd left from my shoulder. I stared up into the wrinkled and bearded face of Miraz with contempt boiling in me.
He smirked down at me. "This is it? This is all the great Aslan has to offer his people? This is all King Peter expects from life?" he laughed cruelly, and his hand shot out and gripped my face between his thumb and forefinger, like it was a dirty piece of clothing he was regarding. "Disappointing."
I choose not to say anything, partially because I was too pissed, and partially because my shoulder was still bleeding profusely and I was weak. I glared daggers at him, and willed real daggers to shoot from my eyes and stab him in the face. If only.
"Sire, what is the purpose of keeping the girl?" a man who I recognized as the general whose crossbow Miraz had used to shoot me asked timidly, looking down at me with evident sympathy in his black eyes. My glare turned pleading as I met his gaze, and he quickly blinked and looked away. His face hardened as he looked upon the face of Miraz, who rounded on him.
"Do you not see?" he hissed. "This girl is King Peter's lady! The future queen of Narnia! The one who will provide him with nasty little Narnian heirs!"
Woah, someone's being a little hasty. I felt my face grow a deep red at the mention of 'heirs.' Who said anything about having kids?
The general dude looked warily at him. "How do you know this?"
"Did you not see the way he acted around her during the attack? He kept watching her and killing any men that got within five feet of her, and I saw them exchange an intimate moment. It does not take a genius to piece together that they have feelings for each other!" Miraz shouted, a vein on his temple appearing. The general shrunk back at the harshness of his tone, and I felt bad for him. Except for he was a Telmarine. And he had doubtlessly killed a couple of Narnians himself tonight. "King Peter will lose his mind with grief upon realizing she is not among the survivors and the army will not have a strong leader! They will be weak, and start falling apart at the very seams! And then, dear Glozelle, we shall send a letter alerting them that she is still alive. And King Peter will be positively beside himself with joy and will start planning many noble and heroic ways to save her. But then he will finish the letter, which will end in a ransom. Our dearly beloved Caspian for her. They will have three days to choose. And if, for some reason he decides to keep Caspian, then she will die, and we will lead a surprise attack on their camp. And if he chooses her, we will deliver her safely to the Narnian camp just as we promised, secure Caspian and kill him on the spot, but before handing her over we will kill her, also. The Narnians will be so enraged they will declare war on the spot, unprepared as though they will be, and we will easily crush them."
I felt the blood rush from my face and my head go fuzzy as I listened to this explanation of Miraz's plans. He truly was as evil as Caspian had said he was, and possessed the cunningness so highly valued among the Telmarine people. So no matter how you slice it, I would die, and Narnia would ultimately lose, either through a crushingly hopeless battle or through the loss of their leader. It was pure evil. The Imperial March from the Star Wars soundtrack suddenly filled my head as I gazed into Miraz's evil face.
"You cheating bastard," I whispered, staring up at him through clouded eyes. He sneered down at me before his hand lashed out and struck me across my face. The blow knocked my head into the wall and my vision blackened completely, and I weakly fought off unconsciousness.
"It is very cunning, my lord." another man said from behind Glozelle. I vaguely saw through my badly blurred vision Miraz step away from me and turn to the man.
"I know. Now then, for the execution. You, Glozelle, assemble your army tomorrow. Have them ready by high noon. Sopespian, you will write the letter to our dear friend, Peter, tomorrow also, but after arranging a coronation ceremony and party." he instructed curtly.
"Sir?" the man called Sopespian asked, with an uncertain glance at Glozelle.
"Narnia is in far worse condition than I thought. She needs a new king, and it has become evident to me that I am the only man fit for the job. The sooner I am crowned, the better. Tomorrow I will be made King of Narnia." he hissed before, with a dramatic swipe of his cloak, he stomped from my cell.
Miraz ascended the stairs, watched by all he had left behind, but when he reached the top stair, he stopped and turned back to us, as if having a thought. He looked down at Glozelle.
"Kill those two men on guard. It would be best if no one knew of our plan." he said dryly, indicating with his head to the two men who stood flanking my cell. They shot eachother petrified looks and gasped, simultaneously crying out,
"My Lord!" but Miraz ignored them, instead turning to Sopespian.
"As for you, knock the girl out. Hit her hard enough so that all recollections of this discussion are wiped from her memory." and with that, he turned on his heel and left.
Glozelle turned to the two men with tears in his eyes and drew his sword as Sopespian approached me leeringly. The last thing I saw before my head was slammed into the ground with force enough to crack it was Glozelle raising his sword and bringing it down into the chest of the first guard, who was wailing at the top of his lungs to his mother who would never know what happened to her son.
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"Shh, shh, Em, its okay, its alright,"Edmund cooed as he stroked my forehead. I lay still for a moment, trying to remember what was going on. My head was resting on Edmund's lap, the others crowded around me with worried and sad looks on their dirty faces. Peter was leaning on the table, his head bent, obviously trying to calm himself.
And then I remembered.
"MARIA!" I screamed, and they all flinched at the agony in my voice. I leapt to my feet, tears running down my face, my head whipping around looking for her. I was hysterical, I don't deny it, and when I got hysterical I normally began searching for things that weren't there.
So I ran from the tent, around the camp, looking around anywhere, everywhere for something, or someone I would never find. And when the camp ended, I kept running. Somewhere in the back of my mind a little buzzer went off, telling me that leaving the safety of the camp was not a good idea, but I ignored it.
But then, I had a complete New Moon moment, and tripped over in the forest. I curled up on the ground, taking deep breaths and trying to calm myself.
When I maintained control, I sat up, crossing my legs like at school, and just sat there, thinking. There was a warm feeling in the hollow of my neck, and I reached up to massage it.
My fingers met the warm metal of the lion necklace, and I let them stay there for a while, soaking in the warmth of the metal. It seemed to get hotter and hotter as I thought of Maria, and I flinched.
Wait a second.
It wasn't exactly a warm night, so wouldn't the metal be getting colder, not hotter? I held the pendant up into the light of the Narnian moon, and stared at the glowing eyes of the great lion. I stared into them, and the pendant became hotter as I lost myself in the tiny jewelled eyes.
My daughter; she lives.
Aslans voice sounded gently in my head, and I knew it was true. Maria wasn't dead.
MARIA WASN'T DEAD!
I leapt to my feet, and piss-bolted back to the camp, my cheeks flushed with excitement, and my eyes lit with hope. I burst back into the tent, where Susan and Caspian were sitting next to eachother, both looking dumbstruck, while Peter and Edmund were standing practically nose to nose, obviously involved in a heated conversation.
"I can not believe you just-" Edmund was hissing when I burst into the room. He turned to look at me, shocked at my reappearance.
"Em, whats going on?" he asked, stepping towards my bouncy form.
"She's not dead!" I shouted, and they all stared at me like I was insane.
"What?" Susan whispered in shock.
"Aslan! He spoke to me! And my necklace, it is hot, and she has the other one! Surely if she were dead, it would be cold?"
"Aslan…spoke to you?" Edmund asked, and I nodded.
A great smile cracked his face, and he let out a loud whoop, pulling my into a hug and swinging me around. We glanced over to see Susan and Caspian exchanging a hug and looks of glee, and I looked back at Peter.
"So, whats the plan, Pete?" Ed asked.
"Plan?" Peter asked, his face still for some reason stony.
"To get Maria back!" I cried, confused with his put out behaviour.
"We don't have time. Miraz is coming, we need to get back to the How."
"And then we'll sort out a plan to get her back, right?" Susan asked her older brother.
"Sure." Peter said, and turned away.
The walk back to the How was full of shame and disappointment, and also fear. I personally was terrified that an army of Telmarines was going to pop from the trees and squash us like bugs, but Ed's firm grip on my hand was keeping me feeling pretty safe.
We heard hoofsteps behind us, and an uncomfortable looking Caspian trotted up beside us. He looked at us apologetically, and we stared back, confused.
"Edmund, Emily…I would like you to meet…Lady Escidia."
A girl a couple of years older than me peeked her head out from behind Caspian, looking up at him regally.
"Well, Caspian, do help me down so I can meet your colleagues." She sneered, and Capsian climbed off the horse and helped her down gently. She was tall, thin, and unfortunately absolutely gorgeous. Her long straight, dark hair sat perfectly down her back, her dark brown eyes alight with interest.
She was staring at Ed, who was staring right back, obviously stunned by her intense beauty.
"Prince Edmund," she said, curtsying low, exposing a heavy amount of cleavage.
"Its King Edmund, actually." I put in, and held my hand out to her. "I'm Em-Lady Emily."
Escidia's eyes flashed down to me, looking minature next to Ed, and awfully plain.
"You're a Lady?' she sneered, and let out a giggle. "What is this land coming to?' she asked the air, throwing up her perfect hands. Ouch. Okay, I didn't like this person.
"Yes, I am." I replied, my eyes flashing dangerously. Caspian seemed to sense my anger, and I felt his big hand on my arm gently.
"So, King Edmund," she purred, "I really need someone to tell me all about Narnia, I didn't really listen much to my tutor back home." She stepped between Ed and I, and grabbed his arm, in the process making Ed release his hold on my hand. She began tugging him away, and turned back for a moment to look at me. Her face lit up with an evil little smile as she chattered away to a too-comfortable-looking Edmund.
"Bitch." I said grumpily, and Caspian chuckled.
"She isn't very nice, is she?" he said. I shook my head, just staring at the retreating couple.
"Come along, Em," Caspian said gently, gesturing to his horse. I looked at the massive beast, unsure. I never really liked horses. Okay, that was an understatement. I was terrified of them.
"You'll be safe, I promise," he said, and held out his hand. I nodded, still unsure, and he picked me up like I weighed nothing, and placed me on the front of the horse. Caspian swung himself up after me, and his arms were a protective cage around me.
"Thanks Cas," I said to my friend, "You're a legend."
Caspian smiled in response, and I rolled my head around to look at him. He was looking at Susan, who was walking alongside several fauns.
"Cas, do you ever actually talk to her?" I asked.
"Hmm?" he replied, still focusing on Susan.
"Susan. You should flirt more." I said, and Caspian chuckled.
"I don't know what you're talking about," he said slowly.
"Yes you do."
"Do not."
"Do too."
"Do not."
"Do too."
"Do not."
"Caspian, you don't know me, I can keep this going all day."
"Do not."
I poked Caspian in the arm, and he winced. I frowned in disapproval, and looked at the deep cut in his arm in concern.
"Sue!" I called, and she turned around.
"Cas hurt his arm, can you fix it?" I said, and Caspian poked me in the ribs.
"Of course," Susan said gently.
"Go for it, Cas." I said, and he smiled at me.
"Thanks Em." He said, and slipped off the horse. I let out a tiny shriek, seeing as the massive horse kept moving, but then I felt a warm chest against my back. I turned around to see Ed behind me, smiling at me happily.
"Finally get away from Escidia?" I sneered, and he frowned.
"No, she went to talk to someone else. She is quite nice."
I turned around and looked at him like he was insane.
"What?" he asked. "Its not like I left you behind, like Peter did Maria."
I froze. "What?" I hissed.
"Peter told us he saw Maria, when he was on the bridge." Edmund said, shaking his head in anger.
"So, he could have SAVED HER?!" I cried, and Ed nodded sadly.
Somehow, I got off the horse, and ran ahead to where Peter was striding along alone.
"Emily, what is-" he began, but I cut him off. I was going to go she-bitch on his ass.
"YOU SELFISH BASTARD!" was all I could scream, my anger than intense. So I gathered all my energy, and kicked the stunned King right in his…er…package.
Peter roared in pain, and dropped to the ground. I made to kick him more, and landed a punch on his eye, before I had three pairs of hands dragging me backwards.
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