I don't own Narnia or the Pevensies. But I was much quicker getting around to them this time. Hurrah.
Miracles, thought Lucy in alarm, were not supposed to be this noisy. It was growing dark outside again, which meant it had been almost a day since they had arrived, and there was a commotion going on outside her prison; she could hear shouts and screams and clanging metal. Having drawn her dagger the instant she heard running footsteps, she waited near the door (but not so close that she would be smacked should it be thrown open), and prepared herself both to heal any heroically maimed brother and to defend one who was being heroically beleaguered.

"Here!" she bellowed at the door. "Peter, Edmund, I'm in here!"

Her answer was the thud of a body slamming against the door, then the following scraping sound as what was probably that same body sliding back down it. There was a muffled crack, like brittle bones snapping through armor, the hair-rising screech of a rusty bolt being thrown and suddenly the door shook violently. She adjusted her grip on her dagger and watched it anxiously, gritting her teeth and anticipating. A second later it flew open, banging loudly against the wall, and Peter shot in, actually colliding with Lucy and sending them both forcefully to the ground. Thankfully, he had turned his sword away at the last second. With a hasty apology he scrambled to his feet, whipped around and threw the door shut, bracing it with his back.

"Hey," he said, breathing hard, eyes still darting around the room, taking in everything. She glared at him and sheathed her dagger before getting up.

"It's about time," she said, but she couldn't help sounding grateful. Suddenly, there was a loud thud at the door and Peter hissed in pain as it was kept shut only by his body.

"Listen, Lu," he panted, chest heaving with exertion. "Ed and I found the rings, but there were only three, one of the…"

"I know," said Lucy. "It's in the Wood Between the Worlds, one of these buggers accidentally touched it."

He frowned at her curse, opened his mouth to reprimand her but it turned into a grunt of pain as another blow shook the door.

"All right," he said, his flickering eyes testifying to his racing mind. "I sent Ed outside with the rings we found, it was too difficult to drag him around the castle looking for you and this place is positively crawling with swords. He should be just below your window, actually, assuming he did what I told him to do…"

Lucy nodded. Another something rammed into the door from outside, but this time Peter buckled forward, dropping to one knee and teeth gritted in agony. It was then that she saw he had taken a bit of a beating to get to her; dark bruises were forming all over his arms and face, and there were some nasty slashes in his sides.

"What do you want me to do?" she asked him quickly, unsheathing her dagger. He staggered upright and pressed his back to the door again. He seemed to be thinking very fast, until finally his jaw set and she knew he'd reached a decision.

"Here," he said, and he produced a short rope from his belt pouch. "It should get you far enough that the drop won't hurt you. There's no way we can fight through the mob out there."

He hurriedly sheathed Rhindon and unfurled the rope, looking around for something to tie it to. Unfortunately, there was nothing – the cot had no sort of hole through which a rope could be threaded, and nothing else in the room was large enough that it wouldn't slide through the window. Peter swore, hastily apologized, then wrapped it tightly around his own fist before tossing the other end to his sister.

"Just hold on tight, Lu, I promise I won't drop you," he told her.

"Peter!" she fumed. "If you think I'm leaving you here, you have another thought coming!"

"It's that or both of us!" he said vehemently. Whoever was trying to get in gave the hardest blow yet – Peter was forced forward a step with a cry of pain, and one stick-thin arm forced its way in through the crack, but he threw himself at it again with such ferocity that the door slammed shut, and the arm cracked and broke as it was crushed. "Go, Lu!"

"I'm not leaving you!" she yelled, stamping her foot.

"Find Ed," he ordered. "Use the rings to get out of here. I'll…I'll…it doesn't mater anyway."

"It does too matter, Peter!" she cried. "It isn't fair! It isn't fair of you to treat yourself like you're not worth anything because you are, Peter, you're our big brother and we love you! Don't do this!"

"I appreciate it, Lu," he said levelly. "I love you too. But there isn't another way. I can't last more than another fifteen minutes against the kind folks outside this door. And I'm not risking your life."

The door took another hit and he closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath as if trying to block out his pain. Then his eyes flipped open, focused on hers, and he said in an unmistakable voice,

"Go."

It was a command, and there was no room for debate in his tone. Tears of frustration and anger began pricking painfully at the corner of Lucy's eyes, but she swallowed and put away her weapon and made her way to the window, standing on the cot to enable herself to crawl through. It was a tight fit, and she was quite scared. Just before she stuck her legs out into the open, she cast one final glance at her eldest brother. He had drawn his sword, still holding the rope that held her with one hand, and his eyes were narrowed in determination. She swallowed hard, then allowed her feet to slip from the safety of the windowsill and braced them against the castle's outer wall. The jolt made Peter take a step forward, and his hand was already turning white from the tightness of the rope wound about it, but he held fast. Just before he disappeared from her sight, he gave her a small smile and said,

"I'm sorry, Lu. Sorry for everything."

And she began to cry bitterly.