Chapter Fourteen: Return to Narnia

(Corin)

"Fight! Fight! Fight!" the crowd screamed. I ducked a punch and drove my fist into an older boy's stomach. He doubled over, gasping. Peter was fending off two at once while Edmund was doing fine against a third. I moved to help Peter, wrenching one of the boy's arms behind his back and forcing him down. Just then the constable arrived, blowing his whistle shrilly.

"Act your age!" he snapped after he separated us. Susan came up.

"What was it this time?" she asked tiredly. Peter and Edmund had been getting in a lot of fights on my behalf. Somehow, nobody save us four remembered Lucy. Instead, I was the child the Pevensies had adopted as an infant. And now, we were all taking a lot of ridicule as it was supposed that I was just a "common street brat" influencing the Pevensies to do bad things.

Such as fight.

"He shoved Corin and called him a bastard street child after shoving him." Edmund huffed. Susan's eyes flashed ominously as she began to fume, calling the boy who had insulted me a few choice names and wishing she had her bow. By the Lion, when that woman…er, girl, was angry she was frightening!

I sighed as we sat down on a wooden bench waiting for the train to arrive so we could go to boarding school. It had been a year since I'd lost Lucy. By now she would have had the baby. It would be months old. I wouldn't have been there for the birth of our child.

I wouldn't have been there for her.

Then it felt like someone with long, sharp nails had pinched my arm. Hard.

"Ouch! Something pinched me!" I exclaimed as I jumped to my feet.

"OW! Me too!" cried Susan. Peter and Ed jumped to their feet, cursing. Then Edmund exclaimed,

"It feels like magic!"

The train began to pull in and a great wind blew through the station. Strangely, nobody else noticed.

"Quick! Everyone hold hands!" Peter bellowed. I stared at him. Seriously?

"I'm not holding your hand!" Edmund shouted. Thank you, Edmund.

We linked hands as the train passed. As the cars zipped by, tiles began stripping off the walls. There were flashes of bright blue sky and white sand. Finally, when the last car disappeared, we were standing in a cave on the beach. I breathed in the clean, salty air and looked at the bright water. I knew where I was immediately.

Narnia.

Home.

Lucy.

I kicked off my shoes and ran for the water. Peter, Edmund, and Susan chased after me. I scooped up a handful of water and threw it at Susan. She shrieked, falling back into the waves. Her floor-length hair swirled around her like a dark cloud.

Wait.

Floor-length hair?

Susan's hair barely reached her shoulders. She was thirteen. I looked at Peter and Edmund.

Then I gasped.

We were adults again.

"Oi! We're adults again!" I shouted. They froze mid-laugh and looked at each other. I looked down at myself. I was once again over six feet tall with a strong, muscular body. I ran a hand through my curly blond hair—finally back to shoulder length, thank goodness—and looked around us. Then I froze. This looked like where Cair Paravel was.

But it was in ruins.

I dropped to my knees.

"Corin?" Susan's voice seemed distant.

"That's Cair Paravel." I whispered. "But…this couldn't have happened in a year…Lucy…"

Susan gasped.

We rushed to what was left of the castle. The only part of it left standing was the section of wall over the treasure room. We immediately shoved aside the stone wall and forced the wooden door open. Peter began ripping at his too-small white shirt before wrapping it around a stick.

"I don't suppose you have any matches?" he asked. Ed smirked.

"Well, no. But, would this help?" he asked, pulling an electric torch out of his satchel. Peter huffed. "You might have mentioned that a bit sooner!" he teased.

Edmund just smirked.

Clicking it on, we slowly descended into the treasure room. It was mostly intact, with only a little debris littering the ground. Once we make it to the bottom floor where our trunks were stored, I stopped dead.

Laying on a cushion, her head resting on a soft pillow, was Lucy.

Lucy.

I ran and dropped to my knees beside her.

"Lucy. Wake up, please. I've missed you so much." I nearly wept.

She didn't stir.

I kissed her soft pink lips and wiped away a tear.

I looked away from her beautiful face and felt my heart break. I'd lost her for so long. Why wouldn't she wake up?

"Corin?" a soft, musical voice asked. I turned my head so fast my neck popped.

"Lucy?" I exclaimed. I grabbed her and hugged her close, burying my face in her hair.

"Lucy, I've missed you so much, what happened while we were gone." Her face went pale.

"The Telmarines attacked us. Orieus hid me in here because of the baby. Aslan told me to sleep. I don't know how long it's been." Peter, Edmund, and Susan join us, hugging Lucy tightly.

After explaining what happened to us, we open our chests. I pull out some Narnian clothes—my English ones are much too short and tight—and dress before pulling out my swords. The others do the same, although Lucy just puts on her chain mail, straps her swords, daggers, and cordial to her waist before slinging her bow and quiver over her shoulder and throwing a cloak and some spare dresses in a bag she attempts to strap to her back before I stop her with a kiss and throw it on my own back. She smiles and settles her silver crown on her head. Thankfully, Peter, Ed, Susan and I had enough sense not to wear our crowns the day we left Narnia through the wardrobe, instead leaving them in the chests. So now they all go back on our heads.

I've missed the weight of my crown the last year. It's a comforting thing, almost.

After making our way to the beach near the river mouth, we see two Telmarine soldiers preparing to drown a Red Dwarf.

"Drop him!" Lucy shouts, drawing her bow. The little dwarf glares as the soldiers look up and drop him.

In the water.

To drown.

As Lucy puts a fatal arrow in each man, Peter goes for the boat while I rescue the Dwarf. Once back on shore, Lucy pulls a dagger and cuts his binds.

"Drop him!" the surly little man snarls. "Was that the best you could come up with?" Lucy stiffens.

"You would do well to note who I am and that we just saved your life, Dwarf." She comments. His eyes widen as he takes us all in.

"Oh no…you're the Kings and Queens of old." Peter steps forward.

"High King Peter the Magnificent." He says with a courtly bow. The Dwarf snorts when Susan sarcastically remarks,

"You probably could have left off the last bit."

"Probably." He mocks. Peter quirks an eyebrow.

"Try us." He says simply, handing the Dwarf his sword.

The Dwarf stares.

"You don't want to do that." He smirks.

"Not me." Peter adds.

"Her." He points to Lucy.

I stifle a chuckle.

That Dwarf is going down.

(Lucy)

Nothing.

For so long, that's all there was. I slept, not knowing what was happening. Then I began to dream.

Orieus leading the Narnians into battle against endless Telmarines.

The ragtag band of survivors—including, thankfully, Orieus and Mr. Tumnus and the Beavers—hiding in the woods the Telmarines feared.

The terror spread by the Telmarines.

The fall of Ettinsmoor.

Centuries of life and death and terror and love.

The small but thriving band of Narnians.

So many years.

Where were my siblings? Where was Corin?

Where was Aslan?

When I finally woke, it was like being born again. Corin and my siblings were there. I could finally do something after centuries of nothing.

As much as I hated to kill, shooting my bow was one of the best things I've done in so long.

I never want to sleep that long again.

A.N. So, what do you think? Pretty good spin on Prince Caspian so far? Next chapter or so will have Prince Caspian's POV. Review please!