~Caspian~

In a way, a part of me could not picture this place being riddled with war and death. Obviously, I knew it was, but seeing so many people going about their everyday business and seemingly not having a care in the world was startling to me. In Narnia, whenever there was a war ground, people cowered away from it all and flinched to even be stood there. It was something incredibly minimal, but it was another reminder for me over how different these worlds are. Seeing people laughing, joking, and looking happy was alien to me. How bad must the war have been that riddled this country, and multiple other, have been for people to walk around like they were just going to the nearby stall to get some milk and bread?

I wanted to ask, so badly, but I knew it would be stupid of me to do so. Whenever I'm asked about the battle of the How, I shiver in remembrance. It would be selfish of me to force the same thoughts upon them. I watched from the corner as Edmund got dressed to head away. Rooms had finally been assigned to us all, but I had decided to stay with the young King. For multiple hours through the night we would share stories of our respectful reigns, some of it horrifying but feeling like we needed to get it all off our chests. Now, I wouldn't have that, as he was going South to take part in a raid.

With the distance it would take to get there and with them needing to go above, I'll be surprised if it takes less than four days. I'll be even more surprised if they all walk out unscathed. It was a horrible feeling; one I'd never felt before. The closest thing I could remember to feel like this was when Peter was stepping into the ring with my uncle to fight to the death. Knowing I cannot do anything about it but feeling like I need to. Even now, despite it being almost a fortnight of stepping foot into Finchley, seeing his scars unnerved me. There were probably thousands of them, reminding me of how many battles he had participated in. It wasn't a very nice feeling knowing he was thirteen when he received his first ones.

At thirteen, I was running around the castle constantly. Climbing walls so high that if I fell it would ensure immediate death. Leaping from the walls that encased the castle over the moat at an area the water was only a couple of meters deep, so even if I didn't land it, me being a good swimmer I had a decent chance to get out. Galloping around on Destrier's back and jumping over rivers. Climbing trees and jumping from branch to branch, sometimes going so high that I could see the entirety of Bermuda. Playing pranks on the castle staff and blaming it on other people. Exploring parts I had never seen and finding hidden passages that led to parts I was never allowed in. And then there was the man in front of me participating in a damn battle at that age, and almost dying from a fatal wound to his lower stomach.

It was one he had told me on multiple occasions had never faded once. Even around it, there was still a faint hint of discolouration from where a broken wand had pierced him. Even from the age of thirteen, he was showing his brilliant tactician mind. Instead of killing hundreds of people who maybe weren't even fighting for what they believed in- but for what they were forced to follow, he had gone for the root of the issue immediately. By ripping out the root, the weeds lost the inability to grow, and therefore would die out in due time anyway. It had a weird tinge to it too, it was white from the exact position he had been stabbed, but right in the centre of it, I could swear it was tinted an incredibly pale blue.

I really should stop thinking of things like this, because it only makes me yearn for more.

"When I come back, you had better have a better aim with guns and knives, otherwise my sisters may have your head."

I blinked and jumped in surprise at seeing him directly in front with one of his many knives pointed at my face. I backed away slightly, his expression terrifying me slightly. He kept it up for a few seconds before lowering the weapon and laughing.

"I'm sure your brother and you would finish that task off if they did not succeed."

He paused for a moment before nodding. We really shouldn't be talking about death in a situation as this, because there is a high chance that he is not going to come back alive. Yes, he's been in over a dozen battles over a decade of ruling, but it is still unsettling.

"How did you feel the first time you killed someone?"

He froze a little at my question before looking to me with a questioning look, clearly wondering where that had come from. Honestly, I don't know where it came from, I just said it without even thinking it. He sighed deeply before pulling on a thick leather top. I frowned at it as it did not look like it would give any protection at all against a bullet. By now, he had lost the limp he had when he was struck by one of the ferocious metal beads. Even now, it surprised me something so small could cause so much damage.

"I'll be honest with you here, Caspian. I cannot remember the first time I killed someone. Was it atop the battlements with the archers? Was it down on the actual battlefield? It's all a massive blur to me, it has been twenty-one years for me when that happened. I can barely even remember what I ate for breakfast last week never mind the first life I took."

The words unsettled me, no one would be able to hide their discomfort at these words. He pulled on some boots and clipped on a sash-like device around his shoulder down to his hip. That must be used to encase weapons. We left the room at this, heading towards the weapon room. This was one of three in the entire faction that were permanently locked up. The other two were the planning room and the training corridor. He retrieved a bunch of knives and began storing them in the sash. Once he was done with this, he grabbed a belt filled with ammunition and two guns that sat at either side of his hips. Finally, he grabbed another sash filled with darts filled with a liquid I did not know.

"Well, I guess this is it for now dear friend."

I smiled at this and shook his hand. I walked with him to the planning rooms. Peter looked at me oddly, but this disappeared a moment later to one of absolute worry. I've only seen that look once. That was when he took the respite with the duel with my uncle. When he had saw me and Susan riding by but not Lucy. I never thought that was a look he would wear in this world, but it was obvious now it was a look his siblings were well acquainted with.

"Don't look at me like that brother, you should be used to this by now."

Peter glared at him for that quip before muttering;

"Just because I'm used to it doesn't mean I like it."

Edmund rolled his eyes at that comment before looking to Benjamin. I'd learned a couple of days ago that he was essentially the war general. A bit like Glenstorm with me.

"When are the others arriving, Ben?"

He opened his mouth about to say something when the door opened, eight people walking in. All were kitted out exactly like Edmund. It was clear the ancient King was the youngest out of them, but they were still looking to him with an awed expression. They must've proven themselves hundreds of times over that their ages did not mean they were inexperienced. Two other people walked inside, and I had to do a double take. The first was a tall male with blonde hair and piercing blue eyes, the second being a relatively tall woman with chestnut hair and eyes so dark they looked black. All but the brothers left the room at this as the male swooped his children into his arms.

"Do you need to go, son?"

Edmund breathed his scent in deeply, relishing it as it is a possibility this is the last time that he will see his father.

"Yes, I need to make sure they all stick to the plan. Also, I suggested this raid so it would be cowardly of me not to take part in something that I instigated."

"Mum, please don't start."

The older woman immediately closed her mouth which caused me to snigger quietly. I grew up without parents, so I've never experienced this type of overbearing teasing, and it was amusing. Especially since her sons are technically thirty-four and thirty-seven.

"When you both are fathers you'll understand where we're coming from."

It was incredibly subtle, but Peter looked away for a moment at that, and his brother gave him a pained smile. The entire interaction lasted no more than two seconds, but it was enough for me to notice. I forget sometimes that Peter was a father at one point. They'd already told me before that their parents were not aware of what a huge chunk of their lives entailed.

"Anyway, I'd better head so we're on time. If we're quick enough, we'll be able to make it past the ring of Citizens and be on the border of the river by nightfall."

He was about to walk away but he was pulled into a bone crushing hug from his mother. Now they were stood in front of me, it struck me just how much the brothers looked like their respective parents. Edmund blushed and groaned deeply when his mother began kissing him. Peter and I were struggling to keep our laughter in, both knowing it would be insulting to laugh currently. Eventually, he wriggled out of the embrace and left the room. Once he was, his mother broke down crying immediately.

"He'll be ok, Helen. He always comes back- "

"But that could change, John. It's getting more violent as each day passes in the factions. All it takes is one misstep and- "

"Mum, he'll be ok. How many situations have we been in like this? And how often has either of us been seriously injured? It's less than ten, and the injuries are not life-threatening serious with immediate attention. He's planned this all meticulously, this will only fail if someone does not follow it. And I highly doubt either of the others will disobey his orders."

She sniffled deeply at this and breathed a few times. It was only now she eyed me a bit strangely.

"It's a pleasure to meet you both, my name is Casper, I lived in the village Digory Kirke's estate resides outside."

Even now, getting used to that name was weird. But I was getting there. I'd clearly spoken at the perfect time as this seemed to make them both smile and temporarily take their minds off it all. We stayed to talk for a bit before they had to leave for their own duties. Once they were out the room, I turned to Peter who looked guilty as nothing else.

"I hate lying to them, I really do."

I grimaced as these words sank in before hesitantly sitting down in front of him at the table. I reached over and squeezed his tightened fist lightly.

"Pete, I have no idea what you're feeling, nor will I ever know what you are feeling as I was a toddler when my parents died. When it does come to an end and we all cross over to Aslan's county or whatever it is in this world, you will no longer need to hide it. Plus, you'll be reunited with Aylene and your little ones. It's not the end."

At my last words, he smiled deeply, but his despair was still coming off him. It's an odd feeling, when someone beside you is going through so much feeling to the point that you can feel it. I've only experienced it a couple of times and both times were in battles. This was not a battle; this was simply comforting someone who despises lying to his parents. We both stood up now and began walking, along the way he stated we had better get to work on improving my aim as he had a couple of hours until he had his next scheduled activity. He made sure to lock the door behind us before gesturing me to pick up one of the guns.

"Susan is in a mood as usual again, this combined with her worrying nature over Edmund means she may not be the best trainer currently. I'm not as good as her, I'll be honest, but I'm not far off it."

I walked over to the wall where the weapons were all stored and grabbed the types I had been using when Peter quirked an eyebrow up.

"I thought you would've gone for these ones considering their sturdier in weight. You were trained in crossbows instead of bows, which is more weight, so wouldn't a more weighted weapon suit you?"

I gave him a weird look at this before walking over to the ones he was pointing at. Hesitantly, I pulled one down and balanced it on my palm. He was correct, this one was significantly heavier. Personally, I do find it easier to aim with more weight behind it, so his observation may be of use.

"We'll start with stationary targets first. Aim for the larger section- the body essentially- and once we get to five successful shots, we'll move up."

I nodded at his instruction, taking note of how different his training was than what it was with Susan on this. She was very much 'jump in at the deep end' kind whereas he was more baby steps makes perfection type. I've gotten decent over the past few days and I have his target a couple of dozen times, but I've been nowhere near where the bullseyes were located. I loaded up the weapon and took aim towards the dummy directly in front of me. I changed my posture ever so slightly and let my mind go blank and think that I was in Narnia and I was holding a crossbow. I gulped deeply and pulled the trigger, the loud noise they made when doing so no longer affecting me. The bullet landed a couple of inches outside the bullseye, but it was without doubt the closest I had been yet.

"Not bad, now try aiming a tiny bit above where you want it to be. Often when using guns when pulling the trigger, the force causes the barrel to go down just marginally."

For the next ninety minutes, we continued this. Surprisingly, I managed to hit the bullseye twice consecutively, but I only got four in total. Therefore, we were not moving on to smaller targets today. He smiled triumphantly at me which made me well with pride. I followed him outside towards the planning room again. He seems to live there with how often he is assigned to work here, but I can tell it keeps his mind busy. I made my way back to Edmund and I's room, sitting down on the mattress and picking up the book I had been reading. By now, the remaining siblings knew I had gone above once aside from when we first entered the faction so there was no need to hide what I had taken. I wasn't sure how long it was I had been reading for, but I soon heard a lot of commotion outside. I frowned and stood up to look.

In the corridor outside, there was a stampede almost. People running to their own rooms and the screaming was deafening. Something is going on. I edged the door open and began pushing my way in the opposite direction everyone was running, a few giving me a side-eye as I did so, but I did not care. That was when it hit me, there must be a raid going on currently. With this realisation, I pushed to the left towards the corridor that held the weapon room in it. It had already been ransacked by those who were fighting, but I grabbed what I could before trying to pinpoint the exact location it was coming from. That was until I spotted auburn hair up ahead and a young woman doing the same as I was.

"Lucy!"

She snapped her head towards me at that before yelling something unintelligible back with all the ruckus going on around us. She moved to the side, so she was not being pushed aside as much and I forced my way through the mass crowds to join her.

"Are you insane, Caspian?! You are not ready for this- "

"I don't give two shits if I'm ready for this or not. I can't sit back and watch this all happen like a coward."

She was still furious with me, but she knew where I was coming from. She sighed heavily before handing me over a couple of her precious knives. We braced ourselves before entering the onslaught of bodies once again. After dozens of bruises and aching joints from being shoved around, we came to the centre of the faction which was empty. We looked around us warily and listened in hard, my ears perking up as I heard commotion come from up ahead. With that, I was taking off towards it, the fellow royal hot on my heels. I spotted something coming my way at an intense speed which I ducked easily before pointing the gun I had grabbed into the darkness. Slowly, we edged up back to back so that we were covered on all sides. When the root came into my line of vision, my eyes widened once again.

There were already big piles of blood and at least a dozen bodies laid out on the ground. There appeared to be around seventy people actively fighting and I spotted the golden hair of the High King in amongst it all. Even here, his fighting prowess was unmatched. It appeared he was without weapon- or maybe he was keeping it concealed for surprise. It wouldn't surprise me if he did so. I spotted someone come at me from the side, but I dodged. Once he was in front of me a little dazed that I had avoided his tackle, I grabbed hold of his arms and twisted them painfully behind his back. He screamed out in pain at this before Lucy did the honours by pushing a knife into the centre of his ribcage. As soon as he stopped squirming, I let him go, knowing he was as good as dead.

Now, we were all involved in the fight. I tried my best to keep my eye on Peter and Lucy, but it wasn't easy to do so considering the chaos surrounding us currently. I was obviously out of place here, but I held up to the best of my ability. I successfully took another two men down before I spotted the little Queen again who was flicking her wrists in such quick succession, you'd think she was a machine of some kind. As more people fell, the fighting steadily died down until it was more manageable. When Peter spotted me, his eyes widened in alarm, but he knew it would be stupid to intervene as we had not won yet.

I fought harder than I had been previously, stumbling on occasion due to my inexperience, but I hadn't sustained any threatening injuries yet, so I'll take that as a plus. I spotted someone going for Lucy who had her back turned whilst fighting someone one-on-one. With that, I grabbed one of the knives she had given me and took aim. I made sure to take her advice in using as little wrist movement as possible. When I let go of the blade, I bit my lip hard as I hoped I hadn't missed. When the metal pierced through the neck of the person in question, I breathed a sigh of relief. Around the same time, Lucy managed a fatal blow to the neck with her own knife before turning to me and whispering a 'thank you'.

"Where are you raiding from?"

Peter's booming voice broke the tense atmosphere as we turned to face him. The fighting had now stopped, and I recognised those standing as people who were a part of Finchley. The High King held the last remaining raider in a position that made it impossible for him to escape and I could also see he was without weapon.

"That was not a question, that was an order. Where are you raiding from?"

"Redbridge- "

"Again? You sent raiders less than a month ago- "

"I'm aware of that, but our leader orders it, not us. Spare me, please. I can be of help to Finchley. Use me as a hostage if needed, I can give you information."

A part of me was screaming 'no!' at this but it was clear he was directing his question to Peter and not to anyone else. He appeared to consider the proposition for a few minutes before sighing deeply. It was only now I spotted Benjamin was here too who was looking to me oddly but didn't say anything on the matter.

"He does have a point, Peter. He's more use to us alive than he is dead."

That seemed to seal the action as he let go of him. He said a few words to him quietly that I couldn't make out from where I stood but from the other man's expression, it appeared to have scared him shitless as he began shaking a little. Then he walked over to me with a mad look as well.

"What are you playing at? You're nowhere near trained- "

"Peter! For goodness sake don't berate him. For your information, I gave him the authority to do so as he did not want to sit back and do nothing."

I turned my head to Lucy who shot me a glance. Was she lying for me as cover to her brother? The twenty-two-year-old was still angry, but he turned away after this.

"Separate the bodies between the raiders and those we lost, then do the tally."

Benjamin nodded at this before getting to work with Lucy in moving all the bodies around. It was an unsettling image, seeing a seventeen-year-old girl look upon bodies like it were second nature to her. Once this had been done, the count began. When the number was aloud, I hissed at the loss. Nineteen dead, from our side alone.

"There's just over nine hundred of us left, we'll be annihilated soon if nothing happens."

Lucy nodded silently in agreement. This meant one thing, if Edmund's plan fails to go South, we are one mind down. One less mind to figure out a way to stop all this. If so, we are left open for massacre essentially. If it fails, there is a high chance we will all die. As we all slowly came to this realisation, Peter glanced to Benjamin oddly.

"I'll meet you in the planning room, we need to start thinking of defence tactics along with a plan B just in case."