A/N: Ok - So I'm providing a bit of back story in this chapter which will be needed for the final chapters of this fanfic. If you want more back story and haven't already read it - 'Justice for the Just' introduces the characters in this chapter in more detail. I'll get back to our main characters in the next chapter.

Disclaimer: delusional though I may be at times, I am not nor have I ever believed myself to be C.S. Lewis and so - I own nothing!

Excerpt from Epilogue of Justice for the Just …

King Randal stood by the post of iron with the lantern on top of it. The post that he visited every year on the anniversary of his parent's disappearance. It was a strange device, he reflected. Placing his hand on the post, King Randal sighed and laid his head to the cold hard surface. It was the only link her had to his mother and father.

He had never seen them again and he still missed them terribly, even now ten years later, when he had his own wife and child.

The sound of galloping hooves woke Randal from his reverie. Looking up he saw General Oreius dashing into the clearing. He was breathless and coated with foam and had clearly been galloping for some time. "Your Majesty" he gasped out as he came to a stumbling halt beside his King. "The Telmarines. Cair Paravel is under attack!" …

The Oath

Lupa stood deep in the hidden passages beneath the How in front of the stone. The Stone he and his pack had sworn to protect. The Stone that Aslan had charged them to guard until King Edmund and Queen Tess returned. The memory of the day that the oath had been made by their ancestor Wilka, son of the original Lupa was engraved in the group memory of the whole pack …

Flashback …

… Lupa stared in dismay at the fleet of Telmarine ships. When the sails had been spotted on the horizon, no one could have guessed the magnitude of the threat that approached. Except General Oreius of course. Oreius, in King Randal's absence had sent birds out to spy on the ships and they had come back with the news of an attacking force of Telmarines.

Oreius had sped to Lantern Waste where King Randal was making his yearly pilgrimage to the site where his parents had last been seen, on the anniversary of their departure. Ironic that the Telmarines had chosen this of all days to attack – the anniversary of the day that King Edmund and Queen Tess had sacrificed their lives in Narnia so that, one day they could come back and save it.

Lupa had not accompanied the King, as such a long journey was too taxing on the old wolf. His son Wilka, who had taken on most of his duties had gone in his stead with the rest of the palace pack. Lupa only hoped that King Randal and his guard would make it back in time to make a difference.

Lupa ascended slowly to the tower where Queen Eleanor stood watching the approach of the Telmarines. Before he had left to find the king. Oreius had handed over charge of the defence of Cair Paravel to his second in command, Titus. The army was drawn up in glittering formation in front of Cair Paravel to meet the Telmarines if and when they attempted to land in Narnia.

"Queen Eleanor" Lupa greeted his Queen, he turned to the young Prince at her side – though just nine years old, he was doing his best to show no fear. "Prince Edmund" Lupa greeted him.

"Hello Lupa" Prince Edmund replied with only a slight tremor in his voice.

Queen Eleanor smiled at Lupa, but her eyes remained grave.

"Any word of Randal?" she asked.

"No, Your Majesty." Lupa replied. "I'll warrant we shall see the King as fast as any message could travel to us."

Eleanor nodded and turned her eyes back to the approaching ships.

"Is it my imagination or have the ships stopped coming any closer to shore?" she asked.

Lupa was prevented from answering as, at that moment, Titus, an enormous griffin and General Oreius's second in command swept onto the tower beside them.

"My Queen!" he gasped. "The Telmarines. It seems a second army landed farther up the coast. They approached from the landward side of Cair Paravel unnoticed while we were watching their fleet. They have catapults! I have ordered half our army to meet their attack while the other half awaits attack from the ships. But I am afraid neither of our forces are large enough to meet the Telmarine numbers."

Eleanor rushed to the landward side of the tower with Prince Edmund held tightly by the hand, Lupa and Titus close behind her.

"Aslan help us" she gasped. "They stretch for miles!"

"I shall see to our defence My Queen" said Titus and prepared to take off.

However, at that moment the catapults, which had been drawn up in a semi - circle around Cair Paravel, launched. Huge rocks came sailing through the air towards the castle's towers …

… Lupa's last thoughts as he lay in the rubble of the tower where of King Edmund. He hoped that Aslan would let King Edmund and Queen Tess return soon so that they could save Narnia from the Telmarines.

As much as he respected King Randal, he was sure that the King and his small guard would be unable to defeat the hoard that now poured its way through Cair Paravel from land and sea, killing all that stood before them.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

"No!"

As he crested the brow of the hill, the hill that would give them their first sight of Cair Paravel, King Randal drew in his steaming horse and surveyed the scene below him in horror.

"Eleanor! Edmund!"

Cair Paravel lay in ruins.

"No … Aslan!"

Narnia's army lay strewn on the battlefield, dead or mortally wounded.

"Why?"

There were Telmarines everywhere, as far as the eye could see.

"Why Aslan?"

With an enraged howl, King Randal spurred his horse down the slope towards the waiting Telmarine army. Wilka son of Lupa, the palace pack and Oreius could do naught but follow.

Oreius thundered next to his King, echoing the words that he had said to High King Peter on the battlefield many years before.

"To the death!"

He was right!

Wilka and the remnants of the palace pack formed a ring around the body of their King, snarling at the Telmarines as they approached to finish off the last living Narnians in Cair Paravel.

Wilka crouched ready for a last desperate attack …

But it never came.

Suddenly, without warning, Wilka found himself and his pack in a cave, far away from the battlefield.

Aslan stood before him.

"No" howled Wilka. "Let me go back. I must defend my King!"

In his rage it was all that Wilka could do not to attack Aslan. But Aslan stood strong and calm before him.

"Be at peace Wilka" he said. "Your King is now in my country."

"Then my job here is done." Wilka whimpered. "Aslan let me go to him. Please."

"No"

Wilka looked at Aslan shocked. Aslan gazed around at the whole pack.

"Narnia has need of you all yet" he said to them gravely.

He stood aside to let them see what was behind him. The pack gathered around and stared in awe.

"I will tell you of the task I have for you – a task that will take generations and then, then I will have your oaths!" …

… Present day

Lupa sighed. His mission and that of his packs was nearly at an end. Years of exile, of hiding were nearly done. He and his pack could once more resume their positions as guards of the true King of Narnia!

A/N: That's it for now - hope this was ok - please review!