So … PadrePedro reviewed and remarked that it was a good thing that Saris wasn't Corin's guard as they would cause havoc together … let's explore that – shall we?

"Quick. There's a spare pony now, and the Dwarf's armour. Put it on before anyone notices."

"What for?" said Shasta, his heart sinking.

"Why, so that you and I can fight in the battle of course! Don't you want to?"

"Oh — ah, yes, of course," said Shasta. But he hadn't been thinking of doing so at all and began to get a most uncomfortable prickly feeling in his spine.

"That's right," said Corin. "Over your head. Now the sword-belt. But we must ride near the tail of the column and keep as quiet as mice. Once the battle begins everyone will be far too busy to notice us."

"Is that so?" purred a voice from behind them.

Turning fearfully Shasta and Corin saw Saris sitting on her haunches cleaning herself methodically while regarding them coolly.

"Saris …" began Corin

"You were told not to join in the battle cub." Saris remarked to Corin.

"But Saris …"
"Orders are orders Prince" Saris insisted.

"But I'm the only Archenlander here and it's my father's Castle we're defending." Corin objected.

Saris regarded the seething Prince thoughtfully.

"King Edmund says that you are too young."

"I'm twelve – older than King Edmund was at the Battle of Beruna!" Corin objected.

Saris thought about that.

It was true, King Edmund was only ten when he fought in the Battle that freed Narnia from the White Witch

… and he had had no training …

… whereas Corin had been training with a blade almost since he had been able to walk …

… in all likelihood, if Saris forbade him from fighting, Corin would just sneak in and fight anyway …

"Prince Corin. I have no time to mind Your Highness and your … your … double. (Oops he had been about to say 'twin'.) I have another Prince to attend to!" Saris growled at the pouting Prince.

Saris was still seething that he had been left behind when Queen Susan had gone to Calormen and that she had not had the opportunity to defend her Queen from Prince Rabadash. She meant to correct that error shortly. Saris made to walk away, Queen Susan must be told of the cubs plans.

"We can help you get Prince Rabadash!"

Shasta stopped. She turned towards the grinning Prince and pricked her ears forward.

"How?"

By about eleven o'clock the whole company was once more on the march, riding westward with the mountains on their left. Corin and Shasta rode right at the rear with the Giants immediately in front of them, screening them from view from the front of the column.

Susan, Edmund, Orieus and Peridan were busy with their plans for the battle but they were not so distracted that they forgot the wayward Archenlandish Prince and his twin.

"But where is his goosecap Highness?" Edmund asked of everyone in general.

"They are at the back of the column Your Majesty." Saris replied, hoping that King Edmund would leave it at that.

Edmund looked as if he was going to ask something more, but at that moment Oreius called his attention away. Susan however knew the young Prince well enough to know that being at the rear of the column would not be enough to keep Corin out of mischief. She looked at her guard.

"Keep an eye on them for me, will you Saris?" she asked her guard.

Saris nodded and made his way back to the twins to continue their plans.

Rabadash surveyed the scene before him with satisfaction. Everything was going to plan. His men had surrounded the castle of Anvard, and were at work with the battering ram. With every stroke, the gates quivered. Rabadash almost purred with satisfaction. There would be no escape for the Archenlanders until they surrendered – Archenland would be his! And then, he would ride like the wind to Narnia and claim his bride. Once he had Susan in Tashbaan she would soon succumb to his charms as once she had before.

Suddenly there was a frantic call from one of his Captains.

"Narnians!"

Rabadash looked wildly around, finally spotting the group of Narnians on the slope beneath the mountain pass, the Royal Narnian standard spread out defiantly in the wind.

Shouting out orders to his men, Rabadash mounted his warhorse and led them toward the advancing Narnians, screaming insults as he charged.

Too late he saw that The Cats were rushing towards the line of riderless horses to prevent the Calormenes from retreating on them. Ordering his General to continue to lead the attack, Rabadash pursued the cats – they needed those horses, else he would be unable to reach Narnia to claim his bride. But he was too late and the cats too swift. The horses had already bolted and The Cats were rushing towards the men who were carrying the battering ram to stop them from their attack on the gates of Anvard.

Frantically Rabadash surveyed the field, hoping to see at least one horse that he could claim to make the journey to Narnia. He did see one horse, but it had a rider on it, none other than the impudent Prince of Archenland, who was in fact waving cheekily to him from atop his horse. Rabadash was infuriated – how dare the impudent fool mock him. With a roar he charged towards the mocking form of Prince Corin. If his men were to fail to win against the Narnians and Archenlanders, Corin would make a fine hostage.

Halfway towards where he had spotted Corin however, Rabadash noticed another form at the end of the battlefield, this figure was also waving mockingly. Looking closely Rabadash saw that it was none other than the Archenlandish Prince. How had he gotten so far so quickly? Shaking his head, Rabadash decided that it didn't matter – the impudent Prince of Archenland would be his!

He had almost reached the Prince when he heard a call behind him

"Coo eee!"

Wheeling his horse around Rabadash saw … Prince Corin.

"Rabadash!"

The call came from behind him and turning his horse again Rabadash saw … Prince … Corin?

Rabadash spun back to see none other than Prince Corin still sitting on his horse where he had last seen him … but how …

Hearing a cough close behind him, Rabadash decided … if this land of demons conjured up one hundred Prince Corins – he would slay them all. Wheeling his horse around once more, he prepared to charge, but what he saw stopped him cold.

Saris sat coolly at the edge of the clearing, cleaning her already pristine fur as if entirely unconcerned by the battle still raging behind her. She raised her cool gaze to the Calormene Prince

"Rabadash" she greeted him nonchalantly.

"You!" Rabadash gasped

"Indeed!" Saris returned sitting back on her haunches and regarding the Calormene Prince with disdain.

"Get away from me demon!" commanded Rabadash. "In the name of Tash, the inexorable I denounce you!"

"Not a demon" Saris

"What" Rabadash was caught off guard. He had never spoken directly to Saris or any of the other 'beasts' before and her matter of fact tone was unexpected.

"I am not a demon" Saris explained precisely, "I am a guard – Queen Susan's personal guard in fact." She paused and looked piercingly at Rabadash who was regarding her with an expression of disgust and fear.

"Would you like to hear my oath?"

Rabadash was flabbergasted. The demon was speaking to him! Probably trying to lure into a false sense of security so that it could play some demon trick on him. He raised his sword defensively.

Saris continued, unperturbed by Rabadash's silence or his raised scimitar.

"I, Saris do hereby swear to be the personal guard of Queen Susan the Gentle of Narnia."

Here she leapt at Rabadash, claws extended.

"You separated me from My Queen so that I could not guard her!" she hissed.

Rabadash danced out of the way of the panther's extended claws just in time, swinging his scimitar wildly.

"I swear I shall protect her with all that I have and all that I am."

Saris continued stalking the Calormene Prince, her tail lashing backwards and forwards in anger.

"I could not protect her when she was separated from me – but I can now!"

She lunged at Rabadash's face, drawing her claws down his unprotected cheek, leaving four red lines which started to bleed profusely.

"With my mind, my body and my very soul I swear to uphold this oath."

The two combatants were shaking: Saris with fury, Rabadash with fear.

"You made me break my oath Calormene!"

Saris roared and pounced on Rabadash, knocking him to the ground, her four legs wrapped around his torso as she tried to bite his face and neck. Rabadash's sword was useless as his arms were pinned to his sides.

"This I swear in this world and the next, until the end of time."

Saris snarled, continuing to strain towards Rabadash's unprotected face. She noticed that Rabadash was looking past her, seemingly to someone approaching from behind and risked a quick look over her shoulder.

There striding toward them was Giant Rumblebuffin. The giant appeared to be focused on some fleeing Calormenes on the horizon and hadn't noticed the ferocious battle at his feet … and … he was about to step on them. Corin and his twin had just noticed the Giant and were shouting frantically at Saris to warn him to get out of the way.

With a low snarl of frustration Saris leapt off Rabadash and out of the way of the oblivious giant's feet. Rabadash, freed from Saris, was too stunned to jump up and merely rolled to remove himself from danger.

He was almost successful Rumblebuffin was wearing large, spiked books, one of the spikes on his left boot ripped the back of Rabadash's chain – shirt and the second foot neatly kicked Rabadash who, almost like a football spun up and off and landed in the middle of the battle, stunned and sore but largely unhurt. With a howl of frustration Saris hurtled after the Prince into the thick of the battle. After a quick glance at each other the twins followed.

Rabadash meanwhile sat up and found himself in the middle of the battle, largely unhurt and still holding his scimitar.

"At least that demon is off me!" he remarked to himself, standing up and dusting himself off. But then he stiffened as he felt a sword pressed to the unprotected spot in his back where his mail shirt had been ripped.

Turning his head slowly over his shoulder, he saw a helmeted figure, dressed in armour with the royal crest on the surcoat.

"King Edmund" Rabadash said smiling mockingly. "Would you have it be said that you could only best me by sneaking up on me like a thief in the night … or will you face me and fight, like a King, like a man?"

In answer the figure removed the sword from Rabadash's back and held it ready for battle.
Grinning, Rabadash lost no time in attacking, but found that he was being pressed back nearer and nearer to the wall of the castle and so he jumped up on a mounting block and stood there raining down blows on Edmund from above.

But then, finding that this position, by raising him above the heads of everyone else, made him a mark for every arrow from the Narnian bows, and seeing Saris sprinting towards him, he decided to jump down again. And he meant to look and sound — no doubt for a moment he did look and sound — very grand and very dreadful as he jumped, crying, "The bolt of Tash falls from above." But he had to jump sideways because the crowd in front of him left him no landing place in that direction. And then, in the neatest way you could wish, the tear in the back of his hauberk caught on a hook in the wall. And there he found himself, like a piece of washing hung up to dry, with everyone laughing at him.

"Let me down, Edmund," howled Rabadash. "Let me down and fight me like a king and a man; or if you are too great a coward to do that, kill me at once.

A soft laugh came from under the helmet, which was peeled aside to reveal … Queen Susan.

"Both options sound appealing Rabadash, but I am neither a King nor a man, and yet it seems, I am more than a match for you!" she declared with a raised eyebrow and amused expression.

"A match for me?" Rabadash spluttered. "You a mere woman a match for me? Impossible!"

Saris had reached them at this point and was regarding the Prince with a smug expression.

"Oh" she purred. "So … you were giving ground on purpose then when my Queen was battling you?"

Rabadash spluttered some more. "Let me down wench" he roared at Susan and I will teach you a sharp lesson and then when I have beaten you in the battlefield I shall bring you home to Tashbaan and show you who is Master in the home also!"

"Certainly …" began Susan but King Lune interrupted.

"By your Majesty's good leave," said King Lune to Susan. "Not so."

Then, turning to Rabadash he said,

"Your royal Highness, if you had given that challenge a week ago, I'll answer for it there was no-one in Queen Susan's dominion, from the High King down to the smallest Talking Mouse, who would have refused it. But by attacking our castle of Anvard in time of peace without defiance sent, you have proved yourself no knight, but a traitor, and one rather to be whipped by the hangman than to be suffered to cross swords with any person of honour. Take him down, bind him, and carry him within till our pleasure is further known."

Strong hands wrenched Rabadash's sword from him and he was carried away into the castle, shouting, threatening, cursing, and even crying. For though he could have faced torture he couldn't bear being made ridiculous. In Tashbaan everyone had always taken him seriously. Susan watched Rabadash go, with a little pity, but no regret in her heart.

At that moment Corin, who could be relied on to interrupt any and every serious moment ran up to with his twin, dragging him towards his father.

"Here he is, Father, here he is," cried Corin.

"Aye, and here thou art, at last," said the King in a very gruff voice. "And hast been in the battle, clean contrary to your obedience. A boy to break a father's heart! At your age, a rod to your breech were fitter than a sword in your fist, ha!"

But everyone, including Corin, could see that the King was very proud of him.

"Chide him no more, Sire, if it please you," said one of the Archeland Lords.

"His Highness would not be your son if he did not inherit your conditions. It would grieve your Majesty more if he had to be reproved for the opposite fault."

Susan rolled her eyes at Saris – it was no wonder Corin was difficult to control he was let get away with everything. As if to prove her right Lune continued.

"Well, well," grumbled the King. "We'll pass it over for this time. And now — "

Lune gathered the surprised boy in his arms and gave him a massive bear hug and kissed him on both cheeks, his eyes misty with tears.

Then the King set him down again and said,

"Stand here together, boys, and let all the court see you. Hold up your heads. Now, gentlemen, look on them both. Has any man any doubts?"

At this the entire battlefield, after regarding the two boys, erupted into deafening cheers.