"Lady Elaine."
Elaine turned to find a faun approaching her with a staff similar to hers in his hand. "Just Elaine is fine."
"As you wish then, Elaine. My name is Killian. Please come with me. And bring your staff."
Somewhat confused, Elaine pulled her staff from her satchel and followed the faun to an open field. She didn't think that he would do something to hurt her so close to Aslan's camp, but she still remained a little wary.
"Aslan has asked me to be the one who trains you to wield your staff. I consider it a great honor."
Elaine's grip on her staff tightened. So that was why he had brought her out here. As much as she wanted to learn how to properly use her given weapon, she was also nervous at the idea of training with it. The most fighting experience she currently had was when she accidentally tripped someone at school.
"Your training will be very difficult. I want to tell you now that I am going to be very hard on you not because I think ill of you, but because it is the only way you can learn as much as you possibly can in the very limited time we have."
"I understand."
"Good."
He used his staff to knock off her feet so quickly that Elaine didn't even realize he'd moved until she was on the ground.
"Lesson number one: always be on your guard. Attacks can come from anywhere at any time."
Elaine shook off the shock off the attack and stood back up.
"Put your hands here and here on your staff," Killian demonstrated. "You can keep a better grip on it that way."
He tried to hit her again, but she clumsily blocked the blow. Unfortunately, she didn't notice his hoof sweep her left foot out from under her, and she once again fell to the ground.
"Lesson number two: your staff is never your only weapon."
Elaine got up again and gripped her staff in her hands.
This process repeated another four times. Killian attacked, Elaine ended up on the ground, and he used the attack to point out something she could learn from it.
"Lesson number seven: no matter how many times you fall, you always get back up."
Elaine looked up at him, clearly not taking that particular lesson to heart.
Killian knelt down and looked at her concerned. "You fear something."
"I'm not really good with heights, and…I've never even held a weapon before."
"No, this is much deeper than that. You don't just fear it. It weighs you down and consumes you."
Elaine nervously pressed her lips together. She knew exactly what he was talking about.
"Fear, sadness, and anger can be useful emotions in a battle as long as you control them and work with them rather than fight again them. You must face whatever it is that you fear if you expect to survive the coming battle."
Elaine looked away from him.
"We will resume tomorrow. For now, you should get some rest and prepare to work very hard come the morning."
Killian walked out of the field and back to the camp.
The thought of confronting her deepest fears made Elaine's hands begin to tremble. But if she wanted to be of any help to Peter come the day of the battle, and she did, she would have to. Peter had been able to confront his fear of dogs, so she could confront her fears as well.
Her heart thumped heavily in her chest. This was not going to be easy.
It was well into the night by the time Vardan finally reached the Witch's camp with the Narnian soldiers following close behind.
Oreius had been trying to quell his doubts ever since the humans had arrived at Aslan's camp. He and all the other Narnians had waited for the prophecy to be fulfilled for so long, and when it seemed as if it was finally happening, of course everyone had been thrilled.
But things had not gone according to plan the very second they'd arrived. First off, the numbers had been wrong. There had been one Son of Adam and three Daughters of Eve. Oreius was not against another human entering Aslan's camp as long as she proved to be on their side. They needed all the help they could get.
But then to find out that the other Son of Adam was a traitor? Saving him went against everything Oreius had been raised to believe. How could any of them expect a traitor to become their king and restore peace when he was helping the White Witch keep them divided?
But if there was one thing Oreius knew well, it was that Aslan always made the right choice and his word was sacred. So if he commanded Oreius to rescue the traitor, then Oreius would rescue the traitor.
The centaur general wasn't sure what he expected to find in regards to the traitor upon entering the Witch's camp, but he could say that seeing the Son of Adam gagged and tied to a tree while the Witch's personal dwarf held a knife to his throat had certainly not been the first thing that came to mind.
While the rest of his soldiers took care of the harpies, orcs, ogres, and other creatures in the Witch's camp, Oreius reared up on his hind legs and slammed his front hooves down in front of the dwarf. The dwarf hopped back in alarm only to be restrained by two other soldiers.
The boy's eyes widened in fear as Oreius approached him, and he squirmed beneath his bonds.
"Do not fear, Your Majesty," Oreius said gently. "We are here to rescue you."
He held one of his swords high and slashed through all of the ropes holding him captive.
Edmund yanked the gag from his mouth but made no move to go with them. He had trusted the wrong person before, and he did not plan on making that mistake again.
Oreius sheathed his swords and held out a hand. "Come, I shall take you to your family."
The boy only continued to stare back at him in fear. Oreius then saw just how…broken he truly was. He didn't think that the boy truly knew what he was getting into when he had made the decision to go to the Witch. When it came down to it, the boy was still a child and Oreius knew how easily children could be swayed with the right words.
As he looked at the young and petrified boy in front of him, he could see that the darkness traitors usually held in their hearts was absent from him. It honestly surprised him that the White Witch had kept him alive this long.
Someone so young should never have been subjected to this kind of treatment.
For the first time, Oreius realized how unfair it was for all of the Narnians to place the entire fate of their world onto the shoulders of four humans who had not even known their world existed only a week ago, and humans who were children at that.
Oreius leaned his head down and touched his other hand to his chest. "I swear by Aslan's mane that I will not harm you, Your Majesty."
Edmund knew enough of Aslan by now to know that such a promise was not one to be taken lightly. Trembling a little, he reached up and took Oreius's extended hand. The centaur pulled him up so he stood on very shaky legs which reminded Oreius of a newborn foal. But sadly, this child had long since lost the innocence of a newborn.
Oreius made a promise right then that he would never allow either one of his kings or his queens or even the additional Daughter of Eve that had accompanied them to befall this kind of fate again for as long as he drew breath.
He had failed to trust Aslan when it came to the fate of the traitor, but he would not do it again. From now on, they were all under his protection, and so help the creature who tried to threaten any one of their lives.
"You are safe now," he said to the boy.
For a moment, he thought that the child might start crying, but he admirably put on as much of a brave face as he could muster.
"Come now."
Oreius gently helped Edmund onto his back.
"Hold on tight, Your Majesty."
The child gripped his tiny arms around his waist.
Oreius galloped off with his soldiers, leaving the Witch's troops beaten and Ginarrbrik tied to the tree in Edmund's place.
Edmund struggled to stay atop the centaur's back. He had never felt so weak and tired in his entire life, and the relief that someone had come to save him was so strong that it almost rendered him unconscious. But he held tight to the centaur's waist and trusted him to not let him fall.
Even though he was well aware that his family and Elaine probably hated him now (to say nothing of the other Narnians), he had never been so thrilled at the prospect of seeing them again.
That night, Elaine stood with her arms crossed on the hill where Aslan had spoken with her and Peter earlier. She stared out at the castle in the distance, still visible in all its glory even in the darkest hours. Would the Pevensies really call that castle home soon? What would happen to her when that time came?
Peter slowly came up to stand next to her.
Neither of them wanted to be the first to speak, so they stood in silence as the chatter from the camp below filled it for them.
"Do you want to know another secret?" Elaine finally asked softly.
"Only if you don't mind telling me," Peter answered.
Elaine took a deep breath. "Back at the Professor's house, I had a picture of my father kissing my mother's cheek that was taken just a couple months after their marriage. I loved that picture more than anything because I could see how happy they truly were before the war started. I used to talk to that picture sometimes…to my parents…and it felt like they heard everything I ever had to say."
Peter sighed. "I miss my parents too."
"That's not the same."
He could see that this was hard for her to admit to him, so he tried not to feel insulted. "Why not?"
She took a shaky breath, suddenly unsure that she could tell him the reason. She had never been able to bring herself to say the words. But she had promised herself that she would. If this was the only way she could truly fight alongside Peter, then she had to.
"Because my father is never coming home."
Peter turned to her. "Elaine, don't think like that. Just because he's Missing in Action doesn't mean he's not still out there. There's still hope."
Elaine slowly shook her head, refusing to look at him. "One month ago, we got another notice. He's not coming back."
Peter suddenly understood what she meant. He tried to think of something to say, but he knew there were no words that could possibly make her feel better. Missing-in-Action was one thing. There was still hope then, however small it was. But receiving the other kind of letter was something he wouldn't wish on his worst enemy.
Elaine finally looked at him. "Ever since my father left for the war, I have tried to be strong for my mother. I tried to be strong while he was gone, I tried to be strong when he was missing, and I had to be even stronger after they found him. But I thought that even though it was just the two of us now, we would be okay because we still had each other."
Peter felt awful. He couldn't imagine receiving that kind of news. She had been struggling with the loss of her father on her own all this time? The burden of such pain and loneliness must've nearly crushed her, and he felt even guiltier for the way he'd treated her when they'd first arrived at the Professor's.
Elaine's eyes misted with tears. "We were supposed to get through it together, and she sent me away!"
Peter quickly went up to her and wrapped his arms around her.
Elaine weakly tried to push him away. Peter already had to look after his own family and now all of the creatures that made up Aslan's army. She didn't want him to feel like he had to look after her too. She didn't want to cry like this in front of him. She still had to be strong and keep it together, didn't she?
But he didn't let her go. He kept his arms around her.
And suddenly, every single emotion that Elaine had shoved deep inside her came bursting forth so quickly that her legs gave out and she could not remain standing.
Peter realized this and sank down to the ground with her, his arms still tightly wrapped around her. She began to sob in his embrace which only made him hold her tighter.
This was her deepest fear: accepting that her father had died in the war and admitting that she was angry at her mother for separating them when they had barely had time to mourn for him.
As Elaine forced herself to confront the horrible emotions that had been hiding deep inside her, each tear she shed released more and more of the weight she had willingly put onto her shoulders.
Peter didn't say anything as he held her tightly and let her cry. No words were needed. His touch alone reminded her that despite their rocky start, she was no more alone in this than he was.