Hey guys!

New edition of chapter 4 is now up! Hope you like it!

Disclaimer: Guys, this is a fanfic. Everything other than Beth's storyline does not belong to me.

As always, please review! Really appreciate it!

Chapter 4. "The Kings and Queens of Old."

As they made their way to the Glasswater river, Trumpkin, who turned out to be the dwarf's name, had updated the young monarchs on their country's situation.

By the time they'd finally reached it, the four siblings were completely silent as they processed everything.

The Narnian had told them everything, from the Telmarine invasion centuries ago, to the Narnians slow but sure eventual extinction. The Narnians that survived the first attack were forced to retreat into the woods in hiding and now, they were nothing more than myths.

It was actually better for the Narnians as, since their enemy feared the woods, they now lived in relative peace, but it also meant that they were perpetually stuck to the forest for fear of being chased down. The freedom they used to have was nothing but a distant memory.

After much discussion, they had agreed to go back to Trumpkin's house, where the Telmarine boy who had blown the horn had appeared a few nights before. From the guards gossip, Trumpkin had learned the Telmarine who had fell from his horse right by his house was actually Caspian, heir to the Telmarine throne.

Trumpkin was adamant in that the boy would only bring them trouble but Susan was particularly insistent on finding him. She knew her horn only fell in worthy hands so, deep down, she knew they were meant to ally with Caspian.

Hopefully, Caspian would agree with them.

Also, though she didn't mention it, she was starting to realise their reign was officially over. They would always be kings and queens, of course, but it was time for someone else to rule, and Narnia would never be safe unless a Son of Adam was crowned king.

Edmund had been silent for a long time. He hang onto every word that came out of Trumpkin's lips and, as the situation seemed to darken with every update of the dwarf, so did his soul.

Sure, they didn't ask to leave the first time, but still, they had been crowned kings and queens. They had been granted with the duty and honour of protecting their people and once they left, not for once second did they imagine Narnia was in actual danger. It wouldn't have changed anything if they had foreseen it, of course, but Edmund had always deemed himself as cunning, so to have never seen this coming was a personal failure for him.

So, to sum up, he was drowning in guilt.

Meanwhile, the younger queen had other concerns in mind. Lucy glanced around, her eyes filled with longing and grief as she took notice of how different was the forest around her.

Back during their reign, her siblings and herself loved to take rides through the forest. They particularly loved how alive it was. Feasts, music, bonfires and laughter were usual. There was always some party where the fauns danced around playing their flutes, while the dryads danced gracefully and the dwarves played leather drums.

Lucy looked up suddenly as she realised something horrible.

The dryads.

"They are so quiet," Lucy broke the long silence, her eyes still on the forest to their right.

"Those are trees, what did you expected?" Trumpkin grumbled beside her.

Four pair of eyes turned towards the dwarf in shock before the remaining royals glanced at the forest too as they figured out what Lucy meant.

The Valiant Queen shook her head in sadness. The fact that a Narnian had never seen dryads before, that he took their disappearance as something normal was incredibly painful.

Forest were supposed to be silent, yes, but not in Narnia. In Narnia there was nothing more unnatural than that.

"They used to dance," Lucy replied curtly, choosing not to voice her thoughts aloud.

"When you were gone and the Telmarines came here and claimed this land as theirs, the trees fell into a deep sleep, as it was the way they found to escape. I don't know if there's anything in the world capable of waking them up," Trumpkin muttered resentfully, his eyes fixed on the forest, alert just in case they found Telmarines along the way.

"I don't get it. Why didn't Aslan do something about this?" Lucy couldn't refrain from asking. She glanced at her siblings, but they all had the same look of puzzlement.

They knew Aslan wasn't a tamed lion but there was no way he would have stayed away while this happened, right?

"Aslan?" Trumpkin hissed. He dropped all fake calmness and glared at the poor girl with passionate rage."He left when you all did."

The four siblings looked at each other with silent sorrow.

What was worse about their departure was that it didn't matter the circumstances in which they left. What mattered was that when they were needed, they hadn't been there.

"We never meant to leave," Peter replied evenly. He stopped rowing for a moment to glance at the dwarf in a defensive manner.

Trumpkin shrugged.

"It doesn't change anything, does it?"

None of the monarchs replied to that. Of course it didn't.

Peter finally resumed rowing, his face hardening, his voice acquiring the commanding tone he had used daily as High King. "Lead us to Caspian and it will."

A surge of determination overcame the four royals.

The past didn't matter anymore.

They were there now and they had the chance to save Narnia.

And they would stop at nothing, even if they had to give up their own lives.


Caspian rolled his eyes as he heard yet another rustle of leaves.

He appreciated the concern the two Narnians felt for him, don't get him wrong, but this was just ridiculous. Of course, Nikabrik had probably been forced by his friend to follow him but still, it was the thought that counted.

Or it didn't, if taken into account the prince just wanted to be left alone.

After Trufflehunter told him about Queen Susan's horn, Caspian had left in a rush.

Apparently, since the horn had fallen onto his hands, that made him worthy of the Narnian throne. It was the belief that if the horn was to be blown by the right person, then the Kings and Queens of Old would be summoned back. Because Trufflehunter was convinced in that he had summoned them, he was too adamant in that he was meant to save the Narnian race.

To tell the truth, if he managed to obtain his throne back, he would certainly build a Narnia in which Narnians and Telmarines could coexist peacefully but the thing was that he didn't want to wait for the legendary Kings and Queens of Old, who may or may not come, and he didn't want to even attempt to convince other Narnians to fight for him. If he was honest, he felt unworthy of their alliance.

He couldn't help but sigh as he heard rushed, quiet steps behind him. They probably thought he was partially deaf by the noise they were making in that silent part of the woods.

He stopped walking, unable to keep the annoyance away from his voice or expression. "I can hear you."

The prince turned around in time to see a sheepish Trufflehunter and Nikabrik leaving their hiding spots behind two slim trees.

"You can't leave us, Prince Caspian!" Trufflehunter spoke as calmly as he could but still, Caspian could hear an undertone of despair. The badger walked towards him, followed reluctantly by the dwarf. "You blew the horn. You summoned the Kings and Queens of Old! We need to work with them to save Narnia!"

Caspian shot him an unimpressed look before resuming walking. The Kings and Queens of Old would never choose to work with a Telmarine. They would probably see him as part of the problem, not part of the solution.

"Fine! Go! I'd like to see how you explain everything to the Minotaurs without our help!" Nikabrik snapped, angrily following the prince anyways.

Caspian stopped walking. He looked at his companions with utter shock.

Minotaurs?

"Minotaurs? They still exist too?" Caspian asked, struggling to fight the pang of fear he felt in his heart. From what he remembered about them from the stories, not many humans could survive a fight against them.

The forest was more dangerous than he had initially realised.

Yay.

"Yes and they are very moody," Nikabrik replied, stressing every word. Behind him, Trufflehunter nodded in agreement.

"Besides, they are big," the badger added.

The dwarf smiled excitedly at that. He had imagined their prince facing those enormous creatures on his own and the image amused him to no end.

"Huge," Nikabrik felt the need to add, smirking openly in the process.

Caspian's curiosity was increased with each passing second. "What about the centaurs? Those still exist?"

"Well, the centaurs might be on your side but I don't know about the rest." TruffleHunter answered thoughtfully as he finally caught up with the prince. Then, he stalled and sniffed the air carefully. "Human. I smell humans."

"Who? Him?" Nikabrik asked and pointed to Caspian carelessly. Caspian looked at them with deep concern at the alternative.

"No." Trufflehunter had slowly turned around, following the source of what he'd smelled. His eyes widened in panic as he glanced at few meters behind them. He pointed. "Them!"

As if on cue, the numerous Telmarines at the edge of that clearing screamed in alert as they noticed the prince. Caspian was frozen the enough to watch them pull crossbows from behind their backs.

As they aimed, he snapped back in action.

"Run!" Caspian yelled.


They finally reached shore at a beach near Beruna.

While her siblings and Trumpkin pulled the ship towards the sand, Lucy jumped outside of it and walked away to explore.

She made the excuse that she needed to stretch her limbs after the long trip but the truth was that she needed a moment alone with her thoughts.

As she gaze forward, she stopped dead in her tracks. There was a bear playing with a stick a dozen meters from her.

"Hello!" Lucy greeted him excitedly, overwhelmed at the joy of encountering yet another narnian, another subject who had survived the invasion.

She instantly felt four pair of concerned eyes watching her every move but she paid them no attention.

All Narnians were her friends.

The bear growled in confusion and threat but Lucy only smiled reassuringly in return.

After everything that had happened, she understood that the sight of any human ought to be worrying so she just needed to let it know who they were and everything was going to be fine.

"Don't worry, we are friends!" Lucy spoke as calmly and cheerful as she could, trying to make the bear trust her.

This time, all confusion was gone from the bear as it growled louder, standing on its two hind legs.

"Do not move your majesty!"

Lucy turned around to frown in confusion at Trumpkin, who had yelled the warning. She noticed that her brothers had unsheathed their swords, while Susan had notched an arrow into her bow.

Why were they all so tense? That bear was their friend!

Hearing another growl, Lucy turned around to smile calmly at the bear but it melt off immediately as the bear was running towards her.

In a panic, she turned around and lifting her skirts, she ran as fast as she could back towards her family.

That seemed to snap her companions into action. Susan aimed threateningly at the bear while Trumpkin ran to the boat and the rest looked on in despair.

"You better leave her alone!" Susan yelled her demand but hesitated to shoot.

Even with her mind clouded by panic, Lucy understood. It was hard to kill one of their own.

"C'mon, Susan! Shoot!" Edmund urged his sister, both him and Peter ready to run to their sister's aid.

Just as she was starting to think she would make it, Lucy tripped when she was halfway through and fell with a thud.

Feeling the bear reaching her and roaring in rage, Lucy covered her head and screamed with pure terror.

However, the final blow never came.

Just then, Lucy heard the distinct sound of an arrow being released and immediately, the loud, heavy thud as the bear's large body fell.

Lucy opened her eyes, confirming the bear lay a few feet behind her, an arrow deeply sank in its heart.

The Valiant Queen immediately turned around frantically, expecting to see Susan lowering her empty bow.

As it turned out, her arrow was still notched to her bow, her eyes teary as she glanced between the bear and her sister.

Behind the Gentle Queen, Trumpkin lowered his bow before him and her brothers ran towards her, Susan slightly behind.

Peter lifted her with one arm, him and Edmund pointing their swords at the dead animal just in case.

Trumpkin walked past them, choosing instead to examine the bear with his unsheathed dagger.

"He was wild," Edmund finally spoke, his voice lazed with amazement.

"I don't think he could talk at all," Peter added and glanced at Edmund with sorrowful eyes.

"Thank you," Lucy could at last quip weakly, breathing deeply to calm herself as she nodded at Trumpkin gratefully.

Trumpkin nodded back at the queen before glancing at the kings. "When you are treated like a beast, you end up turning exactly that."

He then approached the bear, his dagger held in a threatening way. "Be careful, for you may find Narnia a much wilder place than the one you left."

As the dagger entered the bear's skin, Lucy buried her face in Peter's chest and cried.


Arrows flew past them, failing to hit them out of a mere miracle.

To this day, Caspian would be adamant in that what made him escape that moment alive was the fear of losing his own life.

That fear made him run the fastest he had ever ran.

The chase seemed to ran for an eternity, or at last the enough for Caspian to begin worrying.

They couldn't run forever so, what were they going to do once they couldn't run anymore?

Also, Caspian tried to keep in mind as he desperately fought to come up with a plan that he's not alone.

All of a sudden, Caspian heard a pained gasp and a thud to his right.

He turned around, his eyes widening in alarm when he saw Trufflehunter on the ground, an arrow lodged to his side.

Caspian shook his head at Nikabrik, who had started to head back towards his friend, and instead ran himself towards Trufflehunter.

He extended his arms to pick the badger up but the wounded Narnian shook his head. He handed the Gentle Queen's horn to the Telmarine prince. "Take it! It's much more important than me!"

Caspian hesitated for a second before shakily putting the horn inside his bag and reaching for Trufflehunter.

He wasn't going to lose anybody. Not that day.

Feeling an incoming threat, he hesitated for a second too long.

It took only one second of him being distracted, but it was enough.

Caspian looked up.

And came face to face with a Telmarine aiming his crossbow directly at his face.

Caspian was too shocked to come up with a plan so he could only stare as the Telmarine prepared his weapon to make the final shot.

He couldn't fool himself though.

The enemy was too close. There was no escape.

Just as the guard brought his finger up to pull the trigger, he screamed in pain and fell, dead before even hitting the ground.

Not particularly caring whether the unknown murderer was his friend or his foe, Caspian took advantage of the event and, after picking Trufflehunter, prince and badger ran for their lives, arrows still narrowly missing them.

As he felt the attack dying down, Caspian left Trufflehunter to Nikabrik's care before turning towards their invisible enemy, sword drawn.

What he saw left him shocked out of his mind.

One by one, seemingly effortlessly, the Telmarines were falling to their deaths.

Because of the same force that had apparently saved their lives, all soldiers were taken down until at last, there was one last guard left.

Losing all sense of restrain, the last man standing panicked, dropped his crossbow and after unsheathing his sword, he started slashing it around frantically into thin air.

It served for nothing and finally, he too sunk to his death.

Caspian knew he was next so he narrowed his eyes in concentration as the grass rustled, the killer rushing back towards the prince.

In what seemed like a flash, Caspian fell to the ground, the mysterious killer standing on his chest, his tiny blade against Caspian's neck.

It was a mouse who wore a golden circle with a red feather lodged around one ear.

Caspian stared at the creature, words unable to come up. It was a mouse, yes, but one who had killed seven guards single-handedly.

He was unsure of how to react.

"Choose your last words, you Telmarine bastard!" The mouse ordered as he swinged his blade.

Caspian gulped.

A talking mouse. Of course.

"You- you are a mouse!" The boy finally blurted out.

The mouse lowered his sword and sighed in utter disappointment.

"I was hoping for something a little more...original," He mused thoughtfully before pinching Caspian's wrist with his sword, "Anyways, pick up your sword!"

"Mmm, no thank you." Caspian shook his head as innocently as he could, having decided to be as respectful as possible towards this honourable creature in the hopes it would save his life.

"Why? Arm yourself! I shall not fight someone who is unarmed!" The mouse exclaimed angrily.

For some reason, that amused Caspian greatly. It was unfair, for such honourable and skilled creature to be so little, really. Not that size was any sort of impediment for this particular mouse, but one couldn't help but struggle at taking him seriously.

"Which is why I think I may live a little bit longer if I don't cross blades with you, noble mouse," Prince Caspian answered sharply.

"I think that you misunderstood me. I said I wouldn't fight with someone unarmed, not that you would live," The mouse replied threateningly, pressing his blade closer against Caspian's throat.

"Reeepicheep!" Trufflehunter exclaimed then. He stood a few feet away from the fight with Nikabrik. "Leave the boy alone!"

Reepicheep gaped for a split second at the badger in surprise and rage.

"Trufflehunter," he finally hissed, "I hope you have a very good reason for this utterly inappropriate interruption."

"Not at all. You may continue," Nikabrik answered instead, his satisfaction at the scene clear in his tone.

"He is the one who blew the horn!" Trufflehunter ignored Nikabrik, having had enough of his attitude.

Reepicheep lowered his sword at that, surprise filling his features as he stared at the silent prince in disbelief. "What? You can't be serious-."

"Then let him bring it forward," A new voice cut him off, a much deeper one this time.

Caspian sat up slowly as Reepicheep got off him, strangely comforted by the new stranger's voice.

It turned out the new stranger was a centaur, three younger ones on his flanks. All of them had quivers strapped to their backs, their bows in their hands.

"For this is why we have gathered," The centaur finished and glanced to his left.

Caspian followed his gaze and immediately raised in a haste.

Slightly apart from a group stood a girl. She wore an battle dress, her blond, long hair tied up in a long braid. Her bow and quiver hung across her back with her satchel, her sword strapped to her side.

That girl was his best friend.

Beth walked forward hesitatingly and waved timidly.

"Hey, Caspian."

Hope you enjoyed!