The next morning, Scott woke to find that, even though he had god to sleep a mere three hours before, he was still among the first awake in the camp. While he waited for breakfast to be prepared in the mess tent, he took his swords one at a time and cleaned the blood from the blades before honing them with a whetstone. Finally, he was able to run to the mess tent, grab some food, and eat. Afterwards, he sought out Peter, who was waiting with his sisters for Aslan to finish talking with Edmund.

"Yeah, he came in camp last night," Scott reported to the siblings. Before any of them could ask, he added, "Jadis sent out some pests out after him, so I led a group of rangers to cover his entrance."

Peter turned to him, saying, "I want to look after my brother while he recovers, so I won't be training with you this morning. When he wakes up and eats, I'll come to you so you can work with both of us."

Scott nodded. "As you wish, Sir Peter. I'll have Alfrigg forge Edmund's armor. He doesn't need to be as shiny as you, so I'll have his armor forged more along the lines of a soldier's armor, rather than a knight's. It'll be less ornate and more functional." Peter nodded his approval. Turning to Lucy, he added, "And you, my dear, may join me at the training field if you wish. I will help you learn to defend yourself if you wish it."

Lucy smiled. "I'll do that."

Scott smiled, "I'll let you reunite with your brother before you meet me." With that, he turned on heel and walked away. He pulled his hood up, shielding his face.

After Peter sent Edmund to get sleep, Lucy ran to find Scott. She found him at the archery range, firing at targets strapped to agile jaguars. The targets were all but blurs, but Scott hit each one with deadly accuracy. Lucy called to him. "Scott! I'm here!"

Turning to see her, Scott grinned and slid his bow into his lengthened quiver so it rested like Susan's bow. "Hey there, Lucy." He looked at the jaguars for a moment. "Thank you for your aid, my friends."

The largest of the cats bowed in return. "It is an honor to serve the Forest Ranger." With that, the jaguars bounded off toward the main camp.

Looking back at Lucy, he said, "Come on. I'm going to take you to the armory. We're going to have something forged for you." He took the girl's hand so she wouldn't get lost in the maze of tents and soldiers and led her to Alfrigg's forge. He looked at Alfrigg and said, "I have a job that you need to fulfill for the future queen of Narnia. I need two wraith tools shortened and lightened to fit her hands. Try to finish them within the hour."

Alfrigg bowed. "It will be as you command, General."

Scott smiled and thanked the dwarf. He then led Lucy back through the maze of tents to the workbench of Alfrigg's cousin Grer. Grer was a leatherworker whose skill matched his cousin's in metalworking. "May I see your dagger, Lucy?" he asked the girl. Surprised, Lucy nodded and handed the knife to her guard. Looking down at the Grer, he said, "I'll need a shoulder strap that we can attach to her belt." He indicated Lucy's aforementioned belt. "Make it of finished red leather and give it a sheath for this blade." He showed Grer the dagger. "I'm having your cousin make two tools for her. See him for the dimensions, and then I need scabbards for them that can be fixed to her belt. Have the scabbards be of the same material as the strap. I want these items as lightweight as possible. Do your best work as it will be one of the future queens of the realm."

Like his cousin, Grer nodded and bowed. "As you command, General Castillo. It will be done within the hour."

Scott laughed. "Oh yeah, thanks for reminding me. I meant to ask you about that. The within the hour part." Grer merely smiled and bowed again.

The two went thanked Grer, then Scott led Lucy to an open field outside the camp. "Well, Lady Lucy, we have almost an hour to wait until your new weapons will be done. It's up to you to decide what we'll do now."

Lucy frowned. "Like what?"

Scott shrugged. "Well, anything you want. We can do something together, or you can have me entertain you. You can have me tell a story, dance for you, shove jam up my nose, anything."

Lucy giggled. "You're funny, Scott. Let's just talk. We can do something else later."

Scott bowed. "As you wish, milady." With that, he collapsed onto the soft ground.

Gasping, Lucy asked, "Are you all right?" After realizing that her guard was just tired, she sat down next to him. "Well, Scott, I need you to do something for me." Scott looked up at her. "Don't call me 'milady.' Only call Susan that."

Rolling onto his stomach, the ranger asked, "Mm. Why would you want me to do that?"

"That should be a sort of nickname for her. One that only you can call her."

Still confused, Scott frowned. "I still don't get it, Lucy. Why do you want me to call her that as a nickname?"

Lucy sighed exasperatedly. "I'm trying to get Susan to realize that she likes you. And I think she likes it when you call her 'milady.' You see, while we were sleeping last night, I thought I heard her say 'milady' in her sleep."

Scott grinned. "Thanks, Lucy. But why would you want me to be with your sister? I'm just a soldier from California. I don't have much to offer a queen."

Lucy chuckled. "And underneath, Susan is just a quiet girl from London. You just need to get to know her. Besides, you two could make each other happy. Not like Christopher." At this last comment, Lucy's face darkened a bit.

"Who's Christopher?" asked Scott.

"Susan's old boyfriend. She was never really happy with him. He was more like a study friend than a boyfriend. All he ever wanted to do was study or read with her. That was fine at first, but who wants to read all the time? Even Susan can't do that. He was a nice boy, but not a good boyfriend."

Scott nodded. "I see." The two talked of lighter things for a while. Finally, Scott announced, "Well, we'd better pick up your new gifts, Lucy." He helped her to her feet and led her back toward the camp.

Right before they passed the sentries, Lucy turned to her bodyguard saying, "One more thing. Don't talk to me all proper like you do with Peter and Susan. Talk to me like you were my brother."

Ruffling her hair, Scott laughed. "Now that's something I won't have trouble doing. You feel like a little sister to me." First, they visited Grer and picked up the band and sheaths. Scott helped sling the strap around Lucy and attach the ends to her belt. Taking her dagger from her old sheath, he placed in the one sewn onto the strap above her chest. He then fastened the larger scabbards onto her belt. "Now," he started, "let's go fill those sheaths." They went to Alfrigg and collected two small assassin-styled daggers. The blades were curved and razor-edged, made of slightly blue-tinged steel. Runes from an ancient Narnian language were inscribed near the hilt. Sliding the knives into their sheaths, Scott thanked the dwarf.

As they headed back to the training grounds, Lucy asked, "But what about my dagger's old scabbard? What should I do with that?"

Scott reached into a pouch on his belt and pulled out a small crystal vial. Inside was a blue liquid. Slipping it into the old sheath, he explained. "Not all wounds are grievous enough to be treated by the juice of the fire-flower. Some require only a drop of this: the blood of viola. Its powers are not as great as fire-flower juice. Rather, it is for small to medium cuts and weak poisons. Now, draw your blades." Lucy did as she was told and awkwardly held the daggers before her. "Your old knife is a reliable weapon, but not one suitable for combat. Please learn to use these."

Lucy nodded solemnly. "I am ready to learn."

"Good. Watch me," instructed Scott. He drew his own hunting knife. It had a broader blade and was double-edged, styled like Lucy's old dagger. "Now, as you can see, my knife is different from your blades, but I'll do my best to teach you. Lesson one: drawing your daggers." Scott resheathed his knife and motioned for Lucy to do the same with hers. "Okay, first, you want to make sure you have easy access to your weapons. Do you?" Lucy nodded. "Good, now notice that I've fixed your scabbards to that the hilts lean inward. I don't want your right hand to draw your left weapon and vice versa like you would do with a sword. Your right hand unsheathes your right knife and your left draws the left. Got it?"

"I think so," replied Lucy. She took hold of each hilt and pulled straight up. The daggers emerged from their scabbards, though with a bit of difficulty. "Like this?"

Scott half-smiled. "Almost. Do it like this." He took hold of his knife's hilt, which lay on his right side, and whipped it upward and across his body. When he was done, he could have slashed down across Lucy's chest. "Draw them both at the same time, but you do it slowly at first. I don't want you to hurt yourself. She did so, and realized another reason why Scott had fastened the sheaths at an angle. "Notice that the blade is away from your body when you draw them. This shows that you're doing it right."

For the next hour, Scott helped Lucy through thrusts, cuts, small jabs, hilt blows, and throwing. Finally, Peter and a rejuvenated Edmund rode up, Peter on the pearly unicorn the stablemaster had picked for him and Edmund on a feisty warhorse named Phillip who had earned quite a reputation for being annoyingly sharp-tongued. If Edmund was anything like he'd heard, the two would either get along famously or be at each other's throats. Seeing as Phillip could talk, it would not be a great surprise to Scott if the horse could draw a blade to duel the boy. Lucy, excited at her progress ran off to show her sister, leaving Scott to train the brothers. "Well, gentlemen, it is good to see you hale and hearty." Turning, to Edmund, he said, "I'm Scott Castillo, Lord Edmund, out of the United States. I'm also known as the Forest Ranger, General Castillo, and, on occasion, you bastard." Seeing Edmund laugh, Scott felt heartened. "I've been assigned by Aslan to protect you and your siblings while training them for the upcoming battle. You have come here with your brother to learn the art of fighting from horseback. I can see that you ride well enough, seeing as you rode Phillip here without dying." Peter laughed as though recalling something quite amusing, which he probably was.

Edmund and Phillip, on the other hand, looked quite irritated. The horse turned to the ranger, his eyes flashing dangerously. "You make it sound like it is a bad thing to work with me, Castillo."

Scott laughed. "I never said that, you did." Turning to the brothers, he cheerfully said, "Let's get to work. Oh, wait. Peter, put on your armor and take Edmund to Alfrigg's forge to pick up his armor. I've got some training tools to pick up. Meet me back here in twenty minutes.

As Scott had asked, Peter and Edmund rode back to the training field dressed in their armor and helms. Alfrigg had forged Edmund a medium sized sword known as a bastard blade. It was smaller than Peter's longsword and was meant for one and a half hands, so the wielder used one hand or one clasped over the other. A few minutes later, a huge man with the head of a bull lumbered onto the field. The minotaur carried a massive double-headed axe in his hands and a crude two-handed greatsword lay in its sheath, which was strapped on the monster's back.

"Edmund," whispered Peter. "That's one of the Witch's soldiers. Get back to camp and call reinforcements. I'll stay here and buy you time."

But before Edmund could turn Phillip, the minotaur called out to him. "Halt or you will not learn how to kill those who look like me when you face them." With that the minotaur pulled at his hideous head until if came off. The brothers drew back in shock when Scott's grinning face popped up between the supposed minotaur's shoulders. "Yeah, I killed this bad boy a few weeks back. I thought I'd hollow out the head and mount it to a helm just in case I needed it. Minotaurs are the strongest creatures you'll face, aside from Jadis herself. Remember what I told you, Peter: her soldiers are slow, powerful, and stupid. Minotaurs are the exception. They are slow and powerful, but the usually tend to be quite intelligent, at least in the ways of war. Think of them as slower, stronger centaurs with all knowledge and no wisdom. If you can beat them, you should be able to handle most anything else. Ideally, we'd be able to simulate the White Witch, but I've still got to figure out how to use magic." Indicating to the four smaller figures next to him, he said, "Cormag, Illyn, Ike, and Tyrion will help us train by playing the part of minoboars: smaller, faster, and dumber pig versions of minotaurs. Let's begin."

Settling the helm back on his head, Scott tightened his grip on the training axe and charged Peter and Edmund. His rangers did the same with their longswords. Since they were outnumbered five to one, the brothers had a hard time keeping up. After a while, they leaped from their mounts and proceeded to fight on foot. Finding his axe to cumbersome, Scott cast it aside and drew his greatsword. He advanced toward Edmund, who was busy fighting off a "minoboar." Seeing the "minotaur" approach, the smaller enemy ran off to join the other three who were harassing Peter. Scott raised his blade to slash down and to the left, but as he attacked, Edmund rolled to the right. His one-handed blow came at a bad angle and glanced off Scott's fauld. Before Scott could raise his greatsword again, Edmund drove the point of his bastard blade under the "minotaur's" head. Scott's voice issued out. "Whoa, tiger, don't kill me yet. I'm supposed to guard you until the true battle's start. I yield." With that, he surrendered the battered greatsword to Edmund. Removing the helm, Scott added, "Don't let it get to your head, but you've got a lot more talent than your brother, at least in combat." Three of the "minoboars" had yielded, but Peter was struggling with Illyn, a particularly quick ranger. Edmund raced to help his brother. When Illyn turned to meet Edmund, Peter put the tip of his longsword up to the back of Illyn's neck.

"Hah!" laughed Edmund. "We defeated the mighty Forest Ranger! We're invincible!" He roared in triumph.

Scott shook his head. "Remember what I said about not letting it get to your head? Anyway, you didn't beat me, you beat the minotaur I was pretending to be. If I was in my own armor, it wouldn't even be close. You were supposed to win this one. But you did do better than I expected." After noting the sun's position, he said, "Great job again. I've gotta run to help your sister with archery." With that, he ran off to return the minotaur armor to Alfrigg, wash up, don his normal armor, and find Susan.

As he set off to find her, he noticed a crowd of jeering soldiers gathering near Aslan's tent. Seeing Jadis' palanquin, he rushed to find the Pevensie children. He spotted them near Aslan's tent and ran to meet them. The White Witch lowered her gaze to glare at Edmund, but Scott stepped in front of his liege, placed his hands on the hilts his long scimitars, and glared right back at Jadis. She looked away and began talking to Aslan about Edmund's traitorous blood belonging to her. "Bull," muttered Scott. "I'm not Narnian so I don't give a damn about this Old Magic. It's probably all made up to fit her wants anyway. She wants Edmund, she'll have to go through me."

Jadis entered Aslan's tent to negotiate with the lion in privacy. After almost an hour, the two emerged, and Aslan announced that Jadis had relinquished her claim on Edmund's life. Scott cheered with the others, but he didn't buy Aslan's story. Something's up. Jadis doesn't give up that easily. There's something we're not being told. I'll find out eventually.

After the celebration had died down and Jadis had returned to her camp, Susan met Scott at the archery range with her weapon. "All right, shall we begin?" asked Susan.

Scott smiled slightly. "At your command, milady. Let's see you shoot." Susan shot perfectly. Scott grinned. "You've doubtlessly improved, milady. Now, can you hit a moving target?"

A shadow of doubt crossed Susan's face. "I can try." They spent almost an hour working on hitting moving targets, but Susan just couldn't get the hang of it. "I'm hopeless."

"No, milady. This just isn't your purpose. For example, I have a terrible time controlling shortbows, and I'm useless with a greatsword. But I'm all but invincible with a longbow and scimitars. You're great at putting the arrow where you want to, you just aren't the best candidate to bring down a carrier pigeon. They don't use them here, but you get what I'm saying. Don't get discouraged."

Susan smiled weakly. "Thanks, Scott. I need you to do something for me."

"Anything, milady."

Looking into his dark eyes. "Don't speak to me so formally, but still call me milady."

Scott nodded. "As you wish, milady." After a short silence, he added. "Also, milady, I know I swore I wouldn't, but will you give me your permission…to love you?"

Susan smiled softly. Leaning forward to him, she whispered. "A man should never have to ask permission to love his lady. And he should never be shocked when she tells him that she loves him back." Taking advantage of his astonished silence, she tackled him and the two rolled in the field, laughing. Scott forgot all about the war and his orders. He cared about nothing but Susan, beautiful, intelligent, and his.

When they stopped moving, Susan lay on top of Scott. Looking up at her, he said, "You know this can't last, don't you? We won't be able to keep this hidden once you become queen."

She lowered herself, touching his forehead with hers. "Then let's make the most of the time that we have."

Scott lifted his head to bring his mouth up to hers. A moment before they touched, he murmured, "As milady commands." A moment later, the two were in heaven.