A/N: Hey everyone! As always, a huge thank you to everyone who has followed and supported the story so far! We've officially hit the midpoint, so I'm really excited to share this chapter with you! You guys are all amazing, I hope you enjoy it and I can't wait to hear what you think~

xXx

CHAPTER FOUR: TOMB

The icy breeze sliced through Susan's dress as if it were made of gossamer, skirts fluttering out over the battlements as she clutched a shawl tight around her shoulders, eyes fixed never-moving on distant forest land.

The sky was blue and gold behind her, but the west still hung heavy under a grey canopy, and her thoughts wandered restlessly among the clouds, trying to imagine where Peter and Edmund and Lucy were now; if they'd reached the mountains, if they were alright, if they were even still…

She shook her head.

They'd only been gone three days.

For Susan, it was an eternity.

She was caged. The walls of Cair Paravel had become claustrophobic; smothering even in the open air. There was a danger to them she'd never known before, never even imagined in the city she'd always trusted to protect her.

She glanced down to the stone of the courtyard below, smeared with rusty bloodstains where the fox had tried to eat its mate yesterday.

Screams echoed in her mind, creatures scattering in an instant from that thrashing mass of fur.

Corin had been quick with the cordial, but Susan's heart still pounded at the memory. Just one moment could so easily have been the end of them.

That was when they stopped accepting refugees.

The breeze stung her raw cheeks, tears that had soaked her pillow last night threatening achingly at the backs of her eyes.

Never before had a right thing felt so wrong.

Peter had always been the one to make tough calls. Now she wondered how he did it.

For hours the gates had pounded, creatures seeking shelter that the cold walls of Cair Paravel could no longer offer; the thunder of it still echoed in her mind, but the silence that hung over the upper courtyard now was worse.

"I thought I'd find you here."

Susan spun to see Corin walking out over the wall toward her, hands tucked under his armpits, heavy woven tunic rippling in the wind.

"How did you know?"

He stopped a few feet from her and smiled. "You've never missed an opportunity to beat yourself up before."

Susan averted her eyes, looking out toward the forest again, studying the dark line of evergreen against the horizon as if it was the most interesting thing she'd ever seen. "I'm not beating myself up."

"The upper courtyard was quarantined by your own order," sighed Corin, the smile ebbing from his voice. "There's no use coming here now except to torture yourself."

"Well, you're here too, aren't you?"

He let out a short breath through his nose, which might have been a laugh, but she couldn't tell for sure. "It would seem I am."

"Why?" She turned back to him. "I thought you were usually the one beating other people up."

The smirk returned faintly to his lips. "There's no one to punch for this one. I did think about starting something with those Calormene traders, but figured I'd come find you instead. You know, for the sake of world peace."

Susan sighed. "Thank you for that."

He extended his arm to her. "Walk with me?"

She hesitated for a moment (she hadn't nearly finished wallowing), but reluctantly took it, burying her cold fingers in the crook of his arm as he turned and led her down the sandstone steps back into the city.

The streets were bustling just like any other day, creatures scurrying along on their business, voices bubbling out of open doors and windows, but Susan couldn't help feeling it was all somehow different; just a little hurried, nervous, cold.

There was no life in their steps, no cheer in their good mornings as they passed.

Even the stone itself seemed imposing now, towering over the narrow, winding alleyways as the bones of twisted trees clung to the last of their shuddering garments.

A strain of music played in the distance, but it was a somber tune.

Susan took a deep breath. "Do you remember when we first met?"

Corin looked at her, blue eyes glinting in the sunlight. "What?"

Dry leaves crunched underfoot as they passed into a wider avenue, the crisp breeze fluttering around them and tossing Susan's curls over her shoulder. "It was autumn then, too. Almost ten years ago, now, I think." She looked back at him. "I wasn't much younger than you are now."

He smirked. "How strange, to think of you being young."

Susan pursed her lips, and Corin laughed.

"I'm not the old spinster you seem to think I am."

"I know, I know, I'm kidding. Of course I remember. I was looking forward to that day for months. Father never stopped talking about you four and what you did with that witch. You were legends before I even met you."

Susan smiled. "You were only seven. I think I could have picked you up if I wanted to."

Corin scoffed. "Now that's just embarrassing."

"Your hair was longer, and curly, too."

"Isn't it curly now?" He shook his sandy bangs out of his eyes.

Susan squinted at him. "I think the word you're looking for, my dear, is tangled."

Corin pouted and reached up to run his fingers through his hair, shaking it out as if to prove a point. "But it looks cool like this."

Susan smiled. "I don't doubt that you would still look cool if you brushed your hair."

Corin dropped his hand and grinned. "Wouldn't want to risk it though, right?"

Susan sighed.

"Come on, why are you getting all sentimental, anyway? Everything's gonna be fine. I'm sure Edmund already figured it out, the know-it-all. They'll fix it and come back heroes in a few days. You are the witch-slayers, after all."

Susan buried her hands deeper into his sleeve as they walked. "You know, technically I never fought the witch. It was Edmund who broke her wand."

"See? What did I just say? Edmund does everything. Gosh, does he ever get tired of being so perfect?"

Susan laughed, and Corin glanced at her and raised an eyebrow, a slight grin twitching in question at the edge of his mouth.

"Don't let him hear you say that. He might start to think you actually like him."

Corin snorted. "I think I'd rather—" But he paused, halted mid-step, and Susan pulled to an abrupt stop beside him.

"What is it?"

He furrowed his brow and glanced around. "Do you hear that?"

Susan paused to listen.

At first she heard nothing; then a strange rustling she couldn't make sense of, and then she realized it was the rushing of dozens of voices, all murmuring at once.

They were just outside the lower courtyard now, and at the same moment they both rushed around the corner through an archway to find every creature standing stock still with their eyes on the sky, whispering to one another. Susan could pick up none of the words.

Just then Peridan burst out of the crowd and ran up to them, grabbing Corin by the shoulder, chest heaving as if he'd run a long way. "We have a problem."

"What do you mean?" asked Susan.

Peridan turned and pointed up at the sky.

And that was when she saw the birds.

For a moment they looked like any ordinary flock, winged silhouettes over the city walls, a dozen or so of different sizes, steering and bobbing and darting in and out of each other.

She blinked.

No, that wasn't ordinary.

It wasn't a flock. It was a chase.

"Everyone get inside!" shouted Corin before Susan had fully processed what she was seeing. "Take cover, all of you!"

A few creatures snapped out of their stupor and turned to run into the city, but not before two of the birds collided mid-air and Susan's heart skipped a beat.

There was a flurry of feathers, a muffled shriek, and then one of them plummeted—streaking out of the sky at a dead fall—and crashed with a sickening crack in the middle of the courtyard.

A gasp rippled through the crowd, and from her position Susan couldn't see the damage, but she knew she didn't want to.

Then the second bird dove.

Creatures scattered in every direction, trampling each other to crowd the archways, squeezing out past Susan and Corin and Peridan as the bird struck a young faun and she went down with a panicked scream, all wings and claws and arms as the crowd surged around them.

Another bird fell from the sky.

"Shoot!" shouted Corin, tugging on Peridan's arm.

A bow hung idle in the knight's hand, his eyes fixed unmoving on the she-faun's twitching form as the bird broke away and hurled itself at someone else. Blood poured down her face and throat, pooling at her collarbones.

"What are you waiting for? Shoot!"

A shadow flashed over his face before he drew a sharp breath and glanced at Corin and Susan, as if coming back to reality.

The faun was staggering to her feet now, black hair shrouding her gaping mouth and white eyes staring blankly from their sockets, and Peridan's attention snapped back to her, drawing an arrow from his quiver fast as lightning.

She lurched forward a few steps, snatching at a badger waddling away as fast as its stubby legs would carry it, and then there was a twang beside Susan's ear and an arrow struck the faun square in the forehead.

She faltered and collapsed, quivering on the stone for a moment before going still.

Susan looked at Peridan, pale as a ghost but jaw set tight as he drew another arrow and aimed up into the sky, his next shot striking a bird in its descent and throwing it off course to smack the stone, a bundle of bloody feathers on the honey-gold pavers.

By now, however, the birds had done their work. Creatures scrambled to get away as bodies shuddered on the ground and lashed out to drag them back, a horrible chorus of squawking and growling flooding Susan's ears just as a snarling dog burst from the throng, jowls already dripping red, paws leaving dark prints on the stone.

Peridan shot, but the arrow lodged stubbornly in the side of its skull, and it turned on them with a guttural roar that sent Susan's blood cold.

Corin drew his sword just in time to impale the beast as it bowled him over, a struggling mass of dog and boy, sword sticking up through its back as if it had no effect at all.

Peridan shot again, struck the back of the neck, and the dog seized up just long enough for Corin to push it over and yank his sword out, struggling to his feet and burying the blade in its throat.

The creature's muscles went limp, and he turned to look at Peridan.

"Thanks for not shooting me in the face."

The knight already had another arrow on the string. "Anytime."

"The cordial—" gasped Susan, "We need—"

"It's too late for that!" Corin grabbed Susan's arm and dragged her through the archway to a stone staircase between two buildings. "We need to lock the palace down!"

"But—" She tried not to trip up the stairs, shawl fluttering to the ground behind her as they turned up another street and onto a bridge. "But we can't just…" She trailed off.

From their vantage point over the courtyard she could see the whole battle: birds darting in and out of the crowd, clawing at eyes and faces as a dozen creatures dragged themselves unsteadily up from the ground and leaped on their neighbors. Most ran. But some could only stare, shock or horror cementing them to the ground. It wasn't a battle at all. It was a slaughter.

The breath went out of her lungs as the realization hit.

Cair Paravel was lost.

"Come on!" shouted Corin, just as a bird swooped over their heads and Peridan batted it off with the bow, sending it over the other side of the bridge into the street below.

"Get inside, everyone!"

Corin pulled them to the other side of the bridge and into the market square, animals scurrying every which way to get inside their shops and shut the doors, mice disappearing into their holes, Galmian and Calormene traders crowding into the tavern.

"Stay here," said Corin, pushing Susan through the tavern door.

"What?"

"Peter told me to take care of you."

Susan opened her mouth to retort, but at that moment a flurry of wings burst into the square, and before she could even think she grabbed the loaded bow from Peridan's hand, drew the arrow back to her cheek, and let it fly, whizzing over Corin's shoulder straight into the eye of the hawk whose talons stretched out a few inches from the back of his head.

Corin whipped around as the bird thudded to his feet, and his eyes flew back to Susan.

"When have you ever done as you're told?" she asked breathlessly.

A grin flickered across his face for a second, and then he nodded and turned, running off around another corner.

Peridan unslung his quiver and handed it to Susan, drawing his sword as the tavern door slammed shut behind them and they followed Corin into the city.

Susan's heart pounded, adrenaline coursing through her veins as her dainty shoes clapped over the stone, one hand hiking up her skirts, the other clutching the loaded bow like a lifeline.

The roar of battle from the lower courtyard never quite faded away, as if it were following them somehow, and Peridan stayed protectively behind her as she followed Corin's sandy head, curls bouncing with every footfall.

Then he veered off suddenly and a slavering hound crashed out from a side-street. He just barely wheeled into a narrow staircase before its jaws could close around his ankle.

Susan followed on his heels, and Peridan slashed at the hound as it lunged after them, eliciting a sharp yelp before he brought up the rear again on the stairs to the terraces of the houses above.

Soon they were running between roof-gardens and open windows, men and beasts peering out at them, some calling questions as they passed, though none of the words registered in Susan's racing mind.

"The city is breached," shouted Corin, never slowing down.

"Close the windows!" gasped Susan as a griffin wheeled overhead, dipping dangerously low to the golden stone of the buildings, wings pumping an irregular rhythm.

Blood dripped heavy onto its shadow in the pathway in front of her, and Susan pulled back her arrow just as it dove, shot striking it in the chest and sending it into the wall of a stone-brick house, a spattering of sticky hot redness spraying her dress. Peridan's sword found its mark before the beast could lash out again, and the sound of doors slamming spread up and down the street.

Peridan clambered over the body and pulled Susan along with him, past where Corin had just dispatched another hawk.

And then a screech erupted in the street below, followed shortly by a howl and an inhuman scream.

"Close the gates!" shouted Corin.

The towering walls of the palace rose ahead, its terraces level with those they were running on.

"Close the gates! Bar the windows! Lock down the palace!"

One of the guards noticed them at once and shouted down to the men at the gates, and for a moment relief flooded Susan's chest.

But just as the guards turned to close the main gate, a voice from below shouted "Wait!"

Susan spun and looked down into the street to see a dog and two satyrs running for the palace with a surge of wild bodies streaking out behind them.

The guards paused just long enough for the dog to rush through doors, but the satyrs had only reached the steps when a cat leapt from behind and clawed one of them in the throat.

For a second the guards tried to pull the gate shut again, but by then the surge was upon them, tearing them down and flooding into the palace like a swarm of insects into a wound.

A silent scream burst in Susan's chest.

She had an arrow on the string in an instant, firing down into the mass of bodies, striking a dwarf and then a cheetah and then a fox, but that was nothing compared to the rest of the mob.

She reached back to find she had only one arrow left.

"Susan!" cried Corin, "Come on!"

She whipped around to see him already at the door of the Cair's upper level, waving her urgently on. Next thing she knew Peridan's hands were on her shoulders guiding her over the bridge to the wide terrace garden of the palace and in through the door to the west wing.

A guard shut and locked it behind them.

"They're inside," she gasped, "We need to— barricade— barricade off the first floor—"

"How are we supposed to do that?" asked Corin breathlessly, "The whole first floor? It's practically a mile long! And how many staircases—"

"The east wing," cut in Peridan, and they all looked at him.

"What about it?" asked Corin.

"The east wing is isolated, with the royal quarters and the treasure room; there are only three entrances, and one of them is locked to begin with."

"Oh, Peridan, you're brilliant!" cried Susan.

"Get everyone you can find to the east wing," said Corin to the guard, and after a nod from Susan he bolted off down an arched hallway.

Screams and thuds echoed distantly from the floor below them, and Corin took off again without waiting to catch his breath. Susan and Peridan followed close behind, weaving in and out of rooms and hallways, shouting to every creature they came across and directing them to the other end of the palace.

Susan didn't have time to feel anything; not fear, not sadness, nothing but the ringing in her ears and the pounding in her heart and the bow clenched tight in her fist.

Soon creatures of all kinds were pouring through the halls, tree women and fauns and animals and dwarves, all racing together through the great, golden, arching galleries of the Cair.

It was only when they passed the landing of a grand staircase to the ground floor that the horrible noises came again, and Susan caught sight of a few stragglers trying to climb it as snarling beasts leaped after them and dragged them back down.

Screams rose from the creatures around her, and Corin turned back to cut down a faun just as it staggered to the top and lunged for a group of dwarves.

"Here!" shouted Peridan, yanking open the huge door that led into the east wing and holding it as creatures swarmed to get through.

Corin turned back from the staircase, but just then a lynx ran up behind him, and Susan had no sooner noticed its pale eyes than she'd let her last arrow fly, striking it square in the eye and throwing it back down the stairs before Corin could even react.

He spun to look down after it, only to find a sea of bared teeth and bulging eyes flooding up toward him, and he turned back just in time to cut down a warthog before it lunged at Susan.

She stumbled backwards, and he grabbed her hand, pulling her away from the stairs as the horde flooded up into the landing, snapping at the last of the living creatures rushing for the door.

Another gurgling faun veered off toward them and Corin slashed it across the face. Susan instinctively reached back, but she had no arrows left, and Corin pushed her behind him, driving his sword through the faun and throwing it aside.

"Corin!" cried Peridan.

They looked up, and Susan's stomach dropped.

The space between them and the door was flooded with bodies, lurching and shambling over each other in a mass of bloody limbs, all scrambling for the opening. There was no way they could fight their way through it in time.

And Peridan couldn't afford to keep that door open.

"Close it!" she screamed.

His blue eyes flashed to her, a desperate plea for any other option, but there wasn't one.

"Do it!" shouted Corin, already dragging Susan back toward another stairway. And with half a second to spare, Peridan slammed the door shut just as the mass of snarling beasts slammed full force into it, shaking the sturdy wood with a boom that resonated deep into Susan's very core.

She nearly slipped on the blood pooling on the stairs, and Corin caught her, wrapping an arm around her waist as they made it up to the next floor.

Suddenly she felt as if her knees would give out from under her, trembling as the clamor and screams swelled behind them, the sound of hooves already scrabbling and slipping on the steps.

Then the hallway around them came into focus, morning light flooding in through stained glass.

"My room," she said abruptly, and Corin looked at her.

"What?"

"It's this way!"

She tugged him down the hall, through an archway and a pair of heavy doors that had already been pushed open, though she didn't think much about that, and into a vast sitting room with a door on either side. She opened the left hand door and pulled them both inside, shutting it quickly and pulling a key from her pocket that fit the lock and clicked when she turned it.

Corin heaved a deep sigh, and Susan practically collapsed against the door.

For a moment every thought went out of her head.

It was several moments before either of them noticed the blood on the floor.

Corin stepped back, eyes tracking up from the dark drips and smears on the smooth tile to Susan, her wide eyes meeting his.

Susan's heart skipped a beat and Corin spun around as a small voice quivered.

"I'm sorry…"

A mole limped across the floor, much larger than a dumb mole, but it looked small and pathetic here, trembling, twitching as the claws of its huge front hands scritched over the marble.

"We- we didn't know where else to go, we were just trying to get away…" A noise like a sob escaped its pointy snout.

Susan could only stare, frozen.

"We?" asked Corin hesitantly.

The creature made another choking sound, and Corin started to speak again when a dark form leapt out of nowhere and struck him from behind.

He stumbled to his knees and threw the thing off, its black body thumping hard into the wall.

Corin hissed in pain.

In an instant it rolled over and snarled at him; another mole, glossy fur drenched in blood, half of one clawed hand missing.

It jumped again, throwing itself unnaturally into the air, and this time Corin's sword was faster, spurting him across the face with a spray of red as the mole fell limp behind him.

The pathetic whimpering noises the first creature had been making had stopped by now, and Susan looked to see it twitching on the ground, dragging itself toward Corin, but before it could even try to attack, he drove his sword through its skull and all movement ceased.

They both stared at the carnage in silence for several moments, before Corin shakingly raised his hand, and Susan noticed the bite marks on his palm.

Her hands flew to her mouth.

"Corin…" Her voice broke, as if begging him to tell her that it wasn't true. That it didn't mean anything.

For the first time since she'd known the young prince, he said nothing.

It was like he'd forgotten to breathe, eyes on the scarlet droplets oozing from his palm, lips parted wordlessly.

His sword clattered to the ground.

"Susan," he breathed at last.

His voice was small.

He was only fifteen.

"It'll be okay," she choked, falling to her knees beside him, hands hovering over his, unsure what to do, mind racing, there had to be something.

But the cordial was out of her reach, even if she could have made it to the upper courtyard, it would have been far too late. There was nowhere to go, nothing she could do.

"We'll— we'll figure something out, it's okay, it's—"

"Susan."

Her eyes snapped up to his. Pure terror reflected there.

He swallowed, trembling. "Get away from me."

"What— Corin, no, we can—"

"Get away from me!" He yanked his hand away, backpedaling over the floor, purple veins already webbing out from the wound and up his arm.

She stared at him, heat pressing in behind her eyes.

He let out a shaky breath. "You know how this goes."

"But—" There was nothing she could say. Nothing would fix this. Susan burst into tears.

Corin breathed out hard again and this time it turned into a groan and he doubled over, hand flying to his chest as a violent cough shook his shoulders and a string of blood trickled from his lips onto the floor.

"Go," he breathed, still trembling, and a sob racked Susan's body as she pushed herself up to unsteady feet.

It took everything inside her to back away, but she couldn't tear her eyes from the boy. The boy she'd first seen in the oaken halls of Anvard, a wreath of leaves in his golden hair, eyes bright and cheeks flushed.

Ice shot through her veins as his eyes snapped up to her now, hollow white orbs in pale sockets, the rich red of blood dripping down his chin.

The boy was gone.

Susan turned and ran, banging through the door to her washroom and wheeling to slam it behind her just as Corin crashed into it from the outside, his body hitting the wood with a loud thud. She fumbled for the lock in the dark, and then slumped against the door and slid down to the floor, shoulders shaking as the thud came again, and again.

A familiar voice twisted into a growl just outside the keyhole.

Hitching sobs racked Susan's frame, her whole body shaking as the world ended around her. Her family, her people, her home, her best friend. All gone. She was alone in the dark with nothing left but the noises on the other side of the door.

"Aslan," she sobbed, choking on the name. "Oh, Aslan, please—" She didn't even know what she was asking for, but shaking on her knees it was the only thing she managed to say. "Aslan, please, oh, Aslan, Aslan."