Disclaimer: oh no, I almost forgot the disclaimer and now all of you think I own Narnia!
Beta'd by trustingHim17! Which is a bit of a miracle, because I finished writing it on Monday night. Seriously, she deserves all the thanks!
OOOOO
The group of Narnians did not make it inside the Dwarf's home. Though he led them by the most thickly wooded paths, and though the Dryads, at the request of Birds who went ahead, wove their branches above the road, they had not gone more than an hour when the branches above the path began to crack. The Narnians looked up, eyes going wide in shock at the bodies falling through the trees. The Telar slammed down from a great height, breaking branches as they went and landing at a crouch before the Narnians. Zedekah stood in the front.
"You made me fail," he rumbled at the Kings and Queens, frozen at the front. Susan saw, with a twisting heart, the weight she'd seen in the Telar King's face, only more poorly born. "We stood ready to sacrifice all for the sake of our kind, even our own morality, and you undid it with a touch!"
"Narnians, to arms!" Oreius shouted, and the Dwarves rushed forward, pick-axes held out, only to stop at Peter's raised hand.
"It is murder to take the life of an unwilling being, even to save a race. Begone, trespassers in Narnia, for what we did, we did in ignorance, while your actions were knowingly evil."
"Not without what we need," Zedekah roared, taking a step forward. Edmund and Peter closed ranks in front of the Queens, Susan still looking at the Telar above Edmund's head. A moment later, she started as Oreius's arms came around her and Lucy both, a strong promise to keep them safe. Zedekah saw and laughed. "Do you think you can stop me? I took the warring halves and put them together! I saw the plan that would bring our loved ones back to life! I have kept myself awake by the hands of my followers long past when I should have slept! I made the spell to lead us to you even now! I will take what I must, Kings of Narnia, as I have always done! What I must, and no more, and save our race by my own hands!"
"You will not turn aside from your evil?"
Zedekah spread his wings, flapping them to hover over the Narnians. "I will take what we need! Our need outweighs any morality!"
"Narnians, to arms!" Peter called, shoving the girls back, Susan falling against Oreius's legs. The Dwarves rushed forward again, pick-axes raised, their short, sturdy arms bulging with clenched muscles. Peter, unarmed but for Oreius's spare sword, took several steps back. He forced his siblings and the General back as well, and Susan nearly fell as Oreius's large steps pulled her and Lucy away from the battle ahead. The Telar swatted the first Dwarves away with low sweeps of stone arms, but the stubborn Dwarves soon took their picks to the arms themselves, shattering them as they swept forward. One Telar's arm lay on the ground, then another, then five. The Telar backed away, staring. The Dwarves grunted, stepping forward with rhythmic steps, pick-axes raised. The Telar began backing away, and Zedekah thundered from above their heads.
"To the air! We are creatures of the air!" Instantly the Telar leaped into flight, hovering out of reach. As one, they turned towards Adam's race and their protector. Oreius unsheathed his double-handed broadsword, swinging it around, its weight and momentum daring the Telar to come closer and be shattered. Beneath its protecting circle Peter shoved his siblings' heads down, one hand on each sister, ducking closer to the ground himself.
"Get down!" The Four crouched, the Dwarves running back to stand around them; to reach the Four the Telar would have to go through the axes. For a moment, the two parties stayed still but for the beating stone wings, waiting to see who would make the first move. Had the Narnians won?
"Our lives for the race of Telar!" Zedekah screamed, and his loyalists dove at his command. Down they swarmed, wings, arms, feet shattering at the blows of soldiers. Stone shards rained down on the Narnians, cutting their faces, hands, any exposed skin, and the Telar without wings began falling. A few caught themselves by magic, but others were not quick enough, and soon the Dwarves began dogging the falling bodies, aware if they stayed they would be crushed. The circle around the Four widened, and Peter grabbed Edmund's arm, pulling his ear close.
"Edmund! Get the girls out! Under Oreius, where the Dwarves are thickest, run for the woods! I'll draw Zedekah!"
"Peter!" Susan protested, but the High King flashed her one glance, and she bent her head. Edmund's hand grabbed her fingers, pulling her under Oreius, who stood absolutely still to give them cover, and the three crawled back, blocked from the view of those in the air.
"Zedekah! Leader of the fallen! Cease this at once! Look at your own people falling!" they heard Peter thunder, and Zedekah's voice yelled a moment later.
"The older King! In the trees! Follow him, he'll be with the Queens!"
But he wasn't, Susan thought. Oh, Peter, I hope they still keep to not harming those they don't need. The three ran at a crouch through the Dwarves, heading the opposite way. The Narnians, busy chasing their air-born enemies to keep their rulers safe, spared no more than passing glances. The Telar were flying after Peter, and Susan, seeing a thicket ahead, pulled on Edmund's hand, taking them into the middle of it. She dropped to her knees and climbed under the thorny branches, right into the middle. She grabbed the handfuls of fallen leaves and balanced them on the branches above, hiding herself and her loved ones from sight; Edmund and Lucy caught on quickly, and added their own handfuls, carefully winding the branches together to bear the weight. Susan, noticing both her siblings continually pricking their fingers, took over the weaving with her light and delicate touch. She swiftly turned the thorns into a canopy that Lucy and Edmund could fill. When they had finished and were hidden from above, they sat there for a moment, panting.
"Do you think Peter will be okay?" Lucy asked quietly, drawing her knees beneath her chin.
"He had a group of Dwarves ready to take on the entire Telar empire chasing after him," Edmund whispered, the dryness of his tone still clear. "I think he'll be fine."
"And Oreius would have taken off after him, once we reached the trees safely," Susan soothed. She was trying not to think about Peter, running through the woods with only a sword, drawing off an army.
"Shhh!" Edmund hissed, tensing. All three fell silent as they heard the ominous sound of deep wingbeats, too large and deep for a Narnian bird, or even a Gryffin. A sound they knew from hours of hearing it while being carried.
The wingbeats grew fainter, and Susan sighed, drawing her own knees up as she copied Lucy. "Do we have a plan for our next step?" The whisper seemed loud in the silence.
"I don't have one," Edmund grimaced.
"We can stay here at least overnight," Lucy offered. "I don't think they can find us. And perhaps Peter and Oreius will send scouts—Squirrels and things—to tell us when it's safe."
"If we're here overnight we'd better start by making a place large enough to sleep," Susan pointed out, reaching for the roots of the bushes nearest her and snapping them off. She wove them into the canopy, making it stronger, and also ran her fingers across the dirt, feeling with delicate fingers for any stones or roots. Edmund and Lucy joined her, and for the next few minutes, the only sound was the rustling of dead leaves and the quiet snapping of vines.
Then they heard the wingbeats return. The three froze, not a finger moving, and to Susan's ears their own breathing seemed loud.
The wingbeats ceased, a loud crashing and breaking of limbs sounding close. Then quiet.
A whisper followed it. "Little Lucy?"
Lucy looked at the other two in the shade of the thicket. "Sirrioth," she mouthed at them. Edmund and Susan glanced at each other. Then the King reached down with a finger and dug it into the mud, quietly writing "Trust?"
Susan frowned. She remembered Sirrioth drawing Lucy into his arms, refusing to alert Jumak to their presence. But he'd looked at Susan with hatred—he was capable of both. She shrugged, unsure, and Edmund frowned, questioning. Susan pointed at Lucy and made a heart on her chest. Lucy looked from one to the other.
"Little Lucy, we must hurry! They are close! I need to fly you back to the tall four-legged one! He waits with the King, and says to tell you as a token that his name is Oreius!"
The three looked at each other, and then the two Queens were scrambling out, Edmund a bit more hesitant behind them. They emerged from the thicket, and Edmund stopped them from rushing ahead. He walked in front of them, placing a cautious hand on each shoulder as he passed. He halted once they reached a small clearing, shoving each gently behind a large tree and mouthing "Do not let yourselves be seen."* He walked forward alone, squaring himself.
"Sirrioth!"
"Smaller King!" The crashing grew louder, and Sirrioth's large stone figure ran into view. "The others are coming," he said urgently.
"Do you have a watchword for me, Sirrioth?"
"Aslan is safety, the taller King said it, but not to shout it out."
"And Narnia is freedom," Edmund said, relaxing. "Lucy! Susan! Come out!"
They'd already been emerging from the trees once they heard, and came up quickly to where the two stood.
"Thank magic! I am to fly you to them at once. Come, little Lucy," and he stooped and grabbed her with gentle, cradling hands. "I will tell the others where you are!" he called over his shoulder as he launched them both into the sky.
Susan watched until they were distant, a weight off her chest now that she knew that Lucy would be safe.
"We'd better get back under cover till he returns," Edmund pointed out, turning back to the thicket. Susan followed, but stopped him before he could crouch to return to the tunnel.
"I need you to promise me something," she told him seriously, and he straightened at her tone.
"What does my Queen require?"
"Promise me that if it comes to a choice between the Queen of the Telar and myself, you will not with full knowledge do what I did." He said nothing, though his eyes went distant. She grabbed his arm, pulling on it to bring him back. "Edmund, promise me."
He sighed. "I can't, Su," he replied softly.
"You have to! Otherwise, how are we different from Zedekah? He's willing to sacrifice one innocent life for hundreds of others; how can we tell him that's wrong, if we'd sacrifice another innocent life for mine?"
"Or Lucy's?" Edmund questioned, and Susan drew back as if he'd burned her. If it came down to the Queen or Lucy-
How was she to make that choice?
"Aren't you supposed to be the one telling me it's not right?" she choked out, beginning to cry. Edmund looked at her, and a moment later his arms came around her shoulders. He was getting taller, and they fit there easily now. She ached with how much he'd had to grow up, taller, and wiser.
"It's not quite the same, Susan. You are innocent of all connection to this; their Queen is not. She used so much magic she became still. What she is, and what will happen to her in a few years even without a touch, is the result of her own choices. Furthermore, she is the Queen of those who continue to make those choices, who would sacrifice you, or Lucy, both unrelated victims, so they may continue in their choices. She is not fully innocent in this; if she were, she would not be still. Between her life and a truly innocent one - Susan, there is no choice."
"But he was helpless, Edmund. And he looked so sad…" Susan felt Edmund's hand reach up and smooth her head, fingers bumping into the metal circlet.
"One may repent of one's choices and still have to bear the consequences," Edmund said grimly. "Though I would spare them that if I could, they don't seem to be allowing us much time to find a way to help them."
Time. She pulled her head back. "Then we find a way to get more time, and we find a way to help them." She wiped her eyes on her sleeve, sniffing back everything in her nose, then digging in her pockets for the hanky she still had from Lucy. "Edmund, till then—promise me you won't do anything to their queen. That is a weight I do not want on your shoulders."
Edmund looked at her, and sorrowfully he shook his head. "I cannot. I am sorry," he said simply. He took her hand and got to his knees, tugging her down as well. "Aslan entrusted your safety to me, to Peter, to Narnia, and His command is one we dare not fail." His tone, coming from ahead, took a wry turn. "Don't think I don't see the irony of me arguing this side, after what happened in Telar."
Flying in a Telar's arms seemed almost normal now. Lucy ducked her head into his shoulder so the wind didn't hit her face, but she didn't tell him to slow down. The sooner he got her back to Peter, the sooner he could go back for Susan.
It was when she heard the other wingbeats that she jerked her head up. She saw Jumak hovering right in front of them, six Telar right behind him.
"This one?" they called coldly, and Lucy's blood chilled.
Aslan. Was this a betrayal all along? But Sirrioth's arms tightened around her.
"No! This is the other one. You swore her safety if I helped you!"
Helped?
Jumak cast a scornful look at her. "She is not the one who killed my King. I care not for her, nor Zedekah's silly quest. Where is the murderer?"
"Beyond the three trees that stretch to the sky there are small prints in the mud. If you follow them to the darker parts, the other two will be huddled beneath it."
"No!" Lucy screamed, twisting, but Jumak nodded and dove for the woods below, Lucy's outstretched hand powerless. "Take me back!" she yelled at Sirrioth. "Take me back! We have to help them!"
"No." The word was whispered over her head, and the immovable arms closed more tightly around her. "You, I will save. I swore it. We need only one Queen, and it will not be you. You, I will deliver safely to your brother."
"But my sister! You have to take me back to help her!"
The Telar's face looked down at her, creasing into sorrowful lines as he saw her eyes beginning to fill with tears. "I am sorry for your grief, but no." He looked back at the woods. "They will have her by now."
OOOOO
*Yes, I stole that. Kudos to you if you know where it's from.
Response to Anonymousme: Welcome back. I'm quite aware of the corner, and I'm not sure how to get out of it yet! I thought I knew, but the more I have Zedekah talk, the more I realise what I had may not work. So wish me brilliance, or luck! Or better than either, truth.