"Somehow they knew me," the Scarlet Witch muttered, more to herself than the others she had already told this news to. "How?"
"Maybe he just knows you by reputation?" Natasha suggested.
"They managed to take down Thor with very little difficulty. No offense, Wanda but I have no idea why they would fear you that much more solely by reputation," Maria Hill argued.
"You are right. He seemed to know me," Wanda said fretfully.
"At least they're scared of us now," Clint said, seeming rather satisfied by that information. "We can use this. Start bringing Wanda along to all these missions."
"No," Stark said instantly. "We can't put her in the line of fire for no reason."
"It might scare them without making cause for more war," Natasha agreed with Clint reluctantly.
"I just want to know what it is that they know," Wanda said quietly.
"They have the Scarlet Witch," was the first breathless words out of Edmund's mouth.
When the other Pevensies all gasped in shock, Caspian frowned and said, "That girl? You know her?"
"Not exactly. But I've seen an image of her and know who she is," Edmund said off-handedly. "We had to get out of there if she's on their side."
"And?" Caspian prompted. "Who is she?"
"So you just left? So they can interrogate the Professor's maid and find out all about us?" Peter said, gritting his teeth in frustration, ignoring Caspian's question much to Caspian's great annoyance.
"Peter, how could possibly two people face the Scarlet Witch, particularly when aided by two others? It took an entire army and Aslan to finish off the White Witch!" Edmund protested.
"Peter, be realistic," Susan cut off when Peter was about to reprimand his brother again. When Peter realized that both his sisters were currently glaring at him, he backed down.
"Sorry, Ed. Good work," he agreed reluctantly. "And Caspian, thanks for going with him."
"No problem. The more excuses I have to not go back to Telmar, the better."
"You know you have to go back eventually, right?" Lucy pointed out.
"Why? To get more lectures from my uncle about my sinful ways?" Caspian groaned.
"Which one? The interest in men or the cavorting with us barbarians?" Susan teased.
"Both," Caspian said with a significant grin towards Edmund.
"And this is why I will absolutely never visit Telmar until you take the throne. He'd probably have me in some sort of unfortunate accident," Edmund joked. "But seriously. If you're never there, then he might have reason to change the line of succession, which would really screw with Narnia if we have another Miraz."
"True. But after this? This is way too exciting to miss," Caspian said. He changed the topic back to the question they had yet to give a straight answer to. Partially he was genuinely concerned, but he also wanted to get off the topic of his return to Telmar before the Pevensies could insist he return. "So who is the Scarlet Witch?"
"She belong to a – " Lucy began before Mr. Tumnus ran in, his scarf half falling off in his extreme haste.
"The Trickster has left the camp! Jakko the Jaguar spied him entering our enemies camps!" Mr. Tumnus said urgently. He looked at the various monarch's faces, expecting to see his own urgency reflected in them as he grabbed his horns in fright.
Instead, the Pevensies all remained rather passive, though Caspian was alarmed.
"Is there a plan?" Caspian asked urgently, knowing there must be a reason the Pevensies did not bother worrying. He was annoyed, though, that they had not shared with him whatever it was that all four of them knew.
"Oh, right, I suppose we should be more alarmed at that news," Peter said nonchalantly. "Mr. Tumnus, order the guards to...sound the alarm? Is that what we would normally do?"
"Probably. And have all our soldiers ready to fight at a moment's notice," Susan suggested in an equally uninterested tone. Caspian and Mr. Tumnus both looked at them incredulously, wondering how possibly they did not find this to be bad news.
"Oh, yes, we would do that too," Peter said, no more emotion than if he had been merely commenting on the weather. "Thank you, Mr. Tumnus."
As soon as Tumnus had left, Caspian said, "Well?"
"Well what?" Edmund asked.
"Well, why are we not panicking that we lost the Trickster?"
"Oh, that," Lucy said. "We never needed him."
"What? What was all this then?" Caspian said in frustration. He disliked being the one constantly left out. He could hardly be surprised at this, as he had grown up in their enemy country and was not one of the family. In fact, his first encounter with Peter had been when he was on a diplomatic mission to Cair Paravel and while sneaking off in the woods for some time alone, Peter had mistook him for a spy. He had known the only humans other than the monarchs in Narnia were bandits and mistook Peter for one, and so they had nearly fought to the death before others showed up and put an end to it
"I mean, we need him, but we need him there," Susan explained.
"Would you please elaborate? I think you of all people know how horrid I am at picking up your hints," Caspian pointed out, making Susan laugh a little.
"True. Almost as horrid as you are at knowing what you want," she countered. He rolled his eyes, understanding her double meaning for once. For the brief time they were betrothed as a means of an alliance between the warring countries, she quickly figured out he was not interested in women and kept hinting that he could tell her. He missed every single one of her hints as he had not yet admitted it to himself.
"At least you figured it out eventually," Edmund grinned widely. "Anyways, it is his blood, not his skills that we needed. Although his skills could have been also put to use, but alas, not happening."
"But, conveniently, he just delivered his blood to precisely where we need it. Hopefully they try to resurrect the White Witch soon," Peter commented.
"Hopefully?" Caspian asked, still perturbed.
"Because – " Susan began before she was interrupted by an earth-shattering noise that rocked the very ground they were standing on, making all five of them tumble to the floor.
After Loki had entered the camp, the creatures viewed him with great suspicion. A show of dark magic and slaughtering a number of them, they easily submitted before he even bothered using mind control. He was less satisfied than he imagined he would be. He enjoyed power, but he enjoyed the struggle for it. When the power willingly became his, what use was it?
He knew if he allied himself with these creatures, he would need to be careful as he would no doubt have to take down the children monarchs. Young as they may be, he was no fool to underestimate someone simply by their age. He highly doubted they were the ages they so conveniently pretended to be. He could try to kill them before they had even a chance to think, but then he might be stuck in this unknown world for some time, away from his true targets of Asgard and Midgard. A witch though, she would be just as likely to be able to come up not only with a portal there, but also new ways of tricking his father and brother who were becoming a bit too familiar with his.
"How did you plan on waking this leader of yours?" he asked.
They quickly explained the blood sacrifice. The circle. The chants. Loki found it all quite suspect. It seemed unnatural, even to a god who had seen many things. He was apt to disbelieve it. "What makes you think such a thing might even work?" he scoffed.
He was hardly convinced these vile creatures had the magic they claimed. The wand though, that he could feel pure, unadulterated power pulsating from as it sent a cold thrill down his veins. He breathed the power in, swimming in its control, but he found he was unable to cause magic with it. Perhaps because it was broken, but Loki suspected its mistress had jealously guarded it's powers with a magical barrier, perhaps blood magic so it would work only for her. "Let the circle be drawn," he decided, eager to meet this magical witch. While his own powers seemed capricious here, he assumed the confusion of a return would be enough that he could subdue the witch in that time.
A hunched wolf-creature threw back a dark hood, etching a circle with its claw. A birdlike harpy screeched and crooned, chanting in an ancient language. At this, Loki knew real magic was happening. He could sense its familiar presence as only a god might. The queer creatures of the night has told him, "One drop of your blood and she will wake." Their foolish plan had been to capture one of the rulers and use their blood, but the creatures were assured his would work just as well. He took a knife, raising his hands above his head dramatically. Magic was hardly influenced by such things, but the plebeians would be easily awed by such a gesture. He nicked his hand, letting the blood flow down to his wrists before lowering it, squeezing a few deep red drops onto the magical circle. He could see icicles form crystalline fractals from the air into the ground, an opaque outline of a woman forming as the tendrils of his blood mixed with the magic. He breathed in the magical chill, seeing the ghostly witch form as the creatures believed she would.
His blood touched the beautiful silhouette of the woman, splashing across as the ice shattered into a million tiny pieces. With a loud sound, the ground itself shuddered and cracked.
