An: I'm sorry for having you wait so long for the next chapter after such cliffhanger! Hopefully the length of this chapter will make up for it! Thank you for follows, favs and reviews! I'm glad the story keeps you entertained!

This chapter was again checked by amazing youngandobsessed :)

Chapter 12

This was different from fencing practice. Sebastian's technique was terrifying, Puck often hit a little harder than necessary and Mr Colt from Dalton Academy knew this especially mean thrust, but this was different. He was fighting a live killing machine covered in fur and soon probably in Blaine's blood.

His feet moved slowly so he could always face the circling wolf. He held his sword level and tried to blink as little as possible. He knew, however, that Maugrim could probably smell his fear and had years of experience in killing to his advantage.

Then it struck him that this fight was different for yet another reason. He could hear soft gasps of pain from Kurt lying nearby. Blaine didn't dare to distract himself by looking at the witchling, but he knew Kurt was in real danger – of either losing too much blood or being Maugrim's next victim. The pendant flickered down by his palm, the chain wrapped around his wrist. Blaine could feel it's 'pulse'. Does this mean I need to gather all my courage right now? , he thought.

At that very moment Maugrim's eyes narrowed, his haunches contracted and the wolf jumped forward.

There was a clash, a ripping sound and a sting of pain.

Red liquid dripped from Maugrim's right ear when the wolf landed on the other side of the clearing.

Blaine exhaled a trembling sigh. His left sleeve was in shreds and he could feel a few deep scratches on his exposed shoulder. He risked a look at his sword, its shine matted by blood. Suddenly the blade seemed heavier than before. I wounded him... and the only way to end this is to kill him...

Kurt watched Blaine from under his heavy eyelids. Surviving Maugrim's attack so far was impressive, even if it was only because of the wolf's overconfidence. However, even from afar Kurt could tell that Blaine's wound was more severe than his opponent's and the human's chances of survival were steadily dropping. Kurt clutched his bottle and realized he didn't really want Blaine dead. Not now and not later. The boy needed to be alive to apologize to Kurt, to be punished somehow, to be... to make it up to him.

The witchling threw the bottle towards the wolf. Maugrim was so preoccupied with Blaine that he didn't notice the flask before it hit his side. The crystal glass magically shattered and the emerald substance inside exploded into hundreds of droplets. The majority of them landed on Maugrim, sizzling upon touching his black fur.

The wolf howled in agony.

"Blaine, move, you moron!" Kurt shouted angrily when he noticed Blaine frozen in hesitation.

The boy blinked, as if just woken up. He thrust the long sword through the suffering wolf, twisting it at the end of his stroke. The sharp blade cut through his body like through butter, yet Maugrim still managed to turn towards Blaine, bloodshot eyes and teeth on full display. He moved as if to attack, but his body finally surrendered to the gashing wound in his chest. His paws staggered and with a loud thump, the wolf fell to the ground right in front of a petrified Blaine.

The boy wanted nothing more than for the bloodied body before him and his sword to just... disappear. No amount of practice had prepared him for what to do in the aftermath of real-life fight.

"Blaine?"

A soft voice broke through his frozen state. Kurt. Blaine threw himself at the witchling. The bite on his thigh looked bad. Blaine quickly tore off the rest of his shredded sleeve and pressed it on top of the deep gash.

"Your... your shoulder..." whispered Kurt, his eyes slipping closed. He felt so tired.

Blaine had almost forgotten about his own wound, but wasn't going to focus on it now. He combed the hair away from Kurt's forehead and cupped the pale face in his hand. The witchling's eyes were closed shut and his breath was shallow.

"It will be alright. Everything will be alright."

The boy unwrapped the ochre pendant from his wrist. There were few drops of blood on the stone. Blaine delicately put the chain around Kurt's neck, hoping the 'courage' would give him strength to heal.

The boy was barely aware of anything around them that wasn't Kurt, so he only registered the arrival of the Narnians from the camp when he felt strong arms grabbing him from behind and pulling him back. Blaine turned around to see Sebastian's worried and confused face, and about a dozen of Narnians of every different kind were gathered behind the taller boy.

"Let me go." Blaine pleaded weakly. "I need to help him..."

"And we need to help you withthat bleeding. Who is he anyway?" Sebastian had only now noticed Kurt. "I thought we are the only humans in Narnia?"

Before Blaine could answer him, one of the newcomers yelled excitedly, "That's Maugrim! Is he dead?"

Puck, who had also arrived with the others, knelt by the black silhouette and forced Maugrim's eyelids open. The bloodied eyes were void and soulless.

"Yeah. Funny, I always thought it would be me to kill him. Your Majesty, I'm very proud, that was a fine wor..." the centaur glanced in Blaine's direction and paused upon seeing the other injured person lying in the clearing.

"Witch!" he hissed and jumped to his hooves. Not all Narnians had seen Kurt before, but the ones who recognized him drew their weapons.

"What is he doing here?!"

"Does it matter? We should kill him!"

"No!" shouted Blaine, freeing himself from Sebastian's grip and lunging to shield the unconscious witchling. "He helped me! I wouldn't have managed to ki... defeat Maugrim without him!"

Sebastian blinked rapidly, staring at the scene in front of him. "He... helped you? Didn't he try to kill you in the tomb?" his eyes narrowed when he saw Blaine's pendant hanging from Kurt's pale neck. "Blaine... just how well do you know him?" he asked coldly, looking up at him.

Blaine avoided his eyes, but his ears reddened traitorously.

"Your Majesty! Please stand away!" pleaded Puck. "I don't know what kind of spell this demon put on you, but he certainly has some kind of a plan!"

"Djinns are sneaky creatures," snarled a golden leopard, padding closer. "Whatever he said to you is a lie."

"No." Blaine's voice was calm and clear. "We are not killing him. We are going to treat his injury. Sheath your weapons. That's an order!"

The Narnians were shocked – it was the first time Blaine had made a decision against their centaur leader. They clearly didn't know what to do in such a situation, even Puck hesitated, "Your Majesty, you can't..."

His words were drowned out by a powerful roar. The kind of roar that would make the bravest man try to run away, the steadiest legs to tremble, the thickest skin to get goose bumps. It soared among them and they recognized it held the same type of supernatural power that belonged to Susan's Horn.

The Narnians dropped their weapons to the ground, many of them fell to their knees, a few even hid their faces in hands. Puck had to try his hardest to keep his knees from bending. Both Sebastian and Blaine were terrified and enthralled, as the massive lion emerged from between the trees into the clearing. His velvety cream-coloured fur covered a well-muscled body. His mane – a mix of golds and browns – shone in the midday sun. But his most amazing feature were his eyes, sunflower yellow with speckles of gold shimmering in them.

Suddenly everyone present knew who the majestic creature was.

"Aslan" Sebastian mouthed in awe.

Aslan walked slowly towards two boys, paralyzing them with his gaze. They would have kneeled if they weren't already sitting on the ground.

Without a word Aslan turned his head toward Kurt, still unconscious. The gesture broke Blaine's reverie and the boy put his hand on witchling's chest as if to protect him. Fortunately it didn't seem like Aslan was going to attack.

"Please. He needs help." begged Blaine. "Can we take him with us? I'll take the responsibility for him."

Before Aslan could reply Puck finally regained his voice. "We can't. He is a djinn, and our enemy and..."

The centaur was silenced once again with a single commanding look from yellow eyes.

"Your King has given you an order, Puck." Aslan's voice was deep and rich, causing everyone's hearts to beat faster at the sound of it. Blaine sighed with sudden relief, only then realizing he had been holding his breath since making his plea.

"Help me with him, please," he asked Sebastian who, after a moment's hesitation, complied.

Aslan growled quietly, getting their attention once more. "After getting back to the camp I will speak with you, Sons of Adam. Separately."

Both boys bowed in consent. "I will go first. You'll need to get your wound looked at," whispered Sebastian. Blaine nodded, grateful that Sebastian didn't press his relationship with Kurt any more than he had. Frankly, after what had just happened , Blaine himself wasn't sure what their relationship exactly was.

The Narnians were less than thrilled about having the witchling among them – even if he was tied up and injured - so no one had offered to help with treating him. Sebastian had left for his private conversation with Aslan, so it was up to Blaine to clean and dress Kurt's wound. He felt bad about tying his hands, but even without his bottle of magic, the djinn was a dangerous creature.

Blaine had to cut off a large portion of Kurt's pants as they were too tight to roll up. He was desperately ignoring any feelings of arousal in the situation and tried to calm his hormones upon touching Kurt's uncovered leg. It had been too long since their last meeting, but it was beneath Blaine's honor to think about anything other than helping the witchling. Kurt's wound was deep and jagged, but after cleaning and covering it with an herb paste from Rachel it looked promising. The boy looked at the witchling's sleeping pallid face – thinner and less shimmery than before, but still beautiful. At least he will sleep through the worst of the pain, Blaine thought, wincing with every pronounced movement of his own wounded shoulder. Rachel had patched up him expertly, but unfortunately Narnia didn't have any strong painkillers. Another thing he missed from home, along with hair gel.

He didn't want Aslan to wait for him, so – very reluctantly - Blaine left the tent with Kurt sleeping inside. Immediately, he spotted Sebastian walking towards him. The taller boy looked thoughtful and more sombre than ever.

"He's at the top of the hill." he said quietly.

"How did yours go?"

Sebastian shrugged. "That's my business. Yours will be probably different, anyway."

Blaine arched an eyebrow, but knew when to stop asking questions. "If you're sure... Listen, could you check on Kurt from time to time during my meeting with Aslan?"

"Oh, your captive." Sebastian rolled his eyes exaggeratedly. "I guess I could. Are you ever going to tell me what's your deal with him?"

"Well..." Blaine thought for a moment what would be safe to reveal. "For starters, he helped me get the last part of Susan's Horn..."

"Ha! I knew something was fishy with your previous story!" the taller boy grinned triumphantly as he moved past his cousin.

Blaine shook his head. You don't even know the half of what really happened that night.

When Blaine arrived at the top of the hill he saw Aslan's silhouette, sitting with his back to him and facing the sea.

"You can come closer," Aslan sounded powerful, but gentle. Blaine felt he could trust his voice to always calm him even in the worst times. He approached the lion and wondered if he should kneel or bow or both...

"Sit beside me," Aslan invited him, as if he knew the boy's thoughts and troubles. Blaine sat and chanced a look at lion's profile. Catching the sight of yellow eyes, he blushed and dropped his gaze.

"You wanted to talk to me?" he asked quietly.

"Indeed. Blaine Pevensie, future king of Narnia, why did you come to this world?"

Blaine thought back to a few days ago. Why?

"Sebastian was told a story by his aunt Lucy about a magical country with talking weird creatures and no humans in it. We were checking to see if it was true."

Aslan smiled. "That only explains how you knew about getting here. Allow me to rephrase me question. Why did you leave your world?"

Blaine wondered how the lion knew what question would unsettle him the most. He voiced then his reason to for following Sebastian into headmaster's office that afternoon. "I didn't know what I wanted to do. I wasn't exactly good at anything, I wasn't that popular either. I didn't have many friends because I was constantly reading something..."

"And here you are supposed to be a leader, a person everyone loves and respects. Have you gotten what you wanted here?"

Blaine looked at his hands. About an hour ago they were dirty with blood. About fifteen minutes ago they were caressing the face of a person dear to him.

"Yes. And no," the boy sighed. " I finally feel like I have some sort of purpose, and the power to change my life. I didn't expect everything to be so... messy though."

"You do realize you can go back, if you cannot handle this?"

There was no judgement in Aslan's voice, although maybe a bit of sadness. Blaine could remember well where the wardrobe was - they had left it open, so he probably could easily find it in the forest. He could just leave the Narnians to their problems and go back to his safe life... and regret his decision for the rest of it.

Blaine shook his head. " I can't. My mere existence has brought hope here. I can't take it away – that would be cruel."

Aslan pushed further. "There will be other prophecies. There might be others coming in the future. There could be other kings and queens that could defeat Jadis."

"And they would kill Kurt along with them!" Blaine blurted out, then immediately clasped a hand over his mouth and looked at Aslan, terrified.

However, the lion didn't attack or yell at him. "Yes... I guess we should talk about that," he spoke after a moment of silence, directing his intimidating stare at the boy. "Do you know who he is?"

"He's White Witch's son," began Blaine cautiously, "And he is supposed to be my enemy..."

Aslan was silent.

"...But I don't want him to be the enemy. Every time we've met he was just so nice to me. And I think he could... he could..."

Aslan was still only observing him.

"... He could change, somehow. And find his place in Narnia without the whole 'djinn' thing, without being threatened by a mere existence of humans just because of some stupid prophecy. I... "

Aslan's yellow eyes shone blindingly like the sun, pulling the words straight from Blaine's soul.

"I like him. A lot. And I don't care that I am supposed to fight him. I won't." Suddenly the boy realized how that must have sounded, "I'm not going to betray Narnians either! I'll still fight whatever threatens their freedom!" he added quickly.

"That is the dilemma, having the little djinn injured in your tent without knowing what side he is on. And you have an army of Narnians that expect you to lead them to freedom. But you need to decide what you want to do for yourself."

Blaine looked for a long moment at the fresh grass, bending lazily in the warm wind. What I want to do? Honestly?

"I want to save Narnia." He said, lifting his head. "And I want to save Kurt. I want to do both." He gazed almost daringly at Aslan. The lion smiled comfortingly.

"So instead of choosing you decide to carry the weight of both..." Aslan broke their eye contact, directing his gaze at the ocean. Blaine followed his line of sight and noticed something that certainly wasn't there before. At the shore, on a cape overlooking the sea stood a building that looked like a medieval castle. There were no signs of aging or destruction on its walls and towers, but it looked obviously empty. Its architecture was very elegant and the big windows indicated the interior received a lot of light. Blaine could even notice a wide open terrace on one of the fronts with a view of the beach and sea.

"This is 'Cair Paravel'," explained Aslan, "It was home to every human King and Queen of Narnia. It has stood for centuries, sleeping and enchanted to wait for the arrival of its new heirs. When every obstacle to free Narnia is overcome it will be restored and become your home."

"Wow... why didn't I see it before?"

"You had troubles that required you to look inside your soul and ignore what surrounds it. But it seems you found your solution and your vision has cleared."

Blaine looked again at the castle. If he was able to make his wish come true he would one day sit there with Sebastian on their thrones. He wondered if it would be possible to have Kurt join his court. If it would be possible for them to share a life there... He shook his head realizing he was already planning their happily ever after without even knowing how he or Kurt felt about each other at the moment.

The pain was overwhelming, but Kurt was quite relieved to feel it. It meant his leg hadn't been eaten by Maugrim as his dream from just a moment ago had led him to believe. Then he remembered the nightmare didn't make sense in the first place, because Maugrim had been killed by Blaine.

"Blaine?" he wheezed weakly and tried to move from his position lying on his right side. That might've been difficult already with an injured leg, but soon became impossible as his hands were tied securely behind his back. Kurt managed to roll on his back and immediately regretted it when his left thigh brushed the blanket beneath him. The witchling hissed and bent his knee to keep the wounded area from touching anything.

Kurt now noticed that he was currently alone in a round, pavilion – shaped tent. The entrance was completely covered so the only source of sunlight came from the gaps between the ground and the tent's walls. In this dim lighting Kurt could make out only the silhouettes of two cross frame chairs, a simple table and some bags. There were a few items on the table, but none resembling a weapon. Kurt sighed – he didn't even have his bottle as a vessel for magic. There was no way for him to free himself at the moment and he was bored and in pain.

"Hey! Is there anyone outside?!" He was irritated that his voice sounded weaker than ever and cracked a bit.

It seemed that there was someone outside, as the sun rays at the bottom of the entrance were blocked by a pair of feet and Kurt could hear the heavy rustle of fabric. He squinted his eyes to see who it could be, yet that effort was rendered unnecessary when he heard their voice as they entered the tent.

"I'm glad you are awake! How are you feeling?" asked Blaine. Why does he have that stupidly sweet and caring voice? thought Kurt, annoyed.

"My leg almost became a snack for a damn wolf. You tell me how I am supposed to feel, human." he seethed and then groaned – the pain had increased due to his stress.

Blaine frowned looking at his leg and kneeled by the mattress.

"I'll need to change your bandaging and I'll prepare something for the pain." He caught Kurt's gaze. Despite the dimmed light they shone with their own blue-green flame.

I'll have to face that conversation sooner or later, so I might say it now.

"I'm sorry." Blaine said.

Next chapter: confessions