Disclaimer: see chapter 1

For just a moment after Peter's battle cry, there was near silence, and then the two armies crashed together, and the sounds of battle filled the air. The archers and I stayed where we were, shooting arrows at the enemy and watching the battle. I kept an eye out for the weakest spots, and signaled Edmund whenever I found one. He'd send a few of his soldiers out to help, and then wait for my next signal. All too soon, only Edmund and two Centaurs were left. Before I could send any of them anywhere, the order to retreat to the rocks came. I raced to Amata. As soon as I was seated on her back, she raced off. The archers had their orders, so I didn't worry about them. I reached Edmund before any of the retreating soldiers reached us.

Amata stopped right next to Edmund and I dismounted. The black mare whinnied at me and then raced off. Edmund glanced at me, and I leaned over to speak to him.

"Stay close to me," I said quietly. He nodded and unsheathed his sword. I unsheathed my daggers, and we waited.

A few moments later, the first of the enemy reached us, and we charged into battle. I immediately searched for Peter. Finding him, I began to fight my way to his side, with Edmund right behind me. Peter spared only a glance at us when we reached him. He dispatched the Dwarf he was fighting, and then turned to fight with us. Together, the three of us managed not to get killed. We kept each other alive, and killed any enemy that came our way, either through luck, teamwork, or some combination thereof. After only a few minutes, we noticed Jadis working her way through the battlefield with a sword in one hand and a wand in the other. She wielded both with skill, and she was wreaking havoc on our army. I looked at Edmund and Peter.

"Shall we?" I asked.

The boys grinned wickedly me at me, and together we raced off to face the false Queen. Peter got separated from us just before we reached her, but Edmund and I continued on our course. We attacked her together, neither of us truly aiming to hurt the Witch, although we sure didn't hesitate to injure her when the opportunity presented itself. Instead, we were trying to break her wand. Edmund was the one who finally managed it. She tried to stab him with her broken wand in her anger, but I stepped in between them, and somehow managed to block her strikes. Edmund jumped back into the fight and tried to help me, but the Witch was far more skilled than either of us were. She began to lunge at Edmund. At the last second, I stepped between her and Edmund, and instead of hitting Edmund, her sword plunged into my chest. I fell backwards, pain coursing through me. It was unlike anything I'd ever felt before. Dimly, I heard Edmund scream in rage. I couldn't pay attention to anything around me, and moments later, I blacked out.

When I next opened my eyes, the pain was gone. Susan, Edmund, and Peter were looking down at me with worried faces. I smiled a bit at them and tried to sit up. Susan gently helped me. I was on the battlefield. There were bodies and statues all around me. I could see Aslan going from statue to statue and breaking the curse the Witch had laid on them. Lucy was racing around, giving drops of her life-saving cordial to those who needed it. I sat and watched everything around me, and by the time Aslan and Lucy were done doing what they could, I was feeling much better. I slowly stood by myself, although Peter, Edmund, and Susan stood next to me, ready to help me if I needed it. As soon as she saw that I could stand on my own, Susan gave me a bear hug. The moment she let go, Peter and Edmund nearly knocked me over with a hug of their own. Once they let me go, Lucy gave me a hug, and hers was so forceful that it DID knock me over. I laughed and hugged her back, and then let her pull me back to my feet. I could hear Aslan chuckling next to us, and as soon as I was back on me feet, I gave him a hug too. Once I let go, he turned serious.

"Edmund, Son of Adam, and Alexa, Daughter of Eve, kneel."

Edmund and I looked at each other, confused, but we did as ordered. The Lion placed a paw on Edmund's shoulder.

"Rise, Sir Edmund Shomer, Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Lion."

Edmund stood, and then Aslan placed a paw on my shoulder.

"Rise, Dame Alexa Athaleyah, Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Lion."

I stood, and everyone around us cheered.

Aslan let the sound continue for a moment, and then he called for silence. He started giving orders to people, and the army began the job of preparing to move out. The Pevensies and I walked back to camp with the Lion, and once we arrived, Aslan left the five of us to talk together. We found a place to sit down and almost immediately, I asked what had happened after I was stabbed. Peter told the story, since he'd seen it happen.

Apparently, once Jadis stabbed me, Edmund screamed in rage and launched an attack on the Witch. Peter was trying to make his way over to us, but when he heard Edmund scream and saw me lying on the ground, he kind of lost it. He made his way over to us and made sure no one got near me while Edmund fought Jadis. Ed had picked up a random sword that was on the ground and he fought the Witch using two blades instead of one. He managed to keep her from hurting him, but just barely. He didn't have to fight her for long, though, because Aslan showed up with reinforcements only a couple minutes after Jadis stabbed me. The Lion went straight for the false Queen, and he finished her. Susan and Lucy came down to where I lay, with Peter and Edmund protecting me. Lucy gave me drops from her cordial, and they all waited to see if it would work. Aslan came over after he finished Jadis, and he had to remind Lucy that there were other people who needed the cordial.

"Wow," I said when Peter finished telling the tale. I looked at Peter and Edmund with tears in my eyes, very much aware that if they hadn't protected me, I wouldn't have been alive for Lucy to use her cordial on. "Thank you," I said softly.

The boys smiled at me. "Thank you," Edmund said back to me. "If you hadn't stepped in, I would have been the one she stabbed."

"I told you, I would have died if that's what it took to get you to Cair Paravel."

Lucy got up and hugged me. "I'm glad you didn't die," she told me.

"So am I, Lucy, so am I."

The next day, the army packed up the camp, and we all headed to Cair Paravel. We learned from some of the soldiers we talked to that the journey from the battlefield to Cair Paravel would normally only take two or three days, but with an entire army to move, it took nearly a week. We finally arrived in the late afternoon of the sixth day since the battle ended. The army started either setting up their camp or heading to their homes nearby while Aslan led us into the castle. I expected it to be dirty and dusty, but apparently, the Lion had thought of that. He'd sent a bunch of the more peaceful people to clean the place, and it looked amazing. The five of us couldn't stop staring at everything as Aslan led us on a tour. We started in the throne room, where the Pevensies would be crowned in a couple of days, and finished in the dining room, where a feast was laid out for us. We ate, talked, and laughed with many of the army officers, and, of course, Aslan. The party lasted into the early morning, although the Pevensies and I left around midnight.

The wing of the castle where our rooms were was silent. We each had our own room, and as the oldest, Peter and I put everyone else to bed. I had just finished saying goodnight to Peter, and was headed to my own room, when Lucy knocked on the door. She said her room was dark and scary, and asked if she could sleep with her brother. He gave in easily, and I helped her get settled in the huge bed. I opened the door to leave, but Susan stood there, her hand poised to knock. She made up some excuse about making sure Lucy was ok, but Peter and I both saw right through it. Peter told her to climb into his bed. She did so without complaint, and just as she did, another knock sounded at the door. I answered it, and found Edmund there. Silently, I let him in. He didn't even bother asking if he could stay the night with Peter: he simply crawled into the older boy's huge bed. By this point, I was so tired that I wouldn't have made it all the way to my own room, even though it was just across the hall, so I crawled into bed with the others and fell asleep the moment I got comfortable.

The next morning, I woke up to sunlight shining in my face. Groaning, I tried to roll over to avoid the light, only to find that I was kind of trapped under four other people. During the night, everyone had kind of tangled together, but somehow I ended up in the middle, with all of them on top of me. I didn't complain much.

The others woke up slowly, but eventually, everyone was up and eating the breakfast that someone had left for us. Once that was done, we each headed to our own rooms to get dressed for the day.

I entered my room and took a good look around. The tour had been too rushed the day before for us to take more than a quick glance inside our rooms, and I hadn't gotten the chance to see it after that.

My room was actually a suite of rooms, and it was enormous. I had a sitting room, a large bedroom, a big bathroom, an office, and a large room that could be used for anything. I planned to turn it into my private library. The entire suite was already decorated. None of the walls were painted, since they were made of stone, but the furniture, curtains, and everything else was all tastefully chosen and arranged. The living room had mainly purple items in it, with light-colored wooden furniture and gold accents. The bathroom and bedroom were both done in shades of blue, with light colored wood, and silver accents. The office was done in dark wood and green.

I took a look around, and then made my way to my bedroom to find the wardrobe. I thought someone had mentioned that it would be full of clothes that would fit me, and I was right. Looking through all the beautiful clothes, I found a dress that was gorgeous. It was a beautiful, bright blue. A section the length of the dress in front had a different pattern on it. It was a lighter blue, with a floral pattern. The light green of the leaves and the light pink of the flowers went wonderfully with the blue of the dress. A silver belt wrapped around my waist and hung down in front. The sleeves were long and flowing. I put on a pair of leggings and my black boots underneath the dress, where no one would see them. I put my hair in a braid and strapped my daggers to my arms, and I was ready. I made my way back out to the hall, where I found Peter and Lucy waiting. I'd just joined them when Edmund came out into the hall. The four of us chatted for a few minutes about random things, until Susan finally came out of her room. Now that all five of us were there, we began to make our way to the entry hall of the castle. We got lost once or twice along the way, but we finally made it. Mr. Tumnus was there, waiting for us. The faun was to be our supervisor for the day, and in charge of making sure we got to where we needed to go when we needed to be there. Lucy, of course, nearly tackled the faun with a hug when she saw him. Somehow he managed to stay standing on his own two hooves. He greeted Lucy, and then the rest of us cheerfully, before leading us to our first stop of the day: the seamstresses. The coronation was to be the next day, and the seamstresses needed to measure us and make sure our outfits fit perfectly. That didn't take long, and once we were done, Mr. Tumnus led us to our next stop, and then our next, and then our next. It was a busy day. We met our tutors, who would teach us about Narnian customs and laws, as well as doing regular schooling for the Pevensies. I didn't need the regular schooling, as I'd already graduated from high school. We also were taken down to the Royal Vault, where we were told we'd have a place to store our most treasured items. We were introduced to our personal servants. We all tried to protest, but we were ignored. The boys got personal valets, both of whom were fauns. Peter's was named Niajo, and Edmund's was named Balkar. We girls all got personal maids. Lucy's was a dryad named Blossom. Susan's was a naiad named Coral. I got a nymph named Andra.

We had supper together in a small dining room. It was a nice, relaxing meal, filled with laughter. After the meal, we congregated in my room, mostly because it was the first one in the hall. We spent a couple hours talking about different things before it was finally decided that we should all go to bed. Everyone went to change and get ready for sleep in their own rooms. I'd just climbed into my nice, big, soft bed when I heard a knock at the door. Groaning, I went and opened the door to my chambers, only to find all four of the others waiting. I rolled my eyes but let them in, and without a word they climbed into my bed.

The next morning, we were woken by Andra. The maid shook me awake. I thought it was my sister, and rolled over to tell her to go away. Unfortunately for me, I was on the edge of the bed, and so rolling over meant that I fell off the bed. I instinctively tried to grab something to keep me on the bed, and ended up grabbing Peter's arm, and pulling him off the bed and onto me. His startled cry woke Lucy and Susan up. They sat up to try and see what was happening. Lucy caught on first and started laughing, which apparently woke Edmund up just enough to decide that people were being too loud for him. He grabbed a pillow and pulled it over his head. Andra looked on in shock for a moment, before she reached down and pulled Peter to his feet. Once he was up and didn't look like he was going to fall over, she pulled me to my feet as well. After that, it only took a couple of minutes for everyone to be up, even Edmund, who was grumpily glaring at Susan, who'd literally pulled him out of bed. Once Andra was sure we were all awake, she led us into my living room, where five plates of breakfast were waiting. Silently, we all sat down and started eating. As soon as we were all finished, the others were guided into their own rooms, where their servants were waiting for them. Andra led me into my bathroom, where the bathtub was filled with hot water. I climbed in, and she left.