A/N: Thanks for the reviews to those who did review. I love to hear from you guys, and who knows, I might incorporate some of the things you beg for… we'll have to wait and see. This chappie was so hard to write because I knew it wasn't going to be all that much action or excitement. I hope you still enjoy it!

A/N 2: This chapter has been revised since it was first posted and there are some changes.

Part Four

Lucy kept glancing toward her two brothers as they gathered the few belongings they had and scattered the remnants of their fire. There was something different about them – both seemed more at ease than they had the last week or so. She knew something pivotal must have happened last night, but didn't know what and wasn't so sure it was a good idea to ask. Turning her attention to Susan, she noticed her sister was also sending Peter and Edmund more looks than normal. She too suspected something different.

"Maybe we'll find someone today," Peter said as he stood beside Susan and Lucy, with Edmund once again scouting out the direction they would travel this morning. He cast a found gaze on Edmund and Susan couldn't hold in her curiosity.

"You seem different today, Peter…"

Her brother turned to her with a small smile on his face and she let out the breath she didn't realize she had been holding. He wasn't angry at her, thank the lion. She was actually surprised when he answered.

"Ed and I discussed some things that had been bothering us last night and it was very … emotional," he said. "But it was also very liberating. I'm glad we talked because I feel so much better about it now."

His sisters both nodded and he patted them on the shoulders. "Come on, Ed's signaling, I think he found the trail." As they stepped forward as one unit, he added, "If anything is bothering you and you want answers, just ask, because I seem to be in the answering mood these last few days…"

Susan chuckled at that and nodded. "I'll hold you to that, Peter Pevensie. But later. I don't actually have any questions right now, only those that dwell on what happened here. But I'll come up with something."

Lucy tugged on her brother's sleeve. "I have a question. Are you going to start acting like High King Peter the Magnificent, or are you going to keep following us all like a lost puppy?"

"Lucy!" Susan gasped, but Lucy wasn't in the least perturbed by her abrupt question. Peter shocked them both when he doubled over laughing. Ahead, Edmund stopped and raised an eyebrow at his brother, who was now laughing and wincing at the same time.

"Lu, you're something else. Never change," Peter said. "Ed actually asked me the same question last night, though it was phrased a bit differently. Lost puppy, indeed. I assure you, Lu, I am going to start acting as you remember me. I just needed time to go from nameless drone to King Peter. Bit of a stretch between the two, don't you agree?"

With a broad smile, Lucy nodded. "A bit."

After Peter composed himself, the four continued on in relative silence for a while. Then Lucy piped up again. "Guys, I had a dream this morning," she said quietly, drawing her siblings' attentions. "I dreamt I met Aslan in the woods."

Peter and Susan exchanged somewhat uncertain glances and Edmund prompted Lucy to continue, which she did. "I asked him why he wouldn't come to us and help us. He said that 'nothing ever happens the same way twice'. I think we should keep an eye out for him. He's got to be here, somewhere, and I know he'll help us."

Her eldest siblings frowned. "What could he mean by that?" Susan pondered. "I've been wondering why he hasn't come to us yet. I mean, here we are wandering Narnia with no idea what is going on or what we're supposed to do."

Peter shook his head. "I guess we can keep an eye out for him, but we can't really go searching for him. We wouldn't know where to look, anyway. Perhaps we need to do this on our own this time, and that's what he means by 'nothing ever happens the same way twice'."

Lucy sighed and nodded, but wasn't really convinced. "All right, I guess."

She remained silent after that, and Edmund gripped her shoulder. "I believe you saw him, Lu, I really do. And I believe he'll come when the time is right. I don't think he'll leave us to deal with all this ourselves, I just can't believe he would."

They stopped for lunch when the sun was high in the sky and Edmund and Susan spent time foraging for berries and other fruits to eat. Peter watched warily as Lucy wandered off in the opposite direction and he quickly stood to follow her. Something felt different here, and while he couldn't put a finger on what it was, he was not about to ignore it and let Lucy get hurt.

The youngest Pevensie leaned against a tree for a moment, gently running her hand along it, and whispered, "Please wake up." There was no response from the still tree and Lucy sighed sadly before walking further from the camp, as if drawn this way. Her brother trailed behind but didn't wish to disturb her unless necessary.

Lucy paused beside some bushes and her head suddenly jerked up. "What…" She was about to step around the bushes when Peter, who had seen what had made the noise, grabbed her and held a hand to her mouth. Shaking his head from side to side, he gestured for her to stay behind him and they began to back away from the bushes.

Without a weapon, Peter didn't want a confrontation with the large minotaur he'd spied on the other side of the hedge. Holding tightly to Lucy, he jerked to a stop when a young human man suddenly erupted from the brush to his right.

Lucy screamed as a blade, glistening in the sunlight, arched within inches of her brother's chest, where it came to rest menacingly. The young man wielding it narrowed his eyes at Peter, though they widened when he noticed Lucy, restrained by Peter, behind her brother.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" the young man asked, his voice heavily accented.

Narnians began to emerge from the nearby forest and Peter let out a little shaky breath at that. Of course, he couldn't relax totally since there was still the sword pointed at him to contend with.

"Peter! Lucy!" Susan's voice cried out from behind her two siblings and she and Edmund appeared over a short rise.

The young man's sword wavered and then fell downward as his eyes widened. "Wait…it can't be…High King Peter?"

Peter met his eyes and nodded. "Yes. And who are you?"

A centaur moved forward now, eying the four Pevensies, his sword sheathed already. "This is Prince Caspian, Your Majesty," he said to Peter. "He is the one who blew the horn."

Susan gasped. "What horn?"

Caspian drew a familiar horn from his belt and held it out to Susan, who came forward now and took it, turning it over in her hands. "My horn. You say you used it? When?"

The young man sheathed his sword and said, "A few days ago. I didn't think it worked since nothing happened when I did so." He eyed the Kings and Queens of Old. "I guess I assumed too quickly it had failed to bring me aid. I see now it hasn't failed."

Peter, the adrenaline wearing off, relaxed now and shook off his earlier trepidation. "Perhaps you could tell us what is going on here," he said, unconsciously gripping his sore midsection. "We arrived in Narnia and have yet to come across a single Narnian until now."

The centaur, Glenstorm, and Caspian exchanged glances. "What is the last thing you know of Narnia, sire," the centaur asked Peter, gesturing for a small badger to approach as he did so.

Peter sighed and sat on the nearest rock, wincing a bit, but not dwelling on it. "My brother and sisters and I disappeared from Narnia and we know nothing of what happened after that."

"Oh dear," said the badger as he moved up to Peter's side and sat down as well. Lucy, Edmund, Susan and Caspian also sat, the latter two eying each other with a bit of interest before focusing on the badger. "There is much to tell you. Perhaps an introduction first. I am Trufflehunter, and it is my calling to remember our history."

That said; the badger launched into the tale, though an obviously abbreviated one.

"Not long after you left, the Telmarines invaded Narnia," he said. "Narnians were killed in great numbers, and Cair Paravel was held under siege until it eventually fell."

The four Pevensies exchanged chagrined looks at the thought of their beautiful home of many years being attacked and eventually defeated.

"What of those at the Cair?" Lucy said quietly. "Like Mr. Tumnus? What happened to them?"

Trufflehunter sighed. "Many died trying to protect the Cair," he said. "After you four left, the Faun Tumnus took up some leadership roles and it is said he was one of those who escaped the Cair moments before it fell."

Lucy nodded, remembering the first friend she made in Narnia and all the good times they had shared over the years. She hoped he hadn't been hurt.

"The siege lasted a month," the badger said. "When the Telmarines couldn't starve the Narnians out, they bombarded the Cair with weaponry. That was when most of the lives were lost, though some did die before that."

Peter and Edmund were sporting twin glares at that, wishing they had never left Narnia and had been there to protect their people and the Cair.

Trufflehunter shook his head sadly before moving on. "The remaining Narnians retreated to the woods, and at first held out hope that this invasion could be turned around and Narnia restored," he said, pausing.

"It wasn't to be," he continued, launching into a quick rundown of the smattering of resistance movements that had cropped up in the early days after the Cair's fall, but had quickly been put down.

"After a while, Narnians stopped coming out of the woods and Telmarines stopped going in," he said. "For centuries this went on and the Telmarines eventually assumed we had died out."

There were gasps from the Pevensies that brought Trufflehunter to a halt in his narration.

"Centuries?" Lucy breathed. "How long have we been gone?"

Caspian frowned. "About 1,300 years, Your Majesty."

Peter and Edmund exchanged glances at that, and Lucy and Susan's eyes widened. It was the oldest who regained his voice first. "Please, continue, good badger," he said.

Trufflehunter shook his head. "I expect Prince Caspian ought to take up the tale here," he said, waving toward the young man. "I have little knowledge of Telmarine history."

The Prince took up the narration, describing the highlights of the generations of Telmarine rulers, beginning with Caspian I and ending with his own uncle, Lord Protector Miraz.

Swallowing back the bile that always rose when he thought of his plight, Caspian said, "I suppose the only reason I've lived as long as I have is because my uncle did not have an heir, and as such could not claim the throne. But once his wife bore him a son, he immediately sent Palace guards to kill me."

Susan and Lucy gasped and Peter and Ed exchanged hard looks. For the tight-knit Pevensie siblings, it was difficult to fathom how a family member could do such a thing to their own kin.

Caspian kept on speaking. "My professor woke me and helped me escape the castle. I rode away and was chased through the woods." He looked over to Trufflehunter and a nearby dwarf with a small smile. "I had never seen Narnians, so when I saw the badger and his dwarf companions, and the Telmarine soldiers were nearly upon me, I used your horn as my teacher had told me to do – when I felt my life in peril and had no other recourse."

Trufflehunter nodded and continued. "Nikabrik knocked the Prince out, not knowing at the time that he was not out to harm us..."

Caspian rubbed his head with a small grin and added, "Packs quite a punch, that one."

The badger went on. "Trumpkin, another dwarf, took off after the Telmarine soldiers that had chased Prince Caspian. He has not returned and we don't know what happened to him," he said quietly.

Seeing the badger was lost in thoughts, presumably of his friend, Caspian went on. "After I woke, I told them who I was and what happened. And they told me about the horn and what it probably meant. We had to leave Trufflehunter's home in a rush when more soldiers entered the area to search me out. We were saved by more Narnians," he pointed to a nearby posse of mice, "Reepicheep and his loyal companions. Since then more and more Narnians have been gathering and we have been amassing numbers to try and take back what was stolen from them."

Peter was the first Pevensie to speak after the story. "We will aid you in any way we can, Caspian," he said. "What did you and your commanders have in mind?"

Caspian frowned. "Well, we were on our way to Aslan's How. We have been forging weapons there to equip our army. We know the Telmarines outnumber us by many and have yet to decide whether to attack them or wait for them to come to us." He looked closely at Peter, noticing again a wince of pain cross the blonde's face, though he didn't comment on it. "We would be most appreciative to have your help, King Peter and King Edmund. Your battle planning is the stuff of legend."

The two Pevensies in question smiled at that, remembering a time when they would sit around in the war room with Oreius and map out campaigns to keep Narnia at peace and her people safe from invaders.

Edmund, who hadn't been oblivious to Peter's pained expressions, nodded in agreement. "I'm sure together we will come up with something," he said, then turned to Peter. "But before we do anything, does anyone know the whereabouts of our belongings? Where were they stored after we disappeared? Specifically, we need Lucy's cordial."

Peter's head snapped up at that. He turned to look at Caspian, hoping he would have an answer. The other young man frowned and shook his head negatively. "I have never heard of such a place. My professor gave me the horn, and he told me it took him years to track it down. But perhaps the Narnians would have a better idea," he said.

Trufflehunter was stroking his chin in a decidedly human manner before exclaiming, "I have an idea!"

The four Pevensies focused on him. "You do? Oh please what do you think?" Lucy said excitedly, eying her brother in particular.

Looking between the Pevensies, the badger said, "Legend says that there was a treasure chamber built below Cair Paravel after you disappeared. According to the story, the Kings and Queens of Old would be able to find it if they ever returned. As far as I know, it is still there."

"We must go, then!" Susan exclaimed. "Peter, if we find Lu's cordial…" she trailed off, uncertain if her brother wished to let everyone know of his current condition. She saw him frown, and then turn to Caspian.

Lightly rubbing his torso, Peter briefly explained that he had taken injury in a war where they came from, which he was still recovering from and occasionally pained him. "I'm still not at top form," he said quietly, fingering his shirt. "I'll fear I will be of little use in a real battle without Lucy's cordial, or a great deal more time to recuperate."

The High King turned to Edmund. "I think Caspian and I should go to Cair Paravel alone," he said with conviction. When Edmund started to speak, he held up a hand that commanded silence. "Let me finish, please. Someone needs to stay here and get these people to the How and then protect it and prepare for the upcoming battle. I would take Susan, but if you are busy with the planning, you won't have time to keep an eye on Lucy, so I'd rather Su stayed here. She'd also be invaluable in planning for the archers."

His siblings were loath to let Peter out of their sight, but they had to agree his reasons were sound. Caspian, seeing the hesitation, spoke solemnly. "I promise I will let no harm befall your brother that I am able to prevent," he said, speaking mostly to Edmund. "We would be able to travel quicker and would be less likely to attract attention if we went alone."

"Why can't Peter stay here and plan and Edmund go with Caspian?" Lucy asked quietly. Her oldest brother smiled lightly.

"Because, Lu, if the Telmarines attack before we get back, there has to be someone here who can lead the army. I wouldn't be able to do that as effectively as Edmund could at the moment. And before you voice your next question, I'll answer it. I have full confidence in Caspian and believe we will be fine. It will be less dangerous for me to go than to stay."

His sister smiled and hugged him. "You always could read my mind, Peter," she muttered. "Promise to be safe and cautious, not reckless like I know you can be when you really want to get somewhere."

"I promise," he said with mock solemnity.

"Then that is settled," Caspian said, rising. "I shall find another horse for you, King Peter. If we leave today, we could reach Cair Paravel in two days time. And yes, I am factoring in rests for your injury."

As Caspian strode away, Edmund couldn't help but smile. "I think I like this Caspian fellow. He sounds like he'll be just as overprotective of Peter as I am!" He laughed when Peter smacked him soundly on the arm.

"What did I do to deserve this?" Peter mumbled. With a sigh, he stood and brushed his pants off, then turned to the nearest Narnian. "I don't suppose you've got something around here I could use to defend myself, should the need arise?"

With a nod, the centaur he'd addressed trotted off toward some fauns and commandeered one of their short swords. While Peter was used to a longer blade, like Rhindon, he could just as skillfully employ the shorter blades his brother was fond of wielding.

Hefting the borrowed sword, Peter swung it slowly, then with increasing speed until he felt a twinge in his wound. "Well, not quite as good as I'd hoped," he said with a grumble. "But it'll have to do. I sure hope we find something at Cair Paravel." It was left unsaid what that something was – they all knew anyway.

Just then, Caspian rode up on a beautiful black stallion, leading a white mare behind him. Peter smiled as he remembered his first mount during the battle of Beruna, a white unicorn whom he had led the charge upon. The unicorn had been wounded in that fight, and had been retired from military service afterward. But Peter had often ridden the beautiful being for leisurely strolls in the gardens of Cair Paravel, and while it couldn't speak, he knew they had both enjoyed their time together.

Peter gently rubbed the white horse's nose. "What is her name?" he asked Caspian.

The prince released his hold on the reins and said, "Realeza. It means 'royalty' in the language of the Telmarines. She was a Telmarine horse that broke free of the stables and has been living with the Narnians ever since."

The High King could see fierce intelligence and loyalty in the horse he was gently stroking and smiled. "Well, seems like a fitting name to me," he said, moving to the horse's side and frowning at the saddle. He began to uncinch the straps holding it on and Caspian looked at him askance.

"What are you doing, King Peter?"

Edmund chose to answer, "Oh Peter has never really liked riding with a saddle. He prefers bare back. But, Pete, do you think it best with your injury? I mean, you'll be jostled more, won't you?"

His brother shook his head. "Not if I do it properly." He ventured nothing else as he relieved the horse of the saddle and blankets. Using a nearby rock, he mounted the horse with relative ease, for the moment reminding Edmund of Beruna.

"If you say so," Caspian muttered, obviously thinking the High King must be a bit barmy to ride without a saddle. "I've gathered some food and water; we should be able to make the journey with what we have in my saddle bags."

Peter nodded and then turned to look at his family, who were huddled closely together next to Realeza's right flank. "Ed, look after everyone, will you? And Su, don't let him get into trouble." He looked at his youngest sister. "And Lu, I know I can trust you to keep them both in line," he said with a grin.

Lucy nodded, slinging her arms around both her siblings' waists. "Oh, yes, Peter. I'll make sure they don't do anything rash." She turned her gaze to Caspian and he almost shied away at the intensity of her eyes. "You, sir, take good care of my brother or you'll have to answer to me."

Edmund laughed. "Yes, Caspian, best beware. Queen Lucy the Valiant can be quite fierce when it comes to protecting her family. Trust me on that one, I ought to know!"

With a gulp of trepidation at leaving his family, Peter gathered the reins and nudged Realeza forward. Caspian moved up beside him and the two urged their mounts into a trot, then a full-out gallop that quickly took them out of sight.

Edmund turned to Lucy and Susan. "I'm sure he'll be all right," he said, though his tone was slightly uncertain. "Come on, let's get these people moving. We need to get to this Aslan's How before nightfall. I don't want to risk attack in the open like this, especially without Peter and Caspian."

Nodding, Susan scooped up a borrowed bow and quiver of arrows. "Right then, on to the How."

The troop of Narnians, with three in particular casting longing glances in an easterly direction, headed off west toward what Glenstorm promised was a strong fortified position.

Lucy lingered for a moment as they marched off, turning toward the east and whispering, "Aslan, please keep our brother safe from harm. And Caspian as well. We can't lose either of them."

For a moment, she swore she saw a glint of gold and the far-off roar of a lion. But the feeling quickly wore off and Lucy turned and scrambled to catch up to her brother and sister.

A/N: Well, there's another chapter. I admit, I wasn't thrilled with it. It was more to move the plot along, and not really too exciting. SORRY. I promise it will be more exciting later, but come on now, not every chapter can be a battle! I'm having some home trouble, and I think it's wreaking havoc on my writing, so please stick with me! And pretty please review! Even if you just say "nice"...