A/N: Ummm...Okay, eight months is sorta kinda definitely the longest I've ever gone without updating a story. I was feeling wildly writer's block-y, and real life was interfering, among other things. I am so, so, sorry. If anyone is still reading this, then I thank you profusely. If you're new, please check it out! And whether you're new to this story, or an old reader, I promise I will not go eight months again without updating.

I am sorry. It won't happen again.

The first thing Susan noticed about the wood was the absolute lack of noise. It was as though thick trees absorbed all sound and released muffled air. The entire place felt stifled. Susan shivered slightly. It was so dim in here.

Their little band went carefully on through the shadows. There was hardly any light that shone through the surprisingly thick canopy, but the light that did filter through only served to cast into shadow what would otherwise have been thankfully left in the dark. Strange, twisted tree branches, claw marks on the trunks, things that seemed like trails that wound away through the trees, turning sharply, and vanishing abruptly into the dark.

They paused only very briefly for lunch. No one wished to linger, not here. Even Arod pawed the ground uneasily, his eyes darting from side to side, suspicious. Worried.

Susan was just standing, having finished her cold sandwich, when she heard a slight rustling sound behind her. It sounded almost, almost, like a whisper. Her heart began to pound madly, hammering against her chest, and her stomach began to squirm unbearably. She turned halfway towards the sound and then could not take it anymore. She spun around in a rush to face empty wood.

That had been silly, she chided herself. Nerves and only nerves. She had to get a hold of herself, if only to set a good example. If only to keep what was left of her dignity together, and to hold together this little hunting party that was growing more and more nervous and, perhaps, losing their confidence. Their confidence in her.

She had neatly parceled her trash (if she was nothing else she was neat), and was about to throw it away when the rustling came again. This time she turned the entire way in a rapid twirl, her hair flying through the air just behind her and settling on her shoulders. She turned just fast enough to spot a shadow that might, just might, have some sort of form, darting away through the trees with a sort of scrabbling motion.

It only took her a fraction of a second to make her choice. No thoughts ran through her mind. She was not thinking of redemption, or of proving her worth. She was thinking of nothing so much as that she was a queen and swift action was called for. She told no one, she said nothing at all. She felt to made sure her dagger was still in her belt and then ran after the shadow.

The forest was terrible terrain to run through. The light was dim to the point of uselessness, and roots extended from every direction. Susan was almost sent sprawling more than once, keeping her gasps under her breath. There was always the chance, no matter how remote, that the scurrying shadow had not yet noticed her.

As time went on she knew though, that it had indeed heard her pursuit. It cast continuous glances over its shoulder and began to put on little spurts of speed which Susan was hard-pressed to match. She had been fit, as a queen of Narnia, but she had never been a marathon runner. Her breath was coming in little gasps, and her chest was beginning to burn, as was her throat. The constant, tiny hills in the ground were beginning to take their toll on her legs, and her calves were tingling and burning. Yet every time she knew she would soon have to stop she found she could go for perhaps another minute.

Finally the little creature burst through some particularly dense trees and vanished. For one aching moment Susan was terrified that she had lost it, after all her running, but when she too pushed her way through the tangle of branches, trunks, and roots she found herself in a little clearing, where the shadow creature had stop and bent over, rasping and panting.

"My Queen." It was saying. For one strange moment Susan thought it was addressing her. But then, with a growing sense of fear and dismay, she turned to see a tall, pale, dark-haired woman standing in the center of the clearing, looking at her with a mixture of scorn and amusement.

"So," she said, and her voice was deep, with the darkest sorts of melodies running through it, "this is Queen Susan who would overthrow us and claim the throne of Narnia."

There was a pause, then the woman spoke with such scorn and dismissal in her voice that it shook Susan's confidence to the core.

"Amusing."

Susan jumped up, shaking, and drew her dagger. She scanned the clearing for reinforcements, for traps, but saw nothing. Herself, the shadow creature, and this so-called queen, this "Empress." She darted forward, unsure but determined, searching with the point of the dagger for some sort of weak spot, some way to wound this supposed royalty.

The woman laughed.

It rang through the clearing, dark and cold and with almost no trace of genuine amusement whatsoever. Only boredom. The laugh of a cat who tires of playing with a mouse.

"Bind her." The woman instructed, and the shadow creature stepped forward. In an instant Susan felt a sharp blow to her head and then, mercifully, she slipped into unconsciousness.

When she awoke she could feel the rough bark of a tree scraping against her back. Her head was throbbing painfully. It had a pulse of its own it would seem, and it reminded her with each ache.

Her wrists were bound behind her with a coarse, but thick rope, and she was reminded, inescapably, of Edmund. His rescue party had told her once, many years after the actual rescuing had told her the story. They had found him bound to a tree, about to be executed.

She missed Edmund. Edmund and all the rest of them. Edmund, who had betrayed Narnia but then saved it, who had not forgotten it, even at the age of fifteen, while she had willingly let it slip away from her before she even reached fifteen.

She hadn't really talked to them for years, she realized. Her eyes suddenly got hot and a few tears escaped and slipped down her cheeks.

But now was not the time. A rescue party had come for Edmund, but no one knew where she had gone. How long had it been since she ran off? They would probably have noticed she was missing by now, but they would not know why, or where she was.

And where was she? She had taken so many twists and turns following the little shadow creature that she had completely lost track. She could be anywhere.

"Well, well, well." Says a nasal, gloating little voice. "Queen's awake. Hee hee! Queen!"

Susan turned her head to see the shadow creature standing to her right, smiling a smile that showed rows of sharp little teeth.

He had taken a slightly more substantial for now. He looked less wispy and more solidified. He had rough, knobby skin and clawed hands and feet. His eyes were green and his smile was malicious.

"Empress says, let you go!" He giggled, a cruel, shrill giggle that grated against the air. "Empress says you're no threat. Empress says you won't be any trouble, no, no trouble at all. She says go back to your little "hunting party." Doesn't matter what you do, no, no, no! You can't do anything. Stop the Empress? You? Hee hee!"

Susan felt her face going red as the creature scrabbled around to the back of the tree and cut her bonds.

"Hee hee!" It giggled nastily one more time before scuttling off through the woods like an overgrown crab, bending down to run on all fours.

She stood, limbs aching. So no rescue party was needed. This empress did not even think Susan was worth any trouble. She was sure Susan could be no threat to her, or her reign.

And Susan was almost sure she was right.

A/N: Again, I can't tell you how sorry I am about the wait. This story is going to be finished, I promised. Probably about three more chapters. Please review and thank you so much for reading. Thanks again for anyone who stuck with this story. :)