*Chapter 14- The Raid Part 2*

HEY EVERYBODY!!!! :D false alarm yesterday, my mom forgot to undo the computer so I real quick jumped on today and typed this up so I can say I at least have one chapter up before I poof for the big move! :D however, this is probably gonna be the last chappie for like a week before we get the computer set up at the new place, so enjoy!! :D

I do not own the Chronicles of Narnia or any of the original Narnians…YET

Review please! I enjoy getting yalls input on my story! :P

NOW ENJOY

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Edmund stood on top of the watch tower, looking around with a bored expression and idly twirling his torch around in his hand like he was a flag twirler in a marching band. A yawn escaped him that he made no effort to cover. Why did he have to be the one who got stuck with the boring job of signaling the troops when his sisters got to do all the dirty work in the castle?

Suddenly, a terrifying noise, much like a dying cat getting its tail stepped on, filled the night air, giving Edmund such a fright that he jumped and, to his great horror, dropped the torch clear over the turret. He looked down to see it hit the ground right behind a guard, missing the top of his head by a foot. The guard picked it up and curiously examined it, looking down into the large circular lens and flipping the switch. Bright light poured out of it, illuminating his face and blinding him. He gave a start and tried frantically to make the light go away, and just at that moment Edmund took of at a run back down the stairs until he reached the large window that was about 20 feet above the bumbling Telmarine.

Drawing a deep breath and sending a prayer to Aslan, he flung himself out of the window and down onto the unsuspecting Telmarine's back.

Right as he landed, a bell began tolling, signaling the Telmarines that they were under attack.

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The soldiers stood at the edge of the huge town, with Glenstorm and Nikabrik in the front, shrouded by an eerie fog that had accumulated during the late night hours. The small army of Narnians who had been selected to come on the raid shifted in place, grunts and snorts and whinnies rising from them. Glenstorm and Nikabrik were just as discomforted, with the centaur shifting his weight from leg to leg and the dwarf clenching and unclenching his fists. Surely, they should have been through the town by now, making their way to the castle. But for some reason, the younger of the Kings was yet to send them his signal. The question that was gnawing at all of their minds was- what was the delay?

It was then they saw the light, but instead of hitting them straight head on, appearing as a small dot, it was a long beam shooting up into the sky and hitting the turret.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Nikabrik's dry voice and slightly nasally broke the thick silence. Glenstorm looked down at him with a slight scowl of confusion.

"Aslan knows," he said, turning his gaze back to the castle. Unlike the High King, he still believed.

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Susan ran as fast as her legs would carry her through the many winding corridors of Miraz's castle, Penelope and her with their bows in hand and the boys with their fists clenched around their sword hilts. She could hear Penelope's short and shallow breathing, and her heart went out to her older sister. For the most part, she was handling having her life threatened by a tyrant who knew everything about her fairly well.

Caspian, who Susan had been following as he started to go down a corridor to the right, suddenly stopped short. She came to stand at his side, shadowed by Penelope, and saw why he had stopped. Whereas he had been meaning to turn to the right, Peter was continuing straight, running out towards the courtyard.

"Peter-" Susan began, but he turned around and stared at the three of them standing there and a furious scowl crossed his face.

"Our troops are just outside, come on!!" he shouted, and without waiting for a reaction from us turned and took off. Caspian and Susan exchanged looks before grudgingly took off after him. Susan was seething, her mind reeling over what could possibly be driving him to do something so stupid as she met the cool night air of the courtyard.

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Peter turned and ran from the corridor, confident the other three would follow him. Why wouldn't they? Two of them were his sisters, and even if they weren't he was still their leader and king. His pace was quickened by the sound of approaching footsteps and shouts, and as he reached the courtyard he was met by three Telmarine soldiers with swords drawn. He drew his own sword, and he gritted his teeth as he brought down one man and fended off the other two. He glanced up to the watchtower to see Edmund was in a similar situation.

"Now, Ed, now! Signal the troops!" he shrieked, bringing down the other two soldiers and sprinting on to the huge wheel that would lift the gate.

"I'm a bit busy, Pete!" Edmund grunted, concentrating on his fight.

Peter reached the wheel and pushed against it, straining with all his might to turn it. Susan, Penelope and Caspian reached him just then, but hesitated helping him.

"Peter, its too late! We have to call it off while we still can!" Susan said to the back of her brother's head.

"No, I can still do this!" he snapped back. "Help me!" he added when it was still only him struggling with the gate. Caspian and Susan exchanged looks as Penelope jumped forward to help her twin. Peter, even though they were in the heat of the raid and things were just starting to go wrong, shot her a grateful smile.

"Thanks, Penny," he said, just as Susan and Caspian joined them. Together, the four teenagers struggled to lift the gate up, with nothing but their grunts and strains serving as conversation, until Susan spoke.

"Exactly who are you doing this for, Peter?" she hissed lowly. Peter's jaw wwent taught, but he chose not to acknowledge the comment. His eyes gave his sister all the answer she needed.

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Edmund's sword met that of the Telmarine soldier's, and he let out a grunt as the force of the man's attack sent his sword flying out of his hand. With the back swing of the attack, the man's sword went straight for Edmund's neck, but he ducked right in time and the only part of him the sword cut was a bit of the ends of his dark hair. While he was down, Edmund fumbled around for his weapon but instead came up with his torch. Not bothering to find the sword and without thinking, he swung the torch at the man's face, hitting him clear in the forehead and knocking him unconscious.

Edmund froze, and a slight panic set in. He held the torch up and fumbled with it, trying desperately to turn it on and cursing his own stupidity.

"Oh, no, come on..." he muttered, trying to fix the torch, knowing that the success of the plan rested on his signal. A deep feeling of dread filled him and sat at the bottom of his stomach heavily.

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Penelope struggled with the others, desperately trying to get the gate open. The whole plan would be a failure if the troops were trapped outside the castle; not to mention they could be killed. She strained her ears, listening to hear their troops, and when she couldn't shot a frantic look up at Edmund, and then saw two things at once and reacted to them very quickly.

Edmund stood on top of a turret with a look of despair capturing his features, and was fooling with his torch. A few dozen feet below him and to the left, a Telmarine soldier was loading a crossbow and aiming at Edmund. A fierce feeling of protectiveness overcame her and within half a moment her bow was out, and the arrow she'd just notched was buried in the man's stomach. He collapsed at the same moment Edmund got his torch to work, and Penelope watched as he quickly sent the signal to the still-waiting troops. Penelope breathed a sigh of relief.

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Glenstorm and the troops were growing uneasier by the second, having heard the bell tolling and still getting no sign from the royals.

"I wonder-" began Nikabrik from next to him, but he was cut off by the flashing of a light from the torch. Glenstorm reared onto his hind legs, towering over the dwarf and held his sword out.

"CHARGE!!" his fierce battle cry rang out, and soon all the other creatures' voices broke out also, and they took off at cantering paces for the castle. The army tore through the town, and as they neared the castle they came upon two guards standing in front of the almost-lowered gate. The guards, seeing the approaching army, whipped out their swords and stood at the ready. A minotaur by the name of Asterius let our a roar and sprinted ahead of the group, ramming headfirst through the iron gate separating the army from the bridge. With his head still down, he brought his huge, double sided axe into the stomach of one man and as he tore it out swung it at the other soldier, sending him over the side of the bridge. Asterius continued ahead of the army and, holding his axe over his head, ran into the courtyard. Glenstorm and Nikabrik were immediately behind him, and each let out battle cries as they met the oncoming rush of Telmarine soldiers.

Peter and the others, who had been fighting with the gate to get it open, all turned around just in time to see their army rush into the courtyard. As Peter and Caspian drew their swords, Penelope and Susan grabbed their bows and reached back for arrows. They looked fierce, grouped together in a triangle with Peter at the point, facing the enemy.

"For Narnia!" Peter's battle cry rang out above all other noise, and with that the triangle started forward with heads and weapons held high, merging with their army. The two opposing forces rushed into each other and met with clashes of metal upon metal.

Glenstorm took out four men with one flourish of his sword immediately and slashed his way across the courtyard, his sons following. Reepicheep and his brave little troop of mice split up among the men, slicing their ankles and finishing them off as they collapsed. Caspian was killing men like nobody's business, letting out a cry as he ran up to one man and slashed his sword right across his face. Peter was fighting in the very middle of the courtyard, surrounded by his troops, and took down any Telmarine that came within sword's reach of him. Susan was being anything but gentle with her bow and arrows, firing an arrow at one Telmarine, grabbing another arrow and stabbing a soldier in the stomach, then proceeding to throw that arrow into the heart of another approaching man.

Penelope had made her way through the mass crowd, killing two or three men as she went, and now stood on a ledge about 50 feet above the ground, a door to her back and stairs to her side. There was a small wall so one wouldn't fall over the ledge, and below her a large drain stuck out about 5 feet from the wall. It gave her the perfect advantage, for she could see everything in the courtyard. She fired arrows at any Telmarine she saw approaching her siblings and Caspian.

From somewhere above her, Penelope heard a strange rapid clacking noise, and watched in amazement as a faun leapt off the roof and landed right next to her, his powerful leg muscles working as in a heartbeat he sprang from the ledge and landed on an identical one far away from the first.

"Archers!" she heard the call faintly over the noise of the battle, and saw, much to her utter dismay, a fleet of Telmarines with crossbows file onto what appeared to be a ledge specifically designed for archers. She could hear the footsteps of the men as they took their positions on the ledge far above her, and a great panic set in. They needed to get out of that courtyard while they still could.

Penelope caught sight of Edmund, who was standing on a roof not far above the archers. She watched as he threw himself onto the slanting tiles of the roof and slid down, landing on some unfortunate Telmarine's back and knocking him down into the courtyard. Peter had apparently seen this, too, for a moment later he cried, "ED!" and Edmund turned, saw the line of soldiers now looking angrily at him, and took off for a door leading into a tower. The men started firing at him just then, but he managed to dive to the ground and get the door closed before he got hurt. Penelope sent a silent prayer to Aslan for her little brother's safety.

Penelope watched Peter as he froze and looked around as if seeing the situation for the first time. Then he started for the ledge the faun had leapt to before, his sword killing many soldiers as he went. Penelope noted that his eyes were trained on something far above him, and followed his intense gaze. It was then his plan was made obvious to her.

Asterius, the minotaur who had led the troops into battle, was jumping from structure to structure, making his way up to a large balcony Penelope could see Miraz was standing on, looking upon the battle with his lip curled back in distaste. Two men who were dressed identically stood on either side of him, along with four Telmarine soldiers. Asterius leapt, with a heavy grunt, and was on the side of the balcony. He held up a spear and aimed it at Miraz, but was stopped short in his actions by an arrow fired into his shoulder. He let out a cry and started to fall backwards, but managed to keep his hold on the railing of the balcony. The soldiers put more arrows into their crossbows but Miraz held a hand up, making them stop with confused expressions. He stepped up to the moaning creature, looked into his face, and disgustedly shoved the poor beast off the balcony. Asterius fell and smacked off a ledge, breaking through it, and hit the stone courtyard with a heavy thud. He did not move again.

Penelope then caught sight of Trumpkin, standing on the edge of a window and firing arrows down upon the enemy. He turned into the room so his back was to her for a few moments, and then she saw a Telmarine run up and club the dwarf with his shield. Penelope let out a loud wail as she watched him lifelessly fall and land on his head on the stone ground, where he didn't move. Penelope took off down the stairs, talking them two at a time in her mad dash for the dwarf. She found herself skidding to a sudden stop, however, for there, right in front of her halfway up the stairs, were three Telmarine soldiers.

"There she is!" the one who appeared to be the leader shouted, and they eagerly started up for her. With a small cry, she turned back on her heel and made for the ledge. She managed to have an arrow notched by the time the trio reached the top of the stairs, and quickly dispatched one, sending him tumbling back down to the courtyard. However, as she went to fire another arrow, she yanked the string back too hard and the most horrific sound she could possibly hear filled her ears; that of her bow snapping. She looked to see the arrow and string hanging uselessly in her hand.

Not letting her panic get to her, she thought quickly and, taking a page from Susan's book, threw the bow aside and thrust the arrow into the other man's chest. The last man, the leader, chuckled and drew his sword.

"What now, High Queen of Narnia?" he asked. Penelope reached for another arrow, planning to stab him with it, but found her quiver to be empty. Her face paled and the panic she was fighting off finally set in. The man stepped up so he too was on the ledge, backing Penelope into the wall. She saw the door from the corner of her eye and lunged for the knob, but found it to be locked. She slumped against it and stood like that for a few seconds, panting heavily, and suddenly sprang at the man, grabbing her bow from the ground and smashing the sharp pointed tip into his elbow. With a cry the man's fingers reflexively opened, and his sword fell with a clatter to the ground, and the moment it hit the ground, Penelope kicked it clear off the ledge.

Wait a minute, I could've used that. Man I'm an idiot! she thought despairingly as she watched the sword soar through the air. She heard a grunt and turned just in time to see the man lunge at her, ramming into her midsection and bowling her off the ledge; but not before she'd grabbed hold of his sword belt and pulled him down with her. Their screams harmonized each other as they fell.

Penelope felt herself freefall for a moment and flailed her arms, groping madly for something to grab hold of. Her hands then met cold stone, and she wrapped her forearms around whatever it was and felt her body swing into the wall as a result of the sudden stop, and then she wasn't falling. She looked up and saw she'd managed to latch onto the drain, and scrambled her legs to try and find footing. She dare not look down.

Her luck didn't last her, for as she learned the hard way that night, drains aren't meant for holding 16 year old girls. She heard the stones cracking before she faced the consequence of it, but suddenly she found herself hurtling through the air clutching a stone to her chest as she fell.

A terrified shriek tore from her lips and echoed through the courtyard as Narnia's Savior plunged to her death.

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