*Chapter 15 The Patronus*

Hey howdy hey! Heres yet another chapter in my story! We're starting to get to the action and main plot now! :D

Hope everyone had a fantabulous week! I know i did! kinda..lolz.

Special shoutout to all who reviewed and to Princess Lucy,who created the new charecter thats making her first appearance in this chapter! Thanks for the help and inspiration! This one goes to you,hun! :)

My bestest friend ever,Lauren says 'HAY YALL' Aint no party like a party between 2 southern white girls,'re lame xD

NOW ENJOY OR DIE

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The half of the army that was left from the raid marched back to the How in a solemn silence, the setting sun casting their shadows many feet before them on the ground. At the front of the procession were Peter and Caspian, but each was pretending the other wasn't there. Indeed, they were both very angry about the events of the raid, and were both writhing in the guilt they felt squeezing their chests tight. They knew that they had messed up, in Caspian's case by changing the plans around on more than one occasion to his convenience and in Peter's by not calling the whole failed thing off sooner. Both had been ego-fueled acts of selfishness, and the two boys knew it. But as aware of their own guilts as they were, they were both hyperaware of the other's, and were choosing to blame him more. It was low, but was helping them deal with their own guilty consciences.

As the army broke through the last trees in the forest they came onto a particularly rugged hill. Peter, who was so engrossed in his thoughts, wasn't paying attention to the ground and tripped over a loose stone, falling face first into the ground. Reepicheep and his troops scampered up to him and gathered in a concerned semi-circle by his side.

A sob escaped him, a loud sob reeking with desperation. Not because he fell, oh heavens no. He was High King of Narnia-he could handle a little fall. But as he landed particularly hard, he fully felt the events of the night crash down upon him. All those innocent Narnians, trapped, slaughtered because of him. He, their leader, had let them down and cost them their lives. It was no different than if he would have been one of the archers, a crossbow in his hands and his arrow tearing into a Narnian's flesh. The thought sickened him to the point of him actually retching a little in his mouth.

Another, more haunting image filled his mind: that of his sister, Penelope, trapped behind the gate and beaconing to him to on and leave her behind. Her blue eyes had been calm and resigned; she knew she was going to die and was accepting the fact with a brave face. Tears streamed from Peter's own blue pools as he relived the moment of seeing her break through the crowded Narnians, her face changing in a flash from horrified to stoic. His ears rang heavily with her voice, urging him onward.

"There's nothing you can do, you might as well get away safely. Peter, I'm sorry for our fight. I love you so much, and I'm glad that you're my brother."

She had died because of him. His stupidity and huge ego had killed his twin sister. It was as if the hole in him had reopened, spreading to his heart and tearing huge chunks from it that he was now sobbing from his body. The pain was everywhere, spreading and gaining strength like a wildfire. He felt paralyzed with the burning pain consuming him.

Peter felt a hand on his shoulder and brought his tearstained face up to see Susan kneeling down next to him. Tears were welling in her own eyes as she looked down upon her strong, brave brother-now lying broken and crumbled on the ground.

"Come on, Peter." she said quietly, tugging his arm gently to get him up. "We need to get back to the How."

"Why?" he mumbled blankly.

"Because Lucy's there waiting for us to come back. And you don't want to keep her waiting, do you? You know Lucy, she's probably beside herself with worry right now." Susan replied patiently, again tugging his arm.

Peter looked deep in thought for a moment, then sprang to his feet. He had already killed his twin sister-why should he upset his favorite on, also? So it was with that thought in his head that he got up and took off at a furious pace for the How. Susan stood, looking utterly confused and slightly affronted, and at that moment Caspian came to her side, a slight sneer on his face.

"What has gotten his knickers in a wad?" he asked lowly, staring after Peter's quickly retreating form and still sneering. Susan's expression changed from irritated to stricken in a heartbeat, and she covered her face with her hands and squeezed her eyes shut for a moment. When she opened them again, they were glistening with unshed tears.

"He's upset because of Penelope," she whispered softly as she began walking again. Caspian's brow furrowed slightly.

"What about her?" he asked perhaps a bit too sharply. Susan glanced sideways at him as she gathered her skirts and leapt over a large tree root that was blocking her path. However, she did not meet his eyes as she spoke next.

"Didn't you notice? She.. she didn't make it back from the castle." Susan said, choking on the words and having to pause. Caspian's cocky expression shattered into one of utter horror.

"What do you mean?" he asked hoarsely.

Susan spoke to him without looking up from her feet, fighting the tears and losing terribly. "She didn't make it to the gate in time, and by the time she got there it was too late. I saw it. She was dragged away by two Telmarines. One of them.. s-stabbed her..." and she trailed off, biting her lip.

Caspian froze in place, his spine rigid and his face bone white. His eyes were bulging and glassy and he was clenching and unclenching his fists furiously.

"Y-you mean-is-is she-?" he stuttered bluntly, not being able to wrap his mind around the thought.

Susan didn't respond, for she was too consumed by grief to talk. She looked up at Caspian as tears began brimming over her crystal blue eyes and quickly brought a hand to cover her face. She started off again, going almost as fast as Peter had moments ago, muffled sobs shaking her delicate frame.

But Caspian remained rooted to the spot, his tan complexion milky white in his horrified shock. Penelope? Dead? His mind just couldn't work the two together, they were so wrong to him. He found his thoughts were jumbling around together, buzzing around in his head like a swarm of vengeful bumblebees. He had never gotten to tell her how he thought his feelings for her were more than comradity at this point. How could this have happened to her? What had Penelope ever done to deserve this fate?

What about her prophecy? What would become of Narnia now that their savior was dead? Caspian felt cold despair wash over him, leaving him chilled to the bone and shivering slightly. For he knew that their prophecies went hand-in-hand, and therefore he had no chance of fulfilling his if she was no longer around to carry out hers. How could something so terrible happen to the innocent Narnians, who had been forced to hide in trees for well over one thousand years.

A face flashed through his mind, a face that at first tore at his heart until he realized who it really was. Peter. It was his fault the Narnians' days were now numbered, ticking slowly by until they faced their ultimate extinction at the hands of the Telmarines. The unbelievable, intolerable acts of the huge-headed King had damned his own twin to an inconceivable fate.

Drawing himself to his full impending height, Caspian tore off, shoving his way through the crowd. He had a few sharp thoughts he was aching to share with the traitorous murderer that was the only relic left of the young prince's first love.

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Peter was among the first to cover the large hill and make it to the field where the How stood, looking solemn and ancient in the fading light of the sun. The moment his lone figure came into the arena like form that stood in front of the How, a faun that was on guard blew a horn, signaling the group had returned. As he approached the entrance to the How, he saw Lucy come sprinting out of the How and stop by Trufflehunter the badger, her brows furrowed tightly over concerned blue eyes. He saw her gaze flicker behind him and her expression took on a sickly greenish complexion of horror. He glanced over his shoulder to see what was left of the army slowly making their way back to the How. Even from here, Peter could see their tired, somber faces. Caspian, who was at the head of the bunch and closely behind Peter, had a mixture of anger and heartbreak on his face and was clearly deep in thought.

"What happened?" came Lucy's weak voice. Peter turned back to her with a darkened expression.

"Ask him," he growled, jerking his chin in Caspian's direction. The prince was snapped out of his thoughts and looked up with a mildly shocked expression on his face.

"Me?" he asked uncertainly, stopping dead in his tracks.

"Peter," Susan, who had just arrived on the scene, said in a warning tone.

"You could have called it off, there was still time," Caspian was saying. Peter rounded on him in full and replied in a voice that sounded close to tears.

"No there wasn't, thanks to you. If you'd kept to the plan like I said, those soldiers might be alive right now."

"And if we had just stayed here, like I suggested, then they definitely would be!" Caspian shouted.

"You called us, remember?!" Peter hissed.

There was a deadly pause and then Caspian, breathing heavily, said in a low voice, "My first mistake."

Peter turned to walk away, but turned just enough so Caspian could hear his casually delivered insult. "No," he said with a humorless snigger. "Your first mistake was thinking you could lead these people."

"HEY!" Caspian barked. Peter spun on his heel to face him, his blue eyes narrowed into slits. "I am not the one who abandoned Narnia."

By this point, the entire raid party had reached the entrance to the How. They wore similar dark expressions as they watched their two adolescent leaders hurl accusations at each other, rather feeling like they were walking in on a very private conversation.

"You invaded Narnia. You have NO MORE right to lead than Miraz does! You, him, your father-" at this point Caspian, who had shoved past Peter and was storming away, froze in his tracks, the blood draining from his face. "-Narnia's better off without the lot of you!"

Caspian's face screwed up into a horrible expression and he whipped around, his hand flying threateningly to his sword.

"AT LEAST I DID NOT MURDER MY OWN TWIN!!"

All the murmuring that had begun ceased at that moment. Susan's hands flew to her face and fresh tears sprung in her eyes. Lucy let out a small cry.

"What's he talking about, Peter?!" she whispered brokenly.

"Yes, Peter, why don't you tell her what I am talking about?" Caspian said coldly, crossing his arms over his broad chest.

Peter was standing rooted to the spot, his back ramrod straight. His eyes were big as saucers and jumped out against his bone white face. A closer look would reveal him to be trembling from head to foot.

His sisters recognized this look, for they had seen it only once before- when Edmund had been stabbed by the White Witch in order to get to Peter and at deaths door before Lucy saved him with her miracle elixir.

"Penelope.." he whispered brokenly, and again the image of her, trapped and resolved with the other unfortunate Narnians flashed before him. The hole inside him throbbed achingly.

Caspian was giving him a victorious look which was slightly marred by anger. It was this look that Peter turned back to, and what sent him over the edge. With a wild cry he drew his sword, aiming to take the Prince's head clean off and was made even angrier when his sword met that of Caspian.

A bloodcurdling screech filled the air that was still echoing with the clang of their two swords, drawing the two royals out of their testosterone-fueled face off. They looked to Susan, the source of the sound, just in time to see her collapse, sobs raking her whole body. Peter made to rush to her side, but froze as he saw what the cause of her outburst was.

A gryphon was just landing in the middle of the crowd of Narnians. Peter instantly recognized this as the gryphon who had saved Penelope as she'd fallen from the ledge back in the courtyard; a memory that brought burning tears to his eyes. On the great beast's back was Edmund, who looked pale and anxious as he leaned forward to the point of flipping forward off the gryphon. But the beast had not landed, instead, it was hovering about a foot off the ground. Peter instantly saw the cause of this: in its front talons it was clutching the limp body of a girl who's blonde head was lolling dangerously from side to side.

Before he could react, a whole swarm of Narnians were crowded around the new arrivals and raising an absolute panic. For a second the swarm obscured them from view, but after a moment a centaur broke through the crowd with the girl in his arms. Sobbing and shrieks broke through the pounding in Peter's ears, and he watched Edmund jump from the gryphon's back, running forward and grabbing one of the hands that swung limply along with the movements of the centaur. Peter saw, for the first time in a very long time, tears streaming down his brother's face. Then he came to life and sprinted forward, shoving past Narnian after Narnian until he reached them.

Penelope's face was ashen and slightly gray, the usual rosy tint she had to her cheeks gone without a trace. Her eyes were closed, and he thin lids were blue. On her left eye was a deeply purple bruise that spread to the side of her nose. This, which was once perfectly straight, was now bent horribly to the side and highly swollen. Dried blood ran from her nostrils and was caked on her lips and chin. The dagger was still sticking out of her side, and the tear in her dress from where it had entered revealed swollen and puckering skin that was a violent shade of red.

Peter felt someone brush past him and looked down to see Lucy making her way forward. In her hand was her lifesaving cordial filled with the precious Juice of the Fireflower. This, along with her small steel dagger, had been her gifts from Father Christmas during their previous trip to Narnia. It had saved many lives before, including Edmund's.

Caspian shoved past Peter at that moment and marched straight up to the young centaur, and showing surprising care pulled Penelope out of his grasp, placing her on the ground and cradling her head in his lap. Behind him, Susan sobbed harder than ever.

Lucy, with tears streaming down her face, uncorked the vial and leaned over her older sister with her ear to her chest. At the same time Edmund slid the dagger out of his sister, causing more blood to flow. Everyone present was aware of how rapidly her face was graying. Lucy stayed with her head to her chest for a moment, then abruptly shot up and poured a decent sized drop into Penelope's slightly opened mouth. At this point Peter, too was leaning down beside her, clutching the hand that Edmund was not.

There were several agonizing moments where nothing happened and then two things happened at once.

The first was that Penelope stirred and coughed slightly, wincing as with a soft, painful crunching her nose relocated itself. The hole in her side closed and the skin returned back to its normal colour. The second caused her to let out a loud shriek of shock. For right behind Peter where there had a moment ago been nothing with a loud, echoing 'CRACK!' a young woman had appeared out of thin air.

The Narnians all jumped about a foot back, but moved back in an instant, for she was arguably the most beautiful woman they had ever laid eyes upon.

She was tall, only about an inch shorter than Caspian, and carried herself with the air of one who was born a blue blood-that is to say, a purebred royal. She had a halo of long, frosty blue hair that fell to her tiny waist and framed a well sculpted heartshaped face. Her lips were full and her nose perfectly straight and buttonish. But the most striking feature of her face were her scorching lavender coloured eyes, set under thin, arched brows. She was extremely pale, and wearing a brown leather bodice and knee length shorts of what appeared to be leaves and ankle height boots that flared out at the tops.

A hush came over the crowd as, with such fluidity and grace the Naiids would be jealous, the strange woman brushed Peter over to the side and took his place next Penelope, who was staring open-mouthed up at her. Then, pulling herself into a sitting position and still staring, she grabbed hold of the woman's forearms.

"Iredescent?!" she whispered in disbelief.

The woman flashed a stunning crooked grin down at her and spoke in a smooth, rich voice. "Hello, little one,"

Caspian, who had just found himself to be drooling slightly, asked the question all the males were dying to know the answer to. "Who are you?"

Turning her head so that her silky hair caught the sunlight, her smile turned into a full fledged grin as she her gaze locked with the handsome prince's.

"My name is Iredescent. I am Queen Penelope's Patronus."

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Wow, that was an aweful chapter. Feel free to flame it.

Stay with me folks! I promise we're getting somewhere now! :D

Best wishes,

~Queen Lani Kaulitz the Hyper :D