A/N: Hey guys, thanks for your patience! I hit a wall when it came to writing this chapter and updating the latest chapter (chapter 18), mostly due to school (my last year) and just plain old writer's block. I've started a full-time job so I expect I'll be tired every day, but I'll try to squeeze some time in at night to write.

But I finally finished rewriting this chapter, so enjoy!

Miraz's Castle

Air Space

Tempestra did not believe in the higher power of Aslan the way that Lucy and some of the Narnians did, but at that moment, she was strongly tempted to pray to him for luck. It had been an exhausting past four weeks, and an even more exhausting past couple of days. She had met her legendary fiancé, moved into an ancient fortification, then participated in some political conflicts and war strategies. Now she was helping to lead a large-scale siege against a castle that was bristling with heavily-armed soldiers.

It was nearly midnight, the sky pitch-black and studded with stars. But she and the other Narnians did not notice; their eyes were fixed on the ground below them as the gryphons, who clutched them in their talons, flew towards Miraz's fortress as silently as possible. Once in awhile, they flew through the occasional low-hanging cloud, which covered them in droplets of water and chilled them to the bone. Whenever that occurred, the group braced themselves and continued on. It was necessary to fly at such a high altitude; any lower, and they ran the risk of being spotted from the ground.

And that was the last thing they wanted at that moment.

Edmund, who had flown in earlier with the gryphon Filius, had the task of eliminating the tower guard who was nearest to the fortress gate, then signaling the gryphons who were circling above the castle to descend. Once that was done, he would signal the ground army to approach from the edge of the forest and into the castle.

Sure enough, a second after Tempestra glimpsed the stone towers of Miraz's fortress, a narrow but bright beam of light flickered on and off from out of the dark. It had been Tempestra's idea to use Edmund's flashlight (or torch, as the Pevensies called it) as a signaling device, and she now internally prayed that the battery would last. At the signal, the gryphons and Narnians dove towards the castle as the ground army below made their way past the town gate and towards the castle, where they would wait for the next signal to charge across the drawbridge.

Tempestra slowly unsheathed her long knives. Gripping them tightly, she took a deep breath to steady her nerves and collect her energy as they descended towards one of the castle towers. When a Telmarine guard turned and spotted them, Caspian used his own unsheathed weapon to cut the soldier down quickly and quietly.

Tempestra detachedly wondered if Caspian felt any qualms in killing his fellow Telmarines. He may have even known some of them.

A few seconds later, they flew towards two tower guards facing away from them, one of whom had spotted Edmund and was aiming a crossbow at his back. Tempestra didn't dare open her mouth to call a warning to Edmund, and a second later, she found that she didn't have to. With barely a sound, Susan loosed an arrow at the guard's back, and the Telmarine collapsed onto the ground. The other guard whirled around at the sound of the released bow, only to be cut down by Peter as the high king, queen, and prince landed on the battlement and broke into a run. Unburdened by the humans, the gryphons flew away to sweep the castle's air space and memorize the layout. If anything was to happen, they would alert the Narnian leaders.

Instead of following the royal leaders, Tempestra flew over the battlement and towards the large courtyard beyond the large iron gate. Following Caspian's previous instructions, she was deposited by her gryphon at the top of a flight of stone stairs, then hurried inside the castle and down a corridor. Her part in the plan was to prevent as many soldiers as possible from waking up to attack the invading Narnians. With any luck, by the time the soldiers woke up and broke out, the Narnians would have killed Miraz and taken the castle.

Of course, that depended on the other parts of the plan working. Susan and Peter had to kill Miraz then help Caspian open the iron gate, and Tempestra had to go to the gatehouse to help Asterius, Trumpkin, Reepicheep, and a few other Narnians to open the drawbridge. Once the gate was open and the drawbridge lowered, Edmund would be able to signal the ground troops to charge into the castle. So much of the plan depended on perfect timing, and so much of it could collapse if something went wrong. It was a good thing only the leaders knew the full plan; if the regular Narnians knew the plan in its entirety, they might have opposed it because it was so risky.

Several corridors and turns later, Tempestra was facing a set of low stone buildings lined with wooden doors and shuttered windows. Behind them, Telmarine soldiers slept peacefully in their barracks. Looking around, the young woman spotted a pile of discarded scrap wood that was meant for firewood; Caspian had suggested to her earlier that it might be useful as door stoppers. She sheathed her knives and, seizing a few pieces of wood, began quietly wedging them in the gaps under the doors and around the door and window frames.

Despite her anxiousness to get the job done, Tempestra could hardly hammer the wood noisily between the doors and stones. Jaw set firmly, she squeezed each piece of wood inch by inch into the gaps, stopping every few moments to listen hard for any sound of a soldier waking up. From outside, all she could hear was the occasional rustle of blankets, and one particularly loud snoring sleeper. As she worked quietly, she kept her ears open for any pause in the steady sound.

Finally, the young woman finished. Picking up the extra pieces of wood, she gathered them in her arms to set them back in the pile. As she did, a chunk of wood slipped from between her arms and clattered to the ground. In the empty stillness, the sound was like a thunderclap.

She froze.

Inside the barracks, the monotonous snore had abruptly stopped. Without the sound droning on in the background, the quiet suddenly seemed too empty and too large, like a limitless vacuum. Tempestra breathed shallowly, not daring to move for fear of dropping another piece. If a soldier woke and attempted to investigate the noise, he would quickly find that the doors and windows were lodged shut. No doubt he would call the alarm, and the Narnians' advantage of secrecy would be lost. The Telmarines would be ready before their attack could even begin.

The silence rang in the young woman's ears, and for the first time, she was afraid of the stillness – and what would break it. She could already imagine the sound of the door rattling as a soldier tried to open it in vain, or the scrape of a weapon being unsheathed. After a long, nerve-racking moment, she heard cloth rustling-

-and the snoring resumed.

Tempestra's shoulders sagged with relief. After depositing the wood quietly back to the pile, she straightened, realizing that her heart was racing. Then, after another glance to check that her handiwork was sound, she turned and jogged swiftly towards the gatehouse. The castle was utterly silent. It was her heart that seemed loudest; it thudded audibly in her ears, spurred on by adrenaline from the run and the tension. So far, she hadn't met any obstacles, and the lack of commotion proved that the others hadn't either. Taking a deep breath, she felt herself relax. The plan just might work.

Then all hell broke loose.

A piercing cry split the stillness, making Tempestra start in shock. A second later, there was a quiet shout of pain, and the sound of a door slamming.

"Shit."

She faltered for a moment, then broke into a run, abandoning all pretense of silence. The Telmarines would know soon enough that they were under attack.

BONG. BONG. BONG. BONG.

At the thunderous bells warning the castle, Tempestra cursed again. Somehow, the Telmarines had discovered them. The element of surprise was gone, and much too early; she hadn't made it to the gatehouse yet, so the drawbridge was still closed. Even if the army was ready to charge in, they wouldn't be able to get in. The leaders would be alone and trapped inside the fortress, and since they were still scattered around the castle, even the gryphons couldn't save them. They had no way out.

Despair dragged down at the vigilante's heart. They couldn't make it. They had to call off the attack.

"STOP!"

Tempestra whirled around at the shout behind her, and spotted four Telmarine soldiers approaching her from the opposite end of the corridor. They were fully armed with swords and dressed in hard leather tunics over chain mail armor. Despite their initial confusion over seeing a battle-ready woman running around the castle, they charged towards her, swords drawn and ready. Tempestra fleetingly considered heading to the gatehouse and trying to outrun them, then dismissed the thought; she would have to face them eventually.

She had come equipped with her own sword, but chose to unsheathe her long knives instead. She wasn't confident enough in her swordplay to take on four soldiers at once, but with her customary weapons, she was more than ready. And with her advantage of otherworldliness – her appearance and lightning abilities – she hoped to unnerve her opponents and distract them enough to defeat them before they could muster their full concentration.

She was right.

The second that lightning began to crawl down her arm, the soldiers' eyes widened. Surprise turned to shock as the small bolts raced down her weapon, then shot through the air and collided with the closest Telmarine. The soldier yelped as he was flung backwards from the force of the blast. When he landed on the ground, there was the faint smell of burnt cloth and skin, and the man did not move from where he lay.

Before the other soldiers could react, Tempestra fired off three more blasts, which found their targets and swiftly knocked them out. They would remain immobilized for a few hours, and recover only to find burns covering their bodies. The chain mail that they wore, though useful against sharp weapons, only exacerbated the effect of lightning. Tempestra usually used a little less force in her lightning attacks, but she couldn't afford to be careful this time; instead of facing one or two opponents like she usually did, she had an entire army. When she wanted someone to go down, she wanted them to stay down.

The tolling of the bells had stopped, but another sound had taken its place: the shouts and cries of battling warriors, and the clang of weapons meeting in combat. Somehow, in spite of the early alarm, the Narnian troops had finally arrived. Tempestra changed directions and headed for the courtyard where the fighting was taking place. If the Narnian troops had made it into the castle, then it meant that the drawbridge had been let down and the gate opened. They would need her for the fight, now, and they would need all the help they could get. As she skidded to a halt at the edge of the courtyard, the young woman surveyed the scene in front of her.

The courtyard was in chaos. Though darkness had enveloped them just a half hour earlier, moonlight now spilled from the black sky and illuminated the fight. Everywhere she looked, Telmarine soldiers – newly freed from their barracks – struggled against the Narnian rebels. Someone had been alerted by the bells and released the soldiers, who were still trickling into the courtyard to enter the fray. The Telmarines' sheer numbers made them equal to the ferocity and passion of the oppressed Narnians, and for every Telmarine soldier that a Narnian took down, three more would take his place. In the midst of it all were Peter, Caspian, Glenstorm, and Susan, who were worth two of any Telmarine or Narnian, and who cut through the mass like scythes in a wheat field.

Tempestra exploded onto the scene, felling two Telmarines soldiers with lightning blasts before they noticed that she was there. Turning, she spotted a soldier locked in a death grip with Ferrah, and another advancing from behind with a raised sword. The young woman sliced at the back of his knees where his clothes were uncovered by armor, and the Telmarine went down. Ferrah tore out his enemy's throat and – bloody teeth bared – leapt to his next target.

There was a dull gleam of moonlight on metal, and Tempestra whirled to meet a soldier running at her. He swung his sword sideways, hoping to behead her, and she parried his attack before slamming the hilt of her knife down on his sword wrist. It broke with a sickening crack, and her opponent sank to the ground, crying out. Tempestra knocked him out with a well-placed kick to the head. Another soldier nearby drew back his sword to run her through; she parried his thrust with one knife, then used the other to slash the back of his hand. He screamed and dropped his weapon, and the young woman tossed him backwards with a blast of lightning.

Susan was suddenly next to her, firing off arrows and stabbing her adversaries when they came too close. When Tempestra stunned an unsuspecting Telmarine by smashing the hilt of her knife onto his head, the young queen gave a frustrated shout and pierced the man's back with one of her arrows.

"Don't be a dimwit!" She yelled at Tempestra, who had given a cry of surprise and protest. The girl known as 'The Gentle' used her bow to crush the windpipe of another soldier, and added, "If you knock them out, they'll only get up again! Didn't you hear what I said earlier?!"

"I heard you!" Tempestra shouted back, parrying a Telmarine's attack and stabbing him through the shoulder. "I just decided not to listen!"

Susan gave another shout of frustration, but was too busy to reply; three Telmarines had converged on her, and Tempestra was turning to confront two more. Her lack of armor or stiff leather allowed her a freedom of movement that the Telmarines lacked, and she used it to her advantage as she dodged and evaded powerful but heavy-handed attacks. She was dimly aware of Peter's vigilant gaze returning to her constantly, but she ignored it; it was sweet, but unnecessary.

Then, when it seemed that the Narnians were turning the tide, things started going horribly wrong.

She saw Flynn, the skeptical faun who had met her at the mouth of the cave so long ago. He had locked swords with a soldier and was struggling for dominance. Just when it seemed like he was losing ground, the faun hooked his leg around her adversary's and yanked him to the ground. One thrust of his sword, and the soldier lay still. Tempestra was about to turn away, when a blur caught her eye: a Telmarine behind Flynn had swung his sword. There was a flash of steel and a thrum as the weapon cleaved through the air, and in front of her eyes, the blade bit deep into the faun's neck.

Tempestra opened her mouth to scream in horror, but nothing came out. She choked as Flynn, the Narnian who had once challenged her to an unarmed duel, sank to the ground. Something cold and hard tightened around her heart, and Tempestra blasted the Telmarine backwards with lightning before he could pull his weapon free. A pair of strong arms suddenly grabbed her from behind, pinning her own arms to her sides, and the young woman dropped her knives as she was lifted off the ground. She braced her feet against her attacker's thighs, then arched her back until the soldier was forced to drop her. She landed on her feet, and whirled around to hurl him backwards with a bolt of lightning.

There was a squeak, and an armored mouse – one of Reepicheep's comrades – was kicked into a stone wall. A quick glance upwards told Tempestra that soldiers with crossbows were mobilizing around the edges of the courtyard, ready to pick them off from above, and Miraz stood on a balcony, safe from the fighting. Despite their best efforts, Peter and Susan had not managed to kill him. Tempestra crouched to grab her knives from the ground, and as she did, she saw a minotaur fall to his death from a balcony, and suddenly Peter's voice was ringing out over the noise of the battle.

"FALL BACK! RETREAT!"

At the sound of another massive crash behind her, she turned to see the gate's counterweight on the ground. The gate began its descent, only – she saw with horror – to be stopped by Asterius, who ran under the iron lattice and caught it midway on his shoulders. With a roar and a tremendous surge of strength, the minotaur raised the gate just above his head and kept the Narnians' only exit open. Yet even as the young woman watched, several Telmarines ran towards him, bent on keeping the gate closed.

"FALL BACK!" Peter bellowed again, and the Narnians, seeing the precariousness of their escape route, began fleeing through the half-open gate. Tempestra battled her way towards the exit, stopping only to help other Narnians and order them to retreat. The Telmarine crowd was thinning, but the Narnians were far from being out of danger. She saw Glenstorm swing Susan onto his back and gallop under the gate, and Peter still fought on, but Edmund and Caspian were nowhere to be seen.

Tempestra disarmed and savagely backhanded a Telmarine soldier in the face, then looked around at the sound of slamming wood and the clatter of hooves on stone. Caspian charged out of a set of large double doors, riding a black horse and leading a brown one by the reins. An old man with a long white beard and spectacles rode beside him. They trotted out to the center of the courtyard, where they stopped to look up at Miraz, who stood with General Glozelle on the balcony. The general had his hand raised, holding off his archers. However, he seemed to be arguing with Miraz. Caspian tore his gaze from his uncle, then scanned the area. When he spotted Peter, the Telmarine prince nodded urgently to the riderless horse beside him.

In a flash, Tempestra understood. General Glozelle was keeping his archers from shooting down into the courtyard, yet Miraz was demanding it. He did not seem to care that ordering the soldiers to shoot into the courtyard also meant killing some of his own Telmarine soldiers. Yet he knew that if the archers killed Asterius to close the gate and keep everyone inside, Peter and Caspian would be cornered and killed. Caspian knew this, and had stolen the three horses for himself, the old man, and Peter to escape more quickly.

Yet he'd forgotten about Tempestra, who was still fighting in the middle of a cluster of Telmarines, and was too busy to head for the gate. The young woman felt a flare of cold fury which she vented out on an attacking Telmarine by kicking him in the groin then delivering a roundhouse kick to his head when he dropped to his knees. She ducked to avoid another soldier's sword, then used a bolt of lightning to launch him backwards. Behind her, Asterius buckled slightly, an arrow suddenly protruding from his right leg; the Telmarine archers had begun raining arrows down on them.

For the first time, Tempestra considered the fact that she might die in Narnia.

The thought spurred her on, and she took advantage of a brief reprieve to dart towards the gate, leaping over the bodies of Narnians and Telmarines alike. A second later, when an arrow narrowly missed her, the young woman was forced to stop in order to turn and shoot more arrows out of the air. Slowly, she began stumbling backwards towards the gate.

"Tempestra!"

From the corner of her eye, Tempestra saw Peter on his horse and thundering in her direction from the center of the courtyard, his left hand extended towards her. The young woman, seeing that he meant to help her mount up behind him on the moving horse, felt a rush of relief, which was quickly followed by a pang of fear. She would only get one chance to jump on. Swallowing her fear, she glanced back at the gate to check that it was still open, but as she looked, something caught her attention.

A lone Telmarine soldier armed with a crossbow was kneeling on the battlement above the gate, his weapon steady as he aimed below at one specific target: Peter. The high king, whose attention was focused on Tempestra alone, was completely oblivious to the danger that he was in. He was only seconds away. If Tempestra stopped and turned to shoot the Telmarine soldier, she would miss the chance to grab Peter's hand and escape. But if she ignored the soldier and mounted up behind Peter, the high king would be shot, perhaps fatally.

She was suddenly aware of sweat trickling down her face, and her loudly beating heart. Her mind raced, running through her available options – and in a flash she made her decision. In the next second, as Peter and the horse bore down on her, the young woman made her move.

Time seemed to slow down.

Peter's left hand swung into her field of vision, but instead of grabbing it and leveraging herself up behind the high king, she ignored it. Before he knew what was happening, Tempestra turned slightly, stuck her right foot in the stirrup, and pushed herself up. Grabbing the saddle horn with both hands, she hoisted herself up and swung her left leg over the horse's back so that she was facing backwards, face-to-face with Peter. As a result, he could see her next expression clearly.

A split second after Tempestra mounted in front of Peter, she suddenly jerked forward with a sharp gasp, almost falling onto him. Her face blanched. They both looked down to see the bloody arrowhead protruding from her chest directly across from Peter's heart, which plummeted in his own chest as he met Tempestra's gaze, his horrified expression mirrored in her agonized one. Dark redness bloomed from the wound, and she collapsed against him.

"Julia."

And suddenly they were exploding out of the courtyard, the thunder of hooves clashing with the screams of anguish behind them. There was one primal roar that rang out the strongest, before Asterius surrendered to the five arrows buried in his body.

As blackness began to fog the edges of her vision, Julia could see over Peter's shoulder as Asterius crumpled and the iron gate fell upon his back, barring the remaining Narnians from escaping. From her position, the young woman could see the fighters pushing against the gate, crying for help. Several attempted to climb it, only to be felled by Telmarine arrows, which continued to rain mercilessly down upon the courtyard. A quarter of their warriors were trapped in there. Peter halted before the drawbridge, but he could only stare helplessly at his troops.

Over Peter's shoulder, Julia wordlessly met the eyes of Rainstone, the oldest of Glenstorm's sons. Of all the Narnians, he was the only one who did not panic or attempt to break open the gate. His eyes were calm; he had resigned himself to his inevitable fate. His eyes met Julia's, and she drew her strength to give him one last thing: courage.

"Death."

The centaur could not hear her whisper over the frantic shouts around him, but he could read the word from her lips. He gave a somber nod as Peter looked desperately back at the rest of the retreating Narnians. Rainstone knew that he and the trapped Narnians could not think that they were being left behind. They could not think for one moment that they had been deserted and left to die, or else they would have no courage – no glorious death that legends would speak of in years to come. They had to face the enemy with passion and fury, face their fate with pride, and face the end knowing that it was not a waste for their lives to end in that moment and that place – it was an honor.

"Death."

It was a quiet word, but determined. It was the word Rainstone murmured as he turned away from the gate, it was the call that rallied the remaining Narnians to continue their fight against the overwhelming tide of Telmarines, and it was the battle cry on their lips as the Narnians met their fate with courage, and died despite it. The courtyard rang with the roar.

Death.

And then, when the last arrow was gone, and the last body had fallen, there was only silence.

Peter had not felt that much fear in a long time. The last time, his brother's life had hung in the balance. Now it was not his brother's life that he feared for, but his friend's. No, not just his friend; she was his confidante, his betrothed, and his queen. They had lived, fought, and loved together for fifteen years, yet in one shivering second, her life was in peril. Peter clutched Julia to his chest as he galloped out of the town, feeling the tip of the arrowhead pressing against his own chest like an insistent reminder of his stark fear – and failure.

Or more accurately, it was not he who had failed. He was not to blame for the bloodbath that had just occurred. And if anything happened to Julia as a result…

The high king shook off the fury that simmered just below the layer of ice around his heart; he would have time for that later. At that moment, he had a more pressing problem. Peter heard and felt the beat of heavy wings above his head and looked over his shoulder to see Edmund and Filius, who had flown over the courtyard. Both had haunted looks in their eyes. Then Edmund saw the unconscious Julia, and shock registered on his face.

"Is she…?"

Peter just shook his head and gestured towards the forest. The sooner they could get to the relative safety of the forest and the Howe, the better. There was only one way of saving Julia, and it was there. It nearly killed him, leaving her untreated and in pain, but they had to return as quickly as possible. If they arrived too late, no amount of healing or magic could save her.

A/N: Oops, I made the rewritten version more depressing than the original! I keep discovering that the older I get, the more feels I like to put in my stories, so I tend to make them more dramatic and angsty.

On another note, I experimented with writing a suspenseful scene, which I usually don't do. The fighting in this scene is also a little less detailed but more thought out and accurate than before, mostly because I recently took a self-defense course and learned a lot about what can bring someone down and what can't. I also did more research on the Telmarine armor in order to find the vulnerable points.