Disclaimer: I do not own Narnia. 'Nuff said.

Author's Note: Short chapter that makes ends meet, rather a "a-lot-of-time-is-passing-for-the-characters-but-the-reader-only-sees-it-as-a-page" chapter. Enjoy! Read and review!

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~Chapter Nine: War~

Screaming of innocents. Ruling of tyrants. Clashing of swords. Cries for help.

Blood of soldiers.

They fight in the mountains, battling the vicious barbarians that come crashing down upon them from the cliffs, swinging axes and flashing malice at anyone who dared approach them. Many died by their axeblades throughout that long, eight year war. Miraz did not. He remained with the living, but had to watch many people he had drawn close to die. Life and sanity were taken from him as he watched people around him fall.

"Don't look back, Miraz." Steiphen ordered him. "Don't look back. Don't look back."

Don't look back. Don't look back. Don't look back. His thoughts shifted. They always did. They grew over the years. They were what drove him. Those horrible, wonderful thoughts for his future. They had overtaken his core, and captured his being, captured it and held fast to it. They were what made his blood run. They were what he lived for, those heroic thoughts.

There is a way to become king.

Suddenly the thought came into his mind. He thought of his mother often, especially of what words she had said to him. His thoughts also lingered on Steiphen's scar, on Vostad, and on Garius. The Brothers of Betrayal. He was now one of them, because he knew what he was going to do.

He was going to betray his brother.

But little did he know that he would be betraying the whole kingdom.

'My son, how I miss you! I never told you how much I loved you. I was not a good mother to you. Every time I looked to the west, to the mountains and to the sun peeking up behind it, I thought of you, marching into battle in the front lines, wearing a great crown and brandishing a great and glorious sword as silver trumpets played behind you. I think of you. I remember you. And I hope you remember me.'

With these last words, Anea died.

TO BE CONTINUED