Hello again, my dear readers! Here's your next chapter. Hope you enjoy this one too. This chapter came to me really fast. And good news is that school is done for me! Yipee! Anyways, thanks a bunch for those reviews. And thank you to those who are on alert for this story! It means much to me. I would like to thank people individually but...you would probably rather read the chapter. So without much further ado, Chapter Eight!

Disclaimer: I don't own Narnia or any of Walden Media's or Disney's works. They belong to their rightful owners. And I don't own any songs mentioned here. (Doesn't mean I copied whole songs.)


It had been nearly twelve hours since the gathering at Dancing Lawn. And now our official military post was...Aslan's How (or the Hill of the Stone Table as it was called during their 'Golden Age'.) When Reep had suggested the location, no one excluding the mice and probably Glenstorm had heard of such a place, therefore leaving the tomb (or monument) mostly untouched. It was located a little northeast of Dancing Lawn and was mostly surrounded by woods. As the head mouse explained, the Stone Table, that had once stood on top of the hill -hence the former name-, and now having sunk into the mountain, rested in the center. When a small handful of Narnians (shortly after the Telmarines invaded) discovered that the Table had fell in, they enshrined the inside of the hill with maze-like tunnels, numbers of hallowed-out rooms, and strange, ancient pictures on walls.

Since we were in a meeting, I didn't closely pay attention to how efficient the How would be to us, but I liked how the place would be the ideal location for headquarters. When Caspian resolved to set to the place, all agreed with the Telmarine prince. Everyone (the giant had just figured it what was going on, being a little behind) put this decision into action, despite that time of night. -Well, technically, it was morning.- It reminded me of moving day, seeing all the bustling and the procession of the Narnians. Gathering all the weapons and food that we had, we all marched to our destination: Aslan's How.

By this time, even Robyn and I (well, at least me) were starting to get serious about this upcoming war between humans and woodland people. But then...we had our "occasional" flaws. Boredom is one of our worst enemies. Ignore the fact that Aslan's How was nearer than we thought. How were Robyn and I supposed to know? On the way, I tried to strike up a conversation with anyone who would listen, and Robyn sang away Celtic Thunder and other favorites of hers. Though I did make friends with a healer faun named Menitus -I'll say he's a nice chap-, everyone else saw me as a pestering tick on their skin. I started wondering if I had the case of ADD. And Robyn's audience was silently stopping their ears from her...ahem...terrible singing.

Now Caspian had started to take the role of leadership, making Glenstorm his second-in-command. In the beginning, he somewhat hesitated at giving orders, but now he seemed to have matured more. (And when I say mature more, it's not that he was immature at all from when I first met him.) Unfortunately, it made him a grown-up too. He soon picked up a habit of giving a lecture every time Robyn and I did something stupid or whenever he felt it appropriate. But still he treated us as his close friends although he was sometimes tired of our childish acts.

After seeing the "grand" ancient Aslan's How and all of the insides, we set up base right away and straightforward prepared for an incoming war. Guards were placed behind the How, look-outs were stationed at top, and a spy or two were sent to Beruna. We seemed to be all set for battle; we just had to wait for our called "help" to arrive. Whatever it may be.

Before we just wait for our aid, we had another task to do: gather more weapons. Like Caspian said, our weapons supply was short, and the only place to get more was at the enemy's. As the night drew nearer, my stomach started to churn, awaiting for another adventure.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Near midnight...At the Fords of Beruna:

"Fine!" A short-haired girl groaned in defeat. "I'll do it as long as I get my sword back...'kay, Zorro?"

"I promise, Robyn," Caspian assured with a nod. "Afterwords, that is."

Robyn made a sad face and rolled her eyes while I stood next to her and tried to encourage her. "BFF, this will be quick. I mean, come on. You can come up with anything. That should keep you busy."

She yawned with a wide mouth. "This had better be quick, or else I'll be the one chewing off Caspian's ear."

Recalling all those recent lectures Caspian had given us, I grinned and patted Robyn on the back. "I feel your pain in that, buddy," I sympathized with my friend. "Tell me about it."

"Okay...remind why I'm the diversion. That part was a little hazy with Caspian," said Robyn.

"You're perfect for the job, girl," I reminded her in a nearly-bragging tone, "And I did say already that you can make it up as you go. In a way, you're our...emergency button. But don't ask me why you're not going with us. It's nothing personal. I think."

Robyn suddenly shook her head and blinked. "Oh." Huh. She doesn't seem quite herself tonight. Probably just tired. "Well, I don't like being thought of as a 'button'."

"We're here!" Caspian announced, and everyone halted.

We now arrived at the Fords of Beruna but remained in the darkness of the forest. Though there were partial clouds overhead, moonlight still shone in the night (needless to say that it was nearly midnight again.) Sound of running water could be heard, and the rustle of leaves in a light breeze was not unnoticeable. Besides the small roaring of the river, I could also catch distant sounds such as: talking, occasional laughing, smiths, horses, carriages, foot stamping, axes, hammers, air pumps, and fires. And I could smell smoke and ashes, things that were far from natural in a forest. Not only could we hear the sounds, but also we could see their camp on the other side of the river where a bridge marked its place. These definitely indicated that we were at Beruna.

And when I realized that the Telmarines' bridge was closely half-way finished, I felt my heart sink.

"We don't have much time," said Caspian quietly, as if he were reading my mind.

But he put a hand on my shoulder, looked at me, and gave a small smile. "But we'll get through, Faith."

I sighed heavily. "I'm sorry, Caspian," I said sadly, "But I shouldn't be moping or giving up hope. I should be encouraging you. Not you encouraging me. You're the one leading all this anyway."

"I know," he barely whispered. Oops. Said something out of context.

"Hey," I nudged him playfully, "You're the one who said we'll get through. I'm sure we will. You have a lot of help not to mention more coming." I took the liberty of nudging him again.

He smiled and chuckled. "Thank you. But keep your head up for me, all right?"

"...Okay."

Caspian gave a light squeeze on my shoulder before he put his hand down. "Now," said Caspian before clearing his throat, "Five of you including Trufflehunter will stay here with Robyn. The rest of us will cross the river and go on from there. And Trufflehunter, I would like to have a quick word with you after I speak with Robyn." Trufflehunter -I don't understand why he wanted to come with us- nodded and walked away. As the other Narnians set to cross Beruna River, Caspian turned to Robyn who stood next to me. "Now remember, Robyn, tha-"

"I know," she finished, waving him off, "Only act up when the signal is given." But without warning, she nodded off and tipped forward, but I caught Robyn before she could fall flat on her face.

"You okay?" I put a hand to her forehead.

"Yeah. I'm fine." She shook her head and blinked her eyes. "Just had a black-out there. Must be tired. This is worse than my biking trip in Yosemite. I totally blacked out like I did when we were biking downhill." I noticed that her words were beginning to slur. "Almost flipped my bike upside-down and managed to skin my knees."

"Yeah, you're tired. Considering last night," I added unnecessarily, "You should've taken a nap before we left."

Caspian cocked his head in curiosity. "Faith, what's a 'bike'?"

We'll tell you another time, Caspian. It's time to focus right now."

But Robyn let out a frustrated growl. "But why can't I come with you guys? And don't say it's just for my sword...and that I'm perfect for the job." But she never received an answer.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Ten minutes later...At the Telmarine side of the Fords of Beruna:

"Hey, Caspian. Are you sure that was actually a good idea to make her the distraction? To be honest, was that really essential?"

"Well I hope she doesn't actually have to become a distraction. The results could be fatal."

"Then why did you do it? Is it because she's creeping you out?"

"Yes and no," was the response from Caspian. Ha! Can't wait to tell Robyn later. "But haven't you noticed anything...strange about her, Faith?"

I shrugged carelessly. "Eh. Like you know how she and I are already." I pointed a finger at my head and started making circles. "Cuckoo."

"No. She's less...eccentric than normal."

"What'dya you mean?"

"I mean she's not herself. Tired as it were."

"Caspian, I don't know how to answer your question right now because-ah, we're here." Mission Impossible! Dun dun dun! And so it begins!

We all crouched down in the thicket with the weapon wagons a few yards ahead. Only one soldier stationed there was doing a very bad job of keeping watch. Either he was being lazy or just being plain tired. I mean, hello. It's past midnight again. One dwarf had aimed an arrow at the poor guy but was stopped when Caspian said:

"No. Put your arrow down. No arrows. We will not harm anyone...yet. Not now."

Aww. Such a tender heart he does have. I thought to myself. "Ready, Caspian?"

"Yes. Let's go."

We all sneaked into the dimmed area of the camp where the wagons were. But before we started to gather anything, the guard was knocked out, and another one was taken down mercifully. At first, all of the Narnians stupidly dashed to the wagons, but Caspian commanded them to empty two at a time and had two Narnians and me to keep watch. Narnians hurriedly passed on weapons to their comrades while the look-outs intently surveyed the camp, keeping an eye out for any potential threat. For me, I felt as if we were in a timed game, waiting for a mental bell in my head to alert us. And my heart was racing.

Fear agitated me more when one soldier started to come our way. As if alerting him, I nudged Menitus the faun beside me. He grunted in return as if he understood. As the Telmarine came nearer and nearer, we readied ourselves to pounce on our poor prey.

"Now!" whispered Menitus as he drew his scimitar.

With that, we jumped on the unsuspecting soldier. Though we had a hard time with him, he did not fight for long. Once he grabbed my hair, and I nearly yelped that he let go. Thankfully, he did not have time to draw his sword. Menitus speedily tied the man's hands behind his back, I slapped a hand on his mouth and grabbed his neck, and we dragged him into the thicket. While Menitus tied the Telmarine's hands behind his back, I casually talked to the guy after I kicked him to his knees.

"Sorry we had to do this to you, buddy," I said apologetically. "Probably it would have been easier if we killed you on the spot rather than capture you and see us. Hope we don't become your future nightmares." An evil laugh sure does sound tempting right now though.

He said nothing in reply. Of course he could not say anything.

I continued with a smile without having to wait for an answer. "What's your name? And don't you-hey hey hey! Wait a minute!"

For Menitus had the hilt of his scimitar poised above the man's head, ready to knock him out. "SHH! Keep it down, will you? We don't want any trouble from him, Faith," he reminded me. "It is not necessary to speak with him, and it could bring bad consequences. Do you want to awake the whole army?"

I smirked. "Sure, bring it on!" I suddenly heard random singing in the distance. When I recognized the tune of "Steal Away", I giggled, "That's Robyn all right-whoa whoa no! Don't you dare!" With one hand still on the Telmarine's mouth, I seized the faun's wrist with the other hand before he could finish the Telmarine. "Can't he speak for himself first?"

"No."

"Oh come on. Go easy on me."

"No."

"Is that all you say? No?"

"...No." Sure you don't.

"Fine. How about you hold your sword to his neck if he tries any monkey business while I chat with him till we're done. Then you can take him out. Comprende?" I slowly let go of his wrist.

With one reluctant sigh, he hesitantly nodded as he lowered his blade to the man's neck. I smiled and looked at the Telmarine.

"Now," I said, turning my attention back to our captive, "you try to scream for help like a little girl, it will be our painful duty to...rid of you." Was that really the best I could do? "What do you have to say for yourself?"

But as soon as I removed my hand from his mouth, I gasped and made a funny sound. In the perfect spot of moonlight, a young beardless man was revealed to be our prisoner. Golden eyes shined, and brown hair barely touched his shoulders. He looked similarly like Caspian, but he had his own complexion. He even appeared young enough to be Caspian's age. Horror gripped me when I realized I had jumped on a cute-looking Telmarine. I was about to ramble on apologetically for my improper actions earlier until he replied in a vaguely familiar voice:

"But I have nothing to say, lady." My jaw dropped even more. It's that guy from that night! And he called me a 'lady'. He's...what's his name? Man, it ran out of my mind too!

"You're...you're..." I struggled for the right words.

"I'm what?" he frowned. You're so hot! Good Night! And you could pass as Orlando Bloom's brother!

"You're so ho...you're so ho...what's your name?" I finally managed to choke out.

"I'm Lieutenant Rovin, Son of General Glozelle." Right. I remember now that he even gave his whole title.

Realizing how useless it was to just talk to him, I pulled a random question. "So, how are you? How's life?"

"This is really unnecessary!" interjected the faun, "Prince Caspian will not like this, Faith! I'll just-"

"Caspian's alive?" Rovin interrupted with a hint of excitement and relief at the same time.

"Yeah," I answered happily without thinking twice, "And no worries, he's been taken care of. In fact, he's leading this raid! And he's here!" I abruptly slapped my mouth tight, realizing I had thrown out a little too much information.

"He's here too?" Oopsy Daisy! Spilled the beans!

Menitus growled in restlessness. "Do you want me to slit your throat, Telmarine?" he threatened as he pressed his scimitar harder into Rovin's neck.

I jumped in quickly to defend the Telmarine. "Wait wait wait. But Caspian said not to-"

"I know what His Majesty said, Faith," the faun replied coldly, "You only made things worse."

"No, please. I'm sorry," said Rovin pleadingly, "I'm sorry for raising up a noise. I do not mean to alarm the men or you." Courageous, aren't you.

Rovin's bravery quieted us down, and something caused me to have an interest in this guy; besides that he was good-looking, his mannerism seemed...well I don't know...nice or different. I recalled what he did a few days ago and that he was Caspian's former best friend, and I imagined that the past few days must have been difficult for him as much as Caspian's were.

But my thoughts were interrupted when I heard someone holler, "AND I'M FEELIN'...GOOD!" A smile pulled on my lips. I guess it was one of her favorite singers again... What is his name? Michael Buble?

"What's that?" asked Rovin warily. Menitus had the same look.

"That would be my best friend Robyn," I chuckled. "She really knows how to attract people's attention. You would like her." But I changed the topic back to Rovin with keen interest. "So you're the one from that night when you guys chased Caspian. He told me about you."

"How did you know that I was one of the men?" Rovin asked. "I do not think that Caspian was able to recognize any of us except for my father."

"Caspian coincidentally-well not really coincidentally- was dragged right in front of our place. So we were able to watch the whole thing. After you took Trumpkin and frolicked from wherever you're from, we brought Caspian in and took care of him. I told him everything that happened as we went to Dancing Lawn, and he told me about you. Then he told everyone else his situation and the rest is history. Caspian now leads the Old Narnians."

"You have given more than enough information, little lady," interrupted the faun, losing more of his patience, "This Telmarine is our enemy!" Menitus pressed his blade even harder into Rovin's neck, and the other grunted in strain. "We will have to kill you since you now know many things," he whispered angrily in Rovin's ear. The Telmarine gulped loudly.

"He's not our enemy, Menitus," I opposed the Narnian, "This guy is Caspian's best-close friend! He deserves to know." Menitus only grumbled but did nothing to the young man.

"Who are you two?" asked Rovin.

"Oh, sorry. My bad. Okay, so this is Menitus the faun. He's one of our medics or healers as you guys call it." The Narnian only made a grunt. "And I'm Faith. Just Faith." I cringed at my simple introduction and decided not to extend my hand to the Telmarine, recalling my earlier gesture to Caspian when I first met him.

"You are not Telmarine, are you?" Rovin noted with interest. "You're accent. It's different."

But before I could say more, Menitus answered for me in a nonchalant voice, "Yes, she is very different indeed. She and her friend are from another world, and it's very obvious by their manners and habits. But they were sent by Aslan to help Prince Caspian. But I think they sure haven't helped a lot."

"Thanks a lot for that nice compliment," I lied.

"You're welcome," the faun returned slyly.

"I was being sarcastic, man!"

"I know that! Sometimes I wish that you and the other girl were never brought here. You should've stayed at the How!"

"Dude, Robyn and I can't stand boredom. If you did leave us back there, you would see a disaster at the How!"

"What kind of disaster?"

"Uh...I'm working on that part."

"Hn. You girls are stupid."

"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?"

"You heard me very well, Faith."

"Oh yeah? You think you know everything. You fauns act like you're all macho and everything while you're merely skinny like...twigs!"

"WHAT?"

"Excuse me..." Rovin jumped in. We both turned to him with fierce faces. "But um..."

With his head, he pointed to behind us, and Menitus looked ahead while I spun around in a 180 degree turn.

Caspian was walking towards our direction, a number of swords held with one arm. He must have heard our commotion. "What's all the fuss here?" the prince asked wearily but stopped short when he saw Rovin.

In that moment of silence, Rovin silently stared at Caspian with an unreadable expression. Caspian too didn't say a word. And I hoped I wasn't getting the wrong picture there.

"Awkward," I muttered in a singly tone. "Ahem. So...are we done, Caspian?"

Caspian shook himself and blinked, refocusing back on reality. "Yes, but..." He became angry here. "Who gave the signal?" he demanded. Whoa, since when did he become furious?

I raised both of my hands in the air. "Don't look at me or Menitus. I don't know who either. I thought you did. You're supposed to."

"Robyn's now made a fool of herself, and the Telmarines have fired at her," he reported in a dangerous choleric voice. "I will kill whoever gave the signal."

I shook my head and tsked. "You had better watch your words, Caspian," I admonished, "You'll regret something you said if you don't."

"Look who's talking," he growled, "And are you suggesting that it was you who signaled?"

I raised my hands even higher. "No! Absolutely not, Caspian!" It finally dawned on me when I remembered Robyn. "WHAT? WHAT HAPPENED TO-"

Caspian put a hand over my mouth. "And that just registered in your mind now? Do you want to awake the whole army and get us killed?" he asked vehemently.

"Bring it on, man!" I declared after ripping Caspian's hand off from my face. "That's what Menitus said to me not a couple of minutes ago. But what about Robyn?"

"That is why we need to leave right now," he said quickly, pushing me back the rest of the Narnians who were now fleeing into the safety of the woods. "Menitus."

"WAIT WAIT WAIT-" but I was too late. WHAM! Thud. Rovin was now a lump of unconsciousness. "Ooo, that's gonna leave a mark," I flinched, observing a new bruising forming on his temple.

"Menitus and Faith, let's go," Caspian ordered crisply.

"Why did you have to do that?" I complained, "It was nice talking to him, and I wasn't done! Can we bring him?" Not to mention he was hotter than you, Caspian.

"No."

"We'll keep him as a prisoner. He knows much of us already. Too much almost."

"No."

"He's your best friend!"

"...No."

"Is that all you say too, no?"

"No!"

"Goodness gracious, I had the same chitchat with Menitus earlier. Do you think Robyn's gonna be okay, Caspian?"

"Faith?"

"Yeah, Caspian?"

"SHUT UP!" With a red face and fumes steaming out of his ears, Caspian stormed out to alert the others. Yeah, I deserved that. Sigh, I wish I never ever said those two words.


PS: Did you pick up the movie references? One is from Back to the Future, and two are from Enchanted if you didn't know.

So what do you guys think? And yeah I didn't give him a grand entrance. It didn't work out. It's okay if you're mad at me for this because Rovin is FURIOUS! So...read and review! And add more sweets for Rovin -I hope this works.-

Rovin: *Red faced and fumes steaming out of his ears* FAITH...

Me: ...seriously, HELP ME! HE'S GONNA EAT ME!