...Hehehe...Hi, my readers and faithful people-on-alert. I'm alive...Okay, okay. Give me mercy. I've been dead for over a year now...sorry 'bout that. Even Rovin's been nagging on me for this. Even my co-author. So anyway, ignore the rest of this author's note (except the disclaimer) and enjoy. Thank you to those who have been patient and faithful to this story.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything Narnian. They belong to C.S. Lewis and Walden Media. Faith and Rovin are purely mine. Robyn belongs to psychpineapplelover.
"Your Majesty! Your Majesty!" a blonde-haired, sentry faun cried, breathless from a run. "A Telmarine has spotted us!"
That certainly wasn't good news. The Narnians around us roused in gasps and instant murmurings that didn't sound positive at all. Caspian's eyes widened, his mouth slightly opened.
After that water incident with Caspian and Susan, the rest of the time turned out to be a normal working day for us. Just like before we went to Beruna. But I still had grudges against Peter, and I was nowhere near confessing to the Telmarine Prince or the Gentle Queen. In hope to avoid a lecture from anyone, I avoided any human contact, including Robyn, for the rest of the day and stuck to sharpening arrow heads and my dagger. Judging by the light at the How entrance, I guessed it was a still-foggy afternoon.
I was just sharpening my dagger for the third time when Caspian finally found me, but I was saved when the Narnian came running in with the bad news. Just then, Peter "so happened" to pop up out of nowhere and walked right up to Caspian.
"What is it, Caspian?" the haughty king asked with an important air.
"Yeah, what is it, Caspian?" I perfectly mocked Peter's accent, practically standing and stomping right over to the two guys. If this were an anime, a pinched vein would've bulged at the side of my head.
"That's enough, Faith,"Caspian held a hand up to me and didn't bother to hear my protest. "Dumnus, tell the leaders to meet at Aslan's Table."
The faun obediently bowed and clip-clopped off to do as his prince told him.
Then turning to Peter, Caspian said, "We've been found. And we don't have much time now."
The High King said nothing but started one of those staring contests with the Telmarine. And it wasn't a contest to see who would burst out laughing first. Without my interrupting, this carried on for a minute and resulted in Peter walking away.
"Faith." Caspian never glanced at me. "Let Robyn know about this, and both of you come to the meeting immediately."
"But-"
"Understood?"
I sighed dolefully. "Understood."
As I went searching for Robyn, I realized that the enemy was probably finished with their bridge sooner that we thought it would be. And it would probably be hours before they crushed us all. Or the Narnians and Caspian, at least.
I finally found Robyn in one of the rooms waving her short sword in the air while singing "Be a Man" from the movie Mulan. Which seemed to fit perfectly.
"Be a Man!-Wah!" Robyn jumped ten feet into the air when she turned around and saw me smugly grinning. "You did not see that, Faith."
"Yellow," I greeted.
My best friend sheathed her sword and approached, peering at my as if she were studying me. "You haven't talk to me since this morning after that water thing..."
I cleared my throat to avoid the subject. "Caspian says we got an important meeting. The Telmarines found us."
"Oh." And that was it, as we started to head to the Stone Table room. She strangely made no attempt to joke about it.
But now that we had to face the Telmarine army soon, I feared that things would not go well at all in the meeting with all the pressure. We had enough troubles already with food ration, leadership issues, and Caspian liking that...Mary-Sue. (Or that last bit was my problem.)
A few minutes later, Robyn and I entered the Table room. All the leaders had been notified by Dumnus, and they stood in their respectful places. General Glenstorm and his oldest son were right beside the entrance, Trufflehunter stood near one of the worn pillars, Trumpkin sat on the front step that supported the Stone Table, but Nikabrik I couldn't find. Caspian was already standing in front of the Table along with Peter. Susan sat on the left side of Caspian, and Edmund sat on the right of Peter. Last, but not least, Lucy took to the comfort of resting on the Table itself.
Everyone was quietly talking amongst themselves since the meeting had not begin yet. After Robyn and I had entered the chamber, Edmund motioned for my best friend to take a vacant seat next to him, which my friend happily obliged to. I mutely leaned on a pillar next to Susan where a gryphon rested on top since I wasn't able to find any other place to sit.
"Narnians," Caspian's voice hushed the audience. "As all of you know, we have been found by the enemy, meaning we have less time to prepare."
The people (or creatures, I didn't know what to call them besides 'Narnians') nodded their heads or sounded their agreement.
"I would like for us to meet them in battle tomorrow afternoon," he continued. "But I want to know what you say."
I inwardly grinned but kept a solemn face. I was glad that Caspian was still thoughtful of his subjects though he was in charge. By the way Caspian and the Narnians acted positively so far, the atmosphere felt more relaxed than tense at the moment.
"Let's fall deeper into the woods," a sleepy bear yawned. "It's not nice to fight right after meal time."
Many chuckled at this, aware of a talking bear's slow habits.
"That is an idea," I heard Menitus say. "They fear the woods anyway."
But Nikabrik's voice calmly replied, "Yes, but the Telmarines will only burn down the forest if not all of Narnia just to wipe us out."
And I had to agree with the black dwarf. "And you guys know that they can do just that with Beruna as proof." All eyes turned to me, and I shyly shrugged. "But still...hiding in the woods is not a bad idea."
Robyn raised her hand meekly. "Why not stall them? We could just destroy their bridge or raid their camp at night."
Peter's attention appeared to perk at the word 'raid.'
"However," Trumpkin put in, "the Telmarines may have more than half of their army by now."
"I think we've done enough raiding," Caspian said. "We barely made it that last time."
Robyn caught the prince's meaningful side glance. "What? What did I do?"
"How 'bout fleeing to another country like Archenland, Your Majesty?" a satyr asked.
Caspian thought about it for a second but then shook his head. "Not bad either, good satyr. I'm just not sure if other countries will open to us easily. If you and others have been cut off from the rest of the world, you may not know what they believe now."
"That can't be," Lucy frowned.
"Queen Lucy?"
"We were in alliance with Archenland," she said in doubt. "Surely that hasn't changed."
"Lu, you need to remember that was 1300 years ago," Edmund said sadly.
"Yes, Lucy," Susan agreed. "That was then."
The Valiant Queen leaned back and sighed in discouragement. And this was where the mood changed. After that, no one else came up with new suggestions. Some silently shifted, and the fires' light cracked and danced on the carved walls.
Then as if forcing the words out, Caspian asked, "Do you have something in mind, High King?"
For Peter had been ever so "patiently" waiting for his turn, yet the strange thing was that he strained himself from firing away. I had an idea that my argument or my presence kept him silent and poised. Then again, maybe not.
"It's only a matter of time," he summed it up. "Miraz's men and war machines are on their way. That means those same men...aren't protecting his castle."
I realized where he was heading. "Wait a sec..."
But Reep eagerly asked, "What do you propose we do, Your Majesty?" His ears and tail were up in curiosity.
"We need to-"
"To start running for-"
Both High King and Telmarine Prince faced each other again for a minute, ending with Caspian nodding his head once and dropping his eye contact in defeat. DEFEAT?
Wha...What are you doing, Caspian? You just..."Aheeemmm!" I deliberately cleared my throat, trying to get back at the Brit. "You were saying?"
Peter only ignored me. "Our only hope is strike them before they strike."
"But that's crazy. No one's ever taken that castle," Caspian argued stubbornly as if attempting to regain his position.
But Peter wouldn't let him have it. "There's always a first time," the other coldly pushed.
I growled in frustration, a thought chewing at my mind. "Can't we think about this logically first? This doesn't seem right to me, and I don't feel okay with it too." There was something else I wanted to mention, but I totally blanked out. Man.
"Do your feelings really matter, Faith?" Peter asked. "You're not the only one here."
Trumpkin eagerly leaned forward in his seat. "We'll have the element of surprise."
Caspian tried again, sensing a loss of loyalty from the dwarf. "But we have the advantage here!"
"If we dig in, we could hold them off indefinitely," Susan rose from her seat and moved to Caspian's side as if in support. Even if I didn't like that Mary-Sue, I was glad that she backed up Caspian because the guy certainly needed it.
She received a disapproving glare from her older brother.
"I for one feel safer underground," Trufflehunter said with most of the Narnians nodding their heads in agreement.
"Uh hey, Pete," Robyn cleared her throat and raised her hand again. "I'm gonna back this one up too. They're not ready to be so...exposed, ya know?"
But instead of protesting to her, Peter turned his focus to Caspian in an 'understanding' tone. "Look, I appreciate what you've done here. But this isn't a fortress. It's a tomb."
"Yes, and if they're smart, they'll just wait and starve us out," Edmund pointed out.
"Oh, never thought of that," Robyn muttered and received a small smile from the younger Pevensie brother.
"We could collect nuts," Pattertwig suggested innocently.
"Yes, and throw them at the Telmarines!" Reep exclaimed with false enthusiasm and then glared at the squirrel next to him. "Shut up!" Turning to Peter, he said, "I think you know where I stand, sire."
"Aren't we such good influences, huh Faith?" Robyn smirked at me. I snickered in return.
Then it went silent. No more suggestions. No ideas. Nothing. And I hated it. The choice I dreaded was made, since no one else protested (or dared to protest) to Peter. The Brit looked determined to carry out his plan while the Telmarine Prince was in defeat of leadership. Somebody say something, I wanted to say but found myself tongue-tied too.
"If I get your troops in, can you handle the guards?" Peter solemnly asked the General Glenstorm who hadn't said a word.
However, the centaur seemed to disagree with the plan. He eyed Caspian momentarily before returning to Peter. "Or die trying...my liege." He bowed his head.
WHAT? How could he? I clenched my fist and gritted my teeth, doing my best to remember what I was...Man, what was I thinking about?
All hope seemed lost to me until Lucy replied, "That's what I'm worried about."
"Sorry?" Peter said.
"We're all acting like there are only two options," she said quietly. "Dying here or dying there."
"I'm not sure you've really been listening, Lu."
"No, you're not listening," she persisted. "Or have you forgotten who really defeated the White Witch, Peter?"
"Point taken," I muttered. Wait. Was that it? Why hadn't I thought of Aslan before? He could take care of all of these problems. I inwardly smiled and cheered for Lucy.
The High King however did not take his youngest sister's question correctly. His blue eyes narrowed, his body language read pride, and something snapped inside him, something that sent chills to me. "I think we've waited for Aslan long enough."
And he would've walked away if Robyn hadn't replied, "Well, we can wait a little longer. It won't hurt to just prepare."
"Look where we are." Peter gestured to all of the How with exasperation. "Didn't I say we were in a tomb?"
I joined to defend my friend. "Okay, first off, Peter, this isn't a tomb, and second, Caspian's in charge. Didn't I say that?"
"No, you didn't, Faith."
"But I implied."
"But that doesn't matter now. The enemy is merely hours away meaning we don't have time for waiting any more."
"But with Aslan on our side, we don't have to worry about time." I smirked at a sudden thought. "We could even throw a party for celebration-"
"Faith!" Peter roared. "Look around us. Is Aslan here...right now?"
I fell silent, shrinking back in fear and defeat. Badly shaken in their faith in Aslan and their loyalty to Caspian, none of the other Narnians said anything for one horrible minute. For Caspian, he just stood in his place as if helpless. And for Peter, he was in charge now. Waiting for the Great Lion was out of the question, and raiding the bad guy's castle was his plan.
"Anyone else support Faith?...Good." He sounded satisfied with the outcome. "We will meet in five hours to discuss plans. Caspian." He turned to the prince. "We need to have a layout of the castle; tell us everything you know about it."
Caspian nodded but said nothing. And said nothing to me the rest of that afternoon.
Oh, how I wished I could strangle that good-for-nothing, dirty-blonde, haughty selfish, Brit.
I curled my head into a fist and sucked in my lips, refraining the urge to scream and punch Peter's face. And to show my opinion of the matter, I angrily stomped right out of the chamber, not caring if people whispered behind my back. Boy, were five hours gonna be long.
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO
Whizzz!
I growled when I missed the bull's eye by inches...again.
How could Peter just do that? And Caspian didn't do anything. What on earth was the Lion thinking if He knew Peter acted bossy? How come the other Pevensies didn't protest? Why didn't the Narnians say much? Why couldn't Robyn try harder?
Why couldn't-no, didn't I try any harder? Why did I hold myself back?
I angrily fumbled another arrow to my bow and took aim. And it didn't hurt to imagine the target as Peter's ugly big head. My grip shook uncontrollably, and my focus went wacko on me.
"Your elbow's a little too high."
I squeaked and jumped out of my skin, sending the arrow too far to the right, away from the target area. I spun around to find that Mary-Sue (Susan) sadly smiling. "What'd you want?" I struggled from rolling eyes at her, and I was in no mood to talk to anyone.
"Just trying to help," she responded politely. "Caspian taught you well though."
I smirked, holding my bow up awkwardly. "Yeah, right after he gave us a really loooong history lesson of these things."
Susan quietly chuckled. "Sounds like he's trying to impress you."
"Oh no!" I shook my head emphatically. "He's just trying to act like an adult-" I suddenly remembered that morning's occasion. "Wait a sec'. You're not trying to get back at me from earlier, are you?"
She held up a hand. "No, not at all."
"Sure you're not."
"No, what I mean is..." she paused. "Are you...with him?"
...WHAT? That's what she was thinking about Caspian and me? I was mentally hitting my head against a wall. "Are you nuts?" I shrieked. "No way, Jose, are we together AT ALL. Period." Oh, I wanna kill myself now...ugh...
Susan tilted her head. "Are you sure? Not denying the truth?"
I glared. "Dude, that's my worse nightmare! You have no idea, no...idea how torturous that notion is to me! I will jump off a cliff if I fall for him or if he goes OOC."
"OOC..." She took a teeny, tiny step back as if I were crazy...well, I was crazy at the moment.
I sighed and dropped my hands to my side. "Out of character." I slowly got on my knees and sat, setting my bow beside me. "Look. Sorry for hyperventilating, Your Highness. I'm just...not having it today."
"It's alright." Although I wasn't looking at her, I sensed the British girl take a seat beside me and put a hand on my shoulder. "It's not really mine either."
"What ruined it?"
"The water."
"Oh, sorry about that too."
"So you're really serious about you said about Caspian and you?"
I nodded. "Seriously, he's not my type of guy, and I'm not interested in one." Well, only the first half is true. I thought of Rovin. And how cute he was and...Oh, those dreamy hazel eyes...
"Ah, Faith?"
"Huh? Oh, sorry." I shook my head. "Just blanked out there."
I had to glance twice at Susan. Did she just have a smug look? "What are you staring for?" I asked.
"I'm thinking the second half was a lie," she said. ...Snap.
I moaned and sagged my shoulders. "Is it that obvious?"
"Yes, Faith, it is."
I cringed. "Okay, just don't tell anyone. Not even Robyn. No, it's neither of your brothers."
"If you say so," Susan laughed. "I know how you feel."
That confirmed my fears of Caspian and Susan. If I wasn't upset at the moment, I might've been furious about that instead. Yet I had to cut her some slack since I admitted my crush. After all, having crushes are normal. But then...do pairings from books that aren't supposed to be count? I couldn't think of a answer for that.
Susan picked up the conversation. "Faith, why did you pour water on me and Caspian?"
I semi-consciously ripped the Narnian grass, dropping eye contact to my lap. "I...I was upset. I guess seeing you too made me jealous. It's not that I like Caspian. I just..." I threw the Pevensie a frustrated look. "It's complicated. You wouldn't understand."
"I'm afraid I don't understand."
"Good. 'Cause I won't explain." I waited. "Well, Caspian was getting a little distracted-"
"I was a distraction?"
"Yes-no!" I face-palmed. "I mean..."
"You were jealous?" she tried to help.
I could imagine Robyn teasing me about this conversation. Where was she when I needed her to save me at times like this?
"No!" I glared at Susan again. She really had to stop doing that. "Look, I'm sorry again for that water incident, okay? I had to take my anger out on something and..." I hugged myself tighter and grumbled. "I should've asked Robyn to get the water instead."
"You apologized already, Faith. You don't have to repeat yourself," she said. Wow, is Susan really that forgiving? I don't remember that anywhere.
"...Thanks." However, her kindness didn't lighten my anger from earlier.
"But you'd better keep on your toes if Caspian and I have our revenge."
I could sense that Susan was trying to cheer me up but was having difficulty with my drenched spirit. But in gratitude again, I gave her a feeble smile yet couldn't hold it for long. And from the looks of her, something was bothering her too.
"It's my brother you're upset at, isn't it?" she asked after a minute of silence. "You don't agree with him."
"It is," I confessed. "Plus he and I didn't hit it off well the first time we talked. Even when you guys joined us, he gave me a bad first impression so..."
"I see." She also started fiddling with the grass.
"And I take it you don't really support him either."
Susan nodded. "Yes."
I shrugged, ripping a blade of grass in half. "Siblings don't always agree anyway."
"You have siblings of your own?"
"Yeah. A sister and two younger brothers. I'm the eldest."
"Then you must understand what Peter's going through."
I stared at Susan as if she were the crazy one. "No, I don't. Who does he think he is? No, don't say he's High King. I already know that. But he can't just waltz in and take Caspian's job. That is so out of character." Literally. "Does he have any idea what Caspian's been through? The guy's lost his parents, his uncle wants to kill him, his best friend might betray him 'cause it was my fault (...well, partially Caspian's fault too), and now he's not in charge anymore." I abruptly shut up and checked myself. "Wow, that was a mouthful."
"That's the first time I've heard you say something negative about Peter," she murmured.
I smirked to myself. "And that's not even half of what's on my mind."
"But try to understand where he is, Faith," she said almost in a pleading way.
Seriously? I can't believe she's actually defending him? Even when she doesn't agree. "In what, Susan? What's his excuse for being so...rude?"
The other sighed. "We-I mean my siblings and I have been out of Narnia for a year according to England's time. But when we come back, we find out it's been 1300 years since our time here. The Telmarines have taken over and the Narnians have been declared extinct until a few days ago." She continued when I only responded with a huff. "It hurts us to find Narnia in trouble again. Especially Peter."
I went through all that information again. "You sure Peter's just concerned (extremely concerned, I'd say) or is he just missing his role as leader immensely?"
Susan was about to protest but held back. "Well..." she hesitated. "Ever since we left Narnia, he...changed."
"I bet a lot," I muttered.
She grimaced as if remembering something unpleasant. "It started slow at first. Then it became obvious. He would pick fights with other boys for smallest things. Snap whenever we questioned his authority. Many times, I heard him wishing we never went hunting that white stag." She sounded wistful too.
"I'm sure you and the others did too, Susan," I reasoned. "You get homesick, don't you?"
"But," she argued, "some things can't be explained. And I don't understand why Aslan had us come here and then sent us back to our 'normal' lives."
But I knew why Aslan did. I bit my lip and started to feel guilty for taking my anger out on Susan again. I hated it myself whenever I said too much. And at the wrong times too. "Sorry." I turned away from her. "I..."
Susan squeezed my shoulder and chuckled once. "No, it's okay, Faith."
I shook my head. "Susan-"
"I should apologize for Peter's behavior."
Yep, she's really that forgiving. "No. I should be the one to shut my mouth." I brought my knees up to my chest and wrapped arms around my legs, resting my chin on top. "Yeah, me and my big mouth. And look where it's gotten me. A silly reputation with everybody here, telling secrets to a Telmarine soldier (I'll explain more later), and pouring my heart out on an unusual conversation with a Queen of Narnia."
Susan sounded like she was smiling. "Well, thanks for telling me what you think."
"And thanks for listening to me," I glanced at her. "You'll probably be trying to avoid me from now on, aren't ya?"
"You're welcome, and no, you haven't scared me away. It was nice talking with you."
I was beginning to like this girl more and more. "You know," I slightly grinned, "you're not so bad than I though you were. In fact, I'd guess I found another friend. So no hard feelings?"
She shook her head. "No hard feelings. But you seriously had better keep an eye out for me or Caspian."
"Oh I will," I laughed. "You saw how paranoid I am."
For a couple of minutes, we just silently sat there and ripped out grass, uncertain where else the conversation should head. I felt glad that we were on good terms besides a friendly threat from the older girl.
But I was pretty sure that the night raid was on our minds now. And my guesses were confirmed when Susan asked, "So you are going to the raid?"
I waited before answering. I'd promised Caspian that I would go anywhere with him, and there was nothing else for me to do so..."Yes, I am."
"And you seem a bit sad. Something wrong?" She quickly added, "Besides the raid."
I stopped pulling the poor grass and let my eye contact drop again. It made me depressed every time that park incident was brought up. And that incident was another reason why I excused myself to go to the night raid. Might as well explain it to her. "Do you know why I'm going?"
Susan shrugged. "To fight for Narnia?"
"There's that, then there's two other reasons." I shifted to get a little more comfortable. "First is that I promised Caspian to stay with him. No," I held up a hand in defense. "I repeat that there's nothing between us. I only did it to get out of the badger's house. That's all."
"And the second reason is..."
"My story," I said.
"That a little vague," she frowned. "So you and Robyn got 'knocked' into Narnia by a few- oh, what did you call it- thugs? Or bad men. What does that have to do with the raid? Weren't you sent to help?"
I sadly smiled. "Did I ever mention a gun?"
"Oh." That seemed to get the former Narnian queen. "No, you didn't."
"And that the gun was pointed at me?"
"You saw the gun?"
I stopped. "No, but Robyn did. Said she heard it too."
"So are you saying that..." she trailed off.
"I'm probably dead over there." That thought alone was responsible for my randomness and frustration at Peter who was nowhere related to my problems. Ever since I had reunited with Robyn, I had tried to figure out what happened that fateful afternoon eventually coming to a theory that I was shot in the head. Probably at home, I was slowly dying of a fatal bullet wound, and my consciousness was here in Narnia for no particular reason, unaware of any pain. Up until now, I did my best to deny the idea. My will to survive this weird dream (or whatever this was) crumbled.
"Tada!" I cheered sarcastically but soon felt like a mental mess when my eyes decided to water. And why am I tearing up? "So that's why," I quickly rubbed my eyes, "I'm going to the raid. There's nothing else for me at home so I might as well" Man, why am I suddenly emotional over this now? "die fighting for a fictitious country."
I lost it right there and bawled, burying my face hands and arms. Maybe there was really nothing else for me. Nothing but to do my duty here until I was done. Or dead. Either way, I couldn't go back home.
"Faith?" I felt Susan rub my back, trying to comfort me. "It's okay. What if...suppose you didn't die. Suppose the man didn't fire."
I sniffed and wiped my nose, slightly embarrassed. "Suppose he did. Why else am I here?"
She only looked down and bit her lip.
"So that's the other reason why I'm going to the raid."
"Faith," she stopped me from standing up. "Don't think like that. You're talking as if you really are dead."
"Do I sound like I am?" I smiled bitterly. "Well, sorry for being a pessimist."
"And why do you think that you're going to die in the raid?" Susan asked seriously. "You don't know if we're going to lose."
"And you don't know if we're going to win," I responded grimly. "I don't feel comfortable 'bout this plan without Aslan in mind. Even Lucy said so."
"Lucy always thinks about Aslan," she said dismissively.
"We should too," I said. "Aslan's powerful, right? He can do anything, and you guys have little or no faith in Him?"
No answer. Wow, I ask too many thought-provoking questions, don't I?
"Since that issue has been settled already, I'm going with Peter and the raid. Even if I don't agree with him." I stood up and fitted another arrow on the bow. "I might as well do what I can than sit and pout here doing nothing."
Susan slowly stood up as well. "In that case, I can give you some help with your archery. Your handling needs a bit of work."
So...R&R,...pretty please...please don't kill me...And I promise Chapter 12 is coming quicker than this 'cuz chapter 12 is mostly done already...there, you happy?
Rovin: I am now.
Me: Shut up.
