hey guys :) - well first of all I am really sorry for the long long waiting :S - I know I promised that I would hurry up with this chapter but yeah .. something happenend and I really didn't have any motivation to either write or read ... but now I am back - back in black! ;)

I just read all of your reviews and they really motivated me to write again - so thank you so much! I won't be able to answer all of them right now - but I will get back to them! ...

So here it is - the next chapter. I have to warn you - it is neither the chapter that you expect (at least I guess) nor the chapter that I intended to write - something new came to my mind. I hope you like it nevertheless.

as always, enjoy reading!



Peter turned his horse towards the Narnian forces and screamed, "War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight for, the person with nothing more important to him than his own personal safety is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free. So Narnians fight! By all that you hold dear in this world! Fight!" Peter turned his horse facing the enemy and yelled "For Aslan and for Narnia!"

Thousands of men and creatures ran, galloped or spurred their horses towards the forest, their swords ready to fight, screaming, "For Aslan and for Narnia!"

By the time they reached the forest hundreds of Calormen had already been killed by the brave archers. But Susan and her comrades hadn't been unnoticed. For a while there had been chaos, but the Calormen had soon discovered from where the killing arrows came. Susan tried her best to shoot everybody down who pointed towards them, but they had superiority over them.

Soon arrows started to thread through the canopy. Susan saw dead Narnian bodies hitting the Calormen soldiers. Where were the Narnian riders? They were supposed to be here by now.

Suddenly she heard hoof beats and then Peter's voice, "Protect the archers!"

Susan breathed a sigh of relief. Suddenly, an arrow hurtled through the thicket towards her, ducking she just escaped. That was a close shave she thought as she suddenly became unbalanced and fell.

She screamed, knowing that she was twenty feet up in the trees and masses of enemies were awaiting her on the ground. She barely registered the sensation of falling, already thinking of continuing the fight hand-to-hand. But it didn't get that far.

Susan landed safely in Caspian's arms. He arrived just in time on Destrier's back to catch her.

"I have you." he whispered, pulling her against his chest, so that she felt his muscles and his heart beating fast. This was really her favourite place in the world, never had she felt more secure than now, even if she was surrounded by a battle.

"I know that." Susan said, looking straight into his eyes. And for a moment they were both gone, forgetting the battle around them, just looking at each other. And then reality caught them again.

Destrier reared and they both fell to the ground, immediately being attacked by Calormen soldiers. As Susan fought back-to-back with Caspian she thought again about Aslan's words. The future belongs to freedom. Maybe she should just...

She shot another soldier down and turned to Caspian. Plucking up her courage, she grabbed his arm and shouted, "Caspian! I need to ask you something!"

Caspian took another soldier out and turned to face Susan, "Can't that wait until later?"

Susan shook her head, "No, it can't! Caspian the Tenth, King of Narnia, Emperor of the..." her voice died off as she shot a soldier, who attacked Caspian from the back, but then continued shouting, "Damn it! Will you marry me?"

"What?" Caspian asked, taken aback by what she had just asked.

"I want to be with you the rest of my life. I want to fight for our love. So will you marry me, Caspian?" Susan shouted, shooting an arrow at an attacking soldier.

"Down!" Caspian suddenly screamed and as Susan bend down, he fought off a soldier at her back, who had just wanted to tuck his sword into her.

"I have made my choice. And I wanna be with you. What about you?" Susan asked, rising from the ground again.

Caspian pulled her close to him, so that an arrow went past her only inches away from her head. He brought her face up to his, placing one hand on her cheek and whispered, "Of course, I want to marry you, love of my life." And then he covered her mouth with his and kissed her passionately.

And again the world around them melted apart, the time seemed to have stopped and Susan felt like she would fly. She felt how the hurt that she had felt in her heart for the last months had gone and she felt happiness flooding her body.

Suddenly they heard Edmund's voice from some feet away, "Get a room!"

They broke apart and laughed, both beaming with joy and together they continued fighting the enemy back-to-back, with a new energy, they hadn't known before.


In the meantime Peter was fighting further in the front of the battle, watching as the Narnians fought off the invaders, when he suddenly noticed that there was something amiss. He noticed the number of their enemies was far fewer than the combined forces of Calormen and Archenland should have been. Moreover they hadn't any combat machines or any tactical strategies.

And he noticed who was missing. Lucy and the eagles should have come into the mission quite a long time ago, at the beginning really. They would have been throwing rocks at their enemies. But there hadn't been any signs of them and the battle was nearly over.

He remembered the conversation they had had with King Nain. The Tisroc had been at Anvard shortly after they had invaded Archenland but had left within a few days. King Nain hadn't known where he had gone but he had doubted that the Tisroc had returned to Calormen. So maybe this battle had just been a trap. Maybe...

Suddenly he knew where Lucy had gone and the thought sent shivers down his spine.

He heard a loud noise that sounded like a bugle but richer. It was a noise that Peter had heard quite often in his life, a noise that called for help. A call Peter had always answered.


So this was it - I know it was a very short one and it's also not the thrilling battle that you've expected - but as I said I had some new ideas and I really like them and I hope that you are going to like them as well. :)

Some of you may not like the way Caspian and Susan become engaged - I know it isn't the typical romantic and kitchy style (I usually love that one!) but I thought it needed to be something else this time ... I guess everybody of you knows which movie inspired me ... and well I would like to hear your thoughts about it - not only about the engagement thing but about the whole chapter. So please leave a review ...

Well I am hurrying up with the next chapter but I can't (and I will not) promise anything - university has started again - exams are coming up (isn't it weird that I am most motivated everytime shortly before the exams ... ;)) ...

PS: thanks to Jill G. Lowrey for correcting and all your input - always love to read your mails! ...