Well, finally here it is - the next chapter - I am really sorry that it took me more than 6 weeks ... I just could find neither the time nor the motivation to write ..

moreover i rewrote this chapter several times ... but no more excuses - enjoy reading!



Shocked, Susan turned when she heard the sound of the horn. Automatically her hand moved to her belt but the horn wasn't there. She left it with her younger sister at the How in case something unexpected happened. But the sound came from too far away and from a different direction. It had to be at...

"Su!" she suddenly heard Edmund some feet away.

"Ed! I left the horn with Lucy!" Edmund mounted the horse next to him and Susan turned to face Caspian, who had grabbed Destrier's reins.

"No!" Susan shook her head, "you have to stay here. Somebody needs to guide the troops to Cair Parvavel after this battle and neither King Nain nor Eustace are authority enough to do so. Wait in the woods in front of the castle for a sign."

Caspian nodded, disappointed but understanding, "I love you."

Edmund came up to them, offering Susan his hand. "I love you too." Susan gave Caspian a quick kiss before she grabbed Edmund's hand and mounted the horse behind him.

Edmund spurred the horse, leaving Caspian in a cloud of dust.


Peter rode as fast as he could towards Cair Paravel. When he emerged from the woods, he saw what he had feared. The Calormen flag was flying above the Castle.

Without hesitation he galloped towards the castle gate, "I am High King Peter the Magnificent, Emperor of the Lone Islands, Lord of Cair Paravel, Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Lion and I asked for entrance to my castle!"

Silently, the door in front of him opened. Peter took a deep breath, just as he was going to spur his horse into the castle; he heard another horse behind him. He looked around and saw Edmund and Susan approaching. They stopped next to him without saying a word but from the expressions on their faces Peter could tell that they had the same thoughts as he had.

Dismounting, the three siblings entered the castle next to each other, a place they had called home for a long time, a place that was now full of enemies.

A group of ten soldiers awaited them. One of them, a man with dark brown hair and a moustache, stepped forward.

"I want to talk to the Tisroc!" Peter demanded.

"Of course, your Majesty," the man with the moustache said, "but at first I have to ask you to hand over your weapons. The Tisroc, may he live forever, promises you safe conduct within this castle."

Peter looked at his siblings and nodded. The three siblings started to unarm, swords, daggers, a bow and arrows falling to the ground.

Two Calormen soldiers stepped forward and gathered the weapons quickly, then the dark haired men guided them into the castle, "Follow me, please!"

As they walked through the hallways Peter counted every Calormen soldier he caught sight of and he swore silently. How blind had they been not to see the intrigue that had been behind the battle at the How?

When they entered the great hall, Peter heard a familiar voice calling his name.

"Peter!" Lucy broke free from the soldier that had been holding her and ran towards her siblings, falling into the arms of her brother. The soldier ran after her but the man that was sitting on Peter's throne signalled him to let it go.

"Lucy! Are you okay?" Peter asked as he hugged his sister, relieved to see her.

Lucy nodded as she pulled away, looking at Edmund, "I am sorry, Ed. I rode off again."

"It's okay, Lu. The important thing is that you are fine." Edmund said, blaming himself not to listen to the concerns that she had told him before the battle.

In the meanwhile the man that had sat on Peter's throne had stood up and had stepped down to where they stood. He had short dark hair and a three-day beard. He was tall, rather muscular and looked kind of intimidating.

"High King Peter, the Magnificent, it's a pleasure meeting you" he said, bowing towards Peter, then he faced Edmund, "King Edmund, the Just, we have already had the pleasure of meeting each other. So you left Anvard. Didn't you like my hospitality there?"

"Well despite my love for dungeons and lattice in front of my window, I didn't want to tax your hospitality for too long." Edmund answered in a calm voice.

The Tisroc laughed, "I see, I see."

He stepped towards Susan, taking her hand, "Queen Susan the Gentle, the stories about your beauty really aren't exaggerated." He bowed low and kissed her hand.

"May I introduce myself? I am Ahstad, the Tisroc, emperor of Calormen. Well I think I could add emperor of Archenland and Narnia as well." He laughed sardonically.

"I wouldn't be that hasty!" Peter warned with his voice full of anger.

"Well of course there are things to discuss before I do so," Ashtad turned to the man with the moustache that had guided the three eldest Pevensies to the great Hall and commanded, "Please guide the Queens to their quarters, I have things to discuss with these gentlemen here."

Peter stepped in front of his sisters, opening his mouth to disagree but before he could say anything, Susan laid a hand on Peter's shoulder and shook her head, "It's okay, Peter."

Taking Lucy's hand, she followed the man out of the room.

"Well the queen seems not only to be the most beautiful woman I've ever seen but even a smart one," the Tisroc said, looking after her, "She will make a wonderful bride."

"I beg your pardon?" Peter couldn't believe what he had just heard.

"Well I intend to be the greatest Tisroc of all time," Ashtad started to explain, "Thus I have made it my business to achieve all the things my ancestors have failed to do. One was to conquer Archenland and Narnia. Another was to marry Queen Susan the Gentle of Narnia. You remember my ancestor Rabadash, don't you?"

"Oh yeah, he was a cute little donkey!" Edmund countered, trying to hide his anger about Ashtad's words with a joke.

"What makes you think that we or Queen Susan would agree to something like that?" Peter asked, ignoring Edmund's comment. His voice was calmer than before, trying not to show his feelings, as he had learned hundreds of years ago.

"Well you are kings and queens and as such your first responsibility is to your people. So I want all of you to abdicate the throne in favor of me and to agree to my marriage to Queen Susan. In exchange you and your people will be free, under the Calormen leadership of course. Otherwise five of your people will be hung in the courtyard every hour until you agree to my terms." The Tisroc laughed again sardonically.

Peter looked at the Tisroc shocked. A month ago he would have thought that he would never let anyone of his family down. There wasn't anybody or anything in the whole world that meant more to him than his siblings. But two weeks ago he had failed his older brother by leaving him behind. He had decided as a king, not as a brother. And as a king there was only one right answer, but as a brother the choice was different, more difficult and more complex.

"Well, you have an hour to think about it." The Tisroc said as both of the brothers didn't answer, "General, please accompany them to their quarters. I hope you'll find it more comfortable this time, King Edmund!"

The Tisroc turned, walking towards Peter's throne but stopped when Edmund rose to speak once more.

"You are mistaken, my lord." The Tisroc turned to face Edmund, surprised by his words. Peter looked surprised at his younger brother as well.

"Firstly, Caspian is the current king of Narnia, so it's only in his power to abdicate the crown in favor of you," Edmund continued in a calm voice, "and secondly our first responsibility has always been and will always be our family!"

The Tisroc smirked, "Was your family also your first responsibility when you betrayed them to the White Witch thirteen hundred years ago?"

"That's a mistake I don't intend to make twice!"

"Then tell me, my dear kings of Narnia, what would you do if you had to choose between the happiness of one sister and the life of the other?"

As Edmund's and Peter's faces grew pale, the Tisroc laughed again, "Did you know that the quickest way of ending a war is to lose it?"


Well what do you think? As always I would like to hear your opinions - especially about the Tisroc! ...

Thanks again to those who reviewed so far - I love every single one of your reviews ...