Lucy woke, her eyes blinking open after hearing a noise she couldn't really pinpoint. It had been so long since she'd wandered the Shuddering Wood. They trees, still asleep or hiding, didn't move for her. Everything was still, even the breeze.

For everything that saddened her about her return to Narnia, that was the most disheartening. Aslan, while present, wasn't keeping near, the Narnians were in hiding and the trees were still. She wished she could do something just then to wake them up. She wanted to play with the cherry blossoms, listen to the trees laugh and dance and enjoy the beautiful Narnian day.

A breeze lifted the ends of her hair and she smiled softly to herself, her eyes closing as she inhaled the scent of the wood that she wandered her last time here in Narnia. She missed it so much when she was back in England. The air here was fresh, she wasn't looked at funny if she slipped off her shoes and walked barefoot through the grass. Here in Narnia, she was noticed. While back in England she'd been able to make many friends at school, here it was different. She was friends with fauns and centaurs and naiads and mermaids …

Or at least she had once been. Everyone she knew was gone now.

A girlish giggle broke her from her sadness, her eyes opening to see the cherry blossoms dancing in front of her. "Hello!" she called out with a bright smile as the petals danced in the wind. She chased after, joy finally filling her. "Slow down!" she laughed. "I'm not as quick as I once was."

As she approached a path, the trees moved over for her and she couldn't help but pause and smile widely. "Welcome back," she whispered, her hand reaching out to brush against one before she jogged through the clearing. Something hit her heart and she picked up the pace, knowing exactly who was waiting for her when she reached the end of her journey.

Breathless, she stopped, her breath a little quick and her eyes wide and awestruck. "Aslan," she whispered to herself, the giant lion standing fifty yards away, grander than she remembered him. "Aslan!"

Lucy ran as fast as she could towards the lion, her heart full for the first time in a year. "I knew it was you. You helped us cross the gorge."

"It was you who found the way, Dear One. You know these woods better than anyone," He answered.

"Why couldn't the others see you?" she asked softly. "Why haven't you come to help us? Like last time?"

"Things never happen the same way twice, Dear One," he told her. "All will be revealed in due time. But until then …"

Lucy startled awake at the sound of a branch breaking. She opened her eyes and looked around, wondering if it was someone from her party. Seeing everyone still asleep, she called out to Edmund, hoping he would wake easily. He didn't, however, so she pushed herself up and headed in the same direction she had in her dream.

Arriving at the clearing, she stopped her a moment, smiling as she waited for the trees to part or the cherry blossom pedals to greet her with a smile or a laugh. When they didn't, she frowned and put her hand on the bark of the tree and whispered hopefully, "Wake up."

Sadly, the tree stayed still. Lucy remained standing there for another couple of beats before continuing on the same path from her dream. If Aslan was waiting for her, she didn't want to be late. It took her too long the first time she saw him and that had been detrimental to their journey to find the Narnians and the prince Trumpkin had been speaking of.

Walking carefully around a large rock, she stopped suddenly at the sight of a minotaur. "Impossible," she whispered to herself as she crouched and moved closer. "I've never seen a minotaur in the middle of the Shuddering Wood."

Her hands gripping the skirt of her dress tightly, she slipped closer to the beast, keeping low to the ground. He was armed, as they usually were, but he didn't seem to be hunting. He looks like a lookout, she thought to herself. "But a lookout for what?"

"For intruders," she heard a deep, dark voice intoned from behind her.

Gasping, Lucy turned around and came face to face with a black dwarf. He looked menacing, even moreso than the minotaur had looked. She reached for her dagger and opened her mouth to scream for her family when a hand came over her mouth from behind and she was lifted to stand her full height. The dwarf had a sinister grin on his face that grew bigger when she felt a blade press against her throat.

"Who are you?" another male voice asked, this time younger, smoother and with an accent. She mustn't have answered quickly enough because the blade pressed closer and the man spoke again. "I said, who are you?"

Before Lucy could answer, she heard Peter shout to let her go. Her eyes moved up to see her brothers and sister, weapons at the ready. She didn't want to speak, the blade so close to her throat she feared any vibration would cut her skin.

"Are you hard of hearing?" Peter asked angrily as he stepped forward, Edmund flaking him on his left. "I told you to let her go."

Defiantly, the man held her tighter. "Stay your blades, intruders. As your prince, I command it."

"You're no prince of ours," Susan spat as she tightened her hold on the arrow that was notched in her bow. "Now release her."

The stalemate was lasting a little too long for Lucy's liking. They would be there all day, a blade at her throat, if she didn't gather her bravery and take a risk. A nick on the throat would be much more bearable than any other alternative. Her eyes met Edmund's, silently letting him know that she was done waiting. If she was correct, he gave her a look telling her to just wait, that they would take care of it, but she was tired of being a damsel in distress. Gathering her courage and her breath, Lucy pulled forward her right elbow before swiftly jamming it back into the side of her captor. He shifted just enough from the impact that she was able to drop down to the ground and roll away.

Before Lucy was able to draw her dagger and confront her captor, Peter and Edmund were charging him. The man, who looked to be slightly older than she was, engaged her brothers easily. He fought them off with skills she had only ever seen in tournaments and her brothers' practices.

"Stop!" another voice yelled. "Stop it right now!"

Startled, all three warriors froze and turned to Trumpkin, who finally seemed to catch up. Angrily, he stalked towards the royals, his hand gripping his own sword. "Children, the lot of you! Always trying to talk with your weapons instead of your words."

"If I recall, when you found me in the woods, you came after me with your blade at the ready."

"Well, Your Highness, I thought you were coming to kill us. Did you think a little girl was coming to kill you? All by herself?"

"I'm not a little girl!" Lucy protested angrily. "I am your Queen." She turned her angry eyes on Peter and Edmund for a brief second before finally turning to the man who had held a blade against her throat. "And it's about time you tell us exactly who you are."

"Caspian," he told her. "Prince Caspian X."

"You're Caspian?" Peter asked as he sheathed Rhindon. "You're the reason we got called here? Not exactly what I was expecting."

Caspian's eyes roamed over the Kings and Queens of Old, pausing on each of them for a brief second. "Neither are you."

"Yes, well, we're all who we are," Susan said as she put her arrow and bow back in her quiver and stepped forward to inspect Lucy's neck. "I don't think any skin was broken." With her eyes blazing, she looked up to the prince. "Luckily."

"I am sorry, my Queen. I did not mean to cause harm."

"You did," Lucy said with a small smile. "But I'll forgive you because you didn't know who I was. Your negotiating skills still need a little work though." She ran her hand over her throat lightly before moving to stand between Susan and Trumpkin. "Especially if you're going to become king. The diplomatic relationships that exist between Narnia and her neighbors are some of the most important relationships you'll ever be charged with."

"Says the girl who locked herself in her room when she was sixteen and she didn't want to meet the dukes that were coming in from Ettinsmoor," Edmund snickered. "I don't think you did so well with those particular diplomatic relationships."

"Shut up, Edmund," Lucy retorted. "We're not talking about that right now."

"Are they always like this?" Caspian muttered toward Peter.

Surprised by the congenial manner in which Caspian had addressed him, Peter took a moment before answering, "Worse." If Caspian could respect his position as High King but also not be intimidated by it, Peter figured he could relax a bit. Besides, Caspian obviously knew what they were up against and they would need to be advised on what exactly was going on. He didn't know much about the Telmarines, their customs or their weaponry. He knew they could build bridges and, from what Trumpkin told them, they were dangerous, but not much else.

"How old are you?" Lucy asked, pulling Peter from his mind. "Not to be – I'm sorry. You just look old enough to have already been crowned."

"Not everyone gets crowned when they're eight years old, Lu," Edmund said with a laugh. "Maybe the Telmarines have a different custom."

The Kings and Queens of Old turned to look at Caspian, waiting for an answer. To Lucy, he looked to be about Edmund's age, but that could just be the dark shadow that graced his jaw. She supposed if he was clean-shaven, he could pass for her age or even younger. He was still older than all of her siblings were when Aslan placed them on their thrones after they defeated the White Witch.

"I am eighteen," he told him, his back straightening. "My coronation was being planned when my aunt found out she was with child. My uncle decided it would be better to wait so that she would be able to assist and participate. I know now that it was only a stalling tactic. With my uncle now the father of a son …"

"He has an heir and can take over the throne," Peter finished.

"Only if I give it to him. Or if he kills me."

"That's awful," Lucy said quietly. "I can't even imagine."

"Your Highness," a voice called from the left, "the provisions have been taken to the howe."

All eyes turned to a talking mouse with a red feather above his ear. "Oh my God, he's so cute," Lucy whispered to Susan, which drew the ire of the little friend. He demanded to know who said that and Lucy quietly apologized.

"Oh! Your Majesty," the mouse said as he bowed deeply. "Forgive me. It's just … perhaps another word would be best to describe? Perhaps courageous … cunning?"

"Or humble," Trumpkin muttered with an eye roll. "You said povisions?"

"Yes," the mouse answered. "Weapons and food from the Telmarines at Beruna. They never even saw us coming. Or going, for that matter," he added proudly.

"Good," Peter answered as he turned towards the gathered Narnians. "Because we're going to need all the supplies we can get."

Caspian nodded and began walking, Peter following suit. "The Telmarine Army is without rival. My uncle has gotten troops from Galma, the Lone Islands, Ettinsmoor and more. We will be severely outnumbered in this fight."

"Then we'll just have to be smarter than they are," Lucy told them as she stepped between the men. "If their army is as big as you're saying it is, there's no way, even with centaurs and minotaurs, that we'll be able to defeat them with strength alone."

"Exactly," Edmund added, moving up to walk on the other side of Caspian. "We'll need a plan."

"And a back up," Susan added from beside Edmund. "Probably more than one back up."

Caspian's face showed his surprise at their contributions and it made Edmund smile. "It's not our first war, Caspian," he said as he placed a hand on the prince's shoulder. "We know how to command an army."

"And we've been successful every time," Peter added, pride in his voice. "There's no one I would trust more than Ed and Lucy."

"Queen Lucy?" Caspian asked in shock as he looked down at her.

"I'm not Queen Lucy the Valiant because I sat in the castle and knitted," she responded, perhaps more tartly than she'd intended. "I've seen my fair share of wars."

"Let's hope this is the last," Susan said diplomatically. "I'm rather tired of all the bloodshed."

Lucy reached over and gripped her sister's hand, tugging it a bit before they fell behind the prince and their brothers. "We'll make sure it is," Lucy told her sister strongly. "I know how much you dislike it."

"We should all dislike it, Lucy. We left a war behind. I'd rather not have another."

Lucy squeezed Susan's hand but said nothing more. Susan would fight when necessary but she preferred not to involve herself in battles; not from the ground, at least. Luckily for Susan, she had the advantage of being the most skilled of them with a bow and arrow. While Lucy had the ability to command the archers if necessary but her skills were much better utilized with a sword or dagger on the battlefield.

"We're here," Caspian told them as they reached the edge of the forest. A mile or so ahead was an area with broken pillars and beyond that, a hill with an entrance carved out. "Our troops are there."

"Let's go, then," Peter said as he stepped out into the field. "I'd like to see the army we're working with."