The sinuously dark halls of Aslan's How knew a joy that had been lacking in all of the months Caspian had held court there. They had felt the blood of the Narnians, felt the loneliness of the united people, and understood that the Narnians knew they were loosing even as they fought with renewed vigor. It would take something more than them themselves to defeat Miraz's armies.

And then something had come. The High King of Narnia and his brother, the King of Narnia. With them had come the sword, Wolfsbane; the knowledge and strategy of the Just King. And they had come just in time to save the Narnians from calling up their worst enemy.

Caspian himself could hardly believe that he was in the presence of legends from over a millennia ago. Yet there they stood, digging vigorously into bear meat and onions, talking about their own food from their own world. Then Peter had thought out the idea of the duel and Edmund had gone to deliver it. During the whole of it, Caspian was wrapt in amazement and the feeling that he was outside of himself watching it all occur.

Glenstorm clopped into the room of strategy and bowed from the waist to his kings. " My lords, I am sorry to report but there was no sign of your sisters. They have gone as has the lion." He was careful not to look the King in the eye lest he show that he did not believe that the lion had ever been there at all. True, the skies had spoken of such a thing, but not of Aslan returning. He did not think that it could be done.

Caspian started and then turned to Peter. " I hope that they are not in danger. Miraz, my uncle, would think nothing of taking them prisoner."

Peter however was not quite so concerned. He turned to Trumpkin who had stiffened at the news. " Do you think that they are in danger, DLF?"

Trumpkin looked at Glenstorm and then at Peter. " No, not with that beast with them. I can guarantee that no one would catch 'im off guard."

Peter smiled at him and then replied to Glenstorm, " Thank you, Glenstorm, but I assure you that I fear nothing for my sisters. As far as I am concerned, they are safer than we here."

Glenstorm remained bowing, awaiting further opportunity.

" Yes, Glenstorm," Caspian said.

" Your Majesty, we found vines growing out of the ground, the prints of dozens of satyrs, and the remains of a-" he stopped impressively as though he could not believe it himself, " the remains of a donkey."

Caspian exclaimed, " A donkey, surely you jest. Even such creatures as they know better than to get between two armies."

" Yet we found sign, your highness."

Caspian was about to reply exasperated when Peter stayed him by touching his arm. " Vines upon the ground. I don't suppose that you could see the river?"

" No, but we did see the stream."

" Was the scent of it like rich summer wine, thick and heady?" Peter asked him.

" Well, I suppose it did, but we were too focused upon the obvious to pay much attention to the water supply." Glenstorm spoke shortly, his mind wondering why the King was asking such unusual questions.

" Your Majesty," Caspian inquired, deferring to the High King, " what is it that has you asking such strange queries?"

" Once before, a very long time ago, during the first year of our reign, Bacchus came to visit our realms. He brought with him his followers, wild nymphs and women who danced. Every place they touched turned to grapes and to wine. It was a romp such as has never been seen. I still feel heady just thinking about it." He retired unto himself, obviously puzzling out the facts.

Caspian was trying to understand what Peter was saying and Glenstorm, while a prophet, he was no historian and had never heard of such a thing. But the badger, true and good, remembering all the frolics of the earth even as he lived in it, knew what the Magnificent was thinking of.

" My lord, if I may?" Trufflehunter spoke, snuffling the King's hand.

Peter knelt so that he was level with him, royal eyes staring into animal's. " Yes, loyal one?"

" Do you think that Aslan has called for aid? The aid of the earth and perhaps, the aid of the air?" Trufflehunter's wheezy, cozy voice seemed to grow in dignity as he spoke. " That perhaps those ancient forces who Aslan begot even before Narnia have come as he desires. That the ancient ones have come again?"

Peter nodded, smiling at him and suddenly longed to pull him into his arms. " We shall confer with our cousin. Glenstorm, dismissed."

Glenstorm bowed and then Peter drew Caspian near to him and seated both of them upon the tippy stools. " Now, I've a lot to tell you."

Caspian was heartily confused and sick of the entire matter. " So, you're telling me that besides the Minotaurs, Centaurs, Satyrs, Dryads, Hamadryads, Naiads, and the Talking Animals, that Narnia has what you call patron saints. Oh, Your Majesty, spare me. I can't even comprehend it even more."

Doctor Cornelius, who had come in during the middle of the dissertation, looked up from the lengthy notes that he was taking, and interjected, " On the contrary, King Caspian, you should view the King's knowledge as a lesson in policy. I've often wondered why the very ground itself seemed to draw within and the skies were no longer as beautiful in the lands of the Telmarine."

" Aye," Peter told him, his own eyes straining against a headache. " The Zephyrs would have retreated. They will never live where evil is sustained. And as for the ground, when it is rich and blooming it means that the blessing of Bacchus is upon it. When it's not, then the ground does not yield as it should. It's one of the reasons that the White Witch could do so much harm."

Caspian suddenly stiffened as though he had struck upon something in the lengthy tales of lore. " Queen Elain, your wife, your Majesty. I had forgotten. She was called the Aerial. Was she a Zephyr?"

Peter's eyes clouded and for a moment his breath caught, his hands seized the sides of the stool, and his body became still. Too still. " Yes, Elain was my wife." His reply was like a choked cough. " A Zephyr. Actually High Queen of the Zephyrs. Her marrying and love for me contributed to the Golden Age. Bacchus gave us unending bounty as long as we sat on the throne."

Caspian could perceive Peter's pain and for the first time, he wondered what state Peter had occupied whilst in his own world. He'd always thought that they'd had to be warriors or trained soldiers in their own land. " My lord, who were or are you in your world?"

" I'm a boy, sixteen years old. The War is still raging and my father's away. We're all of us students and refugees. In the summer we'll go to Professor Kirke's house. You might remember him as Lord Digory." Peter sighed. He decided to rest his eyes and leaned his head upon the corner of the table that the stools surrounded. He was very tired. He couldn't help it. Lucy had gotten them up in the middle of a restless night's sleep and already the sun shone in midday's light.

Caspian was going to ask another question when Cornelius and Trumpkin both made a sound. Peter started from where he had laid his head upon his arms, but did not stir. Caspian gazed at him, unable to correspond the youthful tiredness to the bold, terrible, and knowledgeable King that he had been seen these last twelve hours.

Cornelius pulled his Prince away from the High King and then gave him a wry smile. " I do not think that returning to Narnia has been too kind to him. Perhaps, only Aslan's power has sustained his thus long."

Caspian gave him a confused look. " I do not understand."

" He returns to Narnia, joyous and eager for the regaining of those things which were due him as a man. Yet he is still a boy, his kingdom is destroyed, an enemy rules, and he cannot find his queen. Would you not be overdone too, Caspian?" Cornelius inquired. " Caspian, you must look beyond yourself, look beyond what a man proposes to you. You must look at his eyes, his features, his movements. They will tell you what he cannot himself."

Caspian nodded, realizing how wearying the storytelling had to be to Peter and the return to Narnia. " I will learn. I will try at least."

" That is all Aslan asks of any of us."

" Peter!" Edmund's voice rang sharply, piercing through the shroudy mists of his mind. He had been sleeping. Not really though; rather he had slipped into unconsciousness. It had done nothing to rest his mind nor restore the strength of his body.

Peter felt his world spinning and then crashed down, landing hard upon the hip had bore Rhinedon. " Edmund, what?!" He snapped, eyes leaking pained tears and blood jutting from his lip where he had bit it.

Edmund winced in pain and then looked away in shame. " I'm sorry. They told me that you were asleep. I should have looked more carefully before I awoke you."

" Never mind, mate, it could have been worse." Peter replied, rubbing his hip and then sweeping out the depths of his mind. " How did it go?"

Edmund smiled wryly at him. " Well, we were properly intimidating. I did notice something strange though."

Peter sent him an interested look. Before Edmund could go on, Peter held up his hand. " Come on, pull me up. I'm pretty sure that Rhinedon has broke the skin on my hip."

Edmund started and then, hauling his brother up, helped him onto the stool. After examining the spot, Edmund gave him a sorrowful look. " I'm very sorry about that, Pete. It'll be a nasty bruise and might hinder movement. I didn't mean to startle you so much. Were you deeply asleep?"

Peter gave him a sheepish look. " No, I just lost consciousness. I couldn't even stop it. It just happened."

" So no sleep, no rest, just your body shutting itself off?" Edmund inquired. It had happened before to both of them after days of hard physical labor and strain on the battlefield.

" Aye. I thought a lot about Elain. I was telling Caspian about the Zephyrs and the role of Aslan's children." Peter told him, pulling a ragged hand over his features. " Somehow, it just caught up with me." He noticed Ed's uneasy face and remembering all the fights they'd had about Elain when they'd returned to England, he realized that he needed to get past it. " Anyway, what did you notice?"

Edmund sighed with relief. " Well, Peter, Miraz was flustered. His honor and sense of expectation knew what the people would require of him. But at the same time, he was just unnerved enough that he didn't want to do it. He called for two of his lords and then things happened."

Peter gave him a knowing look. " What did you hear, Edmund?"

Edmund shot a blush his way but then recovered himself. " I wasn't exactly listening, but you know that I have the best ears of both of us. Well, I couldn't hear everything but I definitely understood that they were manipulating him into accepting the challenge."

Peter stood up immediately, wincing slightly on his left hip. " What happened? Did he accept?"

Edmund nodded reticently. " He did in great dudgeon. Peter, I don't think that they will keep the oath even if we kill Miraz. I believe that Sopespian and Glozelle are setting him up for death. What's more, despite who wins, they will attack after the duel."

Peter evaluated everything that his brother had said. He was aware of what dangers scheming nobles posed to any king or kingdom. He thought through all the scenarios of what could happen and then he turned to Ed. " I say we still do the duel. With Bacchus here, it could mean that Aslan has something in mind. Something that will turn the tables in our favor. What do you say?"

Edmund gave him an arrogant grin. " I say the same. You're better than him, Pete, and besides, Miraz is really a wanker. Caspian deserves to see him punished." Peter gave him a slight hug, and then Edmund decided that he should finish the news that had really brought him to disturb his brother in his sleep. " Pete?"

" Hmm?"

" Elain's here. In fact, her Zephyrs are floating in the clouds right now. I saw her gilt wings and the warrior crown."

Peter sat down hard and then his breath came in shuddering gulps. " Oh, I see. Well, I suppose that Aslan figured we needed even more help."

Edmund gave him a slight, false smile. " Yeah, I suppose so."

Peter suddenly gripped him fiercely and gasped out between clenched teeth and a tremulously rising chest, " Do you think that she'll be happy to see me? That'll she'll believe that we didn't choose to return to England?"

Edmund wanted desperately to give him some encouragement. But Elain had always been difficult; a woman of fierce values and deadly determination. And she had a keen sense of loyalty. You never deserted her; she never deserted you. And once you had earned your love, it could just as easily turn to hate if you betrayed her even by accident. " Pete, I really don't know. Only Aslan can really tell you how she'll react. Actually, only Aslan can tell you why he decided to bring us back to England."

Peter gave him an annoyed wince, " Thanks, Ed."

" Right."

Welcome to my second story. I'm excited to share this with you. I don't have anything to tell you about this story. No background, no introduction, no nothing. I just hope that you enjoy it. I will be using the bookverse, despite my own characters, and I have no intention of making this a terribly long book.

As it gets going, I will explain my mythology if it's not abundantly clear in the novel. Well, really novella. I would like to dedicate it to MagicofNarnia on Wattpad and thank her for all of her inspiring works. I really love them.

I hope that this story makes all of you happy and that it shares God's light with you. Please tell me what you think of the first chapter. Review, vote, or just say something. Pretty please, sugar on top?

And here's a little something for you Peter Pevensie lovers. www. pinterest pin / 39547302972063177 /

Living for Christ,

Jetta Lee