★────── ✦✧✦──────★

I can't believe it. Elvira is leading the army, the white army. The army of Jadis, the oh so not called queen of Narnia. My country!

My blood begins to boil as Lucy grasps my hand in fear.

Peter shoves his chair away from the table with so much force that it clatters on the wooden floor. His eyes are narrow and hard. Kinglike and I know that he is the Magnificent High King of Old once again. He always was.

'Peter.' I call out my older brother's name. I know what he wants to say; that Lucy and I have to hide. That he doesn't want us to fight. And I do not want that either for me or Lucy. This should be our own decision.

'The one who gets him first, gets to kill him right?' I ask my brothers and Caspian in general. I see a hint of a smile on Ed's face. He knows me too well.

'I am the one who will find him,' I say determined.

✦✧✦

'Su, can you help me with this?' Lucy runs into my room, holding her chainmail top in her hands.

'It is heavy,' she states with a smile.

I laugh as I take the top from her. 'Here, put your arms up,' I order my younger sister before putting the top over her head and help her dress.

When I am done, I grab her shoulders and let her face the mirror that stands in my room. '

Look, Lu,' I say quietly.

Her eyes grow wide as she observes our reflection. 'This reminds me of the Golden Age. We always helped each other dress for battle.'

I smile as I stroke her cheek affectionately. 'Yes,' I whisper as I bow forward and kiss her temple. 'And now we do it again.'

'To save Elvira' Lucy states.

'Yes, and our country. And the people we love.'

'For Aslan,' Lucy smiles.

'And for Narnia,' I whisper as I look back at the mirror.

I see two young ladies, both queens. One has a golden crown and the other a silver one. Both are dressed for battle. Decorated in a chainmail top, a brown-reddish molded leather corset with resin ornamentation. I am dressed in red; as in a wine-red silky underskirt with matching blouse and a red wool skirt with gold embroidery at the bottom. Lucy is dressed in blue.

'We look so fierce!' Lucy says after a couple of seconds of silence.

I grin. 'I refuse to go into battle looking less than my best.'

Lucy starts to laugh loudly and soon I join her. It may be the nerves before battle. But then I remember Lucy and I did this all the time. A knock on my door brings us back to reality. We are going to face Jadis again. Rabadash is there too.

And Elvira is leading her army! Yet I refuse to believe that the girl who I got to know in just a short time and who became a dear friend does this in free will.

No, Jadis is forcing her. I just know it. And by the looks of it, my brother does it too. Peter looks so worn out as I turn to him. He is dressed in his armor, his crown tight on his head. His sword in his sheath.

'Pete. . .'

'I just don't want you two to get hurt. Like she is now. Like you are, Su. I cannot lose you again.' His voice breaks in the end and Lucy rushes towards him, throwing her arms around him as Peter breaks down.

The High King of Narnia cries like a broken man and I cry with him.

Edmund suddenly appears behind them and ushers them inside my room. Without words he embraces Peter too and his tears fall.

I know what it is, fear of losing each other. Of death or being sent back to England.

'Can we pray?' Lucy suddenly whispers as she lets Peter go.

I look at my brothers and Peter nods.

'I will do it,' he says as he takes my hand and Lucy's. Edmund also takes my hand and Lucy's so we are connected.

Peter bows his head. 'Almighty Aslan, King of Kings. I ask of you, please be with us in this fight. Be with us as we fight for you and your country. And let happen what you want to let happen,' Peter prays.

'Aslan,' Lucy ends the prayer with the name of our father and suddenly I feel so much lighter and more at ease.

I just know that everything has to be alright. In the end it alway is.

✦✧✦

The four of us walk out of my room, to the hall and downstairs. There are Caspian and Salvador already waiting for us.

I feel my cheeks heat up as Caspian looks at me. He is holding my bow and quiver and when I am down and set my feet on the marble floor, he hands them to me. It gives me a reassuring feeling, my quiver on my back and my bow in my hand.

Salvador gives Lucy her cordial and her belt with her dagger.

But Edmund has a surprise for her; her own sword. Smaller than the ones of the boys of course, perfectly made just for her.

She gasps for air when Edmund hands it to her. She embraces him tight and then hugs Peter too.

'I think we are ready, your majesties,' Salvador says, bowing his head slightly.

'Yes, we are,' Caspian answers his closest friend and the six of us walk out of Cair Paravel.

The castle is quiet. All the servants are gone, only our soldiers are left. Some are sent to the nearby villages to help the people hide in the woods. We will not let the White Witch hurt our people.

We mount our horses and ride in front of our soldiers, men and narnian creatures of old to the waiting army of Jadis.

Elvira sits on her horse, a smirk on her face. We all can see that this is not the Elvira we know.

I look at Salvador, who swallows visible.

Peter sees it too. 'Salvador, I swear to you that I bring her back.'

The bloody idiot likes her! My brother likes Elvira. . . I should have known.

I look back at her and notice her eyes are no longer brown like they used to be. Her eyes are dark blue, an unnatural colour. She smiles and a giant roars.

The dwarves of the Black Mountains - they are still loyal to Jadis, even after all this time - sound their horns. It is not a narnian battle horn, the sound of it makes me shiver.

This is it.

Peter en Caspian ride to the front and turn their horses around. Their swords are drawn and Peter holds his in the air.

'For Aslan!' Peter calls out.

'And for Narnia!' Caspian screams.

The Narnian horns sound and the two kings turn their horses around.

'Death!' Peter screams, and I yell with him, as do Lucy and Edmund and all our soldiers. We scream as one.

'For Narnia!' Peter calls out one last time before we thunder over the field, towards her.

Elvira lifts her sword in the air and cries out. Not words, but just a bone chilling cry.

Her soldiers collide with ours and the fighting begins.

I shoot arrow after arrow, but I know I have to save some. I can't continue like this forever.

I shriek as a dark arrow flies only a few inches past me.

A giant is making his way towards me and with his wooden club, it smashes in the ground next to my horse.

I can't hold on to the reins when my horse prances in panic.

'No!' I call out but I fall on the ground and my horse is slain, the blood spatters on the grass.

'You will pay for that!' I growl. I shoot an arrow right in his head, through his brain and the giant falls on the ground, dead.

'I never saw a queen fighting for her people,' I hear someone cackle behind me.

I quickly turn around and just in time because the sword of the Calormene soldier comes down on the spot I stood only seconds ago.

'Then you're about to see how a queen fights,' I spit back at him while taking another arrow from my quiver, but I do not attach it to my bow. I keep the arrow tightly in my hands and stab it right through its eye.

'I bet you can't take me down, your majesty.' Another low creature comes forward and shows his teeth.

I narrow my eyes as I look at him. My fist is clenched around my bow.

'Do not challenge me.' Without any other words, I shoot my arrow at him, the same one I killed his comrade with.

'Susan!'

My blood freezes in my veins when I hear my name being called.

Lucy!

I turn around, trying to avoid the swords that are trying to kill me. I search for my little sister and there she is.

She runs towards the edge of the forest, being chased by a Calormene soldier.

No!

I chase after her, as fast as my legs can carry me.

'Susan!' She calls out again.

I can't aim, I can't, not yet. I have to get closer, but that means that Lucy has to stop running.

She stumbles into the forest, out of sight. But I am on her heels, on his.

He starts to slow down and it is because the armour he is wearing.

He stops and even though it is only for a second, I see an opening in the metal of his protective gear.

I take an arrow, aim and shoot; he falls dead on the forest floor.

'Lucy!' I call out my sister's name and a smile appears on her lips. But not for long, her eyes grow wide while she screams again.

I turn around and four more Calormenen soldiers are on our heels.

'Run!' I yell at her. 'Run and don't look back!'

Lucy nods and clenches the sword Edmund has given her in her hand.

'Find one of the boys! And stay at their side! I'll find you!' I yell as she runs from my side.

I look at her until the trees shield her from my sight.

I turn to the running soldiers, coming my way.

'Aslan,' I pray. 'I know you are with me,' And with that my fight begins.

I shoot one and kill him right away. Another one, but he ducks just in time and the arrow collides with a tree.

I want to take another arrow out of my quiver, but. . . No! No! My quiver is empty.

'Die!' One of the three soldiers yells and I duck, rolling over the ground and he misses me with his sword.

But this is something I cannot win. How can I kill them without any arrows?

'Susan!' someone calls out my name and I feel immediately safe.

He is here, my Seafarer King. I whirl around to meet his eyes, turning my back on the soldiers for a split second. A shallow thud echoes through the forest, drowning out all other sounds, and Caspian's eyes grow wide.

His dark eyes swim with panic and he starts to run even faster, and as a throbbing pain soars though my abdomen, I suddenly understand.

In my distraction, one of the soldiers has pierced his sword through my lower abdomen. Blood starts gushing out, seeping between my fingers as I desperately try to close the wound.

I am still standing but the strength is leaving my body while Caspian is going wild.

He kills the three Calormenen soldiers in seconds with a roar of despair.

He catches me before my knees give in and he cradles me close.

I see the sky through the thick canopy of the leaves and the sun illuminates his face hovering above me. Tears stream down his face.

I hiss in pain and I look down. Caspian has pressed his own hands tighter on my abdomen.

But it has no use, the blood keeps coming and my sight becomes blurry.

'Caspian. . .' I sigh.

'No, no! No!' he cries out and he grabs my face, his bloodied hand is warm of my own blood.

I stroke his tear-stained cheek. His eyes meet mine and I try my hardest to remember them, because I know after today, I'd never see him again.

'You stay awake, do you hear me? Don't you dare to close your eyes. Please! Come on!'

His voice sounds further and further away and it is the last thing that I hear when my heart stops.

★────── ✦✧✦──────★