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'Run, Lucy!' Susan yells at me. 'Run and don't look back!'

I nod and clench the sword Edmund has given me even tighter in my hand.

'Find one of the boys! And stay at their side! I'll find you!' she yells as I run from her side. I look at her, before the trees shield her from my sight.

I stumble through the woods, but a sound causes me to freeze instantly.

'Susan!' The sound of her name gives me goosebumps as I recognise the voice that belongs to it. Caspian.

He's coming for her! She will be safe! She has to be!

I hear the flying of arrows and the stab of a sword, it rings to the forest as an unmistakable sound and then nothing.

I tremble, forcing myself to breath and to catch my breath. I want to move again, back towards my brothers, my army. The fight.

But then again I hear Caspian crying out. 'No, no! No!' he shouts.

Again goosebumps appear all over my body and a fear I never felt before washes over me. I turn around and make my way back, stumbling over my own feet in my haste to reach them as fast as I can.

Although Susan ordered me to find Peter and Edmund, I want to know what happened. But I know it already in my heart; as I walk back to where I left Susan, Caspian's sobs grow louder; a heart wrenching sound like I have never heard before.

My heart stops beating at the moment I see her lifeless body. He cradles her close, touching her forehead with his. He cries out her name and rocks back and forth with Susan in his arms.

I step back, letting my tears fall. A twig breaks under my boots and the leaves crisps. Caspian's head flies up, his grief-stricken-face meets mine.

'Lucy.' My name is a whisper on his lips.

I order my feet to move and I rush towards him, falling down on my knees.

'My cordial,' I say quietly as I take the bottle from my belt. 'I can always try,' I say but my voice falters, knowing it is too late for my healing potion.

Caspian nods and kisses Susan's nose. He wipes some hair out of her face.

I look at the wound, her lower abdomen was pierced through. I don't have to see it, but I know it is pierced from the front to her back. But Aslan provides and I let just a drop of my cordial fall into her slightly open mouth. Her lips are already white and her glassy eyes stare into the endless void. I fear there isn't a spark of life left in her, but Aslan had once told me hope can move mountains.

I look at Caspian as we both hold our breath. But nothing happens, no air comes back in her lunges. No heart that begins to beat again.

She stays still, becoming whiter within minutes.

'Aslan has another plan for her,' are the words that come out of my mouth to reassure Caspian. But my heart cries out. How? How, Aslan, is this right? Why did she have to die? But there is no answer.

'Lucy,' Caspian's heavy voice penetrates my foggy mind. 'Go back and tell your brothers the-,' his voice cracks for a moment, 'news. I come soon after.'

I nod. 'Yes'

✦✧✦

'Edmund!' I cry out his name as I reach the end of the forest. My eye-sight is troubled by the tears I haven't cried yet. I blink them away, letting them fall down my cheeks.

'Edmund!' I cry out again and he looks up, killing a Calormene soldier who tried to stab him in his thigh.

'Lucy?' he yells back.

I start running towards him, dodging any Calormene soldier who tries to kill me.

Edmund's eyes grow wide in fear as he sees what I am about to do.

'Lucy!' he cries out as he ducks away from another Calormene sword and suddenly I don't see him anymore. I lay on my back, looking straight at the ugliest Calormene soldier I have ever seen - and believe me, I have seen many.

'Hello, poppy,' he hisses as he points his sword at my throat. But when I blink, his head is separated from his body, his head now lying next to me.

'I warned you not to hurt my sister!' Edmund yells in anger as he wipes his sword clean on the grass. He holds out his hand and I take it. He lifts me on my feet again and he smirks. But when he sees my tear-stained face his expression becomes fearsome once more.

I just crash into his chest and let my tears fall freely. Edmund embraces me, holding his sword still tightly in his hand as I do the same.

'What happened?' he whispers in my ear. 'What did you see?'

I hold back a sob. I have to tell him. 'Su, Susan,' I cry out. I feel his hands tighten around me and his voice is low as he speaks again.

'What happened?'

'She is dead.'

The words are so haunting to say, too soul-crushing that even Edmund can't stand for long. His knees give in as he falls with me in his arms on the blood-stained grass.

'How?' he whispers. Afraid of being killed in the process of telling; I look up from Ed's shoulder and see that our Narnian soldiers have made a circle around us.

Heroes, they all are heroes.

'She saved me. Rabadash ordered his men to grab me and I fled into the forest. Su followed me because I screamed her name. Edmund, she saved me. But when she told me to run, she was stabbed. I think. Because I thought she was safe but I heard Caspian cry out. He followed us into the forest but, but. . .' I break into tears again as Edmund cries out in grief and anger.

'Lucy? Edmund?' Suddenly Peter yells our names and the circle of Narnian soldiers makes way for my brother, the High King. The circle closes again as they defend us against the soldiers of Jadis and Rabadash.

'Edmund?' Peter sounds so fearful, so terribly afraid that I have not the heart to tell him. But I don't have to... Peter's eyes look to the forest and I squirm out of Edmunds' grip to do the same. It is like all the soldiers stop fighting for a second. All eyes are focused on the King of Narnia, carrying the Gentle Queen in his arms.

Her long dark hair flows in the wind while her face is an eerily pale colour, and her feet dangle with every step he makes. I never saw Caspian like this before; like the will to live has left him.

Our soldiers let Caspian into the protective circle and Peter cries out something like a howl and a sob, something I never heard before. His heart is breaking in thousands of pieces as the loss of his sister washes over him.

Caspian sinks down on his knees with Susan in his arms and lays her down on the blood-stained grass. Peter looks at him, like he wants to say something. But instead my older brother cries out in despair as he gathers her in his arms. I can't look at my big sister, she looks so white, so pale. So dead.

'Susan,' Edmund sobs as he breaks down.

I crawl towards my big brother and embrace him as I let my own tears fall. I look at Peter; who holds Susan close as he cries out. But his cries falter as he buries his head in the crook of her head. I let Edmund go and push myself out of his grip. I crawl towards Caspian, who looks so lost.

'She cannot be dead, Aslan wouldn't be so cruel,' Caspian whispers as I lay my head on his shoulder.

'This is not Aslan's fault,' I whisper.

Caspian kisses my forehead as I feel his tears fall down. 'Yes, I know,' is his answer.

Peter looks up, his eyes red from crying and still the tears fall. 'Ed.'

'Yes, I know, Pete,' my brother says as he embraces Peter shortly.

'I have to go to help Salvador,' Peter continues with a sob.

'We bring her somewhere safe,' Caspian says, gathering Susan in his arms.

'And Lucy. I--,' Peter looks at me, fear in his eyes.

'We bring her to Aslan's how. I stay with her,'

'Good. Be safe,' Peter states as he kisses Susan's forehead and mine. He hugs Edmund and Caspian, then he stands up.

'I cannot lose both of them,' he continues as he looks at Caspian.

'Same for me. Elvira is like a sister to me,' the seafarer-king says.

Peter nods and rushes back towards Salvador, who at the looks of it, has a difficult time getting through Elvira.

'Come on,' Edmund states as he holds his sword tight and guides me and Caspian, with Susan in his arms out of the protective circle and towards the direction of Aslan's how. Luckily the How is not that far away from Cair Paravel as it is considered an holy ground.

Some horses are still standing between the edge of the forest and we mount them quickly. I ride with Edmund as Caspian still holds a dead Susan in his arms. The horses thunder through the forest and the How comes into sight.

It is foggy when we mount off and Caspian rushes her inside. He lays her with respect on the Stone Table. The silence is killing me.

'They said that she was weak. I heard them before I killed them,' Caspian whispers and I see his tears fall on the stone floor.

'It is a never weak thing to be gentle. In fact, it takes strength to carry these yoke and wisdom to have compassion for those who don't.' His mighty voice sounds through the hollow space and the mark carved on Susan's forehead begins to glow. . .

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