The Last Time

Questions

Just as the girl had said, the path Lucy and Susan took led them straight to Cair Paravel. Both of them were breathless as they clutched the stitch in their chests as they caught their breath. Before either could speak, a familiar voice caught their attention.

“Lucy! Susan!” Edmund called, but he wasn't alone.

There were three centaurs, owls, badgers, mice, as well as Peter, Jill, and Eustance each person running towards the trio.

“How did you two find your way here?” Peter asked as he hugged his sisters.

“There was this girl in a black cloak. She showed us the way”, Susan explained breathlessly.

The sadness was evident in Lucy’s face and everyone noticed.

“What’s wrong, Lu?” Edmund asked.

“I’m worried about the girl who saved us. She made the distraction so we could get here”, she said in a sad tone, turning her head back toward the path she and Susan took to get there.

“What distraction?” Peter asked intrigued.

Susan and Lucy soon explained what happened catching the others off guard.

“A girl told me the same thing! She too was wearing a cloak now that I remember,” Jill said in slight shock.

“What are we waiting for, then?” Edmund asked getting ready to head towards the direction Susan and Lucy had come from, but Peter stopped his brother.

“What’s your problem?” Edmund asked incredulously.

“My problem is how you’re ready to charge after an enemy we’ve never faced before. Also, we don’t know if this girl is a friend or a foe,” Peter answered slightly heated.

“But she rescued Jill, Lucy, and Susan. That’s got to count for something,” Eustance said in a serious tone.

Peter looked at his sibling as well as Eustance and Jill. He knew on the inside they were right, but his head said otherwise.

“Fine, but we’ll search for her after the girls get dressed and we’ve all eaten,” Peter said and no one objected except Edmund, but he didn’t speak.

They followed Peter back to Cair Paravel, but Edmund was the last to follow. He stared back in the direction his sisters came from and worried deeply about her safety.

Who is this girl? And why did she rescue Jill, Lucy, and Susan? he thought before his feet followed the others.

A couple of hours passed and the girls were dressed in Narnian clothing and everyone had eaten and rested a bit before the search began now for the mysterious girl.

The owls and mice stayed behind while the Centaurs went with them. Eustance and Jill shared their own horse while each of the Pevensies rode on their own.

After traveling at least a mile from Cair Paravel and searching for only about half an hour, Susan spoke.

“This is hopeless!” she said suddenly causing all eyes to land on her.

“We’ve waited too long. Those people could have gotten her and taken her far away by now!” Jill piped in.

“Don’t say that!” Lucy snapped catching the others off guard.

“That girl knew she was risking her life for us! It wouldn’t be right to just give up searching for her when she could be going through the exact same fate we would have had had she not have saved us!” she continued heatedly.

“But we’ve been searching for half an hour and still haven’t found anything yet, Lu. No sign of a carriage or-,” Peter began, but stopped as his eyes landed on smoke in the distance.

“That must be them,” Eustance said his eyes landing on his eldest cousin.

Edmund’s eyes widened as he stared in the distance and the things Lucy said caused a fire to light inside of him; one he never felt before.

“Eustance, Jill, and Lucy will head with the centaurs as one team while Peter, Susan, and I will lead another,” Edmund ordered.

No one objected except Peter whom placed a hand on his brother’s shoulder.

“Don’t make any rash ideas trying to be heroic. We all want to save her,” Peter said in a serious tone.

“I know,” was Edmund’s response.

Peter looked at Edmund with a questioning face, but looked towards the distance and they two groups took off together as one.

They slowed their pace once they made it within somewhat earshot of the smoke and the closer they got to it, the clearer everything became.

The group’s eyes landed on a group mixed of men and Dwarves. Each one wore dark armor, but was split off in different groups. There had to be only a total of 15 of them in all. Two were watching the carriage while two more sat next to it. Four sat around the campfire that was used to cook some chicken and some of them were already feasting off of it. The other men were missing meaning that they couldn’t be too far from the camp.

But it was at that moment one of the men from the campfire spoke.

“Wonder how that wench is doing right about now,” he said before another one spoke.

“Who cares? Our orders were to capture her and bring her back to base along with that prince so the ritual will be completed,” the second man said.

“Doesn’t matter. Bring her out! It’s time to have some fun,” a third man spoke whom was the largest and obviously was the leader of the group.

One of the men watching the carriage opened the back and pulled by a chain, a hooded figure emerged. The person sniffed as the man roughly pulled them along closer to the fire.

“Ah! Time to have fun!” the leader said walking towards a large tree.

“W-what are they going to do to her?” Jill stammered.

The leader took the chain and pulled her to the center of the group, not even to the tree before he touched the girl’s face which was obscured by her hood.

“We’ll get all th’ answers out of her like we should have had sooner!” he exclaimed.

“What answers?” the girl asked with a slight groan and without fear.

“Th’ answers we shudda gotten when we were asked to find you and that prince!” the second man from before exclaimed angrily.

“The prince? What did you do with Prince Tirian?!” the girl nearly shouted.

A round of laughter erupted from the men even the leader laughed.

“What does that matter to you? You’re our prisoner and we’ll get the answers out of you one way or another,” the leader said menacingly.

“What questions could you possibly have that I could answer? You don’t know what you’re in for by capturing me! Aslan will help-,” the girl began, but the leader slapped the girl and she fell to the ground slowly rising to her feet.

Edmund stood slightly, but Peter stopped him.

“Not yet,” Peter whispered harshly.

Edmund shot a look at his elder brother, but refrained from speaking and watched.

“No matter how many times you hit me, you’re still going to regret doing that,” the girl said audibly.

“You wench!” the man exclaimed and went to hit her again, but Peter said, “Now!” and an arrow was shot from Susan’s bow and pierced the man straight in the chest.

The trio charged out of the bushes they were hiding behind, Edmund and Peter attacking the ones closest to the fire first. The men near the carriages grabbed their weapons quickly and began fighting just as a small battle ensued. One of the men guarding the carriage ran to the girl just as she ran to go inside of the carriage.

Lucy appeared with the few Centaurs they had with them just as Peter spoke.

“Defend the carriage!” he exclaimed.

Lucy nodded just as she and Susan climbed onto the carriage. Edmund and Peter quickly followed suit after taking down two more foes.

The Centaurs stayed behind and went out to find any more lingering foes just as Lucy took the reins and the carriage took off.

The Pevensie children helped fend off the carriage; Lucy and Susan using their archery while Peter and Edmund used their swords.

The cloaked girl escaped the carriage and ran, five soldiers chasing after her. Edmund watched them, but diverted his attention back to his current foes.

“Ed, we have to rescue her!” Peter exclaimed, taking his two foes out easily.

He turned to Rowan whom was near his sisters before speaking.

“Take care of them!” he cried.

The centaur nodded, taking out a soldier who tried attacking Peter from behind. Peter and Edmund rushed towards the forest without a backwards glance.

They ran as fast as their legs could carry them, a weird feeling overcoming Edmund. It was as though he'd been through this before, but he knew he hadn't. It'd been years since the previous time he visited Narnia. It was true, but why was this feeling lingering?

“Ed!” Peter called, bringing Edmund out of his thoughts.

Edmund diverted his attention back to his surroundings and saw two soldiers heading their way. Both brothers clashed swords against their enemies and quickly defeated them, once again, chasing after the remaining three.

The hooded girl was a fast runner; her black and red cloak was noticeable in the sunlight. Suddenly, the girl tripped as an arrow from one of the soldiers grazed her foot.

“We've got to catch up! She’s in danger!” Ed got out.

“Come on!” Peter exclaimed.

Soon enough, they approached their foes, Ed immediately taking out one just as the archer readied to shoot at the girl again. Peter took out one of the two foes, having trouble with the last one. Edmund and Peter double teamed the man, defeating him.

They tried catching their breath as they walked to the girl, no longer hooded.

“Are you alright?” Edmund asked breathlessly.

“Yes, thank you”, the girl replied in a shy tone, lifting her head.

The girl had a round face with caramel colored skin and brown, animated eyes. She wore an emotionless expression as she stared at the boys.

Peter and Edmund stared at the girl, Edmund recognizing her immediately. He took a few steps back, tripping over his own feet. The girl stood as Peter rushed to her, helping her up, brushing the leaves off of her.

“What's wrong, Ed?” Peter asked staring from the girl to Edmund and back again as he rushed to help Ed up. Ed stared at the girl.

“Y-you're that girl-the girl I saw in London! How can this be?” he asked in shock.

“You're Ed as in Ed-mund? King Edmund?” the girl said, wrinkling her brows in concentration as she seemed to struggle with Ed's name.

Peter stepped closer to her, getting a better look. He remembered seeing the girl after Edmund pointed her out to him.

“You are her!” he exclaimed, stepping back towards his brother. The girl raised a brow at the two in slight annoyance.

“I do have a name, you know?” she said, placing her hands on her hips.

“What is her name?” Peter asked Ed in a low tone, but the girl heard him.

“Arianna. My name is Arianna”, she answered.

“Who are you? How did you get here-in Narnia?” Ed asked as he stepped closer to her while Peter backed away from them, looking towards the way they'd come.

“I remember my name and how I got here, but I don't remember something else-something important”, Arianna said in a confused tone, clutching the necklace absentmindedly through her fingers.

“Like what?” Peter asked.

“I-I don't know. All I know is that I'm supposed to take care of this”, she replied, raising the necklace.

Peter wrinkled his brows as he stared at the necklace, recognizing it immediately and the girl.

The carriage Arianna was in earlier had arrived with Susan, Lucy, and the Rowan arriving as well on a nearby hill. They waved towards the trio as Arianna stood in shock, staring from the girls to the boys and back again.

“You'd better come with us, then, unless you want more of those guys coming after you”, Ed said, looking back at the direction the soldiers came from.

“Alright”, she said after a while.

Peter led the way with Arianna and Edmund on his heels.