Our Long Awaited Return Book #8

Chapter 13 Midnight Raid

Andrew found his younger sister, sitting outside the next morning, whittling away with a stick with her pen-dagger.
"There you are," he sits down beside her," I haven't seen you since last night."
"I was tired," she retorts coldly."Why do I have to share sleeping quarters with Leona?"
"Why?" he asks," Does she snore?"
"No," she shakes her head," You know we don't get along."
"Neither do Peter and I at the moment," he sighs," He's changed and so have you."
"Changed," Verity laughs," How many people have told me that already?"
Andrew's eyes trace back to the piece of wood Verity was whittling with," What are you making?"
"Nothing, you know I can't make art out of anything," she sighs. "Outside of music and writing my fingers fumble."
Andrew lay down on the ground, holding his head in his hands," I'm sure you can."
"I'd rather write than do anything else in the world," she mumbles.
"And I'd rather do anything concerning art, and there might still be some hope for that piece," he replies," Let me have it."
She hands it to him and watches as his hands skillfully whittle away.
"So?" she asks, leaning her head on his shoulder, "You seem to have caught Gwen's eye."
Andrew blushes, "Verity, if we're anything we're friends. I don't like her."
"Really," his younger sister chuckles, "I think you're secretly in love with her."
He rolls his eyes, maybe he did. But he wasn't going to admit it to his younger sister.
After he and Peter had prepared for the battle, the two boys made their way to the entrance of the how.
"As I've been trying to tell you, Pete," Andrew begins, "This is a bad idea. Think of the men we could lose."
"So if you don't like it then stay behind," his twin retorts."It's not like you are the one who makes the decisions around here."
"Then who does?" he questions confused.
"Me, I'm the High King," Peter states coldly as he walks ahead of his twin, his head held high, his jaw set.
Andrew sighs as he stares at the hallway; the paintings come alive before his eyes. He could just see it all. Narnia as it was before all this happened. Before his brother became proud and pious. Peter used to be a kind and considerate young man who cared about the needs of his siblings and the pleas of his people. But now the soft heart had turned cold, hardened towards others. Before, Peter had treated him with respect and acknowledged his help, but now Andrew had become just another younger brother to him. Peter may be the High King and older, but Andrew was the same age, they were twins! They used to have had a bond closer than most brothers, but now Peter had pushed him away, thinking he could do this all alone. The same he had done with the others. Scowling at Susan's suggestions, disgusted at his and Edmund's help, despising Verity's protests, ignoring Ruth and Lucy's soft, tender pleas, and last of all, rejecting Aslan's authority.
"You seem to be deep in thought," he hears a familiar voice, "Aren't you forgetting about the raid."
He turns to see Gwen, "Oh, I was just admiring those paintings."
"They seem so alive don't they," she rests her hand on the picture of Lucy and Mr. Tumnus. Andrew caught sight of a ring on her finger; his heart sank; she didn't love another man, did she?
"Where did you get the ring," he inquires, but then says, "I'm sorry for being so blunt."
"That's fine," as she twists the ring in her hand,
"It was my mother's. She and my father were killed by Miraz."
"I'm sorry," he says, "About your family."
"It's fine," she sighs, "This is the reason I'm fighting in this war. We should probably go."
"Yes," Andrew nods, still staring at Gwen.

Verity's pov
So we go ahead with our plan. I try to stay away from Leona as much as possible. That was the advice Peter gave me.
We were to invade the castle today in the night. By preparing, I had to teach Edmund, my brainless brother, Morse code and Glenstorm.
It was pretty easy because I only taught them the basics.
"Can't wait to see the confusion on those Telmarines' when you send the codes with your torch," I grin at Edmund.
He looks at me, grinning back, "Confusion, alright." He imitates their accent, "Philip, where did that light come from? It is quite odd looking, isn't it."
I giggle as he does it, "Well, we need to be ready for any mishaps that Leona or Caspian might cause. And I don't think it's likely a Telmarine will be called Philip."
Edmund seems frustrated with me, "Maybe she just wants a friend, Verity, and she won't cause any trouble; who knows, you might cause some."
"Huh, me being friends with that wretch; you saw how she attacked me yesterday; she gave me a big bruise," I answer; I adjust my sword belt.
"We should be getting ready, Peter doesn't like to wait."
"I am ready," Edmund grins. He is wearing a brown vest over his blue tunic.
"Good, then," I say.
As we set out to leave, Lucy watches us at the ruins. Peter lingers for a moment and looks at Lucy, who walks away. I can tell she's angry with us because we didn't wait for Aslan.
"I'm sure if Aslan wanted to help us, he'd already be here," I whisper to Peter when he catches up with us.
He nods in agreement.
It was dark when we reached the outskirts of the castle. A griffin takes Edmund towards the castle and drops him at a tower, where he begins sending messages.
"All clear!" I tell, Peter, Andrew, Susan, Caspian, Gwen, and Leona.
"Ruth, stay behind with our troops," Peter tells our younger sister.
"Why, can't I come with you?" Ruth protests, "Why can Verity?"
"Verity knows what she's doing," Peter answers sharply."Now listen to me. I'm your older brother, and I know when it's safe for you or not."
He was a bit harsh with her, but Ruth always obeyed as the humble person she was. Anyways, we needed her with our troops.
"Aeroplanes, ready for ascension!" I whisper my single for the griffins to pick the seven of us up.
I interpret the codes that Edmund sends with his flashlight. Caspian hangs one from his griffin and takes down a soldier.
Just as we land, a soldier aims a crossbow toward Ed. Susan uses her bow and arrow to get him down, and Peter fights with a soldier and gets him down. As Andrew and I unsheathe our swords.
"I hope Reep and his troops got in," I whisper to Andrew.
"I'm sure they did, those soldiers would probably have thought they were just regular mice," he replies.
"But they're tying up a cat, that's what they said they'd do if they saw one," I shake my head in frustration.
"They're mice, Verity, mice and cats," he tells me, he raises his eyebrows.
"Now that seems logical," I say.
We follow the others to the professor's room; we have to climb up a rope to a tower. It makes no sense to have so many towers; not even Cair Paravel had that many.
When I reach the top, all I find is a study. There's an arrow sticking up from a book. I look at it closer, it's the cover for one of my books. I know because of the picture of the seven of us, Peter, Andrew, Susan, Edmund, me, Ruth, and Lucy.
"Whoever did this! I'll wring them..." I shake my fist.
Andrew places a hand on my shoulder, "I'm sorry, Verity, but now's not the time."
Caspian picks up a pair of spectacles.
"What happened?" Asks Leona in shock.
"I have to find him," he looks at Peter.
"We don't have time, we have to get the gate open," protests Peter.
"You wouldn't be here without him," Caspian tells him.
"He's right about that," I say to my brother.
"I'll go with him," Leona volunteers.
"You and Verity can handle Miraz, I'll go with them," Susan says to us.
"Andrew and I can get the gate open. I know a shortcut,"  Gwen suggests.
"I'm sure that could work," Andrew nods, as his eyes turn to look at Gwen.
The five of them leave, while I sigh," I knew our plan would start falling apart because of them."
"We can still do this," Peter answers, pulling me along with him out of the professor's room.
Leona's pov
"He'll likely be in the dungeon," I say.
"How are we going to get the keys?" Caspian asks anxiously.
"Easy, I can handle this," Susan grins.
"We'll just steal the keys from one of the soldiers," but before I finish, we are at the dungeon and Susan shoots a soldier down and grabs his keys.
"Nice shot," grins Caspian.
I roll my eyes in disgust," Dr. Cornelius!" I call out as we walk past the cells.
I've never been here before, I realize how miserable it looks. All those men were grubby and dirty; it didn't seem they had proper food rations because they were so gaunt.
No one answers, but I see the figure of my professor trying to sleep on the cold floor.
"Caspian!" I cry out.
He runs over and unlocks the cell. He fell on his knees.
"Dr. Cornelius," I whisper, as I come in, "Are you alright?"
He wakes up and looks confused for a moment.
"Five more minutes," Caspian jokes.
"What are you doing here?" He asks us, "I didn't help you escape just so you could get back in, you better get out before Miraz knows you're here."
"Oh, he will know. We're giving him your cell," answers Caspian.
I take Dr. Cornelius by the hand, but he pulls Caspian back, "Don't underestimate Miraz as your father did." He warns.
"What do you mean?" Caspian asks incredulously.
"Miraz killed your father," Dr. Cornelius tells us soberly.
I gasp, "But why!"
Caspian runs out of the cell.
"What's he doing?" Susan inquires.
Dr. Cornelius grips my hands, "Go after your brother, he's making a big mistake!"
I know what he means. Caspian was going to ruin our whole plan if I couldn't stop him.
"Come on!" I call to Susan, "We have to stop him!"