₁.₀ YES TO HEAVEN; peter pevensie ✔

029.

For a moment, the entire field holds its breath, time displaying its astounding quality of having mere seconds stretch into long hours. But then the dead man's knees collide with the ground, the rest of the body following suit, and suddenly reality is thrust back upon them all.

And then, chaos ensues.

Peter is on the verge of barking the first order when his eyes find Birdie's fingers, still clutched around his arm. He follows the trail from her palm to her face, and so the words that come out of his mouth are meant not for the troops, but for her, "You really should go now," turning to cast a brief look at the top of the hill behind their back.

"I-"

"I really hope you don't mean that mound over there," another feminine voice cuts in, making Peter's attention shift towards the Temlarine princess. Although she adresses them, she doesn't step any closer, giving away the fact that she doesn't trust them any more than they do her. "My father brought trebuchets with him, and that hill up there will be the first thing they go for. I strongly suggest moving your people away, unless you wish to see them buried underneath it."

Well, yes, there's no point in denying that there's sense in her words, and a part of Peter is ready to chastise himself for not connecting the dots sooner. Yet, there's no time for placing blame now. His mind jumps from one solution to another and-

"Will you fight for us, then?" he hears Edmund ask.

Leda's grip on the sword has not loosened, the tip remaining in the air rather than resting on the ground, Peter notices. The blade is coloured crimson, a fresh remainder of the life she has taken just moments ago. The girl appears completely unfazed by the blood, yet Peter remembers what it felt like to leave a battlefield with his own weapon stained like this - he would never allow anyone else to clean it, always insisting upon doing it himself, though it made him nauseous to think that murder could be wiped away with just a few movements - and he wonders whether the princess would feel something similar after the battle comes to an end.

"No." Leda shakes her head, not at all apologetic. "Do what you must, I won't interfere. But I won't ask my men to fight against their own kin, either. My plan was to wait for the army that comes out victorious at Beruna, but now that lord Sopespian and his accomplices have murdered my father, I shall return to the keep. My mother remains there... My brother, too. I won't leave them unguarded now that I know that treason lurks in every corner."

Despite the fact that he would much rather receive additional troops as reinforcement - or have known about Edmund's agreement with the Telmarine princess from the very beginning, in the first place - Peter finds himself nodding. "Alright. How many can you count upon to follow you?"

"Two dozen I would trust with my life. But we've worked swiftly those last few days, so I would say I expect roughly three thousand to follow us. Perhaps more, if there are some minds that had been changed by what already happened today."

Three thousand, about a fifth of the Telmarine forces. Defeating the remaining troops with not even eight thousand of their own shall still be a challenge, but it certainly gives them a better fighting chance.

"Good." Peter straightenes his posture. "We won't harm those of you who decide to retreat, you have my word."

Leda snorts, as though he said something amusing. "Not to offend you, High King Peter, but I already have your brother's promise, and I don't know you, so I trust you no more than I do him," she explains, turning to take a look at the army behind her back. "Besides, I imagine you shall be far too busy fighting those who support the late lord Sopespian to even attempt chasing us down." And then, facing them once again, she adds, "I could take you with me."