~By the Lion's Mane: The Call~

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

The next evening, I found Peter sitting in the room of the Stone Table, his arms around one knee, staring up at the image of the Great Lion. I went and sat next to him.

"Lucy's lucky, you know," he said after a while, breaking the silence.

I looked at him, surprised. "What do you mean?"

Still looking at Aslan, he answered. "To have seen Him. I wish He'd given me some sort of proof."

I looked at the relief of Aslan and then back at Peter. "Maybe we're the ones who need to prove ourselves to him." He glanced at me and then back up at the doorway where Edmund appeared. He strode towards us, and I could tell something was wrong.

"Pete," he said. "You'd better come quickly."

Peter immediately stood and followed him. I hesitated, but hurried after them.

We joined Caspian on one of the many ledges looking out over the field. At the edge of the forest, Miraz's army had gathered. They were marching toward the How, all wearing silver masks and helmets that looked like Miraz's face and carrying shields and wicked spears and pikes. Several big Friesian horses like Caspian's Destrier pulled their catapults. The horsemen rode out to the front of the army. I located Miraz on a big gray stallion. He and his horse wore golden armor as opposed to the silver of the rest of the soldiers. Both sides stopped and silently surveyed the other.

Anxiety and nerves began to affect me immediately, and my muscles were so tensed that my hands began to tremor. We strode back into the How to talk about our plan, calling everyone involved in planning to the room of the Table.

Trumpkin hated the idea as soon as we introduced it.

"Sending a little girl into the darkest parts of the forest, alone? That's our next big plan?" he exclaimed incredulously.

"It's our only chance!" Peter said.

Susan spoke up. "And she won't be alone."

Trumpkin looked at all of our faces. "Haven't enough of us died already?" he said pleadingly. I could tell he wasn't talking just about the castle.

Apparently so could Trufflehunter. "Nikabrik was my friend too. But he lost hope. Queen Lucy hasn't, and neither have I." They both looked to Peter.

Silence filled the room as we all waited for his response. I bit my lip. We couldn't afford for him to back out now, even if it did endanger Lucy.

"Aren't we all forgetting something?" I burst out. Suddenly every pair of eyes was on me. I blushed, but continued. "Narnia has been under the rule of a tyrant before. When Jadis the White Witch was queen, Aslan brought us here to save Narnia."

Everyone was listening, some with distant expressions.

"There we were, Aslan dead, our forces far outnumbered by evil's. But just when we thought it was over, we'd lost, we won. Because of Aslan. We couldn't have defeated her without Him. He was the one that rose from the dead. He was the one that killed the Witch. He was the one who saved Narnia."

I took a breath. "We can defeat Miraz. But only if we do it with and for Aslan."

At first there was complete silence. But then Reepicheep crossed his paw in front of his chest and said, "For Aslan."

One of the Bulgy Bears echoed in his deep, dumb voice, "For Aslan."

Several other echoed it around the room.