~By the Lion's Mane: The Call~

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fourteen

"Get ready!" Peter shouted as everyone leapt into action. I turned to look behind me again and saw a soldier charging up behind Peter with his blade raised.

"Peter!" I screamed, pointing.

"Arrgggh!!!" the soldier roared as he slashed at Peter. Peter whirled around in time to meet his strike with his own sword just, blocking the blow before slashing again wildly, this time sending the enemy's head rolling.

"Go!" he shouted at me, pointing back to the How. Peter started running, but before Edmund could follow him, I grabbed him and yanked him into me. I put my arms around his neck as we kissed, possibly for the last time. Our lips crashed together as we kissed each other with all of the desperation and uncertainty we were experiencing.

"Be careful," I whispered to him fiercely before I turned and swung up onto the prancing Anduril. Caspian was waiting near the entrance to the How on the big bay gelding on which he had escaped that night from the castle.

The Telmarine generals galloped back across the vast meadow to their waiting troops, shouting, "To arms! To arms!"

A great cheer erupted from the enemy, their voices rising across the grass to where we scrambled as they waved their spears and swords above their heads and stomped their boots to rattle their armor. I swallowed hard, trying to push back the trembles that always came with the fear and anticipation of battle and death.

With a thunderous clanking, their catapult-like machines began turning, sending huge rounded boulders hurtling through the sky towards us. They hit the ground around the ruins with the force of a bomb, sending up plumes of dirt. For a brief terrifying moment, I was back in London with my brother, before he vanished, fleeing to a neighbor's bomb shelter during an air raid. But I was broken out of my reverie when Andy screamed in anger and gave a half rear, pawing the air with his hooves.

"Ssshh, you'll get your chance," I whispered to him in a shaky voice, stroking his silver neck with trembling hands, as much to calm myself as him.

With a great battle cry, the Telmarine cavalry surged forward.

Behind me, Susan cried, "Archers to the ready!" as she pulled an arrow from her quiver and placed it on her bowstring.

The dwarves and fauns up on the ledges with her did the same in one fluid motion. Then Peter turned to me and Caspian and gave a curt nod. We wheeled around and disappeared into the dark tunnels of the How, followed by Glenstorm. Andy, Glenstorm, and the bay's hooves clattered on the stone, sending eerie echoes through the halls as we raced through the ancient halls. We reached the waiting troops below and slid to a halt in front of them.

"Narnians!" Caspian shouted. "Charge!"

And we wheeled back around sharply and led them into the huge cavern underneath the battlefield above.

The ceiling was low and supported by many columns and stalagmites. We wove in and out of them, holding our torches high as we led the army through. I rode right beside the prince with Glenstorm on our tails. Then we heard the bugle from above, signaling us to start counting.

"One... two... three..." I began under my breath, in sync with Caspian next to me. Somewhere above us, Susan raised her bow along with the other archers, and took aim, and Edmund stood solidly at his brother's side.

When we reached the count of ten, I cried, "Now!" and the minotaurs and giants and centaurs began smashing the pillars holding up the ceiling.

The roof began to crumble, and the air was clouded with dust. Huge chunks of rock fell all around me as we dodged them, and shafts of light broke through the chinks, piercing the darkness and lighting the dust swirling around our heads. There were terrified neighs of horses and the cries of men as the ground beneath their feet simply disintegrated. They fell into the pit that had opened up right in front of them, and then Susan let her archers' arrows fly. They whistled through the air and pierced the armor of the enemy soldiers that were distracted by the sudden chasm.

Edmund leapt onto the back of his chestnut horse and rushed forward into the battle. Peter shouted, "Charge!" and the rest of the Narnians that were waiting for his signal at the How's entrace surged forward to attack. Caspian and I were still down below with the army, but then a ramp of earth and grass fell down for us, and we galloped up and out into the daylight again.

I drew my sword with Caspian and shouted "For Narnia and for Aslan!" as we circled around the back of the cavalry troops. We soon had them surrounded on all sides. I spotted Edmund on the other side, galloping through on his red horse. And then we met the enemy horsemen with a clash of metal and flesh. I knocked my helmet down over my face and let my instinct take over, not letting myself think about anything but the strikes of my sword and the blocks of my shield. It was the only way I could get through a battle. I stabbed and slashed and knocked men from their horses as Andy reared and thrust through them with his stunning re-grown horn. I looked around to get my bearings and found that I was in the thickest part of the fighting, near the pit.

Across the fighting men and sea of grass, the Telmarine infantry were steadily approaching. In the sky, big round boulders were still arcing over our heads to collide with the ground or occasionally the How.

Griffons soared out over us, clutching Dwarves with crossbows in their talons in a second offensive attack. But before they could get close enough to fire down upon the enemy, the Telmarines launched huge harpoon-like arrows into the air to hit the griffons.

They dropped like flies as I fought down the urge to be sick.

I ripped my gaze from the sky to locate Peter, who still near the ruins. He was standing, looking from the How behind us to the approaching troops. I could see the pain in his face as he made the decision.

"Back to the How!" he shouted. All around me Narnians paused and turned and began racing back to the relative safety of the towering structure. As I galloped Andy back, I thought of Peter's words earlier; This isn't a fortress. It's a tomb.

Soon it would become a tomb for all of us.

A/N: Thank you for being patient with me while my computer was at the doctor! It got a nasty virus and I didn't have it for a week and a half of break, which was when I had planned on doing a lot of writing. But things rarely seem to work out the way they're supposed to, and this was one of those instances.

Thanks for reading, commenting, and liking! Keep it up!