A Daughter of Aslan

XXVII : War with the Witch

Chapter Twenty Seven

War with the Witch

The dryads flew through along with the breeze down the mountain. The message they carried from the girls was too important to wait. They moved quickly in the dark as they made their way to the camp. Trees upon trees carried the message down the mountain, from dryad to dryad, until a certain tree made it to the cherry blossom tree that had welcomed Lucy when the Pevensie's first entered the camp. The petals flew from the tree as they entered Peter and Edmund's tent.

As the dryad entered the room, one of the petals gently stroked Peter's face. In a dream, he stroked his face before jolting away. Sensing there was something in the room other than Edmund, he immediately thought it was the Witch's army coming for Edmund. He grabbed his sword unsheathing it as he pointed it at the flowery figure in the room. Edmund woke up with all the clatter and jolted up when he too saw the woman like figure made of flowers standing in the tent.

"Be still my Princes," the dryad assured them as she held out a hand in surrender. "I bring grave news from Queen Elizabeth and your sisters," she warned and Peter lowered his sword.

The message was loud and clear. Aslan was dead. His tent was empty just as Peter's sisters and Elizabeth's tent was. It was hard to believe that he was perfectly fine and walking around just earlier the other day, and now he was gone. Just like that. Jadis' had murdered him last night, that part was certainly clear. Now Aslan was gone, and so was Elizabeth. The girls were too far to make it back to the camp in time so the army would have to leave without them. Peter trusted his sisters would be safe with Elizabeth, for a girl that had been stuck in Narnia for sixty years he figured she would certainly know her way around the country.

"You'll have to lead us," Edmund told Peter as Peter stood at the end of the map of Narnia.

Peter let out a sigh of frustration as he looked at the map. He at least thought that for this battle that Aslan and Elizabeth were going to be helping him plan the battle. Now without Aslan, at least Elizabeth could have possibly been here to help but for the time being she was gone too.

"Peter, there's an army out there and it's ready to follow you," Edmund encouraged but Peter looked at his brother in disbelief.

"I can't," Peter exclaimed.

"Aslan believed you could! So did Elizabeth. And so do I."

"Sire, this army has been well prepared for battle by Elizabeth and myself. I can assure you that they will be ready at your command. They trust Elizabeth with their lives, and if Elizabeth trusts you with hers, than these soldiers will as well." Orieus told Peter with a bow and Peter gave smiles to both Edmund and the centaur out of thanks. "The Witch's army is nearing sire. What are your orders?"

After a good hour or two of studying all the battle plans and strategies that Aslan, Elizabeth, Oreius, Quinten, and Elian had compiled over the years Peter had a good idea of his orders. Kael was the first to fall under Peter's command as well as Quinten and Elian. The army then marched for a good two hours, with Peter on the unicorn he had practiced on the day before with Edmund and Elizabeth. He followed after Oreius and Kael since they knew the to Breuna where the fight would take place and together the three guided the army to the battlefield. Aslan's army was organized on one side of a large grassy field in a plateau where some of the soldiers were down low, others up on the hill, while the archers and women stayed on the top of the plateau where they could still fight but for the most part stay safe. Edmund and Beaver were up at the very top too because Peter wouldn't have Edmund down where it was very dangerous, he couldn't risk losing his brother again.