Flawed *EDITING* (Chronicles of Narnia & Harry Potter Crossover) (PeterxOC)

61- Alliances

Chapter Inspiration:

- Pressure ~ Paramore

I jerked around, my bow with an arrow nocked at the ready. To my complete and utter surprise, I was faced with two small men dressed in what I assumed was hunting gear. Dwarves. One, a red haired/bearded, held a bow nocked in my direction.

The black haired/bearded Dwarf brandished a sword. I swallowed hard before saying, "Narnians are still alive." The Red Dwarf spoke, "What are you talking about, Telmarine?" His voice was gruff and cranky, like most Dwarves I've come across.

My voice turned scathing. "Do you have working eyes? Do I look like a Telmarine to you?" I gestured to my Narnian clothing and my face. While the Red Dwarf hesitated, the Black Dwarf looked skeptical. "How do you know so much about us?"

To be honest, I was highly offended, but they couldn't have known. "Because I am General Laurel Collins." I told them. They stared at me for a few seconds before laughing. By the Lion's Mane, people have been laughing at me a lot. I scowled at them. "It's true. I can prove it to you."

"How? She's been dead for 1300 years." The Black Dwarf asked, bemused. I stalked up to them, lowering my weapon to the Black Dwarf's chin. "Do not test me, Dwarf. You don't want your friend to have to drag you home in bits." The Dwarves looked startled at this.

"You are wearing Narnian clothing. Only way you could've gotten them was if you came from the ruins of Cair Paravel. And no one has been there since it was burned down." The Red Dwarf told me, lowering his weapon. I lowered Fortis and sheathed it.

The Black Dwarf followed our suit, eyeing me curiously. "What are you doing here?" I stiffened, remembering why I was here. "I'm trying to hide from the Telmarines. If not, I'll surely be killed." The Red Dwarf thought for a moment. "Trumpkin. And he's Nikabrik." I was surprised, taken aback that the Dwarves were allying me. "Laurel, obviously. Where are we headed?" Trumpkin jutted his chin towards a deeper part of the woods. "Hunting."

~

Cornelius paced around the library, deep in thought. Tomorrow night Lady Prunaprismia was going to give birth a son. Tomorrow night everything will going to change. At first, he thought that Caspian should've left with Laurel, for she would be able to make them both disappear. He quickly realized that she could be charged with treason if she did.

The doctor was so in thought he did not hear the knocking on the door. Caspian walked in, knocking on the door again. Cornelius jerked around and saw the prince. He plastered a smile on his face. "Caspian, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

Caspian flipped a random book open and examined its contents. "I was just wondering where Laurel was. She has not come to the training yards and she is quite punctual. Although, that could be Seb being the punctual one..."

He thought quickly and lied, "She has been given the day off, after all, she is a staff member and has been working vigorously with the soldiers and yourself for the past two weeks." Caspian frowned. "My aunt is going to give birth any day now. She might miss it!"

More like several more hours, Cornelius thought miserably. "Do not worry, my prince. She will be back soon." he lied again. Caspian smiled and hopped down the steps, leaving the doctor to his thoughts once more.

~

I kept behind Trumpkin and Nikabrik, trying to learn quickly how they hunted. I've gone hunting plenty of times before, but I wanted to see if a new, more efficient way has been created over 1300 years. "Always hunt for Dumb Beasts." Nikabrik told me in a whisper. "Really?" I asked sarcastically. The Dwarf narrowed his eyes at me. Ahead, Trumpkin had drawn his bow with an arrow drawn taut.

My eyes followed the line of his bow and saw birds sitting on tree branches. "How can you tell if they're Dumb?" I whispered. Nikabrik turned to me. "If they talked, they would've said something by now. That type of bird never shuts up. Dumb Beasts have become very populous these past hundreds of years."

I frowned. "In my time, gosh I just sounded incredibly old, Dumb Beasts were almost nonexistent." Nikabrik's mouth became a thin line. The sound of an arrow whizzing through the air sounded through my ears.

I looked up and saw a bird crumple to the ground. The other members of the flock started to squawk and leave the branches. I drew my own bow and nocked an arrow. After four more hits, Trumpkin and I stopped. A part of me felt incredibly bad for killing them, but another told me to get a grip. This was necessary for survival.

Trumpkin nodded his head at me, walking over to the dead birds. I followed after him and Nikabrik, watching as they start to cut them up. When I traveled with the Pevensies, which was a very rare thing, I was usually in charge of their food. So I've seen and have cut up animals.

I'm pretty sure Trumpkin and Nikabrik were expecting me to stand there and vomit. But nope, I went over to an unattended bird and drew out a dagger! They gave me strange looks, but seemed happy for the extra hand.

We put the edible pieces in a bag Trumpkin had and marched off to who knows where. I was about to ask them where we were headed, but I stopped when I saw light coming from the base of a very large tree.

They opened the door, ushering me to come in as well. I got down on all fours and crawled in. As I stood up, heat flowed through me. I didn't even know I was cold. I sat my bag down on the table and pulled a chair out.

"This is a lovely home. Where are we?" I said calmly. Trumpkin went into the kitchen and started to cook the food. "We're in the Shuddering Wood. Didn't you recognize it?" I frowned and looked out the door. "No, I could've sworn that the Shuddering Wood never had birds like that."

Nikabrik chuckled, taking a seat across from me. "Things can change in 1300 years." A lump formed in my throat. "What else is different? Is the River Rush still a good supply of water?" Trumpkin came out of the kitchen and sent me an odd look.

"The River Rush is a gorge. Has been for a few hundred years." My eyes almost popped out of my head. Humming came from the kitchen that interrupted my train of thought. I looked from Trumpkin to Nikabrik. "Wait, if you're both here, then who's in the-" A Badger walked through the door, holding four plates and bowls. I blinked a few times. Yep, he's really there. "Hello, I'm Laurel." I said politely. The Badger smiled at me. "Trufflehunter, pleasure to meet you."

I accepted the bowl of soup and meat with a thanks. "So, what is your story? We don't know very much about you." Nikabrik started. I swallowed a piece of meat before saying, "Well, I somehow ended up at the ruins of Cair Paravel. I wasn't sure who was in control, Telmarines or Narnians, so I hiked through the woods until I came to the edge of their civilization. They were celebrating one of the royals who is going to give birth soon. I may have tried to kill them, and was caught. For some reason, they kept me around to train the new soldiers. Of course, if I didn't do it I'd be killed. I ran away last night, because either way, I was going to be killed. That's really all."

I left out several key details because they had to do with my powers and people they really didn't need to know about. "What were they like? Were they as horrible and brutal as their ancestors?" Trumpkin asked darkly. I ran my tongue over my teeth. "Not all of them were horrible, decent at the least. But Miraz, the Lord Protected, was honestly horrible."

Nikabrik snorted. "They're barbarians." I took a spoonful of soup before asking, "There are others, right? More Narnians?" They nodded hesitantly. "Do they all think I'm dead?" Trufflehunter looked confused. "Why would they think you dead?"

"I'm General Laurel Collins, as in the Laurel Collins from the Golden Age." Nikabrik had a look of disgust on his face. "You surrendered Narnia to them." I shot a glare at him. "I technically did not surrender, I said nothing. They just threw me in jail, leaving me to die. In case you didn't know, practically all my troops surrendered or else you wouldn't be here." I felt a sting in my heart, thinking of Oreius and Tumnus.

Trumpkin was staring at me with an unreadable expression. Trufflehunter had a look of pity, which I ignored completely. Nikabrik looked slightly convinced. Getting up, I made my way to the kitchen to clean my dishes.