A Narnia Tale: For King, Queen and Country

The First Fight

In war, let victory be your goal, not lengthy campaigns

Erik woke up, not the slowly waking up you'd experience in your bed but the sudden waking up when you know something is not right. All his senses told him something was off. Then he realised, the sleigh had stopped. And what was worse, there was no sound. Normally you'd hear the reindeers moving, but now everything was silent. His hand crept towards his boot, slowly pulling out the knife. And then he heard something else, the slow movement of someone leaning over him. Hairs tickled his ear when what he assumed was Father Christmas brought his mouth towards him. He spoke, more as a breath then as a whisper. He was less then an inch away and still barely hearable. 'We are almost surrounded, creatures of the witch. Don't move,' The man slowly moved away. In the black night you could faintly hear Father Christmas grabbing something and the movement of steel over leather. It took almost two minutes before the barely hearable sound stopped. Then he kneeled over Erik again and pushed something against his hands. In an instant Erik knew that the man handed him a sword. 'Here is a weapon, I can't use it so I hope you are more skilled then I am,' Father Christmas whispered in his ear. Luckily, Erik had practised with swords his entire youth. His parents mansion was full of old weapons, armour and ancient text on how to use them. So he took the blade without a sound and crept out of the chariot. With the sword in his right hand and the dagger in his left he entered the woods.

The art of moving without sound was being slow. Erik waited around a minute before he made another step, ensuring that whatever he did was completely silent. It only took him fifteen minutes before he heard the nearest enemy, only a few meters to his right. It was impossible to see the bloke in these dark woods. All Erik had was the sound of breathing. His target did everything it could to remain silent but it still wasn't enough. From the sound Erik could deduce that his target was very high and heavy. It took him another ten minutes to end up behind his victim. Now the real trouble began, Erik had to kill him quickly without making a single sound. He had no choice, his only hope was to cut the throat. But the man before him was super tall, at least two meters twenty and that was a conservative estimate. He had to jump to reach so high and still be effective. After thinking everything through Erik jumped. He landed on a hairy back and could feel a sword scabbard hanging between him and his victim. Swiftly Erik grabbed towards the place where he expected to find the chin, dropping his dagger in the progress. What he grabbed wasn't anything like a human's chin, it felt hairy and snout like, almost like a calf. He didn't care tough and jerked it upwards so that the throat was clean and open. He hacked into the throat, as deep as possible, and sliced it as deep as he could. He immediately knew he'd fucked up, the muscles around the throat where much stronger then expected and he never reached the vital trachea. Cutting that was vital for a swift and relatively silent death. Now he'd only cut trough the arteries and while that ensured a certain death, it still took a human half a minute to pass out and in combat, half a minute was an eternity. Erik switched his blade downwards and thrusted as hard as he could into the chest area. The sword sank deep and the beast roared loudly. 

Immediately, the forest seemed to explode. He jumped from the creature's back and ran back the way he came. 'Run!' he yelled. A small flame appeared and Father Christmas lighted a torch the surrounding forest suddenly bathed in light. Within a second Erik's eyes adjusted to the new light and he saw the creatures streaming from the woods. Five horrendous looking monsters walked towards him. Three where pale and naked, carrying daggers and small swords, they walked like monkeys. The other two he immediately recognized as minotaurs form ancient literature. They both carried big dane axes with ease. Erik jumped in the sleigh, knowing very well this wasn't a fight he could win. Now knowing that the road to their left was clear, Father Christmas steered his reindeers in that direction. The pale creatures couldn't keep up with that speed, but the minotaurs both ran after them. And for a moment Erik feared that they would catch them, which would lead to their doom. Luckily, both minotaurs weren't the sharpest tools in the shed and they quickly gave up their pursuit. Erik looked at Father Christmas and yelled: 'What in bloody hell was that?' 'Goblins and Minotaurs of the witch, that is what they were. And we are very lucky to come out of there alive,' He explained. 'You could have warned me what I would go up against,' Erik said with a bit of anger. He understood that seeing those creatures was normal for Father Christmas but that didn't mean he was prepared on such an encounter. 'I'm sorry my friend. I thought that you'd know what to expect. I forgot you weren't from here,' the man apologised. Erik shook his head when he thought back about the encounter. 'Oh no!' he said furiously: 'I lost my dagger.' The thing still lied on the ground alongside the corpse he left behind. That dagger was a family relic and had been in the family for over a century by now. Father Christmas looked at him with pity in the eyes: 'I'm sorry, friend. We can't go back now. I'm afraid you'll have to leave it there.' Erik nodded, still shaking his head, this night didn't go anywhere as planned. 'Where're we heading?' he finally asked. 'Aslan's Camp, you should get there by noon', the man said. Erik closed his eyes and soon fell asleep. Father Christmas looked at him and smiled, he knew that with Erik in the army their chances only grew. 

Alright, a short one today. If you find any gammar mistakes (and i know there are plenty) please let me know. English isn't my first or second language so i'm afraid i'm gonna make a lot of mistakes.