A Narnia Tale: For King, Queen and Country

Laying Plans

The Art of War is of vital importance to the state

'No, keep your shield up,' he said to the teenager in front of him. Erik looked at him with a grin while Peter bathed in sweat. 'Look at me and try to copy it,' Erik ordered. Swinging at the dummy in front of him, Erik managed to hit him everywhere with his sword while keeping his shield in front of his body. Peter looked closely while taking a breath. When it was his turn, Peter swung his word around like Erik had told him. But while he was hitting the dummy as hard he could he completely forgot his shield that was now hanging by his side, completely useless. Erik couldn't keep a small laugh from his face, Peter was a fast student and handled his sword with finesse. That didn't mean he already was a good fighter, it would take years for him to become a good sword master. Erik knew that they didn't have years but days at best as the first scouts already brought in rapports about the army of witch rapidly closing in. Now it was a case of trying to teach Peter the absolute basics in the hope that he would survive the upcoming campaign. He corrected Peter again and again until the prince slowly but surly started to get the hang of it. They continued to train for a whole two hours until they bathed in sweat. 'Okay, that is enough for now. Aslan wanted to speak to you, He said he would wait for you at the northern edge of the camp,' Erik said. Peter smiled and thanked him while he slowly walked away. Erik smiled too, the boy was a very charismatic person who was willing to learn. It was almost impossible not to like him. 'Erik! I knew I'd find you here,' a voice behind him said. He turned around and saw Oreius standing at the entrance of the training field. 'Hello general. What brings you here?' he asked. 'The same as you I think,' the centaur answered while pointing at his longsword. A small smile appeared on Erik's face. 'Is that a challenge?' he asked. The general nodded while lifting up his longsword. Erik waited while the distance closed between them, sword lifted above his head, hands crossed and the point towards his opponent. 

Quickly the air was filled with the sound of metal meeting metal. Erik immediately knew that Oreius was as good as him. He parried, dodged and trew attacks as good as he could. The problem was that Oreius was bigger and stronger than him. So as soon at the swords clashed he was in a big disadvantage. Oreius used his height to go over Erik's guard. Erik knew he had to act quick and jumped to his left while throwing a horizontal cut. The centaur turned away and avoided the cut. With a flicker of his wrist Erik managed to attack Oreius with another slash. Knowing he had to push his momentum he continued to attack furiously. Erik couldn't break the excellent defence of the general. He had to do something different to surprise him. After a high cut he quickly loosened his grip with his left hand and grabbed the blade. While halfswording, he thrusted to the stomach of his opponent. Oreius was completely caught off guard with this move. He dropped his blade and bowed before his partner. 'I have to say, Erik, that was very well done,' he said while wiping away the sweat. Erik, who was soaking wet from the two hours of hard training, returned the compliment. He respected the general even more now, both a fine and loyal soldier and a chivalrous person, Oreius was clearly a good pick for a general. The two sat down to rest while talking. 'Where did you learn how to fight?' the centaur asked curiously. 'Oh, at home we had a large amount of swords, battleaxes, maces and pole weapons. I grew up with a sword in my hand,' Erik explained. They talked until a half hour before noon. With Oreius, a man (or centaur) with battle experience, he didn't mind talking about the war and the experiences he had learned there. Erik quickly found out that Oreius had many of the same lessons learned the hard way. Always loyal to Aslan, the centaur had wandered the known world around with a few hundred loyal Narnians. They had called themselves "the expelled", and had to fight against the Witch's hordes, Telmarine battalions and Calormene regiments. The only land where they where greeted friendly was in Archenland where king Lovrin opened his doors every harvest for the Narnians. 

Suddenly, the quiet day was turn apart by a horn. Erik grabbed his blade and turned to the sound. It originated form a woods at the other side of the camp. Oreius immediately jumped up, neglected his longsword in favour of his twin arming swords while galloping towards the sound. Erik followed as best as he could but it still took him almost five minutes to reach the place. Once he arrived he saw a dead wolf on de grass, the Pevensies stood besides it in a big hug. 'Son of Adam, clean your sword.' Aslan looked at the boy, his sword still covered in blood and fur. Peter looked around, Erik saw he was still in a shock. A faun quickly gave him a piece of cloth to clean his sword. Eventually, Peter stood before the Lion. 'Kneel, Peter,' He said. Peter did as ordered, kneeling on one knee with his sword before him. 'Rise, Sir Peter Wolf's Bane,' Aslan declared. Everyone cheered while the man rose. His siblings hugged him and from every side he was congratulated. Erik waited for the majority of the crowd to disappear. Peter saw him coming and Erik knew the look on the man's face. A mixture of relief, happiness and regret. He put a hand on his shoulder. 'You are a man now,' he said with a bit of pride: 'And the future will decide how great of a man you will become.' A small smile appeared on Peter's face. The smile transformed into a laugh while he hugged Erik. 'Okay, I had a sparring session with Oreius today. Please look out for my ribs,' he laughed. Peter loosened his grip. 'Lets go to the tents, a fight and hunger go hand in hand.' The four of them went back to the camp, during the walk Erik heard what happened. Two members of the witch's secret police had managed to sneak up to Susan and Lucy who where relaxing by the water. They had ambushed them and Susan had just managed to blow her horn. Erik complimented her on her bravery. Peter was the first on scene. He had drawn his sword but two versus one was never an even fight. Luckily that was the moment Aslan and a part of the guards had shown up. Aslan had trapped one of the wolves. And thus leaving the leader, Maugrim, to dual Peter. At the end, Peter had managed to kill the beast and Aslan had released to second wolf who ran of as hard he could. Oreius and the rest of the guards followed him in the hope of releasing the second Son of Adam, Edmund.