Daggers of Ice

Chapter 36

Where the Northern Lands Meet the Western Woods.

Peter.

He froze as they entered the tent. His shock blurred out everything save for the pale face of his Captain, and the bloody blade her captor held.

Beautiful Lily, whom they had rescued. Beautiful Lily whom he had protected from the emerald-eyed woman who had just fought by his side.

It was Asura's sword that she held with perfected practise, and it was Asura's blood that dripped from its length. And then there were hands clamped upon his upper arms and he was shoved roughly forward, the door falling closed behind them.

He didn't know what he was meant to do. If he rushed at her with his blade, she would easily draw the blade across Asura's neck.

Arianna turned in a blur of movement, blood spraying across the ground as the man's sword sliced through her shoulder, biting deep through leather and flesh as she moved. The palm of her hand met his nose with a deafening crunch. His hood fell back, revealing short pale brown hair and a face that would have been pleasant to look upon before his nose had disappeared into his face. The blood dripped freely and he clutched at his face, stumbling backwards slightly. Peter watched, frozen, his stomach threatening to spill its contents. The man cried out, his crimson eyes flashing.

Arianna's eyes narrowed as Lily moved, throwing Asura's limp body.

Time slowed for Peter.

It was as if Arianna had frozen even time.

With one hand she gestured towards Asura and the naiad froze, suspended in the air as water droplets coalesced across her form, freezing over her. Trapping her within as if it were a tomb.

And the other hand, dripping with blood, froze Lily in her tracks. Those crimson eyes, crimson eyes which had been a beautiful violet, stared at the enchantress. Her perfect full lips opened in a soundless scream. Her fingers curled inwards in themselves. Like an old woman's hands they were dry, the skin loose about the bone. Her face, once perfectly sculpted, cracked..

And then she dropped.

Nothing more than a lifeless husk.

Arianna had drained the water from her body.

And moved it around Asura's.

"Follow me Peter."

He could tell that she was as shocked by her own actions as he was, but her movements were steady as she unfroze the stream behind the tent.

It was first a trickle, a soft melody of hope.

And then she lowered Asura's body into the pool it formed, covered by a beautiful bower of trees that leant inwards. As if the forest was seeking to protect the dying naiad.

He did not speak. He did not wish to break the spell that had fallen over them; he could no longer hear the battle just beyond the forest, all he could see was his Captain's face streaked with blood.

He'd ordered her to stay to protect Lily.

It was his fault.

He didn't see what was right before his eyes. He'd ignored Ed's warnings simply because she'd had a perfectly beautiful face.

It was his fault that Asura was dying.

The naiad's body floated there for a moment, her hair a silver halo around her face. And then she was sinking beneath the frigid waters, slowly disappearing from view.

She could have been sleeping. A healing sleep, he knew.

But one he did not know if she would wake from.

When Arianna turned to face him he froze at her expression, even as the water behind her froze back over. There was a dark fury in her face; nothing akin to the maniacal rage that had so often graced the White Witches features. It was something infinitely more human.

"Thank you, Arianna," he said softly, as side by side they walked back to the camp. "Thank you for saving my Captain."

She was silent; the only sound was their footsteps upon the snow. The soft crunching of twigs beneath their feet. "She is more than that, High King Peter. You do not benefit from trying to fool yourself into believing otherwise."

...

Edmund.

Edmund held his breath as Peter and Arianna approached, both covered in blood and dirt. Corradyn's men were either dead or subdued, tied to poles at the edge of the lake.

It was hard to tell whose wrath the prisoners feared more: the Ice Queen's or Aslan's.

Aslan wasn't staying, he'd told Lucy that.

He'd just known that they'd need help. And when the fighting had died down neither Peter, Arianna nor Asura were anywhere to be found.

And then he saw them.

Peter and Arianna.

A King and a Queen, emerging from the edge of the forest, covered in blood. Both had their weapons drawn.

But Peter was at her side.

He had fought by her side.

Arianna saw the great lion first, her body stiffening, emerald eyes narrowing. There was a strange glaze across Peter's face and as if it were instinctual the High King moved in front of the Ice Queen. His sworn enemy. To protect her.

But Arianna did what Jadis had never been able to do when they stopping before the great lion.

She stood in the face of Aslan's roar.