༄ 𝘞𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘳 𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘏𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘍𝘪𝘳𝘦 (𝘗𝘊) ༄

Chapter 23: The Battle of Beruna (Part 2)

When I originally split the chapters up, one of my readers wanted Caspian's POV for part of the battle. Rather than switching to his for part of a chapter and then back to Ana's (three POV changes within one chapter) when I did rewrites, I decided to still do a separate chapter for Caspian's. Especially because it ended up being longer than I expected. It flips back to Ana at the end so some scenes will be slightly duplicated from this, but from a different viewpoint. This chapter is a tad more graphic with the details (although I tried to be vague about it to keep the rating down) since Caspian is doing more up close and personal fighting than Ana was/is. I had to do a lot of embellishment on my part since it focuses on what Caspian can see.

Without further ado...

𑁍𑁍𑁍𑁍𑁍𑁍𑁍𑁍𑁍𑁍𑁍𑁍𑁍𑁍𑁍𑁍𑁍𑁍

~Caspian's Point Of View~

I watched the two girls fall from the ledge in near horror. Peter and I exchanged worried glances but relaxed a little when Trumpkin was able to stop Susan's fall. When she was safe, our attention turned to Ana. We could only watch as Ana's grip on the ledge slipped. The stone came crumbling down around her as she tumbled towards the ground.

Fear rose up in my chest, realizing the fall could kill her. My first instinct was to rush forward to try and catch her, but I knew I wouldn't make it in time. Even if I could one, or both, of us were still likely to get seriously hurt from it. Anyone who was close enough was distracted by the falling debris and couldn't help her either. There was no way Ana would survive the fall without injury. Only by the Lion's Blessing would she survive it at all.

I took a step forward anyway, wanting to do something. But before I could even get close—and before she could hit the ground—her body was consumed in flames as she transformed. Flapping her wings abruptly, she managed to stop herself from hitting the ground. I smiled slightly in relief, realizing I had forgotten about her magic. She flew a bit higher, attracting the attention of many of the Narnians. Everything seemed to stop as we watched her.

But it didn't last long as she flew towards the ground. Landing on Peter's right side, flames engulfed her once more as Ana transformed back into herself. The two exchanged a look that I couldn't read. I never could as I didn't know their signals to each other very well. But I could tell things were much better between them and I was glad they had been resolved beforehand.

We turned to face the approaching army. Some of the Narnians were still fighting since we were backed up against the How. Edmund joined Ana on her right and discarding the crossbow, he drew his sword. Susan approached from behind, just coming down from the How, and made her way to Peter's left. She nocked her bow and Ana did the same before all three of them looked to Peter for his guidance. He looked back at the battle raging on. Then, without a word, he charged towards the army with everyone else right behind him.

We had no other choice but to fight now. If we didn't, we would all be killed and the Narnians would lose any chance they had at retaking their Kingdom. It was a battle we could not afford to lose and everyone knew it. But we were united for the cause and I felt as though we would not fail. Even though we were outnumbered, something gave me confidence for the outcome. And it was with that thought that I charged into the fight, right beside the Kings and Queen of Old.

Boulders from the catapults kept falling. They shook the ground and made standing difficult. Several Narnians had been killed by them. But the closer we were to the Telmarines, the less we had to deal with them. They wouldn't risk killing their own men in an attempt to kill the Narnians.

Using a dagger and my sword, I fought off any Telmarines that came near. Some parried my blows and I had to fight with them longer. Others were not so fortunate and were cut down quickly. I fought left and right, barely staying aware of my surroundings. Sensing a man approaching I turned to meet his blade, only to see him collapse on the ground. An arrow belonging to that of Ana was embedded in his back.