It was colder than it had been that morning. When Thomas and Riverrun reached the forest border from that morning when they had rested, Trumpkin exclaimed silently. "Crows and crockery!"

The entire river was frozen now. 

"I'm surprised that they haven't attacked yet. It's clear that her powers have been affecting the weather here for a while now. It's only increasing."

"They would be stupid to. We have guarded the castle well."

"What do we bring back as proof?"

"We can't take the ice back. That's for sure."

Sophie gave a small shaky laughter. "We are on the same track. How about the staff?"

He looked at her like she was going Dorothy. "The staff? Wouldn't that be too obvious?"

"What if we take back the broken one? The one King Edmund broke in the First Battle of Beruna? That's what the hag used to bring her back, isn't it? Because we have the remains of the other staff back in the castle treasury."

Trumpkin had a smile on his face now. "I like where this is going. How do we do this?"

So, they made a plan. It was stupid and reckless but, in the end, it was a plan – the only plan they had in hand.

"I'll wait here," informed Trumpkin, hiding behind the trunk of a tree.

"You know the signal, right?" Sophie asked him and just as she did, someone walked out of one of the tents.

The White Witch.

Sophie dropped onto the ground as Jadis looked directly in their direction. The timing being perfect, a deer walked by next to the two. Trumpkin tried to silently shoo it away and after it did, the Witch went out for a stroll.

Sophie looked up and he understood what she wanted to say. "That just makes our work a whole lot easier."

She crouched down and jogged to the Witch's tent, assuming that it was hers. It was the only one without the Narnia sigil on it, the one that was spreading around after Caspian was crowned. She peeked inside, being halfway in and halfway around. She looked behind her shoulder to make sure that no one saw her.

She tip-toed inside the tent once she was sure that no one would see her. There was a light coming from somewhere that illuminated the entire place even though it was the middle of the night, helping her make a quick scan of the room. Her eyes immediately fell upon a long staff next to a bunch of swords. That was the new one that the White Witch was going to use. Sophie swooped through the mini armoury and when her eyes fell upon broken pieces of glass, a small laugh left her.

She had found the broken staff.

Right then, the secret signal of Trumpkin mimicking a bird was heard throughout the camp, alerting Sophie that Jadis was returning. Instinctively, her head turned in the direction of the signal. One of the sides of the tent started to move and she heard the second signal, which was to distract the Witch if Sophie was still inside the tent by the time she came, which had been an impromptu but important decision.

Sophie went to the closest flap of the tent and was once again half inside and half outside. She saw half of the Witch's pale-skinned body entering the room and without wasting a second, Sophie went completely out of the tent.

She looked at Trumpkin and he started running at the same time she did. They needed to get out of there as soon as possible. They ran and ran and stopped only when they reached the horses by the river.

"Do you have it?" He asked, panting.

Sophie showed him the staff and his eyes widened up. He never thought that he would be seeing it again in his life but he knew that both of them had made assumptions that they thought was for the best.

"Should we inform the Narnians first?" Sophie asked as they neared the familiar foliage of Beruna. 

There was a drowsy feeling in the atmosphere. Trumpkin yawned and looking at him, Sophie yawned. The cold had been taking over without them ever realising it. "Not a bad idea, Adams. Not a bad idea at all."

They turned around and rushed to Glenstorm's place, who was wide awake and alert as they reached there. His house was a cave with flowers overflowing its entrance, resembling the one from 'Tangled'. "What happened?" The Centaur General asked the two of them, having been awaiting their arrival. The water was restless, creating ripples but no waves.

"Why are you awake?" Sophie asked him, knowing that he was a very strict person when it came to sleep schedules because of Thunderride's complaints.

"The same reason you are. Evil lurks in the corner. I can feel it. All of us can."

"The White Witch," said Trumpkin. "She's back."

Glenstorm looked at Sophie and seeing the expression on her face, he nodded once at each of them. "I'll get everyone ready as soon as the first light of dawn breaks."

They were planning everything so fast that Sophie almost forgot to inform them about the harsh truth. "But the council has not agreed for an attack."

Glenstorm looked at her, his eyebrows drawn together. "I don't understand how the Council should take decisions when they turned the people against us. They may make their decisions but you need to make yours. You are the daughter of King Frank and Queen Helen. We answer you first."

"Again, I'm very sorry about that-"

"We know that everyone is sorry, Your Majesty," he said, making Sophie wince a bit. "But you are the rightful Heir. And we will follow you."

"I cannot take that away from Caspian. That's not who I am."

Glenstorm clenched his jaw together. "What are your orders?"

Sophie looked at Trumpkin for help, but he too was on Glenstorm's side. Both of them wanted her to lead the attack but they did not realise that she did not know much about battle strategies, only being a girl from the Other World. What would she know about being a leader in the time of war?

Trumpkin knew what she was thinking right away. It was the same face she had made when she wrote her exams and he was stuck as the invigilator. "It doesn't have to lead to a war right away."

And Sophie knew what he meant. "Surveillance. Send two of our men near the border of the camp. Even the littlest information that they are able to hear will be helpful in figuring out what she is planning."

Glenstorm smiled when Sophie said 'our people'. He knew that she was the leader that they needed at this point, someone that wouldn't let the council bound them to rules and regulations that were only benefiting them.

"No one engages with anyone," Sophie stressed. "It is only surveillance. We cannot afford to let her know that we are aware of her position."

Glenstorm bowed down and that only reminded Sophie of the first time he had done it. A heavy feeling rose up in her chest. She had betrayed Caspian by giving this order, but he did the same when he decided to trust the Council instead of eye witnesses.

The sun rose up by the time Trumpkin and Sophie reached the castle. She had wanted to remain at the Dancing Lawn with everyone to accompany them in their plans but Reepicheep had requested her to get back and take care of the people in the towns nearby. "Just in case the worst-case scenario happens." He reassured that it may not even come to that, but all of them knew that that was not going to be any more true than it raining in the upward direction.

Just as they entered the Throne room, the Council meeting was in session. "What is this?" One of the Lords asked.

"Proof," said Sophie with her head held high as she threw the staff in the middle of the room and looked directly at Caspian. "In case I am not wrong, that would be the same staff that was used against you during the Second War. Your Majesty." She bowed her head at him. Caspian looked at the staff and then at her, his eyes begging for an apology. "In case all of you are done being against me," she spoke as she looked at the Lords around the room. "We have a battle to prepare for."

Sophie rushed to go to the library to meet the Professor when Reepicheep came running towards her. "Reep!" She was surprised at his presence as he was going to go to the Witch's camp. What was he doing in the castle?

"The enemy has taken over Aslan's How."

They ran to the library together and explained everything to the Professor. "We need to evacuate the city. I'll get His Majesty right away." Reepicheep was about to leave the room when the door opened.

"What happened?" Caspian himself had come at that time.

"We went to get proof. What does it look like?" Trumpkin kept the humour going on and Sophie was glad for that. If she opened her mouth, she feared that she might say something that she wouldn't mean.

But Sophie knew that Caspian wanted to talk with her. It was pretty obvious. "Can we talk?" He asked her. "Alone?" They walked outside together and went to the Professor's room for some privacy so that no one would eavesdrop even without meaning to. "Why did you leave the castle unsupervised?"

"Is that what you are worried about right now? The Witch can attack us any moment. It's bad enough that she has the How! She has the strategic advantage."

Sophie knew that the Witch wanted to feel symbolic. That was the place where Jadis thought that she had defeated Aslan and the place where she was defeated the second time by someone whom she had brainwashed into betraying his own family in the past.

"Sophie," he whispered, closing his eyes. "I think we should appoint our head guards. I don't know if I could live with myself if anything happened to you."

"Is that why you didn't believe me at first?" Sophie didn't even know why they were fighting but it had only started since the Witch was back. "Why are we arguing?" He asked, realising the same.

"I don't know," she whispered, calming down. She walked closer to him and placed a hand on his cheek. "I'm sorry for storming out and for running away in the middle of the night. I'm sorry for leaving you in our place alone."

"I apologise for not believing you, Sophie. I-"

She closed his mouth with her hand. They shouldn't be apologising for things that weren't their fault. "We do apologise to each other a lot," she said, trying to change the atmosphere of the room.

He smiled and she could see it in his eyes that he really did regret not trusting her for one moment. She took her hand away and sighed. "We need to get ready for battle."

"We do." He nodded. "Sophie...."

"Narnia is my home, Caspian. Exactly as it is yours." She poked him in the chest. "I'm not going to sit still and let everyone else fight the war for my home." She inhaled. "Our home," she said softly.

Caspian knew there was no point arguing. Sophie had finally accepted that Narnia was her home....that he was her home in a way that he believed her to be for him. "All right. But promise me that you will be safe. If there is any sign of danger, you will protect yourself."

She nodded. "We will do everything in our power to keep Narnia from getting into evil's hands."

Caspian pulled her into a kiss. It was urgent but both of them knew what it meant. They were going to battle together. A lot of things could go wrong. As he let her go, she looked into his eyes and he looked into hers. "Sophie, I-"

Right then, the door opened. "Your Majesties-"

Caspian let her go but both of them were annoyed at that interruption. We can't have a moment of peace in that castle, thought Sophie.

"Yes, Reepicheep?"

How was it that Reep managed to interrupt us just before we could tell each other what we wanted to tell each other,  thought Caspian.

"I apologise for-"

"Reep?" She stressed, trying to make him get to the point.

"There is some bad news."

"What is it?" Caspian asked.

"Someone from the enemy camp is approaching the castle."

"Immediately prepare the troops. This may lead to a fight."

"That's the problem, Your Majesty. They are carrying a white flag."