˗ˏˋCHAPTER NINEˊˎ-

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WHEN THEY ARRIVED back at base, Peter was fighting in the arena with Miraz as an attempt to buy themselves more time. Susan looked to Wren worriedly when she realized Lucy wasn't with her, but after the explanation the brunette gave, she seemed to relax a little. Although, the tension from her shoulders had not completely gone away, because when she looked back to her brother, her face hardened.

Caspian appeared, and lightly tapped Wren's arm. She looked to him in confusion. "I have something I wish to give you."

Quizzically, Wren followed him into the cave again, watching as he shuffled through a bag, only to pull out a radiant sword. She blinked with a raised brow, confusion tugging at her chest. "Is this the part when I find out you're about to kill me?"

Caspian, surprisingly, rolled his eyes, and handed her the weapon. "While I think you're extraordinary at knife throwing, I think your daggers should be used as a back-up incase you can't get to your sword. This belonged to your father. I had my professor search for it the night we stormed the castle."

She took it from his hands, examining it in awe. It was the same blade form that her daggers were made out of. In fact, it was almost an identical design. Wren glanced to him with furrowed brows. "How did my father know to give me these daggers? I mean, he's dead, right? How did he know I'd ever come here?"

Caspian faltered. "I'm not sure. Perhaps he set aside that chest in the Kingdom of Old months before he disappeared, in hopes that you'd carry on his legacy. But I don't know for certain."

"Thank you, Caspian," she said softly, meeting his eyes. He just smiled, and nodded his head in the direction of the cave exit, gesturing for them to leave. She nodded her head, and the two walked back outside where the chaos was taking place. Wren joined the other swordsman, while Caspian stalked all the way to where Edmund was stood, at the arena where Peter was still fighting.

The battle resumed, and Peter earned himself a few jabs in his side, cracking through his armor, but he didn't hesitate to do the same to Miraz. They'd both even fallen to the ground multiple times, before Peter finally got the upper hand, and tripped the False King so that he collapsed to his knees. But Peter hesitated.

"Now is not the time for chivalry, Peter!" Wren heard Edmund yell.

"Show no mercy!" Another ordered.

But Peter turned his head to look at Caspian, just as Miraz went to attack when he wasn't looking. Peter easily dodged his jab, and managed to sink the bearded-man back onto the concrete ground. He took a few heavy breaths with his sword raised. Peter spun to offer the prince his sword. Caspian gracefully met him halfway, standing before Miraz, whose lips moved to mutter a few words that Wren couldn't hear.

And he jammed down the sword, purposely missing the older man. Wren, despite wanting to see the false king suffer for everything he'd done to the Narnians, was proud of Caspian for his noble choice. But then, everything went to hell when one of Miraz's men stabbed an arrow into his chest, and blamed it on them. Therefore, continuing the war.

"Treachery!" He accused. "They shot him! They murdered our king!"

"Lying scumbag," Wren sneered under her breath.

Dozens of heavy rocks shot out from those big wooden machines they had, creating large holes into the ground, and knocking several people over. Wren watched in horror as one of the swordsman besides her was trampled with one, and in that moment, she knew that with those slingshot things, they were doomed.

She rushed to meet the others. "I have an idea."

Peter gave a dumbfounded look. "Like the idea that got you brought into the police station last month in hand cuffs, or an actual idea?"

"An actual idea," she said quickly, and all three boys looked at her, listening. "The things that are shooting out the rocks, those are our biggest worry right now. See how they're not even bothering to rush us yet? They're thinking they'll win with those. What if we somehow destroyed them?"

"That's impossible," Caspian shook his head. "You'd never make it over there in time without being caught or killed. I'm not letting that happen."

"Yeah," Edmund agreed. "And how do you suppose you destroy them, anyway?"

She flipped out a pack of matches. "I nicked these from one of the men in the forest earlier. They're made out of wood, right? I just light one of these bad boys on one of each, and boom. Our biggest threat is gone."

"That's suicidal," Peter stated. "No way."

"For once, I agree with Peter," Edmund nodded. "You'll die. You're better off just staying with us."

"She can do it," it was Susan who spoke now, and Wren looked to her in surprise. "She's been sneaking around in our world for years to survive. If anyone can get over there unnoticed, it's her. And she's right, without those slingshot things, we're as good as dead. We need them gone. Queen of Stealth," she murmured lowly.

"Queen of Stealth," Wren repeated, feeling her confidence grow as she met her friend's gaze.

Peter frowned. "You've got enough matches for each?"

"Barley," she answered, holding them up. "Just one extra."

Peter shared a look with Caspian, who seemed extremely reluctant, but he nodded. "Alright. But Wren?"

"Yes?"

"Be safe."

She glanced between the prince and the king, who both looked hesitant to let her leave. "You too."

It didn't take long for her to mentally plan and map out how she was going to get over to the Telmarine's side. She'd have to backtrack a little. Travel through the woods so she wouldn't be seen, but she did manage to get over there. The hard part was sneaking past all of those military men and not being noticed. In fact, she hadn't thought that far ahead in her plot.

Very hurriedly, she picked up the closest stick she could find, and chucked it at the back of a Telmarine's head, before ducking behind a tree trunk.

"What was that?" He asked.

"What was what?" Another questioned.

"Did you just hit me with a stick, you buffoon?"

"I-of course not. You're going back to those delusions of yours." A moment passed. "Well, if you don't believe me, go check it out yourself."

"I will," the man huffed, and Wren heard his footsteps get closer and closer, until finally he stood right next to the tree she was hiding behind. Wren lunged at him, tackling the Telmarine to the ground, who clearly had not been expecting the attack. Before he could make any sound, Wren sunk a dagger into his chest, and rushed to pull of his armor. She nearly laughed out loud at the sight of this random man's undergarments, before slipping on the clothing herself. Wren marched back to where he had been in the army.

"Well? Find anything?"

Wren just school her head, hoping that her height difference wasn't too obvious. She raised her chin as much as she could, the armor covering everything but her eyes and the edge of her jawline.

When she thought the man wasn't paying her any mind, she started towards one of the slingshots, but the voice called out.

"Where are you going?"

With the most manly voice, and boyish response she could come up with, she said: "Taking a leak."

"Shouldn't you do that in the woods-" But she was already out of earshot before she heard him finish his sentence. She watched as a Telmarine loaded another bolder onto the slingshot, before turning away to grab the next one. With shaking hands, she smacked the match against the wooden post, and immediately a small burning flame appeared at the spot.

She hurriedly zoomed away to the next one as the Telmarines took notice of the fire, and they began shouting in panic. She'd gotten to the next two slingshots before her hand was smacked away, and the matches slipped from her grip. Wren now came face-to-face with the same man.

"They've got themselves a spy, I see," the death grip he had on her jaw was not very comfortable, and she knew the time was running out before their next plan of action happened. Because the Telmarines had already started to move forward, which meant she needed to get back to her side before the ground fell in. "Very smart, but not smart enough."

"You sure you're not talking about yourself?" She retorted, raising her knee to his groin, and he dropped his hand to grip himself. Without giving him anymore time, Wren turned to pick up the matches off the ground, but they were kicked from her grasp. The next thing she knew, a blade was to her throat.

"I'm not going to let you disgusting Narnians destroy what we have worked so hard for."

A bitter laugh escaped her throat as she tried to find a way to wriggle out of the situation. On the bright side, she'd fallen right next to the slingshot, and one of the stakes was right near her head. So, if she had the matches, she'd be able to light it up. The downside was—she didn't have the matches. Subtly, she felt around for the familiar small wooden stick as the Telmarine above stared evilly down at her.

"Worked for?" She spat. "You've done nothing but kill and steal. You've worked for nothing. If anyone is disgusting around here, it's you people."

"Are those your last words?" He sounded unimpressed, but at the same time, Wren managed to grab ahold of the one remaining match left inside the packet. The other had been discarded across the field, never to be found again. If she were going to do this, she was going to have to do it right. This was her last chance.

"No," she replied weakly, her vision becoming blurred as he pressed the sword further into her neck, cutting off her suffocation. "If I have the form to choose my last words, they're going to be something cool like... BURN BITCH!"

And the Telmarine glanced up in horror as the last slingshot began to crackle due to the growing fire. He seemed to forget about her in that moment, and Wren took the distraction as a chance to escape. She didn't care that she wasn't blending in anymore, the other Telmarines would surely be confused to why one of their own was darting across the field i away from them all.

But as she got halfway across, she realized she'd been too late, because the moment she took another step, the ground below her caved, and she tumbled to the ground. Her head bounced against the hard rock floor, and she gasped for air as the wind got knocked out of her. The last thing she saw was the yellow sun above her turn completely black, and soon it was all she could see before she passed out completely.

authors note

so dramatic <3 decided to switch it up cause it's always the same in every fic also i wanted to add in wren being a complete badass so here we are

me pretending this book isn't flopping 😵