28

ASLAN'S HOW

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The five royals approached Aslan's How, greeted by a row of centaurs either side of the walkway with their swords pointing to the sky. Creating a bridge of honour. Behind them, Alex walked beside Reepicheep, Trufflehunter and the rest of the army.

As they got closer to the archway, Alex noticed how Caspian stopped walking as if unsure whether or not he was worthy of the royal treatment. All it took was a small shove from Alex for him to follow Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy into Aslan's How with the knight at his side.

Upon arrival they realised that the How was much bigger that they anticipated, it stretched further underground than they initially thought. Stretching underneath the field that they had just walked across and filled with the chatter of Narnians as they worked to create weapons and armour for their battle.

"It may not be what you are used to, but it is defensible," Caspian spoke to no one in particular as they all took in their surroundings.

"It's perfect, Cas," Alex smiled weakly and clutched the pile of clothing closer to her chest. Her mind was too preoccupied with the troubling thoughts to form a more persuasive smile - one that could reach the corners of her eyes. But all she could think about was the smell of iron from the weapons, how all the sharp blades caused fear inside of her chest.

"Peter, you may want to see this," Susan called from not too far away from them, waking Alex from her thoughts, "Alex too."

Her white brows furrowed together in confusion, Peter's own eyebrows did too. But nevertheless, they followed Susan with Caspian hot on their tail.

The older Queen of Narnia had a flame torch in her hands, shinning it closer to the walls of the How which depicted drawings in the stone. Some were of Susan and Lucy riding on Aslan's back,  the coronation of the Pevensies, Alexandra being knighted by Aslan on the same day and the battle in which Alex had sacrificed herself in. 

"It's us," someone whispered behind Alex, though she couldn't quite make out who. She instead stared at one drawing on the wall. One of her. One of the day her body was found under the tree, a purple flower in her hand and her soul in a deep slumber.

"What is this place?" someone else asked, once again she had no idea who.

"You don't know?"

Alex would have been staring at the wall for all eternity if Susan hadn't taken ahold of her elbow and followed Caspian, him now in the lead. The six of them sauntered through the halls of Aslan's How and climbed down stairs into a much bigger room. The room was also much darker and colder, sending shivers down their spines.

At once, Caspian lowered his torch onto something that caught flame. Now, the flames of the fire reached across the edge of the room like a small wall to provide light. Showing them carvings of Narnians in the walls, one in the centre was of Aslan in all his greatness.

But in the centre of the room was something that Alex had just assumed had disappeared in the years. She thought that the stone would have cracked even more over time, leaving nothing but a few rocks behind. But there it stood, cracked messily down the centre as it had for 1303 years.

The Stone Table.

The four siblings approached the table, touching the stone under their fingertips and wiping years of dust from its surface. Alex and Caspian held back. Caspian had no reason to get closer to the structure, for he had no experience of its power. But Alex couldn't bring herself to get any closer; knowing that her mother had died upon it many years ago. She had also watched as Aslan was sacrificed upon the stone. She would never forget the look in his eyes.

"He must know what he's doing," Lucy turned to her sister. Susan didn't know what to say.

"I think it's up to us now," Peter replied instead.

Caspian, like he often did in times of uncertainty, found Alexandra's eyes. His glance asking for help. All he found was her pushing him on with her head and a motion of her hand before she left the room, stepping back up the stone stairs.

The Telmarine watched. "Then we must gather our forces," he proposed, his voice loud and clear. Only after he spoke he allowed his uncertainty to waver.

Moments later, Narnians were hurrying around to gather their friends and fellow soldiers to meet around the Stone Table. Rations were being passed around for dinner and most of the children had been put in make-shift beds for the night: chicks in their nests; small centaurs laying on bundles of hay; foxes, badgers, beavers, mice and more all laying together for warmth; and fauns tucked under blankets.

"Miraz's men and war machines are on their way," Peter started, slowly turning around to look at his troops, "That means those same men aren't protecting his castle."

"What do you propose we do, your majesty?" Reepicheep asked from beside Peanut the squirrel.

"We need to get ready for it."

"To start planning for-"

Both Peter and Caspian started to speak, stopping once noticing the other was also doing the same. The two royals shared a harsh, threatening glare that ended with Caspian taking a step back and Peter continuing his speech. 

"Our only hope is to strike them before they strike us."

Caspian shook his head, his brown hair lightly tickling his cheeks. "That's crazy. No one has taken that castle."

"There's always a first time," the High King pushed, clearly not going to drop his idea of attacking the castle that very night.

This time a dwarf spoke up, one that Alex had yet to properly acquaint with but she knew that his name was Trumpkin. "We'll have the element of surprise."

"We have the advantage here!" Caspian almost shouted.

"If we dig in, we could probably hold them off indefinitely," Susan introduced, stepping out from where she sat beside Alex on some rocks.

Alex shifted where she sat, leaning her head on the pillar beside her and beginning to feel her eyes drooping. It had been two days since she had woken up from her (what should have been) eternal slumber, and since then she had not closed her eyes for longer than a minute or two. She feared what would happen if she went to sleep, so her only option was to not sleep at all. It was stupid and she knew what it was doing to her body, how her reflexes were slowed, she could feel her hands shaking at her sides and her head was pounding.

"I, for one, feel safer underground," Trufflehunter squeaked out.

"Look. I appreciate what you've done here," Peter turned completely to Caspian, "but this isn't a fortress. It's a tomb."

"Yes. And if they're smart, the Telmarines will just wait and starve us out," Edmund spoke up, startling Alex as she hadn't realised he had joined her side.

"We could collect nuts!" "Yes! And throw them at the Telmarines. Shut up. I think you know where I stand, sire." She heard from the sidelines.

"Why don't we ask Alex? She is the Crimson Knight after all, she fought more battles than all of us combined," Lucy proposed, earning a curt nod from Edmund and Caspian.

All eyes were on her.

"I agree with both Prince Caspian and King Peter. In an ideal situation we would have an army the same size of Miraz or larger with at least a sword per soldier, but that is a luxury we can't afford. Whilst attacking them tonight would be the best thing to do, we do not have the force nor the supplies. We should either use tonight to survey the castle, become familiar with the grounds and to continue to forge weapons and armour for an attack at Castle of Caspian tomorrow night. Or, we could use the night to set traps in the forest, fortify Aslan's How and, once again, continue to forge our weapons and armour," Alex stopped to rub her temple where she felt a sting from the commotion, "We are seriously lacking the power and means to do a real ambush tonight. Doing so would be a death sentence and I am not comfortable with that."

There was silence.

Honestly, Alex had no idea how Peter was going to react to what she had said. She knew that too much time had passed and he no longer trusted her the way that he used too. She had pretty much just agreed with Caspian, the boy he had been jealous of merely a few hours prior.

He didn't even look at her before he turned to Glenstorm, "If I get your troops in, can you handle the guards?"

Glenstorm was evidently hesitant, but not even he could refuse a king. Especially if that king was High King Peter. "Or die trying, my liege."

"That's what I'm worried about."

All eyes turned from Peter and Glenstorm to Queen Lucy who had been sat quietly on the Stone Table, running her fingers in the dust to draw shapes and patterns.

"Sorry?" Peter asked with his brows furrowed.

"You're all acting like there's only two options. Dying here, or dying there."

Alex smiled at Lucy. Even though she was the youngest out of the four Pevensie siblings, she was perhaps the most observant and intelligent.

"I'm not sure you've been listening," Peter lightly chuckled.

"No, you're not listening," his litter sister sat up, "Or have you forgotten who really defeated the White Witch, Peter?"

All eyes were back to Alex who surrendered her hands, "Don't look at me. I wouldn't have done what I did if Aslan hadn't told me the truth."

"I think we've waited for Aslan long enough," he said back to Alexandra, not even turning around to face her. Instead the Pevensie boy left the room with the Stone Table, followed by all his troops who were getting ready for their ambush in an hour.

The only people left in the room were Lucy, Edmund, Caspian, Susan and Trufflehunter, all of who had spared Alexandra a spare glance.

The first one to speak up was Edmund, "Alex, are you okay?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

He just nodded and followed the rest out of the room, getting ready to sharpen his blade and place his armour on his body.

Lucy was next, she sauntered over to where the Crimson Knight was sat and welcomed Alex's arm over her shoulder. "Do you believe that Aslan will save us this time?"

"I believe that he will do what he thinks is right," she replied solemnly, "Isn't that what he always does? He will wait until we need him the most and then he will show himself."

"But he didn't show when you needed him the most. When you were sick? What about then?" Susan asked from across the room. Caspian's head whipping to and from the girls as they spoke.

Alex was slumped. She didn't have the answer that the girls needed to hear, what she needed to hear too, so she had to make something up. "Did I need him? I managed to make it through, didn't I? I believe that Aslan would have helped me if he thought that I needed to be helped. Go, be with Peter. I just need a second with Trufflehunter."

The badger's head popped up upon hearing his name, his eyes watching as Lucy, Susan and Caspian went to climb the steps further into Aslan's How. Caspian's hand rested on the stone entrance and he turned, waiting for the two sisters to be out of earshot, "Well, I believe that you don't believe what you said. I believe that you only said what you think they needed to hear, and that for once in your life you should put yourself first."

She nodded with a small smile, once again it didn't quite reach her eyes and once again, he noticed.

Once Caspian was gone, it was just the badger and the knight and the Stone Table.

"You said that I wouldn't be needing the armour I was going to take from the carriage, what did you mean?" she asked.

The badger motioned his head to a small hallway that peered off from the Stone Table. The room that she walked into was much smaller and much darker, the only light coming from the torch in her hand.

In the centre of the room was an armour stand holding shiny, iron armour.

Her armour.

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