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𝐋𝐎𝐂𝐊𝐄𝐃 𝐈𝐍 𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐀𝐒𝐋𝐀𝐍'𝐒 𝐇𝐎𝐖 and with the roaring snowstorm outside, it was nearly impossible to tell the time. However, as the torches on the walls slowly died down and Darkan prepared to light the fourth set, he figured the sun should be well on its way to drive back the night.

No one had expected to fall asleep; it felt like the unknown evil lurked in the shadows beyond the flames, but as the minutes had passed by, their exhaustion had taken over.

Darkan had volunteered to take the first watch but when he had tried to wake Edmund for the second one, the seventeen year old had mumbled something incoherently and had immediately fallen back asleep. Darkan had taken over his watch and Caspian's, as it wasn't the first time he would have a sleepless night.

Mina rolled towards her other side when Darkan walked past her spot on the stone floor to switch the burned out torch with a new one, but the soft current of air was the last push to her already waking mind. With a sigh, she rolled onto her back and stretched her arms above her head. Her lower back hurt from the flat ground and the tip of her nose felt ice cold.

'Good morning,' Darkan whispered when Mina pushed the thick blanket away and sat up straight.

She returned the greeting, expecting it to be Caspian, but after rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, she frowned when she noticed Caspian still being fast asleep a few places away from her.

'Darkan?' Mina asked, recognizing his posture as he switched another torch for a new one. 'Have you been up all night?'

Darkan shrugged and walked to the last died out torch. 'I have, but it's quite all right. I wasn't really tired.'

Mina raised an eyebrow in disbelief. Even from this distance she could see the dark circles under his eyes, the colour amplified by the dancing flames near his face.

'Besides,' Darkan added as if he could sense her disbelief, 'I tried waking Edmund and Caspian for their watch, but if looks could kill, I would have been very dead. Taking over their watch seemed like the safer option.'

He sat down on the same spot he had been sitting all night, his unsheathed sword resting over his crossed legs as he kept an eye on the sleeping people and the only opening of the round cave.

Mina suppressed a groan when every muscle in her legs protested as she got up. Yesterday's journey through the snow and the night on the stones had taken a toll on her body, but at least the sleep had calmed down her mind. The visions in the mist had been awful, yes, but it had only been mist. It seemed kind of silly now to stay afraid of it.

Darkan gave her a curious look when she sat down next to him. She laid her bow on her knees in the same as he had put his sword and she gave him a quick smile.

'You can get some sleep now. I'll keep an eye out until the others wake up as well,' Mina said.

'I'm not sure if that's a─,' Darkan's voice got cut off when Mina waved away his words.

'If something happens, I'll scream as loud as I can and fire arrows at whatever it is. I promise.'

'You do know how to use a bow, then?' he asked, and Mina pretended she had to think thoroughly about that question.

'I do know I should aim the pointy end of the arrow at the target.'

Darkan chuckled softly to not wake up the others. 'Well, that's a relief. I feel safer already.'

Mina playfully shoved his arm. 'It'll be fine. My father taught me archery when I was younger. It's been a while and it's different than waving a wand, but I'm sure I'll manage. Go get some sleep.'

'Waving a wand?' Darkan repeated in a confused tone, and Mina visibly stiffened.

'Just an inside joke between me and my friends. It's nothing,' she quickly made up. They still hadn't told the otherworlders they were actually wizards and witches, but after they had called Jadis a White Witch with so much hatred last night, Mina wasn't sure if they ever would tell them.

Darkan observed her from aside for a moment, his blue eyes wandering over the soft bone structures of her face while Mina tried to avoid his gaze. She felt a blush appearing on her cheeks and she hoped the orange hue of the flames made it impossible for him to notice it.

'Very well then,' Darkan started, standing up and sliding his sword back into its sheath. 'Scream if something happens, and do try not to fall back asleep.'

Mina stared up at him with an indignant expression, her mouth open and her hand pressed against her chest to feign her pain. 'Fall back asleep? Thank you for your trust in me.'

Darkan smirked back at her over his shoulder before slipping under a blanket at the edge of the group. He was already fast asleep when he tucked his arm under his head, his exhaustion taking over.

His mind drifted from adventures long ago to recent events, and he had another confrontation with Lord Orchraid when someone shook at his shoulder. In an instinct, Darkan grabbed the dagger hanging at his belt while grabbing the wrist of the stranger as well.

Their hand still laid on his shoulder and he forcefully yanked it away. He half-expected to meet Lord Orchraids' cold eyes when he pressed the dagger against their throat, but instead he looked into the startled ones of the Lord's daughter.

Darkan muttered a curse under his breath, quickly letting go off Noelle's wrist and dropping the dagger. 'I am so sorry,' he said as he pushed himself up and the blanked slid off his shoulders.

Noelle rubbed over the sore spot, Darkan hadn't drawn blood but it had been close. She took a few deep breaths to calm herself down.

'Bad dream?' she asked, moving her hand away from her throat to her red hair and brushing some strands behind her ear.

Darkan hummed in agreement, pinching the bridge of his nose as he tried to push the dream to the back of his mind.

'I apologize for waking you already, but breakfast is ready,' Noelle said and as if on cue, the scent of warm porridge oat drifted their way.

Darkan's stomach rumbled and Noelle smiled. She got back on her feet and gestured for Darkan to follow her before patting some dirt off her dark trousers. They walked towards the others at the other end of the cave whose voices were no longer hushed now that everyone was awake.

June stirred in the cauldron filled with porridge, the delicious smell filling the area, and Lucy handed her the first bowl.

'Good morning, sleepy head,' June said to Darkan, but before he could protest against her words, she laughed and gave him the filled bowl.

'Just joking,' June continued. 'Next time you should just kick Ed. That sure will wake him up.'

Edmund shot his sister an angry glare but then apologized to Darkan who sat down next to him, his hands firmly clasped around the warm bowl.

'Apology accepted, but next time I will kick you. King or no King,' Darkan joked and Edmund chuckled.

'That seems fair.'

Peter and Caspian entered the cave just when June filled the last three bowls.

'And?' she asked, handing the boys their breakfast before sitting down on the ground between Lucy and Edmund.

'The snowstorm hasn't died down at all,' Caspian answered with a suppressed sigh.

'It seems we will be stuck here for at least another day. Maybe even longer,' Peter added, laying his sword on the ground and sinking down next to Elodie.

Elodie had already finished her porridge and lifted up Peter's sword after his permission. She gently ran her fingers over the golden knob that represented a lion, and an idea popped in her head.

'We could use that time to train?' she asked, looking up sideways at Peter, but he stared mesmerized at her hands.

'We have all been giving those wonderful weapons,' Elodie continued, pretending she didn't feel her heart fluttering in her throat and focussed on Caspian instead. 'But most of us have no idea how to use them.'

'Indeed,' Ella said. 'If the Voice really wants to attack Cair Paravel, we need to be ready.'

Phoenix clapped in his hands, jumping up and attempting to unsheathe his sword in a smooth movement, but once again it faltered halfway and clattered on the ground; barely missing Giulia as well.

'Oops, sorry,' Phoenix said, picking up his sword and pointing it high into the air.

'I too vote for training,' he said in a solemn tone, but then his arm started to tremble and he lowered the sword again. 'Man, those things are heavy.'

They all laughed and Caspian nodded.

'Training it is.'

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𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒓'𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒆:

𝒔𝒐, 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒐𝒇𝒇, 𝒔𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒔𝒐 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆.
𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒆𝒙𝒉𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒌 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆.
𝒔𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇𝒇, 𝒚𝒂𝒚, 𝒍𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒚 𝒏𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒆𝒏!
𝑰 𝒉𝒐𝒑𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖'𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒆𝒏𝒋𝒐𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒔𝒐 𝒇𝒂𝒓; 𝑰 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒅𝒐 𝒆𝒏𝒋𝒐𝒚 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒕!
𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒘𝒉𝒐, 𝑰 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒚 𝒕𝒖𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒙𝒕 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓!

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𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓:

𝑫𝒂𝒓𝒌𝒂𝒏 𝑬𝒗𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒚 @ 𝒎𝒆
𝑴𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒌𝒔𝒉𝒊 𝑩𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒂𝒍𝒆 𝒃𝒚 RockingGirl06
𝑵𝒐𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒆 𝑶𝒓𝒄𝒉𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒃𝒚 Detective_Pevensie
𝑱𝒖𝒏𝒆 𝑷𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒆 𝒃𝒚 IRIS-123roosje
𝑬𝒍𝒐𝒅𝒊𝒆 𝑩𝒆𝒍𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒕 𝒃𝒚 @ 𝒎𝒆
𝑬𝒍𝒊𝒛𝒂𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒉 𝑹𝒐𝒔𝒃𝒆𝒓𝒈 𝒃𝒚 -MoonlightRose-
𝑷𝒉𝒐𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒙 𝑻𝒂𝒚𝒍𝒐𝒓 𝒃𝒚 Avengers14
𝒂𝒏𝒅
𝑮𝒊𝒖𝒍𝒊𝒂 𝑨𝒃𝒂𝒓𝒂 (𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚) 𝒃𝒚 GwynethStarks

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