𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐡𝐨𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐱 𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 (𝐒𝐂 & 𝐋𝐁)

Chapter 7- Rilian's First Fight

Luckily, my shout alerted Glenstorm enough to avoid being killed. When he turned to look at me, it ended up hitting him in the arm. Still, he left Rilian temporarily unprotected.

As the rebels started to get closer, another archer aimed at Rilian. Before I could even get an arrow out and aimed, Lucille had rushed to Rilian's side. He took her reins, leaving Destrier behind, as she began to run out of danger, dragging Rilian at her side. Once they were out of range, hopefully, from any archer, I watched as Rilian struggled to mount the running horse. He looked over his shoulder at me, a sad look on his face. Rilian was afraid he'd never see me again. I didn't give him any look in return because I didn't know if I would either but didn't want to let him know that.

Instead, I focused on the fight and shot the archer. As the others began to close in around us and I rushed to Glenstorm's side. With an injured arm, he wouldn't be the best fighter he could be. We would help each other. If they got too close I could only hit them with my bow anyways. With their numbers, I knew they would get close and there wouldn't be enough time for me to grab, aim, and shoot arrow after arrow.

Hitting them with my bow wouldn't necessarily kill them. Some would be knocked out and severely injured. Others would just be knocked out. I learned about this after our battle against the Telmarines years ago. That would probably explain why a lot of them were a bit hostile towards me. It caused some serious head injuries when you got hit with an ivory tip.

Hoof beats were approaching, but still quite a distance away. I knew our reinforcements would be here soon, quicker than I expected actually. Hopefully we could keep them back long enough. It was lucky we hadn't travelled far from the castle.

The creatures that were fighting against us weren't the usual ones. They weren't the fauns, centaurs, satyrs, or minotaurs. Instead some were the Narnians that fought along the Witch's side long ago and never switched allegiances. I almost didn't even think it was fair to call them Narnians.

After the Witch's death, many of them disappeared. The minotaurs were the only ones ever spotted. They had quickly became our allies. Apparently, these creatures hadn't died off like we thought. The hag and werewolf back at Aslan's How were the last anyone saw of any of them, besides the minotaurs. They had been hiding all this time. That meant that there were probably thousands of them still in hiding. Their numbers had been increasing, waiting for the perfect moment to attack us. It worried me.

I shot the last arrow I could just before the two groups collided. By ducking and dodging, I was able to avoid being hit. Their archers were just as useless as I was at the time. One by one I watched them go down. They didn't know how to use their bow or any other weapon evidently as the never pulled a blade.

I was the only archer still standing and tried to make my way to a sword. I knew I wasn't the best swordsman—well woman—but, I could defend myself with the skills Caspian taught me. Swords were more useful in this battle.

However if easier if I stayed near Glenstorm and could never get to one. He would take care of any one trying to sneak up on me. I would take care of any that I could see and he couldn't. The two of us were able to last much longer than anyone thought judging by the number of people trying to fight us.

We were outnumbered. There was only five of us to begin with and I figured probably about fifteen to twenty of them. However, they were underskilled. Instead of training and becoming better, they stilled used techniques from years ago. That was how we were able to stay alive as long as we did. Every single one of us was better trained and had more experience than these appeared to.

Just as they had our small group completely surrounded, our help arrived. I sighed in relief as they quickly abandoned us and to go after them. Some still remained but we were able to fight them off. A glance at Caspian appeared that he had brought half of our army. Rilian was with him, still on Lucille's back. Caspian must have met up with them along the way. She'd help keep him safe. I wasn't worried.

Destrier was left alone. I guess they had no need for him or reason to kill a dumb animal, as they were called. Surprisingly the split in numbers between the mute and talking animals was about the same. Most of the talking animals fought with us. The mute ones remained underground or hidden, out of everyone's sight. That was how their numbers increased. However, their numbers would decrease if there were battles and they remained hidden. Many starved to death and that's why their numbers were about the same as a talking beast.

I was now able to use my bow and arrows again. By staying away from the main group, I could shoot them. There were other archers with Caspian but most were unable to get away from the main group. Some managed and joined me, attacking them from the side.

Occasionally some of the rebels would come in our direction but most stayed were the more of the warrior were, knowing they had to keep them back to do any real damage to us. None of them would get very far anyways. They would all fall to the ground, dead, before they got within ten feet of us.

We started to draw the rebels back. They were outnumbered and under prepared. Their numbers began to quickly diminish. Most had already started retreating deep into the forest, trying to hide. We let them go only if we couldn't get to them. They would always be a threat until they were all gone. I was sad that it had to be that way, sad that even after all this time we still couldn't resolve differences.

Just when we thought the battle was over, something flew out of the trees. It  been waiting there the entire time, waiting for was for us to think we were winning. The creature looked like the harpies on the Witch's side. There was only one real difference. None of our archer were able to shoot it, even those with perfect aim. I couldn't get a shot at, too busy pushing the others back. The harpy kept deflecting the arrows, like it was somehow magically protected. I realized that it was their best weapon against us.

Soon we realized its intended target and the shots became more desperate. Thinking that it would be a long shot, I grab an arrow and aimed. Before I could release, the creature grabbed my shoulders with its talons. They dug into my shoulder, causing a sharp pain. The sudden pain forced me to drop my bow. Both it and the arrow fell from my hands, crashing to the ground as the harpy took me higher.

Everyone froze as the creature flew a little higher before stopping, holding the Queen hostage. Telmarines and creatures from both sides looked to the sky. The rebels seemed to have a look of satisfaction. My friends, especially Caspian and Rilian, had a look of worry. Caspian tried to stay objective and not show it. He was trying to think of me as just another warrior and not the Queen or his wife. But no matter how hard he tried, I could still make out the worry.

I started thinking about transforming. It would be dangerous. I would most definitely get hurt since I was still in the creature's grasp. Rilian didn't need to see that. Then I realized that fighting wouldn't really matter. I would have to transform and fight this creature to get away. Both of us would be injured. Possibly really bad. There had to be another way.

Thinking, I thought I figured it out. I looked at my bow and arrow on the ground. Noticing my gaze, Rilian walked forward to them and pick them up. Just like our archers, he aimed it at the creature holding me. His hands were shaking like he was scared. One of the Telmarines fired his crossbow. The bolt just deflected off the harpy and landed on the ground. No one put their bows down but no one fired another shot. They were just waiting for an order or anything. But before anything else could happen the creature spoke.