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

Chapter 8- Resistance Put to Rest

"Your Queen is smart," the harpy said. "She's refusing to resist because she knows it'll get ugly. Even as phoenix."

They were silent, listening to what the creature had to say. Everyone knew it wouldn't drop me. I would just transform. So they were trying to figure out what exactly he wanted. Right now I was just good leverage to get them to pay attention.

"Don't even try to shoot me. The arrows will just bounce off. I'm magical. Nothing can harm me," as he said this everyone lowered their bows including Rilian. "Smart choice. Now, your Queen and I are going to have a little discussion. You can choose to surrender and she'll be released to you unharmed. Or you can go back to your castle and work out a rescue plan. But by the time you find her, the Queen will be dead."

Rilian's face filled with worry while Caspian's showed he was thinking. Surrender wasn't something we did. But choosing between my life and my death, I knew what Caspian would chose. It wasn't a hard choice. Caspian was about to answer when I spoke up.

"Wait!" I said.

Caspian knew I was talking to him instead of the creature holding me. The harpy, however, didn't. He had been thrown off guard.

"Yes?" it asked.
"Rilian! Shoot my bow," I shouted to him.
The creature laughed. "Maybe you're not as smart as I thought. Didn't you hear a word I said? I can't be harmed."

Ignoring the harpy, I yelled at Rilian again. Everyone was confused, even Caspian. Rilian raised my bow and aimed. He didn't shoot. His hands were shaking again.

"You have to trust me, Rilian. It's okay. Just remember what I told you," I told him.

His hands stopped shaking. Before he released the arrow, he paused. He was waiting for my reassurance. I knew it would work. At least long enough for me to get away. While the harpy cackled at Rilian, I remembered what Father Christmas had told me when I first received my bow.

-Flashback-
She expected him to grab his bag and put it back in his sleigh. Instead he reached back in and grabbed another bow and arrow set.

"Ana?" he said to her.
"Yes?" she said as she came forward.
"These are very special. Aslan had them made just for you. No magic can be used on them. Which means no one can damage your arrows or the bow using magic. Not even the White Witch. They'll even be able to hit any magical creature you should encounter, even if they can deflect other weapons. Your arrows will still hit. If you trust in it you'll never miss a target."
"But I don't want to fight. I never liked war or violence," she told him.
"That's a choice you made. I would never have you make the choice. It's all up to you. Just be warned that you'll have to choose at some point."
"I understand. Thank you."
-End of flashback-

I nodded at Rilian. Caspian looked between Rilian and I, trying to figure out what was going on. Honestly, Rilian didn't really know himself. He was just trusting me.

Rilian took a deep breath and let the arrow fly. Everything seemed to move in slow motion. The creature stop laughing and watched the arrow. I began to transform, slowly. The arrow found it's way to the harpy and lodged in its wing. It screeched in pain and loosened its grasp on me. His grasp had loosened just enough that I started to fall. I transformed before I even came close to hitting the ground.

The creature had stopped screeching. Everyone stood shocked. No one actually knew my arrows could hit the creature. Rilian smiled and Caspian looked pleased. The rebels however, cowered. Now that they had lost their only advantage, they grew worried and started backing away.

However the creature wasn't about to give up. With the arrow still lodged in his wing he flew towards the ground. I hadn't landed yet so I knew he was going after the person who shot him. I chased him as he caught closer to Rilian. Caspian didn't even have time to react.

As the harpy went for Rilian, I grabbed his other wing, pulling him another the opposite direction. With his injured wing, and being unprepared for the attack, he screeched and heading towards the ground. We off both hit harshly, rolling to the point that the harpy landed on top of me. My grip on him had released once we crashed the ground.

Knowing that only magic, my arrows specifically, could pierce the creature, I had to transform. Either that or end up setting the whole forest on fire to see if fire would. But I wasn't willing to risk that. Rilian only had the one arrow and my bow. He couldn't shoot him again. The only way was to retrieve one from my quiver. Without thinking about the harpy on top of me, I transform back into a human. It took the creature a moment to realize what happened. Before he had the chance to dig its talons, I quickly reached for one of the arrows in my quiver.

Everyone else could only watch. They realized if they tried to pull the creature off me, they would be killed. If they tried to killed it, their weapons would just deflect off of it.

Once again the harpy placed it claws on my shoulder. I tired to hide a grimace of pain. Before he hand the chance to pick me up, he glanced to him hand. We both paused, debating what the other would do. I was trying to decide the best option. He was probably debating whether or not he could get me away now that he was injured and I held the weapon to kill him in my hand.

Glancing at the arrow in my hand, I realized there was no way I could kill the creature. Not like this. A long time ago, I refused to watch the life disappear from a someone's eyes. It was why I always killed at a distance. I threw the arrow away from the both of us. As I did so, the talons dug deeper into my skin and I grimaced. All I could do was wait.

Everyone present realized what I had just done. I heard Caspian gasp in fear and confusion. I gave up the only chance I had of killing this creature. The harpy realized it too. He leaned into my face. I closed my eyes afraid of what might happen. He whispered something in my ear and then released his grasp. Pushing himself off of me, he flew away. A life, for a life. His wing was injured so he flew slowly and kept dipping close to the ground.

Caspian wasted no time and rushed to my side. He was followed closely by Rilian. The two of them helped me to my feet as our enemies fled deeper into the woods. The fight was over for now. No one had won in the end.

The two of them hugged me and I returned it. However I was in a bit of a daze. What the creature had whispered left me stunned. I didn't even realize Caspian was trying to talk to me. He probably kept saying my name numerous times. I only heard it twice.
"Ana? Ana?" Caspian said, repeating my name.
"What?" I answered coming back from my daze.
"Are you alright?" he asked.
"Yeah. Yeah. I'm fine," I replied slowly. "Let's go home."

They couldn't have agreed more. I picked up my cloak that I had long since removed. It would've impaired my fighting. Walking to Lucille's side, I noticed Caspian right at my heels. Caspian was still worried. Rilian gave me back my bow and collected the arrow I tossed to the ground as I faced Caspian.

"Caspian, I'm alright now. No need to worry."
"I'm not worried about that. What I'm concerned about is why you didn't kill that creature when you had the chance."
"I couldn't. Long ago, I made I promise to myself that I wouldn't."
"Why?"
"It doesn't matter and he's not coming back."

He nodded but still looked like he wanted to know more. However he didn't press and went to his horse's side. I carefully climbed into Lucille's saddle, shoulders aching, and Rilian onto Destrier's. Caspian and Telmarines jumped on the horses they had brought. The rest of our army prepared to leave.

We would have to send more people into the forest to retrieve the others. All of those who had died were to be buried, even from the opposing side. Our numbers had hardly decreased but we did have a few wounded. Five of us had managed to hold back a group four times our size.

It was late now as we headed back. As we rode, Caspian on one side of me and Rilian on the other, I kept repeating what the creature said in my head.
"She will come for you."