The Return of the Pevensies (sequel to The Fifth Pevensie)

Chapter 17: Ironhoof Tries Again

"Assemble on that bank!" I shouted and pointed to where the confused remains of the Telmarine army would go. I did have my sword out, but it wasn't needed. All of them did as they were told. They dropped their weapons and walked where they should go without harming anyone.

I watched them slowly walk through the river, dropping their weapons when they reached the other shore. I then looked back at the bigger crowd of soldiers left on this side. They were surrounded by our army. Not everyone could go over at the same time, we only sent over groups of ten people at the same time. We had to have control over them.

"Hey, are you alright?" a voice asked. I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked up. Ironhoof. I shook his hand off me and glared at him.

"What do you want?" I asked. I was still a bit angry at him, for not trusting Jake. I bet he's not even sad that Jake is dead.

"I asked you if you were alright," he said. "Are you injured?"

I shrugged, but immediately regretted it. I had forgotten about that cut on my arm. I sheathed my sword and tried to get a good look on hit. I felt that the blood was still flowing, though very slowly. I looked at my arm and saw that my tunic arm was drenched in blood.

Ironhoof followed my gaze and whistled.

"That don't look so very good," he said. "Let me help you with that."

Before I could protest, he was wrapping a piece of cloth around the wound. The bandage sat a bit tight, but it was supposed to do that. The pain was more of a slight ache now, something I didn't care so much about. My whole body was aching.

"Thank you," I said to Ironhoof.

"You're welcome," he said. He didn't leave, he stayed right beside me. I didn't want to talk to him anymore and tried to ignore him. An uncomfortable silence grew between us while we watched the Telmarine soldiers.

"Well, Emily, there is something..." Ironhoof begun after a too long awkward silence, but another voice drenched his.

"Emily!" Susan shouted and I turned around. She waved for me to come over to where she, Edmund, Caspian and Peter were.

"I'm sorry, Ironhoof, but can we talk later?" I said and ran towards Susan. I nearly slipped at some points, but I made it to them without falling.

"What is it?" I asked. Edmund nodded towards Lucy and Aslan. We five walked through the river. Caspian walked between Edmund and Peter, Susan walked beside Peter and I was beside Susan. When we reached the other side, my boots and my trousers up to my knees were soaking wet. The water wasn't that cold, though, so I didn't mind.

I avoided looking at Aslan and instead looked at Lucy. She seemed to be alright. At least I hoped she was alright. She looked happy, strangely enough.

I fell on my knees before Aslan. The others did as well. I stared at the ground and didn't look up.

"Rise, Kings and Queens of Narnia," Aslan said. I looked up and stood up, just like Susan, Peter and Edmund. I quickly looked at Aslan, but every time I did I just thought of everything bad I'd done in the past. I looked down on the ground again and became very interested in the stones which I stood upon.

"All of you," he continued. Who did he mean? I looked to my right and saw that Caspian was still kneeling. He looked up at Aslan.

"I do not think I am ready," he said.

"It's for that very reason I know you are," Aslan said. Caspian slowly stood up. He looked at us, and then backwards. I heard some sort of music and looked backwards too. I saw a group of mice coming towards us, carrying a stretcher. On it was Reepicheep. He looked like he was close to death.

The mice put the stretcher down in front of us and Lucy ran up to Reepicheep. She bent down beside him and gave him a drop of her healing drops. He gasped and sat up.

"Thank you, Your Majesty," he said and stood up. He saw Aslan and started rambling about what a great honor it was for him to finally meet him, and while everyone's attention was on him, I slowly walked away from them. I needed to be alone.

I walked along the shore and looked at the water. Now when everything was over, and I didn't have to fight anymore, I was really tired. I found a rather big stone and sat down on it. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining and it was warm outside.

However, I was freezing. I wished I had my cloak here, but I lost it in the battle. I rubbed my eyes and yawned. I closed my eyes. My eyelids were just so heavy. A moment of rest couldn't be too much to ask for, right?

"Emily," Ironhoof said. Annoyed, I opened my eyes and glared at him. He didn't care and continued talking.

"There is something I have to tell you," he said.

"Go on," I said and stood up. Everything started swaying back and forth and I had to grab his arm to stay standing. "I'm fine." I shook my head and tried to make the blur inside my head disappear.

"I'm still here," he said. I looked at him, not understanding what he meant. Then my brain connected and stared at him.

"I'm still here, and he is dead," he said. "Jake is dead, Emily. You have to move on."

I backed away from him, tears stinging in my eyes. Jake might be dead, but that don't mean that I can move on this quickly!

"I don't care if he is dead, I still won't choose you! I do not love you, Ironhoof. Accept that," I said and walked away from him. I had to stop before I could get as far away from him as I wanted. My head felt like it was on fire and I couldn't focus my gaze upon anything. What was happening to me?

"Emily? Emily!" I heard Ironhoof's voice from far away. Everything was rocking back and forth. Then I realized it was I that was rocking back and forth. I couldn't stand up straight. Everything got blurry, and I fell backwards. I lost consciousness.