After awkwardly walking into the room late, hand in hand, and receiving a knowing yet amused look from both Susan and Lucy, Peter filled us in on ideas.
Caspian thought we should gather our forces and attack before they had the chance to, Lucy argued that our best chance lied with Aslan and that we should focus on finding him. And Peter explained that he wanted to use me as a 'secret weapon' of sorts.
"That wont work." Edmund muttered, without realising how loud he spoke.
peter scrunched up his face "why?"
"We can't use her as a 'secret weapon' " he said stepping towards the table intently "they already know we have her" the room fell silent, i recalled letting that soldier live during the raid, he continued "our best bet is not to use her, they will be expecting us to have this magical advantage and will be preparing defences entirely against that, defences that will be rendered near useless if we use sheer force." As he spoke a smile crept onto his face and his eyebrows arched slightly, he knew he was right, and by the looks of it so did everyone else, exept for Peter and I.
I hated to disagree with Edmund, he did make a really good point, but I needed to help fight, surely we should be making use of my powers.
Before I had chance to articulate my concern, Peter spoke.
"From all that we have heard, and witnessed, we can all agree that Amy is our most valuable asset. Not to use her powers would be, simply put, foolish."
The pause in peters speech allowed me to interject, "I want to help you guys. Saving narnia was why I was brought here with you four, why aslan gave me the roar. So that I would be able to fight for freedom. I can't just hide, they know about me and there's nothing we can do about that now, but I won't just idoly sit back and let you guys endanger yourselves." I squeezed Edmunds hand, hoping he would understand my viewpoint. He squeezed back and I released a sigh of relief while Edmund inhaled as if he was about to speak.
"So what if you use the element of surprise instead of secrecy. We can delay any loss using miraz's pride to our advantage, you say he is stubborn and arrogant?" Edmund questioned caspian, earning a silent nod "Then we challenge him to a delay he cannot refuse, a battle with Peter. Me and Amy will go to thier camp, accompanied of course, and convince him to accept an invitation from peter to deul. It will also help for him to see her in person, he will then predict her attack first if anything goes south. However during the duel she will go with lucy to find aslan, miraz will be expecting her presence at the duel so her absence will really play with his mind giving us an advantage. When you return with aslan, the battle will have started, you, lucy and aslan can attack the telmarine troops when they least expect it. They will expect us to use our greatest force at the start because our numbers are so low, if we can lure them into that false sense of security and then strike, we will win."
I stood, much like everyone else, completely in awe of Edmund. I had heard he was extremely tactical but had no idea he was this smart.
The decision was henceforth unanimous as Edmund stood rightfully proud of his plan.
---
The plan commenced.
Me and Edmund left the mound accompanied by two cenataurs and a rather large cyclops for safety, and as lucy called it added 'scare factor'.
As we emerged Edmund slid his hand away from mine to my utmost dismay and I looked at him worried, confusion brewing under my expression due to his arbitrary action.
"If they see how close we are they'll use it against us," he said scouring the trees in the distance as if expecting danger, when I didn't respond he turned to me sympathetically "sorry".
I nodded it was much safer this way, I did not want the telmarines harming Edmund to use me, as much as he didn't want them to hurt me.
The walk to the telmarine camp was brief but treacherous, it was as if narnia had begun to attack back, branches sticking and poking out, scraping the cenataurs and slicing the bare flesh of the cyclops. Tree roots lay like traps, knitted into the foiliage tripping us up repeatedly. The woods were a warning: go no further...
We reached the camp, all of us on edge and weary. The two cenataurs engaged with the camp guards, showing them Peter's Royal seal to confirm authenticity and truth. The guards, after consulting with another telmarine general, hesitantly let us pass, cautious of our every movement, observing our entire beings as we were escorted towards Miraz and his council.
"Your majesty," one of the guards announced as we reached a blue tinted, makeshift tent of sorts, built of hanging tapestries and furnished with thick rugs underneath heavy mahogany tables. " an enemy group has come in peace, they claim they have a proposal for you"
Behind the dark wooden tables on intricate throne like chairs sat a dozen men, dressed in silver studded armour and pale tinted leather. The man in the centre, who I assumed was miraz, nodded his head subtly, he sat on a chair about a foot taller than any other object in the tent, this chair was carved with extreme precision, covered in engraved swords and crowns and other weapons, I'm not sure why I was looking for it because this was a telmarine camp after all but I was surprised to see that there was no lion present in any of the carvings, I guess I had become accustomed to narnian furniture, and the seemingly violent attributes of telmarine designs caught me off guard. It was at that point I realised just how different narnians were to telmarines.
Miraz sat even more upright than he was already, with difficulty and a clunk due to the excessive amount of weapons attached to his waist.
"Welcome, welcome" he said with a smile that failed to reach his eyes and continued "Lets hear this proposal" wafting his hand as if deterring a fly.
I hated him. He clearly had no regard for anyone but himself and believed his existence superior. I looked at Edmund as he unraveled a scroll with royal seal and, upon clearing his throat began to read aloud...
"I peter, by the gift of Aslan, by election and by conquest, High king of Narnia, Lord of cair paravel and emperor of the lone islands, in order to prevent the abominable effusion of blood, do herby challenge the usurper Miraz to a single combat upon the field of battle. The fight shall be to the death. The reward shall be total surrender."
As Edmund rolled the scroll back into place, miraz leaned forward menacingly.
"Tell me prince Edmund-"
"King." Edmund corrected without looking up from the scroll he has just finished rolling.
Miraz sat back, and almost swallowed the rest of his sentence. "Uh- pardon me?" He asked clearly at the end of his tether, I noticed his hands began to grip at the end of his arm rests, nickles turning white the leather of his armour creaking against the wood.
"Its King Edmund, actually." He continued finally looking up and meeting the sharp glare that peirced out from within miraz, although this did not phase him for he spoke again almost smugly aware of how much he was making miraz's skin crawl "just king though, Peter's the high king." I looked at Edmund, worried he was pushing it with his wit. "I know, it's confusing." He finished with a false sympathetic tone.
Miraz tilted his head in absolute torment and flated his nostrils in disgust, exhaling harshly as not to escalate the situation.
"Why would we risk such a proposal, when our armies" he gestured in the direction of visable soilders outside the tent "could wipe you out by nightfall?"
"Haven't you already underestimated our numbers," Edmund replied raising his eyebrows "I mean, only a week ago, narnians were extinct."
"And so you will be extinct again" miraz replied harshly and his council chuckled at the thought.
"Well then you should have little to fear" Edmund replied swiftly.
Miraz chuckled, leaning back in his chair allowing his chest to ride with his laughter. The sound echoed about the roof and as it reached each member of the council they too erupted into fits of joy one after another, like scared sheep.
Miraz stopped laughing and cleared his throat in attempt to put and end to his councils chuckles. Once he had succeeded he stated "This is not a question of bravery"
"So you're bravely refusing to fight a swordsman half your age?" Edmund asked, and I almost completely lost my composure at his witty remark.
The room went silent. All eyes landed on miraz, who sat aghast. "I didn't say I refused."
"You shall have our support your majesty, " one council member chimed in "whatever your desicion"
And then the man sat on miraz right hand side contributed "sir, our military advantage alone provides the perfect excuse to avoid," he paused searching for the right words, "this.. situation."
Miraz nodded, much to mine ad Edmunds dismay, we needed him to accept the duel it was the only way our plan would work. If his pride didn't get the best of him what would? How were we going to get him to accept?
Edmund looked at me worried, and i returned his expression, we needed to do something, convince miraz somehow that he should partake in the duel, that is was his only option. Time was running out...
"But do you really have the advantage?" I spoke up, my voice growing in confidence with every syllable.
"I'm sorry, who are you?" He asked me with a look of confusion and disregard bubbling under his leather.
"She's the girl from the prophecy" the man next to miraz whispered, fear growing on each face that heard the whispered words.
"Is this true, you're her?" Miraz questioned his eyes wide.
"Yes." Edmund responded "she possesses incredible powers, her magic is equivalent to that of a thousand men. I suggest you reconsider your military advantage carefully."
Miraz glared at me, staring into my eyes with such fury that I could not maintain eye contact and looked uncomfortably at Edmund. I did not want to look into the eyes of that murderous baboon a second longer. All I wanted to do was end him just as he had ended so many other innocent lives. I wanted to tear his life and power apart peice by peice as he watched, watched himself undergo the suffering he had put people through.
I wanted justice.
A whisper began to erupt within my head, "Amy," spreading like a conflagration growing louder and louder. "Amy,"
"Amy!" Edmund hissed nudging me in my side.
"Sorry" I muttered apologetically, utterly bemused at what had just happened and attempting to steady my stance suddenly feeling rather flushed.
I looked back at miraz who was thankfully preoccupied in a hushed discussion with his council. As I felt a hand on my back, Edmund, helping me remain poised on my feet. I knew that we weren't supposed to be giving anything about us away so as much as I needed it I peeled his hand off from me and looked up to see miraz, awaiting our attention.
He inhaled and sat tall as he said "I accept King Peter's invitation to duel. To the death. Thankyou for your time"
Miraz then began to conversate with the other men, completely blocking out our presence, so we left the room.
Once we were a safe distance from prying eyes or ears, I turned to Edmund.
"Ed, you were incredible! I mean, how do you think so fast and know exactly what to say?!"
Looking at me with a grin Edmund chuckled smugly in response, rightfully soaking up my praise.
"You know, when we get back to England of course, you should consider going into politics, you would actually be undefeatable." I laughed out.
"If we do get back" He muttered, suddenly melancholy. Drawing to a halt.
My smile dropped. "Edmund" I said softly taking his hand, "don't think like that, everything will be alright, you said so yourself," I paused weighing up his absent, despondent expression
"hey," i put my palm on his cheek, gently pulling his gaze upwards towards me "so far everything has gone according to plan, let's not let ourselves worry, after all we have got the best swordsman in narnia fighting on our side." I said pushing out a smile. Glad to see I was able to raise the right hand corner of Edmunds mouth with my words.
I let go of his hand and cheek, sliding my arms gently around his waist and nestling my head into his chest, after a second I felt a reluctant hand on top of my head and soon after a benign kiss over my plaited hair.
A deep voice rang from above me "Come on, let's go" and so, taking my hand we navigated through the woods back to safely.
Soon the battle would begin.
---
A/N: hey everyone!! I can't beleive how much this book has grown and how long I've been writing it! Oof! I'm going to finish it soon I promise! I have finally worked our the ending and hopefully everything will link very nicely. As always THANKYOU FOR READING I love you if your still here! <3 :)