The five of them stood in the professor's library and watched as he slowly lowered the crystal into the greenly coloured liquid in a glass on the desk. And nothing seemed to happen.
'Why is nothing changing?' Peter asked frustrated.
Edmund looked back onto the recipe for the potion in the book. 'It says it will take about a day for it to fully work...'
'What?!' Peter yelled.
'That means the crystal will still be in power when the Manchez's armies hit our shores...' Caspian uttered, a certain amount of fear and sadness in his tone.
'I think it might work better that way...'
Peter looked confused at his older sister. 'Why is that?'
'Because they believe the crystal, and the woman wearing it, is their secret weapon. She is their secret weapon, and by the time they want to use that secret weapon, she will powerless. Their siege will come to an end.'
Edmund nodded. 'She has a point.'
Peter nodded. 'Alright. We prepare for battle, continue as planned. Dad's insight has given us an advantage, and we need to use it. We ride for the camp tonight.'
Edmund, Caspian and Susan nodded.
'And what am I supposed to do while all of this is going on?
'We need you here, Lucy.' Caspian's words had a warmth to them. 'There is a small chance that Manchez might try to take the castle, with men hidden in the forest. There are men and creatures ready to defend the castle, but someone needs to lead them. And you have a better instinct for this than you know yet yourself. And not even Peter or myself fighting alongside our army can motivate our soldiers as you can, Lucy. We need you to protect our home.'
Lucy smiled with pride. 'You can count on me.'
'And all of Narnia will as well.'
It was already dark out when Peter, Edmund, Susan and Caspian reached the battle camp with their personal guard. Their generals debriefed them quickly on the status of their armies, and the boats coming in from the sea. By their estimates, Manchez's men would reach the shore by 7 in the morning, and they had to be ready for the attack.
By 5, the camp was awake and alive. People and creatures dressed for battle, sharpening their weapons one last time. Griffins returning from their scouting missions, and the monarchs providing last minute orders to their generals and captains. Everyone was jittery and nervous. Sure, they had a large army, and the kings and queens of old had won battles unexpectedly twice before. But either way, war is a messy business, and the army was more than aware of that.
As they prepared, the sky became lighter, and outlines of warships approaching the beach. The battle was approaching.
Lucy paced through the throne room as the sun rose in the sky. She didn't know what was happening at the beach, and worried about the blood which would darken the sea to which she was named Queen. Come morning, she had gone to the Professor's library and saw how the crystal was slowly cracking. But she knew her brothers and sister would not be safe until that crystal was broken. And all she could do, was wait, while miles away the people she loved were fighting for their lives.
They were doing well. Really well. The soldiers on the boats were not prepared for an attack on the beach, and it worked in the advantage of the kings and queen. More than half of Manchez's army was down before midday, but Peter knew his men were getting tired. Edmund had lost his shield and helmet, and Caspian had taken a hard blow to the head when he ran to protect Susan. The beach and sea water were darkened with blood, and many men lay scattered on the sand. How many were still breathing, Peter didn't know.
A horn blew on the ship, and Manchez's men pulled back. It gave the Narnians a chance to regroup and come together again. Caspian was relieved to see so many of his men still standing, but his relief was short lived. Manchez's men parted and out walked a young girl, barely older than Lucy. Her face similar to that of Antionio Manchez, but her hair was white, and her clothes almost seemed to be frosted with snow. Around her neck hang a necklace with a small white crystal, which seemed to glow.
'How much longer do you think until the potion works?' Peter asked his brother, as he swallowed the lump in his throat.
'Longer than I hope.'
The woman raised her arm, yelled and charged forward. Anything she touched turned to ice, and she fought alongside the army, holding a frozen sword, which turned her victims to icy statues.
After only 15 minutes, the Narnians had lost about a 100 men, while Manchez lost only 20.
'Give up, little kings.' The woman's voice sounded strange, for it wasn't just her voice they heard. She spoke with 2 voices; her own, and that of Jadis, the white witch, who still wished to take revenge upon the kings who brought her defeat. 'You can't win this battle.' She laughed, but her voice wavered. The ground shook, and for a moment the light in her crystal brightened. Then, it shattered into a million pieces, small enough to be hidden forever in the sand. The young girl fell to her knees, grasping for air, and Manchez's men surrendered. The Narnian army cheered, they had won the battle, protected their homeland. Their enemy, was defeated.
Peter and Edmund embraced one another, laughing. As they turned to hug their sister, they found her occupied by Caspian, who had his own arms wrapped around her, and his lips pressed upon hers.
The young kings smiled. 'Looks like they are pre-occupied.' Edmund laughed.
Peter turned away and found a griffin close by.
'Please fly back to the castle and inform our sister that our enemy is defeated. We are all safe, and will return to her as soon as we can.' Peter called.
The griffin bowed his head and flew off. The two brothers walked along the beach, taking in the damage, of the battle. Neither of them had gotten seriously injured, but many of their soldiers had. And although their losses were far fewer than Manchez's, every lost soldier was one too many for the kings. They stood by the water, and watched out over the sea.
'Looks like Lucy's sea took in quite a lot of blood.' Edmund muttered.
Peter nodded. 'She won't be happy about it.'
'The sea will clean itself over time.' Caspian spoke as he and Susan approached them. The brothers turned to face them. 'One day it will once again shine as brightly, as the smile of the queen it was dedicated to.'
Peter smiled as he watched Susan's hand in Caspian's and saw the look upon her face as she looked at the young, dark haired king. 'Caspian, you have my blessing.'
Caspian smiled, and both Edmund and Susan looked confused.
'Blessing for what?' Edmund asked, but he would not get an answer from his brother, instead he watched as his friend knelt down in front of his sister.
'My dear Susan, you have held my heart in your hands ever since the day I laid my eyes upon you. I have dreamt many nights of your return after you left, hoping one day I would be allowed to see you smile again. My wish was fulfilled, and I was blessed to have you brighten my days once more. And I would wish for it to be that way forever. My Gentle Queen. I love you with all my heart and soul, and I pray you feel the same. I ask you, would you give me the honour, of marrying me?'
Susan gasped slightly, and tears welled in her eyes as she heard Caspian speak. She turned to look to Peter for a second, making sure he was okay with it. He nodded with a wide smile on his face. Susan let herself smile, a warmth encompassing her heart as she said "Of course I would.".
Around them the soldiers cheered as Caspian stood up and kissed his love, and she wrapped her arms around his neck.
They could hear the men around them chant "Long live the king, long live the queen." And when later that day the 4 monarchs rode back to the castle, the soldiers sang joyous songs, as they rode along.
A/N I'm sorry it took so long, but I am absolutely terrible at writing battle scenes and it took me while until I knew what I wanted for this chapter. I hope you guys liked it, and forgive me for not writing much about the battle itself. I think there will be 1 maybe 2 chapters left in this story to wrap it all up, and I hope I will have them up sooner than I had this chapter. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, please let me know in the comments.