CHAPTER 17
POSTED 6/17/19
Mary should've been on cloud nine after she and Edmund shared that brief but special moment, but things were going south for the Narnians. The Telmarines had many more armies to spare whereas they were being taken down little by little. When the griffins in the air were shot one by one, Peter knew that he couldn't afford to lose more lives. They just couldn't win. He turned away from the battle and searched for Susan, locking eyes with his sister still situated on top of Aslan's How.
"Lucy?" he asked worriedly. Susan could read his lips and the look on his face was enough to tell her what he had asked. She scanned the crowd briefly, but there wasn't any sign of her. With a disappointed expression, she shook her head.
Peter looked back at the latest army approaching them. They had no choice left.
"Back to the How!" he declared. The Narnians quickly obeyed and made their retreat.
Edmund looked at Mary and stuck his hand out for her to take. She grasped it and he pulled her up with ease to sit behind him. After wrapping her arms around Edmund's waist, the boy slapped the reigns of his horse to gallop back into the How.
"Cut off their escape!" Lord Sopespian ordered upon seeing them attempt to leave. The Telmarines released numerous catapults in a row, successfully destroying the How's entrance. Edmund pulled the reigns back when he noticed the How start to crumble. His horse neighed and raised its to front legs, halting in its steps. Edmund and Mary watched sadly as some of the Narnians became victims of the destruction of the How, the debris falling down on them and burying them before they could even realize it.
Peter's eyes widened and his heart tugged painfully. Susan had almost fallen off during this as well, but Trumpkin tried to hold on to her. Caspian and Peter, who now stood next to one another, shared worried looks. Thankfully, she had fallen down on another landing safely.
"There's no way out," Mary pointed out to Edmund. He forced the horse to face the battle once again and they watched the scene unfold before them. Edmund turned his head ever so slightly to glance at Mary. No words were needed to be said as they knew what they had to do now. He hopped off of his horse first, lending a hand to Mary once again for her to climb down as well. Then, the two of them rushed to stand next to Peter, Caspian, and Susan.
On the other side of the field, Sopespian smiled wickedly.
"Crush them all."
The Narnian troops continued to fight until their last breath. No matter how badly they were outnumbered, they didn't give up. It moved Mary to see the Narnians remain so brave and noble and she promised herself she would do the same.
Edmund left his crossbow on his horse, glanced at Peter, then unsheathed his sword to signal that he was ready. Peter nodded at each one of them — his brother, Susan, Caspian, and even Mary — before staring at the battle before him determinedly. With the High King of Narnia in the lead, they charged back into the battle.
Mary felt Reepicheep jump onto her shoulder as she ran towards the Telmarines. The two shared determined looks at one another as they fought off the first few men that approached them. Reepicheep jumped onto the face of one of them while Mary sliced her sword across his chest. The mouse then jumped off of the soldier and attacked another while Mary fought off a different one as well. So many things were going on at once that she didn't really know was happening; she was just swinging, kicking, hitting, and dodging. It never seemed to end, though. As tired as she was, the adrenaline and determination running through her veins kept her going. But the next set of soldiers that Sopespian ordered were closing in on them. Mary wondered if this was the end for them.
From her peripherals, Mary saw Caspian fall down into the pit. After plunging her sword into the side of a soldier, she rushed to the edge to look for him. She gasped when she saw General Glozelle running towards him with a deadly pike. Fumbling for the dagger stashed in her armor, Mary hoped for the best and made her way down the pit, just close enough to be able to throw it at the man. She wasn't very good with weapons that relied on aiming form afar (she vaguely remembered Caspian trying to teach her how to use a crossbow and she ended up missing), but luck seemed to be on her side when it at least landed on his arm. It wasn't enough to injure him badly, but it was enough for him stop as he yelped, dropping the pike to grasp his arm. And then, he looked at Mary, anger filling his features when he realized it was her. Caspian too looked up in surprise, eventually finding that it was her who had helped him. Then, Glozelle chose to change his target, hurriedly picking up his pike and making a run for Mary instead. Caspian scrambled up to his feet to help, but a large tree root had suddenly burst out from the pit and wrapped itself around Glozelle, tugging him away and slamming him onto the the roof of the pit to knock him out. Mary and Caspian looked at one another in shock.
"Have they always been able to do that?" Caspian breathed out.
Mary shrugged. "Don't ask me. I've been here for about two weeks."
The two of them watched as more tree roots began grabbing the Telmarines around them. The floor started to rumble as well when trees shot out from the ground, moving and stretching to block and take down the enemy like they had a mind of their own. They used to dance, Mary recalled Lucy say back on the boat on the day they entered Narnia. It felt like ages ago.
Caspian and Mary got out of the pit and saw what was happening more clearly. Sure enough, trees were growing out of every possible patch of soil available and were attacking only the Telmarines, leaving the Narnians unharmed amidst all the chaos.
"Lucy," Peter said knowingly, a small smile playing on his lips.
The other Pevensie's eventually found their way next to their brother as well. Edmund walked over to Mary, calmly saying, "Watch out."
"What?"
Edmund gently pulled her aside just as one of the larger trees plunged its roots back into the ground. It shot out into the direction of the Telmarines from underground, the men shouting in fear as they tried to run away but failing when the roots re-emerged from below, breaking the earth where they stood. Soldier fell into the cracks and the machines broke as if they were nothing as a consequence.
"For Aslan!" Peter yelled, raising his sword.
Once again, the Narnians charged, this time with more hope and confidence.
"We can defeat them if we draw them to the river!" a soldier told Sopespian.
"We must regroup. To Beruna!" Sopespian agreed.
"To the bridge!" the Telmarines shouted, making their way back into the forest.
The Narnians continued to follow them into the woods, not backing down. She and Edmund caught up with some of the soldiers and sought to attack them before they could get any farther. Mary gasped when a Telmarine swung his sword to her stomach. She jumped back to avoid it, but it grazed her and created a long but shallow cut. Edmund heard her and whipped around immediately, shouting at the Telmarine soldier before hitting him over the head with his shield.
"Are you okay?" he asked, examining the scratch. It tore a part of her shirt and didn't look too bad despite its length, but he was still worried.
"I'm fine," Mary reassured. "He didn't cut me that deep."
"But —"
"I swear. It's light and it didn't hit anything important."
Edmund bit his lip but nodded.
"Let's go, then."
From the pit, Glozelle had just woken up after being knocked out by the trees. He blinked in confusion, wondering why everyone was running to where the forest was. He scrambled out of the pit, head throbbing as he realized they were heading to the river. He recalled what happened before he lost consciousness; he killed a Narnian, saw Caspian and contemplated killing him, the girl from the prophecy threw a dagger at him, and then he was knocked out. With an angry grunt, he sought after that brunette girl. Miraz had commanded him to kill her earlier, and while he initially hesitated, he now wanted to get back at her for hitting him with a dagger.
It didn't take him long to catch up with everyone. He had found an abandoned horse nearby and rode it to follow the battle. Many of the Narnians didn't recognize him as a Telmarine as they were too engrossed with following the actual army into the river. Soon, he recognized a few faces: High King Peter, Queen Susan, and Prince Caspian leading the Narnians. A little ways from them was King Edmund. And then, just a few more feet away from him was the girl — Mary.
Mary, oblivious to what Glozelle was plotting behind her, continued to fight. She eventually separated from Edmund, but she was comforted by the fact that she could at least see a few Narnians nearby, including the bear, some of the mice, and Trumpkin. At one point, a Telmarine soldier had a sword pointed at her throat, but Trumpkin had helped her by jumping on the man and slicing his throat himself.
Still on his horse, Glozelle stayed away from all the fighting and searched through his armor for any weapons. He had dropped his sword earlier and didn't pick up the pike he was about to kill Caspian with either. Instead, he found a dagger hidden in his vest and almost smiled at the irony. He fished it out and hopped off of his horse, dodging the Narnians and Telmarines fighting next to him to make his way to Mary unnoticed. He hid behind one of the trees and watched as she was busy fighting. It was easy to aim for her; she wasn't moving from place to place that much, choosing to attack only the Telmarines nearest to her. He positioned his hand and his heart pounded in his ears, hesitation filling him up once again.
Miraz was gone. He didn't need to follow his orders. And the girl had only thrown a dagger at him to protect Caspian, who Glozelle didn't even have the heart to kill on his own. He was about to lower his weapon when a fellow Telmarine approached him.
"Do it, General," the man encouraged, breathless from fighting. Glozelle looked at him in surprise but didn't move. "This was what we planned to do after all."
Glozelle was reluctant. He could run away now and not get involved anymore. But as a general, he didn't want to seem weak, either. When he still didn't answer, the other Telmarine continued to force him to strike.
"Do it now, General!" he repeated. Pressured by his words, Glozelle did as he was told and released the dagger. He watched in horror when he realized what he had actually done as the knife landed perfectly on the girl's stomach.
A/N: Not a very long chapter but oh my goodness, Mary :< Ahhh just a few more chapters to go and I'll be done with this book!