She stood perfectly still. Clenching the hilt of her sword and moving her fingers around for a good grip, she started slowly scanning the area, thinking carefully.

Vartan, as if reading her mind, pushed the knife harder against Rilian's neck, making him whimper and she watched in silent agony as blood began to slowly ooze down his neck.

"If you try anything and I mean anything, I will kill this boy, and then nothing will stop me from ripping Caspian apart." Vartan spat out, his eyes sparkling with rage, and Lucy knew he meant every word.

There was still a semi circle of no more than twenty men facing her, none of them wearing armor she noted, with Vartan in the middle standing straight ahead of her, and Rilian in front of him, standing as still as stone.

She took a sharp intake of breath, as she realized what she was going to do.

"Oh but haven't you heard the stories?" She began. When she saw Vartan staring at her blankly she continued. "I don't doubt you have heard of my brothers being famous in battle, but did you know they are not the only ones skilled with a blade?" She asked and merely hoped he wasn't able to resist the dare.

He didn't disappoint. "I find that amusing, because only a mere week ago, you didn't even try anything to get out of my dungeon. You have no skills in anything." He said seriously, and yet he somehow thought it important to clench onto Rilian even more. This was a very good sign to Lucy.

"If you don't believe me General," she mocked, "send me two of your men and I'll show you a little sportsmanship." Two men down, meant two less coming after her at once.

Vartan hesitated for some unknown reason, but eventually he sighed.

"Three men. There's your sportsmanship. You three," he said gesturing to the three farthest from him and closest to Lucy. "Kill her." He said coldly and the three reacted quickly.

Lucy however, reacted just as fast. She threw down the sword she was holding, instantly pulled two unseen daggers from her sleeves, and thrust them with great force hitting each man in the the heart before they took three steps toward her.

They fell instantly, and she kneeled and picked up her sword as the last soldier raised up his sword high above his head and had just begun to thrust it down towards her head, when he received a white searing pain in his abdomen that stopped him from preceding any further downward.

Lucy had just pushed her gleaming sword all the way through the man's stomach when she saw another man running towards her, his sword held high.

She pulled the blade out of the injured man and turned around ready for the next opponent.

He lunged his sword straight for her face, but she subconsciously blocked the blade with her own. He then did something very unintelligent. He pulled up his sword high above his head and holding it with both hands, intended to slice her in half. But while he pulled it upwards, she shoved the blade into his lower abdomen, and retrieved it quickly, her sword now dripping with the man's insides, or should I say several mans' insides, before he fell over.

She quickly re-sheathed her now dripping sword, grabbed the two large knives out of both of the men she had just killed, and looked up and saw that the fifteen remaining men stood deathly still, waiting for command. Did she see fear in their eyes? She threw one crimson colored dagger in her left hand at the soldier standing nearest Vartan, hitting him in the middle of the forehead, making sure he knew she wasn't 'playing' around, and so that the soldier wouldn't suffer. The poor man, shocked, fell to the ground quickly and Lucy focused back to Vartan.

"I'll be taking Rilian now, thank you." She said with a voice as hard as steel, tired of not getting any closer to rescuing Rilian.

"All of you, kill her." She heard him bark, and everything seemed to freeze as a total of fifteen men closed in on her.

She heard several yells out of the corner of her eye, and threw the second dagger with her free hand as hard as she could at the man who was closest to her. He was only ten feet away.

The time for throwing blades was over, it had come to the last resort. Combat.

She knew she was surrounded, as they all came running towards her forming a line it seemed, only twenty feet away. What was she going to do?

Fifteen feet.

Ten feet.

Five feet.

"Stop!" She found herself shouting in a commanding tone without thought, and for some idiotic reason, everyone single man stopped. They lowered their swords slightly and for some unknown reason seemed curious on what she had to say.

Oh no I've made them curious, what am I to do? What am I to say?

She had no idea, but whether Aslan had planted an idea in her head or she just suddenly had a brilliant idea she was never sure, but she had an idea just the same.

"Did you hear that?" She asked mysteriously, but it was risky. She saw a couple of men cautiously glance around, and it gave her a little more confidence.

"Do you think it was perhaps, oh I don't know- the Talking Lion that is said to haunt these woods? in fact I believe I saw a glimpse of the Beast myself on my way here." She clearly saw the look of terror on their faces as they looked at her and she struggled to keep a smile hidden.

Now she was getting somewhere.

"I am a friend of the great Lion, so if you kill me, you are surely asking to be killed by Aslan himself." She stated, sounding confident, trying to sound convincing. "I do say, I have never seen fiercer teeth and sharper claws than this Talking Li-"

"You tell lies! Enough of this foolishness! Bring her to me and I will kill her myself, show Caspian a little sportsmanship." Vartan barked.

She stood there frozen not knowing if she had heard him right, stood there, but when rough hands began to grab her, she came back to life.

She unsheathed her sword and dove the blade straight through one of the men grabbing her, retracted her sword in a split second and did the same thing to the other man touching her. Everyone behind seemed frozen as they looked at the two men fall quickly, and it gave her time to shoot her sword through yet another heart quickly. Then suddenly, logic returning to them, all moved toward her, and though she knew she was surrounded, she wasn't going to go down without a fight. She sliced and cut anything exposed, and injured a number of men, but they grabbed her, disarmed, and held her down far more quickly than she was ready.

She kicked and strangled and even screamed trying to wriggle herself free, but to no avail. It was the end, and as they dragged her to Vartan, she knew she did everything she could.

She felt as if she had failed everyone. She knew she had failed Caspian, in trying to retrieve his son. But what made her feel the worst, was she knew she had failed Aslan. He had told her to trust and to listen, and she hadn't. And now it surely was the end.

They threw her roughly on the ground in front of Vartan and Rilian, and she forced herself to look into the child's tear filled eyes.

"Rilian close your eyes, and do not open them no matter what, do you understand?" She said gently as she realized tears were trickling down her face. Oh how she wished she could have succeeded in rescuing him.

"Promise me."

He nodded right before someone forcefully grabbed him and pulled him away, leaving Vartan nothing but a blade in his hand. A blade he intended to kill her with.

Two men forced her to kneel in front of him, and held her down incase she tried anything, while Vartan stepped closer, and she saw a wicked smile on his face.

"Caspian will now realize I don't intend to stall to get what I want." He said with excitement, ready to get the job done. "Now he'll understand I mean what I say." He said with a gleam in his eye as he gripped the blade tighter.

"Hold her down."

The guards gripped her tighter, he moved closer to her, and she could do nothing but sit still.

"I do not fear death." She found herself say aloud, and she realized that she meant it.

Vartan laughed. "Even better, I'm not just going to kill you painlessly, I might as well make it a death to remember." He said with a cold smile and without warning, dove the blade into her shoulder, barely missing the bone.

Lucy wished she were dead as the pain exploded through her entire body.

She cried out in agony, and hoped it would stop. But it didn't. He pushed it through harder until the blade broke through the soft skin on the other side of her shoulder and began to twist and turn the blade inside her flesh, ripping muscle and destroying everything within.

She screamed and cried out in anguish but Vartan wouldn't stop.

She cried out over and over again, unable to keep quiet from the pain, but it was useless. He just kept turning and cutting. And cutting and turning.

And then without warning, he yanked the blade out of her body, and the pain was so excruciating Lucy saw stars dance around her eyes, and her vision began to blacken.

She felt the familiar warm crimson liquid begin to steadily flow out of both sides of her shoulder, but what she heard Vartan next made her wish she were dead.

"Now the other shoulder." Vartan commanded.

She saw him grip the dagger coated with her blood, and she stared up at him, refusing to look away.

"Hold her tighter. I don't want to her try-"

He suddenly stopped when the ground began to rumble violently.

"Do you think it is Caspian and his men sir?" She heard one soldier say.

"Of course it's Caspian." Vartan hissed. "And we yet again have something he wants." She felt his burning gaze on her profile. "Put the wench next to the boy." He commanded suddenly.

Lucy groaned in pain as they yanked her off the ground immediately, and drug her next to Rilian. At that moment Caspian broke through the treeline riding a magnificent gelding, with Peter and Edmund right behind on horses of their own, followed by various Narnian creatures and loyal men holding weapons and hard faces ready for anything.

"Ah Caspian it so good of you to join us." Vartan gloated.

"Vartan!" Caspian screamed as he easily leapt from his horse. "You are outnumbered. Forget this idea of revenge, it is not yet too late." He warned. "Don't be a fool."

"Fool?!" Vartan chortled. "Your grandfather was the fool! We could have been the greatest empire in all of history, but your bloodline was too selfish to share anything!"

"Your father and my grandfather were equally self centered Vartan, and you are just as wicked as both of them." Caspian spoke calmly, as if he were speaking to a furious tempered child.

Meanwhile, Lucy felt so weak it took everything in her to remain standing. She knew if something didn't happen soon, her wound would be fatal.

"This has nothing to do with either of us, you can still walk away-"

"You did not think you could kill my son and not let me murder yours?" Without another word, Vartan shuffled over to where Rilian and Lucy were being held, and unsheathed his sword. When Rilian began to scream, Caspian did not wait for an invitation. "And that will be the last thing you will EVER do." Caspian unsheathed his own great-sword.

Vartan suddenly turned his sword to Caspian, their blades connecting, which created a sharp sound of metal hitting metal. "Is that a challenge boy?" Vartan asked.

Caspian hesitated. He first looked over and saw Rilian's frightened eyes, then gazed over at Lucy's fatigued expression. Her knees buckled and she collapsed to the floor. Their eyes locked. It was his undoing.

"No." Caspian stated simply and re-sheathed his sword. " I came to retrieve my son and my queen, and I came to warn you." His face was somber and his jaw clenched. "You are outnumbered Vartan, and I have more troops on their way as we speak. The great Aslan himself has given me the greatest warriors known to this world." He gestured to Peter and Edmund sitting strongly on their horses. Caspian then turned and looked back to Vartan and took a step closer and whispered.

"So if I were you, I'd give up this foolish idea of revenge."

Vartan, at first, seemed moved by Caspian's threat, and re-sheathed his sword, but that moment changed too quickly. "Would you like to know what I think of your family?" Vartan said with a wicked grin before leaning his mouth to Caspian's ear.

All stood frozen around them listening and watching the interaction, and when Vartan leaned back chuckling, it was only then did Caspian's face change. He seemed dazed when Vartan spoke, but when the evil man leaned back, Caspian's face completely changed. His face turned hard, his fists reflexively began to clench, and his eyes became searing black.

"How. Dare. You." Caspian stated fiercely, and without another word, the King's balled fist slammed into Vartan's gut, stealing the wind from his lungs and hurling him backward. Vartan was so surprised, he stumbled backward, tripped on his feet, and fell downward.

Caspian's face grew somber and so emotionlessly frightening, that I'm sure if you were put in Vartan's situation, you would indeed be afraid for your life.

Caspian slowly unsheathed his sword and silently walked up to Vartan, pushing his blade with pressure just under Vartan's chin. Everyone around them were completely still.

Caspian put both hands on the sword and was moving around for a firm grip ready to push the sword through, ending the life who had almost taken everything from him. Fire lit his eyes, and he completely forgot his surroundings, all sense of time. All was deathly silent. He took a deep breath, before acting, but was suddenly interrupted.

"Caspian not here." Edmund warned, as he pointedly looked over to Rilian.

It was all he could do to look away from the lowly serpent that was at his feet, and look at Edmund. He then looked at Rilian, and saw the innocence in his sons eyes. And it was then that he knew that matter had to wait. Caspian looked back at the man at his feet and slowly leaned in.

"If you try anything again, you will surely die. this is your last chance." Caspian spat, and suddenly turned nodded at Peter and Edmund. "Take your men and leave in haste!" Caspian commanded. All of Vartan's men stood down and began to quickly walk away from the Narnian creatures heading towards the woods, leaving only Caspian and Vartan.

The two Kings of old reacted quickly, they easily unsheathed their swords and leapt from their horses, purposefully striding towards Lucy and Rilian. They both kneeled next to Lucy, and while Edmund was retrieving something from his pocket, Peter held open arms and held Rilian close, reassuring the little boy.

"We brought your cordial Lu." Edmund said as he pulled out the familiar diamond cut glass filled with a bright red liquid.

"We figured you might need it." Peter added with a smirk.

Lucy chuckled painfully. "Thanks." then groaned slightly. She nodded toward the cordial.

"Oh right." Edmund smiled slightly and poured a drop over Lucy's shoulder, and watched once again in awe as the wound hole slowly sucked itself to together and left healthy skin leaving only dried blood.

Meanwhile, Caspian watched carefully as Vartan slowly got up and stood on his feet. "This is not over," Vartan hissed. "You may think you have won, but I have an army, and this time, I will kill you. Watch yourself boy, for this is not the last you will be seeing of me." The man pointed a finger at Caspian and slowly limped painfully backed into the woods and disappeared into the night.

"And it will be the last thing you do." Caspian whispered to himself and when he was sure he was alone, he turned and walked towards Lucy, Peter, Edmund and Rilian. Rilian immediately rushed out of Peters embrace and ran directly into Caspian's.

Lucy watched Caspian pick up the shaken child and pull him close before he looked up and their eyes met.

So many emotions transpired between them. Sadness. Fear. Relief.

She gave him a sad smile as she realized that she had been the strong one when it was just her against Vartan, and she had been the one who had to really think about the Cause and Effect to every decision she pursued, for Rilian's life was the one at stake. She realized she was weary of being the hero and being strong while her brothers and Caspian were away, and now that Caspian was there and had taken charge of Vartan, she was happy to give the hero role back to him.

His eyes were filled with concern as he looked at her, and it warmed Lucy's heart.

"I suppose we should head back home now that we've collected everyone?" Edmund suggested while looking at Peter and Caspian.

"Yes Edmund is right," Peter said to Caspian. "I believe we are expecting an army are we not?"