The Narnians surrounded Caspian, making the scene almost claustrophobic. This was made worse with them chanting and screaming at Caspian one by one.

"All this horn proves is that they have stolen yet another thing from us!" Nikabrik started.

"I didn't steal anything!" Caspian rebutted.

"Didn't steal anything? Shall we list the things the Telmarines have taken?" A minotaur said in a gruff tone.

"Our homes!" Someone shouted.

"Our freedom!" A faun screamed.

"Our lives!" They chanted. They all sounded crushed, with despair and anger lingering in their voices.

"You would hold me accountable for all the crimes of my people?" Caspian questioned.

"Accountable... and punishable." Nikabrik spat at him.

"That's words from you, dwarf. Or have you forgotten it was your people who fought alongside the White Witch?" asked Trufflehunter. It was true. The dwarfs had been evil and cunning during the White Witch's reign, serving their queen with all their hearts and souls.

"And I'd gladly do it again if it would rid us of these barbarians!" declared Nikabrik.

"Then we are lucky it is not in your power to bring her back. Or do you want us to ask this boy to go against Aslan?" replied Trufflehunter. The crowd hushed and gasped amongst themselves.

Then, the heat started all over again. Narnians began to shout at Caspian, blaming him for all that had happened to them since the Telmarines invaded.

Trufflehunted stepped forward and held his hand up to signal silence. "Some of you may have forgotten, but we badgers remember well, that Narnia was never right except when a son of Adam was King" he said, obviously referring to Caspian.

"He's a Telmarine! Why would we want him as our king?" questioned Nikabrik. The Narnians shouted in agreement.

"Because I can help you," explained Caspian, "beyond these woods, I am a Prince. The Telmarine throne is rightfully mine. Help me claim it, and I can bring peace between us" There was a long pause. The Narnians didn't seem very convinced by this boy, this intruder.

"It is true, the time is ripe" said Glenstorm, who was known for his ability to read the stars.

A rustle could be heard and a small squirrel emerged from the trees. "Is it possible? Do you really think there could be peace? Do you? I mean, really?" It asked as it scurried back and forth on the branch he was on, his voice filled with nervousness.

"Two days ago, I didn't believe in the existence of talking animals, or dwarfs, or centaurs. Yet here you are... in strength and in numbers we Telmarines could have never imagined" Caspian paused, looking around at all the Narnians. "Whether this horn is magic or not, it brought us together, and together, we have a chance to take back what is ours"

Glenstorm stepped forward, "if you will lead us, then my sons and I offer you our swords" Then, he raised his sword up high, together with his sons beside him. The Narnians all around followed suit - one by one, they unsheathed and raised their swords.

"And we will offer you our lives, unreservedly" said Reepicheep, bowing.

"Miraz's army will not be far behind, sire" Trufflehunter added.

"If we are to be ready for them, we must hurry to find soldiers and weapons. I am sure they will be here soon" said Caspian, determination spreading on his face.

And so, that was the start of Narnia's change of the fate.

***

The Pevensies, Amethy and Trumpkin walked on without sound except for the thud thud thud of their feet and the clip clip clip of the weapons hanging at their sides. They trudged till the sun disappeared behind the horizon and the sky started to turn darker by the minute. They had successfully got across the gorge, but they had not come across any sign of the Narnians or Prince Caspian yet.

Trumpkin believed that there would still be a long journey ahead, so after much dispute, they decided on a spot to camp for the night. They collected firewood which was mostly just fallen branches in the woods and set up a fire in the middle of a small clearing. Peter and Trumpkin slept beside each other, Lucy and Susan slept together, leaving Amethy with only one spot to sleep on - between Trumpkin and Edmund. She grumbled as she put down her items on her spot and sank into the soft grass. It wasn't a very pleasant sleeping between two people of the opposite sex, was it?

As she lay down on the ground, her eyelids becoming droopy and she felt herself drift off to sleep. She was snapped awake when she heard Susan's voice. She didn't mean to eavesdrop, you know.

"Lucy, you awake?"

"Mhm" hummed Lucy in response.

"Why do you think I couldn't see Aslan?" asked Susan as she propped herself up on her elbows, a tinge of sadness in her voice.

"You believe me?"

"Well, we got across the gorge"

"... I don't know. Maybe you didn't really want to" replied Lucy, slumping back down onto the grass.

Trumpkin stirred a little. He was listening too.

"You'd always knew we'd be coming back here, didn't you?" Susan asked.

"I hoped so"

"I just got used to the idea of living in England" chuckled Susan.

"But you're happy to be here, aren't you?" Lucy asked, eyeing Susan.

"While it lasts" Susan sighed.

Then they went back to sleep.

After quite awhile, everyone was asleep. At least, almost everyone. Amethy was still tossing about, thinking about the day's events, about Edmund, especially. He seemed nice but a little overwhelming at the same time. She didn't really understand, but Edmund seemed to care about her excessively considering the fact that it was the first day they had met, but it was in a good way though. Love - or more specifically - crushes can be complicated and unpredictable, right?

Edmund, on the other hand, knew clearly that he had a crush on Amethy, but he wasn't too clear about what he was feeling himself.

He heard Amethy toss about a bit more, before she got up and walked away from the campsite quietly. She climbed up a low branch on a bare tree, leaned back, and looked up at the Narnian night sky.

To Amethy, the sky was beautiful as always. Stars filled the sky, accompanying the bright moon - which was much larger and brighter than ours - that lay towards the east. She traced a few constallations - the ship, the leopard and the arrow as they called it, before drawing some water from the moist night air and holding it out in front of her like a sheet of paper, refracting the light. Edmund had decided to get up by then, and he was walking towards her.

"Mind if I join you?" His voice sounded, making Amethy almost drop the water between her hands.

She turned, the blob of water still floating, only to see Edmund smiling behind her.

"Umm... okay" she said, moving a little to make enough space for Edmund to climb up.

"I really don't understand how you can do that" Edmund said casually, pointing at the water.

"Well, it comes naturally"

"So... what are you?" he asked.

Amethy paused for a while and looked back up at the sky then back at him, who looked away quickly. Was he staring at me? she asked herself, her heart fluttering slightly. She gave him a sad smile. "I don't know. I don't know who and what my parents are" Amethy replied, letting the water drop with a plop onto the grass below.

She then changed the subject, "How was Narnia like during your time? I've heard many stories" she asked, smiling.

"It was really different. Everything was... livelier" he told her. He went on to describe how Cair Paravel looked like before it was attacked and how they used to have many vibrant balls and ceremonies in the Great Hall. Amethy seemed in awe after he finished his speech. She had never ever seen Narnia in such happiness and wished to have had a chance to experience it all. Imagine the food, the smiles, the laughter and the peace...

They leaned back against the tree trunk to watch the stars.

"We really should get back to sleep" Amethy suggested.

Edmund jumped off the branch, before helping Amethy down.

They strolled back to the small camp and settled down.

"Goodnight Amy" Edmund said, turning to his other side. He had picked up her nickname from Trumpkin earlier.

"Night Edmund"

Soon, Amethy had fallen asleep, but Edmund still had not. He turned back to face Amethy, observing the her asleep. She's so peaceful. He thought. There was no denying that he felt drawn to her. He started to trace her features. Honestly, she wasn't say that pretty, but there was just something beautiful inside her that attracted him and made him want her so badly.

He'll make a good friend... Her voice echoed in his head from what she had said when they were walking across the gorge. He dropped his hand and shrugged to himself silently, planning to turn away again.

But then she started to shiver. He planned to do something about the cold but he hesitated a little - she might possibly freak out when she woke. Furthermore, she had only thought of him as a friend.

In the end, he moved closer to her and wrapped his arms around her protectively, allowing her to lean against his shoulder. Great friends can do this too, can't they? He thought. He found this so incredibly cliché, with the only thing missing being soft and cheesy romantic music. He smiled to himself at this and drifted off to sleep eventually.

***

It was dawn when Lucy woke up from ger dream. If you remember from the movie, The Chronicles of Narnia, Prince Caspian (you've probably seen it), Lucy had dreamt of dancing trees she so longed to see and met Aslan face to face until a twig snapped and threw her back to reality. The sun had only just risen. And as all young children would probably do, she followed the same path she took in her sleep, hoping that it'll similarly led her to Aslan.

Amethy woke up soon after she did, and was suprised to find that she was leaning against blue fabric, which was moving.

It was moving.

She gasped when she finally realised she was leaning against Edmund. "How..."

She started to panic at first, but she quickly shook the thought away and decided to get up. She lifted Edmund's arm away cautiously before wiggling out of his embrace. As soon as she let go of his arm, he had started snoring lightly. She smiled a little.

Amethy turned her head just in time to see Lucy disappearing into the woods. She shook her head at that sight. Lucy should not have been wandering around all by herself. Who knew if there were Telmarine soldiers in the woods? She grabbed her sword and latched it around her waist as she followed her cautiously.

Lucy came to a place where there were fewer trees, and the trees were no longer huge and tangled but slender with distinct branches of light green leaves, exactly as she had seen in her dream. But what disappointed her was that the trees did not move into two straight rows like she had expected and there was no sight of the lion she had been looking for. She touched one of the trees, which was silent and stiff like the day before. Oh how she longed for the olden days where the trees could talk and spring to life in their unique human forms and dance and sing.

"Wake up" She muttered sadly, looking up at its leaves.

She then heard a growl.

"Aslan?" She whispered, her face lighting up immediately as she started running towards the voice.

Amethy sneaked up behind her and pulled her behind a bush just in time. Lucy was about to yelp but was relieved when she saw it was just Amethy. They looked over the thick leaves and saw that a heavily armed minotaur was the one who had growled.

Suspicious. Amethy thought.

Amethy put a finger to her mouth, signalling for Lucy to be quiet before drawing her sword carefully and walking towards the minotaur, who had his back facing her. She raised her sword a little but before she could make her blow, a blade slashed her right arm out of the blue. She winced from the pain but recovered just in time to fend off a second blow. She was greeted by a boy with dark hair in the faint sunlight. She recognised the boy as the Telmarine who had appeared at her doorstep just a few days ago. Their blades clanged as they started to fight.

Amethy sent a strong blow towards her opponent, but her sword got caught in the tree behind him due to the force. He took this opportunity to pin her down against the tree trunk roughly, holding his blade against her throat.

His eyes grew wide and he lowered his blade a little.

"Why don't you just kill me?" Amethy questioned harshly, glaring at Caspian.

"Impossible" breathed Caspian, his eyebrows furrowed. For a moment you would have thought you saw a shimmer of tears in his eyes.

"Sorry, but do I know you?" questioned Amethy, softening her gaze. To her, something about Caspian was different from the other Telmarines. He seemed, perhaps, kinder.

Caspian's eyes widened again at her answer.

"You don't know me? You... don't remember?" He whispered.

A cry sounded, ending their conversation, and Peter came rushing forward before pushing Caspian away from Amethy. Caspian got onto his feet instantly and they fought. Peter successfully knocked Caspian's sword out of his hand and was about to harm him with a huge stone when Lucy appeared.

"No!" Lucy screamed.

Around them, the bushes rustled and Narnians came out of hiding.

"Prince Caspian?" asked Peter.

"Yes, and who are you?" Caspian asked back in his thick Spanish accent.

Susan, Edmund and Trumpkin came rushing over.

"Peter!" Susan shouted, answering Caspian's question indirectly.

"High King Peter?"

"I believe you called" he replied.

"Well yes... but I thought you would be... older"

"Well, if you'd like, we could come back in a few years" said Peter, turning to leave.

"No no, it's alright. You're just... not exactly what I expected"

"Neither are you" said Edmund as he went up to help Amethy up, noticing that her right sleeve was now stained with blood.

"Did you do this to her?" He demanded angrily.

"I-" stuttered Caspian, before staring right at Amethy for quite a moment. Their gaze met and Amethy tore hers away.

"It was a misunderstanding Edmund" she explained, pulling her arm out of his grasp.

"A common enemy unites even the oldest of foes" Trufflehunter stepped out.

Reepicheep stood beside him and spoke to Peter, "we have anxiously awaited your return, my liege. Our heads and swords are at your sevice" He bowed.

"Oh my gosh, he's so cute" whispered Lucy to Susan.

Reepicheep drew his sword at this comment. "Who said that!?" He demanded, seeming extremely hostile.

"Sorry..." Lucy began.

"Oh uh, Your Majesty. With the greatest respect, I believe courageous, courteous or chivalrous might more befit a knight of Narnia"

"Well, at least we know some of you can handle a blade" said Peter, directing this to Caspian.

"Yes, indeed. And I have recently put it to good use aquiring weapons for your army, sire" replied Reepicheep.

"Good. Because we are going to need every sword we can get" Peter continued, glaring at Caspian.

Caspian hesitated a little before speaking, this time to Amethy. "Well then, you'll probably be wanting yours back" he said, pulling out her sword from the tree and giving it back to her. She sheathed it, and one by one, they all walked away.

***