The faun in front of Amethy, the one that she had saved, stopped in his tracks to help her up. With the support of a fellow Narnian, she limped her way towards the gate, gritting her teeth from the pain that shot through her with each step.

The minotaur breathed his last breath just when Amethy made it to the gate. She looked at Caspian for a moment, before someone pushed her from behind just in time. She held her breath as she stumbled below the falling gate, feeling the arrow pierce deeper as it hit the ground and half anticipating the blow of metal from the gate piercing her flesh.

She made it out in time, the gate only pinned the hem on her dress to the ground. She ripped it and got to her feet, taking in the faces of the helpless Narnians trapped in the castle. At the front was the faun who she had saved and saved her in return, his eyes red and brimming with tears as he nodded sadly at her.

"Caspian! The bridge!" came Susan's frantic shout.

"I'm sorry, Amethy" said Caspian to Amethy as he offered his hand to her.

She grabbed Caspian's hand and leapt onto his horse before pulling out the arrow in her back. She took one last glance at the Narnians, tears welling up in her eyes as they rode away. She sniffed a little.

Caspian took her hands which were positioned at the side of his waist and pulled them forwards so that her hands now lay firmly around it. Her grip tightened.

"It's okay to cry" Caspian assured her.

She buried her face in his back and wept.

The remaining Narnians made their way back towards the How, sadness in their steps, their mood solemn. Amethy had long cried herself to sleep on Caspian's horse, partly from the pain in her back and from the grief of the loses they had faced. Finally, after what seemed like eternity, they had arrived back at the How, wounded and depressed.

Caspian observed Amethy's tear streaked face. It hurt him so much to see her in such a state. He shook her gently.

"We're here, Amethy"

Amethy stirred and her eyelids fluttered open, revealing her violet eyes, just how Caspian had remembered them to be, except for the fact that it was now washed with a gleam of sorrow. She pulled away from his embrace slowly.

"What happened?" His train of thoughts was interrupted by Lucy's voice.

"Ask him" Peter grunted, glaring at Caspian.

"Peter" Susan started, putting her hand on his shoulder. He swept it away immediately.

"Me? You could have called it off. There was still time" he felt a tug on his shoulder from Amethy.

"No there wasn't, thanks to you. If you'd kept to the plan, those soldiers might be alive right now" Peter argued.

Caspian shook Amethy's grip off as he stepped down from his horse. "And if you'd just stayed here like I suggested, they definitely would be!" he rebutted.

"You called us, remember?" Peter replied.

"My first mistake" Caspian spat.

"No, your first mistake was thinking you could lead these people!" Peter raged.

Amethy locked her gaze with Edmund, sending him a pleading look. He seemed to have understood what she meant and nodded firmly at her.

"Hey! I am not the one who abandoned Narnia!" Caspian screamed.

"You invaded Narnia" Peter emphasized, venom in every word. "You have no more right to it than Miraz's does! You, him, your father... Narnia's better off without the lot of you!"

Peter's words hit Caspian hard. He lost it and drew his sword, sending a cry of anger. Peter unsheathed his sword, his eyes gleaming with hatred.

"Stop it!" Edmund ordered. The duo turned to look at him, shame spreading on their faces.

Glenstorm stepped forward from behind Edmund. Amethy noticed something, actually someone in his arms. Her heart sank as he set him down.

"Trumpkin!" She cried, rushing up to him, ignoring the burning pain she felt herself. He was unconscious. "Oh no..."

Lucy ran over and Amethy took a step back. She allowed a drop of her fire flower cordial to drip into Trumpkin's partially open mouth. Amethy held her breath as she waited for a response.

His eyes shot open shortly after. She immediately pulled him into a hug, catching him by surprise.

"What are you all standing around for? The Telmarines will be here soon enough" Trumpkin informed sternly.

Lucy smiled at Trumpkin.

"Thank you, my dear little friend" he blurted out.

***

Everyone had settled down after awhile. A long queue snaked from one of the rooms into the tunnels, all waiting for Amethy to help with their wounds. For once, Amethy wasn't too grateful for her gifts. She shrugged as she peered out of the room, only to see that the line still extended all the way down the tunnel with wounded soldiers.

"Next please!" She said while fetching a new goblet of water.

She turned back and realized that it was Caspian.

"Caspian" she said casually. "Where are your wounds?"

Caspian sat with his left shoulder facing Amethy, showing her the area where Prunaprismia's arrow had shot him.

"Ow..." He hissed as Amethy removed his armor covering his wounded arm where the arrow was shot.

"Sorry... This wound is rather nasty"

She proceeded to pick up some clean water to wash away the blood, causing him to feel a tingling but comfortable feeling in his arm. As soon as she pulled the water away from his skin, the wound had healed magically, leaving just a small scratch.

"Done" she said simply, discarding the used water into a nearby pail.

Caspian was speechless. "How did you... How..." He stuttered, making Amethy giggle.

"Next please!" She said, practically shoving Caspian off the chair. He sat beside her instead to keep her company, and broke snippets of her memories to her, hoping that she'll remember soon, but to no avail.

After a few dozen soldiers, the line had visibly shortened a lot.

"Whose next?" She asked like she always did.

"Hi" a familiar voice hummed. Amethy's eyes shot up at the voice and her eyes met with a chocolate brown colour. Edmund stared.

Caspian coughed on purpose, as he observed the way Edmund looked at Amethy. It was different.

"Edmund" she smiled, glancing behind him. He was the last person. Edmund plopped down onto the stool.

Amethy first helped with with a wound on his lower arm, working her magic skillfully.

"Any other wounds?" She asked.

"I don't think so"

Amethy's eyes trailed off to his lower torso, where his shirt was stained bright red and ripped slightly. "I need you to take off your shirt"

"You want me to... what?" Edmund stared at her in disbelief, wrapping his arms over his body protectively.

She pointed at his wound calmly, rolling her eyes.

"Oh" he replied. He can really be a dimwit sometimes, Amethy thought to herself.

"I'll be checking on the rest of the army" Caspian said awkwardly, before shuffling out of the room, leaving Amethy and Edmund behind.

Edmund took off his shirt, revealing his originally fair skin, which was now smeared with blood.

She began to inspect his wound, causing Edmund's heart to flutter at her touch and smile at at her look of concentration. The wound was quite a nasty one as Edmund winced immediately when she touched it lightly.

"How could you have not noticed this?" She mumbled to herself. Edmund simply shrugged.

She washed his wound with water and in less than a few seconds, the wound healed magically. She then wet a cloth and to wipe off the remaining blood.

Her eyes were diverted to a scar just a few inches from his healed wound while Edmund put on his tunic again. Her gaze lingered there for a while, before Edmund reached for her chin and tilted her head up. A warm sensation crept up her neck as Edmund reached out to touch her hair gently and pulled a strand of hair behind her ear, his gaze moving over her ear and back to meet hers. She swore she saw his pale lips curl slightly.

"The White Witch did that" Edmund said grimly, dropping his hand from her head.

Amethy recalled what she had learnt about the fight at Beruna against the White Witch. She knew King Edmund was stabbed by the White Witch's wand during the battle. "I'm sorry" a whisper escaped from her lips. She knew that that experience must have hurt him deeply.

Edmund gave her another smile as he slouched further into his chair. They sat in comfortable silence for a while.

"Are you so glad of that magic horn now, boy?" The voice caused the both of them to look towards the tunnels outside. "The kings and queens have failed us. Your army is half dead, and those that aren't will be soon enough" the voice continued.

"What's that?" Edmund breathed.

"Nikabrik?" Amethy guessed, recognising the voice.

"What do you want? Congratulations?" Caspian's voice rang.

Edmund grabbed Amethy's hand, leading her out of the room.

"You want your uncle's blood, so do we. You want his throne, we can get it for you" Nikabrik spat. Then there were footsteps.

"You tried one ancient power. It failed. But there is one power greater still. One that kept even Aslan at bay for nearly a hundred years"

"Jadis" Edmund whispered, his grip tightening on Amethy's hand. She observed as his face showed fear, hatred and anger. She squeezed his hand in an attempt to comfort him.

"What's happening?" Someone asked behind them. It was Peter, with Trumpkin standing beside him. Peter looked at their intertwined hands, discomfort washing over him. He did not want his brother to fall in love, not in a time like this and not with a Narnian. He knew it would hurt when the war ended.

"Listen" Edmund told them and they stood quietly outside the stone table room, observing the situation.

***

Caspian heard something from behind a stone. He assumed it was a rustle, meaning that someone, or something was hidden there. He drew his sword calmly.

A cloaked figure emerged from the shadows and started trot it's way towards Caspian.

"Who's there?" Caspian asked, his voice trembling.

"I am hunger, I am thirst" the creature started in its throaty voice, "I can fast a hundred years and not die. I can lie a hundred nights on the ice and not freeze. I can drink a river of blood and not burst. Show me... your enemies!" It shrieked and lunged for Caspian while revealing its hideous face.

"A werewolf" Amethy gasped.

A hag with unappealing features appeared out of nowhere and approached Caspian.

"What you hate, so will we" it started in its throaty voice.

"And you can guarantee Miraz's death?" Caspian asked, lowering his sword.

"And more" the hag croaked, bowing.

Caspian sheathed his sword and looked back at Nikabrik. Amethy felt the strong urge to slap both Caspian and Nikabrik, really hard.

"Let the circle be drawn" they declared.

The hag began to chant words in a foreign language, getting louder and louder with each word. The werewolf dug it's nail into the ground, drawing a perfect circle around Caspian. Next the hag pulled out a white staff - the White Witch's half broken wand - from her ragged cloak, the one that almost killed Edmund and left him scarred both physically and emotionally, causing him to flinch.

With one last chant, she pierced it into the ground in front of Caspian.

Ice fragments started to form, which crept up the two columns opposite each other with an eerie crackle. The pale blue colour slowly blocked out the carving of Aslan. A tall woman appeared within the thin wall, as if in between those sheets of ice, there was a whole world that belonged to herself. She had blonde, thick hair tied into a huge bun and a flowy, heavy white dress wrapped around her body.

She was the White Witch.

The four outside widened their eyes in shock.

"Wait, this isn't what I wanted!" Caspian protested, realising who she was.

"One drop of Adam's blood and you free me, then I am yours, my King" she told him, her voice melodious and enchanting.

"No!" he shouted. The werewolf snatched Caspian's hand, allowing the hag to slit his skin. Bright red blood oozed out of the cut.

The White Witch stuck her hand out from the ice, motioning for Caspian to come over. She smiled a tender and lovely smile at him, covering up her deceitful and cunning intentions. Caspian locked eyes with the witch, the fear in his eyes fading, his cool breath soon became visible. He stopped resisting from the Witch's magic.

"Stop!" Peter screamed.

They rushed into the room, drawing out their swords. Amethy advanced for the werewolf with Edmund, Trumpkin tackled Nikabrik, leaving Peter to go against the hag.

Peter slashed his sword at the hag, eventually losing his grip on it at the hag's strong blow. He then kicked the hag towards the wall, causing her to lose consciousness.

Edmund swung his sword at the werewolf. He howled and lunged at Edmund in an attempt to flip him over. Edmund jumped over him and slashed behind his knee, causing him to wince in pain. He then ducked, allowing Amethy to catch the werewolf by surprise and strike him.

Nikabrik pushed Trumpkin to the ground, raising his sword up high, ready to plunge it down. But Lucy darted up suddenly, putting her dagger to his throat. Nikabrik grabbed her arm and twisted it, making her yelp in pain before shoving her onto he floor. A small girl was obviously no match for an experienced dwarf. Trumpkin rushed up to Lucy to protect her from Nikabrik, who was preparing to sink his sword into her skin. The sword plunged down and Trumpkin closed his eyes to anticipate the pain but it never came. He opened his eyes to see that Amethy had stabbed Nikabrik from behind, her eyes widening with fear as she did so. Then her head snapped to the Witch's voice, with Caspian's extended hand just inches from hers.

"Come on..." The witch cooed.

Amethy lunged at Caspian and pushed him out of the circle, sending a death glare at Jadis. The Witch seemed a little taken aback as she withdrew her hand a little. She smiled at her.

"Who is this?" she asked sweetly. Amethy didn't bother answering her question and her enchantment didn't seem to work on her. She closed her eyes and raised both her hands in front of her, focusing on thr ice before her. Everyone looked at her in confusion. Slowly, they all seemed to understand what she was trying to do as big, clear droplets of water began rolling down the surface of the ice - she was trying to reduce the ice to water.

"What do you think you're doing!?" shrieked the Witch.

"This" said Amethy, allowing a piece of ice to slide onto the ground and crumble into pieces. Then all of a sudden, she felt a piercing pain in her chest. She shot a look to the White Witch.

"This, is what you get for challenging me" she whispered. At the same instant she clenched one of her fists, Amethy fell to the floor, her hand against her chest, the choking sensation in her throat sending her gasping for breath. She felt numb, she couldn't feel her own body nor the ground beneath her.

Peter ran up to stand in front of her in the circle, pointing his sword at the Witch.

"Get away from her!" he hollered. Jadis switched her attention to Peter immediately, sparing the girl's life.

"Peter dear" she smiled, "I have missed you. Come, just one drop. You know you can't do this alone" she conviced, raising her pitch.

Peter hesitated a little and lowered his sword, his eyes were glazed over, obviously deceived.

At once, the White Witch's eyes widened and an ear piercing scream sounded as the wall shattered and collapsed - revealing Edmund who had his sword drawn above his head.

He lowered his sword once the all the pieces had fallen and looked straight at Peter, expressionless.

"I know. You had it sorted" he said. Then he walked away.

Peter and Caspian both stared at the carving of Aslan, guilty for their actions. They both turned to leave after quite a while, but stopped in their tracks when they spotted Susan watching them from behind. She shook her head in disappointment once their gaze met and stormed out of the room.

***