The Last Tree In Narnia

6. Retreat

Prince Caspian helped Rhea onto one of the horses, and she took hold of the reins with her right hand, as her left was causing her a lot of pain and discomfort, due to the bolt in her shoulder.
She had decided not to pull it out until she was back in the forest, because she didn't want to lose too much blood before then. And she would only be able to heal herself, once safely in the woods.
Once her, Caspian and Cornelius were all mounted they made their way out of the stables and into the courtyard, where the fighting was taking place.
Although not a battle expert, even Rhea could tell that their side was losing.
There were dozens of bodies littering the courtyard, and there were far more Narnian casualties than Telmarine.

As Rhea looked around the courtyard, one body of a red-headed dwarf caught her eye.
She threw herself off her horse and crawled along the ground until she reached Trumpkin's body.
Rhea immediately began shaking him, trying to get him to wake up.
"Trumpkin! Trumpkin, please wake up" she begged, as tears streamed down her face.
There was a large wound on the side of his head, but he was breathing, which reassured Rhea that he was not dead yet.

Rhea craddled his body in her arms, to protect it from harm, as she couldn't bare it if anything happened to him, before she got the chance to thank him for defending her in front of Miraz and trying to save her life.
She knew that she needed to get him out of there quickly, so that he could receive medicial attention.
"Help me!" Shouted Rhea, over the sounds of the battle raging around her.
Caspian heard her, and jumped off his horse, before making his way towards her.
"It's O.K. He's alive. He's just been knocked out" informed Caspian, as he examined Trumpkin.

"We need to get him out of here" said Rhea.
"It's my job to get you out of here alive. Peter told me I couldn't take any more detours" reminded Caspian.
"I am not leaving here without him" replied Rhea stubbornly.
"O.K, fine, I'll take him out, on my horse".
The prince lifted Trumpkin into the air, before placing him down onto his horse.
He then mounted behind Trumpkin, so that he could hold the dwarf to stop him from falling off.

Caspian then rode out of the courtyard, alongside Cornelius.
As Rhea stumbled towards her own horse, she looked up and saw a hundred Telmarine guards above the courtyard, all of whom were aiming crossbows down at them.
Rhea knew that the minute they started firing, everyone in the courtyard would be killed, Narnian and Telmarine alike.

Rhea turned her head to the gate at the far end of the courtyard, which was the only way out.
The gate was currently being held up by a very large minotaur, as the Telmarine's had cut the cord which usually held it up.
If the minotaur became injured, the gate would drop, and they would all be trapped inside.
Realising this, Rhea began to move faster towards her horse.
But before she could reach it, another figure beat her there, and mounted first.
She looked up and saw King Peter sitting on her horse.
"We need to retreat!" Shouted Peter, who was struggling to be heard by his troops, over the noise of the battle.

Peter lent over the horse, and reached his hand out to Rhea, so that he could help her up.
He pulled with all his strength, and lifted Rhea up onto the horse with him.
Once they were secure, Peter pulled the reins and their horse charged towards the gate.
"Fire!" Yelled Miraz, making Rhea jump.
Rhea looked over her shoulder, and saw Miraz shoot towards them with his crossbow. The rest of the Telmarine's took their lead from him, and began firing down at the Narnians.

Rhea held on tight to Peter's waist, and buried her face in his back, to avoid the stream of bolts being sent into the courtyard.
Moments after passing underneath the gate, a bolt hit the minotaur, and he collapsed to the ground.
Rhea spun around and saw the gate fall on top of the minotaur's body, trapping the rest of the Narnian army inside.
Peter spun the horse back around and faced his soldiers, who were screaming for help on the other side of the gate.

"We have to help them" insisted Rhea.
"There's nothing we can do" admitted Peter sadly, as he lowered his head in shame.
Rhea ignored him, and jumped off of the horse, using all the strength to walk towards the gate.
She placed her hands underneath it, despite the pain that this caused her.
After taking a deep breath she attempted to lift the heavy metal gate, using the power of the earth to aid her.
But she was still stood on stone, so her body couldn't connect to the ground beneath her.
As she was unable to draw strength from the earth, Rhea failed in moving the gate at all.

"Peter, the bridge!" Yelled Caspian.
Rhea turned around and saw that the drawbridge was being raised, in an attempt to trap her and Peter, and separate them from those who had made it out.
She gave up on her futile attempts to lift the gate, and headed back to the horse.
Peter reached out for her, and threw her onto the horse behind him.
He then willed the horse to go as fast as it could, in order to make it to the bridge, before is closed.
As it began to rise, Rhea was scared that they weren't going to make it.

Peter pushed the horse harder, and then forced it to jump, so that they would make it to the other side.
Rhea closed her eyes as they soared over the moat, and didn't open them again until they had landed.
She looked around and saw the majority of the Narnian army around her, all of which were looking back at the Telmarine castle with sad looks on their faces.
They all watched as the drawbridge closed, blocking their view of those who had been left in the courtyard.
The sound of screams filled the night for another minute or so. But what was worse, was the sound of deafening silence that followed.
Rhea was glad to be free from her cell, but she was terrified of how many lives had been sacrificed to free her.