Narnia: Prince Caspian & The Dark Angel

15 | Thaw a Stone Heart

Raven never realized how evil Tash could be until now.

She had seen over a thousand ways of how the Narnians could go extinct, and how their leaders would die. There was so much gore, so much pain, and for once Raven wished for the voices to drive her mad like before. She wanted to hear them try to bend her will and coax the anger that simmered beneath her skin. Raven wanted anything, literally anything, else than Tash's induced torture. Raven resulted in reminding herself that it was all just dreams, nightmares really, and it will all go away once she can decipher Tash's curse. It worked for a while, until the curse twisted her mind enough to allow a few moments of reality seep in. Now Raven couldn't tell the difference between reality or not, and only grew more restless within herself.

She couldn't even tell that two nights have passed, or if Tash was playing tricks when she saw Lucy and Edmund reading in the Archives. It was unfortunate for all three of them, for Raven had seen them and they haven't found anything. There was nothing in any book that helped Lucy and Edmund find a cure for Raven. It took them a few hours to gather up that it was Tash, since the only other being that could rip out a beating heart was dead. After that discovery, the trail ran dry.

It was just tale after tale, nothing providing a possible solution to remove the curse of Tash. Lucy felt hopeless thinking about the amount of Narnian History in her head and not one answered her question. What can save Raven? Now, the two royals were sound asleep in their makeshift bed of an old Narnian rug found in the corner of the room. Both hadn't planned to fall asleep reading the fantastic tale of the angel Marilien and her human lover Loren, but almost two nights of no rest took a toll on them.

The only thing to wake them was the sound of the Narnian horn bellowing throughout the How, announcing Peter's arrival. It took two days for the rest of the Narnians to arrive. Most were lugging the wounded with them as the others were lugging despair. So few survived the raid on Miraz's castle. It was supposed to be a victory, a stepping stone forward for the Narnian race. Pride overran wisdom and now all are suffering the consequences, wearing it shamefully as they trudged towards the How.

Lucy and Edmund scrambled up on their feet, dashing out of the How to see their older brother and sister. Lucy was the first to see Peter, who led his people with a less than pleasant expression. She could see Peter's furrowed brow creasing into his forehead, his jaw clenching painfully tight enough to break a few teeth, and a raging pace. His shoulders were stiff, his eyes hardened as steel, and all Lucy could wonder was how bad it was. "What happened?" She asked Peter.

The High King only spared his little sister a quick glance as he passed her, before uttered spiteful words. "Ask him."

Lucy's eyes flitted to Caspian, who looked just as distraught as Peter, and saw his expression change.Caspian knew what his mistakes were, but he also knew that none of them would have happened if Peter simply didn't call for the raid. Caspian believed he was not the only one at fault here, and the one to share the blame was standing before him. "Me? You could've called it off, there was still time."

Peter whirled around quickly, his eyes glaring daggers deep into Caspian as his hands curled up."No, there wasn't thanks to you," he spat, thinking back when Caspian so recklessly thought he could avenge his father by attempting to kill Miraz. "If you'd kept to the plan, those soldiers might be alive right now."

"And if you stayed here like I suggested they definitely would be," Caspian retorted hotly, his own brown eyes glimmering with a growing anger that was just about to explode.