Accidentally Falling | Narnia

52 | hopes

When her blue eyes met Caspian's icy blue ones, Susan momentarily felt numb.

When she raised Edmund's sword and was about to attack Caspian, he caught a glimpse of his strange, new eyes and her knees buckled.

The Witch has taken over his body, Peter had said. He's gone. His eyes...

Yet, when they stared at each other, the icy cold gaze seemed to lessen and a hint of the chocolate brown ones of Caspian's surfaced.

"Susan?" Caspian asked, his tone confused. Both his grip on his double sword lessened.

Before Susan could react, Caspian doubled over and screamed. At first, she thought Peter might have struck him from behind but Peter was still a few paces from them.

And then, Caspian was on his feet again and was charging towards her. Susan managed to deflect his right blow then blocked his left with her sword but she knew that Caspian/the Witch clearly was much better than her in swordfight and she stood no chance.

Still, Edmund was on the ground behind her. When she had reached him and found him gasping for breath, her tears were already clouding her vision and she found herself gasping for breath, too. She couldn't bear herself to just sit there and hold Edmund's hand while watching him struggle for life. She had to do something.

Peter attacked the Witch from behind but he easily turned around and raised his right sword against Peter's. Susan saw her chance and swiped at the Witch's legs but he quickly sidestepped out of the way and slashed at Susan. She ducked at the last moment just as Peter did a magnificent twirl with his sword against the Witch's left one and sent the sword clattering to the ground.

Susan advanced behind the Witch and was about to hack at his back when the Witch deflected it by bringing his sword behind him to meet Susan's strike and, with a yell, jerked it upward strongly, which made Susan almost lost her grip on her sword, to meet Peter's strike in front of him.

Peter and Susan kept this facade against the Witch for a few minutes, the both of them trying hard to maintain their footing against the unbelievable strength of the Witch.

Susan knew that if it was just Caspian alone, Peter could have easily defeated him (Susan had heard enough stories to know that Peter is the best swordsman in Narnia and no one could defeat him, not even Caspian) but this creature they are facing was neither Caspian nor the Witch. He was both.

As they parried and struck together, Susan could see that Peter was trying hard to keep the Witch's attention away from her and direct it to himself. Even when she practically volunteered to die the moment she picked up Edmund's sword, Peter was still trying to protect her.

But, Susan dared to hope, he's not the only one.

Whenever their eyes meet, Susan couldn't fight the feeling that Caspian still recognized her. That, somehow, a part of him was still inside that body. Because if it was fully Jadis in there, Susan knew she would already be dead. The Witch already had a lot of chance to decapitate her (everytime Peter went unsuccessful to grab his full attention) and yet, instead of going for the actual kill, he would only give her a swipe of his sword that even Lucy could easily deflect. Maybe the Witch wasn't really aiming to kill her yet (only wound her and kill her later in a much more slow and painful fashion) but Susan couldn't shake the feeling that Caspian might be pulling the punches.

After all, he recognized her when their eyes first met. He even managed to say Susan's name before he doubled over, clutching his temple as if he was having a terrible headache.

And, Edmund... the Witch wouldn't have hesitated to stab him straight to the heart. Her brother meant nothing to the Witch. And yet, he got struck on his hip where there is a lot of chance for him to live.