The Chronicles of Narnia: The Children of New

Chapter 12: The First Battle

Ray's POV

I was waiting for them to come back along with Duralgias. "When do you think they'll be back?" I asked Duralgias

"I'd say between now and two hours give or take. It depends on when they left the castle. By night it's about a day's ride and that's if you know the secret staircase. If not then I'd say we have another 3 or 4 days to wait. But I expect that they'll be back today."

"Well if you say-" I got cut off by the sound of horse nearing the gate

"Open the gate!" called on of the soldiers standing guard of the entrance. After the gate was opened the group that had left rode in. Zoran spotted me immediately and rode over to me.

"So how was it?" I asked him

"It was fine. You missed out cause while it was a mission, we got to watch a show and Anna performed and she was AMAZING! I didn't know she could dance or sing" exclaimed Zoran as he dismounted Winston

"Well all of us are filled with surprises at this point. I shit even Winston here can talk" I said while petting Winston's nose

"Why yes that is true my lady, and master Zoran here has umm... improved his riding to say the least. " chuckled Winston as Zoran and I walked toward the conference tent.

Once in the conference tent, I noticed all of the princess' top people were already seated waiting for the meeting to start and figure out what was going on. "Hey Zoran, what's going on? Did the mission fail?" I asked now concerned something big was going to happen.

"Well no. It's hard to explain. Just listen to Ariana" said Zoran as we took our seats at the table.

Ariana got up and started pacing for a minute. Then stopped and said "Well we have a bit of a situation here"

"What do you mean Princess? I thought you said the mission went as planned and that Adam was weakened?" asked Oscar

"Well yes that did happen but we also got new information about what he's planning on doing next. Thanks to Zoran here, his surprise attack is no longer a surprise attack since we now know when and where he is going to strike," said Ariana as she put her head in her hands. Then whispered "I just didn't think he would actually attack us. He's my own brother"

Lieutenant Anderson stood up and addressed Ariana, "I know you're upset as are well all. No of us actually wanted to go to full out war but here we are. And now that we have an advantage, I want us to all focus and figure out how we plan on using this advantage."

Anna, who hadn't spoken a word since she returned to the base camp, stood up and moved to the map. "I know how badly I weakened him, however, it also weakened me a bit too. It took a lot of power to get through his shield and then some to affect him. I will not be using my magic in this battle"

Almost all the generals, admirals, and lieutenants rose to their feet shouting all at once. "Are you insane?!?" said Anderson

"Anna, you're our best weapon and chance of beating Adam. Why hold back now?" shouted Oscar

"Normally I'd be glad that you are staying away from danger but we actually NEED you now. This makes no sense at all" yelled Justin

"Are you sure that's the best strategy?" screamed Octavia

Anna calmly sat down, crossed her legs, and raised her hand for silence. She had complete control of the room. Then in a calm voice, she said, "Yes, this is the best strategy. We already have an advantage over him, in that we know what he is planning and that he actually is coming to fight. Why reveal that we have what the prophecy says? We can use that to our advantage later. For right now I want to discuss strategy. I actually already know what I want to do. So do not ever question my authority or decisions ever again."