The Pevensies were about to explain who they were when they heard voices in the distance, so faint it sounded like a whisper.

"He won't stop staring" said a voice.

"So don't look" replied another gruffly.

Amethy looked through the thick orchard of apple trees towards the lake. There there was a little wooden boat with two soldiers on it and a little bundle of something in between them.

"Oh no, Trumpkin" Amethy sighed. She dashed towards the balcony and jumped down - yes she jumped down from about two to three stories high - anxiety brewing in her. The four followed her, but took the safer way down the hill instead.

"Here's fine" said one of the soldiers.

Amethy watched in horror as they both lifted the bounded Trumpkin up in preparation to throw him into the deep waters of the lake. The Pevensies now realised that that bundle of something was alive and struggling.

A whizz sounded as Susan shot an arrow which hit the side of the boat, gaining the soldiers' attention.

"Drop him!" screamed Susan.

"Wait, no-" Amethy protested.

But it was too late. The soldiers threw Trumpkin off the boat, and he fell with a huge splash into the water.

Amethy ran towards the water, but before she could get herself wet, she was held back by Edmund's grip.

"We'll do this" he told her. She nodded.

Then, the two boys dived and disappeared into the water.

Amethy let out a breath she didn't know she was holding as soon as Peter emerged from the water and walked back on shore with Trumpkin. She kneeled down immediately to cut his bonds with her dagger and hugged him really tightly.

"You alright?" she asked. He nodded while taking out his gag, starting to cough up water. She patted his back lightly. Then his soft expression became hostile as he stood up.

"Drop him?! Is that the best you can come up with?" he asked Susan. Amethy glared at him.

"A simple thank you would suffice" said Susan simply.

"They were doing fine drowning me without your help" muttered Trumpkin.

"Trumpkin!" gasped Amethy.

Peter continued, "Maybe we should have let them" Amethy's glare shot up at him.

"Why were they trying to kill you anyway?" Lucy questioned innocently. Amethy smiled at her. To her, she seemed to be the nicest of the four siblings.

"They're Telmarines. That's what they do" Amethy said, sighing.

"Telmarines, in Narnia?" Edmund raised an eyebrow.

"Where have you been in the past few hundred years?" asked Trumpkin.

Lucy answered, "it's a bit of a long story"

Susan handed Peter's sword back to him, catching Amethy's attention. She observed the hilt of the sword which was made of gold with a lion on it - exactly like High King Peter's sword, Rhindon. She blinked a few times, then all their actions started to make sense - their discoveries at Cair Paravel and their cluelessness towards everything in Narnia. She stared nudging Trumpkin.

Trumpkin surveyed the four of them suspiciously. For a moment he thought they could have been ghosts.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me. You're it?" Trumpkin started.

"You're the kings and queens of old?" continued Amethy.

"High King Peter, the Magnificent" Peter introduced, holding out his hand to Trumpkin.

"You probably could have left out the last bit" said Susan.

Trumpkin chuckled, "probably"

"You might be surprised" said Peter, drawing his sword.

"Oh you don't want to do that, boy" replied Trumpkin.

"Not me, him" Peter nudged Edmund.

"Then how 'bout I let her do it instead?" Trumpkin said as he looked at Amethy.

"No!" she mouthed. She knew that King Edmund was excellent at sword fighting during his reign.

"Yes!" Trumpkin lied. Lucy giggled a little.

Peter lowered his sword as Edmund and Amethy drew out their own.

Edmund sent the first blow. Amethy blocked it almost immediately, pushing his sword away with force, hitting his face. Edmund backed off, holding his nose.

"Edmund!" Lucy screamed.

"Aww, you alright?" Trumpkin mocked from the side.

He was still rubbing his nose. Amethy started to lower her sword. "You okay?"

Suddenly, Edmund struck. Her mind regeistered his scheme and ducked in time and slashed at his feet. He jumped, sending the blow under him. He brought his sword down at Amethy next. She got into defence mode and parried his blow.

"That wasn't very fair, was it?" she said, tackling Edmund.

"Rule number one in battle - do not ever show mercy towards your enemy" Edmund pointed out, smirking, sending three continuous blows towards Amethy. She blocked all of them skilfully.

"I see you're Narnia's enemy now" Amethy replied sarcastically, swinging her blade towards Edmund.

And then, in one quick movement and with the help of gravity, Edmund twisted his sword in an unexpected manner and sent a blow towards Amethy. She felt a painful stretch in her wrist, causing her sword to fly out of her grip. Edmund smirked and bowed mockingly at her.

"Beards and bedsteads, no one has ever beaten Amethy in sword fighting! Maybe that horn worked after all!" exclaimed Trumpkin, his face showing a mixture of bewilderment and excitement.

"What horn?" Susan asked.

***

The Pevensies, Amethy and Trumpkin scrambled into the Telmarine boat and rowed down Glasswater, with Trumpkin steering them in the right direction. It was a great stream with clear and cool water. Trees and plants lined it's sides, creating a start contrast between the riot of colours in the woods and the stream itself.

Edmund was sitting at one end, and Peter in the middle, rowing the boat slowly. Amethy sat in between them. Lucy and Susan sat behind Peter, while Trumpkin sat at the other end.

Amethy had filled them in on what was going on at the moment and was now leaning against the edge of the boat, running her hand through the water and picking up flowers on the way.

Then there was no noise except for the swishing of water and the splash of the oars against its surface.

"They're so still" Lucy suddenly said, staring up at the trees.

"They're trees. What do you expect?" spat Trumpkin.

"They used to dance" replied Lucy, thinking about the olden times where the dryad's and centaurs uses to hold merry night dances in the forest.

"It wasn't long after you left that the Telmarines invaded. Those that survived retreated into the woods" Trumpkin said simply.

"And the trees have retreated so deeply into themselves that no one has ever heard from them since" Amethy finished sadly, looking up at the stiff and lifeless trees.

"I don't understand. How could Aslan have let this happen?" Lucy questioned.

"Aslan? I thought he abandoned us after you lot did" said Trumpkin simply.

"He didn't leave!" protested Amethy.

"Oh please Amethy, don't start on it again" Trumpkin rolled his eyes.

"How do you know, Amethy?" asked Lucy, who seemed interested as compared to Trumpkin's irritation.

"He talked to me. Well, that's the least I can remember from my memories"

"What do you mean?" asked Edmund, not understanding her unusual remark.

"We found her in the woods" explained Trumpkin.

"Yes. When I woke up, I couldn't remember anything" Amethy continued as she turned to play with the water again.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know" said Edmund, trying to piece it together. It seemed to make sense to him - how could a human girl (oh wait, she's not human...) be directly related to a dwarf?

"It's alright. All things happen for a reason, don't they?" Amethy said to Edmund, smiling sadly.

"We didn't mean to leave, you know" Peter said, breaking the awkward silence.

"Doesn't make much difference now, does it?" sighed Trumpkin.

"Get us to the Narnians and it will"

***

They finally reached a shore and everyone climbed off the boat. It was a much smaller beach than the one beside Cair Paravel, but it possessed the same white and powdery sand. Edmund climbed off first. Once he was on the sand, someone tapped his shoulder from the back. He spun around, only to be greeted by Amethy's surprised face.

"You left your sword in the boat, Your Majesty" Amethy said simply, holding out his sword in between them.

"Thanks" he replied, clutching his sword and strapping it at his side. Then he spoke suddenly, "You know... you can just call me Edmund" You see, Edmund did not really enjoy formalities.

"Of course, Your Majest... Edmund" she corrected herself. Edmund chuckled.

Lucy had spotted a great black grizzly bear at the other end of the beach at this point. Knowing that animals could talk, she started to approach it and soon, she was only a few steps away from the big creature. Yet no one actually noticed.

"Hello there! It's alright, we're friends" Lucy's voice sounded.

The bear turned to look straight at Lucy, but instead of meeting eyes filled with hope and happiness, Lucy saw blankness in them.

"Don't move, Your Majesty!" shouted Trumpkin.

The bear bent down on all four paws and started to charge at her. Amethy's eyes widened.

"Stay away from her!" Susan screamed, aiming her arrow at the bear.

Amethy sprinted towards Lucy before pushing her to the side. The bear's attention was now on her. She held her hand out and backed away slowly. For a moment the bear's gaze seemed to soften.

"Susan, shoot!" Edmund's voice sounded.

The bear, alarmed at the sudden voices, started to charge again and Amethy took a few rapid steps back before being tripped by a stone behind her. She fell with a thud and the bear closed in on her. She drew water from the stream immediately and created a wall of water between the bear and herself just in time before it attacked her, confusing the bear.

"What the ..." mumured Peter.

An arrow hit the bear in the chest and it fell over, breaking the water wall and missing Amethy's feet by a mere inch. Amethy screamed a little before she looked over and saw that Susan's arrow was still in her bow. It was Trumpkin who had fired.

"Why wouldn't he stop?" asked Susan.

"I suspect he was hungry" Trumpkin pointed out.

They all hurried over to Amethy and Lucy.

"How did you do that?" Edmund asked Amethy as he helped her up.

"I just... can?" said Amethy, who was still rather shaken.

"He was wild. I don't think he could talk at all" Peter said, hugging a frightened Lucy close and still pointing his sword at the bear.

"Get treated like a dumb animal long enough, and that's what you become" replied Trumpkin, who drew out his dagger and squatted down beside the bear, ending his life with a slash through its throat. Lucy buried her head into Peter's side and Amethy flinched at the death of the innocent bear. It just didn't know what it was doing.

"You may find Narnia a more savage place than you remember" Trumpkin proclaimed, standing up again.