In Element

Susan and her siblings are struggling to re-adjust to their lives but when the call to save Narnia arises will they risk everything again?

AN: *Hangs head in shame* I now it's been awhile and I'm sorry. I've just been caught up in uni stuff and then Christmas and then work. But I'm back now and the story is definitely kicking up a gear so I hope you're all ready for this next chapter.

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Lucy grabbed at her belongings quickly, rounding them up and throwing them on her bed before collecting her satchel. She knew she shouldn't be hurrying, she wasn't late and her mother would wonder at her abrupt behaviour, but the sooner she was ready the sooner they could leave. And as soon as they left, she and her siblings could talk more about Narnia.

She didn't understand what was happening or why it was. Narnia had been restored to its rightful ruler, its peoples united and peace and prosperity had been ripe when they'd left. But from what she'd seen and what her siblings had described, her beloved country was now in turmoil. And it didn't seem like anyone would be able to right it. Aslan was captured, Caspian was under siege and they were stuck here, occasionally being able to see into or travel to Narnia. Lucy was determined not to lose her hope, that they would find a way to make Narnia right again, together, but despair was close to her heart.

Flipping her satchel shut she turned and quickly walked over to her basin, just having to wash her face before she could go hurry her siblings. Looking down into the water Lucy frowned as it seemed darker than usual, especially since the lamp was almost directly over head. Reaching her hands out slowly, she watched the water carefully, something deep inside of her saying that this wasn't right. Just as her hands hovered above the water Lucy withdrew back and watched in shock as it surged upwards, as if to catch her.

Stumbling backwards she watched as the water tossed and turned in the basin, as if it were waves in a stormy ocean. It slopped over the sides and onto her dresser, the quantity of water growing at every slosh. It seeped towards her and Lucy scrambled backwards, jumping onto her bed. The water surged upwards, forming a wall in front of her eyes and the youngest Pevensie watched as figures began to appear on the other side, almost as if she were looking through a glass door when it was raining. The water door stayed upright even as its edges flowed and pitched, as if trying to reach out for her.

Lucy screamed and pressed herself back into the wall, fear exploding in her chest as she recognised the figures as soldiers. The shapes were blurry but she could see their weapons and they were pointed towards her.

Her bedroom door banged open and Peter skidded in, his mouth open to ask what was wrong before he looked where she was staring.

"By the mane." He whispered and then leapt back quickly as the water lashed out at him.

"Peter!" Lucy screamed, the dark water missing him by a mere inch.

Bending Peter grabbed at the nearest thing he could to use as a weapon, standing back up again with Lucy's umbrella clutched tightly in his fist. Brandishing it like a sword, he tried to wave the water back but it just returned to its wall before darting out at him again.

"What happened?" He asked, his eyes focused solely on the water wall as he feinted against it.

"I just went to wash my face. The water was all dark so I didn't touch it and then it shot upwards and formed that!" She cried out, shrinking against the wall.

"Pete!" Edmund cried as he skidded to a stop by the door. "Lucy!"

Lucy turned towards her other brother and screamed again as she saw that the doorway to her room was half filled up with water, stopping Edmund from gaining entry and them from getting out.

"Ed! Watch out, it comes for you!" No sooner was Peter's warning out of his mouth than Edmund was jumping backwards.

"Edmund!" Lucy cried as she saw her brother fall, he was on his feet again a moment later but for a second she had been afraid he'd been harmed by the mysterious water.

"We need to find some way to get through it!" Edmund yelled.

"I know, but what stops water?!" Peter yelled back, moving his whole body now as the water was shooting out two streams of water to try and catch him.

"The fire poker!" Susan's voice floated towards them. "Quick Ed!"

Peter ducked as an angry swell came straight for his head and as he did a crossbow bolt flew over him, landing in the wall next to Lucy's shoulder. The girl's legs collapsed and she sank onto the bed, fear causing her entire body to shake.

Peter let out a cry of anger and then his umbrella blocked an actual sword, held through the water wall by a soldier's arm. Snarling Peter twisted the umbrella, locking it round the sword as his other hand bent the soldier's wrist, disarming the faceless opponent and getting himself a sword. Not ready to relinquish any way of attack he wielded the sword with one hand and the umbrella in the other.

The soldier's arm disappeared backwards but then another arm shot forward, holding another sword. Peter duelled with it and successfully knocked it out of this soldier's arm too, the sword clattering to the floor noisily. He ducked slightly, kicking the sword towards the door and another crossbow bolt sailed by him, so close it ruffled the hair on his neck as it passed.

"No!" Lucy cried out, her whole body shaking with fear. "Peter get back, you'll get hit!"

"If they could've hit me they had plenty of chance to do so when I was fighting." Peter called over his shoulder and then he realised. "But they didn't."

Another sword swiped at him and although it was a powerful blow it was also clumsy, something that would have allowed him to easily disarm his unseen opponent. But Peter didn't knock the sword down like he had the others, instead he parried and feinted with the swordsman, defending himself and attacking but not pushing for the win. If he was right, he would save his sister from the chances of getting hurt.

"Peter what are you doing?" Susan's voice called out.

"It can't attack two ways at once!" Peter shouted back, twisting as his opponent got in a lucky move and almost stabbed him. "If I hold with the swordsman they can't shoot at us! I can see this enemy; I can't see where they'd fire."

Bringing the umbrella up to act as a shield, he started to block and then jab at the sword attacking him, forcing it off track but not out of the soldier's hand. Sweat was pouring all down his body and his clammy hands were losing grip slightly on his sword but Peter ploughed on. He'd never felt this before in battle, but then he'd always known who his opponent was and what the odds were, even if they weren't in his favour. Right now, he was fighting an unseen, unknown enemy with one weapon and his sister standing defenceless behind him.

"I've got it Su!" Edmund said and peter heard his sister's sigh even over the strange gurgling sound of the mysterious water.

"Is it hot?"

"Red hot, I took it from the fire."

"Good. Let's see if this water is as susceptible to heat as normal water is." Susan's voice was confident but wavering and was followed two seconds later by a loud hissing noise.

The water in front of Peter seemed to swell as steam filled the room and the next thing he knew his brother was standing beside him. Edmund swung the red poker into the water in an arc, straight through the middle of it as Peter blocked the swordsman, and the water hissed before it surged and collapsed, leaving a puddle on the floor.

"Lucy! Are you alright?" Susan quickly ran to her little sister's side, who was still trembling on the bed.

"What was that?" Edmund asked quietly, staring down at the wet patch on Lucy's bedroom floor.

"I don't know," Peter answered tiredly. "But it was powerful and it was out to get us."

Edmund shook his head and turned away, walking over to the girls on the bed and offering his comfort to Lucy as well. Peter took a deep breath and then carefully edged forwards, still gripping his sword tight in his hands. The obvious threat was gone but something still didn't feel right. Edging carefully by the wet patch he stared at it thoughtfully, wondering how it could be controlled like that and who was doing the controlling.

Peter was staring so intently at it that he didn't see its edges move, seeping outwards to touch his feet. As soon as it did he felt a jolt run through him and then he was falling forwards, into the dark puddle.

"Peter!" Lucy screamed, lurching forwards but he was already falling and none of the three Pevensies by the bed could do anything about it.

Cold swept through his entire body and his head felt like it was being pulled in twenty different directions at once as Peter fell. The only thing he was aware of outside of the pain and the numbness was his grip of something in his right hand. But he couldn't even remember what it was; he was struggling to remember what was happening to him, who he even was. His lungs burned for air and every fibre of his body felt old and shattered.

Suddenly the feelings ceased and peter had one second of relief before he crashed into something hard; earth.

Rolling onto his side and sweeping his legs out he was on his feet within seconds, sword partially up so that he was in a defensive stance. It took his mind a few more seconds to catch up with him, still dizzy and confused, but at least his body was ready if anything happened, such as he was attacked. Blinking bleary eyes he looked around himself, trying to recognise his surroundings as his mind surmised that he'd just been transported somewhere; Narnia?

He was standing behind a bush in what looked like the outskirts of a cave. There were noises nearby, the sounds of men grunting and things being lifted and dropped. Peter ducked and concealed himself behind the bush, with the cave wall towards his back. He didn't think anyone had seen him arrive but there was no point taking any unnecessary chances.

"We have to hurry." A gruff voice snapped.

More grunts followed and Peter heard the sounds increase, as if whatever activity whoever it was was doing had been sped up.

"Hurry! Hurry!" The voice cried.

"We cannot go any faster!" A high pitched voice squealed in reply. "It is not our fault you could not procure the girl!"

"Silence!" The gruff voice roared. "Or I will have you head! Which will be much less painful if she finds out we failed!" he hissed. "Or if we are caught by that filthy Caspian's men."

Caspian? Peter thought wildly. These men were enemies of Narnia and obviously up to no good. Had they controlled the water though? They said they'd tried to snatch someone and he had been brought here by that mysterious liquid.

"What's that noise?" The high-pitched voice broke, fear uttered in every syllable.

"Soldiers," The gruff one snarled. "Caspian's soldiers. Ready your arms, all of you! We cannot allow this to fall into their hands!"

There was a scrambling of feet and clanking of metal and Peter edged up slightly, craning his neck so he could see round the wall in front of him. Balancing his weight carefully, he managed to maintain his hidden position whilst being able to see half of what was going on in the cave in front of him. He could hear other sounds now too, the rapid beat of horse's hooves as they approached.

"The King cannot be allowed to touch the crate," gruff hissed. "It will break the magic and mistress will be most displeased."

There was a murmuring of ascent before shouting could be heard, Caspian's soldiers calling out to the rebels to surrender or be defeated. Gruff roared and the men around him shouted back obscenities in reply, their words a lot easier for Peter to hear.

"We will take them all," Gruff said confidently. "Or we will give our lives, but wither way we will return triumphant to out mistress in one form!"

There was another round of crazed shouting and then the noise of hooves increased as Caspian's soldiers were obviously charging the cave.

Peter leapt to his feet and threw himself against the wall, still mostly hidden from view but able to see the entire fight going on in front of him. There was a large trunk set in the middle of the cave's clearing, two soldiers standing in front of it hesitantly, their entire attention focused on the line of men in front of them and the line of horsemen charging towards them. Peter scanned the horseman's ranks ad immediately recognised Caspian, his dark armour standing out in contrast to his comrades slighter lighter metal. His face was devoid of emotion, a battle mask, but Peter could see the weariness in his friend's eyes.

The rebels raised their swords and let out a unanimous war cry, bracing themselves as they raised their weapons. Their archers fired their crossbows but both missed their marks by a wide berth and Peter realised it wasn't just luck that save him and Lucy; they seemed to have terrible aim. Caspian's men however, did not, and they took down three of their opponents on their first shots. The men cried out in rage but by now the horses were on top of them and the true fighting began.

Peter felt bad for not rushing to Caspian's aide but he didn't really know what was going on and who was on whose side. He'd never be able to forgive himself if he rushed into battle and ended up killing one of Caspian's men just because he didn't know who he was fighting against. Besides it looked like they were doing alright. The rebels definitely had the advantage, fighting from the cave out, but Caspian's men had greater numbers and were obviously in a better state of mind; their moves were precise, battle moves to disarm the opponent as quickly as possible, whereas the rebels moves wee anger furled, giving them greater strength but not as much accuracy.

As the rebels began to fall the two who were guarding the trunk ran forwards to help out, managing to kill on of Caspian's soldiers by taking him by surprise. Peter sucked in his breath and then decided to get involved, knowing those two were definitely enemies of Narnia. They were also far enough away from other soldiers that he would be able to take them out without risking anybody else.

Stepping forwards Peter prepared to make his move when he noticed Caspian stumble a few hundred yards in front of him, not so far away from the trunk, but in the other direction.

"No!" Gruff screamed, seeing Caspian's position even though he was fitting two soldiers himself. "Get him away!"

A rebel in-between Peter and Caspian, and to Caspian's back, raised his sword, ready to throw it at the undefended King but peter beat him to it, ramming his own sword into the rebel's unprotected back. Caspian's soldiers managed to get to his side and Gruff man seemed to get crazier by seeing him so protected and still near the trunk, killing the two men he was fighting with. Caspian and guards leapt forward and engaged with the man, his madness making him a formidable enemy.

Peter went to help but then the man's words rang in his head; 'The King cannot be allowed to touch the crate'. Did he really mean the King? Or would a King do? Turning and staring at the trunk it didn't look anything special. But if it was magical, and it was how that water had gotten into Lucy's room and attacked them then it had to be stopped.

Stepping forwards Peter reached out his hand slowly.

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I know I don't deserve them for this being such a long time but... reviews? I really want to know what you guys think about the story's new direction.