()()()()()()

(Rainquicken twelfth. Ninth hour. Garnar's POV)

I trudged through the mud: Uncle was always good at making hard training exercises. I was covered in slime, mud, and sweat. I rammed into a series of training dummies and shattered them to pieces.

"How was that, Uncle?" I asked the large, battlescarred, white rhino. He snorted in disapproval.

"How many times must I tell you? When you charge never propel yourself with all your weight. Not only will you tire quickly but it is very hard to stop. You could run into a spear, or off a cliff, for that matter." Uncle worked hard on training me so that when I became old enough I could take over the Crash. After Papa died protecting High King Peter during the battle of Beruna, Uncle was head of the Crash and none dared to challenge him for it. The only one that could ever beat Uncle was Papa. Uncle said I was a lot like Papa, and Mama did too, andwhich makes me proud. Papa was a hero, and I didn't want to let him down.

"It's your job to protect your siblings and Mama. Uncle will help you but it's your job, Garnar. Will you do that for me?" That was what he told me before he left. He never came back, and it is my duty to keep my promise. I will never break it.

I was brought back to the present by Uncle. He was giving me a disapproving glare.

"You weren't paying attention, Garnar."

"Sorry, Uncle. What were you saying?" I apologized. Uncle huffed, clearly frustrated. But then he dipped his head.

"Your Papa used to not pay attention. He was always imagining being a hero." He said sadly. Uncle didn't talk much about Papa; they were very close and when Papa never came back it left him and the entire Crash broken hearted. We all knew we'd see him again in Aslan's country, but we all missed him.

"Training is done for today." Uncle said as he turned and went to the higher grounds where there wasn't as much flooding, and where the other rhinos were. I however went to a series of rocks near the base of the Mountains. High King Peter gave us stewardship over Stormness Pass, and it was our job to protect it. There was a fort nearby, but we were the first line of defense.

I reached my destination and was immediately met by my siblings, Rhonhilda and Conait. Conait tried to knock me down but I won, I always won because I was the oldest.

"What were you doing?" I asked.

"Looking for stuff." Rhonhilda said.

"Did you find anything?" I asked excitedly. We were always looking for treasures. Sometimes we scared Mama when we looked too far and got lost. We got lost a lot and had to find our way home.

"Yeah, come look." Conait said as we approached a flat rock we kept our treasures on. Most of them were pretty rocks and weird shaped sticks. Conait pointed with his snout to a small vial. I sniffed it curiously.

"Do you know what this is?" I asked after I figured out what it was.

"No, what is it?" Rhonhilda asked.

"This is Queen Lucy's cordial, the one from Father Christmas." I exclaimed, probably in too loud of a voice. Mama always said I was loud, Rhonhilda was quiet, and Conait just liked to hear himself make noise.

"But how did it get here? The Kings and Queens haven't been this way in a long time." Rhonhilda said sadly and confused at the same time. She likes Queen Susan, for they were friends. Queen Susan says that once she gets older she could be one of her ladies in waiting, though I don't really understand how a Rhino could do that.

"I don't know, but we need to take it to her." I said.

"Cair Paravel is an awful long way from here." Conait said.

"We can take it to the fort in no time at all. Swiftflight can take it to her." I replied.

"Should we tell Mama?" Rhonhilda asked.

"We will be right back, the fort isn't that far away." I said and that settled it. We rushed off towards the fort, going as fast as we could.

()()()()()()

(Rainquicken twelfth. Thirteenth hour. Helena's POV)

I applied a damp cloth to the High King's head. He was burning up and starting getting delirious. I had hoped that he would say something that could help us find out who poisoned him and with what, but all he did was talk about his siblings. The Queens had been at his side almost the entire time, King Edmund was working on how to handle the diplomats and keep Narnia looking strong but he still managed to visit. Mother had been working hard on tending to the High King but she was exhausted from taking care of Blossom and keeping up as the Head Healer.

"How is he?" Ethan asked. I didn't have to look back to know who he was, we had grown so close over the last few months that I could tell by his footsteps and vice versa. He leaned on the bedpost and sighed. He was wearing his dress uniform, decorated with the Lion's Heart and the Warrior's Crest. He had shadows under his eyes from weariness. He had been working hard on the investigation.

"Why are you in your dress uniform?" I asked, not really caring either way, but was tired of the silence. I needed someone to talk to badly.

"King Edmund wanted me to attend the negotiations and see if we could discover who the assassin is." He replied without looking.

"Did you discover anything?" I asked carefully. Stuff like that was normally kept to certain ears only. He looked around for listening ears before he spoke in a soft whisper.

"A Terebinthian was acting suspiciously. He acted like he knew me from somewhere but nothing that was related to the High King. I didn't recognize him but, given my memory is still fuzzy, I could have met him before." Ethan quickly went quiet when another healer came in. The healer was a female faun that was like an aunt to me. Her name was Silvia.

"Helena, go get some rest. Your mother instructed me to relieve you for awhile." She said with a soft voice and a compassionate smile. I nodded and stood up and headed towards the door. Ethan opened the door for me and I stepped through, only to immediately be tackled by something. I couldn't see anything besides a dark shadow from the corner of my eye as I fell to the foor and hit my head. It wasn't enough to knock me unconscious but it made me dizzy. I heard Ethan yell, a loud thump, and swords being drawn.

()()()()()()

(Rainquicken twelfth. Thirteenth hour. Ethan's POV)

Something tackled Helena, and before I knew it, I was kicking it in the side. I got it off of her, and it stared at me, it was now that I was thankful for my title because he must've not been expecting me and he was almost trembling. It was definitely human, Calormen by the looks of it.

"You stay away from her." I said as I put myself between him and Helena. I heard the door to the healing ward open and someone being dragged. I could only hope whoever it was took Helena to safety.

The Calormen lunged at me, his sword pointed at my chest. I knocked his sword away, and swung for his head. He blocked it and stabbed at me again. I sidestepped and kicked the man between the legs. He gave a grunt before he toppled to the floor.

"May Tash forever curse you." He said in a strained voice. I couldn't help but cringe myself, I knew the pain too well myself. But I was also ecstatic, this man was obviously after Peter to finish him off and whoever else was in his way. Hopefully he was the Calormen that the Telmarine heard talking, and that meant we only needed to find one more.

Guards came and took him away, and after I knew he was thoroughly bound, I went in to check on Helena.

So the three Rhinos belong to both Dymphna Karpovna and myself, you can read more about them in her story "Of riddles and Aravis's pocket" on her page.

Again reviews are greatly appreciated so I know what I need to change and what to keep.