A/n: I live! And I'm still plugging away! If you have been keeping up with the long updates, then you guys are amazing! Thank you. If you are new, I'm glad you found me and hope you stick around.

"I say," A voice called from the top of the tower stairs as Vitus saw the beaked face of Edawig peek out from around the corner, "what is all of this hullaballoo about? Vitus? Is that you?"

Vitus looked around. Lihi was gone yet was pressed against him but a moment before. It was as if the manifestation shattered as he brought down the stone. Blinking as if coming out in the sun from a darkened place, Vitus climbed the stairs hurriedly.

Eadawig's striking brown feathers ruffled as he took in the foreigner's appearance. Vitus did not register that the scratches on his chest were bleeding through the gray-blue tunic he had donned earlier that night, his only care then being the Performance of the History at the ball. The griffin's golden eyes widened as they fixed on the stone in VItus' hand.

"Is that blood?" The griffin wondered.

Vitus held up the rock to the light from the top of the tower stairs. The blood of the Gentle coated the stone in a shockingly red hue. "By the Lion…" Vitus swore, silently praying that somehow he did not do what he thought he did. He pushed that thought aside. More harm would come to their Majesties and indeed the rest of the court if he didn't escape to find answers.

"I come by the orders of Queen Susan. How fast do you think you can get to the Toirdhealbhach?" Vitus wondered.

The griffin tossed its head as if offering a cocky smile, "A storm such as this one shan't harry me. Will you tell me what this is about?"

"On the way, I shall. We need to hurry. If we delay much longer I fear our window of opportunity will close." Vitus replied, striding across the small upper room, tossing the double doors that led to the griffin's launching balcony. "I pray our window won't be permanent, yet I also hope that I gained us some time."

Eadawig followed the griot out into the driving rain, his head cocked to the side in confusion. "You speak in riddles. Tell me what this is about."

"Stop asking questions and let's get going!" Vitus rounded on the griffin. The griot let out a few swear words before the griffin knelt for him to mount. For all of Eadawig's brashness, he was always irritatingly slow to act but once he got going, practically nothing could catch him. Vitus prayed that the supernatural was among those things. Without further delay Eadawig and Vitus took to the sky.

Lucy's hands went to her mouth as she uttered a scream as if the action would have shoved the scream back into her throat. She stood in the middle of the room, a still figure in a flurry of movement. Guards had rushed in towards Susan's body as Peter uncharacteristically snapped that they stay back and tend to Oreius who was slumped, unmoving against the wall. Someone-Lucy wasn't sure who- demanded that Cyriacus be sent for.

Lucy, called by all 'valiant', was never one to be paralyzed in fear yet when her sister dropped like a discarded gown, Lucy could not even follow as Peter and Edmund rushed towards Su. She lingered in her spot for it didn't seem like all was well and the teenage monarch was not so inclined to let relief blind her fear. Whether that was bravery or cowardice, Lucy neither knew nor cared. She opened her mouth call her brothers back but Edmund spoke first.

"The gash isn't too deep." Ed reported with a slight note of relief on his voice.

Peter opened his mouth to speak but was cut off as Susan muttered, "Blimey." It was an expression that they hadn't heard since they were in Finchley. When Susan sat up, there was nothing amiss with her countenance. "How….?" She wondered in a daze.

Peter gazed over his shoulder and asked of a faun guard. "Has Cyriacus been summoned?"

The faun bowed, his eyes eyeing the Gentle warily. "I shall see that he comes faster." He rushed out, his haste to gather the court's physician could not hide the truth that he didn't want to be in the room any more than he had to did not escape the notice of Lucy.

"You alright?" Peter queried as he and Edmund helped their sister to her feet. Whatever held Susan, Lucy noticed that her brothers were sure that it had left. If they were confident all was well then why wasn't she? Could her heart not see what her mind saw? That Susan was fine? Shaken and bleeding, yes, but no worse for wear and far better off than some.

"I was standing at the mirror…" Susan muttered to nobody in particular. From outside, the lightning flashed and on the responding thunder the Pevensies heard Eadawig's screech in the night.

"Vitus." Susan whispered. Lucy stayed in her spot, no matter how much she willed her legs to move towards her sister it seemed that she was stayed. Susan continued, explaining. "I sent him to the Great Library for answers."

Edmund caught Peter's glance and nodded in recognition, both vaguely remembering speaking to Vitus of such a matter. But by the Lion, was he only just leaving? It felt as if he spoke to him days ago.

"Answers?" Lucy wondered flatly, trying her best not to let her voice crack with emotion. She stepped forward, finally finding her feet by suppressing her uneasiness. She stood close to her siblings and lowered her voice so only they could hear. "The time has long passed for answers! Peter had gouges on his chest, I've been thrown against the wall and choked, Susan, your arm was snapped in half, Dores and her unborn child died from being pushed down a flight of stairs, Waylon killed himself in grief, the Galaewe chicks and one of Avril's pups were mutilated and now some force had taken a hold of Su and assaulted Oreius! "

Cyriacus rushed in silently while Lucy spoke and immediately strode to the guardsmen tending the General as best as they could. Peter put a comforting arm around his youngest sister. She had never wanted to be close to Aslan so urgently before. Lucy always felt the Lion close despite the distance between Him and them but in the face of such evil, Lucy had never felt so abandoned.

"What would you have me do, Lucy?" Peter wondered diplomatically, fatigue breaking through in his voice.

Meanwhile, Edmund handed Susan a handkerchief for her head and helped her into an obliging seat. He summoned the faun guard who fetched Cyriacus. He hesitantly stepped forward. "Fetch some water for the Queen, if you would." He ordered. The faun guard obliged, all too quickly.

Edmund quickly dispatched the remaining guards and instructed them to help the Elderly Gentleman with crowd control. He assured them that Oreius would be fine and they could do nothing else to help. Within moments, Edmund returned to his siblings sides, praying that his words about the centaur weren't literal.

"Vitus was sent to find a way of defeating this-" Peter continued, gesturing to the room in to silently say 'the entity' without bringing to much attention to their conversation. "-if we cannot escape it."

"We can't afford to wait that long!" Lucy hissed. "With all that we and our court have suffered, what makes you think we'll fare better off here than in the storm?"

Peter gave a look to Susan and Edmund that said that Lucy had a point.

Meanwhile, across the room, the faun guard poured water from a stone pitcher into a golden goblet for the Gentle. Naught five feet away Cyriacus tended to the General. "Is he bad off, Cyriacus?" the faun wondered.

The physician looked up and sighed. "No worse than we are, my friend." His tone was grave and heavy and made the guard suppress a twinge of fear. "Panic ensues downstairs and I've seen firsthand what the forces here are capable of. He is merely unconscious with a few broken bones for it."

The faun nodded, lingering where he was. He opened his mouth to speak but the physician spoke first. "I am told a force held Queen Susan and it threw General Oreius."

The guard nodded silently, allowing his face to tell Cyriacus that the Queen Susan had been not herself since Waylon slit his throat. Cyriacus understood this. Speaking quietly he prayed. "May we be preserved by the Lion."

"By the Lion." The guard intoned, noticing Queen Lucy's cordial on the table he set the pitcher on. He knew it was given to her by Father Christmas and of its magical abilities. 'Such a gift, must be of Aslan…' the guard thought.

Before he could rationalize himself through his decision or even realize that he was indeed acting on a feeling, he quickly snatched the cordial and poured a single drop of it in the Queen's goblet. Almost instantly, the red liquid dissolved and had the casual observer looked at it, they would think the goblet held merely water. "By the Lion's Mane, forgive me if this is wrong…" He muttered.

"Come again?" Cyriacus questioned, not hearing what the guard was whispering. He was going to inquire on the guard's health for the physician noticed something was amiss with the fellow but his attention was drawn to Oreius who stirred.

As the guard neared the four monarchs, he heard King Edmund say, "Our main concern is to regain order among the court downstairs. Nothing can be done before this."

The four had formed a small tight knit clump by where Queen Susan sat cloth on her head to staunch the bleeding. Her head was rested on the back of her chair. Even though her eyes were closed, she nodded every so often as if to indicate that she was listening. King Peter, his arm still around Queen Lucy put his hand on one of the arms of Susan's chair. King Edmund flanked the other side of the chair, leaning at the chair's back. All looked worn to their limits and frightened and that did not sit well with the guard at all.

He hung back, waiting for the moment he wouldn't be interrupting.

"Ed has a point." Peter conceded, more to Lucy than the others. "Whether we stay or face the storm, we can't succeed with a panicked court, Lu."

Lucy shook her head, unconvinced. "It all seems like another reason to keep us here longer. It can't be coincidence that we searched the castle's every nook and cranny and find nothing; only for the remains to be found in the great hall that happens to hold our already frightened people."

"It was contrived…" Peter muttered, verbally absorbing the notion.

Edmund shook his head. While Peter was trying to calm and hold things together before acting, Edmund wanted to stop debating and get moving. "Contrived or not, let's just control the crowd so that if we decide to brave the storm we can do it properly."

At last Peter agreed and added with a final tone. "If we will brave better in the storm than here, then we need to be organized. I don't care what we leave behind, as long as we can get our subjects and ourselves out of this accursed place. "

"There's no need to have our subjects blood on our hands." Edmund added. The four of them were silent for not even a moment, Peter and Lucy appeared relieved that things would soon be over. They would be wet, but they would be over with Madame Lihi and the damned castle. There was a sort of finality in their hopes, as if they saw the light in the tunnel.

Then Susan looked up at Edmund and said casually, "You mean other than the blood that is already on your hands, Edmund?"

Startled, Edmund blinked. "What?"

Susan propped her chin up with her hand and looked up at Edmund with a sideways glance. "You could have stopped us…." She trailed off.

"I have a feeling that even if I had, we'd have still ended up in this situation." Edmund shot back. "We would still be in a check no matter how we moved our chess pieces. There's no use in you bringing this up now of all times."

"What aren't you two telling us?" Peter warily demanded.

"Of course Ed wouldn't have told you…" Susan began.

Edmund exhaled from his nose in exasperation. "I witnessed Susan in the middle of conducting a séance with Dores this afternoon, she blackmailed for my silence and- By the Lion this sound so stupid right now!"

Lucy ducked out from under Peter's arm warily as the High King spoke. "You could not have stopped Su if it had already begun." His tone was silently angered and taken aback but Edmund was right; it felt as if they were puppets on a string. No matter if he'd have known about it, things couldn't have turned out different.

Susan imperiously gestured for the faun guard to step forward with the water. He stood close, trying not to visibly shiver when her hand touched his as he gave her the goblet. "True, that the little session opened the cracked door wider," Susan continued casually, "made it quite easy. But to be honest, I do love a challenge."

Peter began to back away slowly, his arm held out to shield Lucy and keep her back. "Ed," The High King began with his hand on his sword. "Ed, whatever that is, it's not Susan. Come away."

The Just seemed rooted in his spot though, as whatever held Susan continued though when she spoke, it was in Edmund's voice. " 'If you have the fortitude to do so," she quoted, "pick on somebody who is a decent opponent.' " She paused and raised the goblet as a toast. "Shall I test your fortitude, boy?"

Edmund's hand moved to his sword as Susan raised the goblet with the cordial to her lips as quick as a breath, she gave an unworldly hiss and dropped the goblet, enraged. Her face contorted as if it wasn't Susan's face anymore. Her eyes darkened into black as a demonic scream filled the room.

"Qu-Queen Lucy!" The guard spoke hurridly, "Your cordial can heal any injury! I prayed it would heal the sou-" Quicker than any of the rooms inhabitants could see, Madame Lihi grabbed the faun by the head with a growl. Before the guard could finish his words, a sickening snap filled the room and the faun fell, his eyes wide and unseeing with shock and his head slightly askew from his body.

Now, every sword was raised and the guards stationed for the Pevensies rushed in, claws, teeth and weapons bared. They formed a barrier with their bodies between Lihi and the Kings and Queen.

Lihi then bared her own teeth and rushed the line. Lucy swore she didn't even see when the thing possessing Susan tore a lung and heart respectively from two of her most trusted bodyguards. It was as if she flew, quicker than anything Lucy could imagine.

Just as Lucy could wrap her mind around the fact that three more Narnians had been added to the rising toll, she noticed Lihi crawling the length of the ceiling towards them, limbs bent as if doing a crab walk. The thing within her sister stopped short just above Edmund and Lucy was sure other voices in the room screamed in tandem with her when Susan's head turned 180 degrees to look at them.

Susan's long hair fell down straight towards them , her crown practically hopelessly lost in a tangle of dark hair. When she spoke, a multitude of voices spoke. Lucy wasn't sure what chilled her more, the multitude of voices, the fact that she could hear Lihi's cursed voice as well or that Susan's own voice was mingled in with the many.

"I shall test your meddle, Son of Adam, Descendant in name to Queen Helen." Then the head snapped forward to eye the High King. "More will fall if it is intervened, Little King."

Lightning flashed close to the window. The light and the loud crack of it hitting something close was just as immediate as it was deafening. But the time the light subsided, only 2 Narnian out of four monarchs remained in a room drenched in the blood of their subjects.

As always, reviews are like virtual cake or Pringles…I always want more. (ok, it's 2:14 am, and I'm sure that analogy made NO sense.) Bottom line, sleep well, my dears, and let me know what you think.