“Sire! Sire!” A little voice squeaked.
Peter looked down to see Twignut scamper through the patrol members, making her way to the front where Peter and Edmund were.
“Sire!” She exclaimed again, and the party paused, waiting for the small beast, “The Giants! They’re behind us!”
“Are they fast approaching?” Edmund asked quickly, glancing behind them to confirm that the giants were not indeed upon them.
“No! No, they’ve set up an ambush between us and the camp! I overheard them talking!” Twignut hurriedly corrected.
“I supposed we’ll just have to go back a different way,” Peter said, his shoulders untensing a little and his hand moving away from the pommel of Rhindon.
“It didn’t sound like they were planning to come after us!” Twignut enthusiastically agreed, bouncing on her toes.
“Perhaps not them, Twiggy, but the ones up ahead might.” A voice came down from the sky as their forward scout Sorrowind descended onto a nearby rock.
“Don’t call me that!” Twignut angrily shouted.
“What, Twiggy?” The hawk teased, “It’s quite apt; your statute certainly compares to a twig.”
“Why, you- you-!” Twignut cried, “Birdbrain! It’s not like you’re much-”
Sorrowind interrupted with a hawk’s cry and responded, “Birdbrain! That’s a compliment, you wish you had a bird’s brain-!”
But he in turn was also cut off, Twignut yelling her own comeback until the rocky hills rang with a mess of squeaking and squawking.
“Enough!” Peter’s deep voice cut through the argument neatly and brought about an abrupt and sheepish silence. “With the noise you two were making, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Marshwiggles had heard us in the Northern Marshes. Now, Sorrowind, you said something about Giants ahead of us?”
“Yes sire, sorry. There are a group of giants ahead planning to ambush us when we go over the Bridge. They have five on one side and five towering behind some rocks on our side. They planned to catch us in the middle,” Sorrowind said quickly.
“Well, there goes our plan to scout their camp,” Edmund muttered from beside him.
“And we can’t send Sorrowind because the birdbrain refused to brave a few flying rocks!” Twignut huffed, sending an expression of contempt over her shoulder to her winged compatriot.
“Who knew giants could be so devious?” Beruna said, cutting off the inevitable argument. The beaver had approached unnoticed from behind them and overheard Sorrowind’s report.
“You would be surprised,” Por said, and suddenly what had been an ordered line had become a huddle because there was Leo too, coming up behind his twin to complete the circle.
“It does seem a little more-” Edmund paused, looking for the right word, “-organised than their usual plans. What do you think, Peter?”
“I’m not sure that matters right now. I think we need to find a way back to camp. I don’t want to be caught in enemy territory once the sun’s gone down,” Peter said decisively.
The others began discussing options, which for Twignut and Sorrowind meant returning to squabbling, but for Edmund, the twins, and Beruna, there was a calm exchange of ideas.
Peter looked at the sky. It was overcast, as it always seemed to be in Ettinsmoor, but he could tell it was getting late. The small patrol had set off a few hours past noon and had been walking for some time, intending to scout the enemy camp and return just after sunset but it had taken longer than expected. By the time they had even discovered the camp’s location – just beyond the Giant’s Bridge – the day had been drawing to a close.
“Where exactly is the group behind us?” Peter asked Twignut.
“They’re not even trying to hide, Sire. The group of nine is directly in between us and the Camp. They talked about attacking the camp itself, but there were too few of them and they didn’t want to fight Oerius’ group,” Twignut explained, shifting her weight from one side to the other impatiently.
“Hold still, Twiggy, you’re giving me a headache,” Sorrowind muttered at the small squirrel.
“I told you not to call me that!” She hissed, glaring at her friend.
“There’s no way to avoid them seeing us,” Edmund said, ignoring the incorrigible pair, “the Moor can be flatter than the Eastern Ocean on a windless day.”
“I know,” Peter said shortly, rubbing his chin, which was manfully adorned with the beginnings of a beard. Susan would have him get rid of it as soon as they came home, but until then, it was an opportunity Peter would not let go to waste.
“And there’s no point going forwards if we know we can’t go back.” Edmund continued, looking at Peter when he didn’t respond. “Peter.”
“Yes.” He said, looking up from the rock he’d been staring at to shoot Edmund a look, “I know.” We don’t have the numbers to beat them and we can’t avoid them. Unless…
“Then what are we going to do, Pete?” Ed said, exasperated.
The party had been fairly small to begin with, only consisting of the two monarchs, Twignut, Sorrowind, Beruna and the twins, Por and Leo. None were very large or obtrusive and all could be quiet…except perhaps Twignut and Sorrowind when put together. The idea filled itself out, expanded, and took shape like molten metal into the molds of a dwarven forge.
“Sorrowind, I’m going to need you to fly back to camp and tell Oreius we’ll come back later than expected, but hopefully before moonrise tonight. He shouldn’t worry or send out any search parties. Try not to be seen,” Peter said, and the hawk bobbed his head and took off.
“Twignut, can you find us a good place for us to settle until dark? As hidden as you can,” He continued, turning to the squirrel as soon as Sorrowind was gone.
“Yes, High King Peter!” She squeaked and scampered away over the rocks.
“Pete, what are you up to?” Edmund asked, eyebrows raised.
He turned to his brother and let himself smile a little, “I’m not sure it’s a scheme worthy of your deviousness, but it should do nicely to get us back to camp in one piece, Aslan willing.”
“Are you going to quit gloating and explain it or not?” Edmund smirked, confident in his brother’s plan, even before it was revealed.
<>(+)<>
They couldn’t light a fire.
This was a fact that particularly bothered Edmund because it was getting later and later, and he hadn’t had dinner. None of them had. Nobody had thought to bring provisions because nobody had expected this little expedition to be anything more than a short scouting mission. But expectations were made to be disappointed, Edmund thought dispassionately.
As the stars replaced the fast fading sunlight, the heavy cloud cover seemed to dissipate, revealing those sharply glinting pinpricks with startling clarity.
Waiting for complete darkness was boring, but at least he had a view, Edmund reflected. And it would be good to get some rest before they attempted to sneak across the moors under the cloak of night. It had seemed like a decent plan in the daylight, but now he was hungry, impatient, and cold, with nothing else to think about. This, of course, made him feel even hungrier, colder, and more impatient.
Edmund decided to try and pass the time by lying flat on his back to stargaze.
“Say what you like about the locals, but even the view at Cair has a hard time comparing to this.” Beruna sighed, lying on his back beside Edmund.
“I don’t know,” he replied, waking visions of Susan and Lucy drifting across his eyes, “Home has its own charms. Don’t you miss your parents? I remember Mr Beaver being particularly distraught when you decided to join this campaign.”
“Da is too anxious sometimes,” the beaver sighed, “he reckons I’m going to die dramatically, killed by giants and turned into a hat probably, and then get a constellation named after me as a warning to wayward kits. I told him that doesn’t happen anymore, but he wouldn’t listen.”
“What? Getting turned into a hat, or a constellation?” Edmund chuckled, still gazing at the starry host.
“Ha!” the beaver snorted, “the constellation thing I suppose.”
“I don’t know-” Edmund began, eyes catching a familiar shape rising in the south-east.
“Really? Have you ever heard of anyone who’s been constellised?” Beruna said sceptically, rolling over to face him. He was quite bad at formalities and always spoke his mind, which Ed had often appreciated.
“Uh…” Edmund trailed off, glancing with uncertainty at the two leopards who were chatting to Peter on the other side of their makeshift hiding place. A freezing wind blew through their rocky outcropping and Edmund shivered, wishing for his cloak, which was conveniently sitting in his tent back at the Camp.
“Come on then,” Beruna pushed, “I can tell you know something, so just spit it out.”
“Well,” Edmund began reluctantly, but just at that moment, he was saved from embarrassment by Peter who came over with the Leopards.
“Ed, we should probably get going before the moon rises,” Peter said, and Ed couldn’t make out his expression in the dark.
<>(+)<>
The small party set out from their hiding spot, but it wasn’t long before they stopped again.
“Ed, take off your mail; it’s making too much noise,” Peter whispered, beginning to take off his own.
“And put it where?” Edmund argued softly, “We don’t have anything to carry it in.”
“Ah, good point,” Peter said, and embarrassed, shrugged his chain mail shirt back over his shoulders.
“Also, I thought Camp was that way,” Edmund said, gesturing to his right.
“That’s what I thought too,” Twignut chimed in from beside his ear, on his shoulder. Poor Twignut couldn’t see very well in the dark and had decided to remain with the sons of Adam in this instance.
“No,” Peter disagreed, “I’m fairly certain the Camp is straight ahead.”
“But doesn’t that mean the giants are straight ahead?” Edmund said, fighting rising panic, “Twignut said they were directly between us and the Camp, right?”
“That’s what I said,” Twignut chittered in a tone of uncertainty, “but they might’ve moved since then.”
“But we went west a little way to find our hiding spot, so wouldn’t that mean we need to go that way to get to camp?” Beruna reasoned, probably gesturing too from his place in the sea of black.
“Does anyone remember any landmarks?” Peter said, and Edmund could tell that the calm infused in his voice was false. He was obviously panicking just as much as Edmund.
“Not that I can see right now,” Por said from the front, “I remember that the Bridge was directly behind our hiding spot, but-”
“-we lost track of our direction in relation to it when we moved. However, we know this is not the way we came,” Leo finished from the back. Out of them, the twins were the ones who could best see in the dark and so they had been chosen to be the front and rear guard for this expedition, which was quickly falling apart.
“If the Bridge is north, and the camp is south-east from that-” Beruna began.
“-and the giants are directly in between,” Edmund added.
“Then we should go east or west around them, and then, and then…” He trailed off, knowing they would not be able to accurately accomplish this without a map, daylight, and a few recognisable landmarks.
Edmund sighed.
Then he paused.
“Wait. Did someone say the Camp is south-east?” He asked quickly.
“Yes, because the Bridge is north and so the Camp-” Beruna began again, but Edmund interrupted him.
“The Leopard rises in the south-east at this time of year!” He exclaimed, then remembered to quieten down.
“The what?” Peter asked, and Edmund could tell the twin’s ears were pricked and curious.
So much for saving myself from embarrassment, he thought to himself, but forged ahead.
“The Leopard. A constellation.”
“I’ve never heard of it,” Came Leo’s voice from behind him, and Edmund winced.
“Ah, well,” Edmund floundered, “We made it up, I mean, I made it up, and Lucy was there.”
“You created a leopard constellation with Queen Lucy?” Por asked curiously, softly padding closer.
“Uh, well, yes.”
“Why a leopard?” Beruna asked and Edmund felt like sighing. Why, oh why did she have to ask that question, of all questions?
“Never mind all that,” Peter interrupted, saving him again from embarrassment, “Where is it?”
Edmund gratefully turned his attention to the star-filled skies, searching for the familiar shape that had caught his attention earlier. Oh Leopard, where are you?
He quickly found the four stars that ran the constellation’s length from head to tail, and after that, it was easy to pinpoint the two orange stars that represented the legs.
“There!” He pointed to the constellation, and everyone turned to squint at it.
“It doesn’t look much like a leopard to me,” Leo commented with what Edmund thought was much more amusement than was warranted. Especially since the constellation was saving them from a cold night of directionless wandering on the Moors.
“I was ten! I’m seventeen now; it was a long time ago!” Edmund defended louder than he ought, and the thump of a heavy footstep far away to their right made them all freeze, barely daring to breathe.
After a few tense moments of staring into the complete darkness of the Moors, they slowly, slowly relaxed.
Peter gestured for Edmund to lead the way, so he cautiously made his way to the front with Por, eyes fixed on the celestial Leopard to mark the way. They would just have to follow it and pray it didn’t lead towards the Giants.
Everyone kept their ears (and eyes, in some cases) straining for any signs of giants, and
Aslan must have guarded their steps because the party didn’t run into any. Unfortunately, there was no such protection from the cold. Beruna and the Twins were fine due to their coats of fur, but the sons of Adam and Twignut were hunching and shivering with every icy gust.
By the time the Twin’s keen eyes had spotted the campfires of the Narnian encampment, both the boys’ teeth were chattering and Twignut had huddled into the crook of Edmund’s stiff arms. Another gusting wind swept across the Moors and Edmund shuddered. He hated the cold, but they kept moving forward, trying to avoid stumbling on any of the larger rocks that littered the landscape. Unfortunately, it was all the brothers could do to focus on putting one foot in front of the other, and, of course, Edmund had to keep glancing at the sky to keep them going in the right direction. His neck was beginning to truly ache.
Finally, they entered the Camp to the sight of warm torchlight and good friends, leaving the dark and desolate Moors behind them.
The soldier on watch was waiting for them and they were given a message from Oreius: go to the Command Tent. All to be expected, since they were late, but still.
“Always doing, never done,” Edmund muttered tiredly as the patrol made their exhausted way through the Camp to the Command Tent.
“Are you talking to me, or just voicing a painfully obvious truth?” Peter said, giving him a sideways look.
“I believe it’s called commiserating.”
“So, was that what you were talking about?” Beruna interrupted.
“What?”
“The Leopard. Was it someone you knew?” She asked, sounding tired and blunt.
“Uh, yes, I mean, no. Lucy said there had to be a story behind the constellation, and I was inspired by Por and Leo, so…” He trailed off tiredly, beyond caring if the Twins heard him.
“Really? But there’s only one Leopard, and there’s two of us.” Por interjected.
“By the Lion’s Mane! When I was ten! I did a lot of things I regretted when I was ten!” Edmund exclaimed irritably, tired of his constellation being criticised.
Peter chuckled wearily from beside him, “While that may be true, I don’t think you should regret creating that constellation; it might just have saved all our lives.”
After a long moment, Beruna smiled, as much as a beaver can smile, and said, “Now you’ll have a story to tell Lucy when you go home. The Leopard who Lights the Way Home.”
“I suppose I will,” Edmund smiled.
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