Chapter One

At dusk, Aries sprung happily through the dark forest, fire dancing at her fingertips as her blazing hair reached for the heavens. Her walks meant freedom for her and her powers – she could not harm anyone, and there were no Telmarine soldiers nearby to catch her, as they were all afraid of the 'ghosts' in the trees, which were really just Narnians like her. She was free to run, to climb and to let her powers take control.

This Narnian was not a Faun or a Centaur, though; she was a Fire Nymph. When her powers were at rest, she looked like any human, really. Her hair was short, falling only to her shoulders in shades of red, and her eyes resembled molten gold. She had a dusty tan and wore a short dress with three layers, the top layer falling just below her bust was red, the layer covering her stomach was orange and the layer that fell from her waist to her thighs was yellow.

On her legs was a pair of torn red trousers that only covered the tops of her thighs were her dress did not. On her feet she wore long cloth boots that climbed her legs and stopped below her knees, with no sole or heel – just strong cloth. Her heritage gave her the ability to create and mould flames at will, but there was always a restriction to any power, otherwise it wouldn't be fair.

When she was too far from the flames she creates or unconscious, they dissolve, but no amount of water or sand can put them out otherwise. Aries, however, had never tested the limits of her flames, for she had never had the chance or the need. When her powers were active, as they were now, small flames sparked from her fingers and her hair appeared to be aflame.

"Aries, there you are!" a happy, calm voice sounded from her right. Aries paused and hushed the fire within her, allowing her hair to fall softly around her face and the warmth of the fire at her fingertips to cease.

"Hello, Trufflehunter," she greeted with a tilt of her head and a bright smile as the Badger waved her inside. "Hello, Nikabrik, Trumpkin," the girl added, seeing the dwarves inside the underground den when she entered.

"It took you long enough, child!" Nikabrik stated gruffly, crossing his arms over his chest as he frowned at her. "We were about to go and look for you!"

"I assure you that I can handle myself very well, thank you," she laughed, sitting with them at the table as Trufflehunter brought her a plate of bread and cheese to eat – a light, enjoyable evening meal.

"You can handle yourself, of course we know that," Trumpkin agreed, eyeing her in concern, "but what about a Telmarine, or a group of them?"

"I'll burn them," she smirked easily, lighting her fist as a wave of flame shot through her hair.

"Put that out!" Trufflehunter scolded, Aries instantly doing as she was told. "The last thing I need is for this den to catch fire."

"Sorry," Aries apologised meekly, hiding behind her bread as she took a small bite. "Thank you for the food, my friend," the girl then said, remembering her manners – a hard thing to do in the presence of dwarves.

"You have no idea how long I've been awaiting those words!" the Badger praised. "These two combined have fewer manners than a wild animal," he grumbled as Aries smiled. She was glad for her three close friends – friends she would have never met had it not been for the Telmarines forcing them to hide in the forest. They had found her after an attack on the Fire Nymph lands; beautiful desert lands filled with volcanoes, hot and dry.

The fire lands were no longer safe; though no Telmarine had ever expressed an interest in using the land, they kill any Fire Nymph they find there – of course, they were now only a handful of her kind left, and they had returned to the volcano and slept, much like the Dryads in the trees and the Naiads in the rivers. Aries had been found running from the borders and brought into the forest, at the tender age of four, and had been close to Trufflehunter, Nikabrik and Trumpkin ever since.

She remembered well the day they had found her; Trufflehunter had been gathering wood for his fire while Trumpkin and Nikabrik stood ready to fight back any Telmarine that might have found them. Instead, they found a small child curled up between a tree and a shrub, the ground beneath her charred as though it were burnt. They immediately took her in, and Aries lived with them until she turned thirteen and began exploring further, sometimes disappearing for days.

"Are you staying, the night with us, or did you just come for our food before travelling across the forest?" Trumpkin asked her as he took a piece of cheese from her plate. Trufflehunter hit him atop the head and put it back, but Aries didn't mind.

"I shall stay tonight," she decided, "if that is alright with you."

"Of course," Trufflehunter nodded happily. "I do prefer it when you stay, for I know always where you are. It worries me when you leave and we do not hear from you for days at a time."

"I always return, old friend," smiled the Nymph, finishing off her cheese and walking to the water bowl to rinse her plate. She set a small, cool flame in the palm of her hand and held the wooden plate above it to dry it.

"Don't do that!" Trufflehunter said in alarm, snatching the plate away from the lithe girl and rubbing the remaining dampness on his furry arm. "Am I the only one who sees the danger in 'drying' wood with fire?"

"No," Trumpkin shrugged, "but we wanted to see if it would burn or just char, since it's damp wood an' not dry."

"Stop using me for your silly little tests," Aries sighed, sitting back at the table and placing her elbow on the low surface, resting her cheek on her palm. She glanced between Trumpkin and Nikabrik, seeing the slightly guilty – yet still amused – looks on their faces, and shook her head, though the small, fond smile stretched across her lips couldn't be denied.

She stretched and walked from their kitchen into her room, sitting on the bed with her legs crossed. The girl yawned once and lifted her arms above her head, curling her back. She relaxed and turned, nestling her face into the pillow and pulling the covers up around her, ready to fall asleep. Once she was comfortable and warm, Aries smiled.

"Goodnight!" she called to the Badger and two Dwarves.

"G'night!" called Nikabrik.

"Pleasant dreams," bid Trufflehunter.

"Don't wake up and bug me in the middle of the night," said Trumpkin with a shake of his head. Aries laughed and was about to fall asleep when there was a great deal of noise. She jumped up, pushing back her covers, and ran to the kitchen.

"What happened?" she asked, assuming that it was one of them. They all starred at her, having believed her to be the source of the noise.

Hearing yelling from above-ground, everyone stood, eyes wide, but it was Nikabrik who spoke. "What in Aslan's name was that?" he growled as both he and Trumpkin took their swords from where they were leant against the wall and headed out of the hovel. Trading glances, Trufflehunter and Aries followed behind them, the Nymph lighting a flame in her hand so they could see.

"There!" hissed Trumpkin and Aries cut off her flame as soon as she saw the horse heading their way, the rider being dragged from behind. After cutting himself free of his steed, the young rider left go a breath of relief and just sat there panting, unaware of the shocked expressions of the Narnians watching him – a Telmarine.

Hearing Trufflehunter opening the door – he was trying to get them all back inside – the Telmarine looked over at them. Aries could barely see him in the darkness surrounding the forest, but she could tell that he was only around her age, with the typical dark features that all Telmarines possessed. Trumpkin drew his sword and Trufflehunter tried to stop him, but it was no use.

"He's seen us!" the Dwarf said, hurrying forwards to kill the soldier, when they heard more horses drawing nearer. Trumpkin passed by the first Telmarine and ran to the others, yelling to Nikabrik, "You take care of this one!"

Not wanting to get involved in what would surely be bloodshed – she had seen the looks on Trumpkin and Nikabrik's faces when they had identified the human as what he was – Aries silently sped in the direction the horse had galloped, hoping to catch the fine beast and bring him back. There was, after all, no sense in wasting a good horse. Not to mention, she had always wanted one of her own after seeing so many Telmarines riding them.

Aries pushed branches aside carelessly in her hurry to find the beast, for a fast horse was likely to disappear when given the chance. After running for a few minutes – following a trail of broken twigs and hoof-prints in the damp ground – Aries found the black-coated stallion quivering between two elder trees. He was panting, tired from running, and had tangled his reigns in a protruding branch.

"Hush, beauty," she cooed, "Hush now," she called again, gaining the horse's attention. Aries, so as not to spook the creature, approached slowly and placed her hand on his muzzle, rubbing soothingly to calm him. The horse was calming down quickly and Aries moved her hand to his shoulder, rubbing his still shaking muscles gently.

Reaching for his reigns, she took a firm grip on them so that he wouldn't run away again; she hushed him once more and waited for the sounds of other Telmarine horses to lessen. When she could no longer hear the humans, Aries lifted herself onto the saddle of the horse and steered him back to the hovel slowly, not wanting to risk going at a faster pace.

Once there, she pushed herself to sit sideways on his back and slid down, her feet hitting the floor with a soft 'thud'. Aries, who had never owned, or even ridden, a horse before, was now unsure of what to do with him. She glanced at his saddle and, deciding that it may be uncomfortable, took it off and tied him to a tree. When he was tied securely, so that he wouldn't run away, Aries thought that he may be hungry and cold.

"I will be back shortly with oats and a blanket," she told him, though she knew he couldn't understand her. The girl smiled, stroking the horse's nose once before turning and ducking inside.

"We should just kill him and be done with it!" was what Aries heard when she re-entered the den. Looking in shock at the Telmarine on the floor beside the table, Aries couldn't find the words to portray what she thought.

"There you are!" Trufflehunter cried, "I was worried; don't run off like that."

"All I did was find the horse and bring it back," she assured him. "Meanwhile, you knock a Telmarine soldier unconscious and bring him inside your home."

"He had seen us!" the Narnian Badger defended.

"We should kill him!" Nikabrik growled. Sighed and shaking her head, Aries took a bowl full of oats out of a cupboard in the kitchen and a spare blanket from the shelf above the water basin. She then left the den and went to the horse, which she then proceeded to cover with the thin blanket and feed. She stroked the animal gently as he ate and, when he was done, she whispered a 'goodnight' in his large ear and ducked back inside.

"He had the Horn of Queen Susan the Gentle," explained Trufflehunter when she walked back inside, handing him the bowl. "We couldn't just kill him; he had already blown it."

"Where is Trumpkin?" Aries asked, ignoring Trufflehunter's words in favour of finding the Dwarf. Their saddened expressions found him for her. "They took him?"

"He could be dead now," Nikabrik muttered with a snarl. "He's dead while we care for a Telmarine like he's the High King or something! It's idiotic!"

"He had the horn!" attempted Trufflehunter again.

"I don't care about some musical instrument!" he sneered. "It can't do that much good if I still managed to hit him over the head!"

"How hard?" ventured Aries as an after-thought. She assumed that Nikabrik had attempted to kill him with the hit, but had failed – he would have had to hit him hard, in that case.

"What do you mean, friend?" the badge enquired, confused.

"Well, you want to keep him alive," she stated, not listening to Nikabrik's grumbling. "He won't live through the night unless you stem the bleeding – because, knowing my violent friend, there is some – and get him to a warm bed."

"Our beds won't fit him," Trufflehunter said, glancing at Aries with a look of knowing. She rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Neither will mine," she told them, noticing for the first time just how much larger the Telmarine was than her.

"Yours would be the closest fit," the Badger continued. Looking away and pouting, Aries gave in.

"Alright," she agreed. "Help me get him to by bed and bandage his wound – you shall have to, Trufflehunter, for I am useless at it myself."

"Of course," he smiled, bending down to look at the boy. Sure enough, the forgotten wound on his forehead was bleeding.

"What would you do without me, hmm?" Aries smiled, moving to the Telmarine's head and lifting his shoulders. Trufflehunter took his right leg and glanced at Nikabrik.

"Help us, would you?" he groaned. Nikabrik snarled, but moved to grab the soldier's left leg harshly. The small Narnians aided the girl as she carried the – heavy – Telmarine into her room across from the kitchen. After placing him in her bed, with his legs from his knees and down hanging off the end, she pulled his boots off and placed the covers on him – they only reached from his mid-calve to his elbows, making Aries, who fit under then with room to spare, suddenly realise that, not only was he taller than her, but he was a lot taller than her.

Once he was under the covers – or as far under them as he could be – Aries left to find some bandages. They were in the cupboard under the towel rack, a roll of them, and she brought them back to her room. "Here you are," she said, handing them to the Badger.

"Thank you," he responded, taking them and unravelling the roll. Aries lifted the Telmarine into a sitting position so that Trufflehunter had better access to his head. "We'll have to wait and see how he is in the morning," the badge stated after wrapping the boy's wound. Aries, seeing that he was done, dropped the dark-haired human without a care, his head hitting the pillow with a soft 'thud'.

"Why were you in the forest?" murmured Aries to the Telmarine, but Trufflehunter was the one who replied.

"He was being pursued by others like him," said the Narnian. "Those were the ones who..."

"Who took Trumpkin," finished the Nymph. Trufflehunter patted her hand – which was resting on the Telmarine's chest – and left the room. Glancing down at the human, his face relaxed enough to look like any other like her – a Narnian, that is, not a Nymph.

Deciding to do something rather than just sit around and wait for morning, Aries looked at his clothes. His leather vest would need to come off, lest he move in his sleep and irritate the bruises he no doubt had trailing from his toes to his chin, for she saw none marring his face, from falling off of his horse. After taking off his leather vest, the soldier was left in a loose-fitting poet's shirt and a pair of black trousers. She smiled when she noticed how silly he looked, too tall even for the biggest bed in their house, and brushed some of his hair away from his bandaged forehead.

"I wonder what you would say if you knew you were in the care of three Narnians," she mused, allowing her finger to trace his features – first trailing from his forehead to his chin, then across his lips and over his nose. His skin was so much darker than her own, even though she was quite tanned herself, and needless to say, his hair was a lot darker than hers, too. She imagined his eyes as pools of ink, dark and deep, before she snapped out of her trance.

"Don't get too attached to it," Nikabrik grunted from her doorway, having walked in when Trufflehunter left.

"It's a 'he', Nikabrik," she urged, rolling her eyes, but not facing away from the Telmarine. No one seemed to notice that Aries, too, referred to the Telmarine as 'It'.

"You look like some lovesick teenager," he groaned, "sat on the bed, just watching him sleep. It's creepy."

"I was not watching him sleep," she denied, standing to her full height – which, now that she compared herself to the Telmarine, wasn't as tall as she had once thought. "I was looking at his face. I've never seen a Telmarine so close before without worrying for my life."

"You shouldn't relax, even if he seems to be unconscious," the Dwarf warned her with a presaging stare. "He could jump up at any moment and run you through."

"I doubt it," she laughed, throwing the Telmarine's sheathed sword to the Dwarf, who caught it easily. "I took his leather vest, too," she added, holding it up.

"His boots?" hummed Nikabrik. Aries glanced at them and shrugged.

"He can have them," she decided, looking at the vest again. "They would be far too large for any of us."

"Yet you're keeping the vest?" scoffed the Dwarf.

"I quite like this, to be honest," she admitted.

"This sword isn't so bad, either," Nikabrik agreed, observing the blade's sheath with keen interest.

"You two!" gasped an outraged Trufflehunter, "Stop robbing him in his sleep!"

"We're not," Aries smiled. "We are merely collecting payment for his lodging; speaking of which, I saw a satchel on the horse. Perhaps it contains food," she realised, folding the leather vest over the back of her chair. She smiled, running outside and taking the bag. Aries brought it back in and showed off the loaf of bread – slightly stale – and the apple, which she ate herself.

"Don't hog it!" complained Nikabrik. Aries took one final bite, savouring the taste of the juice that oozed from its flesh, and handed the red fruit to the Dwarf.

"There's not much else in here," she murmured as she sat at the table and emptied it out. "A map, compass, dagger," Aries paused and pulled the weapon to her, raising her eyebrow before deciding that the small, silver dagger belonged to her now. "He's also got a book, but I'll be darned if I could read it."

"I'm no help," the Dwarf cut in. The Badger shook his head at his illiterate friends and sighed, taking the book from her.

"It's a story book," he told them, reading the title. "It's about a dragon, I would assume, and a warrior," the Badger added. Trufflehunter put it back in the bag, along with the map and compass, before placing the satchel on the floor beside the table – Aries refused to give him the dagger. Instead, she rose and walked again to her room, sitting next to the Telmarine.

"Taller than me, darker than me, and now you can read," she smiled. "You're not even awake and I know everything but your name."

Sighing, she pulled away from him and left the room to sit again with her friends, the missing presence of Trumpkin highly noticeable in the darker aura surrounding them. Aries sat at the table, playing with a crumb left over from her dinner, and her new dagger. She wondered why Trumpkin was the one to be taken – she had separated from them first, why couldn't it have been her? She had a better defence against them, after all, since she could have burnt their hands when they tried to grab her. Trumpkin was, for all intents and purposes, useless.

"How about a compromise?" suggested Trufflehunter, who had grown tired of Nikabrik's constant suggestion of killing the Telmarine and being done with it; his words broke Aries out of her thoughts and she immediately began to tell them her 'plan' on what should be done.

"We shall wait until he wakes up," Aries began, her mind on Trumpkin, "and we will ask him how he came to hold the horn. If we do not like his reply, or if he refuses to answer, Nikabrik will run him through; the same shall happen is he is hostile or promises to expose us."

"I like that idea," nodded the Dwarf, but Trufflehunter was astounded at the violence of the company he kept.

"No, no!" he disagreed. "That boy blew the horn, so he must have some key significance in the future of Narnia."

"Or he could have seen it as a cowardly way to escape being killed at the hands of a Dwarf," Aries cut in. "Think about it, why are you sparing him?

"Because of...the horn," admitted the Badger.

"Exactly," she smiled. "Without it, he's just another Telmarine and he knows it; so, he stole our relic from wherever he found it and displayed it purposefully to save his own skin."

"Finally, some sense!" growled their Dwarven friend. Aries' eyes darkened.

"The Telmarines took Trumpkin," she uttered, "and now they will get rid of him like they did to my brothers and sisters. They took him away, so it's only fair that we take away one of their own."

"This boy has a family!" Trufflehunter yelled at last, trying to push some sense through Aries' grief over Trumpkin; normally, she wouldn't have been overly bothered about what they did with the Telmarine, so long as no one was in any danger, but Trumpkin's capture had greatly upset her and now she was taking it out on this human boy.

"We'll wait for morning to come," Nikabrik suggested, also noticing the change in his taller friend. He did not want her to make a decision about someone else's life and then regret it, so he would give her time to regain her usual senses.

"Thank you," gasped Trufflehunter in relief. Finally agreeing, Nikabrik and the badge turned in for the night, Aries telling them that she would sleep on the living room floor with a blanket that night, as the Telmarine soldier had taken her bed. When they left, she went to her room for a third time and just looked down on the boy.

"You're only a little older than I," she whispered, "yet you have so much hate directed at you purely due to your heritage. I wonder, though...if times were different, could you, too, have been someone I called friend?" she asked him. As expected, her only reply was the soldier's even breathing as he slept.