*~To Narnia And Back~*~Chapter One~*~Further Journey Than Expected~*
It was another normal day in England. School was it's usual; boring in most lessons, enjoyable in a few. We had only just come back to school after the summer holidays, which I had spent on holiday in Spain with the Pevensies.
I know the Pevensies mainly through Susan. We're the same age and we met in school when we were four, so we've known each other for a good twelve years now, both of us now in our first year of Sixth Form at Saint Finbars in the heart of London. During those twelve years, I've gotten to know all the Pevensie children really well, and not just through Susan, but by living with the family. My parents went missing during the Great Depression in 1930, when I was just five. They were never pronounced dead, and to this day they are still not pronounced dead. I miss them, but not too much because I never really knew them well, due to the fact that you don't usually remember much about your early years. I get flashbacks every now and then, but they hardly tell me anything about my past, so I've just learned to accept it and felt at home with the Pevensies. Michael and Heather Pevensie, the parents of the four children, have taken me in since my parents went missing. They became good friends with my parents when Susan and I met in school, and they had told them that they would take me in if anything happened to them. This is what Heather has told me over the years. But, they're only my guardians, not my adopted parents. As my parents had never been pronounced dead, Heather and Michael were unable to legally adopt, and so they had to settle for being my legal guardians, but they treat me equally to their children, and so I have always felt at home with the Pevensies. But sadly, Michael is off fighting in the war, and we haven't seen him for about a year now. We send letters to him, and he writes letters back, but it's definitely not the same as having him come home from work at about five every evening, and us children welcoming him home as though he's been away for days. I think the boys are taking it much harder than we girls are. But, we're all coping well, we all have each other, and so there's always someone to turn to when we need it.
When the Blitz happened in London about a year ago, we children had to be evacuated from London. Unfortunately, I got separated from the other four when they were allocating places in the countryside for us to stay for a few months. They went off to stay in a massive house with a person named Professor Kirke, whereas I was sent off to stay with a family in a little village. I was absolutely terrified of being separated from my family, but, I was able to sit with them on the train journey at least, which was about an hour before we hit the first stop, and then it was a further half an hour for me, and about another half an hour after that for Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy. I was quiet and scared when two members of my new family greeted me at the station. They're names were Mr John Tyler and their seventeen year old son Harry. They both greeted me with a hug to make me feel more comfortable, and it definitely worked. They talked with me all the way back to their lovely house in a small village, and there I met the remainder of their family, Mrs Eleanor Tyler, their thirteen year old son Jason, and their eight year old daughter Rebecca. They really were such lovely people, and they made me feel so much at home by including me in everything they did.
I was reunited with my family a couple of months later back in London, and we had had a lovely meal together on our first day back home as a family; a traditional Sunday Roast, even though it was a Wednesday. Susan, Peter and I had cooked it, and we had a lot of fun in the kitchen while Edmund and Lucy were talking with Heather about various things. We must have sat around the dinner table for about three hours. Well, we did have a three course meal, and we were all exchanging stories about our time away. When it hit eleven in the evening, Heather ushered us off to bed. But, we didn't actually got to bed, instead we sat in mine and Susan's room, talking some more. But, just when I thought no more stories could be told, the other four said they had something really important to tell me. I thought it was going to be something like they met a famous person, or they were planning on doing something important Oh how wrong I was. I remember that conversation well...
Flashback
Peter looked at me and said,
"We weren't at the house the entire time."
I was puzzled. "Oh, so you ran away or something then?"
They all looked at each other, and then back at me. They all had really serious looks on their faces and there were no hints of a smile coming through on any of them. I was starting to get a little scared about what they actually had done.
"Well, not exactly." Susan said.
"We were hiding in a massive wardrobe from the housekeeper. And when we went to the back of the wardrobe, we weren't in it anymore. We were in a whole new world! We came out the back of the wardrobe to find ourselves in a forest, all covered in snow!" Lucy informed me.
I just laughed. I couldn't help it. But I immediately stopped when none of the others joined me.
"What? You can't be serious. It isn't possible."
"It's hard to believe I know, but you know we wouldn't lie. Well, you know Lucy wouldn't lie."
Present
And that was the start of them telling me about the World of Narnia. The ruler was a talking lion called Aslan. Yeah, animals can talk in Narnia. My siblings had defeated a White Witch with an army of creatures. In Narnia there are Fawns, Minotaurs, Centaurs, Dwarfs, Ginats, Unicorns, and many more, including the talking animals and mermaids. It's like a Medieval world they described, with swords, shields, bows and arrows, knights, and also, magic. Yes, magic exists there. But it is a deep magic that can't easily be accessed, and which can't be accessed by just anyone. I didn't really understand it fully. Oh, and Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy, they were all crowned the Kings and Queens of Narnia.
It's just so hard to believe though. Of course, I know they're telling the truth because I know when they're lying, Lucy doesn't lie, and I trust them. But I still find it hard to fully believe that they entered a magical land through the back of a wardrobe.
Anyways, enough of that. We had just come out of school, and I wanted to look for a new coat as it would start to get cold soon. We had to wait for the boys though, so that we could get the underground together to Oxford Street.
Susan and I had met up after our last lesson at school, ready to find Lucy. Even though Susan and I are best friend, we have different circles of friends as she's a lot more shy than me when it comes to big groups of people. She likes to sit alone most of the time in school, and I have no problem with that. I mean, she doesn't ignore me or turn me away when I go and sit next to her sometimes, but we mainly hang out outside of school. We also don't share many lessons at all. She enjoys more logical subjects, like Science, Maths, and Geography, whereas I enjoy the more creative subjects, like English and Film.
I noticed Susan was standing by a magazine stand across the road, and the magazine she was reading was most likely the news. A boy then went up to her, and I could tell that she was a bit annoyed that he was talking to her, which made me laugh a little. I decided to not cross the road as I didn't want to ruin the boys' chance of getting a date, and so I waited by the entrance to the underground, when I suddenly saw Lucy rush up the stairs. She spotted me and headed over, out of breath.
"Lucy, are you okay?" I asked.
"I'm fine. But Peter's at it again." She said, in between her short breaths.
"He's fighting again?" She nodded furiously. "Argh! I'll go and try to break it up. Susan's over there, you better go and get her."
She nodded again and ran off, while I went down the stairs into the underground, pushing past a lot of people, apologizing repeatedly to those who I pushed a little too rudely. As I got closer to the platform, I heard a chanting of 'Fight! Fight! Fight!'. I followed the noise, and then found that a big crowd of school kids were gathered on the stairs, blocking the way down to the platform. I pushed past them, trying to get a view. Once, I did, I saw that Peter was fighting three other guys from his school, and he was losing as it wasn't exactly equal numbers.
"Peter!" I tried to get his attention, but the chanting was too loud and I don't think he would have chosen to listen anyway, most likely because he was trying to prove something. Not exactly sure what that was though.
Someone grabbed my arm gently, and I turned my head to see Lucy and Susan standing behind me. I turned back to see that two of the other guys had grabbed Peter and held him, facing us. He noticed me, Susan and Lucy standing there, me and Susan not looking pleased at all, and Lucy looking a bit scared. He was throw backwards onto the floor, and one of the guys jumped on him, punching him in the stomach. I then felt someone push past us, and saw that it was Edmund.
"Edmund!" Lucy shouted, but he didn't acknowledge her. He just jumped onto one of the guys and started helping Peter to fight them off. Just as the fight was starting to get more violent, I heard whistles being blown, then a couple of soldiers came and broke up the fight. While the rest of the school kids all ran in the opposite direction of the soldiers, us girls just stood there, watching our brothers get pulled up and yelled at by the soldiers. They both weren't going to be in a good mood now, especially Peter as he likes to handle things himself. Well, try to at least. He doesn't like Edmund, or anyone for that matter, helping him. I think he thinks of himself of a King too much, and much too proudly. I don't get that vibe from the other three. Maybe it's because Peter's the oldest. I'll never understand.
The boys tidied up their uniform, and then went to sit on a bench in front of the platform, waiting for the train. Susan, Lucy and I went to sit with them, none of us saying anything for a little while, until Edmund broke the silence.
"You're welcome."
Peter scoffed. "I had it sorted." Peter got up, clearly annoyed, as I knew he would be.
"What was it this time?" Susan asked, not really wanting to hear the answer.
"He bumped me."
"So you hit him?" I asked.
"No. After he bumped me, they tried to make me apologize. That's when I hit him."
Susan wasn't happy at all. "Really? Is it that hard just to walk away?"
"I shouldn't have to. I mean, don't you ever get tired of being treated like a kid?"
"We are kids." Edmund stated the obvious.
"Well I wasn't always." Well, I think we now know the reason behind all the fighting. "It's been a year. How long does he expect us to wait?" He sat back down on the bench with us.
"I think it's time to accept that we live here. It's no use pretending any different." Susan said sternly. She then looked down the platform as we could hear the train coming. "Oh no." She then turned back to us and said, "Pretend you're talking to me."
"We are talking to you." Edmund informed her.
Lucy then jumped up off the bench, yelling "Ow!" pretty loudly.
"Quiet, Lu." Susan said.
"Something pinched me!"
"Hey, stop pulling!" Peter shouted, also getting up off the bench quickly.
"I'm not touching you!" Edmund yelled back.
"Look, would all of you just...What is that?" I felt something pinch me from behind and also got up quickly, looking back at the bench and wall with Lucy and Peter. Edmund and Susan then felt the same thing as they jumped up too. Okay, this is really weird... "What's going on?"
"It feels like magic." Lucy exclaimed, looking excited.
What is going on? I'm not afraid to admit that I was a little scared.
"Quick, everyone hold hands." Susan ordered urgently.
As Edmund was on the end next to Peter, he shouted, "I'm not holding your hand!"
Boys. Peter just grabbed his wrist, ignoring Edmund. I fear that I was gripping Susan's and Peter's hands too hard, but I really was scared, because the train then went whooshing past us at top speed, not making any move to stop. Things were flying everywhere, and then the bricks started to fall out of the wall, tumbling down onto the platform and getting swept up down the tunnel by the speed of the train. I just wanted to close my eyes, to even blink, but I was too scared too, and also too transfixed as to what was going on, No one else on the platform was noticing what was going on, which just freaked me out even more. I found myself getting quite close to Peter because I was so scared. The posters on the other side of the train were starting to get ripped off the walls, and the lights and signs were rattling loudly above.
The most extreme then happened. The bricks, the posters, the lights, the signs and everything were all getting swept down the tunnel with the train, forming an even bigger tunnel. I looked through the windows at the other side of the train, and saw that the wall was disappearing, and was being replaced by a beach, with a pure blue ocean. That time I did blink to see if my eyes were playing tricks on me. I secretly hoped they were. But nope, no luck there. I then found myself standing on something softer, and the air was much more warm. The platform, the walls, the everything, were all gone, and it had been replaced by a beach, the ocean, and a cave, which is what we were all standing in.
We all dropped hands, and the others walked forwards slightly, and I know that they knew exactly where we were. I know too, but I just can't believe it. The Pevensies all began to grin, and then they ran off into the sun, stripping off their shoes, socks, and jackets. They all ran into the water and started to play around, all shouting happily. Me, I was still in the cave, not blinking this time because I finally realized that they were telling the truth all along. I always knew they were, but I knew I would never fully believe it. Until now at least. I didn't know whether to panic, or to grin as much as the others did and go and join them in the ocean.
Treading carefully and slowly, as though if I took a step, I would fall right out of this world. I walked into the light, and had to squint as it was blinding. It was really warm, and the ocean was so blue that I thought we were in the Mediterranean or something.
After looking round at almost everything, I noticed Peter was running back towards me. He stopped in front of me, still grinning.
"Hey, are you alright?" I nodded. "Do you know where we are?"
I then looked at him. "I have a hunch."
"That hunch is probably right."
We stood for a while just looking at each other, me waiting for my mind to take in the fact that we were in Narnia, and Peter to wait for me to realize that we were in Narnia. It didn't take long, as I grinned and pushed gently past him, running towards the others. I could hear him laugh and run after me. I stripped off my shoes, socks and jacket, just as the others had done, and jumped into the water. We were splashing each other for a few minutes and pushing each other down into the water. It was a lot of fun, and the warmth on our skin was perfect, but it still didn't quite feel that I was in Narnia, finally.
As we started to become tired, I pushed my hair out of my face and noticed that Edmund was looking up at the cliff.
"What is it, Ed?" Peter asked.
"Where do you suppose we are?"
Peter looked shocked. "Well, where do you think!"
"Well, I don't remember any ruins in Narnia."
We all looked up at the cliff to see that there were loads of ruins on the edge of the cliff, among a field of grass.
"Let's go and check it out." Peter instructed, heading towards the cliff to find a way up, which wasn't that hard to find as there was a path leading up to the top of the cliff just a short walk down the beach.
Whilst looking around, I said,
"So you guys really were telling the truth about everything after all."
They all stopped and turned to look at me. I could tell that they were all a little hurt by what I had said, in the fact that I had said it as though I had never believed them before now.
"Did you think we were lying to you?" Peter asked.
"No, I knew you weren't lying, but it was pretty hard to believe. Any one of you would've been the same if your siblings told you that they had spent twenty five years in a magical land that they found in the back of a wardrobe when it was only a few months that they had been apart." I explained, not wanting them to think that I didn't believe them at all.
"Everything we told you was true. And now that you're here too, you can fully believe it." Lucy smiled at me and I smiled back, giving her a sideways hug, showing her that I was happy to be here with them.
Peter smiled at me also, coming over to give me a hug, and then we all carried on walking up the path to the top of the cliffs to inspect the ruins.
While we walked up, I looked at Peter, who was walking a few feet in front of me. I had always thought that he was really handsome and gorgeous, and his perfect, gentlemanly, and kind personality didn't help with the feelings I had had for him for a few years now. I thought my crush on him had gone away a few months ago, but now, looking at him in the way I used to, I know that it hasn't gone away. It's really weird that I have a crush on him because he is my adopted brother, and yet I fancy him. It's just a wrong combination. But then again, you can't help who you like.
We finally reached the top of the cliff, and I could actually look somewhere else besides a cliff, an ocean, and Peter. It was a beautiful sight I've got to say, and it probably isn't a beautiful sight to the people that live in Narnia. There were ruins scattered around everywhere, and they were covered in overgrown foliage, which was also incredibly beautiful. Flowers of all different colours were in patches across the grass, making the area seem alive. I turned and looked around, trying to take in everything that I saw. Peter walked up some ruined stairs and stood at the top, looking over the spread out ruins, probably trying to work out where we were, but I obviously couldn't make a guess as I had never been here before.
Lucy had picked an apple from a tree and was eating it, heading over to the edge of the cliff to look at the ocean. I on the other hand was walking slowly around, tracing my fingertips over some of the bigger ruins.
"Wonder who lived here." I heard Edmund think out loud.
Susan answered him. "I think we did."
As I was walking around, I suddenly stepped on something small and solid. I moved my foot off of it and saw that it was a gold chess piece. I picked it up and inspected it. Luckily I hadn't damaged it with my foot.
"Hey guys. Does this belong to any of you?" I was actually just addressing Edmund as I knew he loved playing chess. I held it out for him to take as we all came together in a kind of circle on one of the grass patches of the site. Edmund took it from me and said,
"That's mine. From my chess set."
"Which chess set?" Peter wondered.
"Well I didn't exactly have a solid gold chess set in Finchley, did I?" Edmund answered back, looking at my finding.
Lucy then suddenly turned around, whispered to herself, "Can't be." and ran off towards one of the bigger ruins.
"Lu?" Susan called in wonderment. We rushed after her, me stopping in front of them all when Lucy had placed Peter, Susan and Edmund on different parts of the concrete ground. I was still stood on the grassy patch of the area, wondering what Lucy had suddenly discovered.
"Imagine walls. And columns there. And a glass roof." She took her place beside Susan on the end, and they all looked out past me. I turned my head to see what they were looking at, but I didn't understand what Lucy had suddenly realized, or remembered. I turned back towards them, completely confused, until Peter uttered the words, "Cair Paravel." and then I knew exactly where we were as I could picture what Cair Paravel used to look like, only because Susan had drawn me a picture of it when they returned from their journey last year. I could now roughly see where I would be standing if the place was still alive. I was standing were the hall would be, and when I looked towards the others again, I realized that they would be sitting on their thrones.
I decided to break the silence. "This was where you were crowned?" I asked, slowly walking up towards them and coming to stand by Lucy.
"Yes it is," Lucy answered me. "But what's happened to it?" I could tell that she looked a bit upset about the destruction of her Narnian home. Edmund then walked away from where he had been positioned and looked at part of a ruin.
"Catapults." He informed us. "This didn't just happen. Cair Paravel was attacked."
After a while of looking around the rest of the ruins, Susan and I found part of a door that was hidden behind a stone block. We tried to move it, but it was much too heavy for us. So, we called on the boys. They took over from us, as we went to stand with Lucy. They managed, after some difficulty, to move the stone block, to reveal a wooden door behind it. Peter tried to push the door open, but it wouldn't budge. But, he was able to pull apart some of the door, because it was so rotten, and reach onto the other side to unlock the door. Once open, we saw that it was a staircase that lead down into darkness. I didn't really fancy going down there without some form of light. Peter was probably thinking what I was because he grabbed a few twigs from the ground, and then ripped off a bit of his shirt and wrapped the material around the bunch of twigs.
"Don't suppose you have any matches, do you?" He asked us, mainly talking to Ed because he'd most likely have them more than us girls would.
"No, but..." Edmund said, rummaging in his bag for something. "...would this help?" He had pulled a torch from his bag, making us girls laugh a little.
Peter smiled and said, "You might have mentioned that a bit sooner." Edmund grinned and went down the stairs first, the torch lighting up the dark passage. Peter threw the twigs and the piece of his shirt on the ground, and motioned for us girls to go in before him.
We followed Edmund down the stairs and found that it lead onto a spiralling staircase. After the first flight of the spiral staircase, we saw that below us on the next level was a kind of dome. Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy carried on down the stairs, while I stayed where I was and looked around at the small dome. There were four statues situated under four aches, with a huge trunk sitting in front of each statue. There were also other things around the room, but not as noticeable as the four statues.
I soon carried on down the stairs and joined the others on the bottom level, but as I didn't have a trunk to rummage through, I just walked round the room and looked at everything else that I could find. It was at that moment that I truly did feel like I didn't belong, and that I was the odd one out. Everyone else had all the memories to sort through, whereas I had nothing to do or nothing to remember. I made me a little upset for some reason, but I don't know why.
Peter snapped me out of my rather depressing thoughts.
"I can't believe it. It's all still here."
"Who're the statues of?" I asked, but I think I had already guessed the answer by the way that each of them ran to their own trunks.
"They're of us, when we were older." Peter answered me, looking over his shoulder to smile at me.
"Wow, you really were royal." I stated, not quite believing it. I walked over to Lucy and looked through her trunk with her, and she showed me some of her things from when she was here the last time. She then held up one of the dresses she found in her trunk against her.
"I was so tall." She said, looking down at the material, and saw that a good six or seven inches were trailing on the floor in front of her.
"Well, you were older then." Susan said.
"As opposed to hundreds of year later, when you're younger." Edmund joined in, making us all laugh at how ridiculous it sounded.
"This is very confusing. Even though you've explained it all to me plenty of times." I said, walking over to Susan, who looked like she was trying to find something specific in in her trunk. She had a frown on her face. "What is it?"
"My horn." Susan answered. "I must have left it on my saddle the day we went back." Susan and I had another quick look through her trunk, to make sure that she didn't just look over it.
"When Aslan bears his teeth," I heard Peter read out and I looked over to see that he was reading the inscription on his sword. "Winter meets it's death"
"When he shakes his mane," Lucy carried on, knowing the words off by heart, "We shall have spring again. Everyone we knew...Mr Tumnus and the Beavers...they're all gone."
"I think it's time we found out what's going on." Peter stated, when something came across my mind.
"Hang on, you guys." They all stopped looking through their trunks and turned to look at me. "Why am I here? Obviously, I can understand why you guys are back here because you were-are the Kings and Queens here. But me? I have no title here. No purpose."
"Don't be so sure that you don't have a purpose here. When we first came here, we had no idea why we were here." Susan said, using her logical mind to come to a conclusion.
"And we turned out to be the Kings and Queens of this place." Edmund carried on what Susan was heading towards.
"Who knows, maybe you were called here for a reason. Which is the most likely source. You just haven't found out yet why you were brought here." Lucy added. I could see they were all trying to make me feel better, and so far it was working, thankfully. I started to feel less like just a tag along.
"Don't worry, Alex." Peter said, coming over and standing in front of me. "We're not just gonna leave you here while we go off and find out why we've been called back. We're going to go as a team." He smiled at me and then gave me a hug, which is what I needed. He pulled back and smiled at me, making sure that I was okay.
"Thank you." I said, smiling back at him. "You guys sure do know how to make me feel better."
The others had found clothes that were their size from inside their trunks to change into. The boys went into a separate part of the chamber to change, and then went back outside into the sunshine while us girls got changed.
"Alex, over here." Lucy called, and I went over to see what she wanted. "I think I have some things in here that might fit you. From when I was older, of course." We both laughed, while Lucy pulled out a light blue dress and held it up against me, checking to see if the size was right. "I think that'll work!"
I took it from her whilst thanking her, and quickly changed into it, feeling a little strange at first as I had never worn one of these types of dresses before, but it did look good.
"It's a perfect fit!" Susan stated.
"She had to have one of mine because I grew taller than you." Lucy said to Susan, making us all laugh. She then turned back to me. "You look like a true Narnian."
"I feel like one too. At least now I'll fit in more."
"You would've fit in anyway. That I can guarantee." Susan told me.
I smiled at her in thanks, and I then noticed that Susan had put her Bow and Arrows on her body, and Lucy had a dagger attached round her waist. "Um, are there any spare weapons? I would feel safer with one, I think. Being a black belt in Martial Arts, I can be good with a sword I guess. More than anything else anyways."
Susan started looking round. "Yeah, good idea. Let's have a look aro-"
Lucy cut over her. "I don't remember these belonging to anyone..." Lucy walked over to a corner and picked up two medium length swords. They were a beautiful silver, with some green and purple patterns subtly going up the centre of the blades.
"You're right." Susan answered, inspecting the swords. "These aren't ours, or the boys' either. Why are they here? No one else came into this chamber but us."
"It was as though these were left for you, Alex." Lucy said to me.
But how could they have been left for me? No one knew I would come here. It was only coincidence that I came here. "Maybe you're just thinking too much into this. These can't have been left for me because no one from this world knows that I exist. These were probably yours but you can't remember or something." I tried to imply that I knew what I was talking about, which I don't think came off very well.
"No, Alex, we know our weapons and these aren't them. We've already got our weapons with us. And you would naturally fights with two medium length swords because of your Martial Arts status." The difference between me and Susan was that she actually know what she was talking about and it did make some sort of sense.
"...Well, I guess we'll find out soon enough." That was all that I could say. What else could you possibly say in a situation like that?
I attached them to either side of my waist, and I thought they were going to be a lot heavier than they turned out to be. I could hardly feel that they were on my waist.
We soon went upstairs to find the boys. As we came out, they both looked at us, but then their eyes lingered on me, probably checking out my new look.
"Wow, Alex, you look great!" Edmund exclaimed.
"You fit right in." Peter said, giving me a sideways hug, which was when he noticed the swords I had attached to my waist. "Wow, where did you get those?"
"Lucy found them in the Treasure Vault. She and Susan seem to think that they were left for me. But I don't see how that's possible. Only unless someone called for me. But, again, not possible because no one here knows who I am."
"It's just something we don't know the answer to yet. Don't worry about it. Something will make sense as to what's going on."
And on that note, Peter led the way out of the ruins, and we started to walk alongside the river that was heading inland. This was all beginning to feel very real, and to tell you the truth, I was actually excited about what was going to happen in the near future.