Let me start with a small author's note...
I know that there are seven books for the Chronicles of Narnia, but it's been a long time since I read them (AKA, my forth grade teacher read them out loud to my class because he was awesome). So, I'm basing this off the movies. So, Voyage has happened, but nothing past that has actually happened. This takes place a few generations after Caspian (Caspian XIII is currently around). I'll let you figure out who Lux is in relation to everything. Anyway, onto the story.
Lux
"Come on, Lux," she taunted. She was not exactly scary, but she was the girl that always held her head the highest. Molly scared everyone more than the biggest bully. Lux, at twelve, was Molly's favorite victim. Lux always took Molly's taunts and pranks and never stood up for herself. Molly felt more powerful when she got away with her pranks. Lux stood before Molly, soaking wet. Molly had pushed Lux into a pool at a party, and everyone was laughing. "Aren't you gonna retaliate?"
Lux stood in place for a few moments, water still dripping from her hair and clothes, before bending over to pick up a locket that had snapped off her neck during the fall. "I have to leave," Lux said before she dodged through the crowd. As she began the uphill trek to her grandmother's house, she began to fiddle with the locket for what had to be the thousandth time, yet it wouldn't open. It was her grand-aunt's locket, and Lux, as the youngest and only child on her father's side of the family, had inherited it. It was gold, real gold, and the front had a lion on it, while the back had the letters L.P. As Lux's last name happened to be Pearson, it was as if the locket had been made for her. Her uncle Ed told her the locket would open when she was ready for it to. She didn't understand what that meant, but she figured that if she ever got really frustrated with it, she'd use a screwdriver and pry it open.
"Grandma?" Lux called out when she walked into the sizable house. She got no answer, which Lux was glad for; she did not want to explain why she was soaked to the bone. Instead, she headed up the staircase, toward her room, leaving wet footprints of her black, fake leather buckled boots. Her favorite embellished jeans and neon green top felt uncomfortable, sticking to her skin. She reached up and pulled her hair from its ponytail.
Lux had just arrived in her room when she looked out the window and noticed Molly and two other girls in the backyard. It was one thing to humiliate Lux, but to continue to stalk her at her home…
Lux grabbed her pepper spray pen and slipped it into her pocket. If they attacked, Lux would defend herself for once. She then opened her window and nimbly jumped to the tree she often read books in, a tree that her grandmother had had shipped all the way from England for some reason. She was climbing down when her foot slipped and she fell.
"She does look a bit like Queen Susan the Gentle, at least from the portraits I've seen, but she's too young," one faun said, looking down at Lux lying on the ground. This faun was small, with a scarf around its neck, long horns, and graying beard and fur. He wore a belt with a small sword.
"Time is different there than here," a second faun said. This one, while larger, had smaller horns and ticker brown fur. He carried a club strapped to his back. "Their time may be going backward."
"That's just absurd," a third faun said. He was thinner than the second, but just as tall, with mostly black fur. "Anyway, she doesn't look exactly like Queen Susan. Smaller lips, thinner nose, and a red tinge to her curling hair."
"Her nails shine like rubies," the second observed.
"We should get Silas here to determine for himself," the first said. "It was he that called for her."
"He called for the Kings and Queens of old," the third said. "This," he pointed at the girl that was passed out, "is an impostor."
"But how did she get here?" the second asked. "The horn can't be fooled."
"It's a horn," the third faun said. "Might as well cut off Borage's horn and blow that."
"I resent that," the first faun, Borage said. "My horns may be large, but they do not have the magic of Queen Susan's horn."
"Yes, she received that from Father Christmas himself," the second said.
"At any rate, we should get going," Borage said. He looked about. "The sky is darkening. We won't get Silas here before nightfall, so let's take her with us. Pips, if you could carry her."
The second, Pips, nodded and bent forward to pick up the girl. However, after a few moments, he froze. "Did you hear that?"
"The Wolf Guard," Borage said. He pulled a sword from his belt. "Pips, stay with me to hold them off. Halwyn, take the girl to Silas. You're the fastest."
The third faun, Halwyn, frowned, but picked the girl up, threw her over his shoulder, and began to run. He could hear the wolves howling behind him.
"Oh, damn, what happened… what the hell!"
Halwyn didn't stop, hearing the girl wake up. "Keep quiet," he said instead.
"Hey, let me go!" Lux cried and hit him a few times. "Let me go, you creeper in brown fur pants… you've got hooves!"
"Of course I do," Halwyn said, finally stopping, He had reached a large hill and it would be difficult to carry her if she wasn't hitting him, not to mention she still was. He put her down, but held her so she wouldn't run.
"And horns… why do you have horns?"
"I'm a faun," Halwyn said, as if it was obvious. "Now, who are you and why did the horn bring you here?"
"You're a what?" Lux asked.
"Never mind all that," Halwyn said. "Keep still and hold on if you want to live." With that, he swept her into his arms, an easier way to carry her, for him, and began up the hill quickly. However, he could hear that his pause to talk had cost them time. A wolf would be on them before they could reach the hilltop.
"Where do you think you're going?" the wolf cut him off much sooner than he had expected.
"Aaahhhh!" Lux sure had a pair of lungs on her to elicit the scream she did.
Halwyn put Lux down and pushed her behind him. "One of you and two of us," he said. "How do you expect to stop us both?"
"Kill you quickly," the wolf said. He pounced at Halwyn, but then fell to the wayside, screaming and pawing at his eyes. Halwyn turned to Lux, wondering what kind of magic she had used, and instead saw her holding a small rod, her finger on the top of it.
"Where are we going again?" Lux asked.
"Hold on," Halwyn said, taking her again and running. "What was that magic?"
"Pepper spray," Lux said.
It took another ten minutes before Halwyn reached the entrance to the cave that served as Silas's base. At the entrance stood a bear and a centaur. The bear, a large black bear simply eyed Halwyn and Lux, but said nothing. The centaur, however, held a spearpoint to Halwyn's face.
"Antioch," Halwyn said. "Do I really need a password today?"
"Where are Pips and Borage?"
Halwyn sighed. "I do not know," Halwyn said. "We heard the Wolf Guard approaching, so they held it off so I could rescue the human the horn brought."
Antioch, a centaur with golden fur and long hair to match, sized up Lux. "She doesn't look like much," he said. "And her way of dress is strange."
"She has a magic called pepper spray," Halwyn said. "It is very effective against wolves."
Lux, all this time, was just looking around, admiring Antioch, while keeping an eye on the bear in case it should attack as well. She had also become speechless. Animals that talked, mythical creatures, and scenery which bore no resemblance to anyplace she knew of. Certainly no where near her grandmother's house.
"Very well," Antioch finally said. "You may enter to see Silas. But only if you recite the password."
Halwyn sighed. "I swear by my heart that I am of goblin descent."
Antioch nodded and straightened the spear toward the ceiling again. Halwyn entered, then had to step back out and pull Lux in, as she was standing in awe still.
The cave was lit by torches, which Lux was not sure how she was surprised about. She had figured that this world had to be her imagination, so she couldn't understand why she hadn't imagined electric lighting along the walls instead.
The caves were long and had a lot of forks, twists, and compartments. Several, she noticed, seemed to be single room homes for, in most cases, animals. Sparsely furnished with stocks of food and a pot that appeared to compromise of the kitchen. Whatever this was, she could tell that it was mainly refugees that lived here.
"I'm sorry, but where exactly are you taking me?" Lux asked after nearly twenty minutes of walking.
"To see Silas," Halwyn said.
Lux frowned a bit. "Yeah, I got that," she said. "But who is this Silas person?"
"I am Silas," a voice said. They had arrived at the end of the tunnel into a large chamber with a huge round table, chairs tightly packed in around it, with a large throne at the far end of the room. Only a few chairs had occupants, and the speaker sat in the throne.
Silas had to be about her age, maybe a year younger. He had dark hair down a little past his chin, as if he simply hadn't had time to cut it recently. His skin seemed to have an olive tan, though it was hard to be positive in the dim light of the torches.
Lux, however, could make out the gleam of his green eyes. His face was young, not yet defined, but still carried a handsome quality, as if he would be very handsome when he finished growing.
"Borage, Pips, and I found her shortly after you blew the horn," Halwyn said. "We believe that she has come to answer the call."
Silas stood. "Narnia needs you."
