"I wonder who lived here," Lucy wondered aloud, munching on an apple.
"I think we did." Susan replied, bending over and picking up something from the ground. Lucy and I walked over to her, peering at the glittering object in her hand. It was a small, solid gold centaur.
"Hey, that's mine," Said Edmund, walking over to us, "From my chess set."
"Which chess set?" Peter asked skeptically, joining us.
"Well I didn't exactly have a solid gold chess set in Finchley, did I?" Ed retorted. Suddenly, Lucy dropped her apple, staring at something behind us.
"Can't be…" she muttered, before running to a giant stone slab.
"Lu! Wait up!" I called, running after her.
"What is it?" asked Peter, once the rest of us had caught up with Lucy.
"Don't you see?" Lucy said, grabbing Peter's arms and making him stand in front of a smaller stone slab, "Imagine walls…" she continued, making Susan stand in front of another stone slab on one side of Peter, "And columns, there…" she said, pointing, and making Ed stand on Pete's other side, "And a glass roof," she finished, making me stand beside Edmund.
"Cair Paravel…" Peter said, as Lucy took her place on the other side of Susan. My hand flew to my mouth as I gasped. These ruins were all that was left of our once beautiful castle? It had only been a year for us, but how long had it been for Narnia? Hundreds, it seemed.
* * * * * * *
"Catapults," Said Edmund, kneeling beside a small boulder.
"What?" asked Peter, staring at his brother.
"This didn't just happen… Cair Paravel was attacked." Ed continued as I walked up and knelt beside him.
"Ed's right!" I exclaimed, placing my hand on the cold stone, "but who would do such a thing?" Ed just shrugged and watched me sadly for a moment. Peter walked past us put his hands on a large rock. Ed stood and meandered over to the giant rock as well and the two boys began to push it. Peter broke the door down and pulled out his pocket knife. We all watched as he cut a bit of his shirt off. He wrapped it around a small stick, turned to Edmund and said, "Don't suppose… You have any matches, do you?"
"No, but," Ed dug around in his bag for a moment before continuing, "Would this help?" he asked, holding up his electric torch.
"You might've mentioned that a bit sooner!" Peter laughed. Ed smiled, took my hand and lit the way down the stairs.
* * * * * * *
"I can't believe it, it's all still here!" Susan, Lucy, Ed and I all ran happily to our respective trunks and opened them.
"I was so tall," commented Lucy, turning towards Su and I and holding up a dress.
"Well, you were older then," Susan replied, smiling lightly at her little sister.
"A-as opposed to hundreds of years later… When you're younger," said Ed, looking at us, a large, old helmet over his head. We giggled and turned back to our trunks.
"What is it?" Lucy asked, looking at Su, who was holding her quiver, bow and empty horn-holder.
"My horn… I must've left it on my saddle, the day we went back…" Susan replied. We all turned and watched Peter as he opened his trunk and pulled out his sword.
"When Aslan bears his teeth, winter meets it's death," he read.
"When he shakes his mane…" We all turned to look at Lucy, who was on the verge of tears, "We shall have spring again." By now, a couple of tears had escaped her eyes and were making their wway down her cheeks. I came forward and wrapped my arm around her shoulders as she continued, "Everyone we knew… Mr. Tumnus and the Beavers… They're all gone."
"I think its time we found out what's going on." Peter replied.