Searching

In a single room made of marble stone, within the castle of Cair Paravel, three figures spoke and discussed. One was a young man, lying down upon a canopy bed, bandages revealing that he had been in a recent battle. A young woman sat near him, her pale skin like porcelain. Another man, younger than the first, stood near, a hand upon the hilt of his sword.

"Are you absolutely certain?" said the one lying in bed.

"Of course I'm certain Peter," the young woman answered. "The horn was in my room last night, and now it's not."

"Well, this is an interesting turn of events," remarked the other. His dark hair and dark eyes were calm and cool, and he dressed in royal clothing of dark green and tanned brown.

"Oh, don't get me started Ed!" the young woman exclaimed. Her dark auburn hair lay softly upon her shoulders, and her fair skin was complimented by a deep purple dress with gold lining. "All I can think of is that someone came into my room last night, and was this close to possibly.... oh," she moaned.

"Well, we'll just have to start a search won't we," Peter answered.

The two others looked towards their elder brother. His golden hair lay across his forehead, and blue eyes showed the look of a great warrior. But still, he looked tired, and slightly pale.

"I don't know Peter," the young woman answered. "You still haven't recovered from the bout with the northern giants."

"Lucy's cordial can heal wounds," Edmund said, "But it can't restore lost blood."

"But I have been in this room for nearly two weeks now, just staring up at the ceiling," Peter replied. "Susan, surely I can at least get up and out of the bed and do something."

"Maybe," Susan replied, "But a search party would not be one of those things."

Peter rolled his eyes and lay back on the pillows.

Quite suddenly, the bedroom doors burst open and the youngest of the four rulers burst in. Her dress of navy blue was a little wrinkled and her hair was flying everywhere.

"Has anyone seen her?" she managed to say between gasps of breath.

"Who's her?" Edmund asked.

"Miranda, of course!"

Peter immediately sat up.

"What do you mean Lu?"

Lucy gave a huff of exhasperation.

"I mean, that I went to Miranda's room to give her the news of the missing horn, and she was gone."

Susan narrowed her eyes and balled her fists.

"I'm going to...." Susan began, her teeth clenched.

"You're going to what?" Edmund said, his sarcasm evident. "Don't ever think that you can try and stop Miranda when she's got her head into something."

"But she hasn't healed enough either," Susan replied. "She is still weak, and..."

"And you can't keep her in a bed for days on end Susan. Just like we aren't going to be able to keep Peter in bed, now that he has heard that Miranda is out."

All three heads turned to Peter, who was rising out of his bed and had begun putting on a crimson red shirt.

"Oh no you don't Peter," Lucy said sternly.

"If Miranda is up, I'm getting up too," Peter replied. "She was wounded just as badly as I was, and has been in bed just as long. If you can't keep her in bed, you are not going to keep me in."

Susan gave a great sigh.

"Sometimes, I wish that Aslan had given us a more obedient warrior."

Her three siblings laughed out loud. Then, a being made up of oak leaves entered the room.

"Forgive me your majesties," it said in a slow and creaky voice, "But I bring news from the warrior."

"Tell us if you please, my good dryad," Edmund said.

"The warrior wishes to let you know that word travels quickly, and that she has gone in search of the Queen Susan's missing horn. She also says that she is the only other one that knows this, and that I am not to say a word of this to anyone else."

"Thank you," Edmund said, dismissing the leafy figure.

"Oh dear," Lucy sighed as the oak dryad disappeared. There would be no keeping Peter still now.

"Let's go then," Peter stated. And that settled it.

Further into Narnia, surrounded by green trees and rolling hills, a single figure rode gracefully upon the back of a coal black horse. The horse was neither bridled nor saddled. The figure's clothing was dark green and brown, and a brown cloak covered it. A hood fell over its face. A bow and quiver of arrows rested upon its back, and a sword hung on the left side of its waist while a dagger claimed the right.

As the horse and rider turned into a valley, they suddenly stopped. The rider leaned over the horse's back, looking at the ground. It swiftly slid off the horse, and began to study the ground more closely.

The rider pulled the hood off of its head to take a better look. Shoulder length dark blonde hair fell out, pulled halfway up out of its face. Sharp hazel eyes glinted with worry as it made out the imprint of a large claw. The rider, a young woman, stood up, and saw another imprint, exactly like the first.

"What is it Warrior?" asked the black horse

The young woman turned to her steed, and shook her head.

"Something has been here Onyx. Something that I have no knowledge of."

For she was looking upon footprints that were as large as a giants foot, but as curled as a dragons claw.

There was no dragon this size in the land of Narnia.

"For the last time Peter, please..."

"I've told you once before. I then told you twice. I shall now repeat myself for not the third, nor the fourth, but the fifth time. I am going."

Susan finally gave up. When Peter was this determined, nothing got in his way.

All four were in the royal stables, saddling and bridling their horses. They had stableboys to do this, but they preferred doing it themselves. Especially when they wanted to talk.

"Listen, I'll stick with Lucy, and she'll keep me out of trouble. I won't do anything out of her consent."

"Except get out of bed," said Lucy from behind him.

"Yes. Except that."

It had been decided that they would split up. Peter and Lucy would head one direction, and Edmund and Susan would head another way.

"Susan and I will start going west," Edmund voiced, trying to keep the peace between his brother and sisters. "And it might be a good idea if you and Lucy start right here, and work your way south from the shore."

"That is a good idea," cried Susan. "If you get into any trouble, you can call a dryad, or the mermaids."

Peter rolled his eyes.

"Yes, he can," Edmund replied, very pointedly. Both Peter and Susan took the hint and shut up.

"Any word from Miranda?" Lucy asked.

"Not since the dryad came this morning," Edmund answered. "You know; I've got the strangest feeling in the pit of my stomach. Like something is about to happen."

"Really?"

"Yes. Like..., I'm not sure... Just something strange."

"Maybe you should take Philip," Lucy replied.

"No. He's resting right now. It'll be fine."

"Well, let's get on with it," Susan said, finishing off the last cinch on the girth. The four royals climbed onto their horses, and they started off in separate directions.

Miranda's eyes searched the ground further. Onyx walked slowly and carefully, as to not tread upon any of the claw prints.

The beast's prints showed that it had had a rough landing. The prints were scattered and uneven.

But how had it come without any of the Narnian's noticing?

Her anger burned as she thought of what might have gone into the Gentle Queen's chambers last night. Who knew what it might have been, or what it could have done.

She mentally kicked herself for not keeping a closer watch. If any harm came to the queen, it would have been her fault. It was her duty to make sure that they were safe, and if anything happened to them, Miranda knew that she would never be able to forgive herself.

That was why she had gotten up without fully healing. That was why she was going to do all that was within her power to find whomever had done this, and finish them off.

But she had no more time to think on this. Suddenly, the air was filled with a sound far more horrible and terrible than any sound that she had ever heard before.

But she had heard it before. It was a sound that haunted her worst nightmares. It was long and loud, filled with pain and horror and dread. It was the sound her heart had made when she knew of Aslan's death. It was the sound her mind had screamed when she saw Edmund fall to the witch.

Onyx gave a high neigh and bent over. The sound was so horrid, it was painful. Miranda closed her ears and rested her head against Onyx's back.

--

For Onyx, the sound reminded him of a sight that had haunted him, two years ago. The sight of his mistress and warrior lying upon the ground, her back torn and bleeding. It took him to a more recent scene, the High King beside her, both near dead upon the Northern plains of Ettinsmoor after their battle with the giants.

He gave another loud neigh, and he heard his mistress cry out in pain.

That was how horrid this sound was.

After a few moments, the sound ended. Neither opened their eyes for many seconds. Then, a little shakily, Onyx held himself straight and opened his eyes.

His shoulders tensed and his eyes widened.

He could feel the warrior's shock in her voice.

"By the mane..."

"There doesn't seem to be much to go on over here," Peter shouted over to his sister, who was a good twenty feet behind him. He lay over, bent on his saddle, searching the ground for any prints or anything out of the ordinary.

The sun towered overhead, showing that it was nearly ten o'clock. Waves crashed upon the dark sand, and he could hear mermaids playing in the sea.

"I know," Lucy replied after catching up. "You'd think that if someone came to the castle, they'd have come by the beach. But I see nothing of interest. Maybe we should head inland for a little bit."

Peter nodded his head in agreement. The two began to ride west.

It was another quarter of an hour before something happened. And it was not what they expected.

It was a sound. A horrible, terrible, angry sound, that made the skies quake in fear.

Peter's heart gave a wrench, and his horse began to rear in fright.

"Aah!" Lucy cried as her horse threw her off and disappeared into the woods.

Peter leapt off his horse and went towards her, but he did not make it far. The sound intensified, and he bent over, howling in pain. He felt Lucy grab hold of him, and he held her tightly, trying to close his ears as he did so.

His horse gave a shrill neigh and tossed its head angrily. The sound hurt. It hurt so badly that Peter saw images of his worst nightmares. Edmund's near death at the battle of Beruna, Susan's wound from the black dwarf, Lucy's face as her life slipped away before getting the cordial.

He heard Lucy whimper, and he held her tighter.

--

The image Lucy saw was Aslan upon the Stone Table, beaten, bruised, then dead. It was the worst sight of her life, and she once again relived it.

Finally, after a long time, the sound ended, and the brother and sister looked up.

What they saw was a field of green that they did not recognize.

"But surely you don't feel sorry for him," Edmund argued.

They were debating upon their recent adventures with the Calormen and Prince Rabadash.

"Well, would you like to have been turned into a donkey?" Susan asked.

"That's not the point," replied Edmund. "The point is the fact that you actually feel sorry for him after what he almost did to you and to Narnia."

"Well," defended Susan, "What's the matter with that?"

Edmund rolled his eyes.

"You are impossible!"

Their argument was cut short. As has been said before, a sound pierced through, more frightening and terrible than any sound they had heard before.

Once again, Edmund saw the White Witch, glaring at him as he tried to save the fox, Hunta.

Susan once more saw every wound that her brother's had taken for herself, her sister, and Narnia.

They both fell off of their horses with shock, and the horses fled, neighing shrilly.

Their eyes filled with tears and they tried to shut off their minds from the sound.

When the sound ended, they found themselves in a dark ruin that they had no knowledge of.