Chapter Two

Ruby's POV

~OoO~

This wasn't right.

Those were the last words through my head as I darted away from the door.
Grass fell limply under my feet as I tore through the plain between the bridge and house. I had to get out of here. How would I do that? I had no idea, but I would try anything! I would sing to the angels, I would do a rain dance, I would shave my head! Anything! This place was not natural!

I quickly closed the distance and was on the bridge.

Whoa.

I stopped as soon as I reached halfway. The bridge had wobbled and I sucked in a deep breath as a resounding crack sounded through the air. Looking back, I saw two beavers streak out of the house and stop directly at one end of the bridge. Suddenly, a new noise reached my ears. On the other side, where I'd emerged from the forest, a moving object came closer. I narrowed my eyes, trying to block out the exposure of sunlight and saw four horses coming into the clearing. My heart leapt into my throat as I saw humans for the first time in this strange place on the horses.

"HELP, please!" I yelled out.

Soon, I heard galloping and the horses were in perfect plain sight. I breathed a sigh of relief, finally. Normal, human people were here. I could finally get some sense of some things and wrap my head around talking animals in a strange land.

Four humans on horses came to the other side of the bridge. Humans on one side, beavers on another... And here I was smack bam in the middle. I quickly assessed the profile of each person. They were all wearing medieval clothes. Pretty, but weird... There were two girls and two guys. One had a silver band around his head, while the others had similar, yet golden like ones around their head. If I were dreaming, I would have thought they were crowns. One had golden locks, with blue eyes and full lips. He was quite handsome and I felt my heart do a giddy skip to which I rolled my eyes. The next was a girl, she had dark, dark hair and lips like her the one with golden hair, and her eyes were a brighter blue that sparkled. The boy next to her actually looked my age, but had that whole 'rebel' look going on. I rolled my eyes again; I had experience with moody, testosterone filled teenagers. His hair was dark and matched his dark brown eyes. Then, there was a girl, young as a possibly twelve or thirteen. Her long hair was a light brown and eyes were surprisingly green.

They unsaddled themselves, hopping off their horses with surprising delicacy, as though they'd been training for a show their whole lives. God knows that I would have taken a year to get on a horse, and off a horse. They all walked to the edge of the bridge and looked intensely at me. I shivered and recoiled from their gazes. I was not some animal in a circus.

"Castor, who is this...?" The golden-haired boy asked.

Not to me.

...To the beavers...

Oh bloody fantastic.

"Pete, I think she's a human."

I eyed the small girl with heavy sarcasm.

"Really? Wow! I wonder how you figured that out."

She flinched at my harsh voice which made me want to slap myself in the head. I really shouldn't have been that mean to her. But I couldn't help it. I was freaking out way to much.

"What I meant," She continued after second, "Is that you're not from around here."

I smiled in temperance, "I guessed as much."

Behind me a small male voice came into play, "I don't know who she is High King, my apologies."

I frowned and glanced at golden hair.

"High King?"

My eyes came to rest upon their crowns, at the very same time, my mouth dropped open.

"If you're done staring, you might want to get off that dam wall."

My eyes snapped to the direction of the dark eyed boy, an eyebrow was raised and hand on hip. He looked like he had better things to do and I definitely was not one of them.

"I'll get off this damn bridge when I want to Princess." My hands shifted up to my hip as my instinctive defensive attitude reared its head.

Beside him, the two girls smirked, clearly enjoying this.

"Well, sure, if you feel like plunging into some cold water."

I looked down and shrugged, "Bite me."

He sighed and flinched as another crack came through the air. I turned around as a whimpering sound came from behind me. A beaver was cringing and looking solemnly.

"Miss, he isn't lying about the water. Winter just ended... and that dam hasn't been finished building. You need to get off it."

I rolled my eyes and sighed.

"Fine."

Taking a few more steps, I froze as a shiver ran through my body. The sticks below me weren't so supported or strong exactly where I was standing. Call me crazy or something, but I swear I had a feeling that something bad was about to happen as soon as soon as a sideways fountain of water shot out from directly under me.

"Oh crap." I shouted.

Soon, the sticks underneath me started to crumpled and it seemed that everything around me happened in slow motion. First, the young girl shrieked, then the beavers gasped, then the dark eyed boy leapt off his horse and ran very quickly towards me. Just as the bridge gave way, and my feet were slightly touching the water, a hand grabbed my own swiftly and I was teetering off the edge of the dam that was still there. I was on the literal edge of the now-new end of the dam. The sticks underneath were cracking.

"Let me go!" I shouted at the boy, trying to land a blow on his arm.

His eyes narrowed and his lips twitched.

"Let you go?" He asked, "Alright."

He shrugged in compliance and grinned evilly. I gasped, my eyes narrowing right back at him.

"You wouldn't dare."

He shrugged, "Should have chosen your words much more carefully before Princess."

With that, his grip on mine was gone and the next thing I knew, my body was plunged into the water and my teeth were chattering like there was no tomorrow. I couldn't feel my toes in less than a second and my shoulders wouldn't move. I don't know how I did it, maybe by the normal human survival instinct, but I kept myself above the winter water.

"Get me out!" I gurgled.

The boy's eyes thinned in slight amusement.

I groaned and splashed about the water, my body unable to focus.

"Ed! You're so mean!" A little girl's voice sounded.

He shrugged.

I was going to kill him.

I don't know how I was able to keep my head up for so long, but it seemed, long enough to see a taller boy with golden hair come into the picture.

"I can't swim!" I yelled, weaker than I tried to make it come out.

The older boy shot the dark haired one a dismissive look and took off some gear and dived into the water. A pair of strong arms soon encircled me and I was soon heaved out of the water. As soon as my body hit the ground, I summoned as much energy as I could and jumped out, biting down a groan from my defiant body muscles. The sun was high up in the sky by now and so easing my aching muscles. I hissed through my teeth and walked at smoothly as I could to the boy. As soon as I was in front of him, he raised an amused and expectant eyebrow. I raised my eyes and entered a blow to his face. Just as I was about to make contact, he caught my wrist.

"Tsk-tsk, Princess wouldn't want to hurt her own self."

His grip on my wrist wasn't moving but I wanted to hit him so bad. I wanted to wipe that disgusting smirk off his face. I narrowed my eyes to slits and then grinned sweetly at him. His amused face turned to confusion. I raised my other hand and plunged towards his face.

A lovely smack graced my ears, and while it hurt like hell, I stifled a groan and smiled in triumph. Looking to him, I saw the boy bent over, dropping my wrist like hot coal and clutching his face. Somewhere around me, gasps erupted all around.

"You crazy barbarian!" He shouted.

I grinned in triumph.

"Sorry, I hope I didn't hurt you Princess."

I turned around dusted my hands off and turned around, holding my hands up on mock triumph, to which the other three people smiled approvingly.

"Thank you, thank you—Ooft."

My words of thanks were cut off by a thump and gasp, followed by spastic coughing as I felt something grabbing my hands that were above my head. Before I could comprehend anything else, I was flipped over a shoulder, then landing with a satisfying thump on the hard ground under me. The wind was knocked out of me, and for a split second, I gasped and wheezed my way to understanding. The blithering idiot floored me!

"Ed! You git!"
Shouts of disapproval reached my ears. The two girls were off their horses in a second and crowding around me, while the golden haired boy grabbed Princess by the collar and heaved him up to his own height.

"Outsider or not, you do not do that to a lady!" He growled.

I sat up, under the watchful eyes of two girls.

"I'm fine," I muttered as they helped me up, "I've been through worse."

The youngest girl's eyes widened, "Really? Then you mustn't have met many decent people."

I shrugged, "Eh, decent people I meet everyday. Decent situations are a different thing."

She sighed, "Well, you can be sure that you'll be treated well in Narnia."

I stopped all movement, "In where?"

She gestured around her, "In Narnia. Where are you from?"

"London," I murmured in awe, "Am I... in a different world?"
Everyone's head snapped up to mine.

"London?" The dark haired boy gasped.

I rolled my gaze to him, "Yes. London. What about you? Antarctica?"

He frowned, "I have no idea what you just said. But, originally, we're from London. What's with the clothes you're wearing?"

I looked down at my clothes "Well, I don't know what you're wearing, but what I'm wearing is quite common in the 21st Century."

There was silence all around.
"Did you say twenty-first century?" The golden haired boy muttered in awe.

I nodded, "Why?"

He frowned, "We came to this world through a secret entrance. That was back with the war."

It was my turn to frown, "War? There's not any... wait, what? What war?"

"The Second World War, they called it." The eldest girl answered.

My mouth dropped open.

"That was literally ages ago! Does that mean... you're from the past?"

"I guess." She answered back.

I put my hand to my head, "Let me get this straight. You're from London, I'm from London. We're in a different world, which you guys apparently rule. And animals talk."

Golden hair nodded and smirked, "You've got it. And about the animals, you'll get used to it. We were like you when we first found out."

I nodded and breathed out.

"Can I get back home?" I asked gently.

The small girl slipped her hand back into mine. Her straight forward affection instantly reminded me of a little girl back in the orphanage and I smiled at her.

"I'm afraid not. It depends on Aslan."

"Who's Aslan?" I asked Golden Hair.

"You'll met him soon enough, maybe." He answered back.

"What do I do now?" I whispered, unsure of myself now.

"You could stay with us." The little girl murmured.

I looked at her, "I don't know about that."

The older girl smiled, "Well, what else are you going to do?"

I looked around, "I think I remember how to make a fire, and these trees look like good hiding out places, I don't know. I'll think of something. I've always want to sleep under the stars."

"Nonsense," The little girl scoffed, "You'll stay with us."

"Where do you live?"

"At Cair Paravel."

"At Cair Para-what?"
"It's a castle. You'll like it."

"Oh, that's nice," I murmured, my mind feeling dizzy, "So, am I allowed to know your names?"

The younger girl smiled and pointed to herself, "Lucy."

Then she pointed to the other girl, "Susan."

Then to Golden Hair, "That's Peter."

Last of all, she pointed to Princess, "That's Edmund."
He eyed me and rolled his eyes.

I grinned down at Lucy, "I'm Ruby."

She grinned back, "That's a pretty name."

I nodded and looked around, "So what do you call this place again?"

She grinned wider and let go of my hair, twirling around, and her long hair flying around.

"Welcome to Narnia!"