CHAPTER FOUR: What Happened That Night
The King woke up to the sound of a knife cutting through rope. He then found that he was tied to a tree, and that a young woman of about 18 years was cutting his traces away with a dagger.
"Who are you?" he asked sleepily.
"Talk later," she said shortly, "Eat first." She fed him a piece of bread that tasted so sweet, he didn't feel he could look at another piece of bread the same again.
As soon as his hands were free, he helped the woman remove his bonds. As soon as the last piece of rope fell to the ground, the woman took his hand and said, "Let's go." They ran towards the forest.
"Wait!" he called, "My friend, Jewel, he's still out there!"
"Your Unicorn will have to wait," she said, "We'll come back for him later."
After a while, the woman stopped. "We'll set up camp here," she said.
"Who are you?" Tirian asked, "Why aren't you at the hill asking for Aslan?"
"That wasn't Aslan," she said, "My father would never sell the Talking Beasts to slavery in Calormen."
"Your father?"
"Yes. I am Bridget, daughter of Aslan."
Tirian's mind raced back to his history lessons when he was a child. "Yes, I have read stories about you. You come from the mysterious land of the Kings and Queens of Old, and you were brought here as the Protector of Narnia. You also helped find King Rilian. But that was hundreds of years ago."
"Time runs differently in my land," Bridget explained, "I age with that time."
"So you have been roaming around Narnia for hundreds of years."
"Yes. I have been around since the time of the father of your great-grandfather's great-grandfather."
"And you have come to help me?"
"It is my duty to protect all citizens of Narnia. I was patrolling on the Archenland border when I felt that Narnia was in trouble. I came to find you, and now I did."
Tirian sat down on the ground to let it all sink in. Only yesterday, he had heard news that Aslan was back in Narnia, and today morning, Roonwit had told him that he hadn't. Then he finds out that Aslan is letting the Calormenes take over Narnia, and now this woman, who claims she is his daughter, was telling him that her father would never do such a thing.
"I understand that the whole day has been a rough journey for you," Bridget said, "I was just as confused as you are. All you need is a good night's rest. We'll sort this all out tomorrow morning."
Tirian looked at Bridget. Even though it was dark, he could see that she was tired. "But who'll keep watch?" he asked.
"I will," she said. "I can spend a few nights without sleep. You just lie down and rest."
Tirian found that he couldn't argue with her, so he didn't. He lay down on his back and counted the stars, until, finally, he fell asleep.
Tirian dreamed that he was standing in a bright room, where seven people sat around the table. There was food laid out in front of them, and their nearly empty plates told him that they were almost finished with their meals. Two of the people were very old. One was a man, with a white beard, and a wise look about his face. The other, a woman, who also had white hair, and looked like the type of person who smiled a lot. Next to them sat a young man around the same age as himself, with the face of a warrior. Next to him sat another dark-haired youth with the same look about him, but a few years younger. The last three were a young schoolboy and a two girls, all around the same age. One of the girls, the older one, was so beautiful that he couldn't stop looking at her.
The other girl gave a small shriek and pointed in his direction. The old man dropped his glass of wine on the floor, where it shattered into pieces, and the older king-like youth stood up abruptly.
"Who are you?" he demanded, "Are you from Narnia?"
"Maybe he's a ghost," said the beautiful girl.
Tirian felt like he wanted to say something, but he couldn't couldn't get the words out of his throat. It was like, all of a sudden, he had lost his voice.
"Look, it's fading!" shouted the youngest boy.
And slowly, the ghost of King Tirian disappeared into the darkness.