Chapter 8
The Petal of Erlian
Golden sparks flew out of Peace's hand, swirling in a hurricane around her. Seconds later there stood a kindly faced lioness. Susan and Lucy were shocked, but Peter and Edmund quickly explained to them that this creature was, in fact, Peace, just in her other form. The Queens were still uncertain, but they trusted their brothers. Lucy reached forward and touched the lioness's muscular neck gently; the warmth of it made her relax. But Susan still wasn't certain, so Lucy reached out and took Susan's hand and forced it towards the golden fur covered neck. Susan was slightly scared but did it anyway, she loved the tingling sensation she felt shooting down her fingers from the soft fur.
When they had both got used to Peace's lioness form, they took a step back and wondered why Peace had transformed herself, and if they were supposed to do anything. They found out soon enough. Peace turned her magnificent head round and looked expectantly at her sleek back. Then to the four confused kings and queens. Only Peter realised what she wanted them to do, so he exclaimed,
"She wants us to ride on her back." The others all immediately understood and smiled but Peter carried on, "It's a sweet thought Peace, but we weight a lot more than you could ever carry, and we won't all fit on your back." Peace roared at him, and Peter laughed, steeping back under the force of it and chuckled again,
"So you're not 'sweet' then, but we won't be held responsible if we squash you. Lu, you can get on first." He said smiling at his sister. She just rolled her eyes and advanced to the lionesses back, throwing her leg over and adjusted her dress so it wasn't in the way of her grip. The golden head of Peace then turned to Peter and raised her eyebrows in a way that obviously meant, I told you so. Peter then laughed as he told his brother to get on.
Edmund walked forward and said to Peace, "I'm sorry." As he jumped on to her golden back. He was surprised at how muscular, but soft and comfortable it was; she seemed to be able to hold their weight just fine. Peter then saw he had been right, there was no more space on her golden back. Peter then said gently to Peace,
"Ok, now what, genius?"
Peace growled at him in a playful way. She then took her right front paw off the ground. She drew out her claws and drew a circle with one of them and stamped her paw in the circle carved the forest mud. Golden sparks exploded from the point of impact. Peace started to grow and grow until she was three times as big as Aslan, with legs like tree trunks and a body like the small car that Peter owned back in England.
Susan then got on to her back, with help from Peter, every one of her worries and doubts vanishing. Peter then tried to jump up onto her back, but he fell onto the floor with a thud. He got up again only to see a great black, wet, triangular nose came out of the air which gently pushed Peter, knocking him back onto the floor. He got up and gazed into the same green-grey eyes that belonged to the little girl he thought he had known since he first met her, but now he was not so sure he knew her at all.
He used Peace's head- after she had offered it- to climb up to her back where his siblings were all sitting with plenty of room to spare.
Peace rushed thought the trees at a tremendous speed. Trampling anything in her path. Lucy thought she spotted hundreds of terrible creatures lurking in the shadows, but whenever she turned back to check, they were gone, rushing backwards along with the endless forest. They all had to keep their heads down so as not to get blown off the giant lionesses back, and to miss getting thwacked off by the branches of the towering trees that seemed quite small from where they were sitting.
After a very short time they had covered a lot of ground, and Peace started to slow down. Lucy, who was nearest Peace's head, asked her why she was slowing, but never finished; they had just crashed through a thick line of Elm trees and had come out onto a large sandy beach, stretching into an enormous river: The River Serpent. They all slid off Peace's back when she lay down on the pebble scattered sand. Seconds later, the lioness had shrunk, and turned back into a smiling and panting blond girl. She said eagerly,
"This is my favourite bit!" She ran to the water's edge and sat down on the wet sand, pulling off her leather boots to reveal long brown socks which she left on. She stood up and clicked her fingers. Golden boots took form around her dirty socks. She looked back, beaming and exclaimed,
"Waterproof boots! Want some?"
"They are amazing! Do they come in my size?!" Edmund grinned at her as she thought for second, as if deciding what style would suit him. Seconds later, he wore warm, fluff lined, golden boots, that fitted him perfectly. He nodded at Susan encouragingly, who rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, looking fixedly at the water. Peace shrugged, stretched her arms and made her fingers click, as she smiled cheekily at Lucy and Peter, who were soon wearing very fine gold boots.
"Gold would not suit you at all." Peace said while she examined Susan from a distance. Susan stiffened and her ears turned red. The others read their families inherited warning signs and stepped forward to save Peace from being strangled by their sister. But Peace just snapped her fingers as her face lit up with an idea. And on Susan's feet appeared intricate, ankle-high emerald boots. Susan was still standing firm, but curiosity got the better of her. She looked down. She gasped in pleasure at the stunning new shoes she now owned. Peace smiled and said,
"Hope you like them, if you don't like the colour-" Peace was then squashed by Susan hugging her. Peace hugged her back. Susan drew back and replied,
"I know that bow of yours is one of the magic ones that shoots by itself, and that I shouldn't have blamed you. I'm sorry for jumping to conclusions. So how are we going to get across this River?"
Peace smiled mischievously and clicked her fingers again. A wooden boat gently bobbed happily with the endless line of calm waves: it had white sails that were flapping in the morning breeze, ropes hanging from the back and front, all of which ended with a neat knot.
Edmund and Peter ran to it. They felt its smooth sides made of varnished wood.
"What's she called?" Lucy asked, curiously.
"The petal of Erlian."
"Why?"
"Why not?"
Lucy was stumped, so went and stood with her brothers. Susan walked over the boat and called back to Peace,
"When are we launching captain?"
"Tomorrow, it's getting dark."
The four looked up and saw the sun was about to topple over the horizon.
They settled down for the night, and one by one went to sleep on the warm sand by the glow of a crackling fire Peace had magicked up.
