Finally at the present:
By the time Lu was done reliving everything that happened after the kings and queens had deserted Narnia, the sun had risen just above the horizon, reflecting the light of day off her pond. Pushing herself to her feet, she gasped at the protest of her stiff legs and vowed to never sit down again.
Obviously, life could never go back to normal. Her main concern now was helping the Narnians reclaim their kingdom. Something would have to be done about the Telmarines. It was just like overthrowing the White Witch, right? Except the Telmarines were a lot more powerful and she was all by herself. How was one girl supposed to bring down an entire army? Well if anyone could do it, it would be Lu. That was for sure.
Maybe there were creatures still out in the forest when the Telmarines attacked? If anyone had survived the battle, they would have gone to Aslan's How. No one from outside Narnia would know about it, and it was very defensible.
Lu turned and started jogging in the general direction of the How. How much worse could this get? Just as the thought entered her head, a drop of rain landed on her nose. She squeaked and looked up at the sky to see a whole herd of drops falling toward her. Oh the irony.
Actually, Lu really loved the rain. Spreading her arms, she reached up towards the sky and let out a cry of joy. Finally something was going right! The rain would wash away her tracks so she wouldn't lead anyone to the How.
Lu walked for hours. The rain had already soaked through her clothes and she looked like she had just stepped out of the ocean fully dressed.
Suddenly, the shouts of men and heavy footfalls of horses could be heard through pitter patter of the rain. She stopped and flattened herself against a tree. The shouts were growing louder, and if she looked around the tree she could see a group of soldiers headed strait for her. Was fate dead set on getting her killed? Lu could run very fast, but galloping horses would still catch her. If she tried to run now they would see her. She sank to the ground and curled up in a ball, trying to be small and unnoticeable. Her hand slipped down into her boot and grasped the hilt of the hunting knife.
The voices were getting seriously loud, and she was trying to melt into the bark behind her. Then there were soldiers riding by either side of her tree, so close she could reach out and touch them if she wanted to. As the men rode forward, it seemed she would go unnoticed when one of the soldiers glanced backwards and spotted her. Damn.
He shouted to the others and they all turned their horses around. The air was filled with shouts of " Fire hair!" and " We found her!". She had a nickname. Cute. Lu scowled. If she tried to run, they would either catch her or she would lead them to the How. She pressed her back against the tree and glared at the men riding toward her. They surrounded her tree with their horses.
" Well well well, look what we have here boys." the leader smirked. " So this is the little strumpet that caught the kings eye. He will be very pleased to see you again." The sick smile on his face made Lu feel queasy. " You'll soon learn never to run away from his majesty again girl. Though I can't imagine how he'll punish you." His voice was layered with hidden meaning. Lu's eyes widened in terror. Oh no...
" Seize her!" Two soldiers dismounted and started towards her. Before they could grab her arms, she whipped out her knife and spun in a circle, slashing the throats of both men. One of them bent over choking, and she sprung lightly onto his back, using it as a springboard to jump onto his horse. She then proceeded to hop from horse to horse, stabbing the riders as she went. One of the soldiers fell out of his saddle in fear, and she launched herself onto his back as he stood up, holding her knife at his throat.
" What are you doing in the forest?" She growled.
" Search party. The king sent them out to look for you!" He gasped
" Why?"
" I don't know! You must be important to him somehow! Please don't kill me!"
" So your not here to search for Narnians?"
" No, our orders were only to find you."
" Okay, now go back to your king. Tell him that Lucifer Jadis is going to make him pay for destroying everything, and that anyone he sends into the forest will die." She slid off his back and pushed him forward. He started running, hopefully to make it back and deliver her message. Looking down at the corpses littering the ground, Lu cleaned her knife on the grass and sighed. Killing was something she absolutely had no problem doing, probably because of her excellent childhood. She would kill a thousand men if it meant saving the life of even one Narnian. With that depressing thought, she continued on toward the How.
The sun was already low in the sky when Lu finally reached the small mountain that housed Aslan's How. When the Pevensies had first arrived and fought the battle against the White Witch, Aslan's table had been above ground. Since then, the Narnian's had built a sort of temple to protect the place. Now the table was underground. She had never thought about it before, but the temple would make a very good fortress.
She approached the great entrance warily, keeping her eyes and ears open for any signs of a threat. Slipping inside, she hugged the wall and moved quietly. There was no one inside that she could see. Lu tip-toed down a tunnel hallway. Everything was so silent. What if none of the Narnians had survived? She was scared stuffin'-less by the thought. She couldn't be the only creature left alive in Narnia besides the Telmarines. It would drive her mad.
So lost was she in her depressing thoughts, Lu didn't notice what was standing right in front of her. Suddenly, she bumped into something tall and alive.
" AAAAHwhatthehell!" Her screaming scared the satyr so much he started yelling in surprise as well. They both stood there screaming at each other until more Narnians filed out of the hall and shook them out of it.
" Lady Lu! Lady Lu!" They all cried at once, " What happened? How did you survive?"
" Wait wait, what? You don't know? Where were you guys?"
" We were in the forest on patrol. When we got back the castle was rubble and swarming with soldiers!" A centaur spoke up. Lu proceeded to explain the entire situation to them, starting with the disappearance of the kings and queens. They were devastated to hear about all their dead comrades.
" How many made it here?" Lu asked.
" There's more asleep further in. New creatures come in every day, as soon as they find out about the Telmarines they end up here. Lucky we have this place, isn't it?"
" Quite. Anyway what do you guys want to do?"
" What do you want us to do? Lady Lu, you give the orders around here." Hah! Doesn't seem like it, thought Lu, remembering the centaur who wouldn't let her fight the Telmarines during the battle. Stupid overprotective * grumble grumble*. Yes, she was still mad about that.
" Lady Lu, why are you mumbling to yourself?" asked a concerned looking satyr.
" Well you guys, we have two options." Lu completely ignored him and switched to her speech voice, stepping up onto a bench. " We can either be driven out by the Telmarines and leave Narnia. Or, we can stay here and form a rebellion."
" Rebellion!" shouted the Narnians. Of course.
" If that's what you want. But I'm warning you, we will not be able to take back Narnia for many lifetimes. None of you will be alive by the time we succeed."
" Narnia is our home, we will fight so that one day, our children or our children's children can live freely here!" A centaur announced.
" Alright alright! Here's the plan. We will defend the woods, and pick off any soldiers that dare to come in here. We know this forest better than any Telmarine, and eventually they will be too scared to even come close to it. Then we will be safe, and have more space to build up strength. I want you all to practice with bows, which we can steal from the Telmarines. We will have to be able to slaughter whole groups of men without leaving any survivors, and more importantly, without being seen. If no one ever sees any of us, eventually we will become a legend, and our existence will be forgotten. Then the element of surprise will be ours." The Narnians all nodded, accepting the wisdom of this plan.
Lu stepped wearily off of the bench and trotted to the room of Aslan's stone table. As she passed the pictures of the Pevensies, she ran her hand over them. Tears filled her eyes as she came to the one of Peter standing in front of his throne. Climbing on top of the cracked stone, she sat there and stared at the carving of Aslan on the wall.
Oh Aslan, why have you abandoned us?
