Okay, so maybe my movie reference was really obscure, but I was referencing the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. I thought it was made in the 90s. No, it was made in 1966. Holy shiitake mushrooms. I had never actually seen it until a day after I posted the chapter so… I feel like I have a good reason to not know how old it was.
Back to first person! Although I might be increasing the third person for more of Peter's view and just for the fact that I found that I like third person more. Let me know what you guys like: the third person or the first person.
We, Lucy and I, were currently sitting under a tree reading…. Okay, I have no idea what the fuck we were reading. To be honest, I was just dozing off while Lucy was reading the book we snatched from one of the Professor's many libraries. I was too tired from last night's antics too give a crap about anything else. I guess Lucy was done with siblings too. She hadn't spoken to any of them since last night, the betrayal still fresh on her mind. So she settled with me, the only one who didn't outwardly dismiss her Narnia.
Smash!
God… damn it. There was a decent size hole in the stain glass, leaving a beautiful shatter pattern behind. We are going to get a new asshole today. And if they hadn't already caused enough shit with Macready, today would do it. We clambered back inside to see the damage. A shinning knight's armor was strewn across the floor with broken glass, a clear dent showing on the knight's helmet.
"Well done, Ed," Peter broke the silence with his snark.
"You balled it!"
"To be honest," I spoke up, "considering how sturdy armor is, that was pretty impressive of Edmund."
"Beatrice, I'm not in the mood," Peter turned to me, his brows furrowing in anger and his eyes narrowing. "And how would you know how sturdy armor is anyway?"
I huffed. How dare he question me. I opened my mouth in response, only for it to be hushed by Macready's voice through the walls; punishment being threaten to those who were caught. Peter's eyes widened, remembering what they were here for; to assess damage and bullshit our way out of it. Looks like we won't be doing any of that today. Peter ushered us out of the room, begging us to follow him. I sure as hell didn't want punishment and followed Peter, not thinking of anything better to come up with. We ran through the halls, dodging Macready's steps when the echo sounded too close to us. Edmund, the clever shit he was, had lead us to the room with the wardrobe again. The thing that started it all.
"You've got to be joking," Susan almost growled. "This isn't funny, Ed."
Nothing is funny with you, Susan. I pushed Lucy towards the now open wardrobe and pushed her in. Ignoring the now burning necklace, I stumbled over her as I felt hands on my back, pushing us deeper in. Someone stepped on my toes as I felt gentle fur against my skin. Soft thumps were heard through the wardrobe. I tripped over someone's limbs, falling hard against Peter who failed in catching me in his arms. My chin slammed down on his temple, sending a hard jolt through my skull as my chest landed in his face, the force of my fall sending us both down onto the soft snow.
Snow?
"Ow! Beatrice!" Peter groaned, his voice muffled by the clothe in his face. I ignored the boy, untangling myself from his limbs as moaned something about watching where I stepped. I stepped over the fallen Pevensie to get out into the open, letting my skirt fabric hit him in the face.
The sight was beautiful, beautiful to a stranger. The trees were glistening with permanent ice, giving off the illusion of glass trees, forever reflecting the sun's shining light. The ground was covered in a perfect blank it of snow, the surface not yet touched. It was beautiful, on the surface level, showing the only beauty that the White Witch could do: surface level beauty. However, to a native, to a true Narnian, it was horrific. There was so much snow. The land— my land— was covered in this bitch's dark magic. The dark promise hanging over our heads that we would never see spring flowers again.
Peter and his siblings were speaking in the background, the conversation going completely ignored by me. I had bigger problems than an upset little sister. Speaking of problems, my neck was starting to burn. It was heating up and heating up fast as clutched the annoying appendage of mine, pathetically trying to find the problem. It wasn't the necklace, it had gone stone cold. No, this was internal. I shouted out, only to find my inability to get air, strangled gasps being the only thing coming through. A thin line began raising itself out of my skin, the feeling of a razor being slashed across my skin running through me. The wire. Burning began in my chest, lungs feeling as if they were going collapse again, a painful reminder of the way I got out of Narnia.
As quickly as it started, it ended, gently fading away to let myself get my precious air. Breathing in harsh air heavily, I felt my lungs breathe in easier. Aslan had restored my lungs back to their healthy selves. Yeah, he better have. The little shit was the cause of them being injured after.
"Stop it!" Edmund shouted, pulling myself out of my own world and back to the forgotten Pevensies. I readjusted my shirt collar to hide the now visible scars.
"You little liar," Peter sneered, stalking over to the brunette boy, everyone else silent.
"You didn't believe her either," he countered.
"Apologize to Lucy." Edmund didn't do anything which angered the elder even more. "Say 'you're sorry.'"
"Alright," Edmund cracked, cowering in to himself. "I'm sorry."
"That's alright. Some little children don't know when to stop pretending," Lucy said with a smug little tone in her voice. She was justified to it. Edmund sneered back at her.
"Maybe we should go back," Susan suggested, rubbing her arms.
"Shouldn't we at least take a look around?" Edmund looked around the frozen woods.
"I think Lucy should decide," Peter turned to Lucy.
Her face quickly brightened. "I would like you all to meet Mr. Tumnus!" Yes, let's see this faun. I don't know whether they are still with Aslan or not. I don't even know how long I've been gone. We're going to need information.
"Well, Mr. Tumnus it is then." Peter turned back to the wardrobe and shuffled through the racks. Had the portal not closed yet?
"But we can't go hiking in the snow, dressed like this," Susan voiced her concern, rubbing her arms again.
"Looks like Peter is taking care of that," I gestured towards Peter. He came out right on que and handed everyone a coat.
"Anyway, if you think about it, logically, we aren't even taking them out of the wardrobe," he smiled. That's not how it worked, but okay. Whatever floats your boat. He handed Edmund a black and white fur coat, to which Edmund complained was a woman's.
"Edmund," said boy turned to look at me. "It's the only one that will fit you. Now put it on." He huffed but continued to put it on anyway. Peter gave me another and slipped it on over my shoulders. We let Lucy lead the way through the dense woods; she and her oversized coat led us to the lamp post. She continued to take us through a crag and over a hill, trusting her memory. She spotted his house and the sight wasn't pretty. This was not going to be good.
The faun's house was badly damaged. First off, the door was kicked in, splinters scattered all around the floor. Books were torn, the pages laying on the floor as snow decorated the entrance with other personal items laying around. I touched the fire place ashes. Cold.
"Who would do something like this?" Oh, Lucy. You have no idea.
Peter ripped a paper off the wall and read the paper. "Long live the Queen," he finished.
"Alright," Susan argued. "Now we really should go back."
"But what about Mr. Tumnus," the youngest Pevensie pleaded. I walked around the room, ignoring the rest of the conversation. I stepped carefully around the broken china to the fire place, reaching down to grab a fallen book. Is Man a Myth? A bird flittering by caught my attention. A raven. I placed the book back on a half-destroyed shelf and followed the raven out.
"The Queen has returned to us," the raven whispered in its secret ancient language, spreading the word to other hidden entities, whether they be plant or animal. My hand out stretched, I whistled the raven's summons. The bird fluttered onto my hand, awaiting its long-waited commands.
"Go to Aslan's army. Tell them, I have arrived with their saviors. Fly with haste." The raven fluttered off, it's black feathers a start contrast to the pure white snow.
"What was that?" A voice started me. I whipped my head around, my hair flinging as I turned to face Peter and his siblings standing in the doorway.
"Nothing," I said, brushing off fallen snow off my skirt.
"That wasn't nothing—"
Crack.
The forest shifted with the crack, no doubt whispers being spread to the White Queen of our arrival, the flaps of a raven's wings being the thing that had awoken them. A strong arm found itself around my waist, pulling me tighter against Peter's fur clad chest with a small pair of arms wrapping around my hips. Soft pattering against packed snow was heard as my chest rose faster in anticipation.
A decent sized beaver waddled out from behind some boulders. I let out a breath. The beavers were allied with Aslan when I left. When I left.
"It— it's a beaver," whispered a confused Lucy. The beaver shuffled closer, as if testing the waters. Peter reached out his hand, one of his arms still around me, and stepped closer to the beaver. My brows furrowed. What is he doing?
"Here, boy," he called out.
Oh, no. He is not.
"Here, boy."
"Peter, stop," I hissed, tugging at his coat sleeve. You're embarrassing me! I turned to the beaver. "Neden geldin?"*
The beaver snapped his head towards me, immediately getting on all fours, dropping into a traditional Narnian bow. "Beni affet. Senin oldugunu bilmiyordum, Majesteleri."*
The four Pevensies blanched, not expecting the beaver to speak, let alone in a different tongue. Lucy clutched my hands, interrupting the conversation. "So it was you!"
"What?" I looked down to the youngest Pevensie, confusion easily read across my face.
"You are the same Beatrice Mr. Tumnus was talking about!" Lucy smiled, but tilted her head in her own confusion as she realized something. My face fell. What did the faun say about me? "But he didn't say you could speak Narnian. And you didn't say anything about Narnia either."
"Wait, what?" Peter gripped my waist tighter.
I groaned. "I'll tell you guys later. For now, I want to know why you are here, sir."
"Lucy Pevensie," the beaver gestured to the youngest, handing out a little kerchief to the said girl. "Mr. Tumnus gave it to me just before they took him."
"If it is safe," I said, brushing off Peter's hands, "take us to your home."
"Yes, Majesteleri,"* the beaver bowed again, shuffling himself behind the rock, towards his home. I grabbed Lucy's hands, pulling her with me as we followed our furred friend.
"What are you doing?!" Susan shouted, pulling on my sleeve, her brown eyes flickering between Peter and me.
"Yeah," Edmund agreed. "How do we know we can trust him?"
I narrowed my eyes at him. "Because I spoke to him. He knows ancient Narnian."
"Just because it was you, doesn't mean anything, Beatrice," Peter sneered, his cold eyes turning to slits.
"Oh, then why did you follow after too?" I placed my hands on my hips.
Peter opened his mouth, then shut it quickly again like a fish. "Be— because he said he knows the faun."
"Is everything alright?" The beaver popped his head over the rock. Peter clutched me closer, not wanting to show a disruption in the marriage even if the creature didn't know about the laws of England. We technically weren't even married by Narnian standards.
"Yes," said Peter, "We were just talking."
"That's better left for safer quarters," the beaver whispered back, gesturing to the trees.
"He's right," I admitted, gently pushing the young girl forward. "We need to get in before dark." Peter stared into my eyes, searching for something of which I did not know, nor cared.
"Fine," he cracked. "Let's go."
The beaver nodded and lead us to the great expanse of wood.
Neden geldin? = Why have you come?
Beni affet. Senin oldugunu bilmiyordum, Majesteleri. = Forgive me. I did not know it was you, your Majesty.
Majesteleri = your majesty
So…. I'm currently working on another fanfic, one I haven't published yet, but will soon. So that means that I'll actually be updating once a month instead of my usual 2 every month. I will say that I do have the basic plot of the Golden Age planned out, not written, but eh. We'll get there.
Okay on to reviews:
EgyLynx: I do hope to keep it interesting. And I plan on adding more races/species later on to give more depth to the Narnian world other than what we know already. I'm glad you like the sound of Beatrice Pevensie.
Richiesrah: I do want this story to be a slow-burn, so I don't plan on them falling in love during the movie. They will fall in love in the Golden Age.
X Blue Eyed Demon X: I'm glad you love it.