Disbeliever

"Oh boy." Mr. Beaver muttered the moment the girl's eyes rolled into the back of her head and she fell to the forest floor with an audible thud. He looked down at her sprawled form and contemplated of what he should do next.

He thought of leaving her but realized he couldn't. He had become fond of the race of humans since rescuing the four Pevensies' thousands of years ago when the White Witch ruled over Narnia with her iron fist.

His eyes softened as he looked down at her. She looked so frail and exhausted. Her face was so pale with purple lines under her closed eyes. Yes, Mr. Beaver decided, he would bring the human with him.

Now he looked around the clearing, wondering how in the Lion, he was going to get her home. She had to weigh nearly three times as much as he did!

"Now how am I getting you home?" He asked out loud to himself as a silky voice answered from behind him.

"Perhaps I could be of some assistance." A lioness emerged from the trees as she padded over to the girl. She bowed her head and was able to throw the girl's body up onto her back. The lioness turned to Mr. Beaver and said.

"Guide me to your home."

Mr. Beaver nodded and started walking forward, conscious that the lioness was behind him as they walked through the sprawling Western Woods. Passing animals all stopped and stared at the spectacle of a beaver leading a lioness with a knocked out human on her back.

As Mr. Beaver walked he could hear the faint giggles of the tree spirits as they danced around the forest. He looked up to the sky and growled.

"I don't see you helping!"

The unlikely pair continued on as the forest began to clear and they came upon the hill that looked down to the Beaver's dam. He smiled happily as he saw a pillar of smoke shooting out through the cracks of wood.

"There's my home." Mr. Beaver remarked proudly to his lioness companion who only nodded and started on her way down the steep and rocky hill, Mr. Beaver trailing as his tail flicked back and forth.

Just as they came upon the makeshift home Mrs. Beaver's voice yelled out from inside the burrow.

"Beaver is that you? You're late again!"

Mr. Beaver flinched as his wife's voice grew louder and louder as she stomped out of the dam. She looked ready to strangle Mr. Beaver to death but stopped when she saw the lioness and the unconscious girl.

"Oh my. What's this?" Mrs. Beaver asked of her husband as he explained.

"I found the girl in the woods, gave her quite the scare and she fainted. I couldn't very well leave her to her own devices, could I?" He asked his wife as she shook her head.

"No, of course not. She's just a young girl, come, come. Bring her in." She guided the lioness into the house as they found a nice little toasty corner for the human. She was set gently down as Mrs. Beaver placed some furs over the girl to keep her warm even though it was spring in Aslan's Country.

"Well thank you for bringing her here, Beaver would have broken his back if it wasn't for you." Mrs. Beaver commented as she thanked the lioness while Mr. Beaver bristled. He wasn't that old!

The lioness smiled and took her leave as she raced back into the forest to meet up with her kin.

As soon as she was gone the two beavers turned to each other.

"What are we suppose to do now?" Mrs. Beaver asked as she moved around the small and cramped dam, preparing a late lunch for her, her husband and now this unknown human who was their newest houseguest.

Mr. Beaver shrugged as he sat down at the table and placed his head in his paws.

"I don't know. She doesn't look familiar at all, does she?" He asked as Mrs. Beaver shook her head and glanced at the sleeping girl.

"Maybe she's from Archenland." Mr. Beaver suggested as Mrs. Beaver nodded.

"Perhaps, she is very fair is she not?" She nodded to the curly blonde hair running down the girl's face as the girl mumbled in her sleep and turned on her side, her back now to the beavers.

"But she must be a friend of Aslan's. That is the only way she could be here, in his country." Mr. Beaver said as Mrs. Beaver nodded.

"Well I'll guess we'll just have to wait till she awakes." Just as Mrs. Beaver said it they both heard the pounding of hooves outside their home and a few moments later a knock sounded on their door.

Mr. Beaver rose and went to the door and opened it. A grin broke across his face as he saw their newest visitor.

"Why your majesty come in." He bowed down as King Edmund the Just crouched and walked into the familiar home of the Beaver's.

"Hello Mr. and Mrs. Beaver. How many times do I have to ask you to just call me Edmund?" Edmund asked with an impish smile as he bent down and hugged both of the beaver's, taking them by surprise.

But they hugged him back for a moment before he released them. He stood to his full height and grinned as his head bumped the ceiling of the Beaver's dam. He was dressed casually in a dark blue tunic as his silver crown rested crookedly on the top of his dark haired head.

"So how are you both?" Edmund asked as it had been several weeks since he had last seen the Beaver's when he, his family and friends had arrived in Aslan's Country and they had all made a procession to Cair Paravel with friends from centuries past.

Everyone they had known and loved had risen from their graves. The Beaver's, Mr. Tumnus, Oreius, Caspian, Trumpkin, Cor, Corin, Aravis and so many more friends. It had been such a joyful experience to see everyone again as they would live forever in the heavenly country of Aslan.

There had only been one missing.

Susan.

Edmund's heart panged but he shook it away as he focused on the conversation that Mr. and Mrs. Beaver were partaking in. He smiled as Mr. and Mrs. Beaver started arguing, not even century's dead could change them. His eyes began to wander around the confines of the oval home as they came to stop at a lump in the corner covered by furs.

Edmund raised an eyebrow. That had not been here any other time he had visited. He started walking to the lump but Mrs. Beaver stopped him.

"I wouldn't do that, my dear."

Edmund looked down to the plump kindhearted Mrs. Beaver.

"Why not?" He asked curiously as he glanced at the lump.

Mr. Beaver nodded to his wife as Mrs. Beaver looked up at Edmund and began to explain. As soon as she was done a thought shot through Edmund's body.

"Could it be Susan?" He asked anxiously, hoping beyond all reason his sister had found her way and Aslan had brought her back to her family. Mrs. Beaver looked sadly at Edmund as Mr. Beaver slowly shook his head.

"No, it's not Queen Susan. Just another Daughter of Eve."

Edmund sighed but nodded as he began to tell the Beaver's of his day.

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Madeline felt like she was floating. With a struggle she wearily opened one of her eyes but then felt exhausted once more. In her confusion she felt heavy furs on top of her as a deep male's voice echoed around the dim room she lay in.

"Could it be Susan...I've been well……yes everyone is fine at Cair Paravel……thank you for your concern Mrs. Beaver……I've got to go."

The voice was so familiar but yet she couldn't place it. With a sigh she gave up her battle of staying awake and allowed her mind to drift once more.

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When Madeline awoke once more she was curled up into a protective ball. She kept her eyes clamped shut as she silently took in her surrounding. She prayed that the musty rustic smell that had invaded her senses was Daphne's newest perfume and that the hard ground beneath her was just her on her floor of her dorm.

With a twinge of courage she opened her eyes to find that she was not in her dorm but in what appeared to be a beaver's dam. How on earth had she ended up in a beaver's dam?!

"Ah you're awake." A gravely voice announced as she sat up and saw the beaver from before. Except this time he was joined by a female beaver who smiled friendly at Madeline as she gaped at them.

"Where am I?" She demanded as she jumped up from the floor and stood. She hugged herself as she looked down at the two beavers.

"We already went over this, you're in Narnia." The male beaver said as his wife nudged him.

"That's not right. We are in the more perfect version of Narnia. We are in Aslan's Country." She said it in an a attempt to comfort Madeline but it only made the girl more confused and frustrated as she heard the dreaded words Narnia and Aslan.

Instead of panicking as Madeline wished to do she forced herself to take in a deep breath as she closed her eyes and began to whisper to herself.

"This is a dream. You're just dreaming, Maddy. The stress from everything going on is causing you to dream. You're just dreaming." She repeated over and over as the Beaver's shared worried glanced. This was going to be harder then they originally thought.

"Girl, you're not dreaming." Mr. Beaver said to Madeline as her eyes flew open. She gave a large smile and nodded vigorously, now confident that this was just a horrible nightmare that would soon be over.

"Yes, it is. And now I have to just wake up, so I bid you a good day." And that she pinched herself. Hard.

Nothing happened.

She looked down at her skin in surprise and continued to pinch herself.

"Oh, come on! This is supposed to work!" She cried out as she started slapping her arm as her skin grew red from the contact of flesh attacking flesh. She kneeled down to the Beaver's level and took Mrs. Beaver's paw within her hand.

"Here scratch me, it should wake me up!" She pleaded as Mrs. Beaver pulled her paw of out Madeline's grasp.

"I will not scratch or bite you! I have more dignity than that!" She exclaimed as Madeline stood and began to pace frantically.

"I don't understand! Why am I still here? I should have wakened up by now! This must be the deepest sleep of my life!" She muttered to herself as Mr. Beaver interjected.

"You're not sleeping you floozy! You're awake and this is no dream."

Madeline shook her head, refusing to believe the talking beaver. This had to be a dream. It went against all nature for there to be talking beavers. Madeline looked to the door and said hurriedly.

"I have to leave." And before the Beaver's could stop her, Madeline was racing through the door. Leaving the beaver dam behind. She raced into the forest ignoring their protests as she ran blindly through the numerous trees.

The sun was still high in the sky so it had to be late afternoon as it began its ascent to the ground below. Madeline was near hysteric as she stumbled through the large dense forest, small forest animals scurried past her as she could swear she heard them whispering about her.

It only made her more frantic as she stumbled over the root of a tree and next thing she knew she was rolling down a hill quicker and quicker.

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Edmund was seated in the saddle of his horse as he sat in the silence of his woods. The Western Woods had always been his domain and he took immense pleasure in riding through them, getting lost even now, even though he knew every path that wound through the forest. He had made most of them, he thought with a small smile.

But the silence of his sanctuary was shattered as he heard a scream. His head shot up as he urged his horse forward and it began to gallop through the forest. They rode for several moments before he brought the creature to a stop.

Lying at the bottom of a large rocky hill was the form of a battered girl. He dismounted and went to the girls' side. She was wearing a dirty cream colored gown and her blonde hair was a tangled mess.

He turned the girl onto her back to see her face and received one of the biggest surprises of his life.

The girl was no ordinary damsel in distress.

It was Madeline.

He couldn't believe that she was here, in Aslan's Country. By Aslan's Mane how did she arrive here?

He couldn't believe that his dearest friend was in his homeland. Hesitantly he reached out and stroked her cheek, moving strands of hair out of her eyes. She was not in good shape. A bruise was already forming on her left cheek and she had a faint cut on her forehead that receded into her hair.

Without a second thought he scooped up his unconscious friend and walked quickly to his horse. He placed her up in the saddle as she drooped forward. He mounted and wrapped an arm around her waist as her body leaned against his chest.

He lightly kicked his horse as they rode to Cair Paravel.

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Madeline felt awful when she awoke. A headache the size of Mt. Everest had already formed in her head and her body ached everywhere as it hurt to even breathe. She felt the room around her even though she still had her eyes closed.

She hoped that the faint sound of waves crashing against sandy shores was just London rain splattering against her window. And that her starchy bed mattress had been replaced with a material that seemed almost light as air and that her scratchy pillow had been replaced with one made of feathers.

But once more she was sadly mistaken.

She slowly opened her eyes and found herself in the most beautiful room that she had ever seen in her short nineteen years. She was lying on a large queen sized canopy bed that had silk lavender sheets beneath her.

Plump pillows supported her head as she slowly sat up and looked around the spacious room. Open windows led to a balcony as the sea breeze blew in and made the luminous curtains sway in the gently breeze. The salt air was thick but yet comforting.

There was a wooden wardrobe filled with dresses no doubt. A large fireplace was the centerpiece of the room as its idle flames danced this way and that. There was a vanity in the corner with a large mirror. And then there was a leather couch in front of the fireplace with a seating table in front of it.

Madeline slowly rose from the bed and jumped when her feet made contact with the chilled marble floor. She looked down at herself and found her torn gown gone replaced with a nightgown. She saw a golden samite robe hanging off the back of the couch. She grabbed it and slipped into it as she walked to the balcony and looked out to the spectacular ocean view as the sun began to set.

Even though it was a dream, it was the best dream Madeline had ever had. The faint rays of the sun kissed her skin as she closed her eyes and deeply breathed in. Feeling for the first time at peace since her dream had begun with her in the forest.

She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't hear the creaking of her door as it opened and someone walked in. But she did hear as someone began to speak to her.

"Hullo Maddy."

She gripped the stone railing of her balcony harder as her skin turned white from the stress. Her breathing turned ragged as she fought to keep her composure.

How much longer would this dream torture her with false imagines concurred up be her conscience? How much longer would she have to suffer?

Trying to stay calm she turned as her breath hitched in her throat.

"Edmund?"

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Please read and review! I do not own the Chronicles of Narnia!