AN: So I'm stuck at home on the couch with the flu… which means I get to write. Hooray! Haha enjoy.
"Rise!"
Said the Boy to his Lover,
"Darling, get up. I've brought
you my love, and brought it far!"
"Leave!" Said the
Girl to her lover,
"I've given in. If love is a bridge, we
built it wrong!"
Chapter 11
I stood amidst several people I had grown to love and care for in the past few days; starring down at a child and a man I had been obligated to love as members of my family. Aslan stood proudly on the raised platform as he announced to the Telmarines who would choose not to stay that they may find refuge in the land of our forefathers. I watched as a few members of our castle stepped forward. A woman and two men; none of which I knew by name. Aslan smiled on them and stepped forward.
"Since you have volunteered to go first, your life will be a blessed one," he said as he breathed luck onto them. He turned and breathed magic onto a large tree which unwound and created a large arch for them to walk through. The whole crowd gasped as they walked through the invisible portal and disappeared.
"How do we know you are not sending us to our deaths?!" A Telmarine shouted. Reepicheep stepped forward.
"Your majesty, if I may; I and ten of my men will go through the portal as a sign of good faith," he stated nobly. Peter stepped forward.
"We will go," he stated. Lucy and Edmund looked shocked.
"Leave Narnia?" She asked with concern, "Forever?"
"For Susan and I, yes. But I think he means for you and Edmund to return, someday," Peter explained as gently as possible. Lucy's eyes filled with tears.
"But…" she looked to Aslan.
"Queen Lucy, Peter and Susan have learned what they can from this world. Now it is time for them to return to their own, and learn what they can from it," He explained. She nodded but still didn't seem to agree. She took a step back and put grasped Susan's hand. Aslan turned to me and nodded. I gave a weak smile. Peter noticed the stare being exchanged between Aslan and myself and closed his eyes releasing a vast amount of oxygen from his lungs. I looked one last time down at my father who held Bladen in his arms. I glanced up at Caspian who smiled and nodded at me.
"Arianna…" Aslan said with a look that had to mean nothing other than him questioning my decision. I sighed deeply and looked to my father.
"Father, you know that family has always meant more than anything in the world to me…" I began. He nodded in agreement. I turned and looked at Peter in distress. Without saying anything I turned back to my father. "I feel like if I stay here, then I will spend every day of the rest of my life wondering what could have been with Peter. On the other hand, I feel like if I go back to Peter's world with him I will always wonder what is to come of you, Caspian, and of course Bladen. So that is why I've decided to go with Peter." The look on my father's face was unmistakable. Hurt, anger, frustration, was only a few words to describe the emotion welling form inside of him. He handed Bladen off to Daralis who stood behind him.
"You would do this to your own flesh and blood?!" He yelled. He climbed unto the raised platform stopped three feet in front of me. "I loose my wife, my thrown, and now my own daughter?!" I felt heated frustration rush into my head.
"It was never rightfully your thrown father!" I yelled.
"But it could have been, if you would have just done what any good daughter should have… and would have done!" he bit back.
"Don't patronize me! I did what was right! And I do what is right now!" I turned my back to him. With two strides he stood directly behind me with his hand firm upon my upper arm. I saw Peter take a step forward with his hand grasped tightly around the handle of his sword. Aslan let out a growl.
"I advise you to let her go," he growled to my father. My father looked up at him but did not let go. He spun me around with him and spoke to the crowds.
"You think these…" he looked and pointed to a centaur, "…abominations are going to live peacefully with us in our future?!" I attempted to shake free of his grasp but he only tightened his grip. "Has this… cat really pulled the blindfold over your eyes that easily?!"
"If you can't live peacefully with these Narnians then go back to the land of our forefathers as Aslan has offered!" I argued. He looked at me and placed his other hand on my empty arm grasping both firmly.
"You would ask me to leave MY land?!" he screamed, his face turning beat red. This was not the father I had seen dying on the battlefield. This was another man entirely. I cranked my head back to try and seek help. Aslan nodded to Peter who stood straight and nodded to Caspian. All of this nodding seemed very regal and all, but it wasn't getting my father off of me any time soon. Caspian motioned to two of his guards who came and grabbed my father by either arm. He looked at them wild eyed. For a moment it felt as though time had completely stopped. The anger had returned. "I will get my revenge! I will reclaim my land!" He yelled. Tears welled into my eyes as the guards carried my father off down to the dungeon. Feeling a little overwhelmed I took a deep breath and fell backwards; luckily for me Peter was standing there waiting and caught me. I straightened myself up and flattened the front of my dress. I looked at the crowd who starred at me in astonishment.
"Well then, I suppose we'd better get going," I said, although to me it sounded more like a question. I looked at the kings and queens of old. Peter looked confused.
"So you're…" he began.
"Going with you," I finished his sentence. His confused look faded into a grin. He laughed and ran forward and embraced me. As everyone else said their goodbyes I walked up to Caspian and smiled. He hugged me and kissed my forehead. "Take care of Bladen for me." I requested and smiled. I turned to Daralis and knelt down and kissed Bladen's forehead and stroked his cheek. I stood back up and turned to Caspian. "Try to get through to my father. Clearly it's something I can never accomplish, but I know he has goodness in him. He just needs the right person to pull it out of him." Caspian smiled and nodded. I curtsied and stepped back to join Peter. I passed Queen Susan as she smiled towards me. I turned back to Caspian who stood shyly smiling at Susan. "Perhaps a goodbye is in order?" I said to her with a smirk. She laughed and walked up to Caspian. I found my way over to Peter and stood next to him. He placed his arm around my waist and smiled. I watched as Susan stood in front of Caspian. Their flirting and batting of eye lashes towards each other was finally coming to a conclusion. Susan went onto her tip toes and her lips met his. She pulled back and smiled.
"I wish we had more time together," he said.
"It never would have worked anyways," she said with a smirk.
"Why not?" he asked.
"Well, I am thirteen hundred years older than you," she laughed. He chuckled and glanced up at me.
"That doesn't seem to stop my cousin and your brother," he nodded up at me. Susan looked back and laughed.
"Well, my brother seems to have a little less humility than myself," she joked. Peter stepped forward and laughed.
"We should go," he said. We all let out small sighs of laughter and faced the portal. Lucy, Edmund, and Susan crossed through disappearing. I took a deep breath as I held Peter's hand. It occurred to me I was about to cross into a world that was nothing like anything I knew. I didn't even know what I would be wearing when I arrived into this new world. I looked up at Peter with a concerned look on my face. It wasn't too late to change my mind was it? I thought. Yes it was, and if I should change my mind I would never forgive myself. I sucked in as much Narnian air as I could before I took the final steps into leaving the world that I had known as home for my entire life.
