Hey, everybody! It's the most wonderful time of the year again, and so I present to you the chapter you all have been waiting for! Hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it.
(Peter's P.O.V)
The ice was melting.
A great crack shook the frozen river. We all glanced down and saw that the ice that had once made the river solid as a stone was now melting all too rapidly. "We need to cross now," I ordered.
"Don't beavers make dams?" Lucy asked, questioning our friends.
"I'm not that fast, dear," Mr. Beaver replied with a shake of his head. Wanting to waste no further time, I rushed quickly to grab Lucy's arm. However, Susan was keen on getting one of her "points" in.
"Will you just think for a minute?" she said in a rather scolding tone.
"We don't have a minute," I fired back.
"I'm just trying to be realistic," she defended.
"No," I said coldly, finally having enough. "You're trying to be smart. As usual." Suddenly, a sharp howling caught all of our ears. It was the wolves. They were on to us. It was difficult trying to move across the narrow ledges that went down to the base of the still frozen waterfall. Beaver stepped on it to test if it was still solid as more ice rapidly drifted away. Taking a few cautious steps and smacking the surface with his tail. When he was halfway across, I decided that it would have to do and carefully stepped on with Lucy tightly grasping my hand and arm. We all tried to move as quickly as we could.
"If Mum knew what we were doing...," Susan said.
"Mum's not here!" I shot sternly at her. Then, I spotted the wolves, or they spotted us, rather. We tried to move faster, but it wasn't fast enough as two dropped down in front of us. Two more were at us from behind and one even pinned Beaver to the ground, much to a cry of dismay from his wife. Thinking quickly, I unsheathed my new sword and pointed it at the head wolf. Although it was rather awkward as I had never held a sword before up until that point.
"Put that down," he snarled. "Someone could get hurt." There was a gleam in his eyes that said he was going to pounce if I didn't do something. "Leave now while you can," he continued. "And your brother will leave with you."
'Peter, stop!" Susan cried, trying to grab my sword away from me. "Maybe we should listen to him!" Had she gone mad? I know she wanted Ed back as much as I did, but surely she could see that these wolves were the enemy, right?
"Kill him!" Beaver yelled. "Don't listen to him!"
"This isn't your war," said the wolf again. "All Queen Jadis wants is for you to take your family and go." I didn't back down. Susan then yelled again.
"Just because some man in a red coat hands you a sword and a talking fox tells you that you're supposed to marry a princess who is probably a stuck-up spoiled brat that cares for no one but herself and is going to be a queen that will leave this place in more ruin than it actually is, it doesn't make you a hero, Peter! Just drop it!"
"No, Peter!" Beaver exclaimed. "Narnia needs you!"
"What's it gonna be, Son of Adam?" asked the wolf, inching closer with every word. "I won't wait forever and neither will the river." Lucy, who was quiet until that moment then said,
"Peter, Beaver's right! Narnia needs you. Us. Aslan needs you. Princess Diamond needs you." Then, as water started to burst from the falls, I made my choice.
"Hold on to me!" I commanded. My sisters followed and I plunged my sword deep into the ice. The water came tumbling down around us in an unforgiving rapid and taking us under in one wave. The waster was surprisingly warm for having been solid ice not long ago, and we broke the surface unharmed. Soaking wet and gasping for breath, but unharmed nonetheless. The Beavers sprang up beside us and helped guide our floating berg to the shore, where we quickly scrambled up. Suddenly I gave a gasp of fright, as did Susan. Lucy was gone. And I was holding her coat in my hand.
"What have you done?!" Susan shrieked in fear. She started calling out for her so loud, I was afraid she might go horse (although that wouldn't be such a bad thing). I scanned the water with wide eyes, but they were moving too fast to see anything.
"Has anyone seen my coat?" a familiar and timid voice called. I turned around and breathed a sigh of relief to see my soaking wet little sister clambering up the bank towards us.
"Don't you worry, dear," Beaver said. "Your brothers got you well looked after." I turned to him and smiled my thanks.
"And I don't think that you'll be needing these coats anymore," said Mrs. Beaver, turning to the forest. Pink blossoms now decorated the trees and the ice and snow was melting faster and faster away. It was also very warm suddenly, too. This feeling came over me, then. It was a feeling of calm and contentment, but also one of bravery and pride. I felt if we could survive that, we could survive anything.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
(Third Person P.O.V)
The Queen looked down at the river in shock and anger. Her spell was weakening much too fast, and there was nothing she could do at the moment that would stop it. "It's so warm out!" Ginnabrik sighed, beginning to take off his coat. But the Queen silenced him with one hard look. Then, he walked away awkwardly, saying something about checking the sleigh. Edmund smiled.
"Your Majesty," growled a voice. Edmund and the Queen turned around to see the wolves. A fox was held in one of their mouth's. "We found the traitor," said Maugrim again. "He was rallying your enemies in the Shuddering Woods."
"Ah, yes," replied the Queen, walking towards the fox, who had been thrown on the ground rather harshly. Edmund cringed when he heard the thump. No animal, whether it be a dumb beast or a Talking Beast, should be treated like that. "You were so helpful to my wolves last night." continued the Queen. "Perhaps you can help me now."
"Forgive me, Your Majesty," said the fox as he hung his head in shame.
"Don't waste my time with flatteries," snapped the Queen back.
"Not to seem rude, but I wasn't actually talking to you." He cast his glance to Edmund and bowed to him. The Queen looked on in a rage, as did the wolves. Edmund was confused though. What did the fox mean? The Queen, having quite enough of this, pointed the tip of her wand towards the fox.
"Where are the humans headed?" she demanded. "Where is Aslan? And my daughter?" The fox said nothing. Then Edmund jumped in just as the Queen raised her wand higher.
"No, stop!" he pleaded. "The Beavers said something about The Stone Table and that Aslan had an army there. That's where Diamond is, too."
"An army?" repeated the Queen. One look at the fox, who shook his head at Edmund, confirmed his words for her. "Thank you, Edmund," said she. But Edmund didn't feel thanked. He felt...used. It was not a feeling he wanted to continue to have. Then she smiled, but it was not a kind one in the least. "I'm glad this creature got to see some honesty. Before he died!" She then plunged her wand into the fox's heart all too swiftly, turning him to rock.
"No!" Edmund cried. That proved to be a mistake as the Queen suddenly turned her anger on him and backhanded him across the face. Edmund felt a sting his lip where her ring had scratched and he tasted the sharp metallic of blood.
"Think about whose side you're on, Edmund," said the Queen very sternly. "Mine or theirs." She pointed toward the fox. Then she turned to face her wolves and left Edmund with scared, shaking breath. "Go on and gather the faithful," she ordered. "If it's a war Aslan wants to give me my daughter back..." she froze a passing butterfly.
"Then it's a war he shall get."
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
(Back to Peter's P.O.V and THIS is what you have all been waiting for!)
Still following that same feeling I had gotten from the river, I held my head up higher as we entered the valley. The camp was marvelous and huge. Red and gold tents were strewn everywhere and it was not only packed with soldiers from what I could hear, but it held an aura of safety and happiness. A trumpet blast sounded from somewhere on high and I instantly felt nervous then. What if this Aslan decided that we weren't worthy after all? What if he sent us home? I didn't want to leave, so I tried to make myself look as best as possible. We had dried out from the river so at least that wasn't an issue.
As we walked farther into the camp I saw being upon beings that I thought only existed in fairy tales. There were centaurs and giants and minotaurs and dwarfs, fauns, elves, and other animals all strewn about. I smiled in wonder. It was absolutely amazing. "Why are they all staring at us?" Susan said through the smile she was trying to maintain.
"Maybe they think you look funny," Lucy playfully countered from beside her. Susan then rolled her eyes and kept walking in silence. We finally made it to the edge of the camp, where the biggest tent rested alone and isolated to a certain point at the base of a cliff. We stopped. And all was quiet. A centaur stood at attention in front of it. I drew my sword and spoke in a loud and clear voice (I hoped).
"We have come to see Aslan!" A gasp and murmur floated around the camp.
"And?" Lucy said, peering over Susan's side to look at me.
"Do I really have to?" I asked, looking at her and then the Beavers.
"Yes," said Susan through her teeth again. "You have to." I sighed, knowing that there was no turning back. But I decided that if it wasn't worth doing properly, it wasn't worth doing at all. Bringing my sword so it hung out at a low diagonal, I dropped to one knee and placed a hand over my heart.
"And I have come to ask for the hand of Princess Diamond in marriage."
Yet another gasp went up, but this was one of excitement. I looked at the centaur, who said nothing and simply turned his head toward the tent. Suddenly, my palms were sweaty, my stomach did flips, and my heart was racing. The whole camp then fell silent once more as everyone there either dropped on both knees or bowed, and the females with two legs curtsied. It was dead silent once more.
This was it.
The flap of the tent came open.
A huge, magnificent lion walked out. That had to have been Aslan. I felt a sense of love and peace and...some sort of forgiveness washed over me.
But then...I noticed her.
The girl walked beside him on his right, her left hand never leaving his mane. I had to blink my eyes to make sure that she was real. She was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen, in my world or in this. Her long pale blond hair flowed in waterfall curls to the small of her back, and her slightly tanned skin shone in the sun along with it. She was dressed in a completely exquisite ice blue silk gown. The long, light sleeves met at her hands in a V with a loop around her fingers and the entire dress held a sort of frost pattern in a lighter shade of blue. An equally exquisite light blue cape connected to her dress under her shoulders and went to brush her ankles. It was decorated with more silver frost patterns. A sword which looked identical to mine hung at her belt. A stunning ring was on her right hand with a huge aquamarine blue diamond and a crown made of golden butterflies like the one at the lampost adorned her head. Her face was sprinkled with freckles and her warm, kind, and shining eyes were a hazel green with flecks of gold and blue. She was gorgeous. But all of the words I could use to describe her could not do her justice. She absolutely took my breath away. Now I was partially convinced that this was a dream. But if it was, I didn't want to wake up. Judging by the way she stared at me, I couldn't tell if she felt the same way about me as I did her or not. I was hoping that it was the former.
The lion smiled at us, too and the pair then came to stop directly in front of all of us. We all simultaneously dropped to our knees, myself going on two. "Welcome, Peter, Son of Adam." spoke the lion in a rich, deep, and fatherly voice. "Welcome, Susan and Lucy, Daughters of Eve. And welcome to you, Beavers. You have our thanks. But where is the fourth?" He looked around for Edmund. I didn't want to question how he knew our names.
"That's why we're here, Sir," I said, standing and sheathing my sword. "We need your help."
"We had a little trouble along the way," said Susan with a hint of shyness.
"Our brother's been captured by the White Witch," I confessed.
"Captured?" the Princess suddenly gasped. I felt my knees nearly give way under me. Her voice was perfect and her British accent was smoother than silk. "How could this happen?" She looked startled as she glanced at Aslan.
"He...betrayed them, Your Majesties," Beaver said for us. Another gasp. This time one of horror and shock.
"Then he has betrayed us all!" said the centaur finally.
"Peace, warriors." said the Princess calmly as she held up her right hand in the centaurs direction. "I'm sure that there's an explanation." She locked eyes with me and I had to look at the ground, for fear that I might melt.
"It's my fault, really," I confessed and saw that the Princess dropped her hand. "I was too hard on him," Now I really hoped that she didn't think less of me. So much for a first impression.
"We all were," Susan said, placing a hand on my shoulder. Both Aslan and the Princess nodded, hopefully in approval that we told the truth.
"Still..." Lucy piped up. "He's our brother."
"I know, child," said Aslan in a comforting, understanding way. "But that only makes the betrayal all the worse. This may be harder than you think." Both Aslan and the Princess locked eyes with me again. I looked at the lion and nodded, and then I looked at this Princess, my fianceè and future wife. She held a kind, yet small smile on her face and nodded again to me. It took all my courage to not just walk up there and kiss her right then, and oh, how I wanted to.
But...good things come to those who wait.
And I was sure that she was what the Professor was talking about.
She was my gift, she overshadowed everything. She was my soul.
And in that moment, she also became my heart.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
So there you have it, people! Please review because this took forever! I'd love to get at least one as a Christmas present! Thank you for reading, and Happy Holidays!
XOXO -Blue