The Lion's Call

God's promises are like the stars; the darker the night the brighter they shine.

~ David Nicholas

With strong steady wing beats, she circled.

The courtyard swung below her, moonlight glittering on damp cobbles as the wind whistled through her feathers. Slowly, she drifted down, her four hooves touching the paving stones neatly.

She shook herself, mane rippling, as she walked slowly to the fountain and lowered her muzzle in to the crystal water. She drank deeply; it had been a long flight.

~o*o~

Fifteen minutes later Peter and Edmund reached the Council chamber. Silence fell when they appeared at the top of the steps, made their way down and took their seats. Susan and Lucy were already there and Peter vaguely wondered how they got there first when they usually took the longest to dress.

"Your majesties," Equus took a step forward, "a visitor has arrived with a message, but she says she will only say it to you."

"Where is she?" Peter asked.

Then, like a white ghost, beautiful and gentle, something only from a faerie tale stepped into the circle of light.

It was a horse with wings as strong and white as a swan's.

"I am Odette," She said softly, "are you King Peter, Queen Susan, King Edmund and Queen Lucy?"

"We aren't exactly kings or queens yet, madam," Peter said.

Odette let out a gentle horsy laugh, "you are the ones I seek. I am a messenger from Aslan."

At the name everyone rose and stood looking at her.

"Here is the thing I was to say," Odette went on, "Romandue, Aslan's star is in the sky, he has been sent to lead you to Narnia. You are to meet Aslan there."

A breathless silence followed.

"Do we start at once?" Peter asked half standing.

"Do you see the star?" Odette asked.

All eyes turned to the circular windows set high in the curving wall. The night was black, almost burning black and there… piercing them like a sword, was a star they had never seen before.

"There it is!" Susan breathed, the first the break the silence.

"We start!" Peter cried leaping to his feet. The warlords were standing, watching him eagerly as he turned to face him. "Assemble your warbands! We march!

All around them, the warlords bowed and turned away to go up the steps to the door, excited voices ringing in that great high hall with the round windows streaming starlight down on them. They poured out in a stream, men and beasts, moonlight soaking into their rippling coats and embroidered brocade.

At last only the four children and King Lune remained.

"It is time, then," King Lune rose and looked at them, "I have been greatly honored and indebted to your presence, more then you know. I hope that we shall be as good allies as we were friends."

"Of course," Peter said, leaning across the table to clasp his hand firmly. "But we shall always be friends."

~o*o~

Treve had been running errands since night, his tail waving proudly in the air; now the sun rose in glorious splendor, red as copper, warm as a ball of fire. It looked down and saw Cair Anvard, a whirlwind of activity. They had been ready for so long and now, at last, the time had come.

Peter and Edmund had already ridden in company with the lords of the council to assemble the warbands. Susan and Lucy, on the other hand, were on their horses in the courtyard, watching as a long line of wagons were loaded with supplies.

"Hullo Treve!" Lucy called as he trotted importantly by, but he couldn't stop. He was in much too much of a hurry. Excitement shot through him and he could barely keep from shivering with it.

This was what they had been living for these past years, this was the thing that they had hoped and dreamed for, prepared for and yes, even died for. He remembered his parents talking about it late at night when the winter blew with unbridled fierceness down the pass and he used to feel the chills then, though not from cold.

He had to stop, one paw curled under his downy chest to cement in his mind once again that this was him and he really was part of it.

High above him, Lord Flavis turned to face Susan and Lucy and Treve pricked his ears forward to listen.

"We are ready to roll; I only need your permission to start."

Oh, what excitement! Treve thought and wondered if he would be able to contain himself.

"Of course, you may start at once," Susan said, giving her bay mare, Mia, a nudge and riding towards the gatehouse, Lucy beside her. The steady clopping of horse's hoofs and the creak of the supply wagons followed them as two centaurs fell in step ahead of them, the banners they held streaming in the wind. One was purple with a white swan; it was Susan's flag, a symbol of music, gentleness and fidelity. The other was Lucy's flag; it was a white rose on a green ground, symbol of purity, humility and happiness.

Out of the corner of her eye, Lucy saw a little red streak tearing madly around and around in circles, yapping in excitement. "It's Treve!" she said with shock.

Susan glanced over her shoulder, "Poor little fellow, he's had a streak more excitement than is good for him. He'll get it out, don't worry."

It was a beautiful day, a glowing day. The fields were abloom with poppies, dancing as the clouds moved overhead, driven by the wind that rippled the fields, hair, banners, even the shadows. The rising sun had made the world flush with that golden, long shadowed freshness only seen in the morning.

They rode down through Anvard.

The people of the town poured out of their houses, cheering Susan and Lucy and running alongside the wagons. Someone shoved a bouquet of flowers into Lucy's hands and there seemed to be flower petals everywhere, catching in Susan's long dark hair as the sun caught flashes of fire in it. Under her steadying hand, her horse arched her neck and pranced, seeming to dance in the sunlight.

They reached the outskirts of town and saw the combined army waiting for them on the road. The supply wagons took their places at the back of the procession and Susan and Lucy urged their horses forward to ride with Peter and Edmund.

Lord Peridan was at the very front, on a massive chestnut charger, the great Narnian banner held, streaming, in his hand as the army marched away with measured step. The crowds were still running with them and flowers fell like snow spiraling around them.

"This isn't a wedding!" Martin said angrily as a rose hit him on the shoulder.

Edmund laughed, caught a lily in mid air, leaned forward and tucked it into Umbra's bridle.

"I hope they haven't striped all their gardens," Susan said worriedly.

"How did they know we were leaving?" Lucy asked.

"Everyone knows now," Peter said, "I wouldn't be surprised if even the Witch knows."

The road stretched before them like a twisted golden snake, threading through green fields and cool forests, running beside stone walls and crossing laughing streams. They would not reach Narnia until the next day.

The Centaurs and Fauns warmed up their pipes and drums, then started playing a traditional Narnian marching song. It was the sort of tune of which you never got tired. The kind that you almost forgot was playing, but shot through your veins and made you keep time no matter how tired you were. It made you think of a deep green forest in the middle of summer, where you kept seeing glimpses of nymphs and dryads, beckoning through the trees. It was a secretive impish tune that made you want to dance along.

~o*o~

Coppell twitched and snuggled deeper into her heather bed.

She squeezed her eyes closed.

The sound of pipes and drums thrummed into her head and she opened her eyes again. There really were pipes playing outside!

Coppell leapt to her feet and darted out of the front hole of the den. Night had fallen two hours ago and it was dark. She paused with one paw cocked to smell the air, then she scampered forward again. A minute later and she came out of the woods. Down below her in a little valley was the Narnian army camped for the night.

She trotted down the slope and found herself among the tents. Everyone had gone to sleep except the guards, but she had no trouble slipping by them.

Coppell had never been in a camp before, let along the camp of an army and she was thrilled by all the tents, carts and picketed horses. The tents seemed to go on forever, rows and rows of them!

Like a small shadow, she slipped into the back of one of the wagons.

No one would notice her.

She fell asleep thinking about tents.

~o*o~

"Lucy," Susan shook Lucy's shoulder, "It's time to wake up."

Lucy opened her eyes and saw Susan's dark shadow struggling with the darkness as she attempted to fasten up her dress. The soft touch of the cool night air breathed into the tent, sending the tent flap rippling aside to reveal a patch of blue-black sky, still prickled by a scattering of stars.

"What time is it?" she asked, rolling out of her blankets.

"Four," Susan said, "Peter wants an early start."

Lucy, with Susan's help, wriggled into her dress and cloak, then snatched up her bow and went outside. The camp was very dark, but as she looked up she saw the edge of the sky gleaming with light as if it had been dipped in gold dust. The dark shadow of her horse whickered softly and Lucy reached out to put her hand on the flutteringly warm nose of her gray mare.

"Hello, Lu!" Lucy looked over her shoulder and saw Edmund with one hand coiled through his horse's dark mane.

"Good morning Edmund!" Lucy said, standing on tiptoe and throwing Rhoslyn's saddle blanket on her back with difficulty. Grinning, Edmund swung the saddle up after it.

"When are we starting?" Lucy asked, pulling a strap through a buckle, fumbling, because of the dark.

"Not until all the tents are back in the carts," Edmund said, "not for at least half an hour."

There was a rustling and Susan stood next to them, still running a comb through her long dark hair.

"Oh, it's so bright!" Susan said looking up at the sky.

They all looked up then, to stare at Aslan's star, shimmering brighter than any other star in the sky.

"It looks like the morning star in our world," Susan said.

"What's the morning star?" Lucy asked looking up at her.

"Venus," Susan said, "you can see it in the morning, just when all the other stars are disappearing."

They stood, watching it for a moment longer.

"Good morning," Peter's voice came from above them. They looked up to see him on Ares, holding the stallion in check, "All ready to depart?"

"Almost," Susan said looking over at their tent as it collapsed and was pounced on by a bunch of exuberant dwarfs, "We have yet to saddle the horses. Or at least," she added, glancing at Lucy, "I have yet to saddle my horse."

"We were just looking at Aslan's star," Lucy said, "how beautiful it is."

Peter looked up at it, and spoke softly to Ares as the horse fidgeted and pawed the ground, his mane rising and falling like a black wave.

"Yes," Peter said, "aren't you all glad I got you up so early? It doesn't look as beautiful during the day."

Edmund grimaced and Susan smiled.

"I love morning, especially early," Lucy said in a dreamy voice, "It's so quiet and peaceful. Especially the dew, I love the dew just when the sun comes up and everything looks like it's sheathed with diamonds."

"Well," Peter said, "we won't be seeing that today, I hope to be over the pass before the sun comes up."

"Well at least we'll see the snow in early morning light," Lucy said, "that's almost as good."

~o*o~

It was cold in Narnia, far colder than Archenland. They could feel it almost as soon as they were on the pass. Air became harder to breath, faces tingled and grew numb and everybody became thankful for the heavy cloaks that had felt so hot under the spring sun in Archenland.

Anyone who was riding felt it more than those walking. Lucy's feet went numb and Susan made her walk. The Narnian musicians still played dutifully on, despite numbed lips and slight pauses for flexing cold fingers.

Peter called a halt and they watched the moonlit snow give way for yards and yards beneath them, bursting loose like a tide and surging down the mountainside like the white maned sea. It swept on, leaping up to smother and crush trees and turn to mist in the air. This was the power of snow.

"I wonder if it will ever be summer again," Lucy said, as Peter gave the signal to continue.

"I hope it will," Susan said. "I'm sure it will, if we can overthrow the Witch."

"May I get back on Rhoslyn?" Lucy asked.

"I suppose," Susan said, helping Lucy to remount. A moment later, she remounted herself. It was so bitterly cold, a cold no one could understand unless they had felt it. She had been shivering uncontrollably for a long time now and the sun's blinding rays seemed to mock her.

But, she was happy. It was an odd feeling and had been growing on her for some time now. Susan was not one for wild emotions, yet, as they rode along here, she felt a strange elation, a strange belonging to the land. Though her time in Narnia before had been so brief, she felt a sudden, overwhelming happiness to be back. This was her land.

She caught Edmund's eyes in the twilight and knew by his face that he felt the same.

There was something mysterious in the air that no one could place, perhaps the trees sighed, or the snow sang, or the stars that twinkled at them merrily from the heavens spoke, but a shiver rippled through the ranks, and it was more than just cold.

Everyone stared into, out over the great cascading planes, waiting for something to happen, something to break the suspense. They felt the hafts of their weapons and stared vainly into the dark, searching. Perhaps the wolves would attack, or maybe they would come across something more ferocious.

It was as if something was teetering on a table, on the verge of tipping off the edge. As they came down into the foot hills, the horses plunging through the snow and the trees growing sparse around them, it happened.

Author's Note: I am really sorry I haven't replied to all your PM's. I have assignments that need completion and I've been ill on top of that. I'm finding myself with very little time. Everything you have all said is very important and I fully intend to write back when I locate some time (I knew I put some somewhere...I just can't remember where).

Anyone else ever read Evelina by Frances Burney?

~Psyche

Red Alert! We have opened a Deviant art account under the name 'Rose-and-Psyche'! We'll be updating fairly regularly with new drawings and sketches. Hope you enjoy them! You can find the link to our page on our profile.

Production Note: The cast and crew are currently working in sound stages. We have relocated to Middle Earth, because none of the private film companies in Narnia had big enough accommodations for the scale of our production. Gandalf has agreed to turn the Rivendel set into Cair Paravel for the duration of our stay. Treve found his passport; he reportedly buried it in the Cair Anvard garden for safe keeping!