Hello again! I'm a little late posting this because Saturday was the beginning of our annual Festival Interceltique, so I didn't get home until very early Sunday morning and have been catching up on some much needed sleep ever since (if you're Australian and you're here celebrating too, have a great time, it's your year! :D)
But here's your next chapter anyway, enjoy! :)
How many hours had passed, they didn't know nor did they care, but one thing was certain, Lucy wasn't ready to leave yet, for leaving meant that she would abandon Aslan for good, never see him again, and the pain she felt in her chest as she realized it was too much burned, and the little girl only clenched the soft fur beneath her fingers tighter, desperate to not let go.
The three of them had managed to free the poor lion with the help of little mice who'd suddenly appeared out of nowhere and started nibbling at the ropes that bound their friend to the stone table. Susan had tried to chase them away at first, but as Lucy and Kili had quickly caught on onto what the tiny animals were trying to do, they stopped the elder sister and let the miniature rodents finish what they'd set out to do.
However, that must have been ages ago, for the three of them had immediately collapsed back at Aslan's side once the little helpers had vanished, unable to find it in themselves to move, take a step away from the grand lion and leave him behind for good. Lucy had burst into tears again, and while Susan and Kili really wanted to comfort the younger, they didn't know what to do anymore. They'd both refused to utter the word dead knowing it would be too harsh of a word for Lucy and too painful for either of them to use, but the fact remained that Aslan was well and truly gone, and the others didn't know about it yet.
"Come on, Lucy, we should go." Susan said, voice still hoarse from crying but attempting to be gentle, one hand on Kili's shoulder and the other wiping away the stray tears she hadn't managed to keep in. The three of them had sobbed, Lucy most of all, and while none of them really felt they could leave, let alone walk, they knew they had to in order to tell Peter and the others what had happened. They couldn't keep this from the Narnians, it would be unfair.
"I don't want to go, I can't leave him." Lucy mumbled into the fur she'd rested her head on, clutching the golden mane jst a little tighter for reassurance. She was no going to go anywhere, besides, she didn't think her feet would find the strength they needed to keep her up anyway, not after the emotionally destructive night she'd had and was still attempting to recover from.
Susan sighed, and had been about to take a step towards her sister, intent on making her understand that they couldn't stay here any longer, but Kili beat her to it, nodding that he'd be all right handling the younger. While he still wasn't over what had occurred last night, he knew he had to put his own pains and sorrows aside in order to help Lucy cope and understand theat they had to leave, and, as gently as he could, he made his way around the table to where Lucy still crouched over Aslan's body, running her hand over the once shining golden fur.
"We can't stay, Lucy. Your brother needs to know what happened." He tried nodding, hoping Lucy understood why they couldn't stay here any longer and as Lucy reluctantly parted from the lion, he offered her his hand to steady the younger girl as she got down from the table, and Kili put a reassuring hand on her shoulder as he lead her to her sister, this was going to be all right. Lucy shivered still, as the cool morning air seeped through her clothes, and even if it was nothing compared to the bone chilling terror she'd experienced last night, it was still unpleasant.
Sensing the girl's troubles, Kili tried rubbing her upper arm a little, hoping it would make Lucy feel a little better, even though he knew none of them would recover from this for a long while. Although he himself had witnessed people he cared about being killed first hand, his own brother still a clear example, Kili was no more able to deal with the after effects now than he'd been as the blonde had crashed lifelessly at his feet, dull blue eyes staring into nothing. What do you say to a person who loses someone they've come to love and care for? No words would ever make up for what Aslan had brought to them all, most of all Lucy, and while the young dwarf knew words had no place in comforting Susan's younger sister, maybe small actions would work better.
Eventually, Kili's attempt at soothing her coaxed Lucy into rising from the stone table, knowing there was nothing left for them here anymore. She didn't want to leave, she didn't want to have to say that final goodbye to Aslan even if he could no longer hear her, she didn't want to have to warn her brother that he was more than likely going to have to go out to war, but Lucy knew there was nothing to be done, that it was all that they could do now.
"It'll be all right, Lu." Susan tried reassuring her, as she brought her little sister under her arm, bringing her close to her. "It'll be all right." No, nothing was all right at the moment, Aslan was dead and her brothers were more than likely off fighting in a war they never should have to be in in the first place, but Susan couldn't bear to add more troubles upon her little sister's shoulders. Right now, all Lucy needed was for someone to be there for her, someone to offer her a shoulder to cry on, and as her elder sister, Susan took it as her job, knowing it was what she had to do in order to ease Lucy's sorrows, if only a little.
Kili wished he could find the right words, say something, but as he watched Susan try and soothe her younger sister, he understood that he wasn't needed right then. While Susan appreciated him being there to look after them, especially for having come all this way just to look out for them and make sure nothing bad happened to them, he knew this was something the sisters had to deal with themselves, and even if he tried helping Lucy, it would backfire against him.
The three of them had made it to the top of the steps, Kili going down first and Susan carefully helping her sister make her way down when the ground suddenly shook beneath them three fell to their knees, Lucy depseratly clutching her elder sister's arm so as to not tumble down the staircase. She hung on to Susan for dear life, fingers digging into her sister's arm in an attempt to make sure they wouldn't be separated until she managed to calm down a little, once the stones beneath her stopped their quake.
"Wha-What was that?" Susan asked, voice still wavering as she made sure the other two were safe and sound and rubbing her knees an attempt to make them hurt a little less, as falling on them hadn't been devoid of pain.
"I-I have no idea." Kili managed to wheeze out once he got his breath back after the initial shock dulled down. The ground hadn't appeared to be so fragile earlier, why would it suddenly collapse on them now? "Surely it wasn't the Witch, right?" Although he quite strongly doubted it, there was still a possibility that she might have sent a few of her creatures back to the Stone Table for, and all
some reason, and as the thought flashed through his ind, Kili immediately unscheated the small dagger he kept hidden in his sleeve, knowing it probably wouldn't do much if he had to fend off a sword, but knowing he'd do anything to keep Susan and Lucy out of harm's way.
But as they turned around, there was no creature to be found, no threat advancing upon them, nothing at all, safe for the now broken and empty table. The three of them knew not what to feel at the sight, the Stone Table cracked in two and Aslan had somwhow vanished, disappeared without at trace. They had no words to express the loss they felt, as now, Aslan was well and truly gone, not even his body remained to remember him by, and once again, Susan and Kili found their hands upon Lucy's shoulders, securing the youngest between them as they hesitantly made their way over to the destroyed structure. Aslan was gone for good this time, he was never ever coming back, Lucy thought sadly.
"What have they done?" Susan whispered, already looking around to try and spot the foul creatures behind this, the creatures who wouldn't stop at killing but who also felt the need to humiliate the once proud lion evern further. Hand't what they'd done to him last night been enough? Couldn't they just leave the poor body at peace after draining it of it's life?
Kili had immediately unscheated the dagger he kept hidden in hs sleeve (courtesy of his brother) as the cracking noise echoed behind them, redy to take on whatever would come to harm them. He knew the small blade would probably end up being discarded and he had a very high chance of ending up disarmed, but he wouldn't let any of the horrid creatures they'd seen last night get near the two sisters, let alone lay a claw or finger on them, not as long as he breathed. But as he whipped around, the darker-haired dwarf came face to face with thin air, nothing was there, not a soul was to be seen, and the only thing that seemed to have changed from moments ago was the table, which was now cracked in two and Aslan was nowehere to be seen.
Although he still had trouble imagining how they'd do to it, Kili's eyes slanted, searching every corner for a sign of the Witches' soldiers taking the Lion's body away, but after turning both left and right and loking in every little angle he could make out, the young dwarf still had found no one, not a soul was there safe for the three of them. But then what had happened to Aslan?
However, as the sun slowly rose in the sky in fornt of them, Susan, Lucy and Kili were forced to turn their eyes away, the blinding white light assaulting them and none wishing to lose their sight so young. As she did so, Lucy felt her heart beating loudly in her chest, her breath coming out in little pants, but not for the life of her able to figure out why exactly, but there was something more to this than what it seemed. The warm sunlight made sonelthing in her chest bloom, something she couldn't quite explain in words suddenly grow in her chest, and as she looked back at Susan and Kili, she couldn't help the smile on her face, not even being able to pinpoint why exactly it was there in the first place.
Well, not until the three of them turned back around to where the blinding white light had come from.
At first, they'd all thought it was their minds playng some dirty trick on them, but as they saw the strong golden paw move there was no room doubt anymore, and after a moment where time itself seemed to have paused, the three of them rushed forward, immediately burrying themselves into the golden fur and running their hands along strong muscles, just to make sure theat they weren't dreaming. Aslan laughed, as they prodded him from all over, but couldn't find it in himself to push the three young ones away, for it felt so good to be alive again, he thought he could put up with the small inconvenience of the ticklish touches, especially when he took into account what they must have endured last night. Tears of joy mixed merged with sighs of reliefs and "Aslan!" and You're alright!", as the younger ones adjusted to the fact that this was no trick, needing the time to process the miracle that now stood among them.
"But we thought…" Susan started, not too sure how to formulate this at all. Never in her life had she ever heard of anybody coming back from the land of the Dead, and while she was incredibly glad that their friend had somwhow mad eit, she still didn't understand how exactly.
"We saw the knife!" Kili said, once he'd disentangled himself from the furry mane, coming to Susan's resuce. While he'd seen a lot of impossible things magic in his life, this was certainly on another lever, for never before had he ever witnessed a person dying and the same said person somehow managing to come back to life (considering that he, his brother and Uncle were supposed to be, well, dead).
"And the Witch!" Lucy added, still shivering at the mere thought of her, how she'd terrified her last night as she stood tall over the helplessly bound lion.
"If the Witch knew the true meaning of sacrifice, she might have interpreted the Deep Magic differently." Aslan explained, as the four of them circled the Stone Table, the younger ones for the first time paying attention to the intricate carvings adorning the stone structure. "That when a willing victim who has committed no crime or treachery, in a traitor's stead, the Stone Table will crack and even Death itself would turn backwards."
Poor Lucy tried understanding, but as she pondered on the difficult words and tried putting them all together to make sense, it just ended up confusing her more, so the opted to leave whatever magic had been involved in bringing Aslan back to them. The fact that their friend was back was more important than comprehending such notions anyway, by her standarts at least.
"Is that the same magic that brought us here?" Kili suddenly asked, "As me, Uncle Thorin and Fili died too." True, since they'd arrived in Narnia, while never fully understanting how exactly they weren't dead, Kili had never really spent a second thought on how exactly he'd gotten here in the first place. But as he connected the fact that Aslan had died last night and now was as alive as ever and that he'd just about went though the same process, maybe the magic behind it all was somehow linked?
"Not exactly, young one, "Aslan chuckled, "You and your family were brought here for an entirely different reason, one you must find out yourselves, but I know not exactly what wizardry is behind your presence here, unfortunately."
"Oh." It was a little lame, but Kili didn't really care to know the whys and whats behind his second offer at life, knowing he'd rather live it out as much as he could while he still had the chance than try and find an explanation behind it.
Susan bit her lip a little anxiously, now remembering the fact that they'd sent word by the trees that Aslan was dead, that Peter, Thorin, Edmund, Fili, Mister Beaver and everybody else had been lead to believe that the Lion would no longer be there because they'd sent out false word of what exactly had happened. If Peter had gotten the message, he was now more than likely out on the battlefield, and the mere thought of her brother leading an army made her sick to her stomach. Surely Aslan would help him now that he was back, wouldn't he? Surely he'd be able to do something before her brother got hurt, right?
"Peter and the others will be out on the battlefield!" She lamented, not even wanting to imagine the horrors her sibling was more than likely going through right now. No matter how much Peter had wanted to save them, he was still facing what Mother had sent them to the country to avoid in the first place, and Susan knew that if they didn't act quick, Peter had a very high chance of acquiring scars that might never heal, and having seen war veterans and the marks they sometimes carried, just imagining her big brother sporting them too made her stomach turn. Peter might be the elder, but he was too young to be plagued with the damages an open conflict always brought. If she wanted to spare her brother the harm they would bring, they needed to act, and fast. "We can't leave them there, please Aslan!"
"We will, dear ones." Aslan reassured them, smiling warmly up at the three of them. "But not alone."
"You mean, we're not going back to Peter and my Uncle?" Kili asked, slightly anxious at the idea that he was leaving Thorin, Fili, Edmund and Peter to fend for themselves when he ought to be at their side, fighting like the dwarf of Durin he was. He knew they were going to need help, and even if he himself was only to take down one or two of their enemies, it would be that less for them to worry about. Besides, he just couldn't stand aside while knowing he could help save lives if he were to be out on the battlefield.
"Not yet, but we won't abandon them, Kili." The golden Lion explained, wishing he could go into the details of what he was about to do, but time was short, and if they were to help the others before the casualties became too many, they were going to have to hurry, and the quicker they leaved the Stone Table, the quicker they were going to be able to help. "Climb on my back, we have far to go, and little time to get there."
Kili could hardly contan his excitement as Aslan spoke. He knew the situation was dire, but the lLion was letting them ride him, he was going to ride a lion! That was unheard of! And he was definitly going to hold this over his brother for the next hundred years, that was certain. As he took hold of Susan and Lucy clutched the back of his armor, he could feel the strong muscles move beneath him as Aslan rose once more, and by Durin was that Lion powerful.
"You might want to cover your ears." He winked back at them, but before any of the three younger ones could process what the question actually meant, a loud and mighty roar echoed within the valley, Aslan well intending on letting the world know he was back, and that this time, he was certainly not going to be parted from it so easily again.