Hello lovelies. I am back with the next chapter of the story and I am trying my hardest to stretch this out at least a little so that it will make for a longer story. Even though I love The Daughter of Aslan I also felt like the story was too short. I am excited to see that I have already gotten two reviews for this story. I am so happy that this is off to a good start. I have inspiration to go on with more chapters, so I should have one or two more coming up pretty soon. Now, let's get on with the magic.
SerafinaDraco: I am so glad that you liked the AnnaXTumnus scence. At first I wasn't quite sure how I wanted it to go, but I must admit I was satisfied with the end result. I will also admit that it was kind of sad having to say goodbye to Tumnus as a character even though it was needed for that I had planned in this story.
KyloRen'sgirl213: Thank you so much for the encouragement. I am happy to know that you are looking forward to the next chapter. For me, when I see that people are waiting for new chapters, it makes me excited to write the next chapter and posting it online. I also appreciate your thoughtfulness. It is nice to know that my readers are thinking of me.
Alright, let's get on with the quote.
"I will be seeing you soon and it will be better than anything else."
-Anonymous
That's all I have for here so I will get on with the story.
oooooo Ad Meliora oooooo
The following months after that I used to whip my siblings into shape through hand to hand combat and through limited weapons that were in the manor. It didn't want our time away from Narnia to take away any of our skill to protect ourselves plus I wanted to test just how much of my abilities that I had here now that I was aware that I had them. It turned out that I was so much stronger than I had thought I was in England and all of my senses were heightened. Every day that I trained with my siblings, I made sure to push myself to my limits so that I wouldn't lose the feeling of being strong from Narnia. To train my siblings in hand to hand combat, I scoured the large library in the professor's home to see if I couldn't find any books on fighting. It took some searching, but I ended up finding a handful of books to help me teach them and myself different fighting styles that I tailored to every single one of them. Peter had the strength so I gave him a fighting style that was made to hit hard where it hurts and strike fast. Ed was strong, but he was more agile so I taught him how to move quick and strike fast with his legs, knees, and elbows. Susan was strong but she would need to be more using her opponent's weight against them so I showed her how to direct an attack back on the attacker. As for Lucy, I showed her how to strike a person's weak points as well as use their weight and force back against them. It wasn't easy to do, but I made sure to train them hard. In the span of our training, I got back into relatively good terms with Peter and Susan after the mishap when we got back, but my relationship with Ed and Lucy only seemed to grow stronger and stronger by the day. It was almost to the point that the two youngest seemed to be my shadows. I found it absolutely endearing and I added "my little ducklings" to their list of nicknames. Lucy only giggled happily at my words while Ed would groan. It was also during this training period that I began to notice the way that the two had grown. Little Lucy was now to my shoulders while my dear Ed had shot up past me so that he stood just a few inches taller than me. No longer could I reach out at my level to comfortably wrap my arms around his shoulder. Instead I had to wrap my arms around him at the top of his torso. He also found that he could pick me up easily which he did not fail to do at every chance.
Five months after getting back from Narnia and making considerable progress with our training, we were told that we would be attending a boarding school come September. Lucy and Ed didn't like the idea of having to stay at a school, but Ed was even more put out when he found out that Susan, Lucy, and I would be going to a different school across the road. I assured him that we would be able to see each other every weekend, but that only seemed to satisfy him a little. Along with our combat training, I searched the library for books to get everyone ready for our studies. Everyone but Susan groaned at the prospect of learning so early before we went to school. I guess it was one of the few things that Susan and I shared as twins besides our looks was our love of gaining new knowledge. I knew that the knowledge that I would give them from the books that I poured over for this endeavor would help them when we actually did start school. About a month before we were to leave on the train for school, Mrs. Macready took us all into town so that we could be fitted for our uniforms as well as our school textbooks.
Before long, it was time for us to leave for school. Mrs. Macready loaded us all up into the horse and buggy to take us all into town so that we could be taken via train to our boarding schools. Lucy was a little nervous, but she calmed a little when I talked with her. She was at least happy that she would have both Susan and I with her at the new school.
ooo0ooo
When we arrived, we were assigned to a dorm of five people and I was lucky that Susan was a part of my dorm so that I at least knew one person here. The other three girls in our dorm were different in temperament and personality, but at the end of the day all they cared about were boys. Susan entertained their talk a little when they asked her about different boys from across the road, but I stopped their talk when they tried to include me.
"You seriously don't like any boys at Hendon House?" Margaret asked in shock.
"I'm not exactly looking for a boy," I had told her.
And it was true. I was much too devoted to my studies in school, my training, and training Lucy and Susan when we had the chance. I even urged all of us to get involved in extracurricular activities that was related to the skills that he had due to Narnia. Susan participated in Archery Club activities so that she wouldn't become rusty while we were away. I myself decided to take up fencing so that I could pick up a new fighting style outside of the scythe that I had back in Narnia. The horseback riding club I urged both Susan and Lucy to join with me so that we could get our joy back at riding with the wind through our hair although we did miss the horses not speaking with us. I also took up ballet again that Lucy readily joined with me. When we had spare moments with each other, Lucy and I would go through different moves and stances that I would teach her would pair up with her dagger back in Narnia. I even taught her how to use a sword along with her dagger to give her a little bit more weapon range. Upon learning how to handle a sword, she had asked me why I was teaching her when she was just a healer. My answer was that just because she was a healer didn't mean that she couldn't know how to defend herself if one of us wasn't available. As for our brothers, we were able to meet up with them every other weekend so that we could catch up with each other at the events our two schools would have to socialize the girls with the boys. Susan and I tried to ignore the boys who would eye us when we were with our siblings, but I could feel their eyes follow us when we walked past. Ed in typical Edmund fashion wrapped an arm around my shoulders in a silent act that had the boys backing off.
"You know I can take care of myself Ed," I would remind him.
"I don't know what you're talking about Anna."
The rest of the school term passed beautifully and we ended up spending the holiday back and the Professor's manor before we made our way back to the tubes to head back to school. Susan wanted to look at the newspapers outside the tube station tunnel so I left her to it as I made my way down the tunnel steps.
"You're Anna, right?" a boy asked me when he came to a stop in front of me.
My eyes snapped to the boy who was just a little taller than Peter with slightly longer dark black hair and eyes that were as green as emeralds. On closer inspection, I was able to see that he was wearing the uniform to Hendon House.
"Susanna," I objected.
Only my family were able to call me Anna besides my subjects back in Narnia and the Professor.
"Susanna then," he amended in stride with a large, white smile.
"What is it you want?" I asked to get down to the bottom of this interaction.
I really just wanted to get back to my brothers.
"I was wondering if you would like to walk with each other on the next socialization weekend after we get back," the boy propositioned.
I groaned in my head at his question. There was no way that I was going to say yes to his offer, but I knew enough about the boys I attracted to know that if I rejected his offer, he would only come back more relentlessly. Thankfully I was saved from answering when I saw Lucy rushing towards me.
"I'll save my answer for later," I supplied, turning away from him to catch Lucy on her run past me.
"What's wrong Lu?"
"It's Peter."
"I'll go get him," I sighed. "But you might want to go grab Susan. No doubt she is cornered by some guy from Hendon."
She gave a nod before running up that stairs to street level. I in turn headed towards the shouts of children screaming fight. I'll never understand why people felt the need to surround anyone that is fighting to cheer on the fight when they don't even know what happened. But considering my idiot of an older brother, it probably wasn't something the needed to be resolved with violence. By the time I reached the crowd, I saw that Peter was taking on three boys at once. His focus was on one of them while two others were trying to pull Peter back. Sigh, let's get this over with. I forced my way past the group of children to rush forward and push one of the boy's that held onto Peter from the back away that Ed didn't hesitate to tackle to the ground. I took the other boy and hit a spot under his jaw that had him dropping to the ground. My last action was to pull Peter back by his ripped jumper of his uniform.
"Enough Peter," I told him with finality when I saw the way that he was glaring down at the other boy. Before anyone could get any more ideas about continuing the fight, I heard the whistles of the soldiers as they came closer. I let go of my brother and turned towards the elder men who looked over the boys who were on the ground to see that Ed had followed my example and the other boy go. When one of the soldiers caught sight of me in the middle of the aftermath, he raed over to me to take me in head to toe.
"Are you alright Miss?" he asked with worry in his tone.
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at his belief that I couldn't handle myself, but I couldn't blame him with the way girls were raised her in England.
"I'm fine," I assured him. "I just came to retrieve my brothers."
When the soldier saw that I was gesturing to Peter and Ed, he gave his head a shake.
"You boys should act your age and not let your sister get caught up in your mess," he chastised the boys, pushing them towards me and away from the ring that was quickly retreating. The boys quickly retrieved their luggage while Lucy and Susna joined our group with my suitcase in hand.
"Thanks Lu," I smiled down at her as I wrapped an arm around her shoulders. We all ventured towards a bench that would fit all of us. Peter sat down in the middle with Ed to his right with me on the other side and Lucy to his left with Susan at the other end of the bench.
"You're welcome," Ed spoke up after we had settled down on the bench.
"I had it sorted," Peter argued before getting up from the bench.
"It sure looked that way to me," I snorted at his blatant arrogance.
"What was it this time?" Susan piped up with an exasperated breath.
"He bumped me."
"So you hit him," I challenged with a raised eyebrow.
"No," Peter denied. "After he bumped me, they tried to make me apologize. That's when I hit him."
"Your reasoning has no logic," I groaned while massaging my temples.
"Is it that hard just to walk away?" Susan questioned.
"I shouldn't have to," Peter tried to defend himself.
"I mean, don't you ever get tired of being treated like a kid?"
"Um, we are kids," Ed pointed out.
At this point I had had enough and sharply rose to my feet with steel in my gaze.
"Now look here Peter James," I started in a growl.
"We may have been adult rulers in Narnia, but here we are but kids. It's about time you realized that."
"How can you be so calm about it?" Peter demanded while stepping forward to be in my face.
"My calm hides a storm Peter," I told him, letting all of my repressed feeling swirl in my eyes and for a couple nearby lights to explode.
Ed was to my side in an instant with a hand on my shoulder.
"Thanks Ed," I smiled as I let my feelings bury themselves back up.
Lucy was next to rise from her seat to wrap her arms around my waist. I gave her a little squeeze before I led her back to the bench to sit back down.
"Oh no," I heard Susan mutter before turning to us.
"Pretend you're talking to me."
"We are talking to you," Ed and I chorused.
Susan only gave us a withering look. I laughed at her look only to feel a pleasant, warm tingling across my skin. What is this, I asked myself while closing my eyes at the feeling. I haven't felt anything like this in about a year. At the realization that this could be coming from Narnia, I lept to my feet while my sibling jumped up from the feeling of being pinched. When we were on our feet, the train came hurtling past to add even more tension to our situation.
"Quick, everyone hold hands," Susan ordered while taking Lucy's hand in her own then reaching out for Peter's.
I in turn took Ed's hand then reached over to grab Peter's other hand. The force of the magic swirling around us and the wind that the train made as it passed made a lot of papers and flyers flying through the air. Not long after the papers started flying, flyers were getting ripped off the walls and the soft, pastel yellow tiles of the platform were being ripped off the walls. Anticipation and excitement bubbled up in my body at the prospect of going back home that had every nerve ending I had buzz about and sing. Are we going back, I asked myself while I watched the change around me. Am I finally going to be able to see my beloved Narnia again? The iron fixtures on the ceiling then caved in as if being sucked into a black hole while images of a beach could be seen through the windows of the train. When the train finally passed us, it vanished into bright light that soon revealed that we had all been teleported into a cave that looked out onto the beach. I could feel all of my strength and abilities return to me in a rush that brought me to my knees.
"Anna?!" Ed let out in worry when I fell only to let out a gasp when he saw my change. Tears welled up in my eyes as I shakily took my hair out of its updo so that my hair could tumble down my bare back to the small of my back. My hands trembled as I raised a hand in front of my face and willed a ball of fire to settle in my palm. I hardly had to put much thought into it before a purple flame danced around my hand.
"We're back," I let out in shock, conflicted if I should shout for joy, give a roar, or to break down crying in relief.
"We're back?!" Lucy exclaimed with joy.
"We're back!" I cheered along with her, rising to my feet to sweep her up from under her arms.
I swung her around in circles and even tossed her up into the air then catching her with little effort that brought loud giggles from her. When she had gotten too dizzy, I set her back on her feet then let out a loud and earth shaking roar of triumph at finally returning home. The others joined in with gleeful shouts as they ran across the beach loosing their blazers, sock, and shoes on the way to the water.
"Shame you're not as quick as me, Ed!" Peter called back to Ed who was just slightly behind him.
"Last one in's a rotten egg!" Susan laughed.
My heart warmed as all of us ran into the water and started splashing each other. I of course cheated a little and sent waves at my siblings that they couldn't hope to block.
"Anna!" Susan protested yet a huge smile was still on her face.
We played about in the water for a few more moments before I left the water to venture up the beach towards the ruins that poked out of the cliff in front of me. I wonder how many years have passed since I talked with Pan, I asked myself as I ran my hands over the rough bark of the trees. Unfortunately for me, I couldn't feel hardly any life in the trees like they had when I was last in Narnia. It seemed that they had retreated so far into themselves that they were like any tree back in England. You poor things, I thought with a frown. What happened to you to make you do this? As I continued on my trek, I could feel my siblings slowly follow after me through the trees once Ed had retrieved his shoulder bag. Lucy managed to snag an apple on her way through the ruins and happily munched on her way towards the ruins that overlooked the sea. I followed her to see if I couldn't figure out where we were.
"I wonder who lived here," Lucy commented while turning back to talk with the others.
"I think we did," Susan spoke up after finding a solid gold chess piece. As I gazed around the ruins with the new knowledge that we had once lived here, I could make out the very faint outline of Cair Paravel. More specifically the throne room. If the capital had fallen into such ruin, I can only imagine how long we have been gone.
"Our home," I said to convey my sorrow, my feet carrying me towards where my throne had rested along with the others'. They too came to stand at their own thrones while Lucy pointed out what Cair Paravel had looked like. I touched the stone of my throne only to get a fierce vision of screaming and panic. My hand flew away as if burned while I could feel my chest rise and fall rapidly as I tried to get over the panic the vision gave me.
"Anna?" Ed ventured when he saw my adverse reaction to touching the stone.
The others too turned to me to see what was the matter.
"I had a vision," I told them in a shaky voice.
"I didn't get much but I did hear screaming and felt an overwhelming feeling of panic."
Ed left the throne dais to scout around the area to see what exactly could have led to my vision.
"I think," I began only to take a deeper breath to steady my nerves.
"I think Cair Paravel was attacked."
"Me too," Ed chimed in from his spot kneeling next to the remains of a catapult.
Peter clenched his jaw at the news before striding over to the stone slab that would move to reveal the doorway down to the underground. Both him and Ed worked together to move the stone slab while I stepped forward to break the door open with the flick of my wrist.
"I forget how strong you are," Peter commented when he saw how easily I had knocked the door of its hinges.
"It wasn't exactly freshly cut and polished wood," I reminded him.
He rolled his eyes at me as he took his pocket knife from his pocket so that he could cut off a strip of his shirt. I knew that he was doing that so that he could make a torch, but I knew for a fact that Ed had his new torch in his bag and that I could easily make fire appear in my hand. I honestly was just watching him go about it with an amused lift of my lips. He had just managed to wrap the material around a stick before turning to Ed.
"I don't suppose you have matches, do you?"
"No," Ed answered, reaching in to pull out his silver torch. "But do you think this will work?"
"You might have mentioned that a bit sooner," Peter laughed in disbelief.
"Uh, did you forget that I can make fire at will?" I asked him while calling flame to my hand again.
Peter shook his head at the both of us as he mockingly gave an extravagant bow to let me go in front of him. Ed followed right behind me with the girls behind him and Peter bringing up the rear. On our way through I wanted to put my fire in the torches on the wall, but I saw that we didn't even need my fire when we reached the bottom of the stairs. Light was shining through enough that we could all easily see our statues behind chests that no doubt had all of our affects. I hastened over to my trunk so that I could dress and grab my weapons.
"My horn," Susan commented as she pulled out her bow and quiver.
"Did you leave it in your saddle?" I asked her as I gathered my strong but lightweight shin and arm guards.
"I must have."
To make a divider between the girls and the boys, I rigged a quick cloth divider so that we could get dressed. Instead of dressing in the dresses that I wore in court, I opted for instead to wear an outfit I had been meaning to wear back when I was still in Narnia. A white linen shirt was paired with brown shorts to my thighs as a base while an amethyst overcoat went over the shirt. The overcoat was long sleeved and curved under my bust in a corset like fashion and ended at the hem of my shorts in the front but flowed down to the backs of my knees in tails. Stockings then donned my legs that left a strip of skin bare between the shorts and the stockings. High heeled boots that laced up to under my knees that went over the stockings and sturdy fingerless gloves up to the end of my forearm was tugged over the sleeves of my overcoat. All of the material that the outfit was made of was a special material that I had made that was really lightweight but also as hard as steel. It had taken some time to perfect, but I had made a material that I had wanted to introduce to our army after my siblings had convinced me to go with them hunting. Maybe now I can introduce the material to the Narnians that are left. Once I was done with my outfit, I brushed my hair and swept it all up into a side ponytail to my right and geared up with my weapons. My bow and quiver was strapped to my back while my daggers were put into pouches I strapped to my thighs. I gave myself another once over and deemed myself ready. The girls and the boys were still getting dressed so I climbed back up the steps to get back outside. Thankfully everyone else followed me out a few minutes later dressed in Narnian attire and sporting their weapons.
"How does it feel to have your weapons back?" I asked the group as they came to stand around me.
"Great," Ed smiled. "I really missed my whip sword."
I grinned back at him while I pushed off from the wall I was leaning against.
"Alright. Why don't we edge along the beach to see if we can't find anyone so that we can figure out what exactly happened in our absence."
"Agreed," Susan piped up.
"Lead the way," Peter insisted with a wave of his hand. I gave a mock curtsy then moved out from the Cair Paravel ruins to walk along the beach. I also kept my senses peeled for anything out of the ordinary that might pose a threat to us. We did not know the state of affairs in Narnia and it would be in our best interests to be wary until we could determine why we were called back and what we needed to do. I had just rounded the bend of the beach when I caught sight of men picking up a dwarf to throw him into the lake. Oh no they don't. Before my siblings could catch up with me, I dashed forward towards the boat. I could see the men's eyes snap to me on my run towards them that morphed into wide eyes when they saw me run across the water. From beside me I could feel then see Susan's arrow embedded itself into the wood of the boat as warning to the men before I caught the dwarf in my arms then spun kicked them both into the water. Now that the men were gone, I landed on the boat and waited for one of the boys to swim over and pull the boat to shore. It was no more than a moment before Ed took the rope of the boat to pull us to shore. While Ed was pulling us, I turned to the dwarf and pulled his gag off.
"Are you alright?" I questioned, allowing my claws to grow and slice through the ropes like butter.
"Besides some cuts and bruises, just fine," he grumbled while he rubbed his wrists.
"Why were those men trying to kill you?"
"They're Telmarines," the dwarf snorted. "That's what they do."
"Talmarines?" Ed joined in as he reached the shore. "In Narnia?"
"Where have you been for the last hundred years?" the dwarf as if Talmarines were common knowledge.
"That's a bit of a long story," I admitted while I helped him out of the boat and onto the sandy beach. Ed wasn't that far behind us, strapping his sword and pouch of daggers back to his person. There was a pause as I saw the dwarf's face melt from confusion to shock and disbelief.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," the dwarf groaned. "You're it? You're the kings and queens of old?"
"I'm King Peter, the Magnificent," Peter introduced himself that had me rolling my eyes.
"I'm Queen Susanna, but you can just call me Anna," I jumped in.
"You probably could've left off the last bit," Susan commented while Ed had to direct his face down and away so that Peter couldn't see the laughter he was trying to hold back.
"Probably," the dwarf chuckled.
"You'd be surprised," Peter said, unsheathing his sword.
"Oh, you don't want that, boy," the dwarf warned him.
"Not me," Peter denied with a small smirk before motioning to Edmund.
"Him."
Ed took his sword in hand and readied himself for a fight. Peter offered the dwarf his sword so that it would be a fair fight. The dwarf looked a little surprised at the turn of events and even looked a little hesitant to take the offered blade. Once he had the blade in his hand, he let it drop and acted as if it was too heavy for him. I narrowed my eyes at the tactic and Ed looked to us as if he was asking if it was fair to fight him.
"Keep your eyes on your opponent Ed," I warned him just as the dwarf lashed out. Ed was great at dodging the attacks and even did a backwards summersault to avoid the pummel to the face. When the dwarf had went forward with the momentum behind his attack, Ed smacked his backside the the flat of his blade to get the dwarf off balance then did not let up on his attack until the dwarf's sword was on the ground and Ed held his sword as if to strike. Shock was the only thing that registered on the dwarf's face as his legs let out from underneath him.
"Beards and bedsteads!" the dwarf exclaimed. "Maybe that horn worked after all."
"Must be your horn Susan," I commented. "That's the only horn I could think of that would call us back."
"You're right," Susan agreed.
"I'm always right," I told her with a large grin.
"I swear you have no humility," Peter chuckled and shook his head.
"So what is your name good sir?" I directed towards the dwarf who watched our exchanges with mirth in his eyes.
"Trumpkin, my lady."
"Guess I'm never going to lose that title," I sighed. "Do we need more introductions or do you know who each of us are?"
"King Edmund," Trumpkin nodded towards Ed. "Queen Susan and Queen Lucy."
"Alright then," I let out with a clap of my hands. "We should be setting out then. Trumpkin, which way is it to the other Narnians?"
"We'll have to take the boat."
"Then I'll row."
"My lady, shouldn't King Peter row the boat?" Trumpkin suggested.
"My sister is way stronger than me," Peter admitted though he loathed to say.
"And don't you forget it Peter dear," I hummed with a tap to his nose.
Lucy laughed at my words while both her and Susan joined Trumpkin in the front of the boat. I followed next to sit at the oars while Peter and Ed brought up the rear. Just you wait Narnians, I thought as the boys pushed the boat out to the water. We're coming.
oooooo Ad Meliora oooooo
And there we have it. Now that the framework for this story is laid down, hopefully I can write longer chapters and add just a little bit more detail in. What did you guys think of Anna's new outfit? I was trying to come up with a new outfit of her to wear because I feel like Anna is one to prefer pants to a skirt although she is not opposed to wearing dresses and skirts. We managed to meet Trumpkin and the kings and queens of old are back in Narnia. In the next chapter, I hope to get Caspian in there, but I can't be too sure. For these chapters, as soon as I have them written and I have proofread them, they are uploaded online. So there may be a few grammar or spelling errors that I may have overlooked in the process of transferring the content from Google Docs. I can't wait to jump into the thick of things and I hope you guys are too. That's all I had for this chapter, so I will sign off. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave a review or shoot me a pm. Remember, reviews are magic.
-White Wolf