Chapter Twenty-Four: A Look Into The Past IV

Brielle nearly bumped into Lucy, almost flipped right over the young girl she was so busy with her thoughts. Couldn't stop thinking about what she'd seen with Maugrim, of what they'd talked about. He hadn't just visited her in her dreams once, since the first night he'd shown himself, he'd always been in the corner of her thoughts, her daydreams. Watching.

Even as they walked quietly through the plains of Narnia, Brielle had a feeling Maugrim was watching them. The feeling then turned into a slow buildup of anxiety that started as pins and needles in her feet that warmed to sweaty palms and a rolling stomach. If he were able to see her in her daydreams, was he able to follow her everywhere? Was he tracking them? Was she the reason the White Witch was following them so easily?

Brielle lifted her chin and looked at the backs of the Pevensies as they trudged along ahead of her. Peter and Susan stayed at the front of the group, speaking quietly to each other every now and again. Even from the back of the group, keeping an eye on Lucy who went back and forth between skipping and spinning around as they took in Narnia, to trudging with nothing but tiredness, Brielle's eyes darted around, looking for slinking shadows of the wolves—of the secret police—coming closer.

Maugrim's ears flickered at her voice. "Jadis allowed me to come see you. But I could only see you at night. She said I would understand…" His eyes narrowed briefly. He got to his paws and started toward her once more. Slowly encircled her. He watched silently as Brielle whipped her heard around, searching for the White Witch. "She's not here."

Brielle shook her head, moved to push herself away from him. "She's trying to track us down."

"She's trying to track them down." Maugrim tossed his head in the direction the Pevensies had been before and sat near her again. "Not you. You're not a threat to her reign, but the Sons of Adam and Daughters of Eve are the ones who could stop everything." He reached up with his paw and started to scratch at his ear.

"What do you want with me?"

Maugrim paused in his movement and looked back at her, his gold eyes flickering over her face as if trying to determine whether she was telling the truth. Then his lips pulled back into what looked like a snarl…but didn't appear threatening. At least, not to Brielle. It didn't feel threatening.

It felt warm…familiar…

"I wanted to see for myself," Maugrim finally replied. "My queen said you're so much alike. Now I understand."

What was it he understood? And when was she going to understand what he meant. What did he mean that Jadis allowed him to see her? Why would she allow him to see her when she was trying to hunt down Peter, Susan, and Lucy? They were the ones who were a direct threat against her, due to the prophecy. What was it that made her different to the others? She was a human, as much as the others were. But the Beavers had never referred to her as a "Daughter of Eve" she was sure of that. What did it mean for her…?

And if I'm not part of the prophecy, why was I brought to Narnia and when can I go home? Brielle was so wrapped up in her thoughts she didn't notice the group had stopped, and walked straight into Susan, who threw out her arms to keep her upwards, shooting her a look. Brielle gave her an apologetic one in response then craned her neck around to see what was going on.

Her eyes widened at the look of the river in front of them. They must have traveled far to make it to the river. As they watched, chunks of ice broke off from a sheet at the head of the river, at the waterfall to be more precise, and floated downstream.

Peter's head gently shook back and forth, his eyes widening as he watched the ice break further and further. He looked at his sister and companion, eyes wide, cheeks flushed red from the cool air that continued to swirl around them. "We need to cross," he declared. "Now!"

With that, Lucy took a step back from the edge of the river, grabbing onto Peter's arm. She leaned into his side, glanced up at him, fear evident in her wide eyes. Then she turned her gaze down towards the Beavers, who gaped at the river before them. "D-don't beavers make dams?" She finally asked them.

Mr. Beaver shook his head, holding up his palms in a defeated gesture. Nevertheless, there was a sense of humor in his tone as he said, "I'm not that fast, dear."

Peter reached down and grasped Lucy's hand. He held it firmly in his own before saying, "Come on," and started toward the edge of the river, where a band of rocks made a sort of path that'd bring them down to the sheet of ice that'd make the bridge for them to cross.

"Wait!" Susan cried, immediately making Peter and Lucy halt in their steps. "Shouldn't we think about this for a minute?"

"We don't have a minute!" Peter snapped, rounding on his sister. "We have to get across as soon as possible."

Susan's eyes shifted as she took in the scene before them. She glanced over her shoulder, her hair whipping across her shoulders as she did so. Then her upper lip curled in an expression of abject irritation that only a siblings hut down by another sibling could muster. "I'm just trying to be realistic..." she murmured.

"No, you're trying to be smart. As usual."

Brielle opened her mouth to break up the mounting argument between the two, then stopped, a chill ran down her spine. For a second, her lips parted, her eyes darted towards Lucy, then Susan, then Peter. She sucked in a sharp beath, ready to ask If they'd heard it, too. If they were aware of the sound that the pierced through the air.

A wolf howl.

It sounded again, and it made the group move all at once. An explosion of movement and flying limbs as they slipped, slid, and scrambled down the side of the riverbed and onto the chunk of ice that continued to dissipate as the seconds passed. With each step they took, the sounds of the snarling and thudding footsteps of the wolves came closer and closer. Brielle continued to look over her shoulder as she hurried down the side of the waterfall, barely noticing when chunks of ice and rock cut into her palms and scraped her knees in her haste.

The sounds of snarling and thudding footsteps came closer and closer. Just as close as the sound of the creaking ice washed over them. Brielle skidded to a stop, her feet scrambling for traction before she felt back on her butt. Upon sitting down hard, making her let out a loud shriek of surprise that echoed around the frozen river, Brielle's brooch shifted up and slammed back down against her chest. She gasped, both in surprise at the weight that hit her, but also due to how warm the necklace suddenly was.

She held it in her palm, wrapping her hand around it, gasping at the sudden shock of cold air that blew around them, cutting through the steady increase of warmth around them. She looked up, Susan hauling her to her feet, while Peter inched forward, stepping on a piece of ice that nearly sank immediately beneath his weight that bobbed in the water.

"Wait!" Mr. Beaver held up his paws. They shook slightly, almost imperceptibly from the bobbing of ice chunk beneath him. "Maybe I should go first." He slowly started to move across the ice, looking for easy spots to break, smacking portions of the ice with his tail.

"You've been sneaking second helpings haven't you?" Mrs. Beaver scolded.

"You never know which meal with be your last," Mr. Beaver called back. "Especially with your cooking."

One by one, the Pevensies, Mrs. Beaver, and Brielle followed Mr. Beaver across the ice. With each step Brielle took, she shivered horribly, feeling the gust of wind come through her as she went. He satchel that held the book Father Christmas had given her bounced across her side with each step, thumping against her. Thumping in time with each beat of her heart. Still, they moved forward as quickly as they could, working to keep themselves upright as their feet slipped, slid, and skid over the ice.

Every time Brielle windmilled her arms, moved to keep herself up right, it felt that she was being pushed back onto her feet, comforted by the gust of wind that continued to blow. Around them, the ice continued to crack, the sound of the breaking ice reminiscent of the bullets and hell fire that rained over their homes on Earth during the Blitz.

"Oh no!"

Brielle looked up at Lucy's cry, just in time to see Maugrim racing over the top of the frozen waterfall to make it to the other side of the riverbed. He turned and leapt onto the sheet of ice before them, making Lucy shriek once more, Susan gasp loudly, and Peter to gulp as the group skidded to a stop and took a step back. Brielle turned to go the other way, only stopping when she saw two more wolves behind them, lips pulled back in a drooling snarl.

Peter immediately reached to his side, unsheathing his sword and thrust it toward Maugrim. The wolf merely chuckled, not pausing in his strides as he walked towards the group with sure steps. His eyes roved over the group, passing Brielle to only look at the Pevensies and the Beavers. Almost as if she weren't there. "Put that down, boy!" Maugrim taunted. His lips pulled back, another snarl that looked almost humanlike; a sinister smile. "Someone could get hurt." Once the last word passed his lips, Maugrim leapt forward and pinned Mr. Beaver to the ground.

Mrs. Beaver started to protest, started to move forward, but Brielle grabbed onto her, holding her still. Mr. Beaver, noticing his wife's cry, turned to the group with an outstretched paw, eyes blazing with fury. "Don't worry about me, run him through!"

Maugrim ignored Mr. Beaver's words, pressing harder on him. He kept his steely gaze on the Pevensies. Brielle trembled, holding her hand tighter around her brooch, feeling it continuously warm against her palm. "Leave now while you can. And your brother leaves with you."

Peter swallowed hard, still holding his sword out.

"Ed," Susan gasped. She turned to her older brother. "Peter, maybe we should listen to him!"

Maugrim smirked. "Smart girl." It was then his gaze flickered toward Brielle. She looked back at him, feeling some sort of connection, once more, when their eyes met. The questions swirled through her head once more; memories of what Maugrim had said. Jadis allowed…it made sense…he understood…

He felt familiar to her.

The brooch continued to burn against her palm, enough to sting, but not enough to burn.

Maurgim's eyes continued to stay on Brielle as he spoke. When the next words came from his mouth, it didn't look like his lips moved, that his mouth moved. Brielle watched, eyebrows coming together. She couldn't tell…couldn't quite decipher if she were seeing things, if the words were echoing in her head…or if she were simply going mad.

"This isn't your war. All my queen wants is for you to take your family and go." The wind started to pick up even further, enough so that Brielle could see the strands of fur on Maugrim's side start to gently get pushed by the wind. "What's it gonna be Son of Adam? I won't wait forever. And neither will the river!"

At the last word, Maugrim suddenly let go of Mr. Beaver and leapt toward the group.

"Peter!" Lucy and Susan shrieked at the same time.

Brielle gasped, slammed her eyes shut, and turned her head away as Maugrim neared them. She felt her broach explode with warmth in her hand before suddenly turning cold. As cold as the strong gust of wind that suddenly exploded out from around her. There was a loud, cracking sound and when Brielle opened her eyes, she saw that the wind had, somehow, shot through the air around them, making the group hunker down against the blistering cold, and knocked the waterfall above them loose. A low rumbling filled the air, an ominous cracking that gathered everyone's attention.

Looking up, Brielle watched everything move in slow motion. Where the waterfall above them started to break apart. Where, out the corner of her eye, she saw Peter look his sisters in the eye and scream out, "Hold onto me!" before he lifted the sword high above his head, slammed it into the ice, and hunkered down, bracing for impact.

Where Maurgrim let go of Mr. Beaver and leapt over the group, who had hunkered down with Peter, grabbing onto his coat, and landed atop of Brielle. He turned his body into a c-shape, and pressed his nose against Brielle's back, tucking her into the side of his body. The other wolves that were behind him, the other members of the secret police, quickly raced off the ice and back to the other side of the river.

Gasping, Brielle turned her wide-eyed gaze toward Maugrim, looking him in the eye. In his familiar eyes.

Familiar…

"I'm not going to let anything happen to you," Maugrim said, tucking himself closer to her.

"I wanted to see for myself…My queen said you're so much alike. Now I understand."

Realization hit Brielle all at once. Her breath robbed from her in a solid gasp that was drowned out by the thundering, roaring water crashing over them, the sound of Lucy's, Susan's, and Peter's creams reaching her ears second before it was ripped away, the waterfall breaking apart and cascading down around them. Brielle dropped her hand from her broach, the wind abruptly stopped, and was replaced by the rush of energy that roared toward them of the river finally breaking free.

The wave of water picked them up in seconds, surrounding them in an icy cold bath that pushed them downstream.

A/N: Sorry for the wait and it being a short one, but here's another chapter for you guys. Another chapter within The Chronicles of Narnia LWW. Here's the chapter you've been waiting for to explain her connection with Jadis/her time in Narnia. She's a witch and distantly related to Jadis, while Maugrim is her familiar.

As you can see, I've taken liberty to change some things, plot wise and timeline wise, for LWW for this fic to make sense with Brielle's addition to things. But I'd been waiting for a long time and have been anxious to have this chapter/these scenes out to really explain her connection with Narnia, in the past, before it's revealed to the others in the present.

Cheers,

-Riles