So I've decided to just do a few bonus chapters for Thorin, Fili, and Kili, then they'll blend into the main story with Aili.
Hope you guys don't mind! I can't resist writing more of the side adventure the Durins are on!
Once again, I'm no expert at writing Thorin, Fili, and Kili, but I try my best to keep them in character. :)
And I'm really sorry for this taking so long! I thought I'd posted it before now!
Okay, let's get right to it! Lemme reply to reviews real quick before I get to the story.
Brandylynn12893: Thank you so much for giving my story a shot! I'm so happy you like my crossover despite not liking crossovers in general. :) Hope you like the coming chapters as well! Here's more of Thorin, Fili, Kili, the Beavers, and the Pevensies' adventures!
Lady Istalri: Aww thank you! Thank you for your support, my friend! You always make me super happy! :) I'm so glad you like my story so far!
EdgyLynx: Thank you for all your support, friend! :)
Ok that should be all of them for the last few chapters. Here's the story!
God Bless and Good Day!
~The Lupine Sojourner
The Beavers' den was silent for several moments as the dwarves slowly come out of their shock.
Out of respect, the Pevensies and the beavers let them have their moment.
"So...she's gone, then?" Thorin asks, hating himself for thinking the worst immediately. "Her and the other person you mentioned, is there no hope for them?"
Mr. Beaver has the decency not to lie to the dwarves or sugarcoat the situation, but he did have some good news for the worried family members. "Well, way I see it, the Witch'll probably turn Tumnus and your niece into stone, Thorin." Thorin pales.
"This witch can do that?" He asks, voice hitching subtly in his fear. If Aili were turned to stone…he shudders at the thought.
"Here's some fish and chips, dearies." Mrs. Beaver chimes in, bringing over a tray with more fish and potatoes. She sighs, seeing the hopeless look in the dwarves' eyes and the sad way the Pevensies looked at the dwarves. "Now, I know it seems glum right now, but there is some hope."
"Blimey, there's a right bit more than hope!" Mr. Beaver cries, taking a pull from his tankard of ale and slamming it on the table excitedly. "Aslan is on the move." He murmurs reverently.
Everyone around the table sighs in wonder (except Edmund, who groaned a little, unsure how to feel about this mysterious 'Aslan'), feeling as though Aslan was the embodiment of all the good things in the world, though they didn't know Aslan yet. They felt as though he were someone that they could trust with everything.
The Pevensies had similar feelings, and Mr. and Mrs. Beaver nearly had a chuckle at how their guests looked at the name of the King of Narnia.
"...Who's Aslan?" Edmund asks, feeling almost distrustful of Aslan, though he couldn't say why.
Mr. Beaver laughs as if this were a rather foolish question. "Who's Aslan? Oh, you cheeky little blighter!" He continues laughing until Mrs. Beaver nudges him.
Mr. Beaver looks around to see everyone looking a bit uncomfortable, as if they had all been about to ask the same thing, and now felt foolish for questioning who Aslan was. The beaver sighs to collect himself and tries again. "You don't know, do yah?" He asks.
"Well, pardon me, Mr. Beaver, but...none of us have exactly been here very long." Fili points out, squirming a little.
"He's only king o' the whole wood!" Mr. Beaver explains passionately, grabbing his ale. "The top geezer! The real King of Narnia!" That doesn't make anyone look more certain of who Aslan was, and Mr. Beaver feels a bit flustered. How was he supposed to explain who Aslan was? Every Narnian passed stories along like a treasure or a secret, but no one had seen him for a hundred years.
Trying to explain who Aslan was was like trying to explain how the seasons change. It was simply something everyone should know.
"He's been away for a long while." Mrs. Beaver chimes in, taking a bit of a different approach.
"But he's just got back!" Mr. Beaver exclaims, getting to the whole reason he brought up Aslan in the first place. "And he's waitin' for yah near the Stone Table!" The Pevensies exchange glances, unsure what that meant.
"He's waiting for...us?" Lucy asks, just to make sure she wasn't missing something.
Mr. Beaver was flabbergasted. First, they didn't know Aslan, and now… "You're bloomin' joking!" Mr. Beaver replies, not meaning it quite as condescending as it may have sounded. "They don't even know about the prophecy!"
Mrs. Beaver nudges him again and nods toward the children to get him to further explain. "Well, then…" It was important the children understand their role in Narnia before they move further.
Mr. Beaver sighs heavily. "Look...Aslan's return, Tumnus and the dwarf- -"
"Aili." Kili interjects.
Mr. Beaver nods, but continues. "Right, the pair of 'em gettin' arrested, the secret police, it's all happening cus o' you!"
Kili was first to respond, unwilling to let the accusations stand. "Now see here! These children didn't intend to cause trouble!" He wasn't quite sure what made him defend the Pevensies, really. He supposed some part of him liked them already and didn't want to see them get blamed for things they shouldn't be blamed for.
No one noticed the door slip closed and the empty stool, moved back a little away from everyone, where Edmund had been sitting.
"No, no!" Mrs. Beaver is quick to placate the dwarf, "We're not blaming them, dear. We're thanking them!"
The confusion in the room is nearly palpable.
"Explain." Thorin says, trying to make it sound like a request and failing.
"There's a prophecy." Mr. Beaver begins. "When Adam's Flesh and Adam's Bone sits at Cair Paravel in throne, the evil times will be over and done." He recites, feeling the hope all Narnians do at those words, especially now he was starting to see the prophecy coming true.
Susan can't help a smirk. "You know, that doesn't really rhyme." She points out, to a few chuckles from Kili.
"I know it don't." Mr. Beaver replies, a bit confused as to why Susan would choose to pick that out of the words he'd said. "Look, yer kinda missin' the point!" Why couldn't these humans understand that they were the Adam's Flesh and Adam's Bone the prophecy spoke of? Why was that so hard for them to grasp? Honestly, he knew children were a little slower to understand things like this, but he was getting frustrated.
Mrs. Beaver saw her husband's frustration and put a calming hand on his shoulder. "It had long been foretold that two Sons of Adam and two Daughters of Eve will defeat the White Witch and restore peace to Narnia!" She explains, gesturing to the kids (somehow missing Edmund's absence) to make it clear who she was talking about.
The children finally seem to realize what the prophecy means and Peter turns to the beavers. "And you think we're the ones?" He asks. He couldn't quite wrap his head around it. Him and his siblings, fighting a Witch?
It didn't seem possible Aslan, or whoever was responsible for that silly prophecy, could know him and his siblings would find that blasted wardrobe that started this whole mess. Let alone fight and defeat a witch!
Mr. Beaver scoffs. "Well, you better be, cus Aslan's already fitted out yer army!" He replies.
"Steady on!" Thorin barks, leaning forward. "No one, least of all a king as you claim this Aslan is, should even consider sending children onto a battlefield! What kind of king rests such a task on people so young?!"
"Uncle's right; they shouldn't be anywhere near the battle!" Fili adds, remembering how his first fight felt. Even if it was just against some bandits, it was still incredibly upsetting that he had taken life from people, evil though they were.
"I can't speak for Aslan, but I feel certain he knows what he's doing." Mr. Beaver says slowly, unsure what else to say. Now he had actually met the children that were supposed to be the Kings and Queens, he was beginning to feel the same as Thorin and Fili.
Susan, feeling a little frightened at what the Beavers were asking them to do, turns to Peter. "Mum sent us away so we wouldn't get caught up in a war." Thorin makes a note to ask what that meant later, but filed it away for the moment as Peter looks back at the Beavers.
"I think you've made a mistake. We're not heroes." He really hated to crush these beaver's hopeful expressions, but honestly the prospect of fighting some Witch was scaring him more than he'd care to admit.
"We're from Finchley." Susan adds, as if that would make sense to the beavers and the dwarves.
The dwarves, for their part, leaned back just a little, feeling like they were intruding on the conversation, and decided against involving themselves more than they had.
Susan stood. Someone had to be the bearer of bad news, and she had wanted to go home the moment the trip to the faun's house ended in them discovering his arrest note. She had a bad feeling they'd be in a very bad spot if they stayed in Narnia.
"Thank you for your hospitality," She says, genuinely meaning it, "but we really have to go." Peter begins to stand, eyeing Susan so he doesn't have to see the crushed faces of the beavers. He honestly felt horrible dashing their hopes, but he couldn't risk his siblings' safety. He'd promised his mother he'd keep his siblings safe, and that was what he intended to do.
"You can't just leave!" Mr. Beaver protests as Lucy squirms in her chair.
"He's right." Lucy says softly, disliking going against her older siblings, but needing to stand up for what she knew was right. "We have to help Mr. Tumnus and Aili." Peter is surprised at Lucy, but stood firm in his decision. Kili admired her bravery, knowing that the Witch was after her and her family.
He decided that, should the Pevensies stay, he'd make sure to protect Lucy, see that no harm befell her.
"It's out of our hands." Peter says firmly, looking at the beavers, who seemed to want to say something to convince the children to stay, but couldn't come up with the words.
"I'll take you back the way you came." Thorin says suddenly. "Though, perhaps we ought to wait till morning. Hardly any sense wandering in the dark." Peter seems rather grateful, if not surprised, as well, as Thorin's offer. Fili and Kili stand.
"We'll make sure you get back to wherever you came from, then try to help the Narnians ourselves." Kili adds, and it seems the dwarves were all agreed.
"That won't do! The humans are the ones in the prophecy! They're the ones who'll defeat the Witch!" Mr. Beaver cries, desperate to make them all understand.
"You can't honestly ask children to fight in a war, Mr. Beaver. Not even Aslan could be that cruel." Fili replies.
"I'm really sorry, Mr. and Mrs. Beaver, but I think it's time the four of us were getting home." Peter presses, inching nearer to their coats.
Peter wasn't remembering the long walk from Mr. Tumnus' house to the beaver's den, or the distance to the Lampost. All he was worried about was making sure they got home before anything else happened.
"Hang on…" Fili murmurs worriedly, looking around the den and noticing something. "Aren't there four humans? Where'd the other one go?"
Peter whirls around, scanning the den. Sure enough… "Ed?" He calls, as if that would make his brother appear. "Ed?!" He then grits his teeth. "I'm gonna kill him." He growls, like all older brothers do when their little brother does something rather stupid.
Mr. Beaver, remembering the way Edmund had eyed the Hills earlier, shuddered. "You may not have to." He calls. "Has Edmund ever been in Narnia before?" He asks.
Lucy pales. "Oh no...I'm afraid he has." She replies.
"Was he ever alone for any length of time?" Mr. Beaver continues.
The dwarves were grabbing their cloaks for the walk through the snow to catch up to Edmund, worry growing in their guts.
"Yes...I think so." Lucy admits. "Aili was with Mr. Tumnus when I stopped in for lunch, and she escorted me back to the Lampost where I came to Narnia. She and I saw Edmund standing at the Lampost. I didn't know he'd followed me."
The dwarves don't press Lucy for more details about Aili at the moment. There was a missing child to be found. Besides, they knew her fate, and that was out of their hands at the moment.
"Then I know where he's gone." Mr. Beaver concludes.
"And where is that?" Peter asks, grabbing his coat before helping Lucy into hers.
"The Witch's castle, that's where."
"No!" Lucy protests, unwilling to believe it. "No, he wouldn't!"
Mr. Beaver sighs. "The Witch is cunning. She can lure people in, pretending to be caring and nice till it's too late to run, then she snaps them up and adds 'em to her statue collection." The children shudder and run outside to find Edmund before he reached the Witch's castle.
Thinking quickly, the Dwarves grab their primary weapons (Fili's swords, Orcrist, and the Kili's bow plus a sword) and go after Mr. Beaver and the children. "Question is; how much can Edmund tell her?" Mr. Beaver points out while they run. "We need to know when he left. Does anyone remember if he was there when Aslan was mentioned?" He asks, unable to recall that moment off the top of his head.
"Yes, I remember. He was the one who asked who Aslan was." Fili replies.
"Blast!" Mr. Beaver grumbles. "Next question; does he know where Aslan is?" No one had an answer, falling silent as they begin to run, the thought of Edmund telling the Witch everything spurring them on. They all knew it was partly the Witch's manipulation that led to this situation, but the Pevensies also knew it was partly because of the way they'd treated Edmund.
They certainly hadn't meant to isolate him and make him feel unwelcome or anything of the sort, but you sometimes can't see the damage before it's too late.
Soon enough, they are going up a steep hill, then come to the top and find a rather impressive ice castle in the valley below them.
And, just barely visible, was a tiny figure entering the doors.
"Edmund!" Lucy screams as if her brother could hear her.
"Shhh! They'll hear yah!" Mr. Beaver hisses.
Peter begins to run forward, but Thorin and Mr. Beaver hold him back.
"Wait!" Thorin orders, holding form to Peter's arm while Mr. Beaver dragged backwards on Peter's other arm.
"Get off me!" Peter exclaims, desperate to get to Edmund.
"You're playing into her hands!" Mr. Beaver barks, trying to keep a grip on the wriggling boy.
"We can't just let him go!" Susan protests indignantly.
"He's our brother!" Lucy adds.
"I know, but you can't go down there." Kili says, trying to help the young girl understand. "It'll only make things worse, I'm afraid."
"He's right. She needs all four of you to stop the prophecy coming true!" Mr. Beaver warns. "She won't kill Edmund till she's got all of you. She'll use him as bait. Then she'll kill you!"
The Pevensies can only watch as the doors swing shut and Edmund is lost to view inside the castle. The silence is tense and thick, all eyes locked on the castle.
It's then the dwarves remember what Mr. Beaver said about Aili and they all feel dread pool in their stomachs.
Aili was down there, too, so close...and yet, so far.
Before the dwarves can do or say anything about that, however, Susan turns to Peter, a thousand emotions running through her eyes.
"This is all your fault!" Of course, she didn't really think that. Stress does nasty things to people, however, and in this case, it was making Susan accuse Peter of something everyone knew he hadn't done.
"My fault?!" Peter retorts indignantly. He, too, didn't mean to be harsh, but again stress does horrid things to people.
"None of this would've happened if you had just listened to me in the first place!"
"Oh, so you knew this would happen?!"
"I didn't know what would happen. Which is why we should have left while we still could!"
"Stop it!" Lucy shouts, surprising the bickering siblings out of their argument and pleasantly surprising the dwarves. "This isn't going to help Edmund."
"She's right." Mr. Beaver agrees. "Only Aslan can help your brother now."
Kili steps forward. "What about Aili? Do you think Aslan can help her, too?" He asks, desperate for some hope of seeing his sister again. Who knows what was done to her in there, what she was going through.
"I can't say for certain, but if anyone can help those poor souls, it's Aslan." Mr. Beaver replies.
"She's so close!" Fili growls suddenly, inching toward the castle. "Why can't we go get her now? And Edmund, too?"
"Cus that would be suicide." Mr. Beaver replies. Thorin hates the fact that he agrees with the beaver, but sadly puts a hand on Fili's shoulder.
"You heard him, Fili. The best chance Aili has is if we get these children to Aslan as soon as possible."
"But, Uncle- -" Kili starts, but Thorin puts up a hand for silence.
"Kili, please believe I hate this as much as you do, but we have no choice. What are three dwarves going to go? We'll only get ourselves killed."
Every fiber of the dwarves, especially Thorin, aches to race down and tear down anything that got between them and their family member, but each of them knew or were coming to realize just how foolish a plan that was.
No, their only hope of seeing Aili again was to go to Aslan and hope the King could do something.
Thorin hates himself for making his nephews turn away when Aili was so close, but he had to.
He refused to let any more of his family get hurt or killed while he could protect them. "Please, Kili. Please believe I want to save her, too. We'll get our chance, I promise you. But, for the moment, her fate is out of our hands."
It pains the dwarves more than they can say, but everyone slowly turns, casting several long glances at the Witch's castle as they trudged back toward the den to prepare for the journey to the Stone Table.
Fili side-hugged Kili as they walked, sharing his crushing guilt and sadness at having to turn away from their sister when she needed them. "We'll get her back, Kili. You'll see."
Kili sniffs. "I hope so, Fili." He all but sobs, "I hope so."
No one says anything else as they walk. About maybe ten minutes later, however, a wolf's howl is heard and Mr. Beaver nearly jumps out of his skin.
"Quick! Back to the den!" He cries, taking off. "That's the secret police! They're after us!"
"What? The police are wolves?" Kili asks, running after the beaver as the others begin to run as well.
"Yes, now run!" No one needs to be told twice, everyone's legs pounding hurriedly toward the den. Upon arriving with only moments to spare, Mr. Beaver calls for his wife. "Hurry, mother! They're after us!"
"Right then." She immediately turns and begins grabbing foods and other things, stuffing them into a backpack.
"What's she doing?" Kili asks. Mr. Beaver shrugs, unsure himself.
"You'll be thanking me later." Mrs. Beaver explains, "It's a long journey and Mr. Beaver gets pretty cranky when he's hungry." Mr. Beaver scoffs.
"I'm cranky now!" He protests, but Mrs. Beaver carries on.
Susan grabs some loaves and the bread knife for Mrs. Beaver to pack and the dwarves step outside to grab the rest of their weapons and by the time they get back inside, things are nearly in order for them to leave.
"Do you think we'll need jam?" Susan asks.
"Only if the Witch serves toast." Peter replies, tense and eager to get a move on. Susan scoffs, but doesn't reply, putting the jam down and stuffing a small wedge of cheddar wrapped in a towel into the backpack.
That done, it seemed there wasn't any more room in the pack, so Mrs. Beaver closed it up and Kili automatically grabs it.
"What now?" He asks, settling the pack on his back just as the wolves arrive and begin tearing into the dam to get inside. Mr. Beaver motions them into a trapdoor that led down into a tunnel.
It was rather hot and cramped, since the torch and lantern (quickly lit with a flint and steel from Thorin's pocket) made everything too bright and hot, but there was no choice and the group had to move as quickly as possible in the cramped space.
"Badger and me dug this. Come up right near his place." Mr. Beaver says at the unspoken question as to where the tunnel leads.
"You told me it led to your Mum's." Mrs. Beaver retorts and if the situation weren't so serious, it would have been rather amusing.
But there was no time for jokes or laughter now. They had to keep moving.
"Ah!" Lucy cries suddenly as she trips over a root, falling heavily to the ground. Peter turns and Susan and Kili move to help her up when they all stop short at a horrible sound.
Wolves, closing in fast.
Lucy's eyes go wide. "...They're in the tunnel."