Author's note: Thanks for the glowing reviews! Here's to Mallory and Aslan!

Chapter 4: The Eagle Who Couldn't Fly

Mallory could only blink in surprise and wonder if the Lion was all but a fantastic dream. The glade was as still as it was when she had first touched down here. Could that Lion, was his name Aslan, be real?

The only thing that could argue with that was the heaviness and warmth on her shoulder, whereupon Aslan had placed his paw. She touched the spot and all his golden majesty and goodness came rushing back into her veins. She drank deep from the wonderful feeling and felt certain now that he was for real, that she was sane and hadn't seen him as an illusion.

Mallory remembered what Aslan had told her about carrying out a task for him. "Surely nothing will stop me from completing the task!" she exclaimed to herself, and felt both proud and pleased of herself. She looked for a moment at the mountains rising high and nigh above her and frowned. How was she to tell which was Mount Pire?

Then she remembered. "The map!" She knelt at the foot of the Chest and opened it, at the same time wondering how the map could have gotten into it without her putting it in. Magic, she supposed. Yes, pure Magic.

Having found the map, she sat on the grass and studied it. "Mount Pire … where are you? There you are! Oh, and look at your funny peak! Aslan did mention about a giant forming you, I suppose it was a two-headed giant! Oh, how charming! But I musn't laugh at you! You've got a very important person living at your foot, did you know? I suppose you do!" With a merry laugh, she rolled it up and chucked it back into the Chest.

Suddenly she thought about what should she do about the Chest. She couldn't just leave it there. Surely there would be some sort of robbers or raiders roaming the woods and would most certainly take it away with them. And the worst part of it all was that the Chest didn't even belong to her!

The coil of rope slung over her shoulder moved a little, as if making its presence known to its new owner.

"Oh, but of course! How silly of me!" Mallory uncoiled the rope and tied it around the Chest in such a way so that she would be able to drag it with her. "There now! But oh, bother! Now I will have to pull you all the way to Mount Pire!" she was a little annoyed at that thought, but instantly felt ashamed, because Aslan's words rang in her mind, "If no help at all comes to you, the Chest will aid you."

"I'm sorry, dear Chest," she said to it, knowing full well that it wouldn't reply, but the Chest seemed to have a spirit of its own. "I'll never speak so beastly to you again. Cross my heart, I won't!" And at that, she heaved a sigh and shouldered the rope and began to pull.

The Chest didn't turn out to be heavy after all, in fact it was lighter than she had thought it to be, yet it was not too light so that it felt as if she was pulling her toy duck (the one that had wheels on it) like she did when she was much younger. In fact, it turned to be quite enjoyable, and not to long after, she began humming a tune she had never heard before.

At first Mallory stopped, astonished at herself. Then when she felt that she was a little saner, she continued pulling through the woods. The tune came again. But this time, Mallory didn't stop because it sounded quite familiar now, as if she had heard it and sang it a long time ago. It goes like this:

'Valley sweet, river rush; my beloved Narnia sings; leaves of green, song of thrush; my beloved Narnia calls; sky of blue, meadows fair; my beloved Narnia croons; but shall I see it ever more, that I do not know.'

It was a very sad song and it made Mallory's eyes blink with tears, because the images of the very beautiful land that she sang about came flashing into her mind. She saw the pleasant valleys, sloping hills; she heard the fierce rush of a great river and heard the singing of a bird. After those images passed, there came more of them, but this time everything was covered in snow, like some sort of winter wonderland, only, there was a dreadful and bitter feeling about it. Then she saw a tall and terrible-looking woman with impossibly pale white skin pointing a sharp object at an animal and the animal turned into stone.

All this was so sorrowful and horrible to bear that Mallory had to sink to her knees and weep to accommodate her bursting heart. But the weeping was short, because after the cruel images passed, a wonderful, golden one floated into her mind. In the middle of the golden image was the golden silhouette of a great lion, and Mallory knew that it was Aslan and he would right all wrongs and that she wouldn't have to weep and worry anymore.

Then slowly the image faded and showed four figures coming out from behind thick clusters of snow-covered pine leaves. She realised that they were humans, and they were boys and girls of almost her age. There were two boys and two girls. Their leader was a tall and fair-haired boy that looked to be some years older than her. The youngest of them all was a little cherub whose eyes were shining with excitement, a sharp contrast with those of the eldest boy, whose grey eyes were clouded with worry but sharpened with caution. Before Mallory could dwell upon that image any longer, it disappeared, and when she opened her eyes, she had arrived at the foot of the mountains.

Mallory was truly, thoroughly surprised, but she hadn't any time to dwell on this startling discovery when she heard a moan somewhere off to her left.

She moved towards the noise, half-afraid of what she would find, but it had a powerful pull on her. Furthermore, she was a very curious girl. The moan sounded again, and this time, she could pinpoint from exactly where it came from: behind a copse of bamboo trees that couldn't have existed in an ordinary forest, but this was Archenland, and anything could happen.

Mallory tiptoed round the copse and found an eagle sitting like a human would with its back against the bamboo trees. Its wings were large and magnificent and gold at its edges. Indeed it was a very big and beautiful eagle, almost bigger than Aslan, she was sure. But why was it crying like this? Surely such a great creature like that didn't have a reason to cry?

So Mallory said to it kindly, "Hullo there, Mr. Eagle. Why are you crying?"

The Eagle looked up and, seeing Mallory, dropped its golden beak, like a grown-up would drop his or her jaw upon seeing that you had broken a favourite vase.

"Who – who are you, Daughter of Eve?"

"My name is Mallory," she replied, and did a little curtsy.

The Eagle closed its beak and sniffed. "Well, hello then, Mallory. And good day to you." Then much to her surprise, he went back to crying.

Mallory couldn't bear to see such a wonderful animal crying, so much so that she had quite forgotten that Eagles, no matter whether they were beautiful or not, were not supposed to talk, but if you had met Aslan before you had met any other creatures in Narnia or Archenland, you would find that nothing could ever fail to surprise you anymore.

"Oh, don't cry, Mr. Eagle!" Mallory knelt beside it and stroked its smooth feathers. "You're such a good-looking and handsome Eagle! Cheer up, Mr. Eagle! You're the finest Eagle I have ever seen in my life!"

The Eagle looked up again and his keen blue eyes (quite red, though) studied her for a moment, and then sniffled again. "Thank you, Daughter of Eve, you – you are exceedingly kind. But," it gave a huge sob, "What use would all this be: these well-groomed feathers, these powerful wings, fearsome talons and courageous beak, if – if you couldn't …"

At this he trailed off and wailed and howled with true sorrow and wretchedness. Mallory was a little irritated at this and wanted to know what he couldn't do, so much so that she snapped quite angrily like all sensible girls do, "Stop it, Mr. Eagle, do stop it! You are a fine baby, that's what you are! You're not an Eagle, not all, you're a right old wimp. If you've had a proper, beating, true Eagle heart, you wouldn't crying your eyes out all over like this and spoil your excellent eyesight. Pull yourself together, Mr. Eagle! You should be ashamed of yourself! And if Aslan ever saw you like this, I shouldn't be surprised if he gives you a good shake of your feathers!"

At the mention of Aslan, the Eagle turned beet red and sniffed heavily. "Why, little Daughter of Eve, I suppose you are right! Oh, how silly of me, and how true of you! Aslan would be ashamed to see a Talking Eagle like me cry. Oh dear! Oh dear! I've made a thumping old fool of myself; indeed I have!"

Mallory smiled. "There you are, Mr. Eagle! Put on a brave face! And tell me, you needn't be ashamed, what's wrong with you?"

The Eagle looked mournfully at Mallory, and judging by the way his beak was quivering, he was trying his best not to burst into tears. It took a lot of stutters and clicking of his beak before she could finally understood what he said:

"I can't do a very important thing!"

That got Mallory all hot and bothered again. "Oh bother, bother, bother! Come now, Mr. Eagle! I'm sure that it's not as terrible as you make it to be! Listen here, when I was younger I couldn't even catch a ball properly, and how they laughed and called me 'butterfingers'! I cried and cried at first, but afterwards I came to my senses and realised that I must try harder than ever, so I did my best the next time we played ball and I managed to catch it! Do you see it, Mr. Eagle, everything has a solution! Everything!"

"But you don't understand!" the Eagle looked positively miserable now. "I – can't – FLY!"