Chapter Sixteen: Further Up and Further In

The sun shone down gloriously bright and warm the first day of the month of Twirleaf or September, depending on which species of Narnian you asked. I preferred Twirleaf simply because it described what was happening when the autumn breeze kicked up. Most of the names of the months in Narnia made good sense that way. The valleys had grown deeper as we moved further inland and the mountains had grown higher and mightier. They cast vast shadows that chilled me, and not just because they blocked the sun. I could see snow and ice above the tree line, and the further up the river we went, the lower the tree line got. I was grateful for the warm clothes Silvo had packed. I would need them all before long.

Though we walked far every day, our actual progress was slow, or so it seemed to me. The river wound and twisted through the mountain valleys and waterfalls were becoming more common. Those were annoying since they took so long to traverse and after all that labor of struggling uphill we had to show for our efforts was a pretty view. And it was pretty, that I could not argue despite the urgency of our quest.

We had seen many strange sights and animals that did not live in Narnia: moose and turkeys (after many attempts I shot one of those and it fed me for days), small red deer, musk ox, beautiful, shaggy white goats that watched us from high on the mountains. I saw a pack of silvery wolves and many types of birds that neither Phillip nor I could put a name to. I almost stepped on a porcupine, and though Phillip assured me we had them in Narnia I could not recall having met any. Migrating ducks filled the river on occasion and when they did, I ate well. I spotted what I thought could only be a wooly mammoth, for nothing else I knew fit the description of what I saw, but it was very far away and I never saw one again and Phillip was too busy eating to notice. The trees, too, were different this high up from the oaks and maples and firs of Narnia. Up here grew pines and huge cedar trees that filled the breeze with their scent. There was an occasion when we came to what looked like a smooth plain, and it was only upon approaching that we saw the valley before us was deep and wide, but the towering conifers were so tall they rivaled the mountains. Once we passed what could only be described as a ruined temple carved into the living rock of the mountains. It was huge - far too huge for mere humans - and Phillip said the crafting of the broken pillars looked Giantish, though I had no idea of what constituted style for Giants. Why it was built and by whom I never learned. Another time we watched a lightning storm the likes of which I had never seen sweep down along the course of the river. We sheltered in a cave uphill as torrential rain fell just yards away. Phillip, who disliked thunder, stood far back in the cave while I watched a tree get struck by lightning and burst into flames, only to be quenched moments later by the rain. Across the valley I could see mud slides rushing down like avalanches, wiping out trees and rocks and leaving only a wide, barren swath of earth like scars on the mountainside. It took moments like that for me to realize the wisdom of Aslan in sending me with just one companion. More people would have compounded the danger and slowed us intolerably, as well as being a tremendous strain on the land.

At night the stars seemed closer than even in Narnia. They hung low and bright over the mountains and I would pick out the ones I had been taught as I gauged the stages of the moon to mark the passing of days. It was almost a full month since we had set out. I wish I knew how to estimate how far we had come and how far we had to go and thought perhaps I could learn to use a sextant once we started a navy. I missed everything in the world that I knew except Phillip and Rhindon. Sometimes I drew out one of the handkerchiefs Lucy made just to catch the faint scent of lemon and lavender sachet that lingered from her dress, or the essence of rose that had rubbed from Susan's fingers onto the felt as she embroidered it. I showed Phillip all the gifts my siblings had made me and he was duly impressed by them all, especially the knife from Edmund. I couldn't help but smile every time I noticed each present and they comforted me even more than I wanted to admit.

I was noticing changes about myself, too. I was stronger than I had ever been, my endurance gradually building. It was a different kind of strength than what I had acquired since coming to Narnia. I had walked so far for so long I sometimes felt I could go on forever if I had to in order to find the Garden. The most annoying change was my hair. If I had thought about it, I would have had it all cut off before I set out. My hair has always grown very quickly and I had been due for a meeting with Silvo's shears even before the anniversary celebration. Now my thick bangs hung down in my eyes and I was constantly pushing them away. The only advantage I saw was that my neck was a little warmer. Beyond that, it was nothing but aggravation. I was starting to have trouble with my lower back, too, from all this riding and walking carrying a sword. Rhindon wasn't all that weighty but it was enough to throw my stride off slightly. I thought I had been used to it and I had been - for the amount of time I wore it at Cair Paravel. Finally, I had lost weight where I'd really had none to spare. I noticed it the first time I tightened Rhindon's belt and it easily went beyond the usual notch. My waist was reduced by a good two inches, and even I knew that was a cause for concern. Had Oreius been here he probably would have panicked, waiting for me to waste away before his eyes. I said nothing to Phillip, but I did try to take more game after that.

I was learning a great deal, too, sometimes by trial and error and sometimes the lesson was forced upon me. For example I learned to wait a good fifteen or twenty minutes after shooting game before I went to pick it up to allow the animal to die. The first time I approached a rabbit that I had just shot I was in for a shock because it wasn't dead yet. For some reason I had expected it to die immediately, and I was disturbed in the extreme when it moved and wailed and I had difficulty eating it that night. I also learned how to re-shoe a Horse when Phillip became mired in mud as thick as cement and one of his shoes pulled partially off. It took me the better part of a day even with his steady instructions. I was nervous lest I injure him or damage his hoof, but he was patient and in the end he had a new shoe. I also learned to sew, racking my memory of watching Susan and Lucy and their ladies gathered round the fireplace on winter nights plying their needles for reference. It was relaxing to watch, though the first time I tried it I wished I had paid closer attention. Still, I managed to repair a tear in one of my shirts and at a much faster pace than Susan could have managed.

The morning when we were exactly a month away from Narnia we came upon an unexpected sight: a lake. The trees parted gradually and we saw flashes of blue long before we stood on the shore. It was the first lake we had encountered, though Fledge's account did mention seeing several of them on his flight. It was very wide, mostly round, and as smooth and reflective as a mirror. The day we came upon it was crisp and clear and the mountains ringing it were perfectly reflected, and save for a few outcroppings of rock the trees grew right down to the water's edge. I saw an eagle wheeling over the far shore, his loud cry echoing faintly. All was still and calm and serene, like something out of a painting so beautiful you wished you could be part of it.

Phillip stamped his hoof as I slid off his back. "Could this be the source of the river?" he wondered.

I shook my head. "Fledge said the Garden was at the peak of a tall green hill in the middle of a valley, with a wall all about it and a golden gate. He mentioned lakes, but the valley with the garden was surrounded by glaciers."

"A thousand years past," mumbled the Horse.

I laughed and patted his side. "Let's keep going. The river has to flow in somewhere."

We slowly circled the body of water. No breeze rippled its perfect surface, no fish or turtle stirred the waters. Rushes and reeds grew along the edge, huge old trees reached right up to the shore. It was so still I was almost unnerved, remembering the time the rebel Trees had tried to capture me and Edmund at the Stone Table so the remnants of Jadis's army could kill us. It was as if nothing dared disturb the silence, myself included. I couldn't even bring myself to sing.

The longer we walked, the larger the lake seemed. I was growing quite weary and thirsty out of time, and finally I stopped. My mind seemed clouded and I could scarce keep awake.

"Majesty?"

"Phillip, I must rest."

He looked at me a little anxiously when I began to make camp. He clearly thought it was too soon but I felt as if we had been walking for days without a moment's sleep and my throat was as dry as the Great Desert. After I set up camp I removed Rhindon and set it by my things. Walking over to the lake, I dropped down on a rock jutting into the water. I stared, but I could not see beneath the surface. My own thin, tanned face with shaggy hair stared back at me. It was very strange and I reached a hand out to touch the surface. It seemed the least disturbance would send ripples across the whole surface, but the liquid barely noticed my invasive touch. A single ripple circled out and quickly vanished.

I reached down into the lake. It was cool and clean, but its nature never changed. My fingertip vanished as if into gravy. I leaned over to get a drink, my lips just touching the water, when suddenly I was being kissed from beneath the surface. My eyes shot open in surprise and I caught a flash of green eyes and yellow skin and flowing locks like seaweed.

"Peter!" screamed Phillip.

Then a pair of slim arms wrapped around my neck and yanked me into the lake.