At once, the pair were on their feet. Arthur's back arched high and fur on his neck pricked up with fear. Eloise stood with a slight bend to her knees, ready to push off in a run should the need arise. They both stared off in the direction in which the scream had been emitted.

The cat's ears were pinned back, almost entirely flat to his head. His pupils were wide, taking in all the light and shadows they could in an effort to try and find the source of the sudden screeching. Without so much as looking at her, he hissed quietly, "Put your shirt back on Eloise."

The girl didn't have to be asked twice.

The piercing cry resumed abruptly, and it sounded as though it were travelling closer toward them. Arthur began to usher her away from the sound, but before they could take more than a few steps away from the open bank, Eloise spotted something, and lost all her breath as she cried, "Look there!" Jamming her finger upriver.

Arthur raced to the edge of the water, trying to see what she could. Taller than him, she'd seen it as it had come around the corner. Although, it was not the right word. They were but a child, and to both the human and the cat's horror, they were being dragged through the fierce current like they weighed nothing more than a feather.

Without even blinking, the pair had sprung into action. Arthur ran up the bank, toward the child, yelling that everything was going to be okay and that they needed to listen- to stop screaming and stay calm. It was as he drew closer, that Arthur realised it wasn't just a human. It was a centaur.

Eloise barely heard anything at all. Before her companion had even spoken, she was already wading waist-deep in the water- her feet firmly on the ground. She could feel the powerful undertow and dared not tread any further into the water. She hadn't even considered the fact that she was still wearing her skinny jeans, but ignoring the danger, the girl held out her arms- waving them to catch the child's attention.

Raising her voice, she spoke with such steadiness that it took her by surprise, "Hey look at me kid! I'm right here, It's going to be okay!"

Both the child and Arthur looked at her- Arthur's face growing even more fear-filled as he screeched, "What are you doing?!"

She ignored his indignation, and shouted back at him, "Go find a stick or something Arthur!"

Arthur spluttered, angrily yelling about what good a damn stick would do- but right at that moment, the boy drew near enough to Eloise for her to jump close enough to latch onto his outstretched hands.

The combination of the added weight, the strength of the under-tow and her water-logged jeans ultimately were enough to send the taller girl off her feet. She couldn't stop her head from immediately dipping under the water, but she used the strength she had to pull the boy close to her chest.

Her lungs hurt, and the blood pounded in her skull. The adrenaline and worry in her didn't escalate until she realised she could barely kick her own legs to raise her head up. There was a massive cramp growing in both her thighs, but feeling the strain on her body from the lack of breath, desperation and survival instincts kicked in- telling her to tilt her body back- and finally her face breached the surface.

The woman gave a crackling gasp for air, the water that had dripped into her mouth entering her lungs. Wrought with a violent hacking cough, she croaked in the child's ear as she struggled for release. "Hold on!"

She finally registered the shouts of her cat on the bank. He'd been following them both as they went crashing downstream. She could only just see him racing alongside them between the bursting waves. "The log Eloise! The log!" That was all she heard. The log. The log. The log.

Using the momentum of the water, she gave one powerful kick to send them spinning around, and finally, she was looking in the direction they were headed. She panicked when at first she couldn't see anything. Not a log above water, or even a rock.

But then she noticed the waves that rose and broke over something that was hiding just under the surface. There was a risk they might get hurt- a stray branch could puncture them easily with the opposing force of the waves.

She gave another hard kick, positioning herself in front of the young one. "Go left!" She yelled over the waves to him.

There was no time to say anything else.

The pair frantically kicked their legs, swimming as best they both could manage. There were more than a few times where Eloise felt a hard thwack against her side and legs- the child's movements even more uncoordinated than hers. She was almost convinced his shoes had to be made of stone to hit that hard.

Her sight had become blurry, and right as she'd lost sight of the log, the two became lodged up against it. It didn't hurt so much as the boy's kicks had, but the sheer force and abruptness of the collision knocked the air clean out of her and she took in yet another gulp of water. Spluttering and barely managing a clear breath, her arm had gone completely numb around the boy's shoulders.

The water coursed over their heads and through every gap around their bodies. For a moment, they simply clung to it, catching their breath as they kept their heads down. Both of them held their eyes tightly shut, mouths wide open and both coughing up a storm.

She heard her name being frantically called from the shore, and once she'd finally brought herself back to a steady breath, she pressed her hand into the child's shoulder, ordering him to carefully move toward the shore.

The moment of peace they had taken allowed their bodies to register exactly how much energy they had expended. If it weren't for the log that remained firmly stuck in place, they'd have been easily swept away once more.

Exhausted and muscles screaming in pain, they clambered along the slippery algae covered log. Eloise had to resort to using her shoulders and arms mostly- she couldn't feel her legs at all.

It was with dazed faces and bruised bodies that the two finally found their way out of the current and onto the riverbed. Her hands found purchase in the sand and she fell onto her side once they were finally at the river's edge. She rested her face on the ground, not caring that the sand was exceedingly itchy upon her face. Half her body still lay in the water, she had barely the strength to move her legs enough to fully emerge.

The girl could sense the boy collapse beside her, just as tired, and breathing just as shallow and fast as herself. She hadn't even the power to lift her head to turn and look at him.

A patch of sunlight lit up one side of her face, and she attempted to slow her breath, taking in the redness of her closed eyelids. She could hear Arthur run across the sand to them both, begging them to answer him.

Eloise didn't open her eyes until she felt a frantic licking at her forehead. Through a half-lidded gaze, she looked at the cat, and murmured, "It's okay now… we're safe."

She heard a very faint groan beside her, and hissing in pain, she pushed against the sand with her arms to turn her entire body to face the boy. Then she collapsed again, and let out a deep sigh of her own.

Then the girl finally got a good look at the child she'd rescued. He couldn't have been more than ten years at most. She surveyed him carefully, looking across his face at the small scratches and grazes. They would be okay, she wasn't worried about a few scrapes. As she continued to look him over, she reached out to brush the ginger hair out of his face and saw something on the boy's head that made her pause.

"What the…" she whispered, raising a mass of his curls to look at his funny-shaped ear. Eloise rose up to press an elbow hard into the sand, allowing her a better look of the boy. At once, she spotted a second, much larger oddity.

Below the resting boy's waist, were the legs and torso of a horse.

To not stare, was impossible for her. She had to scrunch her eyes up, blinking them open to make sure she was seeing things clearly. The blots of colour in her sight flickered each time she did, and it wasn't till Arthur's voice suddenly spoke out, that she realised that yes. She was indeed looking at a centaur.

"Eloise, answer me! Are you okay?" The tabby had padded around the centaurs shoulders to stand in her line of sight again- he looked up at her with a furious expression.

Perhaps it was the way that her face had gone pale with disbelief, or the simple fact that she was openly staring wide-eyed at the boy's hooves. The child didn't stir, his eyes shut as he breathed shallowly on his side, a thick trickle of water and saliva dribbled out the corner of his small lips. Arthur re-directed his attention momentarily, also giving the boy a proper look, and as he caught sight of what held the girl's attention most, he turned back to her and confirmed, "Yes. He is one of the Narnians was telling you about. You're not dreaming Eloise."

"I gathered that I just…" she swallowed deeply. She went to continue but paused as she noticed a much larger cut on the boy's side. "He's hurt!" The girl heaved, pushing up on her elbow to sit fully on her rump to get a better look.

She ignored the way that her center of gravity seemed to sway like the waves, she couldn't keep her damn head still but didn't care at that moment. She gently pried the boy's blood coated arm away from his side, laying it so it bent and was tucked up against his chest.

Arthur raised himself and placed his paws on the boy's shoulders to prop himself up, also surveying the wound. It was about half the length of the forearm, jagged and splinters were wedged in the exposed flesh. They both winced- it didn't take much imagination to realise the boy had been likely skewered by a stray branch whilst he'd been fighting for his life.

The lucky thing was, it seemed longer than it was deep. As far as they were aware, it wasn't bleeding as heavily as it would have been if the centaur had ruptured an important vein. That was a small relief, but nevertheless, it had to be addressed quickly.

The cat padded around to the boy's head, looking at his face for a moment as he said, "He seems to be unconscious. You should try and clean the wound now-" Eloise hissed quietly, "Me?"

Arthur's eyes narrowed, and he responded in a hushed tone too, "Yes you. Does it look like I have hands?" He was still apparently miffed at her blatant disregard for her own life.

She looked at him with flared nostrils, "Don't you think we should find someone more, I don't know, qualified? What if I make it worse?"

Arthur snapped back, "We haven't come across anyone in the past seven hours, do you really think we'll just happen upon a doctor in the middle of these woods in the next few minutes?"

A rosy blush coloured her cheeks and ears, one that the cat took as a sign that she was at least physically okay for the most part. The woman glared at the cat but hesitantly resigned herself to the task with a worried furrow of her brow. It wasn't that she didn't want to help the boy, she was just terrified that she'd do something wrong.

Arthur knew this, and instructed calmly, "It's going to be okay. You'll have to take out the splinters and stop any bleeding that happens as you do it- just use a bit of your shirt."

She exhaled a shaky breath, trembling as she grasped one of her sleeves. After a few moments of struggling and fierce yanking, the seams tore apart and she bundled it up into a ball, dunking it into the river to wet it.

Not having the slightest clue of what she was doing, she wrung out a good slosh of water over the wound, rinsing it first before she actually touched it herself. She made sure to wash any dirt off her own hands before she began one by one, picking and removing the splinters- pressing the sleeve into the wound to stop any small bleeds that occurred.

At every small groan and whimper from the boy, she felt her heart thundering with fright- but thankfully, he didn't fully regain consciousness until much later that night.

To her utter surprise, she had been able to get a fire started. She was quite proud but kept this to herself as she sat close to the flickering embers, her back resting against a thick fallen tree trunk.

It was only small, but it provided enough warmth to keep them from freezing to death- although both she and the child were still shivering and partially wet from the afternoon's events. Arthur had been strangely quiet, and deep down she suspected he was still quite upset with her.

Though, to be quite honest, she didn't particularly care. She wasn't going to stand by and watch the child drown. What did he expect her to do? To shout instructions and hope the boy would be able to calm down enough to listen?

As she stared into the crackling flames, Arthur finally broke the silence- much like her, unable to sleep and still thinking over the day's events.

"It's been quite the day, hasn't it?" His voice was shockingly calm, and she shot him a slightly suspicious look as she hummed back, "It has."

There was a tenseness in her shoulders that she knew wouldn't leave her until she talked it out. She bit, scathingly, "I'm not going to apologize for saving his life."

From across the fire, the cat gave her a hard look, "I don't expect you to- but you can't just rush in and hope for the best in these kinds of situations, Eloise."

She couldn't believe she was being told off by a cat. "I know that, but what else was I supposed to do?"

He responded evenly, "You could have thrown him a lifeline, instead of jumping in yourself for starters."

She would have snarled that she had told him to do the exact same thing- but couldn't. Arthur's mouth was smaller than her fist- logically, anything that he'd have been able to toss at them would likely have been more of a hindrance than helpful.

Eloise grew silent, a scowl on her face as her blue gaze stared deep into the flame. Her arms crossed tightly along her chest, she brought her knees closer to herself and shook her head with bitterness.

The human could hear Arthur sigh from across the fire, but dare not raise her gaze to him. She didn't feel guilty, she thought to herself. Couldn't and wouldn't.

There was a sudden pressure against her side and she jolted violently. Arthur had padded around the fire and was now pressing his forehead into her, his ears drooped down to the ground. Silent, she took in how warm his fur felt beside her, and she begrudgingly acknowledged the real reason she knew he was angry.

He had been scared for her life.

All she could recall about the cat that she'd owned in the other world, was that he had no fur, and that his name had also been Arthur… but she couldn't remember much else aside from that. How she had come to own him, what his temperament had been like- did she play with him often? Did she love him or hate him? Did she take him places with her?

This tabby cat might have the same eyes, bore the same name but without her memories, how could she trust that what he was saying was true? It would be so easy to manipulate her in her current state, to twist her thoughts. More than anything, she was terrified that he might be lying.

It wasn't fair. She could feel him exhale a shaky breath beside her, and she wondered. What would he gain from lying? He had helped her so far- worried for her, cared for her.

The woman's glare softened to a pout. Eloise un-tucked her arms, and using one gentle motion, brought him closer to her. He allowed her to lift him up into her lap and purred softly as he pressed his muzzle into her shoulder.

She murmured gently, soothing him, "I'm sorry I made you worry."

The cat muttered back, "It's alright, you've always been like that."

"Like what?"

"Reckless. Stubborn. A pain in the rear," he chuckled.

She was ready to push him off, and bit, "Well excuse me-"

He interrupted, "And brave. You've always been bravest of them all." She grew quiet and didn't entirely know how to respond. In a way, she felt as though she could almost hear the memories in his voice. Couldn't visualise them, wondered what he was seeing, but she quite easily picked up on the fondness in his voice. Fondness for her.

She hesitantly brushed a hand through his fur, and when he didn't protest, continued to gently pet him. What brought them on, she didn't have the faintest clue, but tears were growing fast at the edge of her eyes. She quietly whimpered, "Were… did we get along? Before." Were we friends?

He pulled back, seeing her glassy eyes and he nodded. "We did. Not all the time, but…"

That was enough. She pulled him back into her chest and let out a sob, "Good." She buried her face into his fur, her face contorting into a mix of pain, sorrow and fear.

Near her ear, he spoke, "It's going to be okay Eloise. I know it might not feel like it, and it's going to be scary for you- but you've always taken good care of me. So now it's my duty to take care of you."

She held him tighter, revelling in the warmth that his fur enveloped her in, and the comfort his presence brought to her heart. A beat of silence, they endured together the cold breeze and for a moment, forgot their troubles. Eloise looked up after a moment, and the moment came to a halt.

Two bright eyes were fixed upon her with terror. She couldn't quite tell what colour they were.

She gave Arthur a small shake, and nodded toward the centaur, "I'm glad you're awake." Immediately the cat turned in her grip, and she loosened her hold. "Do you feel better?"

On his side, the boy laid with such an expression of fear that she could almost feel it coming off him in waves. The child began to tremble violently as he looked at her and the cat over- confused, yet all the same, petrified by their presence.

He did not answer her question, but both cat and human could see the tension in his body growing with each passing second.

The woman looked at him with a kind smile, but there was a hint of worry in the small wrinkles that appeared between her brows. She pushed Arthur gently out of her lap and had just gotten onto her knees, when the boy suddenly sprung to life.

In one giant motion, he'd tried to get to his feet with a combination of momentum and weight, but didn't account for any injuries or soreness. He barely made it to his wobbly knees, but he was letting out such a shrill scream of, "No get away! Please don't kill me!" Furiously he thrashed his arms and legs about, kicking the air and anything that got close.

At once they had sprung away from him. Both were shouting that it was okay, but the boy was too frightened to listen. They both felt the drop of their stomachs as his side began to bleed again.

Desperately trying to stand fully, the boy became even more distressed at his lack of strength. Eloise side-stepped to try and catch his gaze as she held her hands up, shouting at the top of her lungs, "We're not trying to hurt you! Please you'll hurt yourself!" She yelped, dodging a swift kick as the boy reared away from her, as if she were the devil himself.

It wasn't till Arthur sprang up onto her shoulder, claws digging into her to hold on firmly, that the boy caught sight of him- a talking beast. A fellow Narnian. His horse legs splayed, arms still in front of him, the centaur gaped at him wild-eyed.

Arthur was still calling to him, "We'll not harm you, please just stop moving! You're bleeding!"

The centaur child looked positively horrified, and pointed at Arthur, spitting in disgust, "B-but you're like me! A Narnian! Why are you with that Telmarine?"

Arthur and Eloise exchanged befuddled looks, and unanimously chimed, "What's a Telmarine?" They looked at the centaur for answers- but he only stared back at them in confusion.

After a stretch of silence, the boy began to give Eloise a thorough look. It was difficult to see in the darkness, so she shuffled back a few steps, toward the firelight.

With a better look at her, the tension seemed to begin to dissipate. The centaur's posture became less frightened, though bewilderment took its place. "You're… you're not a Telmarine?"

Eloise shook her head, "No, I have no idea what that is."

Arthur chipped in, "She can't be. She's from the land of Spare Oom."

It was Eloise's turn to look bewilderedly at him as she thought, the what? Arthur explained, "It's what the Narnians call your world." She formed an 'o' with her lips, quietly acknowledging this simple explanation with a nod.

The centaur hesitantly interrupted, "You're… you're from the lands of the old Kings and Queens?"

The girl turned back to him, tipping her head in a silent yes. She breathed evenly through slightly parted lips as Arthur stepped closer to the Centaur. "It's true. I swear it on Aslan's name."

The centaur looked down at him, torn between something akin to hope and disbelief. He asked the cat, "How is it possible that you've never heard of a Telmarine?"

The flickering embers cast a bright light on the centaur- his hair burning almost as fierce as the flame itself. As the cat spoke, he too shone brilliantly in the red glow, "That's a bit tricky to explain… I've- I've been away for a long time."

The boy narrowed his eyes and tilted his head at the cat, "How long?"

"The last time I was in Narnia, High King Peter had just celebrated his twenty eighth name-day."

The child spluttered, "But that would mean- you would have to be over a thousand years old if that were true!"

Arthur blanched at this suggestion, "What?" The fur on his neck rose in shock.

The centaur explained, his long horse ears pinned to the sides of his head, "The time of High King Peter- we call it the Golden Age. That was over a thousand years ago. You can't have been alive then. You'd be ancient!"

Arthur slumped onto his hind legs- muttering, "A thousand years. A thousand years!"

Concerned for her friend, Eloise lowered herself to the ground, resting her knees into the sand as she stretched out a hand and rested it on the tabby's shoulders. The cat continued to mutter that singular number over and over as if he couldn't quite wrap his head around it.

The human, however, had other thoughts on her mind. If it had been a thousand years, then what had happened to the Kings and Queens? Were they dead? And who were the Telmarines?

The girl looked up, into the wide eyes of the boy. Neither of them seemed to know what to say or do. She glanced down at his wound, eying the trickle of blood. From her jean pocket, she took out the sleeve she'd used before and offered it to him. "Here please, use this to stop the bleeding."

He hesitated, but after a minute of holding it out, he took it from her fingertips- careful to not even slightly brush hands. As he pressed the fabric into his side, from below her she realised Arthur had gone terribly quiet.

Tilting her head, she ran a hand softly over his forehead. She had an idea of what he was thinking, and as he turned his chin up to look at her, he whimpered, "Eloise my… my family they're… they're gone then. A thousand years…"

If she hadn't believed he was her cat before- she did now. Banishing all doubts she ever had of him, Eloise reached under his arms and lifted him to her chest to hold him tight. She curled her shoulders around him, sheltering him as he continued to airily repeat those few words. A thousand years.

She looked back at the boy, but didn't once lessen her grip on her cat. A part of her wished he'd take his words back, but she couldn't be angry with him- for he too looked to be a mess of emotions.

The girl thought back to Arthur's first words to her. I'll fix this.

She didn't even know what family Arthur had, but she wished, more than anything that she could have said those words back to him. That she could restore whatever it was he'd lost.

"It's late," She breathed. "We-we'll sort this out in the morning."

Arthur had no words left to respond to her with. The Centaur took a little convincing on Eloise's part before she could reassure him that she wouldn't hurt any Narnian- including himself. He seemed too tired to continue fighting and agreed to stay, but a part of her feared that she'd wake up and he'd be gone.

There wasn't much she could do if he did decide to run off; so balancing her cat in one arm, she silently fed the fire a few more branches before settling down for the night. As she lay down, resting her head on her curved arm with Arthur tucked tightly against her, she spoke softly across the distance to where the boy was hesitantly sliding back down into the sand. "Um… Just so you know, my name is Eloise."

Through the flickering embers, she could see the boy hesitate before she heard him reply, "I... I'm Lightning Bolt."

She sent him a wide, yet pained smile, "It's nice to meet you Lightning Bolt." An interesting name, she thought.

Lightning Bolt didn't respond, and it wasn't till hours later- after he was sure that both the strange human and cat had fallen into deep slumbers of their own- that he too closed his eyes and slept.

Nice big old chapter for my lovely readers! This one is over 4,500 words! I'm quite proud of it actually. :D

I deliver this to you now because I'm unsure if I'll be updating in the next week or two. It's my 21st birthday next weekend, and I want to focus on getting as much of my studies finished as I can beforehand. I have a bunch of assignments due the next week, so I'm going to be quite busy!

I have to say though, I've more than revived my love for this story. I've re-written the outline, and I've planned for almost 60 chapters ahead but I still haven't yet reached the conclusion- thus I announce that this story is now going to span over two books! How exciting. :D

Onto reviews...
A guest called B: I'm glad you found the last chapter intriguing! I hope this one was just as interesting. :D Thank you so much for the review 3

FantasticLoser: Thank you so much! I'm so happy you enjoy my writing and I hope you enjoyed this chapter too! 3

I can't wait to see you all in the next chapter. Let me know what you think of this one! Our poor Lightning Bolt's had a rough day. T-T