Whew! It's been a while since I've updated this one! So sorry for the wait! This is a pretty long update, so hopefully that makes up for it. :) Anyways, thanks for reading, and enjoy! :) :)

Chapter Five: The World Without Winter

We were so stunned we could barely even breathe. He stood in front of us, the wind gently tossing his golden mane, a calm warmth radiating from his face. And his eyes...

So gentle. So forgiving.

"Welcome, children," he said, his deep, rich voice humming with comfort. "Rhydian, Geraint, and Renn." He nodded to each of us in turn.

A lone howl drifted into the night, and a little gasp escaped my lips as I anxiously whipped around to see where it had come from.

"You've no need to fear, child," Aslan soothed. "You and your brothers are safe now."

I smiled down at the ground, words dashed from my mouth. As the Lion continued to speak, the icy tension that gripped my heart began to melt away like the snow around his feet.

The snow is melting?

Hardly able to believe my eyes, I watched as he softly padded up and down the riverbank in front of us, leaving a trail of soft paw prints in the snow.

None of the others can do that, I thought, looking back and forth between the Fauns and the Centaur that stood by Aslan's side. For some reason, it made me laugh, the prospect of a world without snow. Simply because I had not yet seen one. The idea was... outlandish. Foreign.

And yet, it was oddly liberating. Exciting.

My child's imagination reeled. What would the world be like without snow or ice or sleet? What did the trees look like in spring? Or the ground? Was grass green like an apple or like an ice sickle-encrusted pine tree? What about the streams, with no sheets of ice to hold their waters in place? What would they look like? What would they sound like?

What about the river?

Or the Witch's house?

It was made of ice...

The idea of it melting to the ground was so strange, so absurd, that I had to fight to keep from giggling out loud. What a sight that would be!

I felt an arm wrap around my waist, pulling me out of my thoughts and onto my feet.

"Goodness," Geraint laughed. "So stunned you can't even hear me calling to you, can you?"

"What?" I stared dumbly back at him, embarrassed for having drifted away like I had.

"Rhydian's gone to talk with Aslan. There's a guard posted on the bank, and we're to stay here in sight of it until he gets back."

"Why has he gone?" I asked.

Geraint sighed. "You know the reason why we left, don't you?"

"Of course I do," I replied. "Because you and Rhydian are crazy."

Geraint chuckled. "Well, there's a thought," he smiled down at me. His eyes drifted to the tree line, and his face grew more solemn. "But that's not all. You see... that Dwarf that the Witch turned to stone the night we left... Rhydian snuck down to the dungeon a few nights beforehand and had a word with him. And once the Dwarf learned we were bent on getting out, he told us about Aslan's camp here." He sighed. "Long story short, Renn... Rhydian and I want to fight for him. The Witch's rule has only grown more oppressive as time has gone by. We kept much of it from you because we didn't want to frighten you... but you've seen enough over the past few days to get the picture."

My stomach clenched. "Is that where all those statues in the courtyard came from?"

Silently, Geraint nodded. "Those are the ones that dared to stand up to her," he said quietly. "And it very well might have been your brothers if we didn't get out in time. We... we may or may not have helped a few of the prisoners escape... We... we didn't get to the Dwarf in time, but a few managed to get out."

My brow furrowed.

"She was on to us, Renn. She had been for a while. She knew exactly what we were up to. And once we realized that... we knew we had to get out. And we weren't about to leave you behind... so we brought you with us."

"But... I can't really do anything," I said. "I'm too small. And I'm a girl."

Geraint smiled. "Almost all of the Centaur archers are girls, I've noticed. One of our guards is. You're smart, and you're fast. We could teach you to fight."

I laughed outright. "Me? Fight? If I tried to lift a sword, I would probably topple over with it!"

"The we could teach you to shoot. Or throw knives. Or something. And at the very least... you could help out around camp. Fix armor, sharpen tools, stuff like that. You could even help with the wounded, if you wanted. There's more ways to fight than just fighting, you know."

I nodded.

"And besides," Geraint grinned. "You should have seen Rhydian try to lift that Minotaur's sword in the armory. He barely even got it off the ground, and you know how strong he is. Dropped it on his toe."

I snickered.

"In my defense, you couldn't move it," Rhydian retorted. "At all."

Geraint laughed. "Ears burning, brother?"

"Only a little."

"What did he say?" I asked. "Aslan."

Rhydian sank to a knee. "He's told me that we are welcome to stay with them. He also said it may take some time for the others to warm up to us, given our parentage and all, but we're not to despair. He trusts the accounts I've given him." He motioned to the Centaur general standing beside Aslan. "Oreius, however, is going to need some coaxing."

I glanced at the stern-faced Centaur, who hovered close by like an ominous black storm cloud. His watchful eyes never left us once, even as he spoke to the Lion on his left. It was glaringly obvious that he didn't trust us, and frankly, I wasn't sure I trusted him, either.

"Come on," Rhydian said, hoisting me onto his back. "They're heading back to camp now."

For what seemed like hours, we pushed through the forest until we reached a clearing. A warm breeze drifted into our faces as we crossed a large field and neared the camp, a dotted cluster of tents that sat on the horizon. The sun peaked out over the tops of the cliffs, the sky purpling with its presence. Resting my head on Rhydian's shoulder, I began to doze off.

Suddenly Rhydian stopped.

"What is it?" I yawned.

"It's melting!" Rhydian exclaimed, his head angled towards the ground. "Look!" he grinned, pointing. "You can see the grass!"

My eyes popped. Sure enough, a few blades of grass were visible in the morning light. I smiled. It looked like a clustering of pine needles, but the blades were wider and flatter and a brighter shade of green. And the closer to camp we got, the more of it we saw.

Once we were in the deep of the camp, we kept walking. Rhydian's pace quickened as he neared the cliffside, and I could see his cheeks rising into a bright smile.

"Hop down, Renn," he said. "I want to show you something."

I slid off his back, and he grabbed my hand and stood me in front of him.

"Look," he said softly.

I squinted into the new sunlight, gasping as my eyes adjusted and took in the view. A long, white beach stretched into the horizon, white-stone cliffs towering up from the sand, basking in the morning sun. The sea sparkled, glittering like a thousand polished diamonds in the sunlight, and a new sound, the distant crashing of the waves onto the beach, drifted to my ears.

"See that?" Rhydian said, pointing at the top of the cliffside.

I followed his finger to where it was pointing and lost my breath. A beautiful, white-stone castle shone like a second sun on the horizon, the glass on the walls changing color as the light hit it. I nodded.

"That is Cair Paravel," Rhydian explained, almost wistful as he spoke. "One of the things Mother fears and hates most in this world."

I looked up at him, my brow creasing.

"There are four seats in that throne room of that castle, Renn," he continued. "For two Sons of Adam, and two Daughters of Eve."

"Humans?" I asked. "In Narnia?"

"Yes. Eventually. There's a prophesy about it. I can't remember exactly how it goes, but it tells of these Sons and Daughters of Adam and Eve leading us into battle against the White Witch. They'll help us defeat her, Renn. And we'll have peace again."

"No more winter?"

Rhydian smiled. "That's right. We'll have all four seasons, like Father used to talk about. Oh! And Christmas, whatever that is."

I sighed. "It all sounds so wonderful."

Rhydian nodded. "We'll be free, Renn. We've never been in a world where we were. This prophesy, Aslan, Cair Paravel... That's why we're here. That's our salvation."

He paused, laying both of his hands on my little shoulders.

"That's what we're fighting for."