Chapter Two: Flow of Time

Years passed in Narnia. At first one was indistinguishable from the next as the White Witch's Winter raged on, so that no one could have told exactly how many had elapsed. Then one day Daskor, grown quite plump now on the Witch's food, was driving her through the snowy woods when they came upon a Son of Adam.

It was the beginning of the end for the Witch, though she refused to accept her defeat and dared to believe even that she could emerge the victor against Aslan, the Great Lion himself.

But it was he who was victorious, not only over the Witch, but even over Death itself. And with his coming all Narnia sprang to life in glorious Spring once more.

Time that had once seemed to drag in Narnia now flew by. Even the winter was a thing of beauty, of sparkling icy woods and snow dances in the clearings. And with the changing of the seasons, years could be counted accurately once more.

But not for the three dwarves and a rabbit who still stood as statues in what had once been their home. Time for them had no meaning, nor had anything else; they were as cold and dead as if they had truly been hewn from the rock instead of once being living flesh.

But though they were not aware of it, the changes made by time's passing were to have an effect even on them.

Little by little, with the freezing and thawing of the seasons, a crack in the ceiling of their cave home began to grow wider. Wise in the ways of mining, had they been conscious they would first have spoken of it worriedly, then in a year or so taken steps to shore it up; perhaps in due course even moved to some safer home. But now they were in no condition to take such precautions, and eventually the whole front half of the ceiling gave way, pouring down on the three statues.

The floor had always sloped slightly toward the back; now the whole mass of rubble tumbled in an avalanche toward the far wall. And there, where the rock had been weakened by seasons now of rain and meltwater flowing through, a Crack opened and swallowed up the four statues.

oOo

It could not be said that Sonnagan opened his eyes, for his eyes were made of stone and would neither open nor shut. But the sensation was of opening his eyes, as for the first time he saw a patch of blue sky above him. Dimly he remembered the Witch accusing the rabbit of being a spy, then waving her wand and turning them all to stone. Only a moment ago, it seemed to him, but the absence of snow proved that some time had passed. And the trees above had green leaves on their branches; could it be that Spring had come to Narnia at last? If the Witch was losing her hold, perhaps that explained why he could now think and see and feel and hear.

He wondered that he no longer seemed to be in the cave, but did not guess that he had fallen right out of Narnia; that while even the Witch's death did not break the power of her spell without the action of a greater power, it was less here in the World of Men.

But whether it came because of Spring or because he was out of Narnia, he soon came to realize it was not the blessing he had first thought.

He could use his mind and senses, yes, but he was still made of stone; he could not move, or attempt to communicate with the other three. He could only stare up at the same patch of blue sky, or stars if it happened to be night. Only once in a while a bird flew overhead to break the monotony.

When it rained, the water ran into his nose and made him want to sneeze, and he found himself wishing he could catch cold if only for a change. The thought even crept into his mind that if the Witch won, perhaps he would be returned to that state of absolute nothingness, but he banished it quickly; he was not so selfish as to wish a return of Winter on all of Narnia simply to ease his own boredom.

He lost count of the days and nights that passed with a slow tedium that robbed all the joy from a beautiful spring. And then one day he heard the faint sound of humming as someone came through the forest.

Next chapter coming next week!

I proofread all my stories at least once before posting, but if you see any mistakes I might have missed, please let me know! (Note that this story is formatted using British spellings.)

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