The Lost Queen
by the Lady of the Mists
Chapter Six: Reaching the Camp
At Peter's proclamation, the group didn't waste any time in racing through the forest, heading faster than ever for the river that separated them from Aslan's camp, where lay the one hope of getting Edmund back. Anna stared down at the river, which was rapidly melting. The ice was breaking apart as they stared down at it, leaving only a little bit of space left of ice and the frozen waterfall. They didn't have very long.
"We have to cross, now!" Peter ordered as he started to climb down the side of the river, down to the ice.
Lucy looked towards the Beavers eagerly. "Don't beavers make dams?" she asked them.
"I'm not that fast, dear," Beaver answered as he hurried down with his wife to check the ice to make sure that it would hold.
"Peter's right, if we're going to cross, it has to be now, before it breaks completely," Anna said as she helped Lucy climb down to where Peter was waiting to help the girls.
"Wait!" Susan protested. Anna looked up at the eldest sister. "Maybe we should think about this for a minute!"
"We don't have a minute!"
"I'm just trying to be realistic," Susan said sharply to Peter, who glared at her furiously.
"No, you're trying to be smart," he shot back. "As usual." Despite his harsh words, he helped her climb down as Lucy and Anna reached the bottom of the river, looking for a safe way to cross. Anna jumped back when a bit of water gushed up in between to broken pieces and Beaver held her back.
"Maybe I should go first," he suggested, moving cautiously across the frozen river, checking for weaknesses. As the ice slowly sinks underneath him, his wife's eyes narrowed.
"You've been sneaking second helping, haven't you?" she accused him and he chuckled weakly.
"Well, you never know which meal's going to be your last," he pointed out, "especially with your cooking." Anna would've smiled if she hadn't been too worried about crossing the river . . . and praying that the ice wouldn't break before she got to the other side.
Because if it did, then she was going to be in very big trouble, she thought as she cautiously followed Peter and Lucy across the river. "This would be a very bad time to mention that I can't swim, wouldn't it?" she asked anxiously and Peter threw her a panicked look at her words.
"I thought your dad taught you!"
"He was going to, but then he went off to war and it wasn't like Mum was going to pay for lessons for me to learn!" Anna pointed out. Peter sighed as he pulled her closer, worry crossing his face as they moved closer and closer to the other side. They were almost there . . .
"Oh, no!" Lucy cried out, pointing towards the top of the waterfall. Anna looked up and saw the same pack of wolves that had nearly cornered them the previous night racing across the top.
"RUN!" Peter yelled and ignoring the danger of racing across the broken ice, they ran as fast as they could to get away from the wolves and to safety. But the wolves were faster, reaching the other side and blocking their path. Anna turned around to see if they could get back, but there were wolves there as well.
They were trapped.
Beaver snarled at one of the wolves, who attacked and held him by the throat. Lucy screamed when she saw their friend in trouble and Peter drew his sword, holding it defensively in front of him.
"Put that down, boy," Maugrim suggested as he walked closer to the four humans that stood close together. "Someone could get hurt. Leave now while you can . . . and your brother leaves with you."
"Do you honestly think we're just going to believe you?" Anna snapped at him, taking out her own sword and gripping it tightly at her side. "Is there anyone who would believe the word of someone who works for a tyrant?" Her blue eyes glittered dangerously.
Maugrim snarled at her, but Susan stopped both Anna and Peter. "Stop, maybe we should listen to him!"
"Smart girl," Maugrim commented as he looked towards Susan, chuckling menacingly.
"Don't listen to him!" Beaver shouted from where he was being held by the throat by a wolf. He had been shouting at Peter to kill Maugrim for a few moments now.
"This isn't your war," Maugrim said calmly. "All my queen wants is for you to take your family and go."
Susan turned to Peter, her eyes blazing. "Look, just because some man in a red coat hands you a sword, it doesn't make you a hero!" she exclaimed. "Just drop it!" Peter ignored his sister, the sword trembling slightly as he held it, but he didn't yield.
"Don't, Peter!" Beaver yelled. "Narnia needs you!" Anna moved her sword threateningly towards a wolf as he tried to move closer and attack, her blue eyes narrowed dangerously.
"What's it going to be, son of Adam?" Maugrim asked as he walked even closer to them. "I won't wait forever. And neither will the river," he added, looking around at the melting river. The bright blue river was growing even bigger and the ice patch that they were on even smaller.
"PETER!" Lucy shrieked and he looked up to see water spraying out from behind the frozen waterfall. It was about to crack, Anna realised with growing horror, her heart nearly stopping as Peter made his decision.
Plunging his sword into the ice, he yelled towards them, "Hold on to me!" Anna shoved her sword back into the scabbard and ran to him just as the waterfall broke, sending hundreds upon hundreds of buckets of water onto the four humans, two beavers, and pack of wolves.
The icy water seemed to plunge right through her, feeling as though she couldn't move or even think. She was having trouble hold on to Peter's coat as they rose through the water and she gasped for breath, struggling to pull herself onto the ice patch with the water feeling like knives stabbing all over her body, pricking every part of her.
"Anna, hold on!" Peter shouted in her ear, trying to hoist her up. Anna struggled to grab on, but her body was numb. "Don't you dare let go!"
He sounded scared, even terrified, but she had to be delirious. Peter couldn't be afraid. He was Peter, strong and brave and kind . . . he was everything to her, the one thing in her world that made the most sense to her, that she cared about most in any world. He was so strong and brave, why would he be afraid?
"Please, hold on!" Peter screamed at her, pulling her back into her senses. "Anna, don't you dare let go! Just let go of me with one hand and grab the sword, please!" He sounded desperate.
Anna obeyed, managing to grab hold of the sword, pulling herself up. But at the same time that she managed to get onto the icy patch, her leg was grabbed by a tree branch in the river. "Peter!" she screamed just as she was torn off of the ice patch, pulling her underneath the river, her leg caught by something.
She heard Peter scream her name as she went under and she felt her head get hit by something hard. It was getting hard to breathe, she thought dimly as everything went dark . . .
--
"Come on, Anna, breathe!"
Her first coherent thought was that someone was kissing her. She felt someone pressing hard on her chest before forcing air into her lungs, pinching her nostrils tight. What was going on? she thought as she suddenly became aware of how her air passage was blocked by water.
With a gasp, she choked on the water, turning on her side to spit it back out, gasping for breath as she felt herself being yanked up, pulled into someone's lap, her red hair being brushed out of her face.
"Peter?" she whispered, struggling to pull him into view. He nodded, tears of relief flooding in his face as he pulled her up, drawing her into his arms and burying his head into her hair, kissing it gently. She buried her head into his chest, gripping his coat tightly as they clung to each other. "What happened?" she whispered.
"You got pulled under the water," Susan said, who was standing nearby with a terrified Lucy, comforting her sister gently. "You must've hit your head on something, because you were unconscious when Peter found you and you weren't breathing . . . Peter had to do CPR."
Anna looked at her best friend, who had now pulled away from her enough to look at her properly. "Thanks for saving my life," she said, shivering slightly, but it was slightly warmer than it had been before.
"Don't worry about it," he said, his voice sounding choked and breathless. "I'm just glad that you're okay." He stroked her hair and she revelled in the feeling before he helped her to her feet. "Take it easy, though. You almost died." His voice trembled at the thought as he walked with her, his hand gripping her arm to make sure she didn't fall.
"Come on, children," Beaver said, cheerfully now that they knew that Anna was all right, that she was safe and well. "We're almost there now. The worst of it is over."
"And I don't think you're going to be needing those coats for very much longer," his wife added, pointing up ahead. Anna looked and saw that there were flowers starting to bloom. The snow was melting and trees were turning into a bright green. Spring, at long last, had come to Narnia.
They walked through the forest as spring slowly started to bloom and eventually, they did indeed shed the coats and even the sweaters that they'd been wearing back in England, which felt like a lifetime ago. Anna knew she wasn't the same person that she'd back then. In just a few days, they had changed from the people that they'd been there.
Peter looked at her as they passed through the forest, his expression concerned. "Are you sure that you're all right?" he asked her, his hand still on her arm, but his face was slightly red, she noticed with some puzzlement. Why was his face red like that?
"I'm fine," she assured him. "Just a bit tired. Could use with some sleep and a decent meal."
"I think we could all use that," Peter admitted, "but you almost . . . you almost died, Anna." His voice trembled and he pulled her against him, gripping her tightly. "I almost lost you."
Looking up at her best friend, surprised by the tears she found in his eyes, Anna reached up and brushed her finger against the unshed tear. "I'm not going anywhere," she told him. "I promise you, Peter, you're not going to lose me. Ever," she added more firmly when he didn't look convinced. "Come on, let's go catch up with the others."
Peter nodded once, but he took her hand, his hand slipping into hers possessively and she felt herself blushing when he did this, but didn't let go as they walked up ahead with the others, finding the first sights of tents and other creatures of Narnia.
They heard a horn sound as they approached, as it were announcing their arrival, and Anna looked around as she saw animals and creatures she thought only existed in her fairy tale book.
Centaurs . . . dryads . . . nymphs . . . fauns . . . satyrs . . . naiads . . . every creature that had ever been invented by the human imagination now stood before them, their eyes travelling as they passed through the camp and as Anna glanced behind them, she noticed that they were being followed by a lot, if not all, of them.
"Why are they all staring at us?" Susan whispered as they continued to walk with the Beavers. Peter's hand was still wrapped around Anna's hand, refusing to let go.
"Maybe they think you look funny," Lucy said teasingly. Anna laughed as they, at long last, reached the front of the camp, where a male centaur with a black horse-body and hair.
Peter reluctantly let go of Anna's hand as he pulled out his sword, saluting the centaur. "We have come to see Aslan," he announced in a voice that was unlike the Peter that she had known her entire life. No, instead it sounded more like the king that everyone here believed that he was. And one day would become, she thought with a smile.
The centaur looked towards the tent and as one, the group that crowded them knelt in respect to their King, silence falling over the camp.
Anna looked to the tent and the door flapped open, revealing a feline paw before a huge, golden lion stepped out into the light, looking down at the four humans that had journeyed so far to see him.
At once, Anna knew that this had to be Aslan. Her friends came to the same decision as they knelt as one before the great lion.
"Welcome, Peter, son of Adam," Aslan said in a deep, rumbling voice. "Welcome, Susan, Lucy, and Anna, daughters of Eve. And welcome to you, Beavers. You have my thanks. But where is the fifth?" he asked, looking at them questioningly.