A/N: This is written with the NFFR Autumn Challenge in mind. No, it isn't complete - I'm awfully sorry about that because I usually like to finish a story completely before posting. I do know this will be finished sooner or later, just not right away as I am rather busy with other stories.
Also, I am aware that usually people talk about King's Heirs. No, I have not made a mistake with the title. It is Airs, not Heirs, on purpose. I also make a vague reference later on, and there is no spelling mistake. It really is airs.
Stephan Lane was feeling awfully impatient today. Normally after mass he would walk home with his mother and sister, and they would eat luncheon and then he and Carolyn would go out in the yard and play for the afternoon, or at least until Mother called them in. But today wasn't like that at all. Today, Mother had decided to speak with the pastor, and Stephan had to sit on the pew while he waited with nothing at all to do. Carolyn wasn't doing much, either, simply smoothing out her dress and humming to herself and occasionally telling Stephan to stop fidgeting.
"It really is getting annoying," she added, after the fourth time she had said this. Stephan was getting quite fed up with her at that point, and so promptly began kicking his legs back and forth out of spite.
Thump, thump, went the sound of his heels hitting the base of the pew.
"Stop that!" Carolyn hissed, and she glanced around nervously to see if any adults were looking their way. None were, for the only adults near them were Mother and the pastor, who were by now very deep in conversation. Mother was explaining to the pastor everything that had befallen the family since Father had – no! Don't think of that!
Stephan had paid her no mind and went on swinging his legs. Thump, thump.
"Stephan!" she hissed, a little louder this time.
Although he knew it was rather naughty, especially in church, Stephan stuck his tongue out at her. She frowned, and scooted over on the wooden seat to distance herself from her unruly brother.
Stephan paused, but only for a moment before he scooted to the side so he once again sat beside his sister. Thump, thump, went his feet.
Again, Carolyn slid to the side; again, Stephan followed her. She closed her eyes, waiting in resignation for the thumping to start again, but instead came a rather scratchy, bristly sort of sound, followed by her brother's wordless exclamation.
She felt rather than heard him slide from the pew, and when she opened her eyes, he was already on the floor, peering beneath the bench with interest.
"Whatever are you doing?"
He looked up at her raised whisper, eyes serious and curious at the same time, and muttered, "Someone's gone and stuffed a bush under here."
It didn't make any sense at all, for the pews were built with panels between the legs so no one could stick anything underneath, but when Carolyn kicked her own feet cautiously back, she too felt bristly branches.
Glancing cautiously at Mother, who was still engaged in conversation, Carolyn slid to the ground. Stephan was right – there was a whole, green bush stuffed under the pew, looking for all the world like something she might find in a forest.
"I say! There's a bit of space to crawl through!" Stephan exclaimed, and before Carolyn could stop him, he disappeared through a gap in the branches.
She glanced once more at Mother. Well, Carolyn would only be down there a minute, and would be sitting with Stephan in their proper places before Mother even noticed they had moved.
.
Stephan had never been more delighted in his life. He had crawled under the pew expecting to immerge in the row behind him, but had somehow found his way into a forest instead.
Behind him came the sounds of scrabbling, and Stephan turned to see Carolyn crawl out from beneath the bush. For a moment, her face was pinched tight with decisiveness, but then she saw where they were, and her mouth dropped open in astonishment.
"Stephan," she whispered with wide eyes, "Where are we?"
He thought with a bit of impatience that of course he did not know any more than she did, but it seemed that she had not been expecting an answer. She scrambled to her feet, pausing to free the clinging clumps of dirt from her skirt – just like a girl! – and came over to stand close beside him.
"How did we get here?" she asked in that same whisper, and Stephan reflected that this was another particularly useless question.
"I suppose by crawling under the pew," he answered anyway, and Carolyn said immediately, "But was it magic?"
Magic. It certainly did seem to be, and Stephan didn't know what to say. Both stood there in silence for a moment or two, before Carolyn pointed. "What do you suppose that is?"
What she was referring to was an upright pole, black against the varied browns of the tree trunks. Without waiting for an answer, Carolyn began stumbling through the undergrowth, all the while pulling on her brother's hand, until they stood in a sort of clearing looking up at a lamppost.
"What a curious thing," Carolyn murmured, pushing the curls from her face. Stephan reflected rather grumpily that she was doing a lot of talking, and besides, how had she taken charge? This was his discovery, after all.
"I suppose it was put here by accident," he said airily. "People ought to pay more attention to what they are doing, you know."
"That they should," answered a sleepy voice, and both children whirled about to see a hedgehog walk out of the undergrowth on its hind legs. "And you could call it an accident, I suppose."
"Who – who are you?" Stephan asked shakily. Now that a strange creature had appeared, Carolyn seemed unable to talk.
"My name is Hedgequill," sighed the hedgehog. "Not a very original name, I fear, for my parents were not very creative with names. Still, I daresay I got better than my brothers."
Carolyn's grip loosened on Stephan's hand. "What were their names?"
"Hogworth and Pine," the hedgehog replied. He squinted at the children, rubbed his eyes, and squinted again. "Pardon me for asking," he said, "but are you the king's heirs?"
"The king's airs?" Stephan repeated in confusion. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"I'm afraid we don't know what you're talking about," Carolyn added, "But we don't know any kings."
Hedgequill did not appear to be much bothered by this, saying only, "You aren't from Archenland or the Western Wild?"
"I've never even heard of those places," Carolyn answered. "We crawled under a pew and found ourselves here."
The hedgehog scratched his quills thoughtfully for a moment, before remarking, "Well, that must mean you're them. We'll have to notify the king at once. Russko!"
The children looked around in confusion, for they had not seen anyone else nearby, but at the hedgehog's call a man with skin like bark stepped out of a nearby tree. He wore very little in way of clothiers, just a few leaves in the places he needed them most, and his hair was very wild, as though a bird had made a nest out of it. He had no beard, and his most startling feature was his eyes, which felt as though they could look right through you.
"Hedgequill," greeted the man – if it were a man at all. His voice was very raspy, like paper rubbing together. "What is it you want?"
"The king must be notified that his heirs have arrived," the hedgehog explained. "I'll be bringing them, but it may take some time to travel so far."
"I shall tell the king you come," the man replied, and then he melted into the trees and was gone.
Both children were rather disconcerted over the sudden disappearance, but Hedgequill did not seem fazed by it at all. "Come along," he said, gesturing to the children. "We have quite a lot of distance to cover before nightfall, and I can't walk nearly as fast as you!"
Up until this moment, neither Stephan nor Carolyn had spared a thought for the world they had left behind, but all at once it occurred to them that Mother must be wondering where they had gone.
"Oh, but we really must be getting back," Carolyn said, her face white with anxiety.
Hedgequill frowned. "But you can't," he said unhappily. "You're the king's heirs. You've been brought here for a reason."
"But Mother will be worried," Carolyn murmured.
Stephan looked uneasily between the hedgehog and his sister before saying, "Perhaps we could have just a little look around before going back. I mean, surely it won't do much harm to be gone a few more minutes."
Carolyn glanced worriedly back the way the way they had come, as though expecting to see her mother beckoning in the distance, but of course all that could be seen was endless amounts of trees. So she sighed and gave in – she also wanted to see more of this strange place, although she did not say so – and the three of them began their journey.
After they began walking, it seemed that there was something inside them that never wanted to stop. All the while, Hedgequill would point out plant life that neither child had seen before, filling their heads with strange names and images. Occasionally, he would gesture to a bush where an animal lay hidden. Other times, Hedgequill would call out a greeting to the animals, who would answer back with words.
"Do all animals talk?" Carolyn asked as she watched a badger go on his way.
Hedgequill shook his head. "No, no, Aslan didn't see fit to give all the animals speech."
The hedgehog had already mentioned the name of Aslan several times, but whenever the children tried to find out who he was, the only answer they would receive was, "You'll find out soon enough. First thing is to get you there." He never said where exactly they were going, although the children gathered it was to meet the king.
"How do you know which animals can speak?" Carolyn asked. "Surely there's a way you can tell."
"It would be jolly funny if you spoke to a dumb beast," Stephan remarked, "and then went on and on waiting for them to speak back!"
Hedgequill shot Stephan a wry look while Carolyn covered her mouth to stop the giggles. "We talking beasts," he declared, "are all bigger than our dumb counterparts. Save for those big animals – they're smaller. Besides, there's a look of intelligence about us."
Carolyn had to admit he was right. Although she hadn't really noticed before, Hedgequill was much larger than any hedgehog she had seen at home.
Home, she thought with a start. They must have been walking for hours already. It felt so surreal to be walking through a forest with a talking hedgehog that she had quite forgotten the time. "We should probably start heading back now," she began, but at that moment Stephan spotted a stoat, and by the time they finished looking at it – it was not a talking stoat – Carolyn had quite forgotten about home again.
In a side-note, I have been nominated for the 2009 Narnian FanFiction Revolution Awards. I'm up for two catagories: Best New Author, and my story Fantasies is up for Best One-Shot. The link to the ballots are on my profile. Please come vote, and thank you for your support of the 2009 NFFR Awards!
Also, thanks to everyone who nominated me. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I feel quite humbled indeed.