Disclaimer: I own nothing of Narnia, none of the characters, none of the ideas, none of the places, none of the anything. The only thing I own is my OC. Everything else is the property of the estate of CS Lewis.
Anonymous Review Replies:
Hpjedi1 - I'm very glad you're enjoying the story! Thanks for your review.
pygmypuff - Thank you for your review. It's so nice to hear that I'm not totally failing at trying to keep the dialogue appropriate for the geographic area. I'm glad you like the pacing, and rest assured that there will be lots more character development before the romance occurs.
Imagination, Reality and the Space Between
Chapter Six: The Beavers
After dinner, which had been a lovely affair, all seven of the occupants in the small house (or small for the humans in the group) sat back with a cup of tea. Even the lovely food hadn't banished the thoughts about what they were going to do about Mr. Tumnus. Finally with cups in hand, the subject was broached a third time.
"Please, what happened to Mr. Tumnus?" Lucy asked, quite ready to have an answer to that particular question.
Mr. Beaver sipped his tea before responding. "They'll have taken him to the Witch's House. And you know what they say – there's few who go through them gates that come out again. They say that castle is full of statues, statues of people she's turned to stone."
"Isn't there anything we can do to help him?" Peter asked.
The awkward silence that followed indicated that there was little they could do.
"But there is hope, dear. Lots of hope." Mrs. Beaver said reassuringly, placing a paw on Lucy's arm.
Mr. Beaver corrected her quickly. "Oh yeah, there's a right bit more than hope." He said vigorously before dropping his voice an octave. "Aslan is on the move."
The name itself conjured up a well of feelings in each of the children, but they had little knowledge of what it meant. Marilyn furrowed her brow in thought, as along with a general feeling like when you drink tea when you're ill or laying on the lawn in the middle of a nice summer day, the name conjured up the feeling that she had forgotten something.
"Who's Aslan?" Susan asked.
Mr. Beaver blinked in disbelief, before laughing as if the question had been a joke. Only when Mrs. Beaver nudged him with her elbow did he stop and take a look at their faces. Nearly all showed genuine curiosity, except for Marilyn's which was stuck in a look of confusion and annoyance.
"Something wrong?" he asked her.
"Well, yes and no… That name makes me feel as if I've forgotten something important, but I have no idea what." She said.
Mr. Beaver shrugged. "Aslan is the Lord of the wood, and the king." Mr. Beaver said.
"But – couldn't the Witch turn Aslan to stone too?" Edmund asked from where he was sitting on the small staircase behind the table.
Mr. Beaver laughed again. "Turn him to stone? The Witch probably couldn't even stand on her own two feet and look him in the face. At least, it'd be more than I'd expect of her. No, Aslan will put all to rights as it says in an old rhyme in these parts:
"Wrong will be right, when Aslan comes in sight,
At the sound of his roar, sorrows will be no more,
When he bares his teeth, winter meets its death,
And when he shakes his mane, we shall have spring again."
Though Marilyn was not completely focused on the conversation at hand as she was rather annoyed that she couldn't remember what she knew she had forgotten, she did hear 'When he shakes his mane…' out of the rhyme.
"Wait, just a moment." She said. "Is Aslan a man?"
Mr. Beaver turned a quizzical eye on her. "Of course he's not a man. He's the King of the wood and the son of the Emperor-beyond-the-Sea. Aslan is a lion – the Lion, the great Lion."
Marilyn looked at him blankly for a moment. Then it dawned on her that THAT had been what she had forgotten. "That was what I couldn't remember!" She said in a rather excited voice. "Aslan is the lion in the story!"
"A lion?" said Susan. "I'd been thinking he was a man. Is… is he quite safe?"
"If there's anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they're either braver than most or else just silly." Mrs. Beaver said simply.
"So he isn't safe then?" asked Lucy.
"Safe?" said Mr. Beaver in an incredulous voice. "'Course he isn't safe. But he is good. He's the King, I tell you."
Mrs. Beaver nodded. "You'll understand when you see him."
"But shall we? See him that is…" asked Susan.
Mr. Beaver nodded. "Of course you will. I'm going to take you to him. He's waiting for you near the Stone Table."
"He's waiting for us?" Lucy said haltingly.
"You're blooming joking. You must know about the prophecy." Mr. Beaver said.
"We don't know any prophecies at all." Susan said. When given a questioning look by Mr Beaver, Marilyn shook her head negatively.
Mr. Beaver sighed in resignation. "Look. Aslan's return, Tumnus' arrest, the secret police… It's all happening because of you."
"You're blaming us?" Susan asked indignantly.
"No! Not blaming. Thanking you." Mrs. Beaver said.
Mr Beaver nodded. "There's a prophecy:
"When Adam's Flesh and Adam's Bone
Sits at Cair Paravel in throne
The evil time will be over and done."
"You know, that doesn't really rhyme…" Susan said, earning herself an unnoticed rolling of Peter's eyes in her general direction.
"Yeah, I know it don't, but you're kinda missing the point." Mr. Beaver said, getting a bit worked up.
"But isn't the Witch human?" Peter asked.
Mr. Beaver shook his head. "She'd like us to believe it, and it's on that that se bases her claim to be Queen. But there isn't a drop of real human blood in her, and that's why she keeps an eye out for any humans in Narnia. She's been watching for you, and if she knew there were four of you she'd be more dangerous still."
"Technically, Mr. Beaver… there are five of us." Marilyn said.
"Yeah, but you have to have four to make five, don't you?" He replied.
She shrugged, and tilted her head in acknowledgement that it was indeed difficult to have five people if you didn't at first have four.
"But what does the fact that there are four of us have to do with anything?" Peter asked.
Mrs. Beaver answered the question quickly. "It has long been foretold that two Sons of Adam and two Daughters of Eve will defeat the White Witch and restore peace to Narnia."
"And you think we're the ones?" Peter said hesitantly.
"Well, you'd better be because Aslan's already fitted out your army."
"Our army?" Lucy repeated shocked.
"Mum sent us away so we wouldn't get caught up in a war." Susan whispered just loud enough for the others to hear (had it been a room scaled for humans, it was likely that only Peter would have heard her).
Peter turned to the Beavers "I think you've made a mistake. We're not heroes."
"We're from Finchley." Susan added.
"I'm not…" Marilyn muttered, but was given no mind.
"Thank you for your hospitality. But we really have to go." Susan said standing, with Peter following suit.
"But you can't just leave!" Mr. Beaver cried out.
"He's right." Lucy said softly. "We have to help Mr. Tumnus."
"It's out of our hands." Peter said to Lucy before addressing the Beavers. "I'm sorry but it was time we were all getting home. Ed?" He said turning around.
What he saw was a shock to all of them, since they hadn't been paying much attention to anything but the conversation. Edmund was nowhere to be seen.
"I'm gonna kill him." Peter said angrily.
"You may not have to" was Mr. Beaver's ominous reply. "Has Edmund ever been to Narnia before?"
Lucy nodded silently in reply.
"I think I know where he's gone. Follow me." Mr. Beaver said.
And with that there was a great deal of movement, tugging on coats and rushing out the door as quickly as they could, following Mr. Beaver out of the little dam and through the snowy wood up several hills until the company could see a great castle in the distance, and an tiny figure entering the open gates.
"Edmund!" Lucy called out.
"Shh! They'll hear you!" Mr. Beaver said sternly.
Only a moment later, Peter charged forward, but only had his hand grabbed by the hand by Mr. Beaver who tugged back with all his might.
"Get off!" Peter shouted at Mr. Beaver, shaking his hand to loosen his grip.
"Don't you see – You're playing right into her hands." Mr. Beaver said.
"We can't just let him go!" Susan said.
"He's our brother." added Lucy.
"He's the bait!" Mr. Beaver said, gesturing wildly. "The Witch wants all four of you."
"Why?" Peter said.
"The prophecy. Isn't that it, Mr. Beaver?" Marilyn murmured softly. The Beaver nodded.
"What?" Peter asked, confused.
"He said that in the prophecy there were four thrones. Four thrones for two Sons of Adam and two Daughters of Eve. If she's already got Edmund, and the three of you go after him, then she's got four. Two and two." Marilyn said.
"She wants to kill you!" Mr. Beaver said plainly.
At that moment, in the distance, there was the distinct sound of a gate slamming shut.
"This is all your fault!" Susan said turning on Peter.
"My fault?"
"None of this would have happened if you'd just listened to me in the first place."
"So you knew this would happen?"
"I didn't know what would happen, which is why we should have left while we still could."
"Stop it!" shouted Lucy. "This isn't going to help Edmund."
Mr. Beaver nodded solemnly. "She's right. Only Aslan can help your brother now."
"Then take us to him." Peter said in a resigned voice.
With that they were off back towards the dam, when the intentions of then journeying to the Stone Table – and Aslan.
Author's Note: So… this is definitely an amalgamation of the book-verse and film-verse of the meeting with the beavers. This chapter is rather slack on description as it really is all about the exposition, just like it is in the book. I toyed with cutting it off in a few different places, (I think you can probably pick them out… They feel rather obvious to me) but I decided that this was a good spot for a scene break instead of carrying it on any longer. In the next chapter (or two) we get the Flight to the Ford ermm... Stone Table, I mean. Sorry, inner LotR nerd coming out there.
In any case, if you've read this far, I will greatly appreciate any reviews. Thanks and happy reading,
ESG