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.
Imagination, Reality and the Space Between
Chapter Eight: Across the Frozen River
The realization that the end of winter would impede their progress toward the stone table set everyone off at a dead run immediately, or very nearly so, because first they had to affix their gifts from Father Christmas so as not to lose them. (Marilyn had a good deal of trouble with the knives, but she eventually did succeed) Once that was done, they headed after Mr. Beaver towards the river.
On one hand, they were lucky, as they had been nearer than they thought they had been. However, it seemed that the Witch's enchanted winter was fading faster than any of them could have possibly expected. As they arrived, much of the ice covering the river was already gone with the only ice left covering the waterfall and the water immediately below the waterfall. It was narrow, though not too terribly so, but it was fast breaking apart.
"We need to cross, now!' Peter said, in a voice that sounded quite scared, if not terrified.
"Don't beavers make dams?" Lucy asked Mr. Beaver, her eyes wild.
"I'm not that fast, dear" he replied, shrugging apologetically.
"Come on!" Peter said grabbing Lucy's hand.
"Wait! Why can't we just think about this for a minute?" Susan said loudly.
"We don't have a minute!" Peter said angrily, whirling to face Susan.
"I'm just trying to be realistic." She said defensively.
"No, you're trying to be smart like usual."
Marilyn blinked. "Now really isn't the time to call each other out, you know." She muttered more to herself than anyone in particular.
"What do you mean by that?" Susan said after hearing what Marilyn said, as she began to pick her way down the side of the cliff following Peter and Lucy
"I just think we should be worried about the fact there's a mad woman and most likely a pack of wolves on our heels. Fighting each other is NOT going to help." Marilyn replied.
In the distance, they could hear wolves howling.
"Now wouldn't be a good time to mention I've a fear of drowning, would it?" Marilyn called out nervously looking between the river and the way they'd come.
"No, it wouldn't." Peter said matter-of-factly.
"I thought not." Marilyn said, swallowing nervously as she followed the others down the rock face.
It was a long way down, but didn't take very long, as there were enough places for them all to stand, making it a bit like stairs. The worst part was that the rocks were slippery covered with a slush of both un-melted and melted snow. Once they were all safely at the foot of the waterfall, Peter took the first step out onto the rapidly melting river ice. The ice cracked and gave, sinking under the pressure of his foot.
"Wait!" called out Mr. Beaver. "Maybe I should go first."
Peter looked back at him with what could only be described as frightened eyes. "Maybe you should."
Mr. Beaver went ahead, the ice cracking and shifting under his weight as well. Mrs. Beaver looked on accusingly. "You've been sneaking second helpings, haven't you?"
Mr. Beaver looked back sheepishly. "You never know what meal is gonna be your last. Especially with your cooking." He said continuing on.
Once he had gone a little way, the others followed. Marilyn however hung back for a moment looking at the unsteady ice and the river water nervously.
"You can't stand there forever, you know." Susan said, looking back at her.
"I know…" Marilyn said unconvincingly, but stepped out onto the ice as she did.
It shifted, and out of a mix of sheer horror and terror, Marilyn tried to jump back onto the solid ground, but was stopped by Susan reaching out and grabbing her hand to pull her forward as a counterbalance. Marilyn blinked in surprise, but quickly stepped forwards towards the others.
"Thanks." Marilyn said, attempting not to look at the water as she picked her way forward across the ice.
"You're welcome." Susan said, letting go of Marilyn's hand. "If our Mums knew what we were doing…"
"Mum's not here!" Peter said, still sounding annoyed.
Once they reached the river's midpoint, Lucy noticed something that made the crossing all the more dangerous. The wolves had caught up with them and were running across the top of the frozen waterfall.
"Oh no!" She cried out, causing the others to look up.
"Run!" one of them said, probably Peter (Marilyn wasn't sure as she was too busy telling herself 'You won't drown. The ice is perfectly safe. You can make it to the other side.' to pay much attention).
The group attempted to pick up their pace, but it was hard to move much faster than they were, and they didn't get very far before the wolves had them surrounded, or mostly so, as much of the ice they had already crossed had broken away and was floating down river. (At the sight of this Marilyn had swallowed audibly.) Mr. Beaver attempted to attack one of the wolves, but only succeeded in getting himself pinned to the ground.
"No!" shouted Mrs. Beaver in a worried tone.
"Peter!" Lucy screamed, frightened as she shifted behind him to stand between Susan and Marilyn.
As Lucy edged past him, Peter drew his sword, an action that set the wolf to talking.
"Put that down boy, before someone gets hurt." The wolf said in a gravely voice that sent shivers up Marilyn's spine. (Though that could have been the cold as well)
"Don't worry about me, run him through!" Mr. Beaver called out earnestly.
"Leave now while you can, and your brother leaves with you." The wolf said slowly approaching them.
"Stop, Peter! Maybe we should listen to him!" Susan screamed.
"Susan! Have you gone mad? The wolves work for the Witch, remember?" Marilyn hissed worriedly.
"Smart girl." The wolf said at the same time Marilyn started speaking.
"Don't listen to him!" cried Mr. Beaver. "Kill him! Kill him now!"
"Oh come on. This isn't your war. All my Queen wants is for you to take your family and go." The wolf was still encroaching and they had no place left to go if they backed up except for in the river.
There was something in the squaring of Peter's shoulders that told Marilyn that he wasn't sure what to do. 'Oh, come on, Peter. Now isn't the time to question things! We're on a melting river surrounded by talking wolves!' she thought, still terrified of what was becoming an inevitable truth, that they were likely going to be stuck in the river.
"Look, just because some man in a red coat –" here Lucy had mumbled "Father Christmas" "– gives you a sword, it doesn't make you a hero. Just drop it!" Susan shouted.
"No, Peter. Narnia needs you! Gut him while you still have the chance!" Mr. Beaver screamed in direct opposition to Susan.
Lucy was looking more and more terrified, just as Marilyn was feeling more so. "Don't worry Lucy. We'll make it out of this." Marilyn whispered unconvincingly to her amidst all the shouting. Lucy simply grasped Marilyn's hand as if her life depended on it. Marilyn squeezed Lucy's hand tighter, trying to rid herself of her own fear.
"What'll it be Son of Adam? I won't wait forever, and neither will the river." The Wolf said, pitching his voice up an octave at the end of the statement.
Lucy whipped her face around to look at the waterfall. "Peter!" she screamed at him for the second time.
They all turned to look at the waterfall. A massive crack was spreading up the middle and spider-webbing out to the far sides of the falls. Water was already pouring out of the crack, though it was doing so in a way that was particularly reminiscent of someone placing their thumb over the open end of a garden hose. The creaking became much more ominous, the sound making it more than obvious that the ice wouldn't hold for very much longer.
"Hold on to me!" Peter yelled before slamming his sword down into the ice. Marilyn, who was standing well and good behind him at this point, felt her heart drop to the bottom of her stomach as she grabbed onto to the top of his shield with one hand and one of his feet with the other attempting to maintain her center of balance.
It was then that the ice from the waterfall shattered downward, breaking off the ice that the four of them (and Mrs. Beaver) were situated from the rest. The displaced water sent the miniature iceberg propelling downstream, underwater for part of the way.
However, once they surfaced, Marilyn was in a very unpleasant position, as once underwater they had all lost their footing on the ice, which had made Marilyn loose her grip on Peter's shield which meant until they finally came to a stop against the river bank, Marilyn was holding on to Peter's ankle for dear life, and trying not to inhale too much water. She had reached for the bank, flailing one arm wildly until she was able dig her fingers into the dirt well enough to get enough purchase on the ground so that she felt that she was able to let got of Peter's foot. She pulled her self up on the bank slowly, the process taking more than a single try.
Once they had all pulled themselves out of the water, still sputtering for air, Marilyn attempted to stand, but her knees felt a bit like unset pudding, and she ended up collapsed in the melting mixture of snow and dirt.
"What have you done?" Susan screamed at Peter, a statement that made Marilyn look at the both of them. In one hand, Peter held Lucy's coat, but Lucy was nowhere to be seen.
"Lucy!" Susan called out twice before they could all hear a voice from farther down the riverbank.
"Has anyone seen my coat?" called Lucy, walking up to where the others were trying to untangle her small sweater jacket.
They all let out an audible sigh of relief as Lucy came into view. Peter draped the now sopping wet coat around Lucy's shoulders.
"Don't you worry dear, your brother's got you well looked after." said Mr. Beaver.
"And I don't think you'll be needing those coats anymore." Said Mrs. Beaver, looking out in the direction they were headed.
Marilyn turned her head to look. The trees were sprouting blossoms.
"Are you alright?" Lucy asked, causing Marilyn to turn back around.
Marilyn looked at Lucy for a moment, before deciding on how to answer that. "Terrified still, but I'm not hurt. Are you alright?"
Lucy nodded. Marilyn finally picked herself up off the ground, feeling a good bit steadier the second time than she had before. They all headed out after the Beavers, who were walking hand in hand through the now blossoming snow-covered trees.
"Sorry about that." Said Peter from behind Marilyn.
"Why are you apologizing? It isn't as if you intended me to drown. Besides, I probably ought to be apologizing to you for the way I was hanging on to your foot."
"There are holes in my socks from your fingernails now."
Marilyn blinked. That hadn't exactly been the reaction she was expecting. "I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to do that, I was just, erm... trying not to die. Honestly, if I've got to die here, I'd rather it not be because I let myself drown." she said laughing a bit at herself.
It wasn't very long before they left their coats behind, going on without them because the snow was melting so quickly it was all but gone, and the weather seemed to be progressing through January all the way up to May in a matter of hours. They followed the Beavers through the forest, turning a bit south as they went (they didn't know it at the time, but Mr. Beaver remarked on it later on).
By mid or late afternoon, they came upon a large hill, and though it seemed to take forever to scale the hill, when they did, they could see a great green space, with a large stone table in the center, and just beyond, a huge gathering of tents, all in bright reds and yellows, all flying yellow standards emblazoned with a red rampant lion not unlike the one on the shield that Father Christmas had given Peter. They had made it to Aslan's camp.
Author's Note: I'm putting off the meeting with Aslan till next chapter for two reasons: I think it'll carry more weight if it's all its own chapter instead of being tacked on the end of this one, and I've just started back to college and will probably be writing much more slowly, so I wanted to update for you guys now since I've no idea how long it'll be before I get a chance to update again. All that aside, compared to most other chapters, this one's running a bit long. XD.
Also, I apologize for the mostly movie chapter, but really, I like that sequence in the film; though I'm not sure I translated it very well. Anyway, I'll be very grateful for any and all reviews. Thanks, and happy reading,
ESG
PS. I'm contemplating getting rid of the Author's Note in the prologue and creating a forum and linking it in my profile to explain all those things and to address any other questions that come up. I think that AN is scaring off readers… or perhaps I'm being paranoid.