Epilogue
There was a great stirring at Aslan's How when the news came back and was communicated to the various creatures. Edmund and Dawn, with one of Miraz's captains, had already marked out the place for the combat, and ropes and stakes had been put round it. Two Telmarines were to stand at two of the corners, and one in the middle of one side, as marshals of the lists. Three marshals for the other two corners and the other side were to be furnished by the High King and High Queen. Buffy and Peter were just explaining to Caspian that he could not be one, because his right to the throne was what they were fighting about, when suddenly a thick, sleepy voice said, "Your Majesty, please." They turned and there stood the eldest of the Bulgy Bears.
"If you please, your Majesty," he said, "I'm a bear, I am."
"To be sure, so you are, and a good bear too, I don't doubt," said Peter.
"Yes," said the Bear. "But it was always a right of the, bears to supply one marshal of the lists."
"Don't let him," whispered Trumpkin to Peter. "He's a good creature, but he'll shame us all. He'll go to sleep and he will suck his paws. In front of the enemy too."
"I can't help that," said Peter. "Because he's quite right. The Bears had that privilege. I can't imagine how it has been remembered all these years, when so many other things have been forgotten."
"Please, your Majesty," said the Bear.
"It is your right," said Buffy as Dawn came up beside her. "And you shall be one of the marshals. But you must remember not to suck your paws."
"Of course not," said the Bear in a very shocked voice.
"Why, you're doing it this minute!" bellowed Trumpkin.
The Bear whipped his paw out of his mouth and pretended he hadn't heard.
"Sire!" came a shrill voice from near the ground.
"Ah - Reepicheep!" said Peter after looking up and down and round as people usually did when addressed by the Mouse.
Dawn leaned down and held out her hand and Reepicheep ran onto it. "Thank you, Your Highness," he said with a bow to Dawn as she brought him up to eye level. He then turned to face Peter and Buffy. "Sire," he said. "My life is ever at your command, but my honor is my own. Sire, I have among my people the only trumpeter in your Majesty's army. I had thought, perhaps, we might have been sent with the challenge. Sire, my people are grieved. Perhaps if it were your pleasure that I should be a marshal of the lists, it would content them."
"I am afraid not, Reepicheep," said Dawn very gravely. "Some humans are afraid of mice—"
"I had observed it, Your Highness," said Reepicheep.
"And it would not be quite fair to Miraz," Peter added, "to have in sight anything that might abate the edge of his courage."
"Your Majesty is the mirror of honor," said the Mouse with one of his admirable bows. "And on this matter, we have but a single mind…I thought I heard someone laughing just now. If anyone present wishes to make me the subject of his wit, I am very much at his service - with my sword - whenever he has leisure."
An awful silence followed this remark, which was broken by Buffy saying, "Beloved maybe the Giant Wimbleweather, the Bear and the Centaur Glenstorm should be our marshals?"
"Good thinking, Buffy," Peter agreed. "The combat will be at two hours after noon. Dinner at noon precisely."
"So, who shall be fighting him," Dawn wondered looking at her sister and brother-in-law.
"I think it should be you," Buffy said looking at Dawn with a smile. She looked toward her husband. "After all you and I already earned our spurs. It is time Dawn has that same chance."
"Agreed," Peter said.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
A little before two o'clock Trumpkin and the Badger sat with the rest of the creatures at the wood's edge looking across at the gleaming line of Miraz's army which was about two arrow-shots away. In between, a square space of level grass had been staked for the combat. At the two far corners stood Glozelle and Sopespian with drawn swords. At the near corners were Giant Wimbleweather and the Bulgy Bear, who in spite of all their warnings was sucking his paws and looking, to tell the truth, uncommonly silly. To make up for this, Glenstorm on the right of the lists, stock-still except when he stamped a hind hoof occasionally on the turf, looked much more imposing than the Telmarine baron who faced him on the left. Dawn had just shaken hands with Edmund and the Doctor, and received a hug from both her sister and brother-in-law before walking down to the combat.
"I wish Aslan had turned up before it came to this," said Trumpkin.
"So, do I," said Trufflehunter. "But look behind you."
"Crows and crockery!" muttered the Dwarf as soon as he had done so. "What are they? Huge people - beautiful people—like gods and goddesses and giants. Hundreds and thousands of them, closing in behind us. What are they?"
"It's the Dryads and Hamadryads and Silvans," said Trufflehunter. "Aslan has waked them."
"Humph!" said the Dwarf. "That'll be very useful if the enemy try any treachery. But it won't help the High King very much if Miraz proves handier with his sword."
The Badger said nothing, for now Dawn and Miraz were entering the lists from opposite ends, both on foot, both in chain shirts, with helmets, though the only one who carried a shield was Miraz. They advanced till they were close together.
"Good luck," Dawn said as she and Miraz bowed.
"And you as well," he returned.
The next moment, the Miraz's sword and Dawn's scythe flashed in the sunlight. For a second the clash could be heard but it was immediately drowned because both armies began shouting like crowds at a football match.
"Well done, Dawn, oh, well done!" shouted Edmund as he saw Miraz reel back a whole pace and a half.
"Follow it up, quick!" called Peter and Dawn did, and for a few seconds it looked as if the fight might be won. But then Miraz pulled himself together—began to make real use of his height and weight
"Miraz! Miraz! The King! The King!" came the roar of the Telmarines. Caspian and Edmund grew white with sickening anxiety.
"Dawn is taking some dreadful knocks," said Edmund.
"She's a Slayer, she will be fine," Buffy reminded her brother-in-law.
"Hullo!" said Caspian. "What's happening now?"
"They're circling," Buffy answered. "Feeling each other's defenses."
"I'm afraid this Miraz knows his work," muttered the Doctor. But hardly had he said this when there was such a clapping and baying and throwing up of hoods among the Old Narnians that it was nearly deafening.
"What was it? What was it?" asked the Doctor. "My old eyes missed it."
"The Princess has pricked him in the arm-pit," said Caspian, still clapping. "Just where the arm-hole of the hauberk let the point of the stake end through. First blood.'
"It's looking ugly again now, though," said Edmund. "Remind me again why is Dawn not using a shield?"
"The same reason I never used one," Buffy answered. "A Slayer's body is her weapon and her shield. Or have you forgotten the regenerative abilities I have, Edmund."
"I haven't forgotten, Buffy," Edmund answered as the shouting of the Telmarines redoubled.
"You've seen more battles than I," said Caspian. "Is there any chance?"
"When it comes to Slayers," answered Buffy. "We don't know how to quit."
Suddenly all the shouting on both sides died down. Edmund, Buffy and Peter were puzzled for a moment. Then Peter said, "Oh, I see. They've both agreed to a rest."
"Come on, Doctor. You and I may be able to do something for Dawn," Buffy said as she and the doctor ran down to the lists as Dawn came outside the ropes to meet them.
"How are you doing, Dawnie?" Buffy asked.
"Even for a Slayer, he's giving me a good workout," Dawn admitted. "About as good as one as when I joined the other Potentials in training. I think though I do have a chance though. Buffy, if he gets me."
"He won't," Buffy cut in. "Remember your training. You are not only a Slayer. But you are Princess Dawn Summers, heir to the throne of the High Queen."
Dawn nodded. "Just in case."
"No goodbyes," Buffy told her sister as she leaned over and kissed Dawn on the cheek. "Anything you say will sound like a goodbye, so no goodbyes." She walked back with the Doctor to her own lines with a sick feeling in her stomach.
"Is everything okay, beloved?" Peter questioned looking at his wife.
"She's being tested," Buffy admitted. "And she's afraid she's going to lose. That she will do to me what I did to her."
The new bout went well. Dawn made good use of her feet. She was almost playing tag with Miraz now, keeping out of range, shifting her ground, making the enemy work.
"Coward!" booed the Telmarines. "Why doesn't you stand up to him? Don't you like it, eh? Thought you'd come to fight, not dance. Yah!"
"Oh, I do hope she won't listen to them," said Caspian.
"Dawn is newly called as a Slayer," Buffy said sadly. "She doesn't have the years of training that Peter and I have."
Miraz got in a blow, on Dawn's helmet. She staggered, slipped sideways, and fell on one knee. The roar of the Telmarines rose like the noise of the sea. "Now, Miraz," they yelled. "Now. Quick! Quick! Kill her."
But the Telmarines underestimated what a Slayer was capable of. As Miraz's sword flashed down, Dawn leapt up and spun into a roundhouse. One foot hit Miraz's sword knocking it off course the other foot struck Miraz in the chest.
"Look," said Trufflehunter. "Miraz is angry. It is good." They were certainly at it hammer and tongs now: such a flurry of blows that it seemed impossible for either not to be killed. As the excitement grew, the shouting almost died away. The spectators were holding their breath. It was most horrible and most magnificent.
A great shout arose from the Old Narnians. Miraz was a down - not struck by Dawn, but face downwards, having tripped on a tussock. Dawn stepped back, waiting for him to rise.
"Oh bother, bother, bother," said Edmund to himself. "Need she be as courteous as all that? I suppose she must."
"Comes of being the sister of the Slayer that came before her," Buffy cut in. "She learned from watching me over the years even when we didn't know she was a Potential."
"But that brute will be up again in a minute and then—" Edmund countered.
But 'that brute' never rose. Miraz's lieutenants had their own plans ready. As soon as they saw their King down they leaped into the lists crying, "Treachery! Treachery! The Narnian traitor has stabbed him in the back while he lay helpless. To arms! To arms, Telmar!"
Dawn spun and brought her scythe to bare. She saw two big men running towards her with drawn swords. Then the third Telmarine had leaped over the ropes on her; left. "To arms, Narnia! Treachery!" she shouted.
One of the lieutenants stopped to stab his own King dead where he lay: "That's for your insult, this morning," he whispered as the blade went home.
Dawn swung to face the other lieutenant, slashed his legs from under him and, with the backcut of the same stroke, walloped off his head.
Buffy had jumped the rope and rushing toward Dawn, her own scythe in her hands. "Narnia, Narnia! The Lion!" she called.
The whole Telmarine army was rushing toward them. But now the Giant was stamping forward, stooping low and swinging his club. The Centaurs charged. Twang, twang behind and hiss, hiss overhead came the archery of Dwarfs. Trumpkin was fighting at his left. Full battle was joined.
"Come back, Reepicheep, you little ass!" shouted Peter. "You'll only be killed. This is no place for mice."
But the mice were dancing in and out among the feet of both armies, jabbing with their swords. Many a Telmarine warrior that day felt his foot suddenly pierced as if by a dozen skewers, hopped on one leg cursing the pain, and fell as often as not. If he fell, the mice finished him off; if he did not, someone else did.
But almost before the Old Narnians were really warmed to their work they found the enemy giving way. Tough looking warriors turned white, gazed in terror not on the Old Narnians but on something behind them, and then flung down their weapons, shrieking. "The Wood! The Wood! The end of the world!"
But soon neither their cries nor the sound of weapons could be heard any more, for both were drowned in the ocean-like roar of the Awakened Trees as they plunged through the ranks of Peter, Buffy and Dawn's army, and then on, in pursuit of the Telmarines. In a few minutes all Miraz's followers were running down to the Great River in the hope of crossing the bridge to the town of Beruna and there defending themselves behind ramparts and closed gates.
They reached the river, but there was no bridge. It had disappeared since yesterday. Then utter panic and horror fell upon them and they all surrendered.
But what had happened to the bridge?
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Early that morning, after a few hours' sleep, Lucy and Susan had waked, to see Aslan standing over them and to hear his voice saying, "We will make holiday." They rubbed their eyes and looked round them. The trees had all gone but could still be seen moving away towards Aslan's How in a dark mass. Bacchus and the Maenads - his fierce, madcap girls - and Silenus were still with them. Lucy, fully rested, jumped up. Everyone was awake, everyone was laughing, flutes were playing, cymbals clashing. Animals, not Talking Animals, were crowding in upon them from every direction.
"What is it, Aslan?" said Lucy, her eyes dancing and her feet wanting to dance.
"Come," said he. "Ride on my back again today."
"Oh, lovely!" cried Lucy, and both girls climbed on to the warm golden back as they had done no one knew how many years before. Then the whole party moved off Aslan leading, Bacchus and his Maenads leaping, rushing, and turning somersaults, the beasts frisking round them, and Silenus and his donkey bringing up the rear.
They turned a little to the right, raced down a steep hill, and found the long Bridge of Beruna in front of them. Before they had begun to cross it, however, up out of the water came a great wet, bearded head, larger than a man's, crowned with rushes. It looked at Aslan and out of its mouth a deep voice came.
"Hail, Lord," it said. "Loose my chains."
"Who on earth is that?" whispered Susan.
"I think it's the river-god, but hush," said Lucy.
"Bacchus," said Aslan. "Deliver him from his chains."
"That means the bridge, I expect," thought Lucy.
Bacchus and his people splashed forward into the shallow water, and a minute later the most curious things began happening. Great, strong trunks of ivy came curling up all the piers of the bridge, growing as quickly as a fire grows, wrapping the stones round, splitting, breaking, separating them. The walls of the bridge turned into hedges gay with hawthorn for a moment and then disappeared as the whole thing with a rush and a rumble collapsed into the swirling water. With much splashing, screaming, and laughter the revellers waded or swam or danced across the ford and up the bank on the far side and into the town.
Everyone in the streets fled before their faces. Wherever they went in the little town of Beruna it was the same. Most of the people fled, a few joined them. When they left the town, they were a larger and a merrier company.
And so at last, with leaping and dancing and singing, with music and laughter and roaring and barking and neighing, they all came to the place where Miraz's army stood flinging down their swords and holding up their hands, and Buffy, Dawn and Peter's army, still holding their weapons and breathing hard, stood round them with stern and glad faces. And the first thing that happened was that the old woman slipped off Aslan's back and ran across to Caspian and they embraced one another; for she was his old nurse.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
AT the sight of Aslan the cheeks of the Telmarine soldiers became the color of cold gravy, their knees knocked together, and many fell on their faces. They had not believed in lions and this made their fear greater. Then Peter and Buffy, leading Caspian and Dawn, forced their way through the crowd of animals.
"This is Caspian, Sir," Peter said. And Caspian knelt and kissed the Lion's paw.
"Welcome, Prince," said Aslan. "Do you feel yourself sufficient to take up the Kingship of Narnia?"
"I - I don't think I do, Sir," said Caspian. "I'm only a kid."
"Good," said Aslan. "If you had felt yourself sufficient, it would have been a proof that you were not. Therefore, under us and under the High King and High Queen, you shall be King of Narnia, Lord of Cair Paravel, and Emperor of the Lone Islands. You and your heirs while your race lasts. And your coronation—but what have we here?" For at that moment a curious little procession was approaching—eleven Mice, six of whom carried between them something on a litter made of branches, but the litter was no bigger than a large atlas. On the litter lay what seemed little better than a damp heap of fur; all that was left of Reepicheep. He was still breathing, but more dead than alive, gashed with innumerable wounds, one paw crushed, and, where his tail had been, a bandaged stump.
"Now, Lucy," said Aslan.
Lucy had her diamond bottle out in a moment. Though only a drop was needed on each of Reepicheep's wounds, the wounds were so many that there was a long and anxious silence before she had finished and the Master Mouse sprang from the litter. His hand went at once to his sword hilt, with the other he twirled his whiskers. He bowed.
"Hail, Aslan!" came his shrill voice. "I have the honor—" But then he suddenly stopped.
The fact was that he had no tail. Reepicheep became aware of his loss as he made his bow; perhaps it altered something in his balance. He looked over his right shoulder. Failing to see his tail, he strained his neck further till he had to turn his shoulders and his whole body followed. Only after he had turned completely round three times did he realize the dreadful truth.
"I am confounded," said Reepicheep to Aslan. "I am completely out of countenance. I must crave your indulgence for appearing in this unseemly fashion."
"It becomes you very well, Small One," said Aslan.
"All the same," replied Reepicheep, "if anything could be done…Perhaps her Majesty?" and here he bowed to Lucy.
"But what do you want with a tail?" asked Aslan.
"Sir," said the Mouse, "I can eat and sleep and die for my King without one. But a tail is the honor and glory of a Mouse."
"I have sometimes wondered, friend," said Aslan, "whether you do not think too much about your honor."
"Highest of all High Kings," said Reepicheep, "permit me to remind you that a very small size has been bestowed on us Mice, and if we did not guard our dignity, some would allow themselves very unsuitable pleasantries at our expense. That is why I have been at some pains to make it known that no one who does not wish to feel this sword as near his heart as I can reach shall talk in my presence about Traps or Toasted Cheese or Candles: no, Sir - not the tallest fool in Narnia!" Here he glared very fiercely up at Wimbleweather, but the Giant, who was always a stage behind everyone else, had not yet discovered what was being talked about down at his feet, and so missed the point.
"Why have your followers all drawn their swords, may I ask?" said Aslan.
"May it please your High Majesty," said the second Mouse, whose name was Peepiceek, "we are all waiting to cut off our own tails if our Chief must go without his. We will not bear the shame of wearing an honor which is denied to the High Mouse."
"Ah!" roared Aslan. "You have conquered me. You have great hearts. Not for the sake of your dignity, Reepicheep, but for the love that is between you and your people, and still more for the kindness your people showed me long ago when you ate away the cords that bound me on the Stone Table (and it was then, though you have long forgotten it, that you began to be Talking Mice), you shall have your tail again."
Before Aslan had finished speaking the new tail was in its place. Then, at Aslan's command, Peter bestowed the Knighthood of the Order of the Lion on Caspian and formally bestowed the Knighthood of the Order of the Slayer on Dawn. As soon as Caspian was knighted, he bestowed it on Trufflehunter and Trumpkin and Reepicheep, and made Doctor Cornelius his Lord Chancellor, and confirmed the Bulgy Bear in his hereditary office of Marshal of the Lists. And there was great applause.
After this the Telmarine soldiers, firmly but without taunts or blows, were taken across the ford and all put under lock and key in the town of Beruna and given beef and beer.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Aslan feasted with the Narnians till long after the sunset had died away, and the stars had come out; and the great fire, now hotter but less noisy, shone like a beacon in the dark woods, and the frightened Telmarines saw it from far away and wondered what it might mean.
During that time Dawn and Susan had sat just talking, getting to know each other and admitting what they had both felt since they had first met.
As the talk grew quieter and slower, one after another would begin to nod and finally drop off to sleep with feet toward the fire and good friends on either side, till at last there was silence all around the circle, and the chattering of water over stone at the Ford of Beruna could be heard once more.
Aslan noticed that Dawn herself was the last to remain awake. "What is it, Dawn?"
"In the time I've been here," Dawn admitted sadly. "I've come to fall in love with Susan. But she can't come with me, can she?"
"I must remind you of what Lucy's older self has told you in your world when Buffy's daughter was born," he answered as Dawn looked at him with a raised eyebrow wondering how he knew of that. "I can traverse to your world, and I am known by a different name there. So I know all about what happened after Buffy's return to you."
Dawn glanced at Susan. "I will find my true love in Narnia and she will come with me," she said softly.
"Yes," Aslan said. "For you, Dawn. This is why you are here. As you know all chosen Daughters of Sineya are burdened with the weight of the world. Just as Buffy has Little Su to remind her of what she fights for, you will have Susan to remind you. And you like your sister will become amongst the longest living daughters of Sineya your world has ever known."
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Next day messengers were sent all over the country with a proclamation to the scattered Telmarines - including, of course, the prisoners in Beruna. They were told that Caspian was now King and that Narnia would henceforth belong to the Talking Beasts and the Dwarfs and Dryads and Fauns and other creatures quite as much as to the men. Any who chose to stay under the new conditions might do so; but for those who did not like the idea, Aslan would provide another home.
Anyone who wished to go there must come to Aslan and King Caspian, High King Peter and High Queen Buffy at the Ford of Beruna by noon on the fifth day. Some of them, chiefly the young ones, had, like Caspian, heard stories of the Old Days and were delighted that they had come back. They were already making friends with the creatures. These all decided to stay in Narnia.
But most of the older men, especially those who had been important under Miraz, were sulky and had no wish to live in a country where they could not rule the roost. "Live here with a lot of blooming performing animals! No fear," they said. "And ghosts too," some added with a shudder. "That's what those there Dryads really are. It's not canny." They were also suspicious. "I don't trust 'em," they said. "Not with that awful Lion and all. He won't keep his claws off us long, you'll see." But then they were equally suspicious of his offer to give them a new home. "Take us off to his den and eat us one by one most likely," they muttered. And the more they talked to one another the sulkier and more suspicious they became. But on the appointed day more than half of them turned up.
At one end of the glade Aslan had caused to be set up two stakes of wood, higher than a man's head and about three feet apart. A third, and lighter, piece of wood was bound across them at the top, uniting them, so that the whole thing looked like a doorway from nowhere into nowhere. In front of this stood Aslan himself with Peter and Buffy on his right and Caspian on his left. Grouped round them were Susan, who was in Dawn's arms, and Lucy, Trumpkin and Trufflehunter, the Lord Cornelius, Glenstorm, Reepicheep, and others.
The Pevensies, Buffy, Dawn, and the Dwarfs had made good use of the royal wardrobes in what had been the castle of Miraz and was now the castle of Caspian, and what with silk and cloth of gold, with snowy linen glancing through slashed sleeves, with silver mail shirts and jewelled sword-hilts, with gilt helmets and feathered bonnets, they were almost too bright to look at. Even the beasts wore rich chains about their necks. Yet nobody's eyes were on them or the children. The living and strokable gold of Aslan's mane outshone them all. The rest of the Old Narnians stood down each side of the glade. At the far end stood the Telmarines. The sun shone brightly and pennants fluttered in the light wind.
"Men of Telmar," said Aslan, "you who seek a new land, hear my words. I will send you all to your own country, which I know and you do not."
"We don't remember Telmar. We don't know where it is. We don't know what it is like," grumbled the Telmarines.
"You came into Narnia out of Telmar," said Aslan. "But you came into Telmar from another place. You do not belong to this world at all. You came hither, certain generations ago, out of that same world to which the High King Peter and High Queen Buffy belong."
At this, half the Telmarines began whimpering, "There you are. Told you so. He's going to kill us all, send us right out of the world," and the other half began throwing out their chests and slapping one another on the back and whispering, "There you are. Might have guessed we didn't belong to this place with all its queer, nasty, unnatural creatures. We're of royal blood, you'll see." And even Caspian and Cornelius and the children turned to Aslan with looks of amazement on their faces.
"Peace," said Aslan in the low voice which was nearest to his growl. The earth seemed to shake a little and every living thing in the grove became still as stone.
"You, Sir Caspian," said Aslan, "might have known that you could be no true King of Narnia unless, like the Kings of old, you were a son of Adam and came from the world of Adam's sons. And so, you are. Many years ago, in that world, in a deep sea of that world which is called the South Sea, a shipload of pirates were driven by storm on an island. And there they did as pirates would: killed the natives and took the native women for wives, and made palm wine, and drank and were drunk, and lay in the shade of the palm trees, and woke up and quarreled, and sometimes killed one another. And in one of these frays six were put to flight by the rest and fled with their women into the center of the island and up a mountain, and went, as they thought, into a cave to hide."
"But it was one of the magical places of that world, one of the chinks or chasms between chat world and this. There were many chinks or chasms between worlds in old times, but they have grown rarer," Aslan continued. "This was one of the last: I do not say the last. And so they fell, or rose, or blundered, or dropped right through, and found themselves in this world, in the Land of Telmar which was then unpeopled. But why it was unpeopled is a long story: I will not tell it now. And in Telmar their descendants lived and became a fierce and proud people; and after many generations there was a famine in Telmar and they invaded Narnia, which was then in some disorder (but that also would be a long story), and conquered it and ruled it. Do you mark all this well, King Caspian?"
"I do indeed, Sir," said Caspian. "I was wishing that I came of a more honorable lineage."
"You come of the Lord Adam and the Lady Eve," said Aslan. "And that is honor enough to erect the head of the poorest beggar, and shame enough to bow the shoulders of the greatest emperor on earth. Be content." Caspian bowed.
"And now," said Aslan, "you men and women of Telmar, will you go back to that island in the world of men from which your fathers first came? It is no bad place. The race of those pirates who first found it has died out, and it is without inhabitants. There are good wells of fresh water, and fruitful soil, and timber for building, and fish in the lagoons; and the other men of that world have not yet discovered it. The chasm is open for your return; but this I must warn you, that once you have gone through, it will close behind you forever. There will be no more commerce between the worlds by that door."
There was silence for a moment. Then a burly, decent looking fellow among the Telmarine soldiers pushed forward and said: "Well, I'll take the offer."
"It is well chosen," said Aslan. "And because you have spoken first, strong magic is upon you. Your future in that world shall be good. Come forth."
The man, now a little pale, came forward. Aslan and his court drew aside, leaving him free access to the empty doorway of the stakes.
"Go through it, my son," said Aslan, bending towards him and touching the man's nose with his own. As soon as the Lion's breath came about him, a new look came into the man's eyes - startled, but not unhappy - as if he were trying to remember something. Then he squared his shoulders and walked into the Door.
Everyone's eyes were fixed on him. They saw the three pieces of wood, and through them the trees and grass and sky of Narnia. They saw the man between the doorposts: then, in one second, he had vanished utterly.
From the other end of the glade the remaining Telmarines set up a wailing. "Ugh! What's happened to him? Do you mean to murder us? We won't go that way." And then one of the clever Telmarines said: "We don't see any other world through those sticks. If you want us to believe in it, why doesn't one of you go? All your own friends are keeping well away from the sticks."
Instantly Reepicheep stood forward and bowed. "If my example can be of any service, Aslan," he said, "I will take eleven mice through that arch at your bidding without a moment's delay."
"Nay, little one," said Aslan, laying his velvety paw ever so lightly on Reepicheep's head. "They would do dreadful things to you in that world. They would show you at fairs. It is others who must lead."
"Come on," said Peter suddenly to Susan, Edmund and Lucy. "Our time's up."
"What do you mean?" said Edmund.
"I'm not going with you," said Susan as her sister and brothers looked at her in surprise.
"What do you mean?" repeated Edmund.
Susan smiled as she moved next to Dawn and Buffy. "I'm going with Dawn." After Aslan had reminded Dawn of what Lucy's counterpart had said. She and Dawn had a long chat and she agreed she would return with Dawn.
"Are you sure about this, Susan?" asked Peter.
"Yes," Susan replied as she smiled at her brother.
"There is one thing we know," Dawn said. "We know your future, Peter. We know yours, Lucy. That left two people we weren't one hundred percent sure on which would fulfill your little prophecy, Lucy."
"Prophecy?" questioned Lucy a little confused.
"You said that I would fall in love in Narnia and that my true love would come home with me," answered Dawn. "Given that we didn't know Susan or Edmund's fates and we didn't know there would be other humans here. We figured it had to be either Edmund or Susan. It wasn't till I began falling for Susan and Susan began falling for me that I finally realized who you had been talking about. Susan is my true love."
"In our time, two girls being in love is heavily frowned upon," said Susan. "I would be doomed to a loveless marriage someday. That's not what I want. Dawn has told me in her time that being in love with another girl is more acceptable. Besides if I go with Dawn, I go with the woman that I love."
Peter, Edmund and Lucy all nodded as they hugged their sister farewell.
"What shall we tell everybody when they ask…" Peter wondered.
"Tell them I died," Susan said. "Make something up."
"Okay," Peter said as he smiled at his sister. He looked at Dawn. "Take good care of her."
"I promise," Dawn replied as she shook Peter's hand before wrapping her arm around Susan.
"We better get changed," Peter said.
"Change what?" asked Lucy.
"Your clothes, of course," said Susan. "Nice fools you'd look on the platform of an English station in these."
"But our other things are at Caspian's castle," said Edmund.
"No, they're not," said Peter, still leading the way into the thickest wood. "They're all here. They were brought down in bundles this morning. It's all arranged."
"Was that what Aslan was talking to you, Buffy, Dawn and Susan about this morning?" asked Lucy.
"Yes - that and other things," said Peter, his face very solemn. "I can't tell it to you all. There were things he wanted to say to Buffy, Dawn, Susan and me because we're not coming back to Narnia."
"Never?" cried Edmund and Lucy in dismay.
"Oh, you two are," answered Peter. "At least, from what he said, I'm pretty sure he means you two get back some day. But not the four of us. He says we're getting too old."
"Which I still think is a load of poppycock," Buffy admitted. "After all I was older than all of you the first time we came to Narnia."
"I know, Buffy," Peter said agreeing with his wife, who once he returned to England he would never see again. "I am going to miss you."
"I will miss you as well," Buffy said as she leaned in and kissed her husband one final time. "I wish you could come with me and Dawn, but we sadly know your fate which means your destiny is there."
"Oh, Peter," said Lucy. "What awful bad luck. Can you bear it?"
"Well, I think I can," said Peter a little reluctantly as he pulled out the picture of Buffy holding his daughter. He then noticed they finally reached their destination. "But, quick, here are our things."
So, they all removed their royal clothes and put back on the clothes they had arrived in. Buffy and Dawn put their royal clothes into cloth bags as they intended to take them with them along with both scythes.
They returned to a great assembly. One or two of the nastier Telmarines jeered. But the other creatures all cheered and rose up in honor of Peter the High King, Buffy the High Queen, Queen Susan of the Horn, King Edmund, Queen Lucy and Princess Dawn.
There were affectionate and (on Lucy's part) tearful farewells with all their old friends. And of course, Caspian offered the Horn back to Susan and of course Susan told him to keep it. And then, wonderfully and terribly, it was farewell to Aslan himself, and Peter took his place with Edmund's hands on his shoulders and Lucy's on his and the first of the Telmarine's on Lucy's, and so in a long line they moved forward to the Door.
Susan wiped a tear from her eye as she watched her sister and brothers walk through the door. "It is our turn I guess," she said.
"It is," Aslan said. "And as you three will sadly not be returning. I will do one final act before you leave." He then held a grand wedding ceremony and married Dawn and Susan. "Goodbye, Daughters of Eve and Daughters of Sineya." He looked at Buffy and Dawn. "And yes, Susan is also a daughter of Sineya. She was simply uncalled in her original time."
Buffy took her place with Dawn's hands on her shoulders and Susan's on Dawn's. And then they moved forward to the Door and through it back to Sunnydale.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
The bus rolled on, just ahead of the cracking earth. Faith crouched beside Robin, staunching his wound, as Giles wrapped a tourniquet around a wounded Rona, who was fading.
Vi was in her face, yelling at her, "Stay awake! Look at me! This is nothing!"
Andrew sat by himself, bewildered. "Why didn't I die?" he murmured.
Xander tended a Slayer, lost in his fears for Anya.
Kennedy held Willow, who was still exhausted and drained.
The entire town was sinking into a smoking black crater, the tiny bus just making its way to the edge of the town ahead of the destruction.
Faith looked out, and said to Robin, "Ease off. We're clear."
The bus screeched to a stop.
Everyone disembarked from the bus.
"Did you see?" Xander asked when he saw Andrew.
Andrew was near tears. "I was scared. I'm sorry."
Xander pushed, harder than he had ever pushed for anything in his life. "Did you see what happened?" He searched Andrew's face. "Was she...?"
Andrew gazed at him. The tears were there . . . and so was the answer. "She was incredible," he told Xander. "She died saving my life."
Xander put a hand on Andrew's shoulder. "That's my girl. Always doing the stupid thing."
Giles walked toward the edge of it, smoke rolling before them, as he said, "I don't understand. What did this?"
"Spike," came a voice from the side. Everyone turned at once as they saw three women approaching them, two of whom they all recognized instantly.
"Buffy?" Faith said clearly surprised to see the Summers sisters. "Dawn?"
"Yeah it's us," Dawn replied as she smiled. "Thought you guys lost us, huh?"
"When you two didn't make it on the bus…" Giles started. He wasn't able to finish the thought, but he didn't need to. The sisters understood that he had begun the process of grieving for them.
"We fell into the Hellmouth," Buffy explained. "And then we found ourselves back in Narnia."
"Dawn," Susan whispered to her girlfriend slash wife who had seemingly forgotten to introduce her.
"Oh, right, sorry, Susan," Dawn said as she took Susan's hand in her own. "This is Susan Summers-Pevensie, my wife. Well in Narnia she's my wife. We will have to make it official here of course."
"I think it's time we head for L.A.," Buffy said as she smiled. "It's time I pick up Little Su. I'm sure she's missing her mommy very much."
"Buffy," Willow said as they headed back toward the bus. "I can feel Slayers awakening everywhere."
"We'll have to find them," Dawn said.
"We will," Willow agreed.
Giles sighed theatrically. "Yes, because the mall was actually in Sunnydale, so no hope of going there tomorrow . . ."
Dawn choked. "We destroyed the mall? I fought on the wrong side," she said as her sister laughed.
"What's a mall?" Susan asked.
"Place filled with stores, baby," Dawn replied. "Where you can shop."
"Baby?" Susan said confused at the term of endearment.
"In this time, baby is used both to refer to an infant but also as a term of endearment in reference to someone you love intimately, the way I love you," Dawn explained. "So, Buffy, after we pick up Little Su. What do you want to do?"
"Have a wedding," Buffy said as she smiled at Susan and Dawn.
One Year Later
The seventy-eight-year-old Lucy Pevensie had come from England to walk her sister, who wore a long white silk gown with a foot of train, down the aisle. Then the older woman took her place beside her older sister, who was now much, much younger.
Buffy followed as she walked Dawn down the aisle toward Susan. Dawn's white gown was shorter in length but not less beautiful in its elegance and beauty. Buffy then took her daughter from Willow as she moved into place next to her sister.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
"Do you, Dawn Marie Summers, take thee, Susan Elizabeth Pevensie to be your wife through sickness and health, for richer or poorer?" the minister asked.
"I do," Dawn breathed, softly, but with love evident in her voice.
"Do you, Susan Elizabeth Pevensie, take thee, Dawn Marie Summers to be your wife through sickness and health, for richer or poorer?" the minister asked.
"Always and forever," Susan said in response.
Buffy smiled as she wiped tears from her eyes.
The wedding alone was beautiful but the kiss that sealed their marriage was beautiful and vigorous.
Dawn's lips sought Susan's for a long, sensuous kiss, hard yet soft. Susan's lips sought Dawn's for a kiss that sealed their marriage.
Everyone looked on with happiness.
"May I be the first to introduce you to Dawn and Susan Summers-Pevensie," the minister said.
Buffy smiled as she, while holding Little Su, hugged first her sister then Susan with her free arm. She then whispered into Susan's ear. "Now you're my sister-in-law not only in two lands but in two families."
Susan giggled as she looked at Dawn, love evident in her gaze. "You're right," she said. "And I wouldn't have it any other way." She finally looked at Buffy. "So, what about you, Buffy?"
"Maybe one day, I will be ready to fall in love again," Buffy answered as she looked at her daughter. "Right now, I think, I want to spend time watching Little Su grow up."
"And when you are ready," Dawn said as she smiled at her sister. "I will walk you down the aisle."
Author's Notes: I had originally debated doing a third story in this series centered around Buffy's daughter, Little Su. I've decided not to do it.
If anyone else should want to, you more than welcome to continue the story with Buffy and Dawn's children. Or somehow find a way to bring Buffy and Dawn back to Narnia if you want. All I ask is that you mark that the story is inspired by my series and let me know so I can leave a Kudos and subscribe to it.