Lily left the warm shore and came back from wherever she had been. Her eyes felt heavy and she couldn't remember falling asleep. But she no longer felt the numbing cold bite of the snow. She felt very…warm.

She opened her eyes slowly and stared at the stone ceiling high above her for a long moment, trying to remember. Was she in a cave? She moved her hands and felt a soft blanket under her and a pillow under her head. The room was filled with warm torchlight. She raised her head and saw that she was in a circular round room made entirely of golden brown stone. There were other beds as well but they were empty. There were wooden chests over flowing with clothes and weapons and in a niche in the wall was a stone statue.

Lily sat up and was surprised that her body was not stiff. She felt well and healthy as if she had slept for five days. She stood carefully from the bed and saw that she was still dressed in her clothes, brown pants and a billowy white shirt and her long dark brown hair was dry. But she did not pay any attention to herself; she went to the niche in the wall and looked at the statue that commanded her attention.

It was a statue of a beast, a great lion with a full main. His eyes, though made of stone, were gentle and wise…just like the lion she had seen before she fell asleep.

Lily's light gray eyes widened as everything suddenly came back to her memory. She spun around, her heart hammering in her chest. She knew this was not the Telmarine castle, she remembered she had fallen asleep in the forest…but where was this?

Her eyes rested on her bed and she saw her weapons next to it. She looked around the chamber and saw that the door was only an entrance covered by a curtain. Not waiting for someone to enter, she went to her bed and pulled on her studded vest and boots.

But as she tied her belt around her waist, she looked down at the bed and the soft blankets; whoever was keeping her, they could have killed her. They seemed to be very kind…

She secured her knives and sword and watched the door carefully as she approached it. She heard noises from the other side, noises that belonged in an armory or a blacksmith's work room…metal clanged and clashed and she heard people talking…and laughing. Lily looked at the sounds with an astonished expression. Where was she?

She stood behind the curtain, her hand resting on the soft cloth and she took a deep breath before pulling it slowly aside.

She looked carefully as the curtain revealed a remarkable scene, a scene Lily would never forget.

They were not people. They were creatures; creatures Lily had never seen before.

Her eyes were frozen on them as they passed her doorway. There were beavers and foxes and dogs and great cats like panthers and cheetahs all carrying weapons on their backs and talking to one another. But then there were the creatures that made Lily's heart pound heavily with fear.

There were horses with torsos and heads and arms of a man and great bulls that stood on their hind legs. There were lions with wings and beaks like eagles. And there were men with furry legs and ears of fauns…

When the hall of stone was empty, she followed the strange creatures hesitantly and was led to a great circular chamber. Lily saw that they were all working around a great fire where they were welding and shaping weapons. They were making leather and metal armor and shields…like they were going to battle.

Lily was frightened, more than she had been when she was being chased by the Telmarine soldiers. She looked about the room and saw her escape: an opening was on the other side and she saw…sunlight.

After spending hours in the frozen night with nothing but the dim moon to light her way, she wanted nothing more than to stand in the sunlight, to feel its warmth. And she wanted to escape the strange cave, not knowing if these creatures would let her live much longer…they were terrifying.

Before any of them could see her, Lily ran for the door.

She heard roars and shouts from behind her but she did not dare stop: she leapt over mounds of swords and weapons and past the great pit where the fire was and fought the urge to scream when she passed the dark bull at the door.

She ran into the sunlight and she immediately shielded her eyes. The brightness seemed to pierce her body and she waited before looking under her arm.

She expected to see the snow glistening in the bright sunlight, but she did not.

Lily dropped her arm and took in the scene before her.

She was looking at a vast meadow, a plain covered in long grass, completely lush and green, and there were trees surrounding it, all covered with green leaves. It was spring. There were no signs of winter or cold; only sun and flowers dancing in the breeze. She was standing at the base of stone steps and as she went up them she saw a small courtyard of broken stone and broken columns. She wondered where the ruins had come from and she looked behind her to look at the cave.

But it wasn't a cave; it was a great mountain of aged stone with arches and pillars. Moss and small trees were growing from the stones' cracks as if the forest was going to swallow it and Lily saw that the sky above it was clear, the brightest blue she had ever seen.

Lily forgot her fear as she looked at the great stone fortress and the green plain. She must be dreaming.

There was a faint whistle from far behind her and she whipped around to see who was approaching. She heard hooves falling and she thought the Telmarine soldiers had found her at last. She spotted the horses far away at the trees line on the other side of the sweeping meadow and saw that they were not soldiers. They were coming out of the forest and riding steadily up the meadow. They were so far away that Lily could not see their faces. She stood still on the courtyard.

There was a blonde haired boy…two girls…and a black haired boy and—

Lily froze as she stared and she blinked again and again to make sure her eyes weren't playing tricks on her. She leaned forward, her feet suddenly eager as she watched the riders, one in particular. She felt a feeling deep inside her, a feeling she had not felt in months. Her heart pounded in her chest as she breathed unevenly. She did not need to see his face to know that it was him.

A smile broke across her face and her voice erupted from her lips: "Caspian!"

She saw the dark haired rider's head look up. She ran forward to the edge of the courtyard and yelled again, a beautiful smile lighting her face: "Caspian!"

She thought she saw him smile but his horse was suddenly galloping away from the other four riders, crossing the plain in great strides.

She laughed and her feet were suddenly flying, carrying her down to the vast plain and across the long grass. She couldn't run fast enough though the wind was whipping her hair around her smiling face. She wasn't to the middle of the plain when she saw the horse stop and the young man dismount, running toward her.

She could see his handsome face at last and she ran faster, forgetting everything and seeing only him. His smile was the brightest smile she had ever seen and the sunlight played in his dark hair. She could hear him laughing.

At last she was only feet away and she saw him stop with his arms held wide. She crashed into his armored chest and his arms wrapped tightly around her. She held onto him as if he would disappear and closed her eyes, feeling the warmth she had not felt in so long. He spun around, her legs hanging loosely, and she smiled as she listened to his laugh.

He set her down and she looked at his face, her hand touching his cheek. His hair was longer, wavy and barely brushed his shoulders. His eyes shined darkly from beneath his heavy brow and his face was older, more like a young man's than a boy's. Everything about him was the same and yet slightly different. He was even more handsome than she remembered.

Her smile was disbelieving, "Caspian…you're alive."

His smirk was teasing, "Did you believe otherwise?"

She laughed at his warm voice, happy to see that he was still the same.

She shook her head, her smile falling slightly, "everyone thought you weren't."

"But I am," he said with a smile. "And we are together again."

She smiled at his accented voice and laughed as she threw her arms around his neck again. "I can't believe I found you!"

"Actually, we found you," Caspian said as the other four riders rode up to them.

Lily released Caspian and stepped back, looking at the four riders in slight alarm. They were smiling at her warmly and looked amused by her surprise. They dismounted and she saw that they were wearing clothes that were not Telmarine…two boys and two girls…they looked related too…they seemed vaguely familiar.

Caspian looked from Lily to the four and spoke carefully, "these are…our friends. They rescued you last night when we found you."

"You were half frozen," said the youngest girl with a bright smile. Her accent was not from Narnia or Telmar…

"Edmund thought you were a Telmarine spy," Caspian said with a cunning smile.

The sisters laughed and the dark haired boy's mouth fell open, "well, Peter did too! We were only looking out for Caspian…"

Peter, the blonde boy laughed, "well, good thing you're not or else the centaurs would've locked you up in the How."

Lily's mind was spinning and she shook her head as she tried to understand why these four outsiders knew so much…

Caspian took Lily by the arms and looked into her beautiful eyes, "do you remember the stories my nurse used to tell us about the old Narnia, about the four brothers and sisters that ruled Narnia hundreds of years ago?"

Lily looked at him for a long time before sifting her stare to the four humans behind him. Suddenly she remembered why they seemed so familiar.

She looked back at Caspian's face with wide eyes, her lips smiling in suspicion.

"You don't mean-"

"They are them," he said carefully, motioning to the four.

Lily looked at each of them carefully. They seemed ordinary and yet their eyes shined differently, shined with knowledge that she wouldn't know in two lifetimes. She remembered the old stories, stories of two kings and two queens, sisters and brothers who had freed Narnia from the White Witch and brought back Aslan. They looked regal and majestic but they were so young…

"Time in their world does not work like ours," Caspian explained, no doubt seeing confusion in her eyes. "I called them…they're here to help us."

Lily looked up at the prince, "help us?"

"Defeat Miraz," The blonde king answered, the oldest of the siblings. "And restore Narnia to the Narnians." The young king said this with such conviction and his eyes had slid to Caspian's face, Lily sensed tension between them instantly.

"And to restore the kingdom to its rightful king," interjected the oldest girl, her hazel eyes cutting at her brother.

Timed stopped for a moment and Lily looked back to her childhood friend, seeing him differently than she had before. She had never seen him as a prince, someone who would one day take the throne. He was Caspian, her dearest friend who made her laugh and make her smile. But standing before her now, he suddenly seemed older, no longer a little boy.

His dark eyes smiled down at her and she stared at him in amazement; he was a young man, the rightful King of Narnia.

"And we were hoping you were on our side," the youngest of the siblings asked, looking at Lily with a hesitant smile.

"Whose side would I be on if not Caspian's?" Lily asked curiously, surprised that they thought her an enemy.

"Lily," Caspian said, placing a hand on her lower back and gesturing to the first and oldest sibling, "this is the High King Peter, Queen Susan, King Edmund, the one who thought you were a spy sent to kill me, and Queen Lucy, the one who healed you last night with her elixir."

"How were we supposed to know she wasn't a spy? I was only trying to protect Caspian!" defended the dark haired Edmund, his cheeks reddening. "Can't be too careful…"

Lily couldn't believe anything they were saying; fairytales were myths yesterday and now they were walking around in the sunshine, smiling at her. They were here to help restore Narnia...

Her brows furrowed, her memories coming fast, clouding her thoughts. Her heartbeat sped up, as if she was running across the snowy field again... now she knew she was not dead, not while her brother was still alive and suffering a horrible punishment.

"Leland," she said, her brother's face fixed in her mind. She looked at Caspian, her only hope. "They took Leland and the others."

"There are more of you?" Edmund asked. "We didn't see anyone else in the woods last night."

"They were taken by Miraz," Lily explained. She looked at Caspian carefully, "and Viria."

Caspian stared at her, the danger sinking in as he heard her words.

Lily looked at the Kings and Queens of Old, her eyes glistening with fear. "Your majesties, I need your help."