"It's Aslan over there!" cried Lucy, pointing. "Do you see him, he's right…there…" Her voice faltered as she looked again and saw he wasn't there.
"…do you see him now?" asked Trumpkin.
"She's not crazy," said Maddie, defending her. "She really did see him!"
"Yes, thank you!" said Lucy. "Aslan is really there!"
"…okay, what the hell is an Aslan?" asked Logan, sounding annoyed.
"A VERY POTTER MUSICAL!" screamed Alyssa and Mallory, high-fiving each other and then Logan. He looked utterly confuzzled. Yes, confuzzled.
There was a pregnant pause before Edmund said, "Last time I didn't believe Lucy, I ended up looking pretty stupid." His eyes flickered from Lucy to Maddie. "I'm with you, Lu."
"Look, I'm not about to jump off a cliff for someone who doesn't exist," said Trumpkin. He pointed to the right and said, "There's a way across the river over there."
"Right," said Peter. "Come along, everyone." He and Trumpkin led the way.
Lucy was near tears, and even as Maddie led her away, she kept glancing over her shoulder, as if hoping that Aslan would come and stop them.
He never did.
The group walked on for what seemed like hours before getting across the river. All of a sudden, they heard noises of saws and the clanking of metal. All of them crept behind a bundle of bushes and spied what was going on.
Trees were being hacked down by what looked like Spaniards. They were hauling trees into gigantic wagons, where it seemed they were going to use them elsewhere. Alyssa pointed to two guards near the bush who didn't appear to be paying attention to anything. Alyssa motioned that Logan should distract them, while she and Darby stole their swords. Logan agreed, although hesitantly.
Logan walked out in front of the guys and took a good look at them. They stared back. All of a sudden, Logan started acting out scenes from Percy Jackson, to which the guards responded enthusiastically. In the ruckus, Alyssa and Darby grabbed their swords and signed to the group that they should leave. Logan followed quickly, leaving the guards confuzzled.
"Telmarines really are stupid," muttered the D.L.F. Everyone snickered.
So now Darby and Alyssa had swords. They got to have a little practice time with them because they all stopped to camp for the night. The D.L.F. and the Pevensie brothers taught Darby, Alyssa, and Logan about Narnian sword techniques. By the time they were ready to call it a day, the three knew enough to survive.
Everyone laid down by the fire. All of the boys were soon fast asleep, but the girls were wide awake.
"Why didn't I see Aslan too?" asked Susan sadly.
"Maybe you weren't looking," said Alyssa snootily.
The two exchanged their regular glare before all the girls closed their eyes and fell asleep. Now, Lucy had a dream about finding Aslan, but that won't be explained here. Consult the movie or book.
After the dream, Lucy's eyes flew open. She got up, took a look around, and immediately began to take the path that had been her dream, occasionally whispering "Please wake up" to the trees.
Being a light sleeper, Alyssa's eyes fluttered open. She propped herself up and rubbed her eyes. Noticing Lucy was gone, Alyssa got up and began to follow what she could determine as the path. She thought she heard footsteps behind her, but she ignored them and picked up her pace.
She nearly ran into Lucy. Well, actually, she did. Both tripped and fell, luckily behind a bush. Alyssa was about to swear in pain when she felt a hand clamped over her mouth. Peter also had one over Lucy's mouth. He withdrew both of his hands and made a quiet signal.
A Minotaur was passing by, dragging its club on the ground. As soon as its back was to them, Peter stepped out of the bush with his sword in his hand, poised to fight it.
Instead, a young man jumped out of nowhere, swinging his sword at Peter, who parried his attacks and struck at the young Telmarine with as much force as possible. The Telmarine was about to be beheaded, but, screaming, Alyssa jumped into the middle of the fight, moving her sword in ways that made Peter lose his own.
"NO, STOP!" yelled Lucy.
"Yeah, why are you attacking me?" asked Peter frantically. "And…and no one's ever defeated me! Not even Edmund!"
Suddenly, other Narnians started to appear. There were Centaurs, Minotaurs, Dwarves, and Talking Beasts galore. Peter stared, wide-eyed, before looking around at the Telmarine and asking, "Prince Caspian?"
"Yes," he snarled. "And who are you?"
Alyssa picked up Peter's sword so Prince Caspian could get a good look at it. He looked up, startled. "High King Peter," he said.
Saying nothing, Peter took his sword back. At that exact moment, everyone else came running and stopped short by Lucy. Mallory was holding Logan's hand. "Caspian?" she asked.
"I know who the Kings and Queens are," said Caspian, "but no one else."
So Mallory, Logan, Maddie, Darby, Trumpkin, and Alyssa introduced themselves. "You're not exactly what I expected," said Caspian, looking at all of them in turn. His gaze lingered on Alyssa.
She looked away quickly. Susan looked jealously mutinous, or mutinously jealous, whichever you prefer.
"…neither are you," said Edmund slowly.
Maddie, suddenly, noticed a rather proud-looking Mouse. She leaned in towards Lucy's ear. "Oh my gosh, he's so cute!"
"WHO SAID THAT?" bellowed the Mouse, drawing his sword and waving it around wildly. Maddie stepped away from Lucy, looking guilty.
"Sorry."
"Oh, no, friend of the Queen, forgive me," said the Mouse hastily. "It's just that I'd prefer something more…uh, noble."
"And what is your name, noble Mouse?" asked Lucy, smiling.
"Reepicheep, your Majesty," said the Mouse, bowing. He gestured to the other Mice behind him. "My loyal Mice."
"No shit, Sherlock," muttered Logan.
Alyssa flipped around and slapped him across the face. "THAT'S WHAT I SAY!"
"DON'T HIT MY LOGAN!" yelled Mallory, pushing him behind her, as though to shield him.
Alyssa was about to hit Logan again because she hated it when people stole her words and/or phrases, but someone grabbed her wrist, to stop her. It took her a while to realize that it was Caspian. "Calm down, Alyssa," he said, still not letting go of her wrist. "We all need to keep moving," he announced in a louder voice. "We're almost there."
Peter, looking disgusted at Caspian, followed him as Caspian dragged Alyssa along, who was blushing furiously. Darby and Susan walked next to Peter, with Susan eyeing Caspian and Alyssa's every move. Next came Maddie and Edmund, followed by Lucy, the D.L.F., Reepicheep, and the rest of Caspian's followers. They walked on for hours like a parade, until Caspian and Alyssa stopped abruptly at the beginning of a huge clearing. All of the others stared in awe with them at the huge crazy-sized mound ahead, just across the field.
"It's beautiful," said Darby.
Caspian looked at her darkly. "It better be," he said in a low voice. "It's the only part of Aslan that we know exists."
