Here's the first chapter of tonight's update! :) The next and final one is now up too!
Suggested listening: "What Shall We Die For", "I Don't Think Now is the Best Time", "One Day", and "Drink Up Me Hearties" from the POTC: At World's End Soundtrack! :)
Disclaimer: Yes, I own everything. ... Apparently, my Jedi mind tricks don't work. Poop.
Chapter XIX – Matters of Life and Death
Rapunzel stared at the wreckage around her. Tears formed in her eyes as she ran her hands through her short, brown hair. How could all this have happened so quickly? How was it possible that one week ago, her life was nearly perfect? Even yesterday, her life was perfect! There was absolutely nothing wrong yesterday! Well, other than the impending doom, nothing was wrong. The Princess—or Queen, rather—allowed the tears to slip down her cheeks as she bit her lip to keep from crying out. What had gone wrong? Why was this all so wrong?
She looked at the bodies surrounding her. There were too many familiar ones to be comfortable. Warm, strong arms surrounded her as she shivered from the chill in the air. "Everything will be alright," he said to her, his voice low and comforting. "I promise. We'll go home and everything will be alright."
"But it can't be! He's…he's gone! It will never be alright!" she screamed into the silence around her, refusing to look at the man who had his arms around her. "How can anything be right when he's gone? I loved him! We were married and I loved him!"
"I love you," the man said to reassure her. It didn't work.
Angry tears streamed down her face as Rapunzel screamed at the world. How could they take him from her? "Why?" she screamed. "Why, Aslan? Why would you do this to me? What have I done wrong?"
She didn't expect an answer.
Peter stuck his hands out to the fire. Why did it have to be so cold in the spring? The cloudy skies weren't helping. Lucy came up and sat next to him. She warmed her hands by the fire as well and pulled her cloak tighter around her. She hated the fact that the Narnians had retreated. They were taking refuge for the night after the small skirmish early today. The Valiant Queen knew that there would be a dangerous battle tomorrow. It was—unfortunately—inevitable.
Susan sat down next to her younger sister and wrapped her arms around the girl. Everything had happened so quickly! She was riding in the woods and stumbled upon a Narnian camp. She was not surprised to see Edmund and Rapunzel there. It had taken her quite some time to convince them that she was not there to hurt them and that she was extremely sorry for betraying them and Narnia and Aslan. The day after she arrived, the Narnian Resistance headed back to Cair Paravel, making camp at the Stone Table because it was close enough to Cair Paravel, but far enough away to not be a threat.
Peter, Lucy, and Eugene had arrived on a ship from Galma, and had to fight their way back into Narnia, the three of them plus a handful of Narnians barely escaping from the wrathful hand of the Telmarines. They had heard from the dryads that the Narnian Resistance was at Cair Paravel, and the entire Pevensie family as well Eugene and Rapunzel were reunited. The tension was thick for the rest of the day because of the blatantly obvious 'love triangle' between Rapunzel, Eugene, and Edmund. Rapunzel didn't want to hurt either of the men, so she avoided both of them.
That had been the previous day. Today at noon, the Telmarines had appeared from nowhere and attacked. The battle had not gone well for the Narnians, who were outnumbered by at least two to one. Only a few had been lost from each side before Peter called everyone to retreat. The Narnians had fallen back deep into the woods, where the Telmarines were far to travel. They were not nearly as superstitious as they were rumored to be, but still feared the woods to an extent (especially when a large group of dryads volunteer to spook the Telmarines from the woods).
So now, the six warriors sat silently around a fire, waiting for the night to pass and the morning to break. They all just wanted this conflict to be over. After some time passed, the girls went to bed, and the boys followed.
The morning came too quickly. The Narnians were up early to get suited in their armor for battle. As Rapunzel tied the cuirass around her chest, she made up her mind about one of the decisions that had been plaguing her for a week. "Susan," Rapunzel said clearly and determinedly, "I want you to cut my hair off."
"What?" Susan and Lucy asked at the same time.
"Cut it all off. It's in the way, and I don't want any Telmarines coming after me because of my hair. I've thought about it, and I want it to come off."
"Are—are you sure?" Susan asked cautiously. Rapunzel nodded firmly. "Well, alright…but you know that you can't change it, right?" She nodded again. "If you say so…" Lucy unsheathed her dagger and handed it to her older sister. Rapunzel hastily unbraided her hair and let it hang. She let some of it run through her fingers and closed her eyes, thinking back onto happier times. Those times were past, and Rapunzel was a completely different person now. May the new era begin.
Susan carefully raised the dagger behind Rapunzel's hair at her mid-back. "Higher," Rapunzel commanded. She raised it to about breast length. "Higher." Susan raised the dagger to her shoulders. "Higher. I don't want it to hold me back." A little worried, Susan raised the dagger to Rapunzel's chin. The Princess smiled. "Yes."
"You're completely sure?"
"Of course."
And so Susan closed her eyes, took a deep breath, reopened her eyes, and sliced.
The heavy golden hair fell to the ground. Rapunzel immediately spun around, raised her hands to her head and looked at the floor. Rapidly, the hair turned brown and powerless. The girls heard a high-pitched scream from the woods.
"Telmarines!" Lucy exclaimed.
Rapunzel shook her head confidently. "Gothel," she corrected.
The three girls ran from the tent in full armor and with their weapons, heading for the trees where the scream had sounded from. Sure enough, about a hundred feet away from the camp, but still in sight of the girls' tent, was an old woman. She was shrieking in pain and shriveling before their very eyes. Upon seeing Rapunzel, Gothel growled, "You!"
"Me," Rapunzel said bravely. She approached the witch. "I loved you, Mother, but you abused my hair's magic. And I see you have stolen Lucy's cordial." The now-brunette Princess ripped the diamond vial from the old woman's hands and tossed it to the Valiant Queen, who caught it deftly.
"I love you," Gothel said weakly.
"I love you more," Rapunzel said automatically, her resolve weakening.
"I love you most," Gothel said, and with a painful scream, the witch staggered back and collapsed, her cloak falling to the ground. Rapunzel's mother was no more.
Rapunzel let out a choked sob and reached her hands out, but then thought twice and turned on her heel. Without a word, she walked back to the camp. The army was assembling to go to battle with the Telmarines. The girls quickly walked over to Peter, Edmund, and Eugene, who were in full Narnian battle attire. Rapunzel walked by and ignored the boys and their gapes toward her head, heading toward the archers. Susan shrugged as if to say, "We'll explain later," and followed Rapunzel to the archers.
Lucy remained with the boys. She held up her cordial and said, "Long story short, Rapunzel decided to cut her hair off really short, we heard a scream, Gothel died, and I got my cordial back! Let's just pray that we won't lose too many Narnians today."
The boys nodded and turned toward the army. A centaur blew his horn to get the Narnians and Coronans attention. Peter opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by Maximus galloping up to him. He nudged Peter and tossed his head toward the saddle bag. Peter furrowed his brow and opened the bag. Inside was a note and something large. Peter read the note, and then pulled out the object. He took one glance at it and realized what he needed to do. He opened his mouth again and said, "Narnians and Coronans! Today, we go to battle against the Telmarines for Narnia! But first, there is something I have to do. Just a moment ago, I received word from Cair Paravel, via this horse, Maximus, and from Queen Julia of Corona that she is hereby abdicating the Coronan throne to her daughter, Rapunzel. Please come here, Princess Rapunzel."
The brunette approached the High King, surprised.
"Under normal circumstances, she could only be crowned by her predecessors, but as they are unavailable, Queen Julia has given me the right and permission to crown Rapunzel as Queen of Corona." He towered over her as she knelt in front of him as per his directions. The King placed the crown on her head and said, "I, High King Peter the Magnificent, hereby crown you, Princess Rapunzel, as Queen of Corona. Rise, Queen Rapunzel."
Queen Rapunzel stood and faced the army. The Coronans knelt before her, followed by the Narnians in an unspoken vow to protect their ally's Queen. Rapunzel smiled as the Coronans shouted, "Long live Queen Rapunzel!"
Rapunzel walked over to the archers, taking her crown off and placing it back in Max's bag so as not to lose it during battle. Peter retained attention from the army and said, "Now, we go to war."
The army cheered as they marched onto battle.
Susan took a deep breath as she watched the Narnian army stand in their normal battle formation. She was above the battlefield on the cliffs with the other archers. It was ironic that they were at the same battlefield as they had fought the White Witch's army at. It seemed that Narnia's independence would always be gained at this location. Or, at least, Susan hoped that Narnia's independence would be gained here.
Rapunzel stood at Susan's right side. Lucy was on Susan's left side. The youngest Queen would much rather be in battle, but Peter would not allow it right after she was kidnapped. Rapunzel was nervous about both Edmund and Eugene fighting below.
The girls could see the Telmarines in the distance. They were clearly very organized and meticulous in the training. And they outnumbered the Narnians by at least four times.
All three young women took in a deep breath as they saw Peter draw his sword. They heard his cry, "For Narnia! And for Aslan!" and then saw him lead the army toward the Telmarines.
Susan flinched as she heard the armies meet in the middle after what seemed like an eternity. It always did. She strongly raised her bow and led the other archers in doing so. "Ready…aim…fire!" Dozens of arrows split the air and flew down to the battlefield. All the archers immediately put another arrow to their string and awaited Susan's command. The Queen was basing her orders off of who seemed to be winning, or doing the best, at the time. Susan directed the archers to fire once more, and her eyes rapidly scanned the field for any sight of Edmund or Peter or Eugene.
Edmund was fighting two Telmarines.
Peter was pulling his sword out of a Telmarine soldier.
Eugene was nowhere to be found.
Rapunzel was extremely nervous. She didn't want to be here, and she didn't want any of her friends to be in this situation. She had a nasty feeling that it wasn't going to end well for all of her friends. Corona's newest Queen took a deep breath and scanned the field of battle for the men she loved.
The archers helped shoot down some Telmarines, but overall, the Narnians were losing badly. The girls saw something large in the distance. Rapunzel hadn't ever seen anything like it, but Susan recognized it and remembered hearing that the Telmarines used these contraptions in battle: catapults. The ground beneath the archers shook and Susan realized that they were being shot at by giant boulders. "Brace yourselves!" she screamed over the noises of the battle.
The cliff shook again, and some of the stone dropped out. Susan and Rapunzel were flung to the ground, held only by Lucy and another archer's hands, who were in turn being held up by more archers. The Queens hung in the air for what seemed like an eternity. Susan's head quickly dropped, trying to see if there was anything that they could land on.
"Let go!" the Gentle Queen shouted. The archers and Valiant Queen knew better than to argue with the Gentle Queen, so they immediately dropped the two women. Susan and Rapunzel hit the ground with a thud. They were on top of a hill. "Are you ready to fight?" Susan asked. Rapunzel nodded. Susan had told the others to drop them because she could see that both of them were itching to go help the other Narnians and Coronans.
The Queens nodded at each other firmly and raced off into the fray. The sounds of the battle were deafening. Susan and Rapunzel were split up rather quickly as they were pulled into separate fights of their own. Rapunzel shot at some Telmarines and was very lucky with her aim, but she wasn't able to reload her bow fast enough. She saw that Susan had this same problem, but the older Queen had given up on trying to shoot the Telmarines. She was merely stabbing them with her arrows.
Rapunzel did the same as her fellow Queen and started jamming the arrows into the cracks in the Telmarines' armor, pulling them back out once they were dead. It didn't even seem like taking a life to Rapunzel, even though she knew that it was. These people had taken control of Narnia and needed to be gotten rid of! Rapunzel ducked as a man slashed out at her with his sword. She stood back up but immediately threw her body backwards as he thrust his sword at her. Rapunzel lost her balance and tumbled down to the ground, rolling down the hill because of the incline. Fortunately, she was able to knock down some people on her way. Unfortunately, she was almost trampled.
A large hand reached down to her. The Queen grabbed it and was lifted to her feet. She was face to face with Eugene. "Eugene!" she squeaked.
"Your majesty," he said, somewhat formally.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"Nothing."
"Well, obviously, something's wrong!"
"I just…why?"
"What?"
"Why did you choose him?" Eugene shouted.
"Choose who?" asked Rapunzel, shoving an arrow to her bow. She shot it at a Telmarine who was running up to a Leopard who was already engaged in battle with another Telmarine. She heard a loud explosion as a boulder was catapulted into the rocky cliffs.
"King Edmund!" Eugene replied bitterly. He was back to back with Rapunzel now, each of them protecting the other. "You two are married now, aren't you?"
"Of course not! That's ridiculous!" Rapunzel exclaimed. "I love you!"
"I love you, too!" Eugene shouted, and spun around to face the Queen. Without hesitating for the slightest second, Eugene pulled Rapunzel to him and kissed her more passionately than ever before. They were so engrossed in each other that they were oblivious to their surroundings until they were interrupted by a deep voice.
"Maybe that should be continued another time!" Peter shouted.
Rapunzel looked at the King and shot an arrow at a Telmarine sneaking up behind him. "Peter! You crowned me Queen of Corona, so can you do marriages?"
"Uh, I guess, but I don't think now is the best time—"
"Eugene Fitzherbert, will you marry me?" Rapunzel demanded, interrupting the High King.
"Yes!" he responded immediately.
"Marry us, Peter!" Rapunzel said.
He sighed and as he fought two Telmarines at once, he shouted back to the couple, "Eugene Fitzherbert, do you take Queen Rapunzel to be your lawfully wedded wife?"
"I do!"
"Queen Rapunzel, do you take Eugene Fitzherbert to be your lawfully wedded husband?"
"I do!"
"Then by the power vested in me as High King of Narnia, I now pronounce you husband and wife!"
Rapunzel and Eugene immediately stopped their fighting and turned to each other. Their lips were immediately together and they kissed deeply and passionately.
"Can you continue this later?" Peter asked. "I could really use some help here!"
The two pulled apart, grinning like never before, and returned to fighting the Telmarines. Rapunzel shot more arrows at Telmarines and thrust them into their chests with her bare hands. She turned on the spot upon hearing a strangled gasp. Blood was spattered over the grass, and Eugene was on the ground, clutching his side, where a dagger was lodged. Rapunzel instinctively reached for her hair, but it wasn't there. "Eugene!" she cried, not knowing what to do.
Susan pulled an arrow from a Telmarine's chest and immediately restrung it to her bow, and then shot it at another Telmarine who was getting dangerously close to a faun. She raced over, drawing the dagger she had tucked away, and slitting the wrist of a Telmarine who happened to be lacking the proper armor required. How unfortunate for him.
The Gentle Queen helped the faun, and then started fighting dagger to sword with a Telmarine. Susan wasn't dressed to be fighting in one-on-one combat; she was supposed to be an archer. She jumped as the Telmarine swung his sword toward her ankles, pulling her legs in so she wouldn't get her legs injured. While he was recovering from the loss of balance, Susan kicked him to the ground and shoved the dagger in the space between his armor. He grunted and fell to the ground.
Susan stood and shot an arrow at a Telmarine. She looked around the battlefield and immediately saw Rapunzel and Eugene off in the distance. Peter was there, too. She saw Lucy up on the cliffs and knew that her younger sister was probably livid that she couldn't join the battle, but Lucy knew better than to face Peter's wrath. The High King would be furious if he found out that Lucy had joined the fight.
She ran to Edmund, who didn't seem to be faring very well, as he was fighting three Telmarines at once. Before she could reach her younger brother, Susan paused to shoot an arrow at a Telmarine who was about to strike the deathblow toward a fallen Centaur. Susan looked around once more, and saw that the Narnians were suffering greatly, and the Telmarine army was growing larger and larger. It was as if boats of soldiers were arriving from Telmar and marching to the battlefield. Susan realized that was probably true.
The Queen knew that they would need a miracle to get out of this alive. Where was Aslan? Why wasn't he here? Why couldn't he just run in and save the day like every other time! Susan sighed and immediately fell to the ground as a Telmarine ran by and pushed her over. She had been so distracted that she hadn't realized that a man was running toward her.
Susan looked up into the masked face and saw the sword that was raised above her. She rolled out of the way as the weapon came crashing down. The metal hit the grass, but was immediately raised again. The Queen rolled in the other direction this time, but she was not nearly quick enough. She cried out in pain as her arm was harmed. Clutching her right forearm with her left hand, Susan winced and forced herself to duck as the sword came down again. She struggled to stand, but made it eventually. How was she going to shoot? With her left hand, Susan pulled out an arrow and jammed it into the man's neck. He slammed to the ground. Immediately, Susan ran off to find another opponent.
She needed to find Lucy and get a drop of the fire-flower juice. She wasn't going to be able to do much good if she was injured. There wasn't a way for her to shoot or stab or fight if her right arm was injured. Susan had never wished to be ambidextrous before now, but she was praying that Aslan might give her the ability to fight with her left hand and arm. She didn't truly think it possible.
Susan did the first thing she could think of—run to Edmund. Being with the Just King was better than being unprotected. He might be able to get her to Lucy more quickly than she could by herself. He would be there to protect her from harm. But he was also busy. Should she disrupt him and ask him to leave the field to help her? She could manage on her own.
The injured Queen ran as fast as she could manage to the edge of the cliffs, dodging weapons and angry and passionate soldiers from both sides of the battle. She was about one hundred feet away when she felt a searing pain in the back of her thigh. She turned around and saw an arrow lodged in her leg. Of all the things to happen to her… She staggered and fell over, and saw a dark figure pass over her.
Her vision swam and then all she saw was darkness.
Lucy couldn't stand this. She hated being with the archers when her family was out there fighting. She was a Queen of Narnia, too! She should fight for their freedom with her people and not stand up here like—the only word Lucy could think of was 'coward', but she knew that wasn't true. The archers were not cowards. They, too, were fighting for Narnia. She just hated not knowing what was going on. She didn't even know where her family was! She couldn't pick them out from the masses below. Lucy hoped that they weren't injured or worse.
She couldn't just stand here! Lucy was going insane and being paranoid. It was driving her mad. Where are You, Aslan? she wondered, looking up at the grey skies. It looked like it was about to rain any second. She didn't know how rain would affect the battle, but it most likely wouldn't help the Narnians, who seemed to be losing terribly. They needed help and quickly. At this point, Lucy knew that there was really only one person who could help the Narnians: Aslan.
Making up her mind, Lucy turned to the centaur next to her and said, "Almaud, you are now to lead the archers. I'm going to find Aslan."
The centaur nodded and looked to the sky, "The stars have said that help will come from the east."
"I'll take that as Aslan will come, then," Lucy said. She smiled, nodded her thanks, and ran from the field of death and despair. Heading for the woods, the Valiant Queen ran with all her might. She had no horse, and she knew not where she was going, but she didn't care. Hopefully, Aslan would find her before too long. However, Lucy knew that Aslan was not a tame Lion, and therefore, would not come just because she wished it. Despite her doubts, Lucy entered the woods.
She knew exactly where she was because she had walked these woods many times before. Lucy had no idea where to start looking, so she headed for the Stone Table. If anywhere, this is where she would meet Aslan. After all, it held a significant meaning for them both.
Lucy walked briskly through the woods, listening carefully as the sounds of battle decreased the further away she got, and watching for a flash of gold in the trees or a golden paw stepping out from behind a bush. There was nothing there in the woods, but she continued looking. She had to have faith! Aslan would come. He just had to.
The girl walked for at least an hour before she finally saw the Stone Table up ahead. It was just as humbling and yet majestic as it had always been. Lucy slowly approached the Table and sat on it, waiting for something to happen.
She sat for the longest time. Lucy waited and waited and waited, but no one came. "Aslan," she said, exhausted and emotionally drained, "Where are you?"
She received no answer, but eventually stood and began to walk away from the Stone Table. Just as she was about to reenter the woods, Lucy saw her shadow cast on the ground before her.
"That's odd," she said to herself, as it was a cloudy day and there was no sun to cause a shadow, but then she realized what the shadow meant. Smiling brightly, Lucy turned around and ran up to the Lion who stood between the Valiant Queen and the Stone Table. "Aslan!"
"Hello, Daughter of Eve," the Great Lion said. He chuckled at her enthusiasm, and said, "Come, we have much we need to accomplish."
"Like what, Aslan? There are no stone statues to free this time."
Aslan laughed again, and said, "No, but your brothers and sister and friends and fellow Narnians need help to win this battle before it is too late."
"I see," Lucy said.
"Climb up onto my back, Daughter. We have a great distance to travel." The Queen did so, and as she buried her hands in His mane, the Lion let out a tremendous roar that shook the trees for miles. The two bounded through the trees powerfully and confidently. They made it to the battlefield in much less time than Lucy had taken to walk it earlier. As soon as they reached the cliffs, Lucy realized how awful the situation actually was.
The archers had been forced to join the actual fighting because the Narnians were falling quickly. The battlefield was a graveyard. Bodies littered the ground, and there were a few dozen Narnians still struggling against the strong Telmarines. Lucy almost started crying at the depressing sight. She covered her ears as Aslan roared again, this time more loudly and fiercely than before.
The Telmarines looked up and immediately began to back away in retreat. They were afraid of the Lion! It was almost too good to be true, but it was real. Aslan roared once more, and the Telmarines were shaking in fear. They immediately ran in the opposite direction, afraid of all these mythological creatures, but also afraid of the Lion who had plagued their childhood horror stories. Soon, only a few Telmarines were left, the others having run in cowardice, but the Narnians quickly took care of these stragglers, adding their bodies to the count that were scattered across the ground.
Lucy leapt down the hills, searching for her siblings among the few dozen Narnians who were left standing. There was Edmund, standing next to Rapunzel, but where were the others? Panicking, Lucy looked back to Aslan for reassurance, but he was gone again. She was a little sad that he had just left without saying goodbye, but she knew that he must have his reasons. Reaching for her cordial, Lucy ran to the closest Narnian, a satyr, and started the healing process that followed every battle.
Rapunzel stared at the wreckage around her. Tears formed in her eyes as she ran her hands through her short, brown hair. How could all this have happened so quickly? How was it possible that one week ago, her life was nearly perfect? Even yesterday, her life was perfect! There was absolutely nothing wrong yesterday! Well, other than the impending doom, nothing was wrong. The Princess—or Queen, rather—allowed the tears to slip down her cheeks as she bit her lip to keep from crying out. What had gone wrong? Why was this all so wrong?
She looked at the bodies surrounding her. There were too many familiar ones to be comfortable. Warm, strong arms surrounded her as she shivered from the chill in the air. "Everything will be alright," he said to her, his voice low and comforting. "I promise. We'll go home and everything will be alright."
"But it can't be! He's…he's gone! It will never be alright!" she screamed into the silence around her, refusing to look at the man who had his arms around her. "How can anything be right when he's gone? I loved him! We were married and I loved him!"
"I love you," the man said to reassure her. It didn't work.
Angry tears streamed down her face as Rapunzel screamed at the world. How could they take him from her? "Why?" she screamed. "Why, Aslan? Why would you do this to me? What have I done wrong?"
She didn't expect an answer.
Edmund wrapped his arms protectively around the sobbing Queen of Corona. She broke free of his grasp and knelt next to her husband. The Just King knew that she could never be his, but he couldn't stand seeing her like this. He watched as she laid across Eugene's chest, with the dying man stroking her short, brown hair.
"I shouldn't have cut my hair," Rapunzel said to her husband. "Now I can't save you."
"You saved my life once," Eugene breathed. "And that's enough. We got to live our dream. We got married…"
"We've only been married for a few hours, Eugene," Rapunzel cried. As his breathing became shallower, Rapunzel carefully adjusted his head so that he was lying in her lap, her hands gently stroking his brown hair. She lowered her head and pressed her lips to his forehead as his eyes closed, his breathing growing fainter and fainter. "I love you, Eugene Fitzherbert."
"And I love you, Queen Rapunzel Fitzherbert," the man whispered softly.
Lucy ran up to Edmund, and saw the scene before her. The Valiant Queen immediately ran to Eugene's side and pulled out her cordial. Rapunzel looked at the Valiant Queen quizzically before realizing what she was going to do. Lucy poured a drop or two into the dying man's mouth, and waited for something to happen, waited for him to sit up and be healed.
Eugene Fitzherbert did not sit up. Rapunzel let out a choked sob, and leaned over her husband's body, tears streaming down her face and onto his cheeks. And then a miracle happened. Eugene's eyes flickered open and he stared into Rapunzel's large, green eyes.
A smile broke out onto the Queen's face, and she immediately embraced her husband as he sat up, completely healed. Rapunzel grinned and kissed her husband.
Lucy and Edmund looked away, both needing to find their siblings.
The two found Peter, who was speaking with Oreius about what to do with the Telmarine bodies. Relieved that he wasn't harmed, they sought out Susan. After ten minutes of searching, they found her lying on the ground, unconscious. Lucy saw the blood on her clothing, and poured a drop of the cordial into her sister's mouth. Susan sat up and embraced her sister and brother.
The Pevensies continued to go around, healing the injured Narnians and Coronans, smiling as they went. Narnia was free.