From the door in the cave wall that Peter and Edmund had entered in, about ten creatures that they had not seen before entered slowly. But they were not the type of creatures that one would have expected to see in such a place, no, rather in every inch they appeared to be full blooded Narnians.
A fawn walked in first, and following him was a young centaur, a dryad, three squirrels, a beaver or two, and a badger following behind the crowd. As soon as the faun approached the boys, he bowed low, the rest of the party following his lead.
"We are forever in your debt, my liege." He said, his head nearly on the ground.
Peter sheathed his sword and walked forward, Edmund by his side. "My good creatures, do my eyes deceive me, or art thou of Narnian descent? For upon entering this place, I could see no Narnians at all, only creatures and beasts of the most horrid kind."
The faun stood. "Ah, but your majesty, twas us that you saw. For the guard at the door that you met when you first came in, that was I."
The young squirrel approached, giving a slight bow before he spoke. "And the servant that brought you your meal, that was I." His squeaky voice said bashfully.
The faun continued, "The witch must have had us under a spell for many moons, but Aslan sent you to set things right for us, rescuing us from our horrible fate we've been forced to endure."
Edmund interjected, "But how is it, my friends, that you'd come to be trapped in such a place? For certainly we are well beyond the borders of Narnia."
"That would be our fault partially. You see, we were out on a hunting trip, and our curiosity got the better of us when we noticed this cave a little ways off. Well, some of us thought it would be a good idea to go explore, just to see what was over there—"
"I objected strongly to that notion," The deep voice of the badger said from behind the group. It was clear that he was the oldest of the party.
Stepping forward, one of the younger squirrels continued, "I knew better, I did," It confessed, it's face turning red. The squirrel behind him stood, gazing down and nervously ringing it's tail. "Me too. We should have listened to Ruffleblunter. But we just wanted to see if there were any nuts or anything in the cave, so—"
"Do let us stay on the point my friends!" The faun interjected. "The conclusion is that we all decided to explore anyways, against our better judgement and there we were, trapped."
Peter and Edmund listened as they continued.
From the side, a beaver approached them. "Your majesties, I know we should not be permitted to enter the good land of Narnia after our horrid act of carelessness, but please-with your blessing we would ask that it be alright for us to dwell on the borders of your fair kingdom. Perhaps even Archenland, or-"
Peter put a hand up to silence them. "You will do nothing of the sort. You all will come back to Narnia, for that is your home. But alas, are there any more of you down here?"
Edmund glanced up near where the door was, and he almost could not believe the sight that was before him. For standing behind the door, dozens and dozens of pairs of eyes met his. Creatures of all shapes and sizes, both old and young. Why, there must have been near a hundred!
"Peter, you may want to see this," Edmund said, nudging him. At once, Peter saw the same marvelous sight as Edmund, and let out a small gasp. He immediately recognized some of the creatures from his own party that he and Edmund had set out with, just two weeks prior. But there were many others. Boars and bears, dwarfs and dryads, wood nymphs, birds and beavers.
The crowd shifted nervously, all eyes on Peter as he stepped forward to address them.
"My good creatures, I am High King Peter of Narnia. Long has been your captivity under this witch, but know that henceforth you will all be able to return now to your homelands, wherever they may be. You will also be rewarded greatly by the Narnian monarchy for the suffering you've had to endure. But come now," He clasped his hand on Edmund's shoulder. "Let us get going from this place."
The crowd bowed low at the king's words, and then everyone including Peter and Edmund proceeded to gather themselves together for the long journey home.
Home.
The word had never sounded so refreshing to Peter before, and as he made his way through the large crowd, he couldn't help a sigh of relief that the worst was now behind him.