THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA
THE LION THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE BBC
PART 22
THE TRIUMPH OF THE WITCH
PREVIOUSLY: The Witch pays a surprise visit in Aslan's camp and Aslan grants her a safe-conduct on the condition that she leaves her wand behind. The Witch accuses Aslan of harbouring a traitor and reminds him that as stated by the Deep Magic that was put into Narnia in the very beginning, all and every traitor belongs to her as her lawful prey and that she has every right to kill Edmund or else Narnia will be destroyed. This is met with the angry protesting and nearly even clashing with her by force until Aslan confirms that the Witch is right. However, Aslan and Witch talk privately and Aslan manages to settle the matter with the Witch who renounces her claim of Edmund's life. After the Witch is gone, Aslan moves his army away from the Stone Table for it is soon needed for other purposes.
Narnian army, with Aslan and Flamestorm in the lead while Peter, Susan, Lucy and Edmund were walking beside them and Aslan's Satyrs and leopards in their wake, marched at an easy pace for they had not far to go.
Soon the army arrived to a wide wooded valley that was surrounded by two high and rocky ridges on both the north and south, and across of which windered to westward the broad but shallow river called Beruna. These were the Fords of Beruna.
"We shall camp here!" Aslan called and gave the orders to set the camp on this side of the river.
"Wouldn't it be safer to camp on the other side of the river?" Peter suggested to Aslan. "I mean... we'd be safe and in a better position if the Witch tries to make the attack during the night."
However, he was cut short when Aslan let a low growl and shook his magnificent mane.
"No." Aslan said with the dull voice, before he sighed deeply. "That was well thought of... like how a soldier ought to think. But it doesn't matter, for she will not attack tonight."
Peter frowned at Aslan slightly, confused at how he could be sure of that, but wisely decided not to push him about that.
As the Narnians began to set up the camp at the foot of the north ridge and near the river, Aslan left Flamestorm along with his Satyrs and leopards to oversee the camp before taking Peter to the top of the south ridge to look down on Beruna Valley and the camp.
There, Aslan started to explain Peter his plan of campaign, before his gaze briefly visited in the direction behind them where the Stone Table was.
"As soon as she has finished her business back there, the Witch and her army will almost certainly fall back to her house and prepare for the siege. You may or may not be able to cut her off and prevent her from reaching it, so you must be ready to fight the Witch two ways." Aslan said.
"I?" Peter gasped. realizing that Aslan intended to have him to take the lead of his army in the coming battle.
"One plan is for assaulting her in her castle. The other plan is for fighting her and her forces here, for it will be difficult to know where she will decide to strike." Aslan continued.
"Yes, I see that, but..." Peter said, understanding what Aslan was saying, but he hadn't time to say anything else when Aslan spoke again over his words.
"You must post scouts at all outlying points so that she cannot steal up and catch you unawares." he told him.
"But you will be there yourself, Aslan." Peter asked him hopefully.
Aslan, however, remained stone silent for a while, to Peter's confusion. Then the Great Lion closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh, before he slowly turned his head away.
"I can give you no promise of that." the Great Lion said quietly.
After saying that, Aslan walked away and down the ridge back to the camp, leaving Peter standing there and staring after him, puzzled.
Throughout the rest of the afternoon, Aslan did not talk very much with anyone, preferring to be mostly isolated from others.
His strangely changed behavior and rather downcasted mood affected everyone in the camp, as the atmosphere in the camp was quite quiet.
From the children's perspective, everything felt now different that it had been last the past week or even that morning. It was as if the good times, having just begun, were already drawing to their end.
And out of all, Peter was the most troubled one, feeling uncomfortable at the idea of fighting the battle on his own and still reeling from the shock that Aslan might not be there.
That evening, Susan, Edmund and Lucy were sitting on their beds while Susan offered everyone some grapes they accepted, before she turned to look at Peter who stood by the flap of the pavilion and looked outside... his gaze was fixed on Aslan who stood alone at the edge of the silent camp, and seemed to be lost in his own thoughts.
Peter eventually walked away from the flaps and quietly sat midst of his siblings. Susan tried to offer her big brother some grapes but he declined, too troubled to eat.
"Is he still there?" Lucy asked.
"Yes." Peter said with the sigh. "Nothing has changed"
"He seemed so sad all afternoon." Susan stated, before looking down at Peter. "And it has affected everyone in the camp."
Until now Peter hadn't told them anything about what Aslan had told him that he won't be there with them tummorrow. So Peter thought with the heavy heart that now was time to break the news for his family.
"It's not just that. He's not going to be there." he told them.
After saying that, he was met with the gaped stares of shock and disbelief from Edmund, Susan and Lucy.
"Where? At the battle?" Edmund questioned, to which Peter responded with the nod.
"He's leaving it to us. He's leaving it to me." Peter told his brother and his sisters solemnly, while he already felt his shoulders very heavy from the uncomfortable weight of the responsibility of being the commander of the army.
Edmund shook his head in disbelief that Aslan would walk out of them just like that when the battle was upon them. "I can't believe he would desert us just when we need him most!"
"Of course, he wouldn't, Ed." Susan said soothingly, trying to calm down her brother.
Lucy, however, thought this matter seriously over and over again in her head. "Unless he has to." she told them quietly.
That did little to not at all ease the children's troubled feelings about Aslan and the tomorrow battle.
###
Night had fallen and everybody had gone into their tents to sleep, save for the few guards who stood at night watch near the fires.
In the pavilion, although Peter and Edmund had been restless most of the evening, the two boys nonetheless slept soundly in their respective beds.
In her own bed, however, Susan was lying in her own bed still wide awake, too affected by everything that has been occurred today that she couldn't get to sleep. She just lied there, absentmindedly fimbering the edge of her blanket while looking blankly into the wall of the pavilion.
Then she heard Lucy getting up from her bed before she gave a long sigh, before she turned over and saw her little sister sitting on her bed in the darkness, resting her head in her palms and looked rather troubled.
Susan then quietly got up from her bed and walked over to Lucy's before she sat down next to her and put her arm comfortingly around of Lucy's shoulder, getting her attention.
"Can't you sleep either?" Susan asked quietly, so that they wouldn't wake up their brothers.
"Not a wink." Lucy said, before her was like she had just woken up from some horrible nightmare. "Susan. I've a most horrible feeling, as if something's hanging over us."
"I know. So have I." Susan told her. "Something dreadful is going to happen. To Aslan. Or something dreadful that he's going to do."
Both girls tought it over for a moment, before they turned to look at the part of the pavilion that was reserved for him. It was still empty, which meant that Aslan was most likely still outside.
"Let's go find him." Lucy suggested, to which Susan nodded in agreement.
Both girls then went to fetch their cloaks and put them on - and just in case, Lucy took with her her healing cordial and the dagger with her while Susan grabbed to her bow and quiver of arrows and put them in her back while attaching her horn in her belt - before very quietly crept out of the pavilion.
The moonlight was bright and everything was quite still except for the noise of the river chattering over the stones and the gentle night breeze shaking the leaves in the trees.
The two girls sneaked quietly across the camp, staying within the shadows and behind of the trees and tents to avoid being spotted by the couple of Faun guards at the fire or at the outskirts of the camp patrolling Centaurs while they looked for Aslan, but he was strangely nowhere in sight... not even there where Peter had last seen them.
However, they almost screamed in frightment and jumped back when someone all of the sudden bursted out of the nearby bushes right in front of them.
To their relief, they quickly realized that it was just Chirp in his anthropomorphic form, who had been taking the night watch tonight with the few others.
Chirp looked surprised to find Susan and Lucy outside of their pavilion at this time of the night.
"Chirp-chirp! Susan?! Lucy?! What are you two doing awake at this hour?! Shouldn't you two be sleeping in your pavilion?! Chirp-chirp! Chirp questioned quietly.
"We couldn't get sleep, so we set out to find Aslan." Susan told him. "To make sure that he's okay."
"We had this feeling that something awful is going to happen to him, or that he is going to do something dreadful." Lucy confessed with worry in her voice.
"Have you seen him, Chirp?" Susan asked. "Do you know where he is?"
Chirp, after taking it all in, nodded his head in understanding of the girls concern for the Great Lion.
However, whathe said next to answer to Susan's question was something she didn't expect.
"Chirp-chirp! I believe the question isn't "where he is"? But rather "where is he going"?" Chirp-chirp!" the robin said.
"What do you mean?" Lucy asked as she and Susan stared at the robin with confused looks wrapped over their faces.
Chirp pointed his left wing to the left, beckoning the girls to look where he was pointing at, which they did.
There, on the far side of the camping ground, they saw in the moonlight the golden form of a Lion slowly walking away from the camp into the wood.
Without a word, Susan took Lucy's hand into hers before both girls set to follow him.
"Chirp-chirp! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Where are you going?! Chirp-chirp!" Chirp chirped quietly yet frantically. "Chirp-chirp! Stop! Stop! Come back, both of you! No one's allowed to leave the camp! Chirp-chirp!"
But it was no use. The girls were already too far away to either hear him or they just simply ignored him.
As Chip watched the girls to disappear quickly from the sight behind the trees, it gave him two options: One was that he would be forced to call guards to him so that he could send them to bring the girls back to the camp, or he could just go after them himself - even if it meant that he had to desert his post at night watch - and try to convince them to return to camp or at least to make sure that nothing bad would happen to them.
However, finding himself running quickly out of time of considering which one he should do, Chirp ended up choosing the latter, considering it as his duty to watch over the girls due to their importance to Narnia.
However, that wasn't the only reason why Chirp made his choice. The reason why he chose to abandon his post to watch other the girls wasn't entirely out of duty for the girls' importance but largely out of the robin's genuine care for the girls safety as their friend than a dutiful guard.
With that in mind, the robin quickly ran after them into the woods - or more likely how best he could even run in his anthropomorphic form due to him being a bird.
Aslan led the girls up the steep woody slope out of the valley and then slightly to the left and south - apparently by the very same route which they had used that afternoon in coming from the Hill of the Stone Table.
And as he kept leading them through the dark shadows of the woods, the girls noticed that he looked somehow different from the Aslan they have known this past week: His tail and his head hung low and he walked at slow pace as if he were very, very tired.
However, after following Aslan in secret for some time, the Great Lion suddenly stopped in his tracks in the middle of a wide open place where the trees grew far apart from each other, allowing the moonlight to shine down to the forest floor through the gaps in the canopy of leaves.
Then Aslan turned his head around to look behind him over his shoulder... as if he had sensed that he has been followed.
And he was right indeed.
The Great Lion instantly spotted Susan, Lucy and Chirp - who had finally managed to catch up with the girls, though he was left pretty breathless after running as fast as he could - standing there in the moonlight and in middle of the bed of common yarrows.
The two girls and robin froze in place as they realized they had been seen.
They had been in such a hurry to keep up with Aslan - despite his slow paced walk - and on his heels so that they hadn't thought to hide behind the trees at times to avoid being detected... least at least remembered that the lions happen to have a keen sense of smell and hearing.
However, Aslan didn't seem angry that he was being followed...rather a bit surprised, although it didn't show on his face which still wore a sad frown.
"Oh, children, children, why are you following me?" he asked as he turned to them. "Shouldn't you both be on the bed?"
Aslan then turned to Chirp. "And you, my robin friend... why have you left your post?" he asked gently.
Susan, Lucy and Chirp then walked sheepishly towards the Lion till they were facing him.
"We couldn't sleep." was all Lucy could say.
She didn't tell him why but she felt sure that Aslan already knew what they had been thinking.
"Chirp-chirp! We saw you leave the camp, Your Majesty. The Daughters of Eve just grew worried about you and wanted to make sure were you alright. Chirp-chirp! I couldn't tell if it was wise to follow you out of the camp, but I left with them anyway to make sure nothing bad wouldn't happen out here. Chirp-chirp!" Chirp explained.
"That was well done." Aslan told him softly, before he turned to the girls to give them a sad smile, touched by their concern for him.
"Please, Aslan, may we come with you, wherever you're going?" Susan politely requested.
Aslan thought it for a moment. "Yes. Yes. I should be glad of company tonight. Yes, You may come, if you will promise to stop when I tell you, and that leave me to go on alone." Aslan told them solemnly.
"We promise we will." Susan said immediately.
"Thank you, Aslan." Lucy said gratefully.
"Chirp-Chirp! Even me?" Chirp asked, hoping not to be left out.
"Yes. Even you, my friend." Aslan nodded.
Aslan then turned around and forward they went again, with the girls walking on each side of the Great Lion, Lucy to his right and Susan to his left, while Chirp walked beside Lucy.
But as they continued walking across the dark woods, Aslan's great, royal head drooped so that his nose nearly touched the grass, and he walked even slower pace than before.
Aslan then stopped and gave a low moan, which caught the girls and Chirp's attention.
"Your Majesty?" Chirp said, worried.
"Aslan! Dear Aslan! What is wrong? Can't you tell us?" Lucy asked, worried for him as well.
"Are you ill, dear Aslan?" Susan asked.
"No. Not ill." Aslan said. "I am sad and lonely."
The girls and Chirp felt for the Great Lion. Especially Lucy, who felt for him to the point where she dared to do something she would never have dared to do before, but what they had longed to do ever since they first saw him.
Unable to resist it, Lucy slowly raised her cold hand up and gently burried it in the beautiful sea of fur behind of Aslan's right ear and stroked it.
Aslan's ear twitched lightly at her touch and he let out a low purr, which, however, made Lucy to quickly pull her hand away, fearing of having offended Aslan's personal space.
"I'm sorry, Aslan." Lucy quickly apologized. "I really shouldn't have..."
"It's alright." Aslan said, quickly calming her down. "May you lay your hands on my mane so that I can feel you there. And let us walk like that."
With Aslan's permission, both Susan and Lucy gently burried their hands in his mane and stroked it as they walked.
Aslan purred softly as they go, taking liking of the girls' gentle touch of his mane as it brought him some comfort and sense of company, and in return he turned his head to the right and nuzzled his great head again's Lucy, before he turned his head to the left and nuzzled it against Susan.
Chirp too gently rubbed his wing's soft feathers against Aslan's side as they go.
And presently they saw that they were walking in that part of the forest where they had been ambushed by Aslan's guards guarding the outskirts of their former camp ground.
Soon they were standing almost before the stone archway that was the forcer entrance of their camp, behind of which was the hill on which the Stone Table stood.
And from behind the entrance, they could hear a lot of whooshing and creeping sound, and a low growling, snarling, roaring, mooing, howling, moaning, squeaking, squealing, snorting, grunting, bickering, chittering, screeching, shouting and even malicious giggling.
There, Aslan stopped and turned to the girls and Chirp.
"It is time. Here you must stop, and I must go on alone. And whatever happens, do not let yourselves be seen, or your lives will be in danger." Aslan told them.
The girls and Chirp didn't know what Aslan was talking about.
"But Aslan...?" Susan was about to say, but was gentky cut off by Aslan.
"You have to trust me. For this must be done." Aslan said solemnly.
Aslan then walked ahead, but before he reached the entrance, he turned around and back to the girls and Chirp, looking at all three of them sadly. "Thank you, Susan. Thank you, Lucy. Thank you, Chirp. And remember, do not let yourself to be seen. Now, farewell."
The girls and Chirp were taken aback by the Great Lion saying them farewell. They did not understand why Aslan was saying this, or what he meant about what needed to be done.
With that, Aslan turned from them and walked through of the entrance. The girls and Chirp then walked to the entrance and crouched behind it.
Then all three of them dared to peek through the entrance, looking after Aslan, and were shocked of what they saw there.
A great crowd of people were standing both in the feet and on the top of the hill the Stone Table stood, and though the moon was shining brightly above them in the sky, many of them carried torches which burned with evil-looking red flames and black smoke, as well as the black banners with the symbol of the golden snow flake.
But such of people!
There were lots of all kinds of monsters, demons, evil spirits, horrors, humanoids and part-man part-animal hybrids from your worsts nightmares.
There were the creatures the girls have already seen and encountered.
A whole new pack of anthropomorphic wolves.
Those Pignoids who escorted the Witch to Aslan's camp earlier today.
Lots of wicked and ugly Dwarfs with black hair and beards, contrary to Aslan's good, red-bearded and handsome Dwarfs.
Evil Dryads, who looked less human-like unlike those loyal to Aslan. Their skin was more bark-like, faces gnarled, hair like Spanish moss and fungi, roots and twigs as part of their bodies. There were also evil Hamadryads, leafless, dead and twisted versions of their good counterparts.
And there were creatures the girls have never seen before... until now.
Giant, tree-sized creatures with ugly faces and giant wooden clubs in their hands.
Werewolves, hairy and ferocious wolf-like men with sharp teeth and glowing eyes.
Ghouls, ghastly, skeletally gaunt and and corroded human-like ravenous monsters.
Boggles, nasty humanoid creatures clad in shadowy-black hooded robes to cloak themselves, leaving only their scary clawed hands, terrifying sharp teeth and glowing evil eyes visible from under their hoods. Some of the Boggles had their hoods off, revealing their horrendously grotesque faces.
Ogres, inhumanly large and massive creatures with huge heads, disfigured faces and monstrous teeth. There were also Onis, a particular ogres with long tusks and horns on their foreheads, and they wore a black samurai style armors.
Minotaurs, a fierce and brutish gigantic monsters with the body of a man and the head of the bull.
Hags, hooded, hunched, ugly and wicked old women with pointed noses, long black hair and claw-like nails.
Wraiths, dark and evil hooded phantoms with skeletal faces and hands.
Incubuses and Succubues, malevolent demons with the forms of a handsome men and beautiful women with huge demonic wings on their backs.
Orknies, a foul and hideous humanoid creatures with lumpy heads, eyes that glow like fire, crescent-shaped nostrils, long droppy ears, grotesque grimaces and dagger-sharp teeth.
Wooses, tall and extremely hairy wildmen who bear the resemblance of a Sasquatch-creature.
Ettins, a huge and particularly savage giants with either two heads or four arms, but never both.
Man-bats, evil-looking humanoids with large bat-like wings for arms, sharp teeth and large bat-like ears.
Minolizards, short but vicious Minotaur-like creatures but with the heads and tails of green-scaled lizards.
Lichs, undead creatures or spirits with skeletal faces, who wore full armor, black hooded cloaks, and horned helmets.
Hippotaurs, another huge Minotaur-like humanoid creatures but with the large heads of the hippopotamus.
Croconoids, tall reptilian humanoid creatures with the faces, hard-scaled skins and tails of the crocodiles.
Tall and slender humanoids with the heads of the jackals or black pharaoh hound, like Egyptian Anubis.
Monsters with the body and stature of a man but the head of a vulture, long hands with long curled fingers and bird-like claws.
Gorgons, a horrendous female monsters with snakes on their heads instead of hair.
Trolls, huge and hideously ugly, extremely hairy and foul-smelling creatures with dirty shaggy hair, big noses, huge feet and tails.
Goblins, short but malevolent humanoid creatures with ugly wrinkled faces, huge eyes, large ears, pointy noses and sharp teeth.
Harpies, an evil and hideous woman-like creatures with the feet and talons of the birds-of-prey and the bird-like wings on their backs.
There were also other anthropomorphic Talking Animals that were on the Witch's side than just wolves. These were a huge polar bears, vicious hyenas, evil apes and monkeys, nasty raccoons, ferocious cougars and huge slithering snakes.
The air above the Stone Table was teeming with flying monstrous creatures.
Spectres, a swarm of malevolent and ghastly white shapes/ghosts whooshing and eerily moaning in the air.
Horrors, evil and monstrous demons with very gaunt and night-black bodies, sharp teeth and large grotesque wings on their backs.
Efreets, an evil spirits whose bodies and manes are made of flames and fire, with the white-glowing eyes and fangs.
Sprites, ugly evil spirits with lanky spiked arms and legs and torn insect-like wings, making them look like anthropomorphic insects.
There were a swarm of in the air floating ghostly heads with the flame-like hairs/manes.
Imps, an evil creatures with the skull-like faces, pointed ears, upwards pointed long horns and flame-like wings.
At the feet of the crowd swarmed even smaller but equally hideous creatures.
Cruels, short and ugly evil demons with sharp rodent-like teeth and hair and manes like the sharp quills of porcupines.
Small hairy head-like monsters with long tusks, horns on their noses and pointed ears, and they walk with two hands sprouting from the sides of their heads.
Strange creatures with a serpent-like slithering body in place of legs, long-fingered and -clawed hands, pointed ears and hideous faces.
People of the Toadstool, small creatures that resemble an antromopotphic toadstools with limbs and faces.
Spirits of poisonous plants, small and evil spirits that look like deformed wooden humanoids whose bodies were full of thorns and poisonous berries.
The nearby rocks where Aslan's winged creatures used to be were now occupied by flocks of anthropomorphic giant bats, shaggy crows and menacing-looking black vultures, and on Pegasus' place on top of the rock stood the Witch's snowy owl servant, Snowstorm.
Amongst of the evil bats and birds on the ledges of the rock stood other hideous creatures.
There was the Manticore, a terrible monster with the body of a tiger, the black wings of a dragon, and the face of an evil-looking man with three rows of sharp teeth and long mane-like hair.
Beside it stood a great black and flame-red ferocious Griffin-like creature with the wings and talons of an eagle, but the sharp-toothed monstrous head, great antlers, and hind legs of a deer.
Beside it stood the Cockatrice, a huge and terrible monster that was part-rooster part-Dragon.
In the feet of the rocks stood a large and monstrous bull-like creature with the large wings, clawed fore and hind limbs and tail of the Dragon, and it had a long lizard-like forked tongue protruding from its mouth.
And in the other side of the Table stood a large and terrible Dragon. Like the stone Dragon back in the Witch's house, this one was as tall as an elephant and had a large bat-like wings, claws like those of a bird-of-prey, a long flexible neck and a long serpentine tail. The head, however, was like the mix of a rooster and a snake: with the snake-like face and rooster-like big, brightly colored wattle and comb.
These were all those who were on the Witch's side and whom Snowstorm had summoned at her command, and there was far more of them than Aslan's followers when they had arrived to the Stone Table for the first time.
And standing at the Table was the Witch herself, holding the same Stone Knife like that night when Edmund was about to get sacrificed, which gleamed in the torchlight.
All the howling and gibbering amongst these vile creatures quieted down - but just little - when they saw the Great Lion pacing slowly towards them, and the ones in the edge of the crowd, thus closest of Aslan, immediately backed away from him in fear.
For a moment the Witch herself seemed to be struck with fear too, even if she was standing atop the hill of the Stone Table and behind of her people, safely far away from Aslan.
But then, she recovered herself quickly and raised her hands up in the air, giving a wild, fierce laughter.
"AH-HA-HA-HA-HA-HAA! BEHOLD! THE FOOL! THE FOOL HAS COME!" she cried.
Following her example, the evil creatures gave a raucous laughter at Aslan, who lowered both his head and gaze down to the ground.
Lucy, Susan and Chirp held their breaths waiting for Aslan's roar and his spring upon his enemies. But it never came.
Instead, Aslan slowly kept walking towards the hill, with all the monsters immediately parting out of his way.
"Here he comes!"
"The Lion has come!"
"Careful! He might bite!"
"Stand back!"
Aslan kept walking silently through of the crowd, without paying any attention to them, and then up the hill on top of it.
And as he went, some of the creatures that were brave enough to dare come closer, started to briefly invade his personal space before they quickly stepped back.
The first creature Aslan passed by was particularly large, morbidly obese and very ugly Pignoid with tusks, who snorted and squealed in fear and hate and stepped back from the Lion, but held his halberds threateningly pointed at Aslan.
Next, one Werewolf crept closer to Aslan on all fours and took a sniff of his mane for a moment before quickly pulling back, shaking his head and letting out growls and spluttering sounds as if he found Aslan's scent repulsive.
Group of Wooses stared at Aslan with somewhat animalistic curiosity, sniffing the air around him, before they began to make fearful and furious animal-like sounds: grunts, growls and screams as if they felt themselves threatened.
One huge, dark-brown and drooling Minotaur snorted loudly and grumpily at Aslan before he even poked him in the side with the blunt end of his huge axe, causing Aslan to growl quietly at him but do nothing else.
Large number of the Ghouls and Boggles gathered in the frontlines of the crowd, and though they did not dare to get closer of Aslan as he passed by, they began to make faces at him in jeering manner.
The Dragon moved through the crowd to Aslan's side and sniffed him himself, but unlike with the Werewolf, the Dragon blew a smoke through of his nostrils in Aslan's face, but the Great Lion barely winced.
Evil Dwarfs, who both feared and hated Aslan, spitefully spat at Aslan and hurled nasty insults as he walked past. Some of the Dwarfs even went so far to throw a handful of dung at him, spoiling his fur and mane, to which Aslan paid it no mind.
A huge Ogre, who wielded a pitchfork-like weapon in his hand, growled at Aslan as he passed by, showing his sharp and yellow teeth, before the Ogre slowly stepped back and held his weapon pointed at the Lion.
Several Spectres flew in the air around of his head, making's Aslan's mane to shake like in the wind as they flew pass, moaning eerily into the Great Lion's ears before flying off.
Several Hags, Harpies, Incubuses and Succubues and evil apes and monkeys began to dance around Aslan in groups - though they kept a safe distance - while they screamed and sneered or screeched aggressively in the Great Lion's face.
The wolves, hyenas and cougars growled angrily at Aslan, and several of them nibbled aggressively at his hind legs with their teeth as he walked past them.
One Minolizard moved its scaly head closer and stuck its long forked tongue sneeringly at the Great Lion's face before pulling back.
The same thing was done by the huge snake, who leaned its scaly human-like face closer and, hissing, stuck its tongue out at Aslan.
One Croconoid moved its own head closer to Aslan as he approached and let out a deep growl before snapping its jaws at the Lion.
Gorgon then crept in front of Aslan and leaned her hideous face closer that her chin almost touched the bridge of the Great Lion's muzzle. The woman then revealed her sharp fangs and hissed at him and so did the snakes of her hair. But when Aslan looked up and gave her a sad look with his golden eyes, Gorgon screamed in fright and quickly retreated back into the crowd.
Evil Dryads, despite their obvious cautiousness, hesitation and fear towards the Great Lion, seemed to be the only brave ones enough to get closer of him and even touch him almost without immediately jumping back, and they stroked him, rubbed their hands along his fur and cuddled themselves against him in creepy manner.
Evil Dryads also gave the evil creatures a little more courage to get closer enough to touch Aslan, but only briefly.
One Troll reached forward with his long hairy arm and curiously but timidly (due to the Trolls' low intelligence) nudged Aslan's head with a slightly hairy clawed hand before he quickly pulled it back with a fearful snarl.
A hooded Wraith moved closer and, moving his skeletal jaws as if cackling, rubbed its dead cold skeletal fingers against Aslan's made as he walked pass.
One Goblin cautiously reached out to touch Aslan's tail and even dared to go that far to give it a light tug before the Goblin quickly let go of it and withdrew back.
One Vulture-headed Monster leaned closer and pecked Aslan with its long curved beak for a few times like a real vulture poking the carcass to find the softer parts to eat. Then the monster opened its beak wide open and screeched loudly at Aslan's face before pulling back, screaming in laughter.
Flying creatures hovered over Aslan like vultures over a carrion, and swooped swiftly over the Lion's head, teasing him: Crows and vultures in their normal forms - as well as in their anthropomorphic forms - pecked him on the head with their beaks, while Winged Horrors, Sprites, Imps and giant bats tore his mane and tugged him by his ears.
The Spirits of the Poisonous Plants ran around of Aslan's paws but kept their distance so that they wouldn't get trampled by them. Even Aslan was careful not to step on them but the ingrate little creatures rewarded this by stinging Aslan's paws with their thorn-like needles.
Two-headed Ettin then moved his huge club under Aslan's head and forcefully lifted the Lion's head up to examine him. One head growled in disgust while other head made animalistic whining noises as if in fear, before being angrily shutted up by the other head, before the creature pulled his club back, letting Aslan's head drop down again.
Lucy, Susan and Chirp still held their breath while expecting Aslan doing something, but still nothing happened!
"Why isn't he fighting back?" Lucy whispered without turning away from the scene.
Soon, Aslan was standing in front of the Stone Table and the Witch.
"Bind him!" the Witch then ordered.
The group of four Hags grinned, giggled and leered as they stepped first forward with ropes in their hands, but they hung back, hesitating and half-afraid to approach Aslan.
"O, Aslan. Roar at them." Lucy whispered.
"Bite them, Aslan." Susan said quietly.
"Chirp-chirp! What are you waiting for, Your Majesty. Chirp-chirp!"
The Witch was starting to get impatient with her followers' hesitation to approach Aslan. "WHAT ARE YOU STANDING ABOUT?! BIND HIM FAST! I SAID, BIND HIM!" she roared, angrily shaking her white hands.
Though afraid of Aslan, the Hags were also afraid of the Witch too despite their loyalty to her, and dared to get a get a little closer of the Lion.
"You wouldn't harm us, will you, Lion?" one of the Hags hissed.
"Of course, he wouldn't! He promised, didn't you?" another Hag sneered.
If Aslan had chosen so, he would have have struck all of them to death with one swat of his huge paw. But he made no move, nor even a sound.
The Hags then shrieked with triumph when they realized that Aslan made no resistance at all and darted at him.
"Tie him up! Get him!" a black and vicious-looking Minotaur with a broken horn and a large chunk missing from his upper lip, roared.
Then other creatures - more Hags, Werewolves, Dwarfs, evil apes and monkeys, Ghouls, Boggles, Trolls, Goblins, Orknies, Minolizards, Pignoids, Dryads, Gorgons, Incubuses and Succubuses, Harpies, Vulture-headed monsters and Dog-headed people - rushed in to help them.
Shouting, roaring and cheering, the evil creatures began throwing dozens of ropes from all sides over Aslan's head and body before wrapping them tightly around him, and some even lassoed ropes around his head and neck like a horse's.
Then the same Minotaur stepped forward with a huge mace in his hands and hit Aslan hard on the head with it, stunning him - causing the girls and Chirp wince in shock.
"Knock him over on his back!" Ogre roared.
Together, Ogres, Minotaurs, Croconoids, Hippotaurs, four-armed Ettin and largest and strongest of Trolls - along with the Winged Bull that charged forward and rammed his head into Aslan's side - rolled the huge Lion round on his back and held him pinned to the ground while the other creatures swarmed on him and tied all his four paws together.
"Aww, are the cords a bit too tight?" another Hag whispered in Aslan's ear as she stroked her ugly clawed had over his head, mockingly comforting him.
"Can you move, Aslan?" one Dwarf asked too. "You can? Then lets tight them up a little more!" he added, despite Aslan not answering to him nor moving a single muscle.
"Yeah! Tighter! Tighter!" Harpies squealed, jumping gleefully like excited girls.
Straining and tugging, the monsters pulled the cords so tight that they cut into his flesh.
From their hideout, Susan, Lucy and Chirp stared horrified, unable to believe how Aslan could just let himself to be captured like this.
The growd and the Witch bursted into another wild laughter after Aslan had been securedly tied up.
"Now." the Witch said, as an pleasantly evil thought came in her mind. "Let him first BE SHAVED!"
The crowd erupted into another row of wild laugh and the Witch grinned savagely, wanting to savour every last if bit of this opportunity to have her nemesis both humiliated and desecrated.
Ginarrbrik then stepped forward and took out his knife. The Dwarf knelt over the bound Lion, grabbed a handful of his mane and then cut it off with his knife. Ginarrbrik then stood up and held in his hand the chunk of Aslan's mane he had just sheared off high up for everyone to see.
"LOOK AT ME! I'VE CONQUERED THE GREAT LION!" Ginarrbrik shouted, basking in his triumph.
The crowd cheered wildly at this before Ginarrbrik tossed his trophy into their midst, causing some soldiers to fight over it.
"Hee-hee-hee-hee-hee!" large Hippotaur bellowed in laughter.
"Shave him! Shave him!" Harpies cried out.
"Shave the poor pussycat!" one Orkny cried out.
"Oh, I'll shave him alright!" One mean Dwarf affirmed.
Ginarrbrik then knelt down to resume his work, and he was quickly joined by other creatures who gathered around of Aslan or spitefully stepped over his body to get the best parts.
And then, Ogres with the broad knives, Hags with the shears, Dwarfs and Pignoids with daggers and swords, Goblins, Boggles, Trolls, Orknies, Harpies, Incubuses, Gorgons, Vulture-headed monsters and Dog-headed humanoids with their knives and daggers, Wooses with their own primitively crude yet sharp stone knives and the People of Toadstool with their small sickles and scythes, began wildly and not too gently to shear off Aslan's beautiful mane, never caring if they left a small bleeding cuts in his head, while other creatures laughed and chattered happily.
Many more evil creatures joined in: Cruels, Spirits of Poisonous Plants, Werewolves, and even evil apes and monkeys, wolves, hyenas, raccoons and cougars began to brutally/savagely rip chuncks of Aslan's mane off with bare hands and teeth.
Snip-snip-snip went the shears as masses of curling gold began to fall to the ground.
By the time the creatures were finished, they stepped back to reveal the results of their work to everyone.
From behind the entrance, the girls and Chirp could see Aslan's face looking all of the sudden much smaller and different without its mane.
The enemies also saw the difference, with Hags, Harpies, Boggles and two ugly female Trolls surged round Aslan's face, snarling and jeering at him.
"Hah! It's just a big cat after all!" cried one of the Hags
"Is that what we were afraid of?" another Hag questioned.
"Puss-puss-puss-pussy!" screeched one Harpy
"Poor puss! Poor pussy!" another Harpy taunted with the toothed sneer.
"How many mice have you caught today, Cat?" One Boggle tauntingly asked before laughing.
"Tell me, would you like a saucer of milk, Pussums?" a pale-faced Boggle asked while cackling.
"Here comes mice for the kitten!" one of the female Trolls said and emptied the bag full of dead mice and rats over Aslan's head.
"And here comes the milk" another female troll said as she laid a bowl of old milk before Aslan's muzzle.
Aslan, however, only gazed sadly at the dead rodents, feeling sorry for them, and didn't move his head towards the bowl of milk.
"What's the matter, kitty? No feeling like mice and milk, huh?" the same Troll asked.
"Maybe the pussum has swallowed too many hairballs that they have ruined his appetite." the first Troll jeered.
The wave of laughing and jeering surged through of the crowd of monsters as each and everyone threw hurled rather derogatory insults and taunts at the Lion.
"Here, kitty, kitty, kitty!" a hyena cackled, daring with his paws Aslan to come to him.
"Hrow-hrow-hrow-hrow! Scared of dogs, aren't you?" Dog-headed humanoid barked in laughter.
"How does it feel to have a bald topside, kitty-cat?" One Dwarf jeered while pointing his finger at his own bald top, while acting like it didn't mind him.
"What's the matter, kitty? Too tired or just too lazy to move a single muscle to get back up?" one Orkny taunted.
"Hey, big pussy? Narnia can have only a one ruler around and. That's. Not. You!" the same Minotaur said as he circled around the Lion while taunting him.
The Minotaur then spitefully and sadistically stepped on Aslan's tail, makinga sickening crunching sound and causing Aslan to growl in pain.
"Aww! Did I stepped on the itty pitty kitty's tail? Aww!" the Minotaur said in mock remorse.
"Aww! Look at the baby kitten. You just made him cry. Aww!" Incubus sneered as he leaned down to check.
"Hee-hee-hee! What are you gonna do about it, little kitten?" Ogre tauntingly asked.
"Who are you going to complain to? To your daddy?" Pignoid grunted in laughter.
"And how? The kitty's daddy ain't even here?" the Werewolf laughed with the raspy voice.
"HA-HA-HA-HA-HAA! POOR LITTLE PUSSYCAT!" one of the Giants roared in laughter.
"AIN'T THE PUSSY AFRAID OF LITTLE WATER, ISN'T HE?" another Giant asked as he put his finger into his mouth before he held it over Aslan, shaking it lightly until first, second and third big drops of his saliva fell on Aslan's head.
Both Susan, Lucy and Chirp were horrified and disgusted by how mean the monsters were treating Aslan. And just seeing him lying there, taking all the humiliation and desecration without doing anything to defend himself, caused the bitter tears to stream down the girls' cheeks.
"Brutes! Brutes! How can they?" Susan said, shaking her head in misery and disbelief.
"Chirp-chirp! This is awful! Chirp-chirp!" Chirp cursed.
And if all of this wasn't enough already...
"MUZZLE HIM!" the Witch cried as she took a muzzle and held it high up for her people to see.
The crowd erupted into a cheer as they saw the muzzle in the Witch's hand, before she tossed it to the Hags, Boggles and Harpies, who wasted no time in placing the muzzle over Aslan's face and tied it tight enough that the Great Lion could not open his mouth.
Again, had Aslan chosen to, one bite of his mighty jaws could've cost the Hags and Harpies their hands or heads. But he still didn't move.
Tears streamed down the girls' cheeks when they saw Aslan being muzzled like a dog, and sobbed even more bitterly.
"The cowards! Cowards!" Lucy sobbed. "Are they still afraid of him, even now?"
Unable to bear to watch, Lucy turned her head, and Susan tried her best to comfort her despite sobbing bitterly herself.
Aslan's lack of action only seemed to enrage all that rabble.
Every last evil creature was at him now. Those who had been from the beginning too afraid to come near him and even after he was bound began to find their courage, and for a few minutes the two girls and Chirp could not even see him - so thickly was he surrounded by the whole crowd of evil creatures who cruelly tormented and scornfully jeered at him.
"He doesn't even move?! Why don't you move, lazy cat?!" Ogre jeered and kicked Aslan hard in the stomach.
"What are you looking at, Lion? Are you looking at me?" Dwarf asked, before he kicked Aslan in the nose, making it bleed.
"You're not so strong now, are you?" Goblin sneered before he whacked Aslan repeatedly with the stick.
"You don't mind of our kicks, do you?" one of the Hags asked as she and other Hags started to kick Aslan in his both sides
"No! He doesn't mind at all." another Hag jeered before kicking Aslan in the back.
"Then you don't mind if we poke you either, do you?" one of the apes said as he and other apes began to poke Aslan with the sticks from all sides.
"Look at him now. Fancies himself a king, does he?" one of the Gorgons said as she leaned over Aslan's head, letting the snakes in her hair to nib at him with their sharp fangs.
"Not much of the king if you ask me." Succubus next to Gorgon sneered.
"A pretenter on his throne!" Orkney spat as he began to beat Aslan in the head with his fists and kick him in the face with his ugly feet.
Aslan the Pretender!" Boggle roared.
"PRETENDER! PRETENDER! PRETENDER! PRETENDER!" the rabble chanted aloud the mocking name the Boggle had given him.
"Then lets put the crown on "His Majesty's" head, shall we?" a Dryad suggested, before she and her vile sisters brought the crown of thorns and forcibly placed it on Aslan's head that its thorns scratched and stung painfully Aslan's bare head and muzzle, causing the blood to run down his face.
"Your Highness." the evil Dryad sneered as she and her sisters mockingly courtesied to "crowned" Aslan.
Three ugly Trolls then stepped forward and, laughing, all of them put their dirty and smelly feet on Aslan's face.
"Can His Majesty be so nice and groom our feet to clean?" said one of the Trolls. "No biting, please! I'm so sensitive to the teeth!" the Troll laughed.
"I'm not sensitive! Bring it on, pussy-cat!" the other Troll dared.
"The kitty will have bad breath after that, like I have." A third Troll with disgustingly snotty nose, laughed, before he leaned his face down and belched in Aslan's face.
"Let's dance on him! Let's dance on him!" Harpies screeched.
On the Stone Table, the Witch watched with sadistic glee as Aslan's torture in the hands of her followers continued.
Vulture-headed monsters, vultures, crows and Cockatrice kept pecking Aslan from all sides with their beaks.
Wolves, hyenas, cougars and Werewolves bit and tugged at his paws with their teeth, while clawing at him and ripping chunks of his fur off.
Ghouls poked him from all sides with the bare white bones, while the Wooses stung him with the spearheads of their stone spears, and Cruels stung him to everywhere with the quills of their hairs.
With their burning touch, Efreets scorched Aslan's for with the palms/hands made of flames.
Raccoons, evil monkeys, Sprites and Imps continued to pluck tufts of hair from Aslan's fur.
Harpies Incubuses and Succubues, People of the Toadstool, Spirits of Poisonous Plants, evil Dryads and nasty female Dwarfs perched/climbed/walked over Aslan and began to dance on his body.
Limbed Heads crawled over Aslan's body like spiders, jeering at him.
The snakes slithered over his body and tauntingly stuck their tongues out at the Great Lion's face.
Goblins were now brave enough to grab from Aslan's tail and tugged it harder and harder, while laughing.
And all the while male Dwarfs, Hags, Boggles, Trolls, apes, Ogres, Pignoids, Orknies and many others spitefully kicked him from all sides, hit him with their bare fists or the melee weapons such as sticks or clubs, stomped their feet on him and spat on his face.
Then, at last, the Witch decided that enough was enough.
"NOW... BRING HIM TO ME!" the Witch ordered.
The rabble too seemed to have had enough, and they grabbed numerous ropes attached to Aslan's paws, around his body and around his neck, and began to drag the bound and muzzled Lion to the Stone Table.
But since Aslan was so huge, it required a fairly large number of creatures on every rope to get him on the table.
"HEAVE... HEAVE... HEAVE... HEAVE... HEAVE... HEAVE... HEAVE... HEAVE... HEAVE... HEAVE!" they shouted together as they pulled Aslan uphill.
And as he was pulled towards the Table, Aslan let a low and hoarse growls at each pull, especially when two Ogres were roughly pulling from the rope that was put around the Lion's neck so tight that it was chocking him.
When the creatures had finally got him to the Table, it took all of their efforts - even amongst the biggest and strongest creatures - to hoist Aslan fully onto the surface of it.
And once Aslan was lying on the flat stone, the creatures threw even more ropes oveDwarfsti tie him to the Table and tightened of cords to keep him still, until he was a mass of ropes and cords.
Then, when the Witch raised her Knife high in the air, a deep huss fell on the entire crowd, before the monsters stood back, giving their Queen space around the Table.
From behind the entrance, Susan, Lucy and Chirp turned hesitatingly back towards the Table, both wondering and fearing what horrible was going to happen next.
The deep but tense silence lasted for a moment, before it was broken when the creatures, starting from the four Hags holding torches, began to one by one bang their torches against the ground, while chanting first with low voices and in slow pace a single word as they stared at Witch and Aslan, as if encouraging the former.
"Kill... Kill... Kill... Kill... Kill... Kill... Kill... Kill... Kill... Kill..."
Along with chanting, there was heard an individual sounds.
*Minotaurs' mooing!*
*Pignoids' loud grunting!*
*Wolves' high-pitched and Werewolves' rougher howling!*
*Harpies' squealing!*
*Ogres' beastly roaring!*
*Polar bears, cougars and Manticore's roaring!*
*Spectres' moaning!*
*Wraith's screaming!*
*Hags, Goblins and hyenas' evil cackling!*
*Dryads' giggling!*
*Incubuses and Succubues' shouting/screaming!"
*Giants' hollow and Trolls' raucous laughter!*
*Dwarfs and Dog-headed people's barking! *
*Orknies and Boggles beastly growling!*
*Vulture-headed monsters', evil birds', apes and monkeys' screeching!*
*Snakes, Gorgons, Minolizards and Croconoids' hissing!*
*Hippotaurs' grunting!*
*Eagle/Stag creature's, Winged Bull's and Dragon's bellowing!*
*Giant bats' and Man-Bats' squeaking!*
*Cockratice's crowing!*
*Winged Horrors, Efreets, Sprites, Imps, People of Toadstools, Spirits of the Poisonous Plants and Cruels' squealing high-pitched laughter.*
And so on.
As the evil creatures chanted and shouted, the Witch walked slowly in front of Aslan's face, her savagely grinning face twitching with passion.
Aslan quietly looked up back at her, neither angry nor afraid, only sad.
"And now, who has won? FOOL! Did you think that by all this you would save the human creature?" the Witch laughed.
"As agreed in our pact, I will kill you instead of him so the Deep Magic from the Dawn of Time will be appeased." the Witch declared
Then, the Witch casted at Aslan a mocking smirk.
"But... when you are dead, what is to stop me from killing him too? From killing all of them?!" The Witch taunted, spitefully revealing that his sacrifice meant nothing, because afterwards she will unimpededly murder Edmund anyway, as well as the rest of the children, and slaughter all the Narnians loyal to him.
Behind the entrance, Susan, Lucy and Chirp looked at each other in shock as they realized that Aslan had previously managed to save Edmund's life only by offering his own life in his place, only to be told by the Witch that with him gone, she was going to kill Edmund and all of them nonetheless.
"Understand, that you have given me Narnia, FOREVER!" the Witch screamed triumphantly, throwing her arms in the air.
"FOREVER... FOREVER... FOREVER... Forever... Forever... Forever...!" the Witch's cry echoed across the land.
The Witch's troops erupted into a row of horrifying, defeaning and triumphant roar, confident along with their Queen that without Aslan around, they were free to take over Narnia as their own in the Witch's name.
"LONG LIVE JADIS, THE QUEEN OF NARNIA, AND THE SLAYER OF ASLAN THE PRETENDER!" they shrieked.
The Witch then kept taunting Aslan. "You have lost your own life, and you have not saved his!"
The Witch then climbed onto the Stone Table and stood over Aslan, murderously fumbling the Stone Knife's blade with her fingers, before she raised it over with both hands.
Her followers' started to bang their torches against the ground even harder and faster, and their encouraging chanting intensified... as well as its bloodthirsty tone.
"KILL-KILL-KILL-KILL-KILL-KILL-KILL-KILL-KILL-KILL!"
As Aslan waited for what was coming to him, the Great Lion raised his gaze up and looked past the Witch and to the entrance. He let out a small but muffled gasp when he spotted Susan, Lucy and Chirp hiding there, spying on the situation with great anxiety.
Aslan almost despaired, for he did not want the children to follow him this far, not to see what was going to happen next, but he quickly recomposured himself so he wouldn't alert the Witch or other enemies of their presence.
In his final moments alive, Aslan locked his golden eyes with both Susan's, Lucy's and even Chirp's, as something else suddenly emerged on his muzzled and wounded face than just sadness for his impending death: fear.
Susan, Lucy, and Chirp were surprised to see true fear on Aslan's usually beautiful and regal, but sadness-filled face for the first time since their first meeting...but they were even more surprised when they realized that despite how close he was to death, the fear on his face was not fear for himself.
Rather, it was Aslan's fear for them...and them only!
Aslan feared more for their own safety and lives than his own, as they would soon be in terrible danger after this was all over. With his gaze, Aslan silently reminded both the girls and robin one last time of his last and right now the most important advice he had previously given them before arriving at the Stone Table.
"Whatever happens, do not let yourselves to be seen."
Despite the dreadful situation at the hand, Lucy, Susan and Chirp were left amazed at how far Aslan's love for others reached, that he was unquestionably and without hesitation ready to go through such of lengths just to protect all those he loves... even for those who have made the wrong choices, such as Edmund.
But even though Aslan's last words rang loud and clear in the girls' and Robin's heads, against their better judgement, they just couldn't take their tear-filled eyes away from the scene before them.
"In that knowledge, despair... and... DIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEE!" the Witch screamed from the top of her lungs as she, much to the girls' and Chirp's horror, savagely plunged her Knife downward and into Aslan's heart.
Lucy almost screamed "NO!" if Susan hadn't quickly put her hand over Lucy's mouth to prevent her from accidentally revealing themselves to the enemy before she quickly averted Lucy's gaze from the scene and buried her face filled with horror and sorrow into her shoulder before closing her own eyes and turning away from the scene as well. She did not want Lucy to see the actual moment of killing, and couldn't bear to look at it herself. Even Robin couldn't bear to watch this and covered his own eyes with his wings.
KA-BOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMM!
At the moment when the Stone Knife struck Aslan dead, thunder crashed loudly above them in the dark blue clouds that had gathered over the Stone Table unnoticed by anyone, and the multiple streaks of lightning spread swiftly along the sky, briefly illuminating everything on the ground with the bright flash of light.
As the thunder faded away, all the evil creatures around the hill and the Table quieted down instantly and stared awe-struck after the deed was done.
Behind the entrance, weeping and from the shock trembling Lucy hesitatingly turned back to the Table, followed by equally hesitant Susan and Chirp.
Their anxiety only increased when they saw Aslan's head resting on the Table, eyes closed, as the Great Lion lied motionless, with the Stone Knife stuck in his left side.
Aslan was dead. The Great Lion was dead.
With the maniacal grin on her lips and eyes pitch-black like bird-of-prey's that has recently killed, the Witch threw her arms in the air and let out the shriek of evil laughter.
"THE GREAT CAT IS DEAD! THE FOOL IS DEAD!" the Witch shouted.
The Witch's troops snapped out of their awe-struck state and erupted into a deafening cheers and laughters, roars, howls, screeches and so on, briefly celebrating Aslan's death and the Witch's first victory.
"And now..." the Witch shouted as she turned to address her army. "FOLLOW ME! ALL OF YOU! WE'LL SET ABOUT THIS WAR, AND CRUSH THE HUMAN VERMIN AND ALL THE TRAITORS! TONIGHT, THE GREAT FOOL, THE CAT, LIES DEAD! AND TOMORROW, THE WHOLE LAND OF NARNIA IS MINE!"
"TO WAAAAAAAAAAR!" the same Minotaur bellowed, who was apparently the Witch's general.
At the moment, the girls and robin were in a few seconds in very great danger. With the wild cries and roars, the whole of that vile rabble came sweeping off the hill-top and down the slope as the Witch led them right towards the entrance... and the girls and Chirp.
"They're coming! They're coming towards us!" Lucy panicked.
"What are we going to do?!" Susan panicked as well, as they were right on the rabble's path.
They were going to be seen!
"Chirp-chirp! Hide! Under the bushes! Quickly! Chirp-chirp!" Chirp frantically instructed as the robin pointed his wing at the nearby thick bushes that could hid them from the enemy.
Remembering what Aslan had told them before his death and following Chirp's instructions without wasting time, the girls quickly fled from the entrance and crawled under the bushes along with Chirp, where they remained quietly still and hoped that they wouldn't be discovered.
They managed to hide just in time when the Witch and her army of rabble bursted through of the entrance and ran right past their hiding-place into the woods, to the direction of their camp.
They felt the Spectres go by them like a chilling cold wind,
They were repulsed to see through the bushes the passing Boggles' grotesque faces, Hags' ugly and the Ghouls' corroded faces and feel in their noses the awful smell of the Trolls.
They felt the ground shake beneath them under the galloping feet of the Minotaurs, Ogres, Ettins and Giants.
They didn't dare to move with the tiny Cruels and the People of the Toadstools, Spirits of the Poisonous Plants, Limbed Heads and Serpent-legged monstrosities swarmed in the eye-level past them, in fear that they might be seen by the tiny monsters.
Overhead went a flurry of foul wings of Incubuses and Succubuses, Harpies, and a blackness of vultures, crows and giant bats.
They trembled with fear when the grunting Wooses, screeching apes and monkeys and Vulture-headed monsters, and growling Werewolves walked past them.
But even the sight of all of these grotesque monstrosities and the survival from this stampede of vire creatures undetected couldn't shake off the sadness, shame and horror of Aslan's death that filled their minds.
###
Some distance away from the Stone Table...
The peace and quiet of the night was broken by the thundering sound of the hooves when the party fo Centaurs, Unicorns, stags, horses, bulls, bears, Fauns and Satyrs, and the Single-horned tiger, galloped through the forest that the forest floor was shaking under them.
And in front of the group, Peter was riding on Pearl the Unicorn while Edmund was riding on saddled Philip, leading the search party.
It hadn't taken long after Susan, Lucy and Chirp secretly left the camp to follow Aslan to the Stone Table when Peter had woken up - too troubled by the thoughts about tomorrow's battle and Aslan not being there to sleep.
But before he could think about it for too long, Peter had noticed the girls' beds empty, and their cloaks and Christmas presents were missing too.
Shocked and almost panicked, as the girls having gone missing right before the battle was the last thing he needed right now, Peter abruptly woke Edmund and sotmed out of the pavilion to raise the alarm.
Moving from one guard to another, Peter frantically asked if they had seen his sisters outside of the pavilion or leaving the camp, to which every guard he asked from answered that they hadn't seen them, before Peter ordered them to search through the entire camp and the surrounding woods for them.
As the Narnians sprung into action, Peter rushed with Edmund over to the spot where he had last seen Aslan standing in his thoughts, desperately hoping he was still there so that he could ask him if he had seen Susan and Lucy.
His hopes faded away when he noticed that Aslan was no longer there where he expected him to be. This greatly disappointed him and Edmund, but it wasn't much of a shock, as Aslan's departure was expected to happen sooner or later, unlike his sisters' absence, which caught them by surprise.
Peter soon received even less comforting reports from the guards when they returned to him and Edmund and regretfully told them that they had not found the girls or Aslan anywhere in the camp or in the nearby woods - and that Chirp had also gone missing from his post.
But they also told him that they had at least managed to find the tracks of the Great Lion, the girls and Chirp leading out from the camp to the forest and south... along the same route they had used earlier today that led back towards the Stone Table.
With an awful feeling in their stomachs out of worry for their sisters, Peter wasted no second to order Flamestorm to assemble the search party and have them ready to move.
And after the Centaur went to fulfill his order by gathering the volunteers, Peter and Edmund rushed back into the pavilion to grab their swords and own cloaks, before they came out again, fully prepared.
Soon, mounted on Pearl and Philip, Peter and Edmund led with Flamestorm the assembled search party into the forest, riding the same route they had taken from the Stone Table.
They carried torches to light their way in the woods while calling for the girls and Chirp by shouting their names or titles.
"SUSAN!"
"LADY SUSAN!"
"LUCY!"
"LADY LUCY!"
"DAUGHTERS OF EVE!"
"CHIRP!"
But no matter how many times they shouted and called for the girls and Chirp, there was no answer from either of them.
Peter had even sent the leopards (including the two of Aslan's) and dogs ahead to scout ahead and follow the tracks... and maybe catch up with the girls, Chirp and Aslan.
And not just the dogs and leopards... Peter also sent the Pegasus, Griffin, Winged Panther, eagles, pelican, owl and Phoenix ahead too to search the area from the high ground.
After galloping south as speedily as they could for some time, and still no luck in finding the girls, Chirp and Aslan, they started to get closer of their previous campsite.
However, they stopped when the leopard and dogs eventually came back to give their report.
"Did you find them... or any trace of them?" Peter asked them hopefully.
"I regret to bring you such of bad news, my lords." one of Aslan's leopards said. "We followed the tracks of Daughters of Eve, robin and Aslan all the way to the outskirts of the Stone Table, but beyond that we could not go."
"Why's that?" Edmund asked, confused.
"The Daughters of Eve's scents got mixed with the countless scents of the enemy." the leopard sadly reported.
Soon after, the flying creatures emerged from the canopy of trees, with Pegasus, Griffin and Winged Panther landing one by one to the forest floor and the bald eagle, pelican, owl and Phoenix perched to the lowest branches of the trees in front of the searching party.
The golden eagle came last and landed on the forest floor, beside Peter and Pearl, before turning into his anthropomorphic form which, compared to Chirp's heigh in his anthropomorphic form, rose slightly above of Peter's head.
"He's right. The hill of the Stone Table is swarming with enemies, Your majesty." the eagle reported. "We cannot go any further, for we are already too close to the enemy lines."
Both Peter and Edmund were stunned down to the core by such of shocking news: Not only had the enemies taken over the Stone Table, but it was also where both Aslan, their sisters, and Chirp had gone to.
The knowledge that Susan and Lucy had wandered off into the enemy zone only increased both Peter and Edmund's anxiety and fear for their safety, which quickly overwthrew their brief confusion of why Aslan would leave them only to go back to the Table that was occipied by the enemy forces... and take the girls and Chirp with him there too.
As the boys were reeling from these news, Flamestorm walked beside Peter and Pearl on his left side.
"Sire? We need to withdraw back to Beruna otherwise we'll be spotted." the Centaur wisely advised.
Both Peter and Edmund turned to look at the Centaur, taken aback by his words that they should retreat and leave their sisters, Chirp and Aslan to the mercy of their enemies.
"But we can't just leave them there!" Peter protested, nearly unable to hold himself together.
"I'm sorry, Your Majesty, but we have to return to Beruna." Flamestorm repeated himself firmly, while glancing at the surrounding trees suspiciously. "The Witch's spies might have already given us in to her and we are too few in numbers to fight her whole army."
"But what about Susan and Lucy and Chirp?" Edmund said worriedly. "And what about Aslan?"
"Even if I hate to tell you this, Your Highnesses, we cannot do anything for the Daughters of Eve right now, unless we want the Witch to know they are there." the Centaur reasoned.
"But trust me, my lords. Aslan knows what he's doing. And whatever his reasons are, he has never been wrong before. And as for your sisters, they are safer with Him than anywhere else in Narnia right now." Flamestorm assured them. "Now come. We have a battle to fight tomorrow and you need your strength for it."
With that said, Flamestorm backed away and waited for orders from Peter and Edmund.
The two boys, however, remained silent for some time, while sitting still on Pearl's and Philip's backs and looking into the distance with worry and fear for their sisters that wrapped their guts into knots.
Neither of them wanted to abandon the search and leave the girls out there to fend for themselves, even if Aslan was with them.
But they were forced to accept Flamestorm's words that there was nothing they could do about this, at least not without revealing theirs or the girls' presence to the enemy. And that they will be safe in Aslan's paws, whatever he was doing now and why.
And so, with the heavy heart, Peter turned to Flamestorm.
"Very well. Call off the search and regroup back to Beruna." Peter dejectedly said to Centaur.
"Yes, Your Majesty " Flamestorm said with the bow, before he turned to the search party and ordered them to retreat to Beruna immediately.
Peter and Edmund told Pearl and Philip to take them back to the camp, which they did. Both their respective mounts expressed to their respective riders their deepest and regretful condolences for not being able to find their sisters before it was too late.
But before departing these woods for good, both Peter and Edmund paid one last looks to the Stone Table's direction.
"Be safe, Susan and Lucy. You too, Chirp." Peter said quietly, hoping for their sisters and robin friend to be alright.
"And Aslan... I really hope you know what you're doing." Peter said hopefully.
With that, the boys along with the search party retreated back to their camp along the route they came.
TO BE CONTINUED...