THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA
THE LION THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE BBC
PART 24
WHAT HAPPENED ABOUT THE STATUES
PREVIOUSLY: During the night at Beruna, Edmund awakes to the crack of thunder and at first believes that Narnia is ending due to him not being sacrificed on the Stone Table. However, surprised that nothing happened, Edmund goes through all the yesterday's events and the circumentances regarding his sacrifice according to the Deep Magic to find the reasonable explanation to it, before he conculudes that Aslan has sacrificed himself in his place to save his life and Narnia. Though guilt-ridden, Edmund consoles Peter who is troubled by his insecurities about leading the battle without Aslan but does not tell him about his prediction of Aslan's death. Meanwhile at the Table, Lucy, Susan and Chirp, heartbroken of Aslan's death, free him from his binds and stay with him until the first lights in the morning, when the Table suddenly cracks and the girls and robin find Aslan alive! Aslan tells them that while the Witch knew about the Deep Magic, she didn't know about the Deeper Magic from beyond the Dawn of Time that states that when a willing victim gives his life in traitor's stead, the Table will crack and death itself work backwards, which had resurrected him. Aslan, Lucy, Susan and Chirp then head off to find the reinforcements to fight the Witch, who plans to take Peter's troops by surprise by turning her army invisible.
Later, inside the pavilion, Peter and Edmund were standing side by side in middle of the interior, their faces mix of both nervousness and determination.
It was time for them to put on the armors that were made exclusively for them to wear in the battle.
Soon, the salukis and Dryads, who had been sent to bring them their armors from the armory, arrived inside the pavilion, each one of them carrying the parts of their armor, the chainmail shirts, the armor tunics and their respective helmets.
The boys' armors were silver-blue in color from the chainmail shirts to each piece of armor, but both of them had the gold-colored besagews that were shaped into the heads of the lion, representing their affilition to Aslan and Narnia. However, the boys' tunics and helmets differed from each other: Although the tunics were both split into two colors and printed with a posing Lion figure, they both had distinct colors compared to the other. The tunic that was obviously gonna be Edmund's was silver-white and blue (with the lion figure being silver-white in the tunic's blue side and blue in silver-white side), and Peter's tunic was golden and crimson (with the lion being crimson in the golden side and golden in the crimson side). And in case of the helmets, Peter's had both the face mask and the golden crown around it to symbolize him being the head of the army' while Edmund's had no face mask but the silvery crown around it.
The Dryads then began to ork up with dressing Peter up in his armor while Salukis and some other Dryads began with Edmund.
Every now and then they asked the boys if any part of the armor felt uncomfortable somewhere or requested them to test how much each part of the armor would restrict their movement. And if some part of the armor felt uncomfortable, such as it was off the place or too tight which restricted their movement too much, they adjusted it better to make it as comfortable to wear as possible. After some time, they finally finished their job by carefully putting their respective helmets on their heads.
When they were finished, the two boys stepped outside of the pavilion - and at the same time they tested how well they could move in their armor. Unaccustomed to wearing armor, they both could feel the weight of it on their shoulders, although it was light enough to not interfere with their movements too much instead of protecting them.
Then, they faced their small army, all less than three hundred of Narnian creatures and animals, some armored heavily, some lightly, but all fully prepared for the battle and awaiting for their orders. And before them stood their awaiting steeds Pearl and Philip, and their lieutenants, Flamestorm, Mr. Beaver, both Aslan's Satyrs and leopards, the bull, the Dwarf archer and great dane, while Pegasus and the eagle stood a little further to their right.
Peter and Edmund then began to give the instructions to their lieutenants and soldiers, as they explained them the final version of their well-honed battle plan for one last time.
Peter's voiceover: "The eagle told us that the Witch's army is too large that there is no point for us to defend the entire valley. The priority of our plan is to defend the Fords of Beruna, which is why we have to split our army in two. We will place the bulk of our army at the base of the northern ridge with me and Edmund in the lead, because the Witch is mainly after us and definitely she isn't going to let us escape her this time, she will likely send the bulk of her forces after us."
Sitting on Pearl's back, who was wearing a beautiful crimson red and golden caparison with the crests of the posing lions being imprinted on both sides of it to symbolize her status as the king's steed, Peter rode with Flamestorm, followed by Aslan's Satyrs and leopards, in front of the front lines of their main army of two hundred at the base of the northern ridge, inspecting their soldiers, both creatures and anthropomorphic animals, who one by one stood tall with their chests pushed forward and chins held up as Peter rode pass them.
Edmund's voiceover: "In case the Witch sends the rest of her army to take over Beruna in order to cut off our escape across the river, we'll set the rest of our army to secure the fords. The main object of these forces is to hold the line on the river, so that all our non-combatant people can get to safety across the river, and then to secure our own escape across the river, so that we can establish a new defensive position on the other side of the fords, which is the only passable crossing across the Beruna."
Edmund, riding on Philip's back and followed by the bull and a great dane, were inspecting the second army of one hundred that were tasked to guard Beruna and the fords. Looking up over the troops' heads, Edmund stared at the stream of few hundred of non-combatant refugees, elders, women and children, fleeing the coming battle, being led by the soldiers out of the camp and over the fords into the thickets on the other side of the river to safety, with Mrs. Beaver and salukis being amongst them.
Peter's voiceover: "But even with this plan, we cannot defeat the Witch or her army alone. So the main goal of the whole plan is to buy more time for Aslan. Therefore, the second goal of our main forces to divert the Witch's attention from the river to me and Edmund is to hold her back as long as possible till Aslan gets back. Therefore, we place our archers behind our main forces on the slope of the northern ridge to thin out the Witch's forces and our flying creatures can provide air support for our main forces."
Looking over his troops, Peter locked eyes with Mr. Beaver, who was put in charge of the rearguards, whose task was to defend the camp and secure the back of the fleeing refugees. And looking higher up to the slopes of the northern ridge, Peter locked his eyes with the Dwarf archer, who commanded the archers consisting of few dozen of Dwarfs, female Centaurs, Fauns, Dryads, Naiads, Wood Gods and some of the anthropomorphic animals.
Edmund's voiceover: "And if the Witch's army becomes too much for us to bear, Phoenix can create the walls of fire across the valley to both scatter the enemy and cut them off from our tail. The distraction and confusion which we can use as our chance to retreat to the other side of the river."
Peter then locked his eyes with Pegasus, who stood on the lower rocky ridge along with the other flying creatures of their army, ready to act when order was given. Pegasus responded with neighing, with the Winged Pather letting out a low growls, Griffin, the eagles and Phoenix screeching, eagle owl hooting and the pelican grunting.
Peter's voiceover: "I can't say what kind of outcome will come from this, but I will say this: We must have a faith that Aslan knows what he's doing and pray to him for strength in our greatest hour of need."
Meanwhile, while Peter and Edmund were giving more instructions to their soldiers, little did they know that the Witch, Ginarrbrik, Snowstorm and her army - still under the Witch's invisibility spell - were slowly and as silently as they could creeping down the slopes of the southern ridge and towards their enemies, ready to attack on their queen's command.
The army stopped when the Witch, Ginarrbrik and Snowstorm halted to the base of the southern ridge, where they remained to observe Peter and Edmund readying their army for the battle.
But as they did, behind their Queen's back, Ginarrbrik and Snowstorm exchanged glances, both agreeing that they should have done this now while it was still dark and the enemy was still mostly ill-prepared for their arrival.
"Hoo-hoo! I'm telling Your Majesty, we should've attacked sooner at the touch by night. Hoo-hoo!" Snowstorm said.
"Indeed. How do you expect to catch them unprepared in the broad daylight?" Ginarrbrik questioned.
The Witch hummed in irritation of her minions constantly questioning her strategy, which was to wait for the right moment when they were close enough and then attack the enemy from two fronts the moment she'd take her invisibility spell down to catch them by surprise, even though they were already fully prepared for their coming attack despite not knowing where or when it would come.
"Silence you two!" the Witch's snapped. "We'll go after their main force and the Sons of Adam while the general takes the river to cut off their escape. Go and tell the troops to form the battle-lines and keep all silent! Nobody moves or makes a sound until I say so!" the Witch hissed.
"Hoo-hoo! The longer we wait, the troops will be getting more agitated and impatient. Hoo-hoo!" Snowstorm reported.
Ginarrbrik left out a sarcastic scoff. "Never heard of the crew that'll be good at keep silent" he said, as he nodded his head at their army behind them.
The Witch's patience with her minions was starting to run thin, but only barely she managed to keep her temper somewhat cool without lashing out at the Dwarf and thus giving away their position at the wrong moment.
"They will stay silent all!" the Witch hissed.
However, someone stepping on the stick on her left caught the Witch's attention, and she turned to see who it was.
Much to her irritation, a handful members of her army, a heavily armored Lich, along with the ugly Troll wielding club, anthropomorphic wolf, Evil Dryad, grey-bearded Dwarf, the pair of Spectres and insectoid Sprite, had stepped out of the ranks without the command, with the Lich having accidentally stepped on the stick that had loudly snapped in half under of the undead creature's foot.
Worried by its mistake, the Lich along with its comrades turned towards the Witch, who angrily whipped her wand towards them without the second thought.
The invisibility spell the Witch had put upon her troops shielded the bright light, that errupted from her wand and hit her unfortunate targets, from the eyes of Peter's army, though it only momentarily cast their shadows through the spell to the ground, which no one in Peter's troops noticed.
The Lich, Troll, wolf, Dryad and Dwarf were briefly silhouetted by the light that hit them from the Witch's wand, before they all stood still as a lifeless stone statues. The Spectres and Sprite managed to avoid their comrades' gruesome fate, but it frightened them enough to return to the ranks unless they wanted to suffer the same fate.
###
Elsewhere, far in the Northwest parts of Narnia, Aslan, the girls and Chirp were still on their way towards the North.
Susan and Lucy smiled widely and both gasped and laughed merrily, for this ride was perhaps the most wonderful thing that had happened to them during of their time in Narnia.
Riding on Aslan's back was not at all like what riding on the horse was like back in their world, especially when the heavy noise of the galloping hoofs, the jungle of the harness and the horse's puffing and snorting from fatigue were completely absent and the mount was the one that could go twice as fast as the fastest racehorse without need to be guided via harness and apparently never growing tired, never missing his footing, never hesitating.
And as Aslan kept leaping on and on, he rose ever higher and reached even further distances with each jump he made, which maintained the impression that he had actually flown across the sunny and springly landscapes of Narnia rather than leapt.
And the girls really felt that he did, for from up here they could feel the cool breeze rush against their faces, and they saw far beyond the reach of the eye, and everything below that they flew over as they went, such as the glades of beeches, oaks, orchards of snow-white cherry trees, the rivers and roaring waterfalls, mossy rocks, windy slopes alight with gorse bushes, the shoulders of heathery mountains, giddy ridges and down, down, down into wild valleys and acres of blue flowers.
At one point, Lucy even reached out to feel a gust of wind blowing past them, which she then followed with her hand, causing her to lean back distractedly. In the worst case scenario, this could have resulted in Lucy slipping off Aslan's back and falling down, if Susan hadn't quickly grabbed her arm and pulled her back to the safety of Aslan's back.
And as they flew/jumped across the Narnian landscapes, the girls and Chirp could even see and recognize several places they had been during of their journey to the Southeast, such as the Great Lake, which had already melted from all the snow and ice at this stage, where they had faced off the Witch's wolves and Snowstorm, the spot where they had met Blossom the Hamadryad, the clearing in the forest where they had met Mr. Fox's party, and then Father Christmas, and where they had celebrated Narnia's first Christmas in a century, Mr. and Mrs. Beaver's dam, which had been fully repaired from the Witch's wolves raid as Father Christmas had promised. And when Lucy looked a little further to the west, she could see a small mound of rock in middle of the forest where Mr. Tumnus' home was located, including a small clearing near it where that lamppost still stood, including the Wardrobe leading both here and to their world.
It was nearly a mid-day when Aslan made another leap, which flew them into a valley between two high hills, where the Great Lion, the girls, and Chirp could see a castle standing at the base of the hillside. From up here, it looked like a little toy castle, but as they flew down towards it at a high speed, the castle grew larger in size every moment they got closer.
"The Witch's castle!" Aslan cried. "Hold tight!"
Susan, Lucy and Chirp heeded to the Lion's warning, with Susan grabbing from Aslan's golden mane to brace herself, and Lucy wrapped her arms around of her big sister. Even Chirp tightened his own grip from Aslan's soft rough fur.
Aslan made one last landing in middle of the valley and right in front of the Witch's castle, which no longer looked like a toy castle but which high walls and pointed towers rose frowning in front of them. No light came out of the castle's windows, no soul appeared to be looked over the battlements and the gates were shut, making the castle look like it was completely deserted.
And then, Aslan gathered himself together for yet another leap before he jumped straight towards it as a bullet, making the girls feel as if they had left their insides behind them.
Aslan flew right over the castle's wall and landed in the middle of the courtyard, and the two girls and Chirp, breathless but unhurt, found themselves soon tumbling off his back to the grassy ground of the courtyard.
Aslan shook his mane as he turned to the girls and Chirp, as the three were pulling themselves off the ground, with Chirp turning into his anthropomorphic form.
"All well?" the Lion asked.
"Yes!" the girls said with the breathless laughter.
"Chirp, chirp! Never better!" Chirp chirped.
However, their laughter soon died down and turned into gloomy discomfort as soon as they turned to look around the courtyard.
Stone statues. Stone statues of both animals and creatures of all kinds standing all around of the courtyard, frozen in their final positions before being turning to stone, and each and everyone of them wearing on their petrified faces the looks of fear and desperation. Although the sight wasn't as scary or haunting as it had been when Edmund had entered the Witch's castle and walked past the snowy courtyard and frozen statues, there was not even a single sound to be heard around the castle or the courtyard, which only increased the sense of dread and discomfort in the atmosphere.
"What a weird place." Lucy said softly, feeling awful for all these poor animals and creatures for having met such an end like this. "It's like a museum."
"This is awful! Chirp, chirp! All those poor animals and people." Chirp chirped sadly as he gazed upon his fellow Narnians in this state.
"The Witch did all of this?" Susan said with dread, for the sight of the statues and the misery on their faces made her shudder at the thought of them having ended up like this if the Witch had managed to catch them before they could've reach to Aslan.
Then, Aslan all of the sudden left the girls and Chirp where they stood and slowly and solemnly walked across the courtyard, paying a brief glance at each and every statue he passed by with sadness and sympathy. And as he did, the girls and Chirp looked after him with confusion and curiosity.
"What's Aslan doing?" Lucy asked.
"I don't know." Susan said, shaking her head.
"Come. Chirp, chirp! We better go to see." Chirp said as followed first after Aslan, followed by the girls soon after.
The Great Lion then bounded up to the first stone statues he came across, a petrified horse that had a stone rope around its neck held by a stone Dryad.
Aslan looked at the two for a moment, but made no effort to turn away from the two or walk around them. Instead, Aslan inhaled deeply, before he opened his maw and gently breathed on the horse's and the Dryad's faces.
Susan, Lucy and Chirp stood there and held their breaths in anticipation for something miraculous to happen, but for a second after Aslan had breathed upon the horse and the Dryad, nothing happened and the stone creatures stayed the same as they were.
But then, a tiny spark of the golden flame-like wave began to run along the horse's and Dryad's grey marble faces and then it spread all over their bodies.
The girls and Chirp gaped, astounded, upon seeing how within the few seconds/minutes, in place of the stone horse and stone Dryad stood a live chestnut horse, and the light-haired Dryad with the yellowish-green gown. The horse shook its head and neighed tiredly, while Dryad, who had been crouching down the whole time she was turned to stone, stood up to stroke the horse's neck.
Aslan then raised his head high, inhaled and breathed up to the crest of the wall, where the stone nest with six stone doves stood, along with the stone hawk, stone bald eagle and stone swan. A streak of flame quickly spread around their stony forms, bringing all the petrified birds back to life again. Once alive, the bald eagle, swan and the hawk shook their heads and flapped their wings, and the doves quickly took off into the air to fly for the first time in one hundred years, while Susan, Lucy and Chirp looked at them go happily.
Next, Aslan walked up to the fountain in middle of the courtyard, around of which the stone Naiads stood, before the Great Lion breathed on them. The streak of flame swept over their bodies and turned the water Nymphs alive again. Once they were alive again, the Naiads used their powers to make the fountain to spray water again.
Aslan then walked to and fro around the courtyard, visiting each stone statue in turn and breathed the life in them.
After the Naiads, Aslan began walking to and fro around the courtyard, going to each of the stone statues one at a time and breathing on their faces.
First he breathed into the stone lion near the gate, then to the stone Dwarf, then to three stone Dryads, then to the family of stone rabbits, then to the two stone Centaurs, then to the stone Pegasus, then to the stone bear, then to the stone stag, then to the pair of stone Leopards, then to the stone goat, then to the stone Hamadryad, then to the stone bull, then to the stone fox, then to the stone Unicorn, then to the stone wolfhound dog, then to the stone Satyr, then to the family of stone elephants and to the various stone birds and so on.
The girls and Chirp watched in amazement and delight as the stone statues all around them one by one came back to life within seconds/minutes after Aslan had breathed in them.
The lion at the gate, as soon as he came back to life, immediately changed into his anthropomorphic form to stretch himself, before he opened his great mouth and gave a prodigious yawn. Little did he knew that the glasses and mustaches Edmund had previously drawn upon his face were still there, which earned him the barking laughters from the pack of revived anthropomorphic wolfhounds and the revived anthropomorphic red fox.
"HOW-HOW-HOW-HOW! HOW-HOW-HOW-HOW!" the dogs and fox laughed.
"What?" the lion shrugged, confused. "What are you laughing at?"
In one spot, recently revived Faun and the Dwarf were yawning and stretching themselves.
Elsewhere, the revived Pegasus, who was revealed to be mare, was flapping her wings to see whether they were still working properly, and smiled when they were.
In middle of the courtyard, the revived anthropomorphic bear was touching his stomach with his huge paws, which let out a tremendous growl.
"Hmph! I'm hungry. What's for breakfast, honey?" the bear asked, but looked puzzled when he didn't get the response, and even more so when he couldn't find his mate (mother bear in the dungeons) from anywhere. "Honey?"
The revived stag next to the bear let out a loud bellow in the manner of yawn.
Two revived goats, possibly brothers, greeted each other happily by putting their heads together, literally.
The revived Hamadryads's wooden bodies were initially still blackened or lifeless grey and lacking any leaves, until after short moment their trunks began to regain their rich and living colors of brown and green, before they also regained their hairs and gowns made of crimson/pink blossom petals, silver leaves of birches, fresh and transparent green leaves of beeches and yellowish-green leaves of larches.
Young revived green-hooded Dwarf gasped upon seeing the other revived red-hooded and grey-bearded old Dwarf, who beckoned him to come to him. The young Dwarf sprinted towards the eldery Dwarf, who was likely his father, and the two embraced each other happily.
The two revived Centaurs approached each other with broad smiles before touching each others' shoulders like the very old friends.
Two revived anthropomorphic leopards were nuzzling their heads against each other and purred affectionately as if they were mates.
The revived anthropomorphic red bull wasted no time to test his huge muscles to see whether there were any sore spots.
The revived handsome and full-bearded Satyr stretched his slightly inflexible left shoulder a little until it felt better, before his eyes caught the sight of Naiads at the fountain and wasted no time to go to greet them and flirt with them. The Naiads accepted the Satyr's company and proceeded to play with the fountain's water.
The happiness of reunion was at its full extent in the revived anthropomorphic elephant family, with the calf happily hugging his mother while both of them were embraced by the bull elephant.
And the same happiness was extended to the revived families of anthropomorphic rabbits, squirrels, badgers and hedgehogs, which relieved parents and elderly were all too busy to embrace their children, comfort them when they tearfully expressed their worries of either having nightmares or, if remembering the very events before they were stoned, never seeing their parents or siblings again, or clearing up their confusion of what had happened to them.
The revived Winged Tiger landed with the soft thud on his front paws, proceeded to flap his wings and shake his head to get the slumber out of his head. And upon seeing Aslan, the magnificent beast bowed his head down in respect to the Great Lion.
The revived Unicorn shook his head and the shiny mane before letting out a happy neighing, before he galloped around of the courtyard around once or twice to stretch his legs. He was shortly joined by the revived horses who too needed to stretch their own legs.
The more and more stone statues came back to life, the courtyard looked no longer like a museum but more like a zoo and instead of all that deadly white and lifeless grey the courtyard was now a blaze of colours depending on any animal, both the regular and anthropomorphic, or creature. And instead of the deadly silence, the whole place rang with the sound of happy roarings, brayings, yelpings, barkings, trumpeting. screeching, squealings, cooings, neighings, stampings, shouts, hurrahs, songs and laughter.
Many creatures and animals were also ran after Aslan when they saw him and realized that he was here.
It wasn't hard to tell two lions apart from each other, for the former stone lion, both in his normal lion form and in his anthropomorphic form, had the golden-yellow fur and dark-brown mane, but Aslan, who didn't even needed to change into anthropomorhic form - that is, if he even had that ability, which was likely - was much larger than him, and both his fur and mane shone golden like the sun.
The people crowded around of Aslan in such of numbers that he was almost hidden in the crowd, that both praised and thanked him and danced around him, as he walked up to one of the two last statues that were still unrevived.
"Ooh! Look at that." Susan told to Lucy and Chirp, as Aslan looked up at the huge stone Giant.
But before Aslan could've breathed on the feet of the stone giant, Susan spoke up to him.
"Is it safe?" she asked, because the giant's furious face and attacking pose had made her a little nervous.
"Oh, yes." shouted Aslan joyously. "Once the feet are put right, all the rest of him will follow."
Aslan then turned back to the Giant, leaving Susan to look at him with the dumbfounded look on her face.
"That wasn't exactly what I meant." Susan whispered to Lucy and Chirp.
Aslan then breathed on the Giant's feet, and the change happened immediately. The streak of the flame creeped up the Giant's leg to his body and from there to the rest of his limbs and head. Now that he was revived and a living being again, everybody got a good view of his appearance. He had a curly brown hair and beard and he wore a yellow tunic with the crimson vest and golden-brown leather boots.
The fierce look on his face instantly disappeared and was replaced by a groggy one, and the Giant lowered his club down and rubbed his eyes sleepily.
"Bless me! I must have been asleep!" the Giant gasped, with his huge voice echoing in the air.
As soon as his head was clear again and sleep gone from his eyes, the Giant seemed to suddenly remember something, as he quickly lifted up his club again and looked down fiercely as if expecting someone standing at his feet, and everyone had an idea of who, though the Giant's sudden threatening attitude made everybody stand back.
"Now! Where's that dratted little Witch that was running about on the ground?" the Giant bellowed.
Aside of Aslan, Lucy was the only one bare enough to step forward to explain to the Giant what had happened to him.
"She had the magic wand, sir, and she turned you to stone with it!" Lucy told him.
The Giant turned to Lucy and his threatening demeanor vanished quickly upon seeing the human child before him... but he looked at her a bit confused, because he was so huge and Lucy was so small, he couldn't hear what she was saying.
Giant bowed down over Lucy and put his hand to his ear. "Hey! What's that? Would you mind repeating?"
Aslan then backed Lucy up by explaining to the Giant himself. After all, his own voice was quite loud and echoing just like the Giant's, so it was impossible for the Giant not to hear what he was saying.
"Turned you to stone, she did, and I've just restored, my huge friend." the Great Lion explained.
This time the Giant seemed to understand what had been said to him. "Well... drown me." the Giant joked, before bursting out a loud hilarious laughter.
Aslan then walked up to the very last statue in front of the castle, the Dragon.
Susan, Lucy, and Chirp watched from the sidelines as Aslan stood in front of the stone creature, this time not even bothering to ask Aslan if it was safe to restore the Dragon now that the Giant himself had been proven to be completely harmless. Instead, they trusted that Aslan knew what he was doing in this case too.
Aslan then breathed into the Dragon's face, and a streak of flame ran immediately from the tip of the Dragon's nose and spread quickly over its head, down its neck and body to the tip of its wings, limbs and long tail, turning the creature's stoned hide back into the dark gold-scaled one, along with the fiery-toned underbely.
The revived Dragon grunted groggily and shook his head left and right as if to clear it up - typical of someone who had just woken up from a long coma - and blew smoke and steam out of his nostrils. The Dragon then sneezed, and everybody had to step back as the fireballs flew out of the Dragon's mouth to the ground, which blew up upon impact.
Despite the Dragon's apparent ferocity and the potential danger, Lucy dared to step slowly forward towards the Dragon, believing him to be not dangerous unlike the other Dragon she, Susan and Lucy had seen last night amongst the Witch's troops. Aslan saw her coming, but made no attempt to stop her from approaching the groggy Dragon, but Susan was uneasy about letting her sister to approach the Dragon that might have gotten up on the wrong foot.
"Good morning." Lucy called to the Dragon.
The Dragon heard her out and turned his head towards the little girl, eyeing him curiously with the soft growls.
"It's okay. I'm Lucy Pevensie and I'm a friend." Lucy said to the Dragon soothingly, holding her hands up to show to the beast that she was no a threat.
The dragon didn't seem to have the ability to speak, but in his dark gold eyes Lucy could see some form of sentient intelligence instead the mind of the simple beast, for the beast behaved like he understood what had been said to him.
The Dragon then dropped down to the all fours and leaned his head closer to Lucy, who backed up a little as she and the Dragon were standing there face-to-face.
The Dragon sniffed the air around Lucy to inspect her and made the soft growls... before the Dragon gently nudged Lucy with its nose, apparently having recognized her as a friend.
Lucy smiled and chuckled at the Dragon who, unlike the Dragons who were depicted in the stories as evil and greedy creatures who held princesses captive and fought against brave heroes, was quite gentle, kind and very good. Lucy gently raised her hand to the dragon's muzzle and stroked it, making the Dragon to make affectionate sounds.
Lucy was delighted to have made new and another friend of Narnian creature... until she suddenly gasped as she quickly remembered something and pulled her hand back to turn towards the Witch's castle.
"Lucy? What is it?" Susan asked as she walked up to her along with Chirp.
"Mr. Tumnus! I just remembered that Mr. Tumnus is still here!" Lucy told them, before she turned to the Great Lion. "Aslan! I must find Mr. Tumnus! He's got to be here somewhere. I promised to myself I would save him."
"Then let your promise be fulfilled today." Aslan said, before he turned to the restored Narnians. "Now! Search the castle! Look everywhere! Up stairs and down stairs! In every room, behind of every door! Leave no corner unsearched! We must revive all the prisoners."
Said that done, almost all the Narnians, with Susan, Lucy and Chirp amongst them, rushed into the interior, and for several minutes the whole of the dark, horrible, fusty old castle echoed with the opening of windows and with everyone's voices crying out at once.
"Don't forget the dungeons!"
"Check up to the top chambers of the towers!"
"Give us a hand with this door!"
"You'll go that way and we'll go that way!"
"Here's another little winding stair."
"This chamber's empty! Nothing here!"
"Oh! I say. Here's a poor little kangaroo. Call Aslan!"
"He's in the throne room freeing prisoners! He'll come when he's finished!"
"Phew! How it smells in here!"
"Open the windows and doors! All of them!"
"Look out for trap-doors!"
"Anything in here?"
"Up here! There are a whole lot more on the landing!"
"Go help the others in searching!"
Meanwhile, Susan, Lucy and Chirp made their way down to the dungeons beneath the castle, where none of the already revived Narnians hadn't reached yet. With no light capable to reach down there and all the torches out, it was pretty dark in there and difficult to see anything.
Despite the darkness, however, Lucy was so determined to find Mr. Tumnus, and since she couldn't find him in the courtyard or the Witch's throne room, the corridors, or the rooms they had walked past on the way down here, she figured he must be in the dungeons.
Lucy, Susan and Chirp scattered and began to check out the prison cells and the statues littered in there, especially the ones that resembled the Fauns, with only Lucy able to recognize one of them as Mr. Tumnus immediately when they find the right statue.
And after some searching the cells and checking on the several statues with no luck, Susan immediately called to Lucy.
"Lucy?! Come here!"
Lucy immediately rushed to her older sister's and Chirp's side as they were standing in front of the fifth cell.
"What is it?" Lucy asked.
However, when she looked up at her sister, Lucy immediately saw "that look" on Susan's face, which was exactly that ominous look where the one doesn't want the someone to see the worse case scenario.
Though Susan did not want Lucy to see this, she knew better than to question her sister's firm determination to find and save her Faun friend, so she slowly and gravely turned her gaze from Lucy to someone in front of her and Chirp.
"Is this one him?" she asked.
Lucy followed her sister's and Chirp's gazes and... let out the soft gasp in silent horror.
There was Mr. Tumnus.
She had finally found her friend, only as lifeless, stone-cold and a solid rock hard stone statue among of many other victims, frozen still in cowering position with the dread, desperation and fear on his face.
Lucy was shocked to see the state Mr. Tumnus was before being turned to stone: His petrified eyes swollen shut, his beard shaved off, his little horns gone, the back of his coat in tatters and his back covered in stony scars from the lashing, and finally, to Lucy's horror, his tail cut off and hanging over the poor Faun's right arm.
Despite having been the Witch's spy, albeit against his own will, till he had had a change of heart, such a sweet and good-hearted Faun like Mr. Tumnus did not deserve such a cruel fate like this.
Seeing her dear friend as a stone statue wasn't even bad enough, but the very knowledge of all the horrors and torture Mr. Tumnus was put through because of her made Lucy feel even worse that her eyes well with tears in sorrow.
With such of sight unbearable and her guilt over it so immense, Lucy couldn't hold it back anymore and began to sob over Mr. Tumnus's state.
Seeing how much Mr. Tumnus meant to Lucy and how much it hurted her to see him like this, Susan gently wrapped her arm around of her sister and pulled her close, while staring at Mr. Tumnus' statue with sadness for the Faun.
Chirp sincerely showed his sympathy for Lucy's pain for Mr. Tumnus' misery by lowering his head slowly down and mourning the Faun for a moment, before the robin turned away, but not before looking at the girls.
"Chirp chirp! I'll fetch Aslan. Chirp, chirp!" the robin said, before he changed into his regular form and flew away to fetch Aslan, leaving the girls alone to mourn Mr. Tumnus together.
It wasn't long before Chirp returned to the dungeons with Aslan in tow, and the Great Lion's presence gave a dim light in the dungeons but enough for everyone to see more clearly.
When they arrived, both the robin and the Great Lion saw that the girls hadn't moved from where Chirp had left them.
The Great Lion walked next to Susan and Lucy who both turned to looked at him, pleadingly.
Aslan gave them both a reassuring nod, before he stepped forward towards Mr. Tumnus's statue and gently breathed on his face before stepping back, letting it to take care of the rest itself.
The streak of flame erupted immediately from Mr. Tumnus' stony face and spread quickly around of his body from head to goat hooves, turning him back into a living being again And after the process had finished and the curse was lifted, Mr. Tumnus let out the loud gasp as if he had seen some kind of horrendous nightmare and snapped out of it, breathing frantically.
Seeing that her dear Faun friend has been brought back to life, Lucy was now crying the tears of joy and relief.
Once his breathing was stabled, Mr. Tumnus opened drowsily his eyes, and the first thing he saw were Susan and Lucy standing right in front of him. He didn't recognize Susan at first, but he definitely did recognize Lucy, and expressed the mix of surprise and delight to see her in such of dreadful place like this.
"Lucy? Daughter of Eve! You came back!" Mr. Tumnus gasped.
"Oh, Mr. Tumnus!" Lucy cried and dashed into the Faun's arms without delay or the second thought, hugging him tightly, to which Mr. Tumnus gladly returned. "I'm so glad you're safe!" Lucy said, crying into Mr. Tumnus's shoulder.
Both Aslan and Chirp looked on the long awaited reunion between of two good friends with happy smiles.
Lucy then pulled herself together and broke from the embrace.
"Mr. Tumnus? I want to introduce you to my sister, Susan." Lucy said, gesturing her sister with her hand, before turning to Susan. "Susan? This is my friend, Mr. Tumnus the Faun."
"Pleasure to meet you, sir." Susan said with the smile, before holding out her hand to the Faun in greeting.
"Pleasure is all mine, Daughter of Eve." Mr. Tumnus said as he took Susan's hand and shook it gently.
"And thank you for saving my sister's life." Susan added gratefully, as she and Mr. Tumnus let go of each others hand.
However, Mr. Tumnus quickly gasped with the dread when he quickly remembered that where exactly they were. His fear for Lucy and Susan's lives overrode any curiosity and confusion as to why or how he was still alive, although he clearly remembered that the last thing he saw was the Witch waving her wand at him before everything went dark.
"But what are you two doing here?! In such of dreadful place like this in all of Narnia?!" he asked frantically, before looking worriedly around the dungeon. "You must leave immediately! If the Witch knows you're both here, she'll..."
However, Lucy was quick to calm her friend down. "She's gone. Aslan has saved you." she explained shortly as she looked past him at the Great Lion.
Surprised to hear the name "Aslan", Mr. Tumnus followed Lucy's gaze to where she was looking and gasped, astounded, upon seeing the Great Lion in question standing right there in the flesh.
"Aslan." Mr. Tumnus said in astonished whisper.
The Faun quickly dropped down to his knee before the Great Lion and bowed his head down in respect... but also in still inside of him gnawing shame that he had turned away from him by unwillingly entering into the Witch's service, thus almost kidnapping Lucy and handing her over to the Witch.
The Faun couldn't even help but feel himself shivering in fear in the Lion's presence, as he recalled Aslan's ferocious interference into his immoral plans through of his home's fireplace.
"Please, your Majesty. Forgive me. Forgive me for my misdeeds." Tumnus humbly pleaded, without looking up at him for the fear of his wrath.
Growling softly at the Faun who nervously waited for his judgement, Aslan stepped closer 'till he was standing right in front of kneeling Mr. Tumnus and placed his large paw over the Faun's back. The tender touch of the Great Lion quickly expelled all the nervousness, fear and the feel of guilt from the faun.
Aslan kept his paw over Mr. Tumnus's back for a moment until he felt the Faun not shivering from fear any longer and took it off. With all his nervousness and fear gone, Tumnus lifted up his head and looked at the Lion into his deep golden eyes.
"You are forgiven, Son of the Forest. Do not feel bad for what is already forgiven by the Daughter of Eve." Aslan calmly assured, giving a nod at Lucy, reminding the Faun that Lucy had already forgiven him for his initial bad but reluctant intentions.
With the peace in mind and with his new-found confidence, Mr. Tumnus bowed his head down at Aslan one more time before he stood back up and instantly turned to Lucy.
"I'm so glad you and your sister are both okay. I had this terrible nightmare that... either the Witch's wolves or the Witch herself... would catch you all and... and you were all killed! It was horrible! And it repeated itself over and over again... and I couldn't wake up from it! I thought that the two of you would be goners, and that the whole Narnia would be goner with you, especially when your traitorous brother..." Mr. Tumnus said angrily as he quickly remembered the Witch revealing to him that it was Edmund who had turned him in to her and that he had treacherously tried to lure Lucy, his own sister, and the others into the Witch's deadly grasp in exchange of his own selfish desires.
Lucy, Susan and Chirp exchanged an awkward glances with each other when Mr. Tumnus changed the subject from the nightmares he'd suffered to his bitterness against Edmund for his misguided deeds, and Lucy was quick to calm her friend down.
"But Mr. Tumnus, Edmund isn't like that anymore. Everything has already been forgiven. We are all fine, and you're safe. That's all that matters now." Lucy explained.
Mr. Tumnus stared at Lucy with the quirked eyebrow, unsure if he had heard her right or whether he should believe that.
"Forgiven?" Mr. Tumnus repeated.
Aslan growled softly. "Son of Adam has already come to the realization of his actions. But what is done is done, and all is already forgiven, so therefore there is no need to discuss about what is already in the past." the Great Lion said.
Upon hearing this, Mr. Tumnus turned back to face Lucy and Susan, his anger at Edmund's betrayal instantly disappearing, replaced now by curiosity to hear all that has happened while he was a statue.
That is, if only Aslan had allowed them time for that.
"Now come. We must hurry and revive all of them. Peter and Edmund will need everyone we can find." Aslan said.
The Great Lion then began to revive the prisoners one by one, and Susan, Lucy, Chirp, and Mr. Tumnus helped to escort them out of the cold darkness of the dungeon and into the bright and warm daylight in the courtyard, where they would join their fellow Narnians and reunite with their loved ones again.
###
At last the ransacking of the Witch's House was ended. The whole castle stood empty with every door and window open so that the light and the sweet air could flood in to all the dark and evil places which needed some cleaning so badly.
The whole crowd of liberated statues then gathered in the courtyard, whose numbers reached between of three and four hundred Narnians or even more.
Most of them crowded up at the feet of the stairs leading to the castle, while both the Giant and the Dragon stood a little further away from the crowd, and Pegasus, Winged Tiger, Peryton, Eagles, Swan, Hawk and all the other revived anthropomorphic birds occupied the walls. And on top of the stairs stood Aslan with Susan, Lucy and Chirp by his side, looking down on the Narnians.
"FRIENDS! FRIENDS!" Aslan called out loud, demanding everyone's audience.
Everybody looked up to the Great Lion, falling silent.
"Our day's work is not yet over." the started. "Our people, even at this moment, are in dreadful combat, and vastly outnumbered by the Witch's army. So if she is to be defeated we must leave at once where the battle is taking place."
"And join in I hope, Sir!" the largest of the Centaurs wished, eager for battle.
"Of course." Aslan said.
"YEAH!" the Narnians cheered in unison, cheering for the idea of joining the battle and finally defeating the White Witch once and for all.
"But how are we going to get out? The gates are locked." Mr. Tumnus, who was standing in front of the crowd, pointed lout.
Everybody else thought the same, for Aslan had got in by jumping over the wall and the Witch had left the gates locked with the only key in her possession.
"Could the Giant help with that?" Lucy suggested, gesturing towards the Giant who towered over everybody else, even the Dragon.
Aslan seemed to have exactly the same thought in his mind, before the Great Lion held his head high up and looked at the Giant.
"Hey! You up there!" Aslan called. "What is you name?"
"I am Giant Rumblebuffin, from the Buffin family, if it pleases your honor." the Giant, named Giant Rumblebuffin, said, introducing himself with the bow.
"Well then, Giant Rumblebuffin." Aslan said. "Let us out of here, will you?"
"Certainly, your honour. It will be a pleasure." Rumblebuffin said with another bow. "Stand well away from the gates, all you little 'uns."
The Giant then stepped towards the gates, and since he even towered over the castle's walls, and the gate was quite small, only the length of his own leg, Rumblebuffin had to drop his huge club from his shoulder to the ground before he grabbed the ridges of the wall above the gate with his hands and then started kicking the gates outwards.
Though the gates were strong, Rumblebuffin put them to the test under the strength of the Giant that wanted to get out of this awful castle.
"BANG!" the gates creaked at the first kick.
"BANG!" then they cracked at the second kick.
"BANG!" then they shivered at the third kick.
"BANG!" And finally, at the fourth kick, the gates were finally forced off their hinges and flung onto the grass.
The Narnians cheered happily upon seeing through the open gate all the grass and flowers, waving trees and sparkling streams of the forest, and the blue hills beyond that and beyond them the sky, what most of them hadn't seen for the one hundred years.
Now that the gates were open, Giant Rumblebuffin stepped aside, and politely beckoned the Narnians at the courtyard to step outside the castle.
"Here you go, everybody. And remember the tradition: Ladies first." he said with the smile and deep bow.
Lucy, who looked at Rumblebuffin as she walked down the stairs to stand beside of Mr. Tumnus, couldn't help but admire the Giant's so polite manners.
"What a nice and well-mannered Giant he is!" Lucy said to Mr. Tumnus.
"Of course." Mr. Tumnus replied. "All the Buffins are and always has been. They're one of the most respected of all the Giant families in Narnia and well known for their traditions. If he'd been the other sort the Witch's would never have turned him into stone."
At this point Aslan growled again, calling for the audience.
"And now, raid the Witch's armories. Any battle-abled must be armed with the sword or spear and shield." Aslan instructed. "We will leave immediately and gallop at full speed. And those who cannot keep up - that is, the children, Dwarfs, Dryads, Naiads, and all the eldery and the smallest animals - must ride on the backs of those who can - that is, lions, great dogs, Centaurs, Unicorns, horses, stags, bulls, bears, elephants, donkeys, zebras, eagles, Giant, and all the flying creatures. Those who are good with their noses - that is, the dogs, foxes, leopards and lions - must come in the front to smell out where the battle is. Look lively and sort yourselves."
"You heard his Majesty! Let's get to work!" the great anthropomorphic English Sheepdog cried out, taking the situation under his paws.
And with a great deal of bustle and cheering they did, the Narnians instantly raided the Witch's castle's armories and emptied them from all the weapons and shields they could find and handed them over to all the battle-abled Narnians who had none yet, while Aslan with the help of the sheepdog got the newly recruited soldiers and those not battle-abled or inable to keep up with the bigger and faster Narnians them sorted into their proper order.
When all were ready, led by Aslan with the girls and Chirp riding on his back again, the Narnians set out through the open gate and towards Beruna and the battle for Narnia.
TO BE CONTINUED...