𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝔾𝕠𝕝𝕕𝕖𝕟 𝔸𝕘𝕖 - ᵖᵉᵗᵉʳ ᵖᵉᵛᵉⁿˢⁱᵉ

꧁Cʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 22 - Nᴀʀɴɪᴀ꧂

The autumn leaves crinkled and snapped under the hooves of horses as the five Pevensies rode through the thick woods. It was a merry affair — Peter at the front with Katherine by his side, just on the heels of the White Stag. Upon seeing it for the first time, all had made a further agreement to not catch it by shooting it with their arrows and instead try to encircle it so that they could get their wishes without harming the magnificent creature.

Susan followed close behind, then Edmund, then Lucy. However, as they rode on deeper into the woods, Lucy overtook Edmund with ease, laughing mischievously as she did. In fact, it was not until Katherine turned around to tease Edmund, that they realized one of their party had been left behind.

Edmund meanwhile looked down at his trusty steed who he hated to admit had aged a bit over the long years, "Are you alright, Philip?"

The horse turned back to answer, "I'm not as young as I once was"

Edmund gently patted his neck before looking up again to where his siblings and sister-in-law had disappeared off to. Sure enough, a black coat and mane was first to emerge from the thicket, Katherine mounted on top of him.

"Ed, have you stopped to see the scenery? There's plenty of time for that after we get the Stag" she joked fondly. Susan was next through the thicket followed by Lucy and then Peter.

"Come on, Ed" She began in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Just catching my breath" he replied, tilting his head towards Philip.

"That's all we'll catch at this rate" Susan retorted and Katherine burst into laughter. She then dismounted from Raiden and got out two green apples, feeding one to Raiden. As she turned to go over to Philip and give him the remaining apple, Lucy piped up.

"What did he say again, Susan?" Lucy asked in faux innocence.

"You girls wait in the castle. I'll get the stag myself" Susan mocked and the girls had around of laughter and Katherine nearly dropped the apple she was feeding Philip as her stomach cramped from laughter. Edmund sighed as he looked down, clearly regretting his statement from earlier that morning. Peter also let out a hearty laugh which quickly seemed to dissipate as his eye was caught by something in the clearing.

Edmund turned to look behind him as Peter dismounted from his ebony steed. He had been very upset to lose his unicorn, it had been his trusty horse since the Battle of Beruna, but he had been happy to get a talking horse that seemed to match Katherine's. Raiden was not pleased with this however, and continuously made it his business to prove that he was and would always be better than Peter's new mare.

"What's this?" Peter asked as he began to walk towards it. Katherine let Philip eat the last bit of the apple before she too moved nearer to it. It seemed to bring back a feeling inside her that she could not describe. Whatever was standing there was covered in vines. At the very top of the vine a small fire was burning within a glass box. The others dismounted too as Katherine moved closer to it. 

"It seems familiar" Peter stated to no one in particular. As they moved closer, Katherine reached out to the peculiar object.

"As if from a dream" Susan muttered and as Katherine's hand came into contact with the metal, a shock seemed to run through her and something ran through her head.

"Or a dream of a dream" Lucy muttered. 

"Lamppost" Katherine mumbled under her breath as she looked at the foreign object. She remembered hearing that word from Lucy before in her childhood, about a lamppost in the middle of a snowy forest. She turned back to Raiden and took out Peter's old coat, why had she even brought this?