The High Queen of Narnia

Chapter 4

Peter didn't believe that Narnia had changed as he led them to the Shuddering Wood where Trumpkin said to have last seen Prince Caspian the tenth. But as he went, the pathway looked much different than he remembered. And when Trumpkin tried to tell him that he was going the wrong way, he wouldn't have it, despite the fact that his twin agreed that this didn't seem like the right way.

Yet, they still followed their High King until he led them to a gorge with a rushing river lying a far distance below where they stood at the edge. Trumpkin had suggested swimming across the river at the fort, but they were held up when Lucy insisted, she saw Aslan across the gorge. However, no one else saw the lion. Edmund had stuck up for his sister, saying that the last time he didn't believe her, he looked rather stupid. But in the end, they didn't believe her especially since Peter and Elodie didn't see him. And while Elodie would've gladly believed her sister, they had to keep going, and it was Edmund who placed a hand on the young girl's shoulder in comfort as they continued walking.

But when they got to the river, the sight was horrifying.

A huge clearing of trees had been cut down and their logs were beings used to build bridges along with massive catapults for the Telmarine army. Swimming across the river wasn't an option as they returned back to the gorge, left with no option but to trust Lucy.

"So where exactly do you think you saw Aslan?" Peter asked and Elodie knew what he was doing instantly.

"Peter," she scolded.

"I wish you'd all stop trying to sound like grown-ups," Lucy snapped. "I didn't think I saw him, I did see him."

"And where did you see him, Lu?" Elodie asked gently, the two girls having grown immensely close after the initial discovery of Narnia and after they stopped thinking Elodie was weird for not wanting to live in the 'real world'.

Lucy walked along the edge of the ravine as she answered with, "It was right over-" and she was cut off as the ground gave way beneath her feet and she fell.

"LUCY!" Elodie and Susan cried as they all dropped to their knees by the edge, only to see Lucy sitting on a ledge below them that seemed to lead all the way down the gorge.

"Here," she gasped as she finished her sentence, and they began their long trek down the cliff that actually led to a part of the river that was shallow enough to cross.

That night, around a campfire, while they thought everyone else was asleep, Susan admitted to Lucy that she wished she was back in England. She'd just gotten used to living here and while she was excited to be back in Narnia, she knew it wouldn't last. Lucy had been disheartened by her sister's confession as they fell asleep. Meanwhile, Elodie had been wide awake and heard every word spoken.

Ever since they set foot back in Narnia, she'd prayed to every god and every deity she could think of that she wouldn't have to leave the magical world again. She didn't think she could bare it a second time. As they were carted around from house to house in the 'real world' as Susan so affectionately called it, none of them, not even their first house with their mother and father, felt like home the way Narnia did. She didn't even step foot inside the place until she was 13 but the second she did, she knew she was finally home.

That was a problem for another day, however, because when Peter shook her awake the next morning, they were watching as Lucy wandered off into the woods calling out for Aslan. But what the young girl had thought to be the lion was actually a minotaur as Peter covered her mouth with his hand and pulled her behind the bush Elodie was behind, their sister's fear fading when she saw who grabbed her.

Lucy began to cling to Elodie which was why Peter drew his sword as he silently approached the minotaur first, but before he could get closer, he was intercepted by a boy around their age, with long brown hair and a leather vest over his tunic as he met Peter blow for blow.