A Prison of Ice and Fear || Peter Pevensie x OC || Narnia

Chapter 25

The sun is nearly risen when Susan speaks again, the sky coming to life, lightening from the dark blue-grey of dawn. We've been silent for so long that her voice sounds wrong.

"We should go."

"I'm so cold." Lucy responds, and Susan helps her stand.

"We'll find something hot for you to eat back at camp." I promise, reaching my hand out to help her down the stairs, Susan's arm wrapped around Lucy's shoulders.

Lucy reaches out for my hand, but never quite reaches. The ground quakes, and Lucy shrieks as we all stumble to the ground. Susan and Lucy tip forward, while I tip over backwards, much to the protest of my coccyx and my aching back.

"What on earth..." I mutter.

"Susan!" Lucy's eyeline is trained on the stone table.

I slowly stand to look.

"Where's Aslan?" Susan says.

My heart skips. Standing on tremoring legs I stare at the empty alter. The stone table cracked in two and Aslan's body...gone.

"What have they done?" Susan demands.

Lucy looks at me slack-jawed.

"The witch couldn't have done this, it's not within her power." I whisper, mind reeling with the possibilities.

The sun spills over the stone gate at the edge of the cliff, a moment of blinding light. Lucy and Susan shield their eyes but I've never been one to shy from sun rays.

"By all the gods in the heavens..." I whisper.

"Aslan!" Lucy and Susan shout near in unison as they pry their eyes open against the sun.

There stands the lion. Whole and resplendent. Golden rays of dawn gilding his full mane. I drop to my knees as the girls throw their arms around the lion's neck.

I utter every prayer I know, every prayer I remember from home, and each one taught to me by Ephe.

He is risen. Resurrected from the dead and more powerful than ever. Never have I witnessed such power nor every though it possible.

"Rise, princess of Aureum." Aslan commands.

My knees straighten beneath me, but my head stays bowed.

"Why don't you look at me?"

"I have witnessed a miracle, my king, a miracle of the highest order. I am not worthy to look upon the resurrected."

"Peace child, you are a great warrior, and you understand the importance of what has transpired here today."

"How? How has this happened?"

"If the Witch knew the true meaning of sacrifice, she might have interpreted the Deep Magic differently." Aslan begins,

"That when a willing victim who has committed no treachery is killed in a traitor's stead, the Stone Table will crack, and even Death itself will turn backwards."

The deep magic. Aslan said he had seen it written, and he would know it better than anyone.

He knew that his death was not the end. He was prepared for it.

"We sent the news you were dead." Susan gasps, "Peter and Edmund will have gone to war."

My stomach twists at the thought of Peter's blood spilled on that battlefield.

"We have to help them." Lucy says adamantly, pulling her dagger loose from its sheath.

Aslan chuckles low at her tenacity, and I feel my mouth quirk into a half grin.

"We will, dear one, but not alone. Climb on my back, all of you." Aslan commands. "We have far to go and little time to get there."

The three of us clamber onto Aslan's large fur-covered back. Susan and I are both weary of our large weapons.

"And you might want to cover your ears." Aslan says.

Just as I slam my hands over my ears, Aslan roars. A sound louder than any I've heard before shakes the earth and reverberates through my chest. Piercing me all the way to my soul.

The battle cry of a king.