~By the Lion's Mane: The Call~

Chapter Six

Chapter Six

I was temporarily blinded by sudden sunlight. Suddenly I felt stronger, invigorated, and the air was fresher and salty like from the sea. When I opened my eyes, I saw why.

We were standing on a white beach, the sapphire waves of an ocean shimmering beside us. We were under a moss-covered natural stone arch. There were many others like it, and cliffs jutted up behind us. I looked down and saw a spiral horn, shimmering silvery blue, growing out of the center of Anduril's head. I gasped and wondered how it could be, since his had been sawn off to save me from my would-be fatal wounds.

After a moment's silence, they all looked at me. Lucy spoke first.

"Rose! How on earth did you find us?!"

And they all started talking at once. They were all the same age as they had been when they first came to Narnia except that they had aged a year in England. Peter was nineteen, Susan was eighteen, Edmund was sixteen, and Lucy was thirteen.

I swung down off of my unicorn and hugged them all tightly, trying to convey how much I had missed them. "I came after you, of course," I said and grinned, blinking hard to clear away the tears of joy that had threatened.

We all ran into the clear blue waves, splashing and playing. The boys rolled up their sleeves and tore off their jackets and other silly things, and the girls did the same. I dunked under the waves and scrubbed myself, self-conscious at how dirty I was. When I came back up, Edmund was staring strangely behind us.

"Where do you suppose we are?" He asked.

Peter laughed at him. "Where do you think?"

But Edmund didn't laugh. "I don't remember there being any ruins in Narnia."

I turned and looked where he was pointing, lifting my palm over my brow to block out the glare of the sun. High up on the white cliffs, stones and ruins of towers and walls were crumbling.

We hiked up the cliff and reached the ruins of an outside wall and courtyard. Inside, huge, gnarled old apple trees grew close together, their branches tangled together. I plucked down an apple, famished after not eating for two days. I bit into it, savoring the crisp crunch and sweet juice that dribbled down my chin. I wiped it away and finished the apple as we walked amongst the stones.

We explored the ruins thoroughly, and then Edmund cried out, "Look!"

We hurried over to see what he was holding. It was a golden chess piece.

"It looks just like the knight in my chess set!"

Peter frowned. "Which chess set?"

Edmund rolled his eyes. "Well I hardly think I have a solid gold chess set in Finchley!"

Suddenly, my whole body grew cold. I looked around again, studying the layout of the building we were in. My heart lurched as I realized where we were, just before Lucy said it.

They all ran around, crying out, "Here was the Great Hall! Here was where the thrones sat! It's Cair Paravel!"  I turned around, looking at the ruins of the castle.

"It's so old... a lot of time has passed. But it has only been a year!" I said more to myself than anyone else, not wanting to believe it.

Edmund came up behind me. "If this is Cair Paravel, then shouldn't that door lead down to the treasure chamber?"

I nodded. We walked over to an old wooden door, covered in vines and chains. I peeled away some of the rotted wood. Then I went and got my sword out of the pack at Andy's feet where he stood munching on apples.