The lion, the sorceress and the wardrobe (ROTBTD chronicles)

The stone table

That very night Rapunzel dreamed of dreadful horrors. She woke up crying, her pillows wet with her warm tears.

Her bloodshot eyes looked around, trying to find something that might help her steady her rushed heartbeat. There she saw Merida, laying awake beside her.

"You saw it too?" Asked Rapunzel, refering to said awful dream.

Merida nodded.

"We weren't dreaming" she explained.

Both sisters got out of the tent and wandered around, knowing the naiads followed them closely. At first, they weren't sure what they were to do or where to go, but Merida saw a small spirit and followed it around. It was a ball of blue fire that spoke with otherworldly voice and called them towards it.

After a few minutes of walking in the dark, among the tents, they saw at last what they were meant to do. By the edge of the forest, Merida saw Simba, walking in a saddened pace. Both followed to where the lion led, trying their best not to be seen.

They hadn't gotten too deep into the woods when Simba turned around and greeted the girls.

"Girls, it isn't very kind to sneak behind someone's back. Come, walk with me" He said with his voice deep like the earth.

They quickened their pace and walked each by one side of the lion. His paws made the ground vibrate under him and wherever he stepped, a different kind of flower popped up.

"Simba, where are we going?" Asked Merida.

The lion looked up, his eyes glistening with golden tears. The girls felt as though the sun was crying beside them.

"Where we are going is an awful place, and you have to promise me that when we reach it, you'll go back to the tents and sleep for the rest of the night" He said with his father-like voice. Both girls nodded. "Would you mind petting my mane?"

Merida and Rapunzel stuck their tiny white hands in Simba's mane. It was soft like cotton and warm to the touch, and as they gently stroked it, they felt like all their fears disappeared. The three of them walked for a little more and reached the bottom of a hill, in which they stopped behind some bushes.

"This path I must follow alone. You girls ought to go back and not return" he said, pushing his muzzle against the girls' cheeks.
They nodded and gently let him go.

Rapunzel was just turning around when Merida stopped her and signed her to climb a tree. They sat over a big branch from which they could see Simba. He was surrounded by the most awful and cruel looking creatures, which tied him with leather ropes and led him to the top of the hill. From the top, a man in a black robe and a black crown that looked like made of onyx was waiting. He had a knife in his hands and when Simba arrived, he smiled cruelly, baring his sharp teeth that looked as if he had been chewing on frozen ink.

"As the old magic said, if a child of Adam and Eve was to betray his people in Narnia's lands, he belongs to me, Pitch Black, to use his shadow and turn it into sheer darkness..."

"So that is how he got so much power" whispered Rapunzel to her sister. " He was Mufasa's hangman"

"Don't quote the old magic to me, Boogeyman! My dad wrote it himself!" Roared the lion.

Pitch stumbled back a few steps, intimidated, but his sinister servants pulled on his boundings and the lion fell over his paws.

"Tie him to the table, and cut his mane off!" Ordered the Boogeyman.

The girls, from where they had been watching, hugged each other as they saw the scene play out. They saw how each of the goblins stepped forward and tore a piece of his sunny mane. Then, they saw how Pitch rose his knife and with raw cruelty, He stabbed the lion for it to die. The minions rejoiced and all left the corpse over the table. After that, a short and cruel celebration was held by the dark creatures, who then disappeared into the forest, leaving the dead body. The sisters unclimbed the tree when they were sure to be completely alone.

"Zel, hold my hand" asked Merida, and, holding hands, the sisters made their way up the hill.

As they were halfway there, a loud cracking sound reached their ears, and they rushed over. The stone table in which the corpse had been displayed was now split in half, and the lion, formerly humiliated and killed, now stood proudly, baring his golden mane. The girls cried happily and hugged him, and kissed him with all the love in their hearts.

"Simba! We thought you were dead!" Admitted Rapunzel in between her weeping.

"Girls, my dears, I thought I told you to go back" he laughed.

They begun waling down the hill as the lion explained what happened.

"There is an ancient magic that goes over these lands. My dad wrote it in the dawn of this world. But the Boogeyman ignores that the if ancient magic were to be twisted, like an innocent creature being sacrificed instead of a traitor, the stone will break and the sacrifice shall be undone" He explained, looking fondly at the sisters. "Your brother was to be executed by Pitch's troops, but there has been many war crimes and the ancient magic is now broken."

They reached the tents and got the lion inside the sisters' sleeping tent. Each slept by one side of the lion, resting their heads over his huge paws and stroking his head lovingly.

"This war has just started, and it is our destiny to win" he said, lulling the girls into a calm and steady sleep.

Author's note:
Okay so I know this chapter is kinda short compared to the others. Truth be told, I've been unheavenly busy these past days and I'll just get busier. I don't think I'll be able to post a new chapter in a little bit of a while, hope you will forgive me.
Anyways, thanks for all the support, it makes writing these stories completely worth it, I love you all ❤️❤️❤️❤️
In case you haven't noticed, we're getting closer and closer to the ending and I just wanted to say I've been having so much fun writing this and reading all you have to say, it truly is a dream come true to have people reading my stuff.
Till the next
Love, Xiutik ❤️🐞🌙🐝