Narnia War of the Lion

Returning

Aslan watched from Narnia. He watched his snow globe, staring patiently at Susan. He had a magician, a friend of his, who could foresee the future. The magician had informed Aslan that Peter, Edmund, Lucy, Eustace, Jill, Polly and Diggory would die in a dreadful train accident and be brought to Narnia to join their friend Caspian. The magician had also predicted that Susan would return to Narnia soon after her siblings died. Aslan had heard that Susan had stopped believing in Narnia and wasn’t convinced as the magician had firmly said she would return. He, Peter, Edmund, Eustace and Caspian had found out while doing some spying, that Susan had never forgotten Narnia. She had become an author and her first attempt was writing stories of Narnia. Her publishers had said they were nonsense stories and ordered her to forget all of Narnia while at work. Susan did but after spending so long working, the abandonment of her beloved land rolled onto her free time as well. Due to her working, she was not on the train when it had crashed. Aslan watched the snow globe as Susan spoke to her friend, Rob, who believed in Narnia about this. Suddenly, there was a yell and both Susan and Rob turned. Understanding dawned on the great lion. Bombs. He saw Susan and Rob both try and run but then engulfed in flames and flying cinders and ash.

‘Caspian,’ the lion called softly.

‘Yes, Aslan?’ Caspian said, looking back from the window.

‘Go to Cair Perevel. Tell the others to meet you there.’

Aslan, of course, arrived at Cair Perevel first. He saw dust, fog and smoke.

‘Where in Lord’s name are we?’ said a scared voice. ‘We must’ve died. Are we in heaven?’

‘No,’ another voice said, one that made Aslan smile. ‘No, we’re here. In Narnia.’

A pause.

‘You sure, Su?’

‘Positive. This is Cair Perevel. I know it. We have to find Aslan.’

Aslan breathed into the smoke and it disappeared. ‘I’m already here, my child.’

Susan turned and saw the mighty lion before her and bowed. ‘Get down on your knees, idiot,’ she hissed to Rob who did at once.

‘Rise,’ Aslan said and Susan rose to her feet. She couldn’t help herself. She threw her arms around Aslan, tears in her eyes. ‘Oh Aslan! You cannot imagine how pleased I am to see you!’

‘As I am to see you,’ Aslan laughed. ‘Susan, this boy must be a believer of Narnia to be here.’

Susan nodded. Rob spoke up. ‘I fell in love with the place as soon as Susan told me about it. Actually, I’m a friend of Edmund and Lucy’s but when they died I became a sort of friend to Susan.’

‘He was in love with Lucy,’ Susan said promptly, causing Rob to go bright red.

‘Susan!’

Susan whirled around and gave a shriek and was surrounded by hugs and kisses from her friends and family.

‘Oh Rob!’ Edmund laughed, giving his old friend and bear hug. ‘It’s great to see you!’

‘Ed, look at you!’ Susan gasped. ‘You look just like a younger version of Dad.’

Edmund looked immensely pleased. Peter gave his sister a long hug. He’d missed her. She was the closest one to his age, one he could talk to about anything, though having Caspian there was better. Lucy was chatting, explaining everything that had happened while Eustace and Jill joined in at certain places. Susan saw Caspian standing beside Peter, grinning away.

‘Oh wipe that smirk of your face,’ she said, shoving him playfully. ‘Where’s Lilliandil?’

Immediately, Caspian, Peter and Edmund started laughing. Susan raised her eyebrows. ‘Um...’

‘See,’ Caspian said, chuckling. ‘My court men were dead scared of her. So they banished her to the skies. She was actually quite pleased to be there again. She hated it down here.’ He scratched his head, attempting to flatten his hair. ‘I didn’t really love her anyway. She was too perfect, I guess. If that even makes sense...’ He looked slightly confused.

Susan couldn’t help but laugh.

‘Come on,’ Lucy said, tugging her arm. ‘Imagine the look on everyone’s faces when they see you’re alive!’

‘Actually, she’s dead,’ Eustace pointed out but Lucy shot him such a sizzling glare that he might’ve fried on the spot. Rob was hanging on to every syllable that Edmund was saying as he explained about Narnia into further detail.

‘So...he’s single again,’ Lucy whispered to her older sister.

‘Who?’

‘Caspian, stupid.’

‘Lucy!’ Susan hissed.

‘What?’ Lucy put on the innocent face. Susan just smiled, a small blush on her cheeks. ‘So, what’s been going on? Has everything been ‘perfect?’

‘Not exactly,’ Eustace said grimly. ‘Aslan opened up the realms of his country so that we could travel to the living Narnia as well, we just couldn’t die. We can be seriously wounded but never die. However, in the living Narnia, someone, somewhere, is kidnapping people, mostly children. We’re trying to figure out why and who’s going it. We’re going to be traveling to the Telmarine castle to try and figure out whether anybody’s seen anything.’

By this time they had reached the ‘dead’ country. Susan nodded. ‘Right. Do you have any clues?’

‘A paw print,’ Peter said promptly. Susan raised her eyebrows. No peace after all then.