The Chronicles of Narnia; The Lost Queen

Chapter Thirteen

The journey back was one of the most delightful walks I have ever been to. I was talking with "my girls", we laughed, shared stories and danced together. 

Then the wolves came out of the woods, shy at first but then when they saw me in my coronation costume and crown on my head, they ran to me and started to lick my face after causing me to fall when they jumped on me.

And so I was walking once again as a Queen, feeling like a Queen. Eventually.

And then we reached Aslan's How. 

I was feeling a little bit awkward because I knew that everyone except me was still very sad and dissapointed after the attack on Miraz's castle (I knew deep inside that most of them were accusing Peter of this failure). Of course I still couldn't quite believe in what happened during the raid but... The experience of my memory coming back was much more unbelievable.

"They already know." said the Blossom Dryad when we were almost at the Aslan's How.

"How?" I asked her.

"The other dryads told them." she answered with a delightful smile.

I smilled back and just by then I realised that everyone was waiting for me outside the How.

Their faces weren't sad after all and I sighed with relief.

I must have looked really strange with dryads and wolves around me, dressed in my royal costume with crown on my head.

"Welcome back, Queen Julia!" Reepicheep said and bowed in front of me.

"Thank you, dear friend. You can't imagine how good it is to know who you are." I said to him and looked at Narnians and Pevensies and Caspian.

Everyone was smilling at me and Narnians started to shout "Long live Queen Julia!". 

I laughed kindly and said in my "Queen-like" voice: "Thank you all for the warm welcome and may Aslan bless you all."

When everyone bowed once again, the Narnians came back inside the Aslan's How.

I turned to the Pevensies and I didn't even notice when Lucy ran to me and hugged me.

"How are you Lucy?" I asked her and put my hand on her cheek.

"I was really bad but now, I feel nothing else except happiness." Lucy answered smilling from ear to ear.

"And what about you?" asked Peter suddenly and came closer to me.

"Well, I have crown on my head and I don't feel awkward with it." I replied to him and just couldn't resist myself from hugging him.

Then I hugged Susan, Ed and Caspian. 

"Let us have some dinner, shall we?" suggested Susan with grin on her face.

"Sure but..." I turned to the Blossom Dryad "Could you..." I started and looked at my clothes.

The Blossom Dryad nodded slowly and my clothes changed for clothes I was wearing early in the morning.

"Thank you. I hope I will see you soon." I said to my girls.

"Sooner than you think, your Majesty." answered Blossom Dryad and flyed away with her dryad friends into the forests.

"Let's go then." I said with energy and we went inside Aslan's How.

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"But I still don't really understand why I forgot Narnia." I said when we finished our dinner.

"I'm sure Aslan will tell you when he will return." said Lu.

"If he ever will..." added silently Edmund.

"Of course he will, Ed. And don't you ever doubt it." answered Lucy, a little bit touched.

"I'm going to bed." said Susan and as she stood up, Caspian followed her actions.

Peter and Edmund looked at him with confusion on their faces. Lucy and I looked at each other and giggled, both knowing exactly what's going on.

"I will escort you to your room." Caspian said to Susan and after bowing at each of us, they left the room.

"Love is in the air..." I said slowly and all of us laughed.

When we eventually stopped laughing after few minutes, Peter said to me: "I know what we will do tomorrow. It will do all of us good.".

"Where are we going tomorrow then?" I asked him.

"We are going to the Dorvale Castle and you are going to be our guide." he replied with a smile on his face which of course caused me to blush.

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The Dorvale Castle was a complete ruin.

When I entered my Dorvale, I was speechless and shocked. There was no red door on the entrance, no stairs but just few steps left, no floor, just some random squares on which hundreds of years earlier were paintings...

But I could see my throne, I mean what was left from it.

I sighed and smilled to myself when I could still read the name above it: "Queen Julia the Dashing, First Queen of Narnia" and just next to the throne was a big statue of the Great Lion, Aslan.  

"What was here, Julia?" I heard Susan's voice behind me.

She was pointing at the piece of the wall left with a key hole in the middle of it.

I gasped and came closer to it energetically. Everyone gathered around me when they saw my delighted face.

I took my necklace off and put it into the key hole. I turned it to my right and we heard a loud click.

Slowly, I opened my safe and put my hand inside.

I took out my coronation costume and some other old favourite dresses of mine which surprisingly didn't seem damaged.

The next were my old books, diaries, my own compositions for cello and then two things that caused my heart to stop beating for few seconds.

The first thing was my very old almost ancient bow. I smilled when I looked at it. It seemed like yesterday I was putting it into that safe...

The second thing was my shield. Quick thrill passed through my body, remembering the Victory Battle when I first used it.

"It's one of a kind, isn't it?" said Peter behind my shoulder.

I turned to him and smilled.

I decided to take my shield with me but the rest to lock once again in my secret safe. 

"I loved this place so much..." I said to all of them.

"We know. And the stories about this castle are just... amazing." said Edmund and we grinned to each other.

Suddenly my face turned pale.

"Where's Lucy?" I whispered.

Everyone's faces turned white and we all started to shout her name. Suddenly we heard something terryfying.

Lucy's scream.