The Heart Of Gold: Book 1 (A Narnia Fanfiction)

Chapter 5: Annalisa, the Saviour.

Meanwhile, Peter finished counting, "Ninety-nine.. Hundred! Ready or not, here I come!!"

He passed the hallways, checked a few rooms and then entered the kitchen. Anna and Susan were both hidden in one of the counters below, with Anna's being more dusty and dirty, unfortunately.

She even tried to cover her mouth, to suppress a sneeze, but with luck clearly not on her side this time, she failed.

Immediately, the door opened revealing a very lofty Peter Pevensie.

"Found you." He said, grinning smugly.

Anna rolled her eyes, groaning and dusting off some cobwebs from her skirt. 

"Congratulations, genius." She muttered while getting up and out of the cupboard.

"We're back, We're back, it's alright!", could be heard as well as a "We're okay!" at the same time, from one of the rooms upstairs.

Peter and Anna looked at each other confused, recognising the voices as Lucy's and Hamish's and rushed to the room upstairs.

Anna took the lead, the worry evident on her face as she thought that poor Hamish must have hurt himself. They reached the hall to find their youngest siblings standing beside an irritated Edmund.

"You know, I'm not sure, if you three have quite gotten the idea of this game." Peter remarked as Anna sighed in relief from beside him, seeing her brother alright.

"But weren't you wondering where we were?" Lucy asked.

"That's the point! That's why he was seeking you!!" Edmund shouted harshly at the girl.

"Does this mean I win?" said Susan, joining the group, on hearing the commotion.

Peter looked at Susan, "I don't think Lucy or Hamish want to play anymore."

"But we've been gone for hours!" Hamish retorted.

"Hours?" Anna asked, raising an eyebrow at their behaviour.

"Yes! Hours! We've been gone for hours now and we just came back from the woods at the back of the wardrobe!"

"Wait.. woods?" Susan asked.

Hamish just took a deep breath and continued, "Yes.. the woods at the back of the wardrobe in the spare room. We went there accidentally, trying to hide and met a fawn called Mr. Tumnus."

Anna blinked extremely confused. Fawn? Woods? Wardrobe?

Hamish looked at her and grabbed her hand, looking at her pleadingly, "Please Lisa.. believe me, I swear, I know it sounds unbelievable.."

His earnest expression even compelled Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy to follow a bewildered Anna and an insistent Hamish to the room with the wardrobe.

They opened the wardrobe and entered it. Susan tapped on the wood at the back from inside while Edmund did it from behind, leaving Lucy, Hamish, Anna and Peter outside the wardrobe.

"Only one game at a time, Lu, we don't all have your imagination", said an exasperated Peter, looking at Lucy.

"But I wasn't imagining!" Lucy cried.

Hamish tightened his hold on his sister's hand and looked at her, genuine truth in his eyes.

If she wasn't before, Anna was now definitely befuddled. Her brother never lied about anything but the fact that a world existed within a wardrobe sounded far too delusional. But.. was it?

"That's enough." Susan reprimanded them.

"I know what I saw", said Hamish looking at Susan, his tone slightly harsher than usual.

"Hamish." Anna warned as Susan looked at him in disbelief.

"Well, I believe you." Edmund said, causing all heads to turn towards him.

"You do?" Lucy asked, still not believing the fact that out of all her siblings, Edmund would believe her.

"Yeah, did I not tell you about the football field I found in the bathroom closet?" He joked.

Both Anna and Hamish groaned at his horrible timing and Lucy looked as if she was about to cry.

Peter turned to Edmund, angry and said, "Why don't you just stop it?! You always have to make everything worse!! Grow up, for God's sake!"

Edmund scowled, "Shut up! You think you're dad, but you're not!" And with that, he walked out of the room, furious.

To make things worse, Susan added, "Well, that was nicely handled!" And walked away too.

Peter just sighed, trying to calm his temper. Anna was still thinking about the whole incident with Hamish and Lucy and how they could've imagined a whole fairyland inside a simple wardrobe. They were too young and naïve to lie, so confidently.

"It was really there.." Lucy trailed off, her eyes glistening with tears.

"Susan's right. That's enough." Peter said sternly, looking at the two kids and then his expression suddenly softened as he looked Anna, his look pleading her to deal with the two kids. He walked away too after that.

Lucy started crying silently and Hamish too looked distraught, and put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

Anna sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose and said, "Come on, you two. Let's get you some warm cocoa and then you can tell me all about your visit."

Immediately, their expressions brightened and they grabbed her extended hands each, walking to the kitchens.

As Anna made cocoa, Lucy smiled sitting on one of the chairs and said, "It was beautiful! You all would've loved seeing Narnia!"

Hamish too nodded, sitting on the chair across her and said, "True. It was magnificent! There was so much snow and lots of pine trees!"

Anna placed two mugs of steaming cocoa in front of them and smiled, "I'm sure. What else? You mentioned a fawn too?"

"Yes! Mr. Tumnus! Oh, he's lovely Anna! He was so kind! We had loads of cakes and sardines and.. and he even played music for us!" Lucy replied, excited.

"He saved us too." Hamish added.

Anna who had grabbed her violin, said, "He sounds lovely. I'd be extremely glad to meet him. Do you want to hear some music now?"

"You play the violin?" Lucy inquired, shocked.

"She does. It's amazing!" Hamish exclaimed. He always loved when his sister played the violin for him. She always did it whenever he was sad. Sometimes, he had even pretended to look sad just so that she played for him.

Anna's smile brightened and she closed her eyes as she began playing a beautiful melody. Lucy and Hamish listened intently. It was.. so soothing and unlike the music they heard back in Narnia. It seemed to be working miraculously, as the smile on the face of the two kids just grew. The relaxing music was echoing throughout the kitchens and could be heard all through the house.

And, just like that, the entire evening passed quickly with all the Pevensie siblings listening to Anna's violin, from their respective rooms. It also calmed their nerves down and for the first time since they left their home, they finally felt uniquely at peace.