The Golden Witch || Peter Pevensie x OC

42. A Warning

Returning back to the weapons room, Peter and Valera entered to find that Caspian, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy had vanished.

"That's odd", Peter muttered as the two glanced around the room, trying to spot any one of them amongst the working crowd of Narnians.

"I'm sure Caspian took them around the rest of the temple. It's a place you'll all have to become familiar with during this war", Valera reassured.

"Where do you suppose they'd be now?" Peter asked.

"I have an idea of where they would have started", Valera replied before turning back to the large set of stone steps leading to a tunnel.

Keeping her hand locked with Peter's, the witch led the king over to the passageway, picking up a stray torch along the way.

"Where does this lead to?" Peter asked as they walked on.

"You don't remember?"

Valera knew exactly where the tunnel led to the second she saw it.

It was a place they all visited often back during the Golden Age.

The Golden Witch especially.

When she was in need of counsel from Aslan, she would take herself to the cracked Stone Table and speak to it as though the lion were there himself.

Every time, she would walk away with a solution to whatever problem she was facing.

And after revealing that fact to the other Kings and Queens, they all started to do the same thing.

Meaning Peter should very much know where the tunnel led to.

But then again, Narnia has changed a lot since he was last here.

"Am I supposed to remember?" Peter asked.

Valera didn't reply. Instead, she removed her hand from his and walked forward to illuminate the tunnel ahead in a warm, orange glow.

In doing so, she showed Peter the painted murals upon the walls.

And just as she did when she first saw them, Peter paused beside the one of the king and the witch.

"It doesn't truly depict the extent of it, does it?" he asked.

Valera stepped to join his side and felt a very different feeling this time around.

Instead of a sharp stabbing at her heart when she stared at the painting alone, she now felt a shared nostalgia at the days they once lived together.

Seeing those days painted didn't remind her of a painful love lost, but now it reminded her of a love regained.

Now Peter was by her side again, the mural represented the future more than it did the past.

"They've gotten your smirk all wrong", Peter then joked, pointing to the tiny smile painted upon Valera's lips.

"In their defence, whoever painted these hadn't met me. Or any of us."

Peter nodded slowly before turning his head to glance down at her.

"Besides, it's a smirk only reserved for you", Valera added, looking up to meet his eyes.

Further down the tunnel, there were faint noises that caught both of their ears.

Not voices speaking, but shuffling footsteps and the crackling of flames.

"They must still be here", Valera said.

Peter took the torch from her hand and led the way, his curiosity for just what lay ahead enhanced by the fact that his siblings had stayed there all this time.