Anya of Archenland: The Whole Saga

The Lion's Roar

Morning fell across the land of Narnia as the golden sun warmed the woods and fields. The sun shone down on Anya's face, waking her up within moments. She opened her bright blue eyes and slowly stood up from her resting place on the forest floor, her hair acting as her pillow due to how long it was. It fell down to her ankles, being far too long for her to really do anything with. It was nice to have back in Aslan's Country but now that she was in Narnia, it did nothing but get in the way of her walking around by getting caught in tree branches or have the wind blow it into her face to stop her from seeing clearly.

Anya's once clean dark green dress was ripped and coated in dirt, and she knew that she needed to change but she didn't know where she would be able to get new clothes. Along with her impractical clothes and hair, Anya was starting to get blisters all over her feet from walking around Narnia for so long.

She had no idea where she was and she hadn't encountered anyone since her arrival several weeks before hand. She knew that if she didn't see anyone soon, she would probably die from starvation or go insane from isolation. She was walking – which was more staggering like a drunken man would do on his way home from the pub – through the quiet forest, holding onto the tree trunks to keep her up.

After around an hour of walking, Anya collapsed to her knees and eventually her whole body collapsed to the ground, finally giving in to both starvation and how weak and tired she truly was. Her eyes closed and she finally embraced her probable and inevitable death.

~#~

She awoke several hours later, just as the sun was starting to set on the horizon. The warmth of a small fire hit her face, and then the distinct smell of wood smoke filled her senses. She slowly sat up, just as a small bowl of broth and a slice of bread was placed in her lap with a tin filled with water was placed beside her legs.

"You need to eat and drink, you'll feel better." A voice told her, a dark figure sitting beside her. They had a dark leather cloak on and a hood up so Anya couldn't see their face but she could tell that they were tall and had travelled for miles due to how dirty their cloak was.

After a few moments, they took their hood off and finally revealed a man who couldn't be a few years older than Anya. His dark hair and dark eyes made Anya's heart skip a beat inside her chest; she blushed and quickly went to her food, devouring it within seconds. After finishing, she moved closer to him and finally spoke. "Who are you?" her voice was dry and hoarse, she hadn't spoken for days and hearing her real voice was somewhat of a surprise. The only times she had heard her voice, was her inside voice which didn't sound like her actual voice at all.

"My name is Shylton. I was sent here to find the fallen star." Shylton took away the now empty bowl and placed it into his leather satchel before turning his attention back to Anya, his eyes fixing upon her face.

Anya moved away from Shylton a little, keeping the tin can filled with water in her hands. "Well, there's no fallen star here, Shylton. So it seems you must keep searching."

"But you are different – you are not from the ground."

"How can you tell?" Anya almost dropped her can as soon as she heard Shylton tell her that she wasn't from the ground; it wasn't obvious to her at least. She didn't have a sign that said "hey, I'm from Aslan's Country, come and get it".

"Your eyes, they tell me more than your mouth ever will. I can tell you are from the skies."

"Is that a bad thing? To come from the skies, I mean."

"Not necessarily. It just means you are not experienced enough to survive here without someone guarding or guiding you. It's a miracle you're still alive after all this time I have been searching for the star. If I hadn't found you when I did, you would've been dead by tomorrow."