The fifth Pevensie (The Chronicles of Narnia fanfic) [Editing]

Chapter 5: Santa's here!

“Run! Run! RUN!” Peter and Mr Beaver screamed. And so we did. Susan ran first, then Peter with Lucy. I ended up behind them. I fell behind.

When the others reached the trees, I was about five metres behind. Nobody noticed me falling behind.

I nearly strangled myself when my coat got stuck in a tree branch. I was stuck! I panicked and tried to get away, but I couldn’t.

“PETER!” I screamed. My voice sounded a lot like Lucy’s, but a little hoarse from not talking. I stopped struggling to get loose when I heard myself talk. I was shocked.

Then I knew how to get loose. I took off the coat and turned around. It was cold, very, very cold without it. I shuddered. As quickly as I could, I got it loose and took it on again.

I turned around again and walked longer into the forest. I followed the sound of the sleigh.

I stopped behind a big tree and looked at the scene in front of me. The sleigh had stopped moving. And now I saw that it was red, not white.

It wasn’t the Witch. It was someone Susan always told us didn’t exist. It was…

“Santa?” I whispered. He turned his head towards me.

“Come here, Daughter of Eve,” he said and motioned for me to come. I walked to him, and saw my siblings coming towards Santa too. I ran to them and hugged Lucy. Then I turned around to Santa again.

“Look, I’ve put up with a lot since I got here, but this…” I heard Susan say to Peter.

“Oh, shut up,” I quietly said. No one else than Lucy heard me. She smiled at me, apparently a bit shocked that I talked.

“We thought you were the Witch,” Peter said.

“Yes, I’m sorry about that,” Santa said. “But in my defence, I have been driving one of these longer than the Witch.” I giggled.

“I thought there was no Christmas in Narnia,” Susan said. She’s right, but who cares? It is now!

“No. Not for a long time. But the hope you’ve brought, Your Majesties, is finally starting to weaken the Witch’s power,” Santa replied. “Still, I dare say you could do with these.”

He lifted his large sack down from the sleigh to the ground and opened it.

“Presents!” Lucy cried out and walked forward. Santa gave her a small bottle.

“The juice of the fire-flower. One drop will cure any injury,” he said to her. “And though I hope you never have to use it…” he gave her a small knife too.

“Thank you, sir,” Lucy said. “But I think I could be brave enough.” She sounded a bit confused.

“I’m sure you could. But battles are ugly affairs,” Santa answered her. She backed away and he took up a bow and a quiver with arrows.

“Susan,” he said. “Trust in this bow, and it will not easily miss.”

“What happened to ‘battles are ugly affairs’?” she replied. Santa laughed a bit. I did too, quietly.

“Though you don’t seem to have a problem making yourself heard, blow on this and wherever you are, help will come,” he said.

“Thanks,” she said to him and backed away. Santa reached down in his sack once again, and took up a small box.

“Emily,” he said and I walked forwards. He gave me the box and I opened it. Inside was a beautiful, but simple, necklace. It was a sapphire blue stone on a simple, black thread. I heard something strange, it was like a melody coming out of the stone. I wasn’t sure if anyone else could hear it.

“This necklace will help you to use your true power,” Santa said, just loud enough for me to hear. I looked up from the necklace to Santa’s face. I nodded and closed the box.

Then he handed me a dagger. It looked like it was made of silver, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t.

“If your destiny has something to say, you’ll need this,” he said.

“But what happened to ‘Battles are ugly affairs’?” I said, smiled and backed to Lucy. I looked around.

Susan, Peter, Mr and Mrs Beaver looked at me. Mr and Mrs Beaver happily, Peter and Susan confused, shocked and happily.

“Peter,” Santa said. He took up a sword and a shield from the sack.

“The time to use these may be near at hand,” he continued. I didn’t pay attention, because I opened my box again. I heard that melody again, and this time I was sure that no one else than me could hear it. Nobody noticed me when I took it on. It felt like the music now was coming from inside me. I hid it under my shirt. The music faded away.

“Now, I must be off!” I looked up when Santa said this.

“Winter is almost over, and things do pile up when you’ve been gone a hundred years,” he continued. He looked at us.

“Long live Aslan! And Merry Christmas!” he said happily.

“Merry Christmas!” I said as he drove away in his sleigh. I still couldn’t speak loud, and my voice was still a bit hoarse.

Lucy turned to Susan.

“Told you he was real!” she said. But both Susan and Peter looked at me.

“When… When did you begin to talk?” Peter slowly asked. I smiled.

“About ten minutes ago,” I said, and then coughed a bit.

“Oh, this is the best Christmas present I’ve ever got!” Susan cried out.

“What, your bow?” I asked. She smiled and pulled me into a hug.

“No, you talking again!” she said. Peter and Lucy joined the hug, and we had a nice little moment as a family. But I remembered Edmund after a moment and didn’t enjoy the hug as much as I could’ve done.

“He said winter was almost over,” Peter said when we stopped hugging. “You know what that means!” I looked at him, confused.

“No more ice.”