The remainder of their evening was spent deciding the course of action. Unbeknownst to Chloe, the Pevensies also found themselves back in the magical land. However, they appeared in a more familiar part of the country, even though it was much changed in the last thousand years.
The four siblings found themselves in the ruins of their castle, Cair Paravel. It was there that they realized they'd been gone from Narnia a lot longer than originally anticipated. Anxiously, Edmund found the hidden door that was built into the royal vault. The door was sealed so that only Chloe or one of the royals would be able to open it, and he felt a bit disappointed upon seeing the vault still sealed shut.
"Help me open this will you?" He asked Peter, and the both of them heaved the stone out of the way. Back in their prime days, Chloe would've simply moved it herself, but the two boys were more than capable of pushing it.
Peter was able to break some of the old wood away to open the door, seeing as they no longer had the key. The steps leading down to the vault were dark and without Chloe to light the way, Peter ripped some of his shirt and tied it around a stick to use as a torch, "I don't suppose you have any matches, do you?" He asked his brother.
"No, but..." Edmund ruffled around in his satchel a moment before pulling out a battery powered torch, "Would this help?" He smirked.
Peter laughed, "You might have mentioned that a bit sooner!" The girls held in their laughter as Edmund lit the torch that Chloe had gifted him and lead the way down the stairs with an amused smile.
The vault was untouched since they'd last been in there. It was a circular room, with four statues- one for each of them. In front of the statue was their respective chests full of their items. In the middle of the circle stood a black staff with a lion at the hilt, and a purple orb in its mouth. In front of that was a lone chest. Chloe's.
"I can't believe it, it's all still here," Peter breathed.
First, each of them went to their own chests, opening it up to inspect what had been left inside. Lucy was in awe over one of her gowns, "I was so tall!" She marveled.
"Well, you were older then," Susan shrugged before continuing to look .
Edmund chucked with his old helmet on, much too big for his head, "As opposed to hundreds of years later, when you're younger," he continued to rifle through his belongings before he pulled a small box hidden away in one of his old pants pockets. Curiously he took it out and opened it; his smile melted away as he looked at the small ring. It was the ring he was going to propose to Chloe with before they were taken back.
"Ed?" Susan called, not seeing what her brother was frowning at. He looked up and showed them the ring, then they all turned to the center of the room.
Chloe's things had collected dust, they were untouched. Sadness swept the siblings...They believed she didn't return with them. Edmund slowly walked over to her chest and lifted the lid. Armour, boots, weapons were piled inside, all untouched. He knew if she'd returned the one thing she would take above all others would've been her staff. So, with a heave, he pulled it up and out of its stand. It felt heavier in his hand, he wondered how she was able to handle it with such ease.
Peter was studying his sword, reading the engraving before looking to his siblings, "I think it's time we found out what's going on."
The four of them walked along the riverbank looking for anyone who might be able to help them. That's when they saw Telmarine soldiers trying to drown Trumpkin, the other dwarf that had been with Trufflehunter and Nikabrik. They rescued the man and helped him to shore, but like his comrade, Trumpkin had quite the attitude.
"Telmarines? In Narnia?" Edmund wondered when Trumpkin had explained who was trying to drown him.
The dwarf eyed him up and down skeptically, "Where have you been for the last few hundred years?"
"It's a long story," Lucy trailed off.
That was when Trumpkin noticed the grand sword in Peter's hand. He remembered seeing the girl at the hut and finally it seemed to connect, "Oh you've got to be kidding me," he groaned, "You're it? You're the kings and queens of old?"
"High King Peter, the Magnificent," Peter offered his hand to shake, but the dwarf took a small step back.
Susan rolled her eyes at his cocky title, "You probably could've left off the last bit," she muttered.
Trumpkin chuckled, "Probably," he agreed.
Peter unsheathed his sword, "You might be surprised."
"Oh you don't wanna do that, boy," Trumpkin warned.
But Peter shook his head, "Not me. Him," he nodded to his brother who smirked, he passed Chloe's staff to Lucy to hold so he could brandish his own sword.
Edmund had a smirk on his face, he was known as one of the best swordsmen during the Golden Age. Although, there was only one person who had ever been known to beat him, can you guess who?
Trumpkin, however, was giving Chloe a run for her money. He got in a few good hits, "Oh are you alright?" he asked sarcastically before lifting the sword to swing again.
This time, Edmund was ready, dodging and giving him a light smack on the rear. Crossing blades with someone a lot shorter than you meant protecting your feet and legs a lot more, this was something Edmund had been taught early on. As they continued to battle, he felt himself getting back into the swing of things. Finally with some hard hits and slashes, Edmund disarmed Trumpkin, pointing the blade at his face and staring into his shellshocked face.
"Beards and beardsticks!" He gasped getting to his knees on the sand, "The horn really did work."
Susan took a step forward, "What horn?"
"The horn the bloke blew in the forest by our hut when he was being chased by Telmarines. Not even a bird's tweet later some girl came running in. Fire burning from her hands! I'd only ever heard of that happening in the Tales of Old," he explained out of breath, "She helped get the lad to safety and that's when I was taken."
The Pevensies listened to his explanation with a twinge of excitement. Chloe had in fact arrived back in Narnia, it was the horn that brought them back. She was with whomever blew Susan's horn. Edmund felt a smile form on his face as he looked to Lucy who was holding onto Chloe's staff. He grabbed it back with a proud feeling in his chest, "Well let's go find her, shall we?" He prompted, excited to see her again.
💜
Originally, Caspian felt it was his duty to round up the Narnians on his own. Chloe was able to convince him to at the very least, allow her to accompany him given he was Telmarine by birth, it would be difficult to get others on his side. Nikabrik thought it was amusing that Caspian was trying to take the lead, "I want to see you try to explain things to the minotaurs," he joked.
That caught Caspian's attention, "Minotaurs? They're real?"
"And very bad tempered," Trufflehunter nodded.
Chloe snorted, "Pretty big too. I remember one about the size of a rhinoceros."
"What about centaurs?" He wondered, "Do they still exist?"
Trufflehunter nodded, "The centaurs will probably fight on your side, considering we've got the Great Protector. She was mighty close with the General back in the Golden Age."
"Oreius," Chloe remembered, "He reminded me of my father. A great man. He taught me how to fight, if it wasn't for him I don't think I would've survived the fight against the White Witch."
Caspian stopped walking a moment, looking ahead at the two of them given that Nikabrik was bringing up the rear, "What about Aslan?"
Trufflehunter froze, Nikabrik eyed him suspiciously, "How do you know so much about us?"
"Stories," he shrugged with a smile.
Chloe was warming up to the prince as they continued to spend more time together, "Did your father tell you stories about Narnia?"
"No, my nurse did...then my professor...Listen I am sorry," his apology was sincere, he didn't seem to realize the extent of what his ancestors had done to Narnia.
The four of them were in the middle of the woods alone, Caspian was asking Chloe about what she did after killing the White Witch.
"Never was there a more noble woman fighting for Narnia," Trufflehunter praised.
"If I may ask," Caspian started, "Why is it after all you did, you were not crowed a Queen?"
Chloe shook her head, "It is not who I was meant to be. I am the Great Protector, and Narnia was given four rulers better than any. Why add another?"
"I do hope you know," Trufflehunter added, "That with the Kings and Queens of Old absent, and you present. Narnians everywhere will look to you as their Queen-' suddenly he suddenly shushed them.
"What is it?" Nikabrik whispered.
Sniffing the air, Trufflehunter answered, "Humans."
"Us?" Chloe checked.
He shook his head, turning to look at where they'd come from, "Them."
Chloe and Caspian turned and in the trees stood Telmarine soldiers pointing crossbows at them, "There they are!" The man in the middle shouted.
"Run!" Caspian grabbed Chloe's hand and sprinted further into the woods with Trufflehunter and Nikabrik behind them.
Weaving left and right of trees, Chloe could hear the release of arrows from their weapons and did her best to blow them into trees to avoid any of them getting hit. But it was difficult considering she was basically doing it without looking, and there was more than ten or so men after them from what she heard.
Suddenly they heard an "OW!" And a thump come from behind them. Turning they saw Trufflehunter with an arrow in his side.
"No!" Nikabrik yelled just about to run to his comrade's side.
"I'll get him!" Caspian ran forward.
The soldiers were getting closer, Chloe stepped forward and intimidatingly held a flame in her palm, poised to attack if they got to close to the prince, "Take it!" Trufflehunter offered him the horn, "It's more important than I."
Hastily, Caspian took the horn and tossed it to Chloe, who grabbed it with her free hand, "Don't take another step!" She yelled to the soldiers.
All of a sudden one of the soldiers fell to the ground with a yelp. Then with a swish, another was down. Caspian quickly lifted Trufflehunter to his shoulder and started fleeing once more while Chloe hesitated. But with another arrow flying toward her head as she was distracted by what appeared to be a small creature taking out soldiers one by one, she turned and ran after them.
By that point, the soldiers were scared. They thought it was a ghost or something, considering they were very superstitious while in the forest. Whatever, or whoever was helping them was doing a good job, but there were still to many soldiers to risk them being followed. So, Caspian carefully put Trufflehunter on the floor next to Nikabrik, "Get him out of here."
"We'll catch up with you both," Chloe nodded.
But when they turned to see how many soldiers they were dealing with they watched as the very last one was swiping at the shrubbery blind in attempt to find what had killed his men. Then he fell with a scream that was quickly silenced.
Caspian and Chloe watched nervously as something small ran through the greenery, zooming right around Chloe and pouncing on Caspian. The prince fell to the floor in shock as an abnormally large mouse stood on his chest with a small sword pointed at his face.
"Choose your last words carefully, Telmarine!" He threatened.
Caspian was breathing deeply as he looked at the creature confused, "You are a mouse..." he stated.
The mouse sighed disappointed, "I was hoping for something a little more original. Pick up your sword," he ordered.
"Uh...no thanks," Caspian lightly shook his head.
The mouse insisted, "I will not fight an unarmed man!"
"Which is why I might live longer if I choose not to cross blades with you, noble mouse," he responded.
Chloe took a small step forward, "He means no harm to you, warrior," she told him.
The mouse rounded on her and with a gasp he bowed instantly, "Oh my! Your majesty! I'd never thought I'd live to see you return! And as a show of my loyalty to you, I will proudly slay this Telmarine in your honor!"
"Reepicheep! Stay your blade!" Trufflehunter called in pain.
Looking behind Caspian, "Trufflehunter? I trust you have a very good reason for this untimely interruption."
"He doesn't. Go ahead," Nikabrik tried.
Chloe bent down to be eye level with him, "Prince Caspian is the man who blew Queen Susan's horn and summoned me back."
"What?" He gasped.
Suddenly the familiar sounds of hoofs approached, "Then let him bring it forward," the deep voice of a centaur ordered, with a three others behind him, "This is the reason we have gathered," Chloe nodded, passing the horn to Caspian. Reepicheep quickly got off of him with an apology and presented the horn to the centaur. He studied it a moment before stating, "We will escort you to the others your majesties."