Chapter Twenty Two
The Mighty Lion
Rhett, a centaur in Aslan's army, stood at upon the hilltop near the entrance to Aslan's camp. He was standing watch over the camp to see who would be entering or leaving the camp. Honestly, it was a pretty uneventful job. No one really came and went from the camp, at least no one he already knew was going to be leaving or entering. Although, the five dots he could see in the woods near the camp were five dots he didn't think he had seen before. There were two really small brown dots, a medium dot with what seemed to be a dress, and two larger dots one with a dress and one without. This was something Rhett had not seen before, at least not that he could remember. As the dots became bigger and he could make them out better, they appeared to be two beavers and three . . . three people? But how could that be? The only reason he even thought they looked like people was because they looked somewhat similar to Elizabeth, well the two in dresses did. Figuring this was something he should approach with caution, Rhett raised his horn and let out the warning blow as the five were near the camp.
Of course, the Pevensie's and beavers paid no attention to the horn, they didn't even know what it signaled. All they knew, was they had made it. There weary traveling had paid off, they were finally here and they could see the camp with their own eyes. The beavers were grinning from ear to ear as they approached the entrance to the camp, hugging one another as they did so, they had dreamed of this camp. Telling stories about Aslan and his daughter but never actually thinking they would actually be able to lay eyes on them. Now here they were, soon they would see what they had been dreaming of. Peter and Susan looked peaceful, tired of running and hiding, so now that they had made it to the camp it was quite a relief. Soon they would see Aslan and he would be able to help them find Edmund, which was all they were concerned about for now. Lucy, however, was grinning from ear to ear as she looked at everything around her. The creek, the trees, the flowers, the grass, the tents, the fauns, the centaurs, absolutely everything was marvelous to her. Who would have thought all of this was inside the back of the wardrobe?
As they were walking along, Lucy got the sense that someone was watching them. When she turned around to see if there was anything but it wasn't what she expected. The flowers on a cherry blossom tree beside the creek were falling off, but not like flowers would typically fall to the ground. Instead, these flowers were falling and floating together in what seemed to be a stream of flowers blowing in the wind until they were in front of Lucy. The flowers formed what appeared to be a flower girl in front of Lucy that was smiling and waving to her. Lucy grinned back in awe and waved a greeting in return to the flower person. She stared at the creature for a moment until turning and then running to catch up with everyone else. This place was awesome, and for a child, this place really was a dream, like walking into a fairy tale.
The five marched into camp and looked at everything within the camp. To say it was interesting is a bit of an understatement. Everyone was looking at them, and I do mean everyone. Even the animals such as the boars, horses, and cheetahs were staring at the five of them walking through the camp. The stares were a bit uncomfortable, not to mention strange. They all acted like they had never seen humans before, but as they continued to walk, the Pevensie's were quick to remember that these people probably had never seen humans before. Still, though, they felt like a circus being paraded in front of the camp.
One by one, everyone started to follow them. It really did look like a parade through the camp as they walked along the dirt path along the center of camp. The path went straight through the entire camp, they had a good feeling they knew where it was leading too. The people following them were smiling and cheering and laughing. The camp was a fit of happiness and excitement as they walked through. Everyone had been waiting for their arrival for a long time so it was understandable that everyone was reacting the way they were.
"Why are they all staring at us?" Susan asked calmly as she tensed up from all the eyes that were upon them.
"Maybe because they think you look funny," Lucy giggled and Peter laughed along with her while Susan gave a small smile and shook her head.
They made their way towards the end of the path and came across a huge rock with a tent on top of it and flags with lions on them, the Pevensie's figured this must be the symbol for Aslan's camp. Once they reached the boulder all became silent as the siblings approached the rock and were greeted by a strange look from Oreius who was staring them down and stood tall as he stood halfway on the rock. Oreius watched them carefully and as the siblings continued to approach the rock, the crowd that had followed them stopped walking and watched the siblings continue to advance. The three marched alone up to the boulder where Oreius stood staring them down with a frown on his face.
But what the siblings were really focusing on, was not the magnificent centaur staring them down, but the blonde haired teenager watching them. The girl was human, there was someone else in Narnia just like them, another human. She stood in the middle of the rock with her hands folded in front of her and watched them as they approached. Her face showed no sign of surprise or happiness, instead, she wore a neutral face as she stared at the three of them. Her hair was pulled up in a half up-do and she had a braid running down the right side of her face, the blonde waves reached all the way down to her elbows. Her outfit contained a medieval navy dress with puffy white sleeves and a slight star or flower patterned navy and silver corset. However, it was not the hair or the dress that stood out to the siblings the most, but her eyes.
The bright blue hue was visible even from a distance and they really stood out against the rest of her body. The closer the siblings became to the rock, the more curious the girl appeared to look. She must have been someone important, seeing as she was standing on top of the rock when no one else was, not even the centaur who was stepping halfway on the rock. Everyone else in the camp seemed to watch the girl with a sense of awe and respect indicating that she held some sort of power with this group and Susan would almost bet that this could be Aslan's daughter, the one all the stories were about. There was also something about her, something the Pevensie's couldn't quite put their fingers on. Something about this girl made her seem as if they had seen her before as if the girl wasn't a complete stranger to them.
As the Pevensies stood in front of the rock, also in front of the girl, no one dared make a sound in the camp. Everyone became dead silent watching what was playing out. Oreius and the girl watched the siblings just as the siblings watched them, the five all just stared making no words. Peter then placed his hand carefully on the hilt of his sword before slowly pulling his sword from the sheath. Peter thrust his sword into the air and holding his head high took a deep breath. "We've come to see Asl-as . . ."
But he never finished. During his short statement, Oreius turned to the girl knowing it was her place to decide how they would deal with these humans and the girl watched the siblings for a moment not actually listening to Peter because she knew why they were her, it didn't take a genius to figure it out. Elizabeth raised her hand with her palm facing towards Peter and he stuttered a little as he watched the girl who kept her hand raised towards him motioning for him to hush. There were some mumbles that went on through the crowd and whispers spreading around while the five continued to watch one another. Peter stood shocked at the girl's response, Elizabeth didn't even say anything to him, yet when she motioned for Peter to stop talking he felt the obligation to listen to her.
Elizabeth then took her hand down and folded it back in front of her as she turned her head to the right towards the tent. Everyone else in the camp also turned their gazes upon the tent and the siblings turned as well. The three stared at the tent, Peter's sword still raised in the air, and watched the tent in shock. A great wave of power seemed to be radiating from the tent and the siblings felt that whatever lied behind that tent, which they were certain was the great Aslan, was so incredible that they could sense him even when they could not see him. Watching the tent for what seemed like minutes, nothing happened, only the wind blew on the tent causing the walls to make waves as they stood against the wind.
As they stood watching the tent with great anticipation, waiting for whoever must be inside it to come out, the siblings started to hear shuffling from behind them. When they turned to see what all the shuffling was about, they noticed that everyone in the camp that was once staring at the tent was now getting to the ground and bowing towards it. Even the great centaur, Oreius took his arm out and gave a deep bow lowering his head towards the tent out of respect. The siblings were surrounded by a camp full of people and creatures on the ground on their knees bowing to whoever was behind that tent. Elizabeth pulled on her dress on the corners as she got down on one knee and lowered her head towards the tent.
Once the siblings turned back to face the tent, the slit in the opening of the tent opened a crack. From the darkness inside, there was a big paw with claws that propped itself in the grass outside. A few long seconds later, a head emerged and the siblings were greeted by a mighty lion. The hair on the lion was a golden brown color and shone with the light glistening on it. As Aslan walked along the grass on top of the rock he let out a little growl which must have been his way of clearing his throat. Aslan watched the siblings as he walked out of the tent and stood beside the girl, never taking his eyes off the Pevensies. They couldn't tell if it was just them or not, but it almost seemed as if the lion was smiling at them.
The Pevensies said nothing as they stared at Aslan. Lucy watched the lion closely and a smile began to form as she stared at this magnificent creature. Susan just stared in surprise at the lion, seeing as they were looking for Aslan and this girl had silenced them earlier and they thought was going to show them to Aslan, Susan was certainly not expected a lion to emerge from the tent. Peter watched the lion in awe, the power coming from this creature was almost unbearable. As he watched Aslan he felt a tang of respect and obedience towards him. The siblings watched Aslan as he stood beside Elizabeth; she then stood up beside the lion once he stood beside her. But the siblings then fell to their knees, bowing towards this creature and the girl.
Aslan and Elizabeth watched the siblings for a moment before the lion cleared its voice. "Welcome Peter, Son of Adam," the lion nodded towards Peter who lifted his head in a small smile towards the lion. "Welcome Susan and Lucy, Daughter's of Eve," the lion nodded towards the girls who also raised their heads as their names were called. "And welcome beavers, you have my thanks," the lion called out to the beavers who stood next to the siblings.
Elizabeth watched the siblings as a small frown began to emerge on her face. "But where is the fourth?" She asked tilting her head to the side as she watched them. The siblings were a bit surprised that the girl had an English accent like theirs, meaning she must have been English. Only, her accent was a bit older, actually sounding a bit like the professors which Susan thought odd.
The siblings held their heads low before slowly getting up from the ground, Peter shaking his head as he did so. "That's why we're here sir," Peter said to Aslan. "We need your help."
"We had a little . . . trouble, along the way," Susan said towards Elizabeth. Elizabeth watched with her eyes big and her eyebrows furrowed. This couldn't be right. The prophecy said they needed all four siblings, and now when they actually made it into Narnia, they . . . lost one?! How could this happen? She certainly didn't wait sixty years just to lose one of the siblings they needed in the process.
"Our brother's been captured by the White Witch," Peter sighed as he explained to the pair on top the rock.
Elizabeth's eyes grew even bigger at Peter's words and let out a small gasp of air. Captured? Aslan seemed to share the same thought as Elizabeth because he turned to Peter with confusion. "Captured? How could this happen?" Aslan's voice trailed off in a sad tone more so to himself than to the siblings.
Peter hung his head low and the siblings went silent. Beaver took a step forward and cleared his throat as Elizabeth and Aslan turned their attention to him. "He . . . betrayed them Your Majesty."
"What?!" Elizabeth exclaimed and rumors started spreading like wildfire throughout the camp as whispers turned to voices shouting among the camp. Elizabeth's mouth dropped open at Beaver's words and she held her hands even tighter than before, her knuckles turning white in doing so. A story that sounded all too familiar to the girl.
"Then he has betrayed us all," Oreius said with a clenched fist and an angry tone towards the crowd but Aslan let out a roar and everyone was hushed back to silence.
Aslan stomped a paw on the ground as he turned to the centaur. "Peace Oreius, I'm sure there is an explanation," Aslan concluded as he turned back towards the Pevensies.
The siblings all stayed silent until Peter lifted his head towards Aslan. "It's my fault really. I was too hard on him," he said lifting his eyebrows and shrugging his shoulders.
Susan though raised her hand and placed it on Peter's shoulder in an attempt of encouragement to her brother before turning back to Aslan. "We all were," Susan explained as Lucy sadly nodded her head in agreement with her older siblings.
Aslan watched them and listened to their explanation with a heavy heart and closed his eyes out of sadness for what had happened. Elizabeth watched the three also with a pang of sadness for them, she could certainly say she knew how they felt. She took a deep inhale through her mouth causing her upper body to rise with her as she did so, taking in the siblings words. Elizabeth then lets go of her hands and placed one on Aslan's mane for comfort. This story of the betrayal of the fourth sibling was more unbearable to her than she thought. Her own brother's betrayal had happened almost sixty years ago, but hearing of a betrayal with another family, all the same, made her own brother's betrayal sound much worse. The pang of guilt of what happened that night stayed with Elizabeth over the years, she had never truly forgiven herself for bringing her siblings to Narnia. After all, she was the one who found Narnia in the first place and therefore brought her siblings into the world as well.
"Sir, he's our brother," Lucy said softly, her eyes looking as if they were welling up with tears.
"I know dear one, but that only makes the betrayal all the worse," Aslan said with a soft tone looking at Lucy sounding like a father talking to his daughter. Aslan then stood up straighter and faced Peter while Elizabeth was looking at the ground. "This is a lot harder than you think."
Elizabeth knew all too well what Aslan was referring to. If the White Witch truly did have their brother and he had betrayed them, the mess it was going to take to get him back was a lot more work than the Pevensies probably realized. Sure, it wouldn't be that hard to go and retrieve the brother and bring him back. It was the deep magic that was the law over Narnia that would cause trouble in trying to obtain their brother.
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A/N:
YAY!!! My babies finally met and I'm overflowing with happiness!!! 😍😍😍
Haha, but they don't quite recognize her. But it's not that disappointing, I mean what did you really expect? Just cause you've seen someone's pictures doesn't mean you would recognize them right away when you actually meet them!
Besides, it's not like they ever said Elizabeth was the actual daughter of Aslan either. So you gotta cut them some slack.
I think it'd be funnier anyways if Elizabeth saw them and was like, "PETER, SUSAN, LUCY!!! I'VE MISSED YOU GUYS!!!"
Anyways, thanks as always for reading guys and please let me know what you thought and vote!!:)