A/N: From here starts the sequel to TLB. I hadn't planned to upload before July and I am quite proud to have been able to post this one. My beta is presently busy at the moment so I would be glad if any of you inform me of any mistake that might be in here. :) Anyway, Enjoy!
Chapter 6
Out Of Shadowlands
“Have you all not guessed yet?” Aslan asked.
I do not know why but a sudden wild hope threatened to overwhelm me. Looking at the others, I could see that the others felt the same way as me.
“There was a real railway accident. Your mother and father and all of you –as you used to call it in shadow lands- dead. The term is over, the holidays have begun. The dream is ended; this is the morning.”
I could not keep the smile that came on my face. Lucy was as usual overjoyed but none of us could express our happiness at that moment for just then Aslan began to glow.
We all shielded our eyes against that powerful light. Still, we could see that as the light grew, Aslan’s form changed.
When the light had all but disappeared and we could see again, we were left speechless at the sight in front of us.
How Aslan looked, I cannot describe, for there is no word in any language ever spoken that could be used as an adjective for him.
I immediately knew why Aslan had used the Lion form in shadowlands of Narnia. The beauty and majesty that he now radiated would be too much for our mortal bodies to bear.
Though I cannot describe him, I will give you all an idea of what he was like.
He was like a light and support that could lead you to surface from the deepest trench of ocean. His presence gave the same joy that the sight of a real pond gives to a person dying of thirst in a desert. His eyes were warmer than the Sun yet more soothing than the moonlight. He was someone who everyone looked upto. He was someone who would guide you always and bring you to the right path without ever saying ‘I told you’ when you get lost in wilderness. He was He.
It is but a poor example of what he was like for I know not how to explain in any other way. I can go on giving examples after examples but you will never even come close to knowing how he truly looks. I can just hope and pray that you follow the right path in the shadowlands and get the chance to see Him for He was a sight you would give up all your worldly pleasures to see if you only knew.
We were all awestruck. Even Lucy crept closer to me and did not go anywhere near Him. This hesitance, I knew, was not out of fear but out of reverence.
“Children, do you fear me?” He asked in a voice, which though like his form had changed, held the same love and wisdom that his earlier voice held.
“Oh Aslan.” We all fell to our knees.
“Rise. It is not a place to bow before anyone. You are all dear to me and have earned the right to live in the place you loved forever.” His voice calmed us to a great extent and we felt as if we were in the loving embrace of a father. “Now, I suppose, you all be comfortable here and go and meet others whom you haven’t met already.”
With that, we were all once more dismissed.
Lucy was standing on my right with Edmund on my left.
“So, what do you say we do?” Ed asked smiling.
“I say,” I looked at both of my younger siblings as well as at Eustace, Jill, Professor Kirke and Aunt Polly. “We go and tell everything about Narnia to Mummy and Daddy.”
“Oh Boy!” Edmund muttered, “I never did like owing up in front of Dad.”
We all laughed. “It is not like you are owing up for something wrong you did.” I reassured.
Mummy and Daddy, though surprised, believed us instantly. How could they not? They could easily see Narnia just across the mountains. Both were pleased to know that their children were Royalties and had borne their duties well but that did not prevent Mum from fretting and Dad to frown when we told them of the various battles we fought.
Once we were done with our tale, Mummy said, “I think this is the reason why all of you were so different when you returned from the countryside.” Then she said so quietly to herself that we would have not heard her but for our enhanced audibility, “I can’t believe I missed you all growing up.”
“Oh Mummy!” Lucy threw her hand around her neck.
Daddy, who had been quiet up until now, said, “At least your time in Narnia brought my son back to me.”
We all smiled at that and Edmund looked down sheepishly.
After that, we parted on a happy note. We knew that no matter where we go, we would never be too far away now.
Back in Narnia, we again took to meeting other people. Lucy went off with Mr. Tumnus. Professor Kirke and Aunt Polly went to meet their friends that included King Frank and Queen Helen. Eustace and Jill were talking animatedly to their friend Puddlegum the Marshwriggle.
This left Edmund and me wandering about. I had always been interested in History, especially Narnian, so I proposed that we meet some people from Narnia before our reign.
The first one we met was King Gale, the legendary King who had freed Lone Islanders off the Dragon.
He was a very jolly person and his friendliness hid the Warrior King he had been. We chatted with him for quite a long time before Edmund, much to my annoyance, suggested that Gale and I sparred.
I was a bit nervous at the idea of sparring with the King who had been given the chivalric title of Dragonslayer. A wolf was nothing compared to a Dragon then how could Wolfsbane stand against Dragonslayer.
Edmund, however, insisted so, I agreed and King Gale and I went off to an expanse of flat pasture.
I unsheathed Rhindon and King Gale unsheathed Tripund, the sword that had beheaded the Dragon.
Edmund handed us both a shield each.
“Where did you get it from?” I asked Ed, taking the Shield Father Christmas had given me. Taking it in my hands, I immediately knew that this was not the same one; rather, like everything else in this world, it was the better version of the same shield.
Ed shrugged and said, “I found them lying on the grass there.” He pointed at the place where Gale’s and my shield had magically appeared.
We were both lightly armored. I raised my shield and Rhindon while Gale did the same with Tripund and his shield. As we began circling each other, Edmund moved off away from us giving us space to spar properly.
“Never, while I was in Shadowlands did I expect to spar with the High King over all Kings of Narnia.” Gale said to me smiling.
I smiled and said, “Neither did I expect to spar with King Gale, the Dragonslayer.”
He laughed and I lunged.
Gale was quick to block my blow and return it with one of his. Swinging Rhindon in an upward arc, I blocked his next attack with my shield.
Again, he swung Tripund with brute force and great agility and I was just able to block it.
We sparred for quite a long time. Gale met each of my accurate strokes with great force. He had the upper hand in the fact that he fought with both Force and agility while I had the upper hand that I fought with speed and accuracy.
The sound of metal clashing against metal was heard by many people since when we began sparring only Edmund was cheering but now we could hear quite a lot of cheering. However, I tried my best not to let all these distract me as I forgot everything else around me except my training and my opponent.
Not surprisingly, Gale was an excellent swordsman and I was hard-pressed to block his strikes. Only a few times did I manage to squeeze in a strike of my own.
While countering one of his attacks a memory of my brother and I sparring came to my mind. Our situation was same as was Gale’s and mine. I was raining down blows after blows on Ed and he was hard pressed to counter each of them on time. I tried my luck and did what Ed had done that time.
When Gale’s next blow came, instead of blocking and countering it, I ducked down and came inside his defenses. However as I was doing this, I abruptly remembered that Ed did this when he was not very old and had a short-stature. This technique would not work for me now and even Edmund was too tall to carry it out effectively.
My doubts were confirmed when Gale’s elbow connected with my face in a forceful, yet painless smack while my head dashed squarely against his chest. He tripped over my feet and I somehow came down with him in a heap of tangled limbs.
“Peter!” Edmund’s voice was as worried as amused. A few pairs of hands quickly helped Gale and me up.
When I was once again standing I brushed my clothes though it was unnecessary since even after sparring for such a long while and the nasty fall, my clothes were spotless and wrinkle free. I was not even hurt at all.
“Pete, are you alright?” Ed asked me.
“Yeah. I am fine.” I replied. Turning to Gale, I said, “That was some good sparring. Well done. I hardly got any time to play offense.”
Gale just laughed. “I must admit that if I had given you the chance of playing offense then I wouldn’t have lasted this long.”
I shook hands with Gale and accepted all the praise that the on lookers showered on us before turning back to Edmund who had such a smile on his face that I immediately went on my alert. That smile belonged to no one but Edmund Randall Pevensie and it stood for nothing but trouble.
“What?” I asked him warily after everyone had left and we were once again alone.
“You tried my technique.” He stated simply, not quite looking at me.
“So?” I asked trying to sound indifferent.
“So, you tried the same technique on Gale as the one using which a scrawny, eleven year old disarmed you.” Ed laughed at the memory before going on with his true intention. “But, you imagined yourself to be that intelligent, sneaky, clever, canny, smart…”
I quickly cut him off since I knew he could go on with it forever. “Well, yes, I did try it. But I realized a bit too late that that technique was suited only for short people.”
“Oh yeah! You did not realize that you were not the sneaky, little four-feet-ten-inches old Edmund Pevensie but the six feet tall Peter Pevensie. Seriously Peter, your and Gale’s face was worth looking at when you ducked in and instead of disarming him, crashed into him.” Edmund could not stop laughing and I did not fully believe that we had looked funny.
I knew better than to urge him on by arguing, so, I changed the topic. “So, who do propose we meet next?”
“I say, you next meet Queen Swanwhite.”
I raised an eyebrow at this. “I? Have you met her?”
“Yes, I have. I met her while you and King Gale were sparring.” The way he spoke immediately told me that he was smitten by her.
I looked at him pointedly and he looked away. “Don’t look at me that way. What are you thinking of?”
“Nothing” I laughed.
He muttered something like ‘wait till you see her’ as he led me towards Cair Paravel.
While I was following Edmund towards where he had last seen Queen Swanwhite going I saw Tirian and Lucy laughing and talking. I had thought that she was with Mr. Tumnus but he was nowhere to be seen.
I do not care if Tirian is my friend’s descendant. No boy should ever come near my sister. I have to make sure of that. Edmund’s thought was echoing mine of that I was sure since he leveled such a dangerous glare at Tirian that he took an automatic step away from Lucy.
Neither of us waited to see Lucy’s reaction as we left them behind, sure that at least for now Tirian would keep himself in check.
As we neared Cair Paravel, Edmund stopped and looked around before spotting the object of his search.
He walked over to where a woman, as tall as Edmund, was standing. She had her back to us and turned around when Edmund said, “Queen Swanwhite?”
She turned around and immediately all the breath left my body. On one occasion or the other, we all had termed a girl as breath-takingly beautiful but what I now saw was what it truly was. Queen Swanwhite’s beauty did the adjective justice but the vice-versa was not true.
“My King” she courtisized before Edmund and me beautifully with amazing grace. I quickly shook my head to clear my thoughts while she was not looking at me.
“Rise dear Lady.” I said politely.
She smiled and said a few words of praise for me. Though she was without a doubt the most beautiful lady I had ever seen, I was not attracted to her. Sure she was good looking but I had the same feeling for her as I had for Su or Lucy. Edmund, however, was another matter entirely.
Queen Swanwhite was also charmed by Edmund’s wit and cleverness. From what I had read about her in the history books, she too was a very mischievous woman in normal life but formidable in battle.
In short, they both together would be a complete headache for everyone.
At the moment, however, as they were talking and laughing together I felt like an intruder. I was contemplating on whether to walk out simply or think up an excuse.
I was spared the decision though, because just when I was about to excuse myself away, Lucy came running towards us.
“Peter! Edmund! You wouldn’t believe who is here” She exclaimed. Usually I was very good at reading her but now I was simply confused as to whether she was excited, worried or both.
Ed and I both looked at her for a minute or so but when we could not really decipher her emotions, Ed asked. “Who?”
Edmund’s already pale skin turned even paler when he heard Lucy’s reply.
“Sarah!”
Next Chapter Up! Hope you enjoy it!