Chapter 7

Lucy shivered and pulled the cloak around her a little tighter. She looked as the centaurs very gently talked to Susan as they walked and the dwarves talking to Peter and, not for the first time, yearned for Mr. Tumnus. She turned her head away and when she looked back, the fox was sitting in front of her, his bushy tail lazily sweeping from one side to the other.

"Hello, Lucy. Why the long face?" he asked, deliberately drawing his face out longer. Lucy giggled, despite herself.

"Oh nothing."

"Nothing like losing your friends to make an enjoyable day, huh?"

"No." Lucy blinked desperately to keep the tears back in.

"If you need to cry, cry. No use holding them in." the fox said, leapt to its feet and trotted off, its lazy tail wagging in contradiction to its fast pace. Lucy smiled and she felt the first tear very gently roll down her cheek as she ran after the rest of the group. She stumbled a little and crashed into a suddenly still centaur, who pushed her back into the undergrowth to join her siblings. The centaur straightened up, one hand curled around the hilt of his sword. In front of him stood a herd of deer, headed by a deer the colour of sunlight on caramel, his head topped by a crown of antlers. His smooth coat gleamed in the weak lantern of the sun and his eyes stood proudly on either side of a savaged and scarred face, a face that was the proudest, yet most humble face Lucy had ever seen.

"Friend or foe?" the centaur cried, lifting his head proudly. The deer looked back at him proudly, calmly.

"Friend to no one, foe to no one. We live only for the spring and the coming of Aslan." the deer answered, his voice making Lucy remember home and her mum. Lucy felt another tear ease its way out of her eye.

"Then you're our friend!" the centaur cried and stepped forward. As if in a dance, the deer herd stepped back.

"We are not. We support only Aslan and the spring." The deer then turned and stared straight at the undergrowth where Lucy, Susan and Peter lay crouching in the snow and lowered his proud head. As one the herd all bowed behind him.

"King Peter. Queen Susan. Queen Lucy" the deer said, then raised his head and looked a little to the north towards the gap in the mountains where the White Witch's palace squatted, as unpleasant as a tumour and he and the rest of the herd wordlessly bowed, then the herd turned south and moved on. Behind Lucy, Susan gasped and tugged on the back of Lucy's dress.

"Look at their hooves!" she hissed and Lucy dutifully did. As the herd walked over the snow, where they placed their delicate hooves the grass was uncovered underneath the snow. The snow would then melt back over it. Lucy stared then looked up to where she saw the fox sitting in the snow, lazily flicking his tail over the snow. The centaur stared after the herd and slowly the Narnians crept out and joined the centaur in staring after the herd. Slowly Lucy joined her fox.

"Who where they?"

"They are the spring deer. According to them, Aslan called them to being from the first splash of water from the first melted stream." the fox made a face. "Personally I just believe they are another sign that Aslan is coming." Lucy smiled. Behind her Peter fiddled awkwardly with a frayed part of the lining in his coat.

"Umm, excuse me," the fox turned and fixed his eyes on Peter

"Yes, young king?" Peter blushed slightly

"Who is Aslan?" Peter asked. A silence descended and Peter turned to see every Narnian eye staring at him in disbelief.

"Who is Aslan? Who is Aslan!" a beaver cried. He put up his paws in desperation "Only the saviour of Narnia, that's who!"

"But who is he?" Susan asked.

"Not who, young queen, but rather what." the fox said calmly. He stood up and trotted lazily over to her.

"He is the great lion."

"The lion who is written in the stars" a centaur added

"The lion who sung all of us into existence" a raven added from a branch on an oak tree

"The lion who will save us all" a young squirrel said, earnestly

"The lion who protects us" a black cat said and suddenly the air was thick with the Narnians adding their worth to the tales of Aslan

"The lion who gaurds us at night"

"The lion from across the seas, Emporer of all!"

"The lion who will guide Narnia to its greatest moment"

"The lion who will bring Spring!" as all the noise slowly died down Peter and Susan looked down into the black eyes of the ginger fox.

"But above all, he is Aslan." Peter nodded and Susan licked her lips nervously. And for a moment, a tiny moment you could almost see a great king and a gentle queen in their faces

"Will he come and help us?" Lucy said from behind the fox. Peter and Susan both looked up and the spell was broken.

"Of course" the fox said, without turning around. He then stood up and trotted off. "Come along little queen. We've got along way to go" Lucy smiled and chased after her fox, leaving Peter, Susan and the Narnians to walk behind Lucy and the fox.

x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

I'm so sorry that I haven't been writing this!1 But to be perfectly honest I haven't been writing any FanFiction lately… Just haven't had the inspiration… Oh well, I hope you aren't to irritated by the wait and I hope you think its worth it…

Oh, and please review!