𝐔𝐍𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐃 || Tirian of Narnia

Chapter Two: Original Sin

A/N: Thank you so much to everyone who has commented, reviewed, and supported the first chapter so far! Y'all genuinely mean the world to me and I love you all to bits!

I also forgot to mention in the last author's note that I will be updating every Tuesday and Friday, and there will be 14 chapters in total!

And for those asking about character pronunciations:
Hosha - HOSH-uh
Malahki - MAL-uh-key
(I did my best to express the sounds for non-english names but that doesn't always work, haha, languages are weird. They are meant to resemble sounds in Hebrew and Persian.)

Thank you for reading!

xXx

CHAPTER TWO: ORIGINAL SIN

Windchill crept into the air as the last drops of golden sunlight disappeared, and even the rich pink canvas of the sky faded to grey and then to black. But Tirian barely noticed.

Any strangeness in the sensation of riding on his friend's back was immediately eclipsed by the thrill of the speed, thick forest whipping by so fast he was sure if he reached out for a branch it would slice right through him.

The close-growing trees blotted out the stars, but by now their eyes had adjusted, and Jewel knew this area even better than Tirian did, already having calculated where they needed to be heading based on Farsight's description.

"Slower, friend," said Tirian, and Jewel responded immediately, coming to a light canter that was almost a trot.

The flick of his ears asked the question he was momentarily breathing too hard to ask.

"I fear making too much noise on our entry. We must be close by now, if they were heading south at a steady pace near noon. Unless they've changed course."

"Well," said Jewel, speaking softly but still puffing from his nostrils, "If we're close, I do hope two giants will be noticeable enough."

They continued on at a softer trot, eyes and ears open for any sign of their intruders as calm forest noises filtered in around them which until now their gallop had drowned out. Tirian loosened his grip with his knees, thighs and stomach aching.

This wasn't the first time he'd run off into the stillness of the night, through figures of grey trees spattered in sparse moonlight. In fact, his regular adventures stopped earning him punishments long ago, Erlian having given up trying to keep up with him at about age twelve.

How many times had he snuck out with Hosha to go dancing with the fauns? How many nights had they run through fields and forests, dew-drenched and tousled, hearts pounding for the thrill of the moonlight and the wild drums that seemed to have a life of their own?

But there was something different about this adventure; a solemness that made his blood sing, Jewel's strong muscle beneath him, something different in the bite of the wind, a warning, but one that invited challenge.

And as they went on, though it was gradual and hardly noticeable at first, another sensation snuck up on him.

Silence.

Not simply the silence of the early morning hours, but deeper, more unnerving, broken every now and then only by a distant rustling, like something very small streaking through the underbrush very far off to their left.

Jewel's ears pricked the third time it happened, and he turned wordlessly in the direction of the noise.

The deeper they went, the deeper the silence grew, until it was creeping under Tirian's skin, every little rustle pricking at the back of his neck. And then came one much closer than the others had been, and the undergrowth rippled with the speed of something running straight past them, little more than a blur in the dark.