𝐔𝐍𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐃 || Tirian of Narnia

Chapter Seven: Fallen Angels

Tirian drew a sharp breath.

He did not for a second think to doubt the wild girl's words, so certain was the terror in her eyes that for a moment he was struck speechless, too.

"You— you know something about the giants?"

The girl swallowed, and he couldn't tell if she nodded or if it was only the trembling that shook her matted copper curls.

A thousand questions crowded into his head, but what he said, almost under his breath, was "I need to get you back to the Cair."

For the first time, the slightest hint of confusion edged out the fear in her eyes. "The what?"

"The royal city," he clarified, his wits catching up to him all at once. If she'd never met a talking beast before, then she certainly wouldn't have known Cair Paravel. "Sorry, I don't know how to— this is Narnia, by the way." He motioned pointlessly to the trees around them, long branches overhanging the river, the canopy still shimmering from yesterday's rain in the early afternoon sunlight.

She glanced around, seeming to take it all in for the first time.

"It's just, if you know something about the giants, then we need to know too."

She didn't look away from the trees. Faintly she nodded, but he wasn't totally sure she was listening.

"I'm sorry," he said, "What's your name?"

"Elise," the girl said reflexively, "Daughter of…" She trailed off in a breath, stuttering, grey eyes flicking back to him as if coming back to reality.

Tirian didn't know what to do with the silence that followed, so he just nodded.

"This is Jewel." He motioned to the Unicorn at his shoulder. "I'm Tirian. My father is King Erlian, I'm sure he will be glad to know anything you can tell us."

Elise blinked. "The King? So then… you're…?"

"The Prince," he supplied. "Yeah, don't let that bother you, though, you don't have to call me anything special if you don't want to." He glanced back at the forest. "Are you okay to walk? It's kind of a long way."

She made a motion that might have been a shrug under all her bedraggled trappings. "I've come this far."

Tirian bit back the question that rose at once to his throat. How far is this far?

She still hadn't told him where she came from, but based on her reaction, he wasn't sure he should ask again.

"Alright," he said, resolving to save it for later. "It's this way, then."

He held his hand out to help her over a log, and then they were trekking through thick forest, the thrill of the stranger and the mystery thrumming through Tirian's chest even in spite of the dread that lingered there.

Jewel stuck close to his other side, the boy and the Unicorn commenting every now and then on the places they passed, woodland homes nestled into branches or roots, the tops of old ruined towers peeking over the canopy where owls roosted during the day.

Elise gazed around as they walked, and stole short glances at Jewel, which Tirian pretended not to notice.

He couldn't help but grin the first time a passing fox surprised her with its cheerful "good afternoon!"

"Can all the animals talk in Narnia?" she asked when it had gone well out of earshot.

"Most of them," said Tirian, "And the trees, too, when they feel like it."

Elise looked up into the thick tangle of branches with wide eyes, and Tirian smiled to himself again.

She couldn't have been much older than him, though it was hard to tell under the layer of grime, and she sucked in a little gasp when at last, hours later, they came in sight of the shining towers and turrets of Cair Paravel, the sea beyond it stretching into pale blue eternity.