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𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐓𝐄𝐌𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐄 𝐃𝐑𝐎𝐏𝐏𝐄𝐃 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 every passing second as the group made their way through the winter landscape. The sun sank towards the horizon and thick, dark grey clouds clumped together high in the sky, hiding the stars and moon behind its swirling, storming and sombre colours. A freezing wind blew over the land with a roaring sound that increased and decreased in waves, and the loose snow whirled around their feet.

'What's the point in having horses when we're not even riding them most of the time?' Phoenix wondered when the wind died down for a moment. He led his horse by the reins over the treacherous path and he stretched the fingers of his free hand a few times to drive back the cold that seemed to be edged into his bones. He wore gloves but the temperature bit through the fabric with ease.

They had been traveling without even as much as a breather since this morning, but Caspian claimed they could reach Aslan's How before the darkness of the night truly set in.

Mina cast a worried look at the tumbling clouds above her. The centaurs had said the snow storm would start tomorrow night, but the nature all around them told her otherwise; it was already firing up.

'At least you do not have to carry the gear yourself, young master Phoenix,' Reepicheep said as he balanced on the top of the head of Caspian's horse. The noble mouse's tail flicked up and down in the walking rhythm of Destrier, and his paw rested on the hilt of his rapier while keeping an eye on their darkening surroundings.

Phoenix looked at the bags and blankets on his horse's back, and then at Giulia who walked with her horse next to him. 'Easy for him to say, though,' he started. 'All he has done is standing on the top of that horse's head.'

Giulia hummed in agreement, her warm breath creating small clouds in the chilly air. She imagined Reepicheep trying to make his way through the layer of snow, but she felt too exhausted and cold to explain to Phoenix why she smiled all of the sudden when he gave her a curious look.

'I can't feel my toes,' Ella complained to Oliver, and the Hufflepuff paused for a moment in her pace ─ resulting in everyone behind her to stop as well since she unknowingly blocked the path. Ella balanced on one foot, shaking the other violently in the air in an attempt to get some of her feeling back. She sighed when the vibrations shot up through her leg but not her toes. She longed back for the fire in Cair Paravel's chart chamber and while stamping on the snowy ground, Ella closed the distance between herself and Oliver again.

'We better be close to wherever we're going,' Ella said, 'or I fear my toes will freeze off.'

The words hadn't been carried away with the wind yet when Caspian suddenly said: 'There it is! Aslan's How.'

The group of twenty-four people (and a mouse, plus an equal number of horses) stepped out of the tree line and onto a spacious open field. It should have been blooming with hundreds of flowers but the winter had snowed them all under, frozen them to death in its harsh circumstances.

Vittoria observed the field, her eyes falling on a massive shadow at the other side of it, but still far in the distance.

'You mean the mountain?' she asked, raising her voice to be audible over the whistling wind. She crossed eyes with George whose face was hard to read in the ascending darkness. The snow couldn't even reflect the star- and moonlight, and the snow had a shallow colour like the rest of their surroundings.

'Yes, though a high hill would be a more fitting term,' Caspian said as he mounted Destrier, swinging his leg elegantly over the saddle. If his muscles had been stiff from the cold, he didn't show it in the slightest.

'I expected something more like an actual temple,' Vittoria muttered, remembering the respectful and solemn tone the otherworlders had talked in about the How. She climbed onto her horse just like the others while making sure not to kick away the quiver hanging on the saddle as well. Blue-feathered arrows filled the quiver and the bow hung at the other side.

Before they had left for the How, she and her friends had been given the opportunity to take some weapons with them. Vittoria had chosen for a bow and though she didn't have any experience with archery, it felt like a reassurance to have at least some kind of defense now that their magic was no longer an option.

Giulia, however, cursed under her breath when the tetela lance broke out of its leather belt that was keeping it strapped vertically against the saddle. The lance fell with a muted thud on the ground just as she finally managed to climb onto the horse's back.

Phoenix chuckled by seeing her annoyed face and she shot him a murderous look.

'It's not funny,' Giulia grumbled. Despite having mounted the horse a few times this day, she still hadn't discovered a handiness in it. Before Giulia could find a way down again, Elodie swung her left leg over her horse's neck, gliding skillfully out of the saddle and she picked up the lance. She strapped it back to Giulia's saddle, and the Slytherin thanked her in relief. Elodie smiled and got back on her horse as the group set into motion.

Elodie steered her horse next to Ella's, but her friend shook her head a few times before nodding exorbitantly at Peter who rode a few meters ahead of them. He talked to his twin sister June but when Ella also started waving her hands in his direction ─ and almost falling off her horse in the process ─ Elodie decided to give in.

'You really want to be a matchmaker, do you not?' Elodie whispered at Ella who smiled widely.

'I'm your official wingwoman, and I know it's meant to be. Chop chop,' Ella whispered back.

Elodie bit her lip, weighing options on how she should start a conversation with him when they had barely talked all day, but then she ushered her horse in a trot until she had caught up with Peter.

'Hi,' she said to him and June. The Pevensie twins greeted her as well, and Elodie shifted awkwardly in the saddle when a silence fell immediately after that. Why was she so bad at this?

The dark silhouette of the How grew taller and taller as they came closer, and the silence remained. Elodie cast a quick glance back over her shoulder at Ella but she simply gave her a thumbs-up.

'So. . .' Elodie started, looking straight ahead again and drawing the attention of Peter and June. 'We are going inside to search for answers, right? But answers in which form? You all were very evasive about that.'

June pretended she saw Caspian waving at her, even though the darkness would have made that nearly impossible. 'Oh, look. Caspian wants to ask me something.' She sped away on her horse towards the front of the group, leaving her brother alone to answer the tricky question.

Peter stared at his fleeing sister for a moment before looking at Elodie again.

'My point exactly,' she said with a smile. 'Most evasive.'

Peter patted his horse's neck, leaning slightly forward. 'We are not exactly sure, to be honest. I guess we will see it when we see it, but I personally expect Aslan to reach out for Lucy like he did last times.'

'Reach out?' Elodie repeated confused. 'Mentally?'

'My youngest sister has a connection with Aslan that I and my other siblings will never really attain. At least, I don't think we will.'

Elodie stared up at Aslan's How as it now towered far above them, and she let his words sink in.

'Well,' she began again, 'I certainly cannot wait to see that "reaching out", if that is what will happen.'

'You don't seem to be too freaked out by all of this,' Peter said, unable to repress an amazed smile.

Elodie made a half-shrug as she remembered all the crazy things she and her classmates had to do for their magical education. It didn't seem unimaginable for Lucy to have a connection to this Aslan-figure.

'I guess I'm more open minded to magic than most people from earth would be,' she said. 'As are my friends.'

The front of the group had now reached the entrance of the How and they dismounted their horses once more. The path slanted downwards to a square opening and although there lay a thick layer of snow, it wasn't blocked.

They walked inside the hill and left their horses near the entrance. Caspian lit up the torches he had brought with, and the orange flames lit up the area in warm hues. The shadows danced and shifted as the torches shed light on different parts with its moving flames, and though the wizards and witches couldn't put their finger on it, they felt at peace within these earthly walls.

'To the Stone Table?' Caspian asked, already taking a small step further inside as he raised a curious eyebrow to the Pevensies.

Lucy nodded, but her face was pale and her eyes wide. The How didn't feel as threatening as outside, but she still couldn't feel Aslan's presence. Not even here.

June took Lucy's hand in her own and gave her sister a reassuring squeeze.

The group walked through the maze-like tunnels with Caspian and Edmund at the front as Peter closed the line, making sure no one got left behind.

Ella moved her torch near the walls, gaping in awe as they came across some paintings. Their colours had faded over time but they still depicted emotion mixed with history.

'This place is breathtaking,' she said to no one in particular.

They rounded a corner and walked down the stone stairs leading further down into a gigantic room. The light of the torches couldn't even reach the ceiling and something made of stone stood in the middle of the room. It was divided into two halves as a large and deep crack ran through it.

The Pevensies expectantly turned to Lucy while Caspian set course towards some kind of trough that led all around the room. He dipped the torch into it and with a roar, the oil burst out into flames. The fire spread through the trough but before it could reach the other end, a harsh, freezing and unnatural wind blew it out again. The torches died as well and the peaceful atmosphere changed rapidly into something evil.

The metallic sound of unsheathing swords rang through the air as Caspian, Edmund and Peter acted on instinct. Phoenix struggled with his sword as well, but he had no idea yet how to use it and it clattered on the stones instead.

A faint source of blue light appeared far above them and a white fog started to swirl out of the table's crack.

'What is happening?' June whispered with a trembling voice as goosebumps appeared all over her body, but her voice got cut off when a cackling laugh echoed throughout the room.

The ominous sound bounced off the walls and amplified to a crescendo. It was a female's voice.

The mist started to take shape and with an increasing fear, the group watched as the white mist resembled a fierce lion. It seemed to be roaring but then the animal got imprisoned by vicious strings of mist. It surrounded the lion's body, some even shooting right through it, and the ground beneath the group rumbled in an echo as the lion roared once more.

The image fell apart as abruptly as it had come, but then it turned into a castle: Cair Paravel. The castle's walls crumbled into thousands of pieces and fire balls made of the white mist soared towards it. Fire erupted everywhere until that image faded away as well, and the laugh disappeared. . .

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𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓:

𝑷𝒉𝒐𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒙 𝑻𝒂𝒚𝒍𝒐𝒓 𝒃𝒚 Avengers14
𝑴𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒌𝒔𝒉𝒊 𝑩𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒂𝒍𝒆 (𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚) 𝒃𝒚 RockingGirl06
𝑮𝒊𝒖𝒍𝒊𝒂 𝑨𝒃𝒂𝒓𝒂 𝒃𝒚 GwynethStarks
𝑬𝒍𝒊𝒛𝒂𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒉 𝑹𝒐𝒔𝒃𝒆𝒓𝒈 𝒃𝒚 -MoonlightRose-
𝑽𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒂 𝑭𝒐𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆 𝒃𝒚 gracelikeaWave-
𝑬𝒍𝒐𝒅𝒊𝒆 𝑩𝒆𝒍𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒕 𝒃𝒚 @ 𝒎𝒆
𝒂𝒏𝒅
𝑱𝒖𝒏𝒆 𝑷𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒆 𝒃𝒚 IRIS-123roosje

(𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒊𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒂𝒔𝒏'𝒕 𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒅,
𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒘𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝑨𝒔𝒍𝒂𝒏'𝒔 𝑯𝒐𝒘.)

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