AUTHOR'S NOTE: This fic is based on one of the many short stories published by Aesop in his great 'Strange Days' saga!
Many thanks to Aesop for his help in co-writing and editing this!
If you have any comments or preferences, please don't be shy.
OOOOOOOOOO
Narnia; Battle of Beruna:
Things were not going at all as Jadis had planned. Her army was struggling; the troops the human children had managed to rally were surprisingly tenacious, her wand was lost, and the Pevensies were doing a surprisingly good job of inspiring their forces.
To make matters worse, Aslan had just arrived on the scene! He had somehow cheated death, and he looked very angry. Most of her troops that saw him had one of two reactions; they froze in blind panic or fled in a sheer terror.
No, she thought, as the beast bore down on her, things were not going at all as planned.
A roar from a boulder above her was all the warning she had received. When she saw the beast leap for her, with its jaws agape and claws bared, Jadis, the White Witch, did something she never believed she would do. She fled.
Until the arrival of the four cursed children, Jadis had been making plans. Not content with Narnia, she wished to extend her domain and her power. The lands to the south held some appeal, but the desert kingdom was under the sway of one whose power, for the moment, exceeded her own. Even she would need to proceed with caution there. Plus, she knew she couldn't risk going to a land filled with the creatures that were destined to bring about her downfall.
But, with an eager eye towards gaining more power, Jadis had been looking into alternate ways to conquer other places. She knew first-hand of the existence of other worlds, as she was direct proof of that, coming from one herself. She planned to one day explore and eventually conquer other realities, and as such had been working on a way to cross over into one. However, her mechanism was experimental at best, and she hadn't had time to even test it.
In the moment, though, that Aslan leaped at her, she saw her death in his eyes, and, as much as it galled her to do so, she retreated by the only means available to her. Grasping the amulet she had spent months creating, she poured her magic into it, and the world vanished in a kaleidoscope of colour, sound and sensation.
OOOOOOOOOO
Jadis, the former Queen of Narnia, awoke in a graveyard. It was not what she would have preferred, but she was alive and well, and away from the wretched beast that had been intent on tearing her apart.
She began to take stock of her surroundings. The graveyard was empty of life in the middle of the night, but there was a manor house nearby. The place was imposing if somewhat dilapidated, as a single light shone in a window on the upper floor.
Feeling something prickling at her awareness, she closed her eyes and focused on her magical senses. The place reeked of dark magic, and a number of very nasty defences, some of which she didn't recognize and could not divine the purpose of, were in place around the manor and the graveyard itself. It was sheer luck that she had not tripped one of them.
This development, as potentially dangerous as it was, intrigued her. Many years ago, she had visited what she suspected to be the home world of the Pevensie children. It had been almost utterly without magic, and her powerful curses had been mocked as poor pronunciation. Finding that this world had magic was a relief, but it did not offset the next unpleasant surprise.
The amulet that she had put so much hard work into was now a blackened, useless lump of metal and cracked crystal in her hand. The trip, it seemed, had not only exhausted it, but also ruined it beyond repair.
With a snarl of frustration, she closed her fist, crushing it into fragments, and dropping it to the ground. Jadis decided it was best to withdraw quietly from the area. Her magic was, for the moment, exhausted, and she was in the territory of a magic user of unknown abilities and intentions. The only thing she knew, based on the defences, was that whoever it was valued their privacy.
Those defences were less than subtle, at least to one with her mystical training, but whoever had erected them did not want for power. This one might prove a problem in the future, but it was a problem for another day, she decided, and made her way cautiously out of the graveyard, carefully circumventing the sorcerer's traps.
OOOOOOOOOO
The nearby village had provided a wealth of information, as well as surprises. From what she had discovered, it seemed that she actually was on the human world, except this one had far greater magic in it. This confused her greatly, as the human world she originally visited had had almost no magic, yet this one did?
Was it possible she had been mistaken upon her first visit there? No, she had felt practically no magic at all during her arrival on the first human world, but in this one she could sense it in abundance. Her first thought was that the people here were a species that were not human at all, but something uncannily similar. However, after observing them more closely, she learned they were indeed human.
In the end, she decided not to dwell on it for the time being. For now, she had escaped Aslan, and was in a world where her magic could work. That was all she needed to know.
There was no one in the village that was trained in magic, but she was able to acquire suitable clothing (since she noticed her own attire was very different from human clothing, and would attract too much attention), supplies and transportation. The language, spoken and written, was no obstacle, as she understood them perfectly. The people were more advanced than the Narnians, as evidenced by the self-propelled carriage she rode in.
The information she gained about the world she now found herself in was also priceless. There were all manner of wonders to study and learn about. There was, however, no mention of magic. It seemed she would need to find another magic user to question about that.
The trip to the capitol of the nation she found herself in took a few hours. That was sufficient time for her to make a plan, based on what she had learned. Her unwilling chauffer was left with enough awareness of his situation to make the trip safely. The spell ensured that he believed the trip to be his idea, and he was barely aware of his passenger. She would have preferred willing servants, but that would come in time, as those who sought power turned to her for leadership.
The city itself was mildly impressive, though nothing like the capitol city of her home world. The buildings were strange, and lacked any aesthetic sense, but they were well built. The streets bustled with people, and she wondered if there were more in this single city than there had been in the whole of Narnia.
Some of the sights she noticed upon her arrival there were familiar. She remembered some she had seen on her first visit to the human world, and recognised them here. One was a large square in the city, where there was a massive pillar in the centre; surrounded by four huge, stone lions (she made a mental note to destroy them the first chance she got). That seemed to confirm that this was indeed the same world she had been to originally, but she remembered nothing of the current buildings, and the people seemed very different from what she recalled, judging by their fashion and speech.
If this was the same human world she had been to before, then it had been through some significant changes since her last visit that had nothing to do with the presence of magic.
That was her first step, she reminded herself after getting out of the car and leaving the driver to wonder what he was doing there, to learn about this new world's magic.
She closed her eyes and focused her senses. Someone nearby was working a spell. Focusing on that feeling, she turned right and followed a man walking down the street. He was dressed very differently than everyone else in sight, wearing odd robes in an atrocious colour. Other pedestrians didn't seem to notice, which confused her until she almost lost sight of him. He hadn't turned a corner or been blocked from sight by other people, he simply seemed to slip from her awareness momentarily, until she again focused on his magic. He was using it to keep people from noticing him.
Intriguing, she thought. The spell allowed him to go almost unnoticed by those around him while keeping him safe from random collisions. Those around him could see him, but paid just enough attention not to walk into him. It was an inventive, if frivolous, use of magic.
She followed the man to a tavern that had a similar, permanent spell in place on the door, and she followed him in without hesitation.
OOOOOOOOOO
These magic users, she decided, were the laziest people she had ever encountered.
Jadis had, at first, thought the man she followed to be an eccentric, but soon learned that it was a societal problem. She had seen people call objects to themselves from across a room instead of getting up and walking to them. She had seen fires started with a wave of a wand, and even seen a person stirring his drink with magic. It was disgusting!
Focusing on the magic itself calmed her ire, somewhat. From the tavern, she had discovered a secret entrance to a whole street of stores filled with magical items for sale. She acquired books on history, various spells and a new wand, after she had acquired some local currency from an absurdly dressed witch in the street, her multi-colour robes were an eyesore, and Jadis chose her for no better reason. A slight variation on the spell that she had used on her unwilling driver had the woman handing over her rather heavy purse and wandering off with no memory of where she lost it.
The wand she acquired was poor quality compared to the one she'd lost to Edmund Pevensie, but it would suffice as a focus until she could construct a proper one.
It was the history she found most useful and interesting. The fact that a single powerful sorcerer could come so close to overthrowing a government either said a great deal about that sorcerer's power, or a great deal about the government's incompetence.
Perhaps both, she allowed, after finishing the last history text she had acquired. Adjusting to their style of magic wasn't difficult. In a way, it was quite limited compared to what she had trained herself in. There were many, often pointless she thought, variations, but the principles were the same.
Useful information of another sort would come from a former servant of the failed sorcerer. Despite what the general public believed, he still lived and was planning on making another try. She had chosen her target carefully. He was isolated at the moment and vulnerable. While at his master's beck and call, he wasn't likely to be summoned in the short time it would take to break him. The man's home had a few defences, but nothing like the manor house.
Gaining entry and overpowering him wasn't a challenge. She used the stunning spell the locals were so fond of, and then bound him to the chair she had found him sitting in. While she waited for him to regain consciousness, she examined the magic binding him to his master, and realized that getting him to talk would be a little more involved than anticipated.
Before she began, she had to shield him from the effects of the spells that would punish him for betrayal. She could pick those spells apart in time, but the man's master would notice that. When she was ready, she slapped him hard across the face.
Twenty frustrating minutes later, she backed away from him to regain control of her temper. He was shivering with fatigue and pain, but nothing permanent or even long-term had been done to him. "Your loyalty is commendable," she told him after a moment, "but futile. I will have your master's secrets."
"Never," he snarled. "You have no hope against his power. No pain will make me betray him."
"Commendable, but I don't need to rely on pain." She cast a single spell. It was a variation of the one she had used in Narnia to such great affect. "How do your feet feel?"
Until a moment ago, every part of him had been in pain, but suddenly, he discovered, he couldn't feel his feet. He managed to look down and saw a strange greyness creeping up his legs. "What?"
"You're turning to stone, Amycus. It won't kill you, but after a year or so like that, you'll wish it would." Her prisoner paled, but remained resolute. "You'll be a prisoner in your own body, never able to move or take any action of your own volition." She continued to whisper in his ear for a time, before saying, just as the change reached his waist, "I can stop it any time I like, but you have to give me a reason."
He talked.
Amycus had very little knowledge of the plan itself, save that, at present, the sorcerer was next to helpless and would need to undergo a complicated necromantic ritual to regain what he had lost. The first obstacle to her rule over this world was, at the moment, defenceless. She knew this, and she knew, thanks to the now petrified man, where to find him. It would be simple to kill him in his current state, but that smacked of cowardice, and after being driven from Narnia, she felt she had displayed enough of that for one lifetime.
She regarded her prisoner, considering what he had told her. After a few moments, she gave a resigned sigh and reversed the petrified spell. She could not risk any of his fellow dark sorcerers noticing his disappearance, and end up coming after her. At least, not yet. She then followed her reversal spell with a bit of magic she had learned in this new world, to alter his memory in such a way that he could not reveal her. Afterwards, she quietly withdrew, re-establishing the defensive spells she had disabled on her way in.
Her new foe's plan would not come to fruition for another month yet. His plan seemed overly dramatic and unnecessarily complicated, but she had little choice but to wait. She was determined to increase her knowledge of this world and its ways in the meantime. There was still so much magic to learn.
OOOOOOOOOO
Certain aspects and uses of magic she came to heartily detest. Some, like the transportation spells were, while efficient, an assault on one's dignity. The most common form was a literal assault while others were just silly. She hadn't yet gotten the hang of the most convenient form, which annoyed her; as virtually every other type of magic she had studied had come to her with relative ease. With a sigh of annoyance, she stepped into the opening and was almost instantly at her destination. At least this time she had managed not to fall.
The house she found herself in had been secured the day before. Three statues stood around the room, frozen in various poses. The one nearest her, a portly man with a friendly face who looked startled. The statue of the teenaged boy that sat on the sofa holding a cup of tea stared at her in dumb shock. The third, a pretty, middle-aged witch who appeared to be in the process of coming into the room from the kitchen and raising a wand, looked absolutely terrified.
Jadis ignored them all. This house was merely the closest to her target with easy access, so she made it her staging ground. All the items she needed for the night's activities were there, from three different, freshly brewed and bottled potions, to a set of special charmed items. All contingencies were covered.
With her preparations complete, she waited for sunset. If her enemy's absurdly elaborate plan worked, everything should be in place soon. His enemy was meandering his way into the trap; an agent was working frantically to make sure that that enemy had every opportunity to step into the snare. There were only a few dozen things that could go wrong.
OOOOOOOOOO
Surprisingly, there was only one hitch, which was dealt with efficiently. Just short of the appointed hour, Jadis was in position under a layer of spells to prevent anyone from detecting her.
She watched the scene unfold with some interest. She'd been wondering how the man had cheated death, but was still unsure as to his methods, though the talk he gave to his underlings was quite enlightening. Had Jadis ever deigned to roll her eyes she would have on this occasion. Why the man had felt it necessary to use a powerful curse to kill an infant was beyond her. Perhaps the fool didn't know another way to kill except by magic. On one level, this dependency on magic concerned her, and she made a promise to herself never to fall into that trap.
Inevitably, his ego got the better of him. He felt it necessary to prove himself to his followers by defeating the child in a duel.
Jadis shook her head. Had she the patience, she could simply sit back and wait for the fool's arrogance to kill him for her. The circumstances under which he lost the duel were interesting; it was yet another aspect of this world's magic for her to study. The fact that the child escaped came as no surprise at all. She watched her enemy's reaction to this development with scorn. He was practically frothing at the mouth, blaming his underlings for their incompetence while ignoring his own part in the failure.
Jadis had had enough.
"It is time to go," he said after he had calmed a bit. "We will have company within the hour."
"You have company now," Jadis said, as she dropped her concealment. The fool turned to face her. "Greetings, great lord." She kept the sarcasm out of her voice with an effort. "I am Jadis, Empress of the now dead world of Charn, and former queen to the world of beasts known as Narnia."
"What do you want?" Several wands were levelled at her, but the 'dark lord' didn't bother.
"I came to see you, of course. I witnessed your remarkable achievement and your…setback. I believe I can end your worries over that."
"You wish to enter my service?" the man sounded intrigued.
"I wish to bring order to this land, and I will see it done." She looked at the man's followers. "The task would be made easier, of course, with a ready-made army. I think I'll take yours."
"What?" he hissed, as any semblance of civility left him. He raised his wand, but froze in place before he could cast a spell. As his followers watched in shock, his skin and robes turned grey and hard.
Turning her back on the newly created statue, she addressed the people before her. "As I said, I am Jadis, and this is just a sample of my power. It is power that can be shared among those who swear loyalty to me."
"You think our lord so easily defeated?" a large, lumbering specimen stepped forward. "He has overcome death itself!"
"In point of fact," Jadis corrected him. "He hasn't. He cheated." She gestured at the statue behind her. "I had my suspicions when I heard about his recovery and witnessed his return." Moving to lay a hand on the statues' shoulder, she concentrated. "Yes. I can feel the links to the anchors he created. The fool actually carved up his soul in an effort to anchor himself to this plane, without realizing the consequences of his actions." She shook her head, looking exasperated. "Small wonder he was completely mad."
She spoke a few words in a language none recognized and what sounded horrid to even them, and then poured one of her prepared potions over the stone. There was a brief glow, and she nodded in satisfaction. "Those links are now severed."
"You expect us to believe you?" the large specimen began to move towards her with violent intentions, only to freeze in place. Like his master, his skin and clothing had changed. Jadis raised a hand and concentrated for a few seconds before closing her fist.
The statue shattered. The magic in this world was different from the force used on Narnia, and allowed her some extra strength in certain spells. She had never been able to shatter a statue back on Narnia, at least not with magic.
"Your former master I will keep as a trophy. The rest of you have the choice of swearing a binding oath to me or becoming gravel in this place. Choose now."
The former Death eaters all stood by looking unsure, until finally, one by one, they knelt before her and swore their loyalty.
While all this had been occurring, no one had noticed the large snake that was lying on the ground, near one of the gravestones. It seemed to be in a state of agitation and confusion, as though unsure of where it was. It turned its head from side to side, as though looking for something that it had lost, but no matter where it turned, it found nothing.
After a while, when Jadis and the former Death Eaters had left, it then slowly slithered away, looking for something to eat. It had no plan, no ideas, and no sentient thought other than to pursue prey, like all snakes did, as its mind was now completely void of all sentience. It was just an ordinary snake now, nothing more.
OOOOOOOOOO
There was still so much to learn. Where better to learn it than this place?
Jadis glanced around the impressive room, and smiled for the benefit of those around her. Someday, she decided, this would be her throne room. In the meantime, there was still so much to be done. The power to be found in the castle would be hers to command soon enough, and she would begin planning for the other seats of power in the land.
This new position also gave her the opportunity to assess the strengths and weaknesses of those likely to be her most dangerous enemies. It was a position that had been remarkably easy to get. The old man seemed almost pathetically grateful that she had applied. The forged history and credentials had barely been glanced at, and she was almost annoyed that the effort had been wasted in producing something that would fool even this illustrious wizard. Of course, the fact that no one else wanted the job also factored into it.
The only other person interested had been a toad-like woman acting under orders from another. She had withdrawn after Jadis had had a quiet conversation with her, backing her persuasive words with a mild compulsion.
There had also been a moment when she had felt something prick at her mind during her interview with the headmaster. She had almost missed it, but the magic in her own blood had protected her, warning her of an intruder upon her subconscious.
Apparently, the old wizard had been trying to see into her mind, which, fortunately, had been more than a match for his. She recalled reading something of this art in this world called Legilimency. The power was similar to something that she and her ancestors had been able to do on her home world. Her great-grandfather had once looked into the minds of no less than seven hundred Nobles, before killing them all.
She had once been able to do the same thing, like all her ancestors, but she had lost the ability shortly after she had left Charn (sometimes she saw leaving Charn as her greatest mistake, as she had lost so many powers by doing that). As a result, she was a little out of practise, but, although she hadn't been able to look into the wizard's mind, she had at least been able to prevent him from looking into hers.
She thought he would have dismissed her after that, but instead he had hired her right away. Why? She could only guess; either he really was a demented old fool, or he intended to find out more about her by keeping her in his sights. Either way, she had achieved her goal and gotten the job (a new experience for her).
Jadis' musings were interrupted by the arrival of the students. The hall quickly filled with people, and she made note of the way they divided themselves with interest. In so many ways, the place was tailor-made for her. The divisiveness the system fostered would serve her well in the months to come, but that was a concern for later. At the moment, the old man was speaking. She feigned polite interest, as he welcomed the students and introduced her as Professor Jadis White, their new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher.
To Be Continued…