Jadis, self-titled Queen of Narnia, cut down the Tree of Protection as its leaves fell one autumn and sent Narnia and the lands around it into an eternal winter. She really only wanted Narnia, but she overdid the spell a bit.

The kingdom just southwest of Narnia was called Nialba. The Queen left it well enough alone, save for a required annual tithe. After almost ninety years of winter and no other season, the kingdom Nialba was nearly destitute. Into this troubled time was born a Princess, a tiny girl whose skin never saw the light of the sun. She was nicknamed Snow White by her parents, and the entire court of Nialba was fond of the raven-haired girl who ran almost wild through the corridors of the palace.

When the Princess was only five years old, her mother died in an illness sent across the kingdoms by Jadis, to decimate those who might oppose her. The King was devastated, as was the young Princess. Nialba went into deep mourning.

Finally, after one hundred years of winter, Jadis was vanquished and spring finally came to the kingdoms. The people of Nialba were surprised—they'd heard of no plans for an uprising—but they rejoiced nonetheless. The King ordered the planting of crops immediately, but the kingdom was very poor after one hundred years of tithing and no growth. In an attempt to correct this, the king married a wealthy woman from the Seven Isles called Citrine. Citrine had been one of Jadis's most ardent supporters in the Isles, but she swore by the Lion's Mane that she had acted thus to preserve her people, and the King of Nialba believed her.

The girl called Snow White was thirteen when her father died, of an illness much like the one that had taken her mother. Her stepmother became Queen Citrine until the Princess should come of age.

After her father's death, Princess Agatha—as she was called only by the Queen—was confined to the castle.

"It's for your own safety, dear," said Queen Citrine. "Queen Jadis's evil spawn still roam freely. You must be kept safe until you may take your throne, and your kingdom made safe for you."

Snow White thought this seemed wise—until she was locked in her room on her fifteenth birthday. She was surprised when none of her servants came to help her bathe or dress for her birthday banquet. Snow White had been excited for this particular birthday; fifteen was the age when she would be officially declared heir and presented to the court.

She'd watched all week as preparations were made for the banquet. Nobles had gone on hunts in her honor, and the game they'd caught was to be eaten for her birthday. The kingdom had prospered since the winter's end, and the fruits, wines, and other crops brought in bore witness to that prosperity.

At about ten o'clock, Snow White heard dancing music start up downstairs. She set down the book she was reading (Is Man a Myth?) and went to the door.

"Saffron?" The princess called for her personal maid, who was as much a friend as a maid could be to a princess.

Snow White turned the knob of her door—and nothing happened. She shook the door, and the tumblers rattled in the lock.

"Hello?" She tried the door again. "Why am I locked in?"

There was no answer.

Snow White yelled at the top of her lungs, which were substantial. "Hello!"

"Shut up!" A bass voice resounded just outside the door.

"Why am I locked in?" the princess demanded.

There was no answer.

Snow White licked her lips and tried again. "I order you to tell me why I have been locked in my room. It is my birthday, and I wish to greet my guests."

"I'm not to speak to you," the bass voice grumbled.

"But you are," Snow White said insistently. "Please—I won't ask you to disobey your orders again—I just want to know why."

"Queen's orders," said her guard. "You've been deemed unfit to rule."

"How? Why? By whom?"

"I don't know," the guard said. "Now shut up, please."

Snow White retreated to her bed and picked up her book again, but she didn't read. She lay quietly on her bed for hours, thinking.

In the late afternoon, she rose and went to her balcony. It was high above the main palace courtyard, but she thought that perhaps she could find a way to climb down. But the balcony doors were locked, too.

"They must have come in while I slept and locked those, and then locked me in," Snow said. "But why? Why am I unfit to rule? Am I not my father's daughter?"

She returned to the door and knocked politely. "Please tell the Queen that I would speak with her."

The guard merely grunted in reply.

Snow White stayed in her room for three days. A panel in the bottom of the door slid open twice daily, and a small meal was put through. Every time, Snow White guessed the name of another of her servants, but no one replied. Either they were not the people she had grown up with, or they were forbidden to speak to her.

On the morning of the fourth day, there was a clanking of armor outside the door. Snow White sat up in bed.

"Stepmother?"

The key turned in the lock, and the door opened.

Two guards preceded the Queen into the room. One of them kept his crossbow pointed directly at Snow White as long as the door was open.

"My dear, why are you not dressed?" The Queen sounded shocked.

"No one came for me on my birthday," Snow White said. "There didn't seem much point in getting dressed if I wasn't to leave my room."

The Queen wrinkled her button nose. "But, my dear, what a depressing outlook! And so defeatist!"

"So you're going to let me out of my room?"

The Queen laughed, a delightful toll of small bells. "Don't be silly! My dear, it is for your own safety."

"I am safe enough here, I think," said Snow White. "Who declared me unfit to rule? And why? Am I not my father's daughter?"

The Queen's smile dropped away. "Who told you that?"

Snow White said nothing. She'd forgotten that the guard, too, was forbidden to speak to her. But she knew his name was Thaddeus, and that his father was a blacksmith, and that Princess Agatha had been declared unfit to rule.

"Is it because I was ill?" Snow White asked. "I assure you, Stepmother, that I am quite well and no more prone to illness than you."

"I think you are decidedly more prone to illness than I, my dear," the Queen said coolly. "I have never been ill, and you are ill so often."

"Only trifling colds," Snow White protested. "I am not used to spring weather, or fall, or summer—I am healthy enough, I swear."

"I do not know where you got this notion that you are unfit to rule," said the Queen. "I do not know who would have told you such a thing, or why. It is simply untrue. Who should be more fit to rule Nialba than you, my dear?"

Snow White let it go. "Why am I being confined?"

"I told you." There was a hint of impatience in the Queen's voice. "It is for your own safety."

"Safety from what? Or whom?"

"There are those who would have you killed, and take your father's kingdom for themselves," said the Queen. "They are outside the gates. I confined you to your room to keep you safe." She looked at the immense glass doors that led on Snow White's balcony. "But clearly I have been unwise. If, Aslan forbid, they breach the gates, they could easily reach you here. We should move you to a safer place."

Before Snow White could protest, she was pulled to her feet by the Queen's two guards and frog-marched out of her childhood bedroom.

They took her past Thaddeus, who looked stricken, and up flights of stairs Snow White had never seen before.

The Queen had her put in a high tower room, comfortably but sparsely furnished. The only window was a slit in the wall. Snow White watched the block of sunlight travel across the floor for months on end. The door to this room was thick and tightly barred, and no one spoke to her. She was given no books to read, no entertainment of any kind. Her food was plain and meager, and she received only one skin of water each day.

One day, as Snow White lay on the floor sketching in the sunbeam with charcoal from her fire, a shadow blocked her light.

Snow White looked up, surprised. There was a bird in her window, a magpie. It looked as surprised as she.

"Why, Your Highness!" exclaimed the Magpie. "Whatever are you doing up here?"

"The Queen said that there were people coming to kill me," said Snow White. "I have been confined for my own safety."

"That's nonsense," said the Magpie. "Who would want to kill you? You are our Princess."

"I thought it odd, myself," Snow White said. "But why should the Queen lie?"

"She wants to rule your kingdom herself," said the Magpie. "For nearly a year the Queen has said that you are deathly ill, unfit to rule."

"That's what Thaddeus said, but the Queen said it wasn't true. I believed her. I am a fool," Snow White said bitterly.

"Not a fool, Princess," said the Magpie encouragingly. "Only naïve. We all trusted the Queen. She swore by the Lion's Mane, before all of us! But I suppose that means nothing to a witch like her."

"A witch?"

"Yes," said the Magpie. "She was a supporter of the White Witch. She swore it was untrue, but we see now that it was a lie."

"So she's ruling Nialba uncontested?"

"For now. Those who opposed her have been killed or banished. I myself have been hiding in the woods of Archenland. I only came back to look for some friends of mine, whom I have not heard from. I fear the worst."

"I am sorry," said Snow White. "What's to be done?"

"Well, first we must get you out of here," said the Magpie. "The people will support you. I will tell your people that you are imprisoned, and we will help you escape and reclaim your kingdom! These lands have seen tyrants enough."

"Thank you," said Snow White. "Please, what is your name?"

"They call me Patches," said the Magpie. "Hardly original, but there it is. I will return in a few days, Princess, and we will set you free."

"Thank you," said Snow White again.

Patches bowed and flew away, and Snow White began to draw him on the floor.

A week passed before anything else happened. Snow White filled the room with drawings of magpies, and wished that she were taller so that she could draw on the ceiling.

Near midnight, seven days after Patches's visit, Snow White awoke to a commotion in the hall outside her cell (she'd given up calling it a room).

Snow White rolled out of bed and stood by the window, where she could use the moonlight to her greatest advantage.

There was shouting, and the sounds of metal clashing on metal, Snow White wished desperately for a knife, or a club, or a weapon of any kind. Her father had taught her some self-defense, but not much.

Keys rattled.

"Try that small one," said a gruff voice.

After more scuffling and rattling, the door swung open. Snow White raised her fists.

Three dwarfs entered the room.

"Princess Agatha?"

"Yes," said Snow White. "Who are you?"

"Patches the Magpie told us of your plight," said one of the dwarfs. "We're to take you somewhere safe for the time being."

"I do not know if I can trust you," said Snow White, "but if you get me out of here, that is enough for now. Lead on."

"Haven't you anything warmer to wear? It's chilly outside, Highness, for all that winter is gone."

Snow White shook her head. "The Queen brought me here without letting me dress. I have had no other garment for almost a year."

Another dwarf trotted into the room, bearing a guard's vest, cloak, and trousers. "Here, Highness. Put these one for now. We must make haste!"

Snow White slipped into the vest and buckled it—it was much too large—and threw the cloak over her shoulders, but neglected the breeches for the time being. She was barefoot, but she would survive.

"Sevibrik and Felibrik are waiting for us," said the dwarf who had given Snow White clothes. "They have horses ready. Dormibrik and Stultabrik are holding the gate—for now. Let me go first, Highness."

With two dwarfs in front of her and one behind, Snow White hurried down the stairs she'd climbed months before with her stepmother.

"How have you done all this without raising the alarm?" Snow White asked as they passed yet another guard on the floor. His knee and his head were bleeding.

"We're very sneaky," said one of the dwarfs. "The Magpies have helped."

When they reached the courtyard, eight ponies awaited them, saddled and tacked. A magpie perched on one of the saddles.

"Patches!"

"Quickly, Your Highness," said Patches.

One of the dwarfs helped Snow White into her saddle.

"Hurry!"

Patches took off, and flew over the castle wall.

Snow White kicked her pony into a gallop. Three dwarfs rode in front of her, and two behind. As they passed through the gate, two more dwarfs swung into their saddles. One of them cut a rope, and the portcullis slammed shut behind them.

As they rode over the drawbridge, a shout went up from the guards on the wall.

"Ride on!" shouted one of the dwarfs. He swung down from his saddle as the rest left the bridge, and struck flint. A torch blazed to life in his hand.

Snow White looked over her shoulder as they rode into the woods. The Queen's archers were firing at the dwarf on the drawbridge. He touched his torch to the bridge, and it burst into flame.

They rode north away from the castle, long into the night. Dawn tinted the horizon pink by the time the ponies slowed to a walk and stopped, breathing heavily. A flock of magpies perched in the trees.

The dwarfs swung down from the saddle, and Snow White followed suit. She was stiff; she hadn't ridden in almost a year.

"Will we be safe here?" Snow White asked.

"We're in the Western Wilds now, Your Highness," said Patches. "The Queen will not bother with us here; at least, she hasn't so far. We will keep watch."

"I owe you my gratitude, dwarfs," said Snow White. "But I'm afraid I must ask: why are you hiding in the Western Wilds?"

"Unlike many of our brethren, we did not support the Queen Jadis," said a dwarf. "We were driven out of Narnia when the winter began, and we have remained here since then. Your father was kind to us; he did not dare give us refuge, but he sent supply trains through the woods and did nothing when we robbed them."

"I remember hearing of bands of robbers in the woods," Snow White said. "I never suspected that my father staged the robberies."

"He set them up," another dwarf said testily. "We did the actual staging."

"Peace, Sevibrik," said the first dwarf. "Our lives have not been easy, but King Magnus did as much for us as he could safely do."

"Hmpf," said Sevibrik.

"I am Medibrik," said the first dwarf. "These are my brothers, Sevibrik and Felibrik; my cousins, Dormibrik and Numibrik, my nephew Veribrik, and my son Stultibrik."

Stultibrik was the one who had helped the Princess onto her horse. He smiled dopily at Snow White.

"We should get the horses out of sight, and cover our trail," said Sevibrik.

"Veribrik and I will stable the horses," said Numibrik. "You're our best woodsman, Sevibrik. Go cover our trail."

Sevibrik nodded curtly, handed his reins in Stultibrik, and vanished into the undergrowth.

"This way, Your Highness," said Medibrik. He offered his arm to Snow White, and led her under the hanging branches of a willow tree.

The willow grew up against a cliff. Tucked behind its trunk, in the side of the cliff, was a small hole. Snow White barely fit through it. She slid down a short slope and into a cozy, low-ceilinged room with a ceiling of willow roots. Seven bunks were built into the walls, but a pallet had been set up to one side of the hearth.

"That's your bed, Your Highness," said Medibrik. "One of us would have given up our bed, but I'm afraid our bunks would be too short for you."

"That's quite all right," said Snow White. "I will be comfortable, I'm sure. And it's very generous of you to take me in."

"We're going to help you take back your kingdom, Your Highness," said Felibrik, sliding into the room behind Snow White. "The White Witch is gone. It is a Golden Age. This is no time or place for tyranny such as your stepmother's."

"I agree," said Snow White, "and I thank you."

"There are a number of talking animals who lived in your father's kingdom, who have since fled to the forest," said Medibrik. "They will help us, as will the Fauns, Satyrs, Centaurs, Dryads, and Naiads from these parts. There are not as many here as there are in Narnia, but a fair number all the same."

"The Magpie flock has already proven invaluable to us," said Felibrik. "They spy for us. It was the Magpies who found you."

"I know," said Snow White. "Patches did me a great service. I shall never forget any of what has been done for me."

"Why don't you get some sleep, Your Highness," said Felibrik. "We will see about getting you some proper clothing. And tomorrow, our real work will begin."