What if Edmund hadn't been the one who met the witch?
This is just something I've wondered about for a while. Thanks to my brother for helping me with the dessert.
Susan yawned as she filled her cup. The tap water in the professor's large house tasted a little funny but at two something in the morning who was she to complain? The hall was dark, the bathroom silent.
No, that was wrong. It was not completely silent. A rustle, at the outermost reaches of her hearing, sounded from farther down the hallway. Turning, she just caught a glimpse of a pink bathrobe. Lucy?
"Lucy!" she hissed. Too late, she was already gone.
She cast a glance around. The rest of the house was quiet, but if they made too much noise the Macready would be on them in a tick. Sighing with frustration, she ran quickly and quietly down the hall after her sister.
As she came down the hall near the room where Lucy had hid earlier in the day when they played hide and seek Susan felt a sinking feeling in her stomach. Please no…she thought despairingly, but yes, she distinctly heard the door to the room with the wardrobe open and shut.
"You have got to be kidding me."
Staring at the door, the day's events came back to her. It had been so strange. Lucy had told them such great stories of being gone for hours and hours in a wood, inside the wardrobe! Of course there hadn't been anything there, it was entirely impractical to go looking for magical lands inside of furniture, but Lucy had seemed so sure. Now, as she stood in front of the door, Susan wondered once more. Was there any chance….? No, that was ridiculous. Steeling herself, she turned the knob and opened the door.
The room was empty. Lucy was nowhere in sight. Susan looked about in confusion. This was the only door. There was no possible way for anyone to leave the room except the way she had just come in as the window was painted shut; Lucy couldn't have just disappeared. So that left…the wardrobe.
She opened the door. It was dark. Pitch black. Inside hung rows and rows of long, fur coats, probably expensive ones. Brushing past the first few rows, she whispered for her sister again. "Lucy? Lu! Come, one this isn't funny!" She pushed past more of the heavy coats. "If you try and scare me I'll…"
Suddenly the coats weren't so soft anymore. She scraped her hand against something rough. She caught her foot on something hard. With a small cry she fell forward, sure to hit her head on the back of the wardrobe, but instead she fell forward….into something cold and soft.
Pulling herself up, Susan found herself with a mouthful of snow! Cold, clean snow! And, looking up in wonder, she found herself lying in a small bank of snow in the middle of a wood. Large snowflakes drifted gracefully from the sky, landing like little angels on the already covered ground, the stately evergreens, and the bewildered girl sprawled on the line between her world and a completely different world.
"Impossible!" she breathed.
xXx
Susan, after gathering herself up and dusting herself off, proceeded to do several things. First, gaze about in wonder. She caught herself several times with her mouth hanging open like an idiot. The trees were so tall! And, unlike the room she had just come from, here it was obviously daytime and in the grip of winter. There was not a soul in sight. In fact, the only thing she could see aside from trees and snow was a large lamppost.
"A lamppost?" she wondered aloud. "In the middle of a wood?" It was lit, burning strongly even in the daylight and the way the metal curled and twisted near the ground almost made it look as if it had grown there.
The second thing she did, which, she reprimanded herself, should have been the first, was make sure she could get home. Looking back, she could still see the coats and the door highlighted from the moonlight of the window of the spare room. It had worked going in, there was no reason why it shouldn't getting out. That is, if she wasn't going mad.
Then, she looked for Lucy. However, the girl was still impossible to find. Any tracks were smeared by the snow and it was as if her little sister had just disappeared.
The fourth thing came from what happened next. Up until this point the wood had been silent. Beautiful and shining in the daylight, but silent. However, as Susan wondered what to do next, especially about Lucy, she heard something.
A sound, soft at first but building until she could hear it distinctly, permeated the air. A jangling, tinkling sound. Without thinking, Susan ducked behind a tree. This was a strange place and whatever was making that noise didn't need to surprise her.
Out of the woods came a sleigh, white as the snow it glided over. It was pulled by three pairs of matched reindeer she noted with astonishment, and was driven by a very short man. A dwarf, she figured with even more surprise; he exhibited a very long beard and a small red cap. The jangling had come from the reins, which boasted bells sewn up and down their length.
The sleigh was large, with delicious curves and looked expensive. And as it came completely around the bend Susan finally saw the woman riding in it and wondered how she had missed her before.
She was very tall. Dressed completely in white fur, her skin was so white she almost blended into the snow, Susan saw as she came closer, were it not for her red lips. Red as blood. And on her head, in full glory, glittered a crown that looked to be made of clear ice.
Not slowing even a little bit, the sleigh kept its speed as it passed her makeshift hiding spot, and Susan let herself breathe a small sigh of relief. She didn't know who those people were, but she had goose bumps up and down her arms that did not all come from the cold; whoever they were, especially the woman, they had felt dangerous.
"Stop!" The shout, cold and clear, a woman's voice, cut through her relief. Immediately the sleigh pulled to a halt, the reindeer groaning at the sudden stop. Susan's breath, white clouds before her face, heightened instantly.
The voice, the woman's voice, slashed through the silence. "I know you're there. You might as well come out."
Gathering her courage, the girl peeked from behind the tree. The woman was standing now, and staring straight at her! Quickly she pulled away.
"I won't hurt you." The voice was soothing, coaxing like the one Susan's mother used whenever she tried to get them to take medicine. "Come, you look so cold. Are you lost?"
Another peek. She had not noticed before how beautiful the woman was. The feeling of foreboding that had clenched her stomach so tightly started to ebb away. It was probably all her imagination anyways. She stepped from behind the tree.
"Who are you?" Susan asked, hiding her suspicion. What are you? she added in her thoughts.
The woman's eyes widened with surprise. "Child, do you not know her majesty, the Queen of Narnia?"
Susan's mouth dropped open. "Narnia? You mean that place that Lucy was going on and on about the other day? Is this some sort of trick?"
The White lady smiled indulgently. "My dear…girl, you look intelligent enough. Don't you know that this cannot be a mere trick? Look at the trees, the sky, the ground." She gestured at their surroundings. "Feel the snow under your feet." She smiled lazily. "Does this seem like a trick to you?"
Susan grudgingly had to admit she was right. There was no way that this could all be a trick. "Well, I could be dreaming." Her eyes widened. "Or, I could have hit my head when I left the bathroom and this is a mere hallucination! Yes," she decided, "I am in a hospital somewhere," she shut her eyes tightly, "and am about to wake up right, now!"
She opened her eyes…..and stared into the bemused face of the queen. "Oh," she said, confused, slightly embarrassed and now fully aware of how absurd she must look, wandering about in the snow in her bathrobe and slippers. "I suppose I must still be dreaming."
The queen sat and patted the seat of the sleigh beside her. "Dear girl, I know how I can prove to you that this is no mere hallucination. Come, sit beside me."
The girl was wary but could see no harm in sitting on the sleigh. "Alright, but just for a moment. Then I have to find Lucy, if indeed she is here." She clambered up into the sleigh.
The woman studied her intently. "What do they call you?"
"Susan…my lady," she added hastily.
"And how, daughter of Eve, did you come to be in my dominion?"
Susan gave her a confused look. "Well, my mother's name is Helen…"
"No, no, you are a daughter of Eve, a human, are you not?"
"Yes, well of course!"
"And how did you get here?"
Susan bit her lip slightly. "Well, I was following Lucy, and she got into a wardrobe. Naturally I came after her to tell her to go to bed but by the time I got in as well, she was gone and I wound up here. Then a few minutes later you pulled up."
"And this Lucy, how did she know to get in through this…wardrobe?"
The girl frowned. "Well, she's been here before, or at least she said she had. We were playing hide and seek and she came out almost right away, babbling on and on about going into a wood in the wardrobe and meeting a faun…"
The queen cut her off. "A faun? Do you remember his name?"
The strange light glinting in her eyes went unnoticed by the younger woman. "Tumnus, my lady. At least, I think that's what she called him." She frowned. "Didn't you say you had some way of convincing me this isn't just a dream?"
"Ah, yes." Jadis smiled down at the girl. "Now if this was a dream, could you taste food?"
Susan frowned slightly. "Well, perhaps. I've never actually been in a dream this realistic before." She brightened slightly. "But if you had any food…" breaking off, she blushed and looked away.
"What, my dear?"
"Well, mother always says it's impolite to ask for things that haven't been offered."
"No, please, ask away. What do you most like to eat in the whole world?"
Susan awarded her a half-apologetic, half-hopeful smile. "Well…Chocolate truffles?"
The queen's eyes glittered. "Truffles? You're sure? Not sugar cookies or Turkish delight?"
Making a face, though as politely as she could, Susan shook her head. "No! Although Turkish delight is my brother Ed's favorite I can't stand the stuff. However did you know?"
"Lucky guess, I suppose." Abruptly she stood and Susan had to crane her neck upwards to see her clearly, she was so tall!
The white lady took a small jeweled vial from somewhere within her clothing and held it over the snow off the side of the sled. One drop, a glittering deep emerald, fell from it and where it landed there sprang up a little box.
The dwarf, who had been watching out of the corner of his eye, scuttled over and lifted the box to the queen.
She sat and handed it to Susan who, after saying thank you properly, opened it. Underneath a layer of tissue paper, was a whole box of chocolate truffles, her very favorites.
Her mouth watering, Susan delicately picked one out of the box and popped it into her mouth. Rich, creamy, smooth chocolate oozed across her tongue. She could not find the words for the way it was affecting her senses. Forgetting herself, she dug another out, and another and another. Popping them one after another into her mouth, she gave a small laugh. "If Lucy could see me now," she giggled around the delicacy.
The queen seemed to be in a talking mood. "You've mentioned Lucy several times before. Is she your…?"
"Sister," Susan provided through a mouthful of truffle, and then blushed over her lack of manners. "You'll have to excuse me, your majesty, but these are some of the best truffles I've ever tasted."
The queen smiled indulgently. "That's quite alright, my dear. Now, Lucy, is she younger or older than you?"
"Oh, she's the youngest."
The woman's gaze sharpened. "The youngest?" she repeated, emphasizing the final syllable. "How many children are in your family?"
Susan swallowed and smiled, wiping away a bit of truffle before she answered. "There are four of us, your majesty. Peter's the eldest, I'm second, Edmund is next…"
"And finally Lucy," the queen finished. "Two girls and two boys. That is quite…quite interesting. What about your parents?" She smiled bewitchingly. "They must be very proud of such a fine young lady like you."
"Father is off fighting in the war and mother is at home in London. They sent all the children away to the country because of the air raids, but she had to stay."
Jadis, Queen of Narnia barely heard her. Asking that question had merely been a stall tactic to distract the child for a moment while she got her thoughts organized. Four! Two sons of Adam and two daughters of Eve, just the way the prophecy foretold. This was unacceptable. This was her land, whether by destiny or conquest. Either way, she was keeping it.
"Do you have family, your majesty?" the girl asked politely, cutting into Jadis's thoughts.
"No," she answered, falling back into the role of a benevolent ruler as easily as she had turned her last traitor to granite. "No, I have no children of my own, as I have never married." Her eyes glinted. "However, if I were inclined to marry, I would want a young lady just like you as my daughter."
Sleepily, Susan tried to concentrate on what the beautiful lady was saying. All of a sudden it was very hard to think, almost as if her mind was swimming through molasses. And the lady's voice! It was so beautiful! The cold seeped away and all she could think of was her queen's voice, wrapping around her like a blanket, and her eyes, as pale blue as ice.
"I would be your daughter, if you really wanted me," she found herself saying.
The queen's red mouth opened slightly in surprise. "What about your parents? You couldn't leave them!"
She frowned. "They've already left me. If they really loved me they would be here with me."
"And your siblings? What about them? I know you aren't the type of selfish person who could leave your little sister alone in a place where she isn't wanted."
Opening her mouth to disagree, Susan thought better of it. She didn't want her queen to think her selfish.
"I know!" the stately female interjected. "You can bring your sister and brothers with you when you come back to me!"
"Bring….them? Come…back? Am I—"
"Well, you can't come today! I have things to do, rooms to get ready," she smiled at Susan as if she had a secret, "a crown to commission."
That cut through the fog. "Crown? What crown?"
"Why, the crown for my new daughter, Princess Susan, heir to the throne of Narnia!"
For a moment the girl's face was filled with delight, but then it darkened. "Oh, does that mean that Peter, Edmund, and Lucy would be princes and princesses as well?"
Jadis was already shaking her head. "No! No, no, but a princess needs others around her, if only to show the world how beautiful you are in comparison." She gave her another conspiratorial smile. "Beautiful and smart." Suddenly, she straightened. "Well, I must be going now." She stood and helped a bewildered Susan off the seat, taking the empty truffle container from her.
"Going? Going where?"
"Why, home of course! I have to get it ready for your arrival."
"But how will I find you again?"
The queen turned her and pointed off in the distance, where several snow-topped mountains glinted, with one long, white, finger. "Do you see those two hills? Well, in the valley that forms where they meet is my home." She sat back on the sleigh as Susan stepped down into the snow. "It's a wonderful place, with rooms simply filled with chocolate truffles." Her face turned serious for a moment. "However, if you come without your siblings I might become very angry." Then her face softened. "But don't worry. I truly believe that someone as clever as you can convince them easily, Susan."
The dwarf snapped the reins and Susan waved goodbye until the sleigh disappeared into the distance.
"Susan! Susan!"
She spun around. Lucy was wading through the thick snow in her direction.
"Susan, you got in too!" She gestured around her at the winter wonderland. "Isn't it wonderful?"
The older girl frowned and wiped away some chocolate from the corner of her mouth. "Maybe it would be, but it's awfully cold. I can't believe you're wading through the snow in your nightgown." She scowled even more. "And I really can't believe I'm out here in my nightgown."
Lucy was too busy babbling on about a faun or some other such nonsense to pay attention.
"And the White Witch hasn't done anything to him at all!"
The older girl frowned at this. "The white what?"
Lucy cast a glance over both shoulders and leaned closer to her sister. "She calls herself the queen of Narnia, but she really isn't," she explained. "She's the one that has made it always winter here; always winter and never Christmas!"
"Humph. You shouldn't always believe everything you hear, Lucy. Who's to say this faun is actually telling you the truth?"
"But Mr. Tumnus is my friend! He would never lie to me." Lucy slid her hand into Susan's and then abruptly pulled it back. "Goodness, Susan your hands are freezing. Aren't you cold?"
"Why wouldn't I be cold?" Susan snapped. "It's got to be negative seven degrees out here!" (a.n.: -7 degrees Celsius, which is about 19 degrees Fahrenheit.) She rubbed her arms and shivered. "Can we please leave now?"
Her sister nodded decisively. "Alright, come on. It's this way."
They passed the lamppost and as they started to brush past coats instead of branches Susan cast one last longing look over her shoulder at the valley between the two mountain peaks.
So what do you think? R and R, and let me know if you think it's done, or if I should do another chapter, or even if I should do another with Peter and Jadis and/or Lucy and Jadis.