the thing

Prologue

The damp earth clung to her soles as she ran from her home, filled with THEM! Her fear made her shake and quiver but she kept her pace. BANG! A shot rang out in the distance. BANG! BANG! She ran faster. Silence. All she could hear was her breathing... A scream rang out. She nearly tripped and winced when a thorn found its way in her thin arm. Suddenly the sound of heavy footsteps to her ears and she knew. Someone. Was. There. Her breathing hitched. BANG! Though the dim moonlight she glimpsed two ancient oaks, side by side. The footsteps pounded on like mighty paws. As she turned her head to catch sight of her purser, she tripped on a root and fell blissfully unconscious as her head struck the side of an iron lamppost before falling into the cold, cold snow...

2 Earth minutes and 2 Narnian years later...

Chapter 1: Ice Sleds and Little Sisters

Edmund POV

I sighed and spit into the sink. It simply isn't fair, I'm blamed for everything; Lucy lies and pretends to have gone to an imaginary country and I get yelled at... She cries, I get yelled at. I make a joke, I get yelled at. I sat on the cold bathroom floor, considering my dilemmas. Life wasn't fair. I was treated as a second-class human. It was all Peter's fault, the arrogant snob. I stood up and prepared to go back to my bedroom, which I shared with Peter. Hmmm, maybe I'll stay here a bit longer... I sighed. I was about to sit back down when I heard soft footsteps. I stuck my head out the door and saw Lucy walking with a small candle in her hand. Perfect... I silently followed her and saw her enter the wardrobe, the one that had caused so much trouble, her light extinguished. I smirked, because I knew I could scare her or at least shut the wardrobe closed... It would be so funny. I ran across the room and opened the wardrobe, when I knew she had gotten in. A cold breezed flew out, making me shudder. "Stupid drafts..", I shivered again. I entered the wardrobe and fought my way through large coats, looking for Lucy. After I had walked a foot or two inside, I wondered if this was a walk in wardrobe, when suddenly I heard crunching and looked down, "Snow?". Those drafts really needed to be fixed. Even stranger, I stepped out into a forest filled with more of the powdery stuff. "What on earth?" I exclaimed blinking as the strong sunlight hit my eyes. It was quite a strange wood. It was a little clearing,with about twenty fir trees and and an iron lamppost in the middle. Forgetting all about Lucy, I walked up to it. I put out my hand and felt the smooth metal... It was so peaceful... In the distance I heard the ringing of bells. I ignored it, too busy looking at the forest. I wandered until I came to a road. Well, I assume it was a road for it was hard to see with all that snow. As the ringing got louder, I saw a an beautifully carved ice blue sled, one that resembles the one in a picture in Lucy's fairy tale books. The sled stopped and a small man got out. "What is it now Ginabrik?" a bored voice exclaimed from the sled as Ginabrik (I assumed) came up to me and started to stare at me.

"I don't know your highness, it seems to be a...a...beardless dwarf!" Ginabrik said then muttered "and a dirty excuse for one too."

"I'm not dirty, or a dwarf, I'm thirteen!" I exclaimed, really, who did this man think he was? Suddenly, a lady got out of the sled, followed by a red haired girl with strange amber coloured eyes. The other woman had beige hair and skin so white she was a statue. She was quite tall.

"Then who are you?" her voice was sickly sweet but her eyes were fierce, burning with intent.

"I think he's a Son of Adam!" exclaimed the red haired girl, she looked to be my age, maybe a year or two older.

"Be quiet Ignis, before you I turn your tongue to stone!" snapped the Lady. Ignis looked at her feet and sighed, like this happened a lot.

"I am Queen Jadis of Narnia, who are you?"she asked quickly, for she was getting quite impatient.

"I'm Edmund Pevensie." I replied.

"That doesn't matt- I mean are you a Son of Adam? A boy?"

"Well, I uh, guess so..."

"Do you have any siblings?", again the fierce look in the Queen's eyes made me shudder.

"Yes, one brother and two sisters and my sister Lucy went here and met a faun, why?" Ignis gasped at this relavation and looked up to the Queen.

"Then isn't he a-"

"Be Quiet!" yelled the Queen and looked me directly in the eyes, "Well, why don't you have some food, you must be starving. What do you like to eat best?"

"Well, I like Turkish Delight..." She smiled at me and poured some liquid from a vial into the snow. Where the drops had fallen a box appeared. My mouth dropped open, if we had something like that a home we would never have to get stupid ration cards. The Queen picked it up and gave it to me.

"There, now can you tell me about your siblings?"

"Why? they're not anything special...", I asked, opening the box and stuffing my mouth with the delicious Turkish Delight.

"Just tell me,"

"Well, there's four of us and we live-"

"Two girls and two boys?" she inquired again.

"Yes, yes!", I exclaimed as I finished the treat, wiping my hands on the sleeve of my shirt, "Can I have more Turkish Delight now?" Ignis laughed, as if it wasn't the first time she had seen this. The Queen glared at her and Ignis went back to staring at her feet.

"No, for the magic only works once, but at my home there are rooms full of Turkish Delight."

"So can we go now?"

"No, but you can come back when your siblings are with you. Just come to the house in between those two hills, and then I'll make you Prince of Narnia, for I'm looking for someone to look after the kingdom when I pass away..." she pointed to a small castle in the distance.

"Okay, but what's Narnia?", I asked. The Queen smiled, It was a nasty smile like when someone knows they have the dominant hand."It's all the way here from this lamppost to the sea, I am the Queen here..."

"Oh,...", that didn't really clear up anything.

"Well, I have to go now, but I hope we'll see each other soon..." She sat back in to the sled. "Call Maugrim, tell him to meet me at the faun's"she muttered to a small bird,"Goodbye Edmund, don't forget to visit!". Her voice grew fainter and fainter as the sled slid away... The bright blue bird flew away, in the opposite direction. I sighed and looked around, wishing for more of the delicious treat. The forest was quiet, not a sound to be heard... Actually, there was a sound; the crunch crunch of someone walking.

"Edmund!You got in too!" Ed whirled around saw Lucy skittering towards him.

"Stupid Lucy...", he muttered. He had completely forgotten about her.

"Isn't it wonderful?"

"Yes, Yes, and cold. How do you get home?"

"Oh, this way... But don't you think it's wonderful? And the witch hasn't caught my faun friend!" My stomach shuddered and I felt sick.

"Yes, sure, lets just go..." I sighed as Lucy rambled on and on ...

Ok, I decided to write this in 1rst person, 'cause my friend said I should at least try it this way. This story (BTW) will be part of a triology or more, if I get good ideas. So tell me what I'm doing wrong or right in that little box below, PLEASE! You have no idea how long it took me to rewrite this... Especially with my nosey but sweet little sis, who is the inspiration for Selmaria (the 9 yr old centaur in the next chapter)... Hmmm, you probably didn't really care, oh well now you know. Thanks for reading peeps!
Hrrrr,

THE FAIN