AN: While I'm working on my other story, I got the inspiration to explore Jadis. I felt that her evil had to be fleshed out further. Warning, some gruesome descriptions.

Disclaimer: Narnian is not mine. Don't sue.

Cold as Stone

Two hours before the Sacrifice

The Witch sat upon the ash hued wooden chair which made for her makeshift throne. Outside of the tent most of her troops were silent, for they knew better than to be strident when they were near her quarters (the statue of a hag who had no good sense to listen to her was the only warning needed for even the more foolish of her troops.) The only sounds she wanted to hear were those of weapons being sharpened, her troops practicing their weapons-play, and the sounds of metal and iron ore be wrought into newer ones. She could tell that her troops were anxious for what was going to come. Some of them were eager to go to war- such as the hags, wer-wolves and ogres. Of course the people whose ancestors she had brought with her to Narnia from the North and the Wild Western lands would be excited. Many of them came from cultures where warfare was not only an honor, but the very core of their being. Still others- such as the minotaurs, the dwarfs, the wolves, and quite a few others- were nervous. For the Dwarfs and the Wolves especially- many of them were going to war against some of their own kin. However, a harsh threat or a sweet promise were enough to keep all of her troops aligned.

Now however, ever since the Children and Aslan arrived, the Witch could feel an emotion which she never felt in nearly a hundred years...fear. Not just a mere little fright though...she felt absolutely terrified. Ever since she had encountered the youngest Son of Adam- Edmund- she could feel it constantly washing over her as if an icy wave of a winter sea had hit her.

It was quite strange...she had almost forgotten what it was like to be afraid. Usually she was the one striking fear into the hearts of all as if she were wielding a hammer on a nail. Creatures not just in Narnia- but also in other realms- trembled at the mere mention of her name. Her presence was enough to send even the bravest cowering in their boots. She got a a thrill whenever creatures brought before her crumbled at her feet as if made of sand. If they didn't, she had fun breaking their resolve. Making them come to realize the horror they felt in their last precious seconds of pitiful existence. Just before she would turn them all to stone, leaving them as nothing more than a mere statue which she could gloat over and serve as a display to all who entered her home- follower and dissenter alike. Instilling terror was what she lived to do. Every time she did she got a thrill from it. Pleasant dreams to her consisted of her enemies wallowing in corners. If they chose to run she would feel adrenaline course through her veins. Music to her was creams and wails from her victims as they would turn to stone in front of her. It was a sweet chorus to her whenever she decided to draw out the process, willing the magic to consume them slowly, hearing their cries of agony as they lost all sense of feeling and begged for her to end it.

With everything falling apart now, she could feel fear creeping up on her like the ghosts that made their dwelling in the lands outside of the Central Northern countries like Narnia and Archenland. Thinking of it brought a sickness on her that was equivalent to that of the thought of eating another bite from the Fruit in the Garden. If she were weaker she'd have thrown herself into a fiery temper. All the hundreds of years she had put into her spells, charms, and hexes to remove any sense of feeling: such as fear, were shattering like glass. For the thousandth time she silently cursed the Four. Their names becoming synonymous with dread. Those brats- coming into her kingdom and taking it away from her clutches! After those hundreds of years spent trying to take this country for her own. Did they honestly think that because some pretty words said that they were going to defeat her and ascend the thrones that she would just roll over like a dog and let them? How stupid could they have possibly been? This country- in fact this entire world- belonged to her! Nobody took any of her belongings...nobody! Most certainly not four little Adam's spawn! Not even with the Great Lion Himself standing behind them!

Aslan...the mere thought of Him disgusted her to the core. The children were a blemish that she could easily remove. That Lion had been an obstacle that never failed to trip her up. Foiling her plans thousands of times. Using disgusting vermin such as Adam's spawn, Beasts and even her own self as a means of defeating her. She couldn't believe that the Lion had actually decided to offer Himself in the place of the human traitor! Certainly he knew that there was no possible way that this would end where the children, His pathetic followers, and Himself were on top? Ha! The Lion had a rather bizarre concept of reality. Beliefs of how life and love always conquered death and fear. All merely a child's dream. One which everyone had to wake up from eventually.

Sadistically Jadis grinned. If there was one thing she would certainly enjoy- it was watching the Lion's dreams and hopes crash to the ground in a thousand pieces. When He offered His life, she couldn't believe it. The Great Cat who was indeed a king (she wouldn't deny it, for she had known Him from the moment she had entered the world), offering his life for a wretched traitor? Just so that one boy could live? She still didn't understand how the Lion could have the power that He did- especially when He was so willing to lay down His life for a servant- one that betrayed Narnia, his siblings, and even the Lion Himself! She would enjoy watching the moroseness in His eyes when He finally realized that He had let her win! All because He wasn't willing to let even a traitor die! At least if the brat died, the Lion would survive! Sure the kingdom would have been lost, but what would that matter as long as He had His life?

Love. That's what it came down. Love made the Lion weak. It made Him blind to the obvious! It made a fool of Him! What did He honestly think He'd get out of this? A memorial? Stories and songs written about Him? What a laugh!

She recalled telling the Lion that when they had sat down and discussed Him taking the place of the human traitor...

Several Hours Before...

They had gone inside His tent so that they could discuss it without being interrupted by the Narnians outside. She smiled. Both the Cat and her knew that should His followers find out what would take place, they'd never let Him. Even His followers would know how foolish it'd be, and they were willing to believe most anything!

"You will gain nothing from this, Cat!" she sharply told Him. Nothing! Don't You understand? Or did all that hope You keep stashed in Your heart finally go to Your head?"

"I think it's my choice in the end, is it not Witch?" asked the Lion. She smiled at how pained it sounded. Not even the Great Lion wanted to do this, she could tell. Yet He was still going through with it. "I'm offering you My life in place of Edmund's," He told her, "I would think that you would be jumping at the opportunity."

"Ha! Can You blame me? I'm just having a hard time buying it."

"Perhaps you wouldn't if you understood why."

"Oh I know why! You think that those children stand a chance against me? They have their fancy weapons. They have soldiers to command. They have those scrolls with those prophecies of Your delusional prophets! Your ideas about the value of the individual are noble, indeed. Noble...but foolish! I tell You one thing, You won't ever see me offering myself in the place of my followers. I'd allow every single one of their disgusting hides to die before I offer my own in their place. In a heartbeat I'd put their own miserable lives down before I'd sacrifice mine!"

"I am well aware of what you are willing to sacrifice, Witch. Remember? I witnessed what you did to your people all those years ago."

"So I sacrificed a thousand of my troops in order to take the border? What does that matter? I had thousands more!"

"Not just them. Remember what you did to your people back in your world? Back in Charn all those many years ago?"

The Witch grinned. "How can I forget? I relive it every day. I'll tell You something though, Aslan. I don't regret doing it a for a second!"

"You killed every single life-form in that world," Aslan growled. "Every man, every woman, every child. That doesn't even include all the livestock, and the beasts that made their dwelling in the land, water and sky."

"None of them held any real value when I compared their loss to my gain. They were all merely pawns in the end. Their allegiance was first sworn to my family and I from the day they were born, when the doctors and the nurses pricked their fingers when they were infants and they were made to sign the contract with their own blood by their parents! Every creature was sworn to our service. All members of the race of Charn were slaves to our family. By every right I could do with them as I wished. Sometimes when you have to save your own skin you have to let others take the fall."

"Your soldiers were willing to lay down their lives in your name."

"I called them to fulfill their oaths until the last breath. I held them to it."

"Your sister-"

"Should have bowed! Out of the two of us, it was I who was stronger in magic! The throne of Charn was mine by the law of the Deep Magic. The Deep Magic dictated that the ruler always had to be the mightiest in magic. I was the one who was the stronger of the two of us. She was too weak to do what had to be done in order to secure the throne!"

"You and her both had the knowledge of Deplorable Word, Jadis." This caught her attention. Rarely did the Lion call her by her real name. Clearly this was a very grave matter to Him. She cackled inwardly. The Great Lion was afraid of her! Oh how marvelous! The Great Lion who sang the world into being, who never scared- was terrified of her! She reveled so much in these thoughts she almost missed what Aslan said afterward, "Both you and your sister were equals in magic. The Deep Magic dictated that you already had the right to the throne though because you were firstborn. Yet still that didn't suffice."

"Well I wasn't going to allow any form of dissent stop me from having absolute rule! She was the one who dared to challenge it!"

"You gave her little choice. You wanted to make her and those whom she found favor into slaves." His next sentence came out in a grave tone, "I would say love...but your people lost that ability generations even before you came along with your magical experiments."

"My ancestors got rid of those emotions because they were the very things that kept us from getting what we wanted. When Your Father first made us we were mere stewards of Charn. As we flourished and prospered, it took us ages upon ages to build ourselves to the level of kings and emperors by following Your laws."

"Yet that wasn't enough," Aslan sighed. "To control a great prosperous empire that saw many peaceful years wasn't enough for the Charn dynasty. Your family had to have the entire world serving under you. Every land, every crevice, every corner had to be under your name and to bear your standard. Even the sea and sky had to swear its allegiance to you and bend to your every whim before you were satisfied. Until finally even when you had it all, that wasn't enough. All of your people had to suffer so that your family could live lavishly."

"Subjects are nothing without a leader," the Witch spat. "They become worse than animals without someone to tell them where their place lies in the universe."

"It was your leadership that brought them to such desperation to begin with."

The Witch spat at the Lion's paws. "You might as well face it, Aslan. You and I have fought over politics for over a millennium. Neither of us are going to convince the other that we are right."

"This is more than just politics, Jadis."

"No," agreed the Witch. "It's the very foundation of this rotten world that You sang into being. You could never stand me, Aslan. From the moment I threw that metal rod from the lamp-post at You. Ever since You've always had it out for me."

"I think you mean you couldn't stand me from that moment. I knew your heart long before that. Believe me, there aren't enough stars in the sky that can light the darkness enough to make it bright. You and your people allowed no place for a light to ever touch the void."

Jadis laughed. "At last! Now I know how You feel about my race and I. I have some honesty from you, Aslan!"

"I've never been dishonest with you, Witch."

"Indeed, You just aren't willing to come forward. You talk about how I love the shadows, yet I'm not the one who clings to them."

"I reveal all things in time," responded Aslan. "Something you'd understand if you would be willing to learn."

"I've already learned everything about the universe that I could possibly know! It took me thousands of years, but I now know more about the fabrics of time and space and dimension than any other being in this universe! Not even the Stars can claim such knowledge! I know all the laws and which ones I can work around and which ones I can't. Teach me! Ha! You have nothing for me to learn, Cat!"

Mockingly she went on, "Oh great and powerful Aslan! The Lion who continues to advocate life and love when over and over it has proven that it can't possibly triumph! All of this time You spend sticking up for those subjects of Yours, You could have garnered power like mine!"

"Your power is not as strong as you may think, Jadis." The way the Lion said this wasn't in a bragging tone. It was the tone you used when stating a fact.

"I disagree!" laughed the Witch. "I'm not even going to beg to do it. By the end of it all, my power will insure that I won't ever have to beg again."

"Careful Witch," said Aslan. "Doom always befalls those such as yourself who claim dominance over gods. Especially the same level as that of the Emperor."

"Be silent, Lion! You like to come on behalf of Your Father's will. If Your Father truly cared about You or any of these people...why does He let me do what I do to them? Why did He allow the Son of Adam to commit treachery? Why is He going to allow You to take the wretch's place on the Table? It seems to me that Your Father has abandoned You."

"The answers lie in the questions you wish not to ask."

"I don't ask them because I know there are no answers to be found! My power is all but absolute over this land now. The only thing that stands in the way between me and absolute power is You and the Children. Once You're gone, they won't last more than a day... if they're lucky. Even if they somehow escaped, nothing would stop me from hunting them down and killing them all.

"I'll enjoy torturing them," she mused. "First I'll beat them and starve them. Next I'll break their little bones and I might see if I can pluck out one eye from each of them. Afterward I will rip out their hair and tear off their fingernails to use in my experiments. Following that, I'll make them beat each other to a pulp or else I'll just kill them all right there on the spot! It will be a satisfaction watching them make their siblings bleed profusely. I'll cut off their fingers and toes and feed them to my Polar Bears as an appetizer to their actual meal! Just when they're emotionally distraught and they feel it can't possibly get worse I'll harm them in every intimate way that I can possibly think of. Until finally what's left of them won't worth be the satisfaction of torture, and I'll turn what's left of them all to stone! Which I will then proceed to smash, in front of every Narnian!" She cackled loudly. "Oh it will be glorious! Once the word got out, no Child of Adam would dare stand against me!"

Aslan bared His teeth. "Even now as we speak Witch, your fate is making its way through this Camp. If you wish to have any chance of surviving, you will walk away from here and away from Narnia. This world won't stand for your poison any longer. It is getting ready to purge itself of your villainy."

"Your threats don't frighten me, Aslan. I'm not just a ruler! I am a master of the Deep Magic in this world. Until now, the only thing that stood in my way was You. However, once You are gone I am going to have all of Narnia to myself to do with as I please. Those vermin out there all thought that they had it terrible during the Winter. Wait until after this is over. I'll make sure they regret the day they all defied me. They and the rest of the world!"

"That's right Aslan," cackled the Witch before the Lion could say anything. "With You gone, this whole world will belong to me! Once I kill You I will have the powers of a god! A Queen will stand in the place of where there once was a King! In the place of a Lord you shall find a Lady! I will use the Deep Magic to twist this world into my own making! I will destroy everything You sang into being all those years ago! I will wipe out everything that you ever loved! Mountains will crumble at my word and valleys will rise! The sun will go dark and the night shall be my slave. The Waters will be mine to command and the Trees will be mine to use! All those Beasts out there will be exterminated! I will purge the world of all vermin! I will order my people to kill them all, and kill any of them who refuse to follow! I won't just rest at Narnia, but I will move on to the other kingdoms. Archenland, Terebinthia, each of the Seven Isles, Ettinsmoore, Harfang, even the Calormen Empire! Every land to the north, south, east and west of Narnia will fall! Every royal will bow to me and pay me homage. I will kill every single human like the pests they are! All those whom I decide to spare will be my slaves from womb to tomb. Nobody will be able to defy me! Not when I command the waters and the fires. Not when the earth tremors before me and the skies break open at just the sound of my voice. I won't just be a Queen or an Empress! I'll be a God!"

"You will do the same to this beloved land of mine as you did to Charn!" growled Aslan furiously.

"Yes I will!" bragged the Witch. "When I killed all life on my world, I truly felt like a god! Such power was magnificent. Surely one as mighty as the Great Aslan knows what how spectacular it is to wield that kind of power? Oh I couldn't believe how amazing it was to have it until I used it! It was simply marvelous!

"My sister thought that I wouldn't want to destroy our world because then I wouldn't have anyone to serve me! Oh how foolish she truly had been! She honestly thought I wouldn't be willing to sacrifice every last living thing to retain the throne? Oh her stupidity makes me laugh to this day! Just when she overwhelmed me and thought she had won, I spoke the Word. I watched the few seconds that passed in which horror swept across her. Then laughed as she screamed and howled with agony as she began to turn to ash and dust at my feet! A second afterward the guards followed suit, and then those outside in the city of Charn. All of them turned to dust as if a great fire had swept across the city! Finally, the winds and fire and water and earth began to destroy all the living things! Nothing was left! Every building and monument crumbled save the statues of the rulers before. All life perished, not even a measly insect survived! I became the sole ruler of Charn forever and ever more! For the first time, I was a God! So what if I doomed my world to rot? I knew that eventually someone would come along. I just had to preserve myself until I could be awoken. They would then take me to another world, and I would enslave it like my forebears did to our people long before!"

"Jadis you have one more chance," warned Aslan. "Your fate has reached the tent. It's peeking through the flap of the tent. Awaiting further command. You will be spared if You surrender."

Ha! Did He honestly think that she'd surrender? Never! The Witch continued to brag, "I must say, I sure did land in the treasures among them! That first world I went to had little magic in it. None that I desired. This world however- even despite its differences from Charn- is a trove. The Deep Magic didn't require as much effort to tap into. This world will all be mine by the time this is over with. I will rework, refine, reshape it into one that I find pleasing. Everything will either bow to me or I will strike it down. Nothing will dare lift a finger against me!

"That is unless You decide to let me have the traitor. Don't you see? There's no way You can win! Ever since Edmund betrayed, You lost the game. There is no way this will end without victory for me! So what are You going to do, Aslan? Are You going to lay down Your life for a traitor who doesn't even deserve it? For the sake of one boy will You give me the entire world to do with as I command? Or are You going to walk away while You still can?"

Aslan was silent for a few moments. She smiled boastfully. After all these years, she had finally cornered Him. How many times had He evaded her? In all of this world's history, how many times had her plans been foiled? The Witch wondered if the Lion had finally come to His senses. Perhaps by the time they left this tent He'd tell His followers to stand down and let her take the Son of Adam. If that were the case she'd probably just feel generous enough to spare those treacherous vermin and just kill the Children of Adam. One could never really have too many slaves.

Finally the Lion spoke. "Your fate has been sealed. When we walk out of this tent, there is no stopping it. I am going to offer My life in place of the Son of Adam. We will meet at the Table. My life is forfeit. You will take it, and then You will be defeated."

The Witch frowned. This Lion was more foolish than she had thought. "So this is really it then? Your life for Edmund's?"

"Consider it done," Aslan said. "All you have to do is accept it."

The Witch narrowed her eyes. "Consider it accepted. Meet me at the Stone Table a couple hours after sundown tonight. There the Deep Magic shall be appeased."

"Say nothing about our agreement when we go outside Jadis," Aslan told her. "I don't wish for them to know. They will try and stop it, and our people will all get hurt in the end. Let us save the bloodshed for tomorrow."

The Witch's lips twitched into a smile. "I suppose I can hold off. I'd rather that there be more blood for me to shed tomorrow anyway." She started walking towards the tent's exit. Looking over her shoulder, she said, "Who shall tell the Camp of the renouncement?"

Aslan was silent. "I will."

Afterward she walked out she turned to the Son of Adam. She made sure to lock eyes on the Son of Adam. Part of him drew away from her, and it took all of her will not to sneer at him. When she got a chance, she'd make sure to make it known to him that the Lion gave it all up for Him. Now that she looked at the Children, she found her disgust grow. Forget torturing those children. It would be better if they were wiped out for good. That would make the whole world realize that Aslan was no longer the salvation of the world.

It was then a thought occurred to her. Could she trust that the Lion keep His promise? While He had kept His word every time, she knew that He always found a means of somehow bending an agreement. After Aslan announced that she was no longer claiming Edmund, she shouted over the cheers, "How do I know Your promise will be kept?"

The roar served as the response. Fear washed over the Witch and she sat down and ordered her Cyclopes to take her away from the Camp. Humiliation swam in her and she vowed that once she was to kill Him, she'd make Him sorry for the indignation. Her mind immediately began to think of all the worse forms of torture and humiliation she could put Him through.

Present

Pulling herself from her thoughts, she could see that night was underway. The Lion had made it clear through His roar that they were on for the sacrifice.

She smiled deviously. At last the Deep Magic would be appeased. She would have Narnia under her foot and the rest of the world to conquer in time. All would bow before her. They wouldn't just call her Queen, Lady, and Chatelaine. She would be Aslan. She would be a High Queen over all High Royals!

She changed into her ceremonial dress. Then took out the stone knife that she would use to kill Aslan. It was her favorite knife. One that she had been saving to kill Edmund since she had him under her magic. Now instead of being wet with Adam's blood it would be soaked with the blood of the Lion. Thrill swept through her, sending shivers down her spine as cold as ice. Already she wondered what it would be like to have the blood of the Lion streaming down the blade. Her passion was a fire, as warm as surely the Lion's blood would be once she had pulled it out. Her thirst for it was like that of one stranded in the desert, desperate for water.

Aslan wanted a war. Now His whole world was going to pay. His life was forfeit now. The Lion broke the dam and now the water was going to wash him away. He set the spark and now the fire was alive. He had thought He could burn her. Well, she would teach Him. Teach Him the same lesson that she taught her sister over a thousand years ago.

She, Jadis, wasn't afraid to see the world burn and drown at the same time. She wasn't afraid to destroy the world with fire and water. Nor was she afraid to drag them all in it.

After all...she had a heart as cold as stone.

"To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal... Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable." - C. S. Lewis, The Four Loves