Chapter 9- the selection of the participants from the village begins

Later

Kushanku stood with his siblings Satoshi, Nyarth, Akira, adopted Cheetah siblings Gingerfur, Amberpaw and Sandstorm, and Dahlia the Jackalope, Snowwing the Skvader and Crystal the Parrot chick. With them stood Dashiell, Honeycomb, Snowwing's mother Mensa, Rosebush and her cousins Spikeball, Quill and Thorn, Crystal's mother Rubyfeather, Dahlia's parents Daisytail and Hopper, and Shadewing, Chiseltooth and Rosemary. Surrounding Dashiell's family were the animals of their community with Soran the Dog and his family not too far away from Dashiell's location. Soran stood with his siblings including Zira, their parents Silver-Ears and Growler, Cyril the Hippogriff, Desdemona the Griffin, Trotterhoof the Pig, the two Goats, and Alexandrite the Nekomata, as well as the rest of the animals adopted into part of Soran's family. The community had gathered outside the entrance to their village just before a path that was completely blanketed by thick snow. This path led to a forest nearby and the trees there resembled leafless, skeletal forms with icy claws hanging off their pointy branches, giving the frozen forest a rather intimidating appearance. There was a miasma of fear, nervousness and uncertainty as frightening as this forest hanging over the community members like a thick snow cloud, and some of them felt it more intensely than others, especially Shadewing and Cyril. Some were talking amongst themselves about who will be lucky enough (or should that be UN-lucky) to be selected for the dreaded Fighting League by Gollum and his gang once the selection gets underway. The atmosphere above the villagers was indeed buzzing with anticipation as they continued to wait for Gollum's arrival with his group, and they already know, based on the message Cloudwing the blue Parrot had received from the Queen-loyal Dryad that some of the other villages and towns will have been visited and the selected members from the randomly-selected families already collected and taken to the Queen's palace, and the arena where the Fighting League will take place.

Kushanku and company, and the other animals their age, had never experienced the process of being selected for the Fighting League, and neither have they actually seen it but since this will be their first time in seeing it, they will have the chance to see how the decadal event went. However, they were unaware of the horrors that awaited them in the event and based on how some of the animals in the community shuddered with extreme fear, such as Shadewing the Bat, Kushanku and company daren't question why. As the community of the village continued to wait, one of the members, a bird-humanoid called a Harpy who was essentially a human-like creature with the wings, talons and tail of a bird, sat perched on the roof of the nearest shack, obviously keeping an eye out for Gollum's arrival. As they continued to wait, Nyarth turned to look at Dashiell.

"What is the Fighting League like?" he asked. However, Dashiell did not reply but then Nyarth noticed a hint of nervousness and fear in his eyes. Next to him, Crystal spoke.

"Apparently, it's a league in which the selected participants fight to the death in the arena, until the final one standing is bestowed with riches and a better life," a sigh left her beak, "I suppose we could do with a lifeline like that," her gaze then turned to her rather empty stomach under her coat and one of the wings went to it, "I'm getting sick and tired of all this constant hunger, lack of heating and ramshackle housing…"

As she said this, Kushanku just gazed at the Parrot chick. Like Crystal and many of the other animals, Kushanku wished for better shelter, plenty of food to combat the constant hunger troubling the community, and warmth from the frigid, seemingly everlasting winter. However, under that agreement, a spark of outrage at the way things were, such as the compulsory rule to give the Queen and her followers ninety-percent of their delivered food and crops, leaving barely little left for the animals to eat, as well as the fear of the Fighting League was apparently causing some of the community members, such as Shadewing who was especially trembling and feeling weak, was flashing. Although he was only young, Kushanku could feel the unfairness that dominated the community, but that anger at the unfairness will grow larger within him as time goes by, as we'll see later.

Dashiell continued to stand with his family and the other animals around him. As Nyarth had noticed, there was indeed fear and worry in the Cheetah's eyes, and that troublesome glint was also replicated in the eyes of Honeycomb, Rosemary, the four Hedgehogs, Rubyfeather, Chiseltooth, Hopper and Daisytail and Mensa. Especially those that had young in their care, and Nyarth could see the eyes of the adult Parrot, Jackalopes, Cheetahs and Skvader constantly flicker back and forth from the forest to them. Furthermore, Shadewing was trembling like a severely cold animal and was breathing heavily. These two behaviours were mirrored in the faces and in the body language of many of the other animals as well, especially those with young, such as Growler and Silver-Ears with their puppies. Nyarth tipped his head to one side. Why were so many of the members so frightened? Were they worried for each other and their kids? However, Nyarth himself also felt frightened for his friends and siblings, including Gingerfur and Amberpaw despite his anger towards them for winding up Kushanku a while ago. They were his adopted siblings after all and Nyarth, along with Satoshi, Kushanku and Akira saw these two cubs and their younger brother Sandstorm as actual biological siblings than adopted, even though they may not get along at times, such as Gingerfur and Amberpaw and their attitude towards Kushanku for his beliefs in Narnia's creation. It truly was a worrisome and nerve-wracking time for everyone. Just then, the Harpy lookout shouted, "Here they come!"

At this, everyone's lines of sight all turned to the forest as their ears picked up the sounds of swooshing and pattering as something glided over the snow with some feet pounding it at the front. Accompanying the pounding and slicing noises of the snow, a loud whipping noise sounded followed by a, 'HAAAAH!" and soon, a large form, a type of vehicle pulled by some four-footed creatures appeared and slowed to a halt. On the vehicle were a group of small humanoids accompanied by a variety of ugly-looking animals, and Kushanku, Satoshi, Akira, Nyarth, Gingerfur, Amberpaw, Sandstorm, Dahlia, Snowwing and Crystal, managed to get a glimpse of the humanoids' hair and facial fur called beards. The hair spouting from both the tops of the humanoids' heads and their faces were ashen grey-black, like the remains of burned wood, and some of them were chubby and stocky. These creatures were Black Dwarfs, and they were a subset of Dwarfs distinguished by their ashen black hair and beards. Most of these dwarfs were fiercely loyal to the Queen. Kushanku then remembered that there were several other types of Dwarfs that lived in Narnia, another one being the Red Dwarfs whose hair and beards were reddish in colour, and there was a family of these living in this village. That family was standing with the other community members, somewhere at the back. Female and kid dwarfs, however, did not have beards.

The vehicle driven by the group of Black Dwarfs, one of whom was named Gollum, was called a sleigh, and Kushanku and the other kids had never seen one of these before. The Queen and her highest ranking followers owned sleighs and used it as their preferred method of transport through the snowy landscapes of Narnia. Most of the sleighs were ashen black, like Gollum's one but the Queen's one was also decorated with icy blue and crystalline adornments that were partially transparent like the icicles hanging off the branches of the leafless trees, a trait that the other sleighs owned by her followers did not have. Sleighs were often pulled by non-talking reindeer and a type of goat called a yule goat. Gollum's sleigh was pulled by the latter animals and they stood ahead of the ashen black vehicle, grunting and shaking. The reigns attaching them to the sleigh snaked from their harnesses and into the hand of one of Gollum's comrades, the driver of the sleigh. Yule goats resembled goats but were stockier, charcoal black and had thick, curly horns curving from their heads and ending in a sharp point by their ears. The yule goats Gollum used for his sleigh were very frightening looking. Their faces were bony, ridged and resembled the skull of a goat. Their eyes were also vivid red and they were very aggressive. Their very appearance ignited fear within some of the animals and humanoids, including Kushanku and company and Crystal actually shuddered, whimpered and ducked behind Snowwing. Although sleighs were commonly owned by the Queen and her highest ranking followers, few of the creatures not loyal to the Queen also had sleighs, but this was exceedingly rare. One such figure who used to drive about Narnia during a certain time of year before the Queen's coming to power was one of them but he hadn't been seen since the Queen put a wintery curse on the Narnian land to lock it in the Eternal Winter where it was always winter and never Christmas. Kushanku and company had never heard of him or seen him at all, but he was a figure familiar to many of the older generation including Dashiell and Honeycomb when they were very young cubs. Christmas's fading into becoming obsolete had only added to the misery of the Eternal Winter for the oppressed creatures, and its very concept was foreign to Kushanku and company and their generation for they had never, ever had a Christmas all their lives, similar to how they had never experienced spring, summer and autumn which had also faded into extinction with the Eternal Winter.

As Gollum prepared to dismount the sleigh while some of the Black Dwarfs and a few Wolves sought to the aggressive yule goats to calm them, several more, smaller sleighs appeared, also pulled by yule goats but one goat per small sleigh, turned up and also pulled up in front of the gathering of creatures. These smaller sleighs will be for the selected individuals to be taken to the Queen's palace and they were mostly driven by Black Dwarves, Wolves, Hags, or very ugly looking, bipedal, skeletal deer-like figures called Wendigoes. Wendigoes resembled a goat-like creature called a Satyr but they were lankier and far more grotesque, and had antlers like a stag instead of curly horns. Their chests had bony parts resembling ribcages, their arms were long and lanky, ending in clawed hands almost lacking muscle anatomy such that they were bony structures, and their eyes shone in a menacing grey-white sheen, rather like how the eyes of cats would shine in the dark but the Wendigoes' grey-white eyes were far uglier. Accompanying Gollum and company were floating, black creatures with ragged cloaks, like the one Kushanku and the others saw in the previous food collectors, and they flew in and slowed to a hover behind their sleigh riding comrades, and there were also jet black dog-like creatures with fiery red eyes amongst Gollum's group: Hellhounds, who, despite their association with fire, were fiercely loyal to the Queen. Then as soon as all the yule goats had been calmed and the sleighs were stationary, Gollum clapped his hands together to alert his fellow Black Dwarfs, Wendigoes, Wolves, Hellhounds and Hags as the community of animals and the Dwarfs living with them, many of them shuddering at the sight of the very ugly creatures, looked on. In Dashiell's family, Shadewing began to shudder more intensely, especially as the Bat's eyes were glued to the very ugly deer-antler bearing bipedal skin-and-bony creatures with the gleaming white cataract-like eyes as they talked with their comrades, and as the floating black ghost-like creatures glided over the gathered creatures to check on them. At this, a Jacaklope paw landed on one of his coated membrane wings.

"Don't worry, it'll soon be over," said Hopper comfortingly, hoping to calm the shivering Bat's nerves. However, Shadewing continue to shudder and Kushanku flashed him a concerned and curious look. Why was he trembling so violently with Gollum and his group present? Was it because of the fear of getting selected for the Foighting League? Or was it something else? Kushanku wished to know but he knew the Bat was very stonewalling towards anyone who proposed the question of his intense fear of the Fighting League, as well as the Queen's ugly followers. Suddenly, Gollum's voice pulled the young Nekomata back to the Black Dwarf and his gang as the leading Black Dwarf greeted the community.

"GREEETINGS, villagers of Green Leaf Village," called the Black Dwarf. Gollum's voice sounded gravelly and hoarse, as though he had been choked by smoke, but the texture of his voice was enough to make the skins of some of the animals and creatures' skins crawl and Crystal the Parrot chick actually flinched. She had obviously taken an immediate disliking towards the Dwarf, especially his chubby appearance and ugly-looking face which was also chubby and dotted with large pimples. His nose was crooked, like a Hag's and his eyes were large and bulging, like a frog's. Gollum continued the greeting, "Happy Decadal Fighting League, and I sure hope that this will be your lucky ticket to a better life as offered by Her Majesty the Queen."

Murmurs rolled through the villagers of the small village, named Green Leaf Village, and some of them continued to tremble fearfully, especially Shadewing. Gollum's face then changed expression to one that was serious, more dramatic.

"However," he continued, "That ticket is only offered to ONE, and I do mean ONE… individual participant of the League and his or her family," Kushanku frowned as he listened to this rule, and Akira, Satoshi and Nyarth looked uncertain. Gingerfur and several others, however, looked excited, though they were also fearful as well.

"And that is…" continued Gollum, his bulging eyes narrowed, "the victor of the League. That is, the last one standing. I suppose you lot have been payin' attention to Romulus's announcement a few days ago, have you?"

At first, there was no reply from the listeners but then some of the floating black ghost-like creatures put on stern looks on their hooded faces and pulled out sticks with one end sharpened to a tip, giving them the appearance of spears, and pointed the sharpened tips at the gathered animals while some of the Hellhounds flared their fiery red eyes, bared their teeth and let loose fierce growls prompting the majority of the gathered villagers to nod. Gollum smiled.

"Good," said the Black Dwarf, "it is vitally important that you have seen Romulus's announcement, have heeded its warnings and have obeyed its commands to prepare for the Fighting League…"

The listeners said nothing and some of them exchanged glances and shrugged. Gollum continued.

"Right, onto the main part of our meeting with you Green Leaf Villagers and that is, the proper introduction to the Fighting League and who will be selected to be participants in our very special event like how the other collectors dispatched by Her Majesty the Queen will be doing in the other towns and villages even as we speak," the Black Dwarf's bug-eyed gaze then turned to some black floating cloaked creatures next to him as they pulled out some sheets of paper and metallic cylindrical objects from their black cloaks, "but first, I'm gonna give you villagers a recap of the prize for the lone victor of the League while some of our Shadow friends here will be gliding above you, pick out the families chosen randomly by the Queen and take your names to put into those tins for the random individual participant selection from those families after the intro…"

At this, Kushanku gazed worriedly at the black ghost-like cloaked figures which were called Shadows, as they prepared for this task by sorting the paper sheets and the cylindrical tins whose surfaces glinted in the snowy sun's rays. Then his gaze turned to Shadewing as the Bat began to shudder all the more and breathe in and out faster.

"I hope we're not one of those unlucky families chosen by the Queen," murmured Satoshi standing nearby, especially as his gaze turned to Crystal, Dahlia and Snowwing as they huddled against their respective parents Rubyfeather, Daisytail and Hopper and Mensa respectively. Kushanku, Satoshi, Nyarth, Akira and Sandstorm also shuddered at the thought of getting selected and sent into an arena against hundreds of other animals to fight to the death for a prize as well, as were the majority of the other creatures including Dashiell and Honeycomb, and those two Cheetahs wore very fearful looks. Then after he had finished giving his intro speech, Gollum nodded to the Shadows tasked with the job of jotting the names of the members of the selected families for the participant selection before turning to one of the ugly, skeletal, satyr-like creatures with deer antlers and menacing, shiny, white pupil-less eyes and nodded. The Wendigo nodded in return and stepped towards Gollum and handed the Dwarf something it had been carrying in its bony, three-fingered hands. Sandstorm tried to get a glimpse of the object but couldn't quite see due to the tangled screen of Wendigo fingers masking it as it was transferred to the Dwarf. However, he will soon have his question answered as Gollum took the object and faced the crowd once again.

"Right, on to the prize recap," he said, "which this crystalline screen will show you villagers once more…"

And with that, Gollum raised the object into the air, revealing the object to be a sparkly octahedron, much to Sandstorm and some of the other creatures' surprise for they had never seen one of these objects before. The octahedron then ascended out of Gollum's hands and rose into the air. As it did so, a white light brightened within it and shone brighter and brighter. The villagers looked on as the vividly glowing octahedron then began to change shape. The octahedron flattened into a flat, vertical rhomboid sheet which shone like a very well-polished mirror. This sheet grew in size until finally, it was large enough for all the villagers to see, and once the rhomboid 'mirror' was full size, it began to play whatever was programmed into it, much like one of the magical TV screens a few of the Narnian creatures had ion their homes. As the short 'video' opened up, a narrator began to speak.

"The Decadal Fighting League is a very special event held once every ten years to honour Her Majesty Queen Jadis for rescuing us from the war ignited against us by a group of evil creatures known as humans, and it is vitally important that we honour our mighty Queen by obeying her rules in sending one member selected from each family chosen randomly and specially by her and her followers to participate in this awesome battle to the death…"

As the rhomboid screen continued to play the Fighting League recap with images of the Queen and the arena in which the Fighting League will take place, Kushanku tipped his head to one side.

"This doesn't make any sense…" he whispered but was cut off by a "Shush!" command from Rubyfeather nearby. Kushanku, at this, shot the adult red Parrot a look but he also saw that Shadewing was trembling and shuddering with severe anxiety as he also watched the video. Some of the other creatures in the crowd, including one of the Red Dwarfs at the back and Cyril the Hippogriff in Soran the Dog's family were also shaking violently.

"Then after the Fighting League is complete and one is left standing, that lone victor will be bestowed with the most special prize from our Queen, a prize of a lifetime…"

The rhomboid screen then began to display a series of images showing better housing, plenty of food and other things.

"The victor and their family will be given a house for life, a house that provide them with shelter from the freezing cold of the winter spell the Queen had to put on Narnia to do away with the war against those horrible humans, and will come complete with the best furniture, heating, plentiful food and clean water, and other awesome luxuries they have been wishing for all their lives in this difficult environment…"

As the narration continued and the images of good food and other luxuries continued to play on the rhomboid screen, the desire for these things began to ignite within the majority of the creatures, especially Soren, Gingerfur and even Nyarth, and their eyes actually inflated covetously at the images shown on the rhomboid screen. Kushanku also felt longing for these things ignite within him as well. However, he also had other aims form within him.

"If I could win those if I was selected for the League, I'd like to distribute that food to the starving creatures throughout Narnia," he said in a low voice.

However, he flinched as he said this as he remembered that in order to access these things; he must compete and fight against hundreds of other creatures to the death. This idea made him flinch, especially when he heard the narration turn serious.

"But in order to get these luxuries and improved items, which are only available to only ONE victor and ONE ONLY, you must fight for it first. You must fight against hundreds of other competitors in order to gain access to these items…"

This killed the desire in many of the animals for they knew that would mean fighting against even their friends, but in some of the others, the desire for these things burned ever higher, and the determination to get it also ignited. While the audience was distracted by the rhomboid screen, the Shadows were in the process of forming the selection tins by jotting down the names of the selected families on the pieces of paper, cutting those paper pieces up and placing them into the metallic tins, one for each of the selected families. Akira slowly retracted towards her brothers, clinging especially onto Nyarth who was utterly horrified at the idea of fighting against so many other animals just for a lifetime of luxuries.

"This doesn't seem right," whispered the female Nekomata despairingly. Near the four Nekomata siblings, Snowwing, Crystal, Dahlia and Sandstorm also looked on worriedly.

"I don't wanna be selected to fight against hundreds of other creatures," murmured Crystal.

"And certainly not kill anyone for them," put in Sandstorm. Then Dahlia shot Soran's family a worried look.

"I certainly do NOT want to compete against any of them for that prize," said the Jackalope kit, especially as her eyes landed on the trembling Cyril and Desdemona as they also looked on with timid eyes, "I would rather DIE out here with my friends than in that arena place. And I certainly do NOT want to leave my friends to starve in these horrid conditions…"

Then Snowwing noticed his mother Mensa shoot concerned gazes at the other creatures. It was clear that she could sense something sinister about the Fighting League, especially as her gaze landed on the trembling Shadewing. Some of the other creatures were also firing timid gazes at the other community members as well but then Snowwing noticed that some of the creatures bore extreme covetousness in their gazes as they were fixed on the rhomboid screen.

"The Fighting League will finish once there is one left, the victor, standing. Once the Fighting League is finished, he or she will be celebrated and will have the AWESOME honour of riding on the Queen's very own sleigh, which she will use to return to the victor's village and collect the victor's family to take to her palace so that they will be taken to their new home. As for the families of the deceased participants, I'm afraid you're out of luck and will have to wait another ten years till the next Fighting League before you could throw in your luck to receive favour from our mighty Queen…"

This sent a shockwave of despair flashing through much of the audience, but Gollum and his group, wide smiles on their faces, nodded in agreement to this point. Then the narration began to close with these words:

"And this is where the recap ends. We wish you creatures a very happy Decadal Fighting League and we sure hope that luck will be on your side all the way, from your selection to your emergence as victor. HAPPY DECADAL FIGHTING LEAGUE and LONG LIVE QUEEN JADIS OF NARNIA!"

After this, the rhomboid screen faded to its original silvery sheet of light and began to shrink and collapse back into its original octahedral form. At the same time, the Shadows returned to Gollum and company with the tins as Gollum held out his hands and caught the slowly descending octahedron. Then after the Black Dwarf had handed the device to one of the Wendigoes to put away, Gollum turned back to the audience and let loose a small laugh.

"That sure was moving, very moving indeed," he cooed, his bulging eyes narrowed with emotion. The animals said nothing as Gollum then resumed his usual mood and task. Then one of the Shadows, the ringleader, approached him.

"The selection tins of the chosen families are finished, Gollum," said the floating black cloaked creature.

"Oh, brilliant," said Gollum with a smile, "Then that means we can move on to the next step: the selection of the participants from this village."

As these words reached the ears of Dashiell's family, the animals of that family began to cringe, but Sahdewing began to shake even more. Crystal, Snowwing and Dahlia huddled against their respective mothers Rubyfeather, Mensa and Daaisytail while Honeycomb swept up Kushanku, Nyarth, Akira, Satoshi, Gingerfur, Sandstorm and Amberpaw fearfully. Rosebush also huddled with her three cousins Thorn, Spikeball and Quill hoping that Dashiell's family hadn't been chosen to have one of their family members selected for the horrible competition and Rosemary, Chiseltooth and Dashiell tried to calm the violently trembling Shadewing as the Bat's anxiety began to erupt like a volcano now, characterised by his very rapid breathing, nausea and unstable legs. Around Dashiell's family, the other families of animals were doing the same. Kids huddled against their parents or adopted parents, some trembled violently and the rest looked on fearfully as Gollum called forth the first metal cylinder containing the slips with the names of the first selected family. The crowd brazed themselves for the calling out of the first family from which the first member will be selected foe the Fighting League.

"Right, the first family who MUST offer one of their members to the Fighting League is…" said Gollum and with that, he took a look at the piece of paper one of the Shadows had stuck to the side of the tin to indicate that family's name. Dashiell nervously looked on while the ten kids, including Kushanku huddled against their mothers. Nearby, Soran and his family looked on fearfully as well and Desdemona, Cyril and Alexandrite gazed at Dashiell's family, fearing for their possibility of getting selected for the horrible event. Then Gollum shouts out the name, bringing the extreme fears of one certain family to reality.

"Dashiell's family," shouted the Black Dwarf. All eyes turned and converged on the family of the adult Cheetah as immense fear… fear as black as the Shadows' cloak-like 'garments' and as ugly as the Wendigoes and Hellhounds present, consumed them like a whirlwind. Desdemona, Cyril and Alexandrite, as well as some of the other members of Soran's family, began to shudder while some of the other creatures looked on fearfully, but their concern was nothing compared to the extreme fear wrapping the family of poor Dashiell. Shadewing practically fainted and flumped down into Rosemary's arms; Crystal, Snowwing and Dahlia were cowering all the more in Rubyfeather, Mensa, Daisytail and Hopper's arms, and Kushanku, Satoshi, Akira, Nyarth, Gingerfur, Amberpaw and Sandstorm were wailing in the front paws of a very frightened Honeycomb, and Chiseltooth, Rosebush, Spikeball, Quill and Thorn were weeping, great tears of extreme terror oozing from the Beaver and the four Hedgehogs' eyes and running down their cheeks as they also huddled together and shuddered. Gollum gazed at the family lead by the adult male Cheetah.

"C'mon, you lot, you should be happy that you've got the Queen's honour in potentially winning a better life," he said. Dashiell and his family, however, said nothing, neither did any of their community members. Not even Growler, Soran, Silver-Ears, Zira and their family members, both biological (puppies) and adopted (such as Desdemona the Griffin) could form any words to comfort the terror-stricken family. Gollum then smiled and inserted his hand into the tin marked with the piece of paper with 'Dashiell's family' written on it.

"Now for you to send in the family member I pick out of your tin, Dashiell's family," said the Dwarf as he placed his hand into the tin, "And when I call out that name, you MUST send that member over to me WITHOUT QUESTION or ANY RELUCTANCE OR HESITATION."

Dashiell and company continued to weep, shiver and whimper at the Black Dwarf as he wrapped his fingers around the first piece of paper in the tin he had laid his hand on. Kushanku timidly looked up at Honeycomb.

"What are we gonna do, Mother?" he murmured timidly. Honeycomb gazed down at him. It was clear that she had nothing to say. Flooded with extreme despair, Kushanku timidly returned his gaze to Gollum as the Black Dwarf lifted out his chosen piece of paper, unfolded it and gazed at the name written on it. At this, the young Nekomata huddled against his adopted Cheetah mother's chest fur with Satoshi, Akira, Nyarth, Gingerfur, Sandstorm and Amberpaw as Gollum prepared to call out the name.