Author: Hey peoplez!. Hope your summer is going well, just finished this yesterday, but was too tired to post, had to babysit. Anyways, I hope you like, this is just the beginning, leading up to the battle. Thanks so everyone who reveiwed me, you guys rock!. love you all. Oh, and I don't own any of these characters, just the plotline. Ok, thats it, enjoy and please remember to review!.
The sun was now brightly seeping through the halls of Cair Paravel, making its presence much more relaxed and peaceful. However, that was not the case of the three remaining Pevensies and Aslan as they sat in the throne room, going over what had happened, and planned their next attack. Aslan told them all he knew about the occurring situation.
"I had felt a disturbance in the Western Woods, that's why I had asked Peter and Edmund to leave" Aslan explained to Lucy, sitting next to the great lion, Edmund across from her, although his gaze fixed on the map before them, and arms crossed seeming deep in thought. Peter stood at the end of the table, also looking deep in thought for he'd never moved since settling at that spot. Although, Edmund knew that he was holding it all in.
It was completely evident, the pain that shined through the tears that pooled at his eyes, though he refused them to fall. Peter would angrily wipe at his eyes with his sleeve, or if he was called upon, he would shake his head and admit that nothing was wrong. Or once in a while, they would hear him sniff slightly, and give a little tired sigh, but the evidence was clear to all three, he was defiantly heart broken.
Edmund felt terrible for his brother, and wished anything in the world he could ease the pain his brother was in, but they had to focus on rescuing Susan, that was all they had to go on right now. Lucy was completely in the dark with it all. She realized Peter was heartbroken, but they were all really sad that Susan was captured, maybe he was more upset cause he had this unspoken bond between them, being the eldest two.
"However, when they said they found nothing, I still felt the disturbance get stronger, and I hoped it was nothing, until this!" Aslan continued, eyeing the three siblings as he spoke.
His golden eyes remained on Peter for a moment, noticing the boy's head lowered as to hide the tears that pooled at his eyes. Aslan felt so sorry for the boy, as he suddenly caught a sniff from the boy. They're love was just about to begin when Susan was suddenly snatched from them and god knows what was happening to her.
Aslan also felt tears prick his eyes at the thought of something terrible happening to Susan, but he had to shake it off, not wanting the Pevensies to also break down in tears when they need to act fast and come up with a plan. "We shall get her back, whatever it takes!' he repeated in his mind, as he held his gaze at Peter, then returning his gaze to the frightened Lucy and Edmund, still deep in thought, before him.
"It seems that the witch's helper, Ginnabrik has snuck into the castle and disguised himself as Rosy" Aslan explained, Lucy suddenly giving a gasp. "That's why she was so different!" Lucy said, her eyes suddenly glowing, finally they were getting some where's.
"That's when he and some other helpers captured her and took her off" said Aslan, his eyes gazing from Edmund to Lucy. "But what would they need her for?" Lucy asked in innocence.
"For revenge!. The witch must have been revived and that's what was in the Western Woods" Peter said gruffly, all three of them suddenly turned to the sound of his voice, and noticed tears had spilled over his face, and more pooled at his eyes. "But then, how come we didn't find her hideout when we were there?" Edmund asked. Peter's gaze hardened as it landed on his brother. "They must have had a barrier of some sort, or we just didn't go far enough" he suggested, shrugging.
"So, she took Susan, thinking that she could possibly use her as a pawn?" Edmund asked, his expression very serious as it landed on Aslan, none of them saw Peter shut his eyes and once more lowering his gaze, obviously trying desperately to hold back the tears. Aslan nodded. "Yes, and so she will also be building another army, re grouping. But we must also center around Susan" Aslan explained. "We'll need people to fight off the others as we try to rescue Susan, get her back on the good side" Aslan explained.
Lucy became even more worried, and tears started to brim her eyes, Edmund remained the same, though nodded at this suggestion. "It will be hard though, because the White Witch must have manipulated her somehow to put her against us!" Edmund said, still deep in thought. Aslan agreed. "So whatever happened to her, we need a way to reverse it!" Aslan began. The throne room was once more put into silence as the three Pevensies were lost in thought. Not even a sigh or sniff was heard from Peter.
"I remember seeing in the library a book on various potions and their reverse states!" Lucy suddenly piped up. Edmund thought about this for a moment. "Yes!. If the white Witch has given a potion to her, then we'll know how to reverse it. But what if she didn't use any potion, but used some sort of magic?" Edmund said, his happy expression suddenly turned into that of sadness in that one instant. Lucy then thought for a moment.
"There are many books in the library about magic used here in Narnia, maybe there will be something in that?" Lucy piped up again.
"Whatever they could have done to her, there are plenty of books explaining how they can be reversed. That's what the library was for, to educate you all about Narnia and its ways!" Aslan explained, happy that he had the thought of stocking the library with the many books on Narnia, and the children taking to them so kindly and with much consideration. "Then we have our strategies, and hopefully we will find what has happened to Susan in one of them" said Edmund, with a small evident of a smile. They were finally getting somewhere.
"Yes, and we shall gather all our forces and prepare for battle with the regained White Witch's army" Aslan said. "I wish it didn't come to this, but we must battle the witch once more!" he said seriously, Lucy and Edmund nodding. "We shall gather all our forces possible!" Edmund agreed to Aslan before turning to his brother. "Peter" , however, they found that he had gone. "Peter?" Lucy asked in innocence, her and the others searching the throne room for any sign of him. But he had suddenly gone.
Meanwhile, deep in the Western Woods, a cry rung through the dead halls of the White witch's hideout. Jadis herself and her loyal dwarf helper Ginnabrik, walked briskly through the halls of her newly formed ice hideout, heading downwards to the dungeons where the newly captivated Susan was being held. She had been chained there ever since she had arrived, and only a few hours ago had awoken to a terrible fate.
Another cry of pain was heard, and the white witch couldn't help but out a smirk on her face at the prospect of inflicting pain upon her enemy, also hearing the click of her wand on the ice of the stairs as she descended, Ginnabrik at her heels. The gate to the dungeons finally came into view and Jadis couldn't wait to see Susan's state. Quickly, she pushed open the gate, just in time to see the Minotaur bring down his whip upon the already bruised girl, another cry rang through the iced walls.
"How is she doing?" the white witch asked the Minotaur, coming to stop beside him and look upon the tortured girl. "She's not breaking your majesty!. She's resisted all of our attacks so far with great difficulty!" the Minotaur explained. " And I am sure that any more amount of torture will not change her mood". The white witch frowned at this. Susan was on her knees, she was completely bent over in pain, her hands tied above her head.
She smiled however, at the sight of her back, long, painful cuts crossed her back, completely covered in blood from the many hours of whipping, the night dress that once covered her back now ripped, and left a huge gapping whole. It was also ripped and
They could all see that her feet and hands were turning blue from the amount of cold, the Witch guessed that by now, Susan also couldn't feel up to her legs. She couldn't barely hear the sobs that came from her, muffled from her hair that was completely messed. And her body also shook with the crying.
Satisfied that Susan was in fitfully tortured, she moved on to breaking her and causing her to turn evil. She turned back to the to the Miontaur, "If torture doesn't break her, then we'll try something else!" she explained, and returned her gaze to the sobbing Susan. "I have just the thing in mind, I'll have Ginnabrik deliver it to you later!" Jadis said, a evil smirk coming to her thin lips. Satisfied, the white witch turned to leave, however, she turned once more to the minotaur, "Continue until then!" she said with evilness in her eyes, and her smirk grew into a smile. With that, the witch and the dwarf left.
The witch smirked has she went higher up the stairs, if the torture didn't do anything, then there was only one more thing to try. "Your majesty?" the dwarf piped up behind her. He'd stayed quite in the dungeons, watching her every move, and thus knew perfectly well that the witch had something more evil in plan for the girl. He only wished what it was. "What do you plan on doing to the Daughter of Eve?" he asked.
The white witch didn't respond, only kept on walking down the long hallway and then making a quick turn right, until Ginnabrik noticed they came into a very familiar room.
It resembled the library of Cair Paravel, thousands upon thousands of books lined the shelves upon the walls, there was even a little desk with a light, typical huh?. "You will see soon, Ginnabrik" she finally said, searing through all the titles of the books, trying to find the right one.
It was many minutes later, that she finally pulled one out of her collection and began flipping through it, now trying to find the right page. Ginnabrik watched as she seemed so intent on finding the right page, her brow furrowed in concentration, and he wondered if this was really worth all the trouble. 'of course you dolt!. This is for reclaiming Narnia, just trust her!' he had scolded himself in his mind. Finally, the witch let out an "ah" of happiness. She had found it.
Ginnabrik then watched as the witch hurried away towards the back of the library, heading to another room attached to the library, Ginnabrik hurried to catch up. The room attached was a small room, nothing about the walls, but shelves filled with vials and bottles of oddly colored and unrecognizable substances. In the middle, was a desk along with a lamp, and a man working constantly at it. It would remind any visitor of a small laboratory.
The man at the desk looked around Peter's age, he had long brown hair that covered his forehead and ran down, no longer than his neck. If he were to look up, you would see he had mischievous brown eyes, and a button nose. He was one of the few that the witch had taken and corrupted since her resurrection, to build her army. He was very smart in building new weapons and mixing potions. He had escaped his home of Archenland
to study the life of Narnia, however was captured by none other than Maurgrim, and now manipulated, works for the white witch. His name is of no importance right now.
Walking up to the man at the desk, The white witch suddenly plunked the large book down in front of him, surprising him. "Here, I want you to mix this up!" she commanded, pointing her long finger and tapping the page. The man looked down and studied the contexts for a moment. "Are you sure about this, your majesty?" he asked after a moment. "Is there really no other way?" he continued, looking at her with caution, she seemed very annoyed, tapping her long finger at her hips.
A smirk came to the man's lips. "If you say she'll be my queen!" he said, leaning back in his chair and crossed his arms. The witch seemed even more annoyed. "As promised!" she only answered. The man thought about this for a moment, chewing on his lower lip. The white witch, all she wanted was Narnia, could promise nothing, He'd have to take her for himself. "Then it's a deal, I shall have it for you in a couple of hours!" the man said happily.
The witch seemed pleased by this and a smile came back to her lips. "Be sure to make it strong, Ginnabrik will pick it up later!" she said, and the man agreed. With that, the witch and the dwarf left, leaving the man to happily study the witch's order. As they left, Ginnabrik looked back upon the man. "Are you sure about this your majesty?" he asked.
She didn't respond for a moment. "Yes, quite sure. This time she will be ours!" the white witch growled.
A few hours later, Ginnabrik came back to collect the potion, along with an ogre and a hag. The man gratefully handed over a bottle with seawater looking mixture inside, with that, they made their way down to the dungeons. The Minotaur was standing guard, and Susan was lain beaten against the wall, her hands once more shackled, along with her ankles, and her breathing was very labored. Her once beautiful face was now scratched and frozen, and her eyes were shut, once in a while wincing from the pain.
Her eyes opened a crack as she heard the gate once more creak open and was surprised to see the dwarf, with his new potion, a ogre and a hag accompanying him. They seemed to be talking to the Minotaur keeping guard. "You'll have no fuss, she's as limp as a rag doll, I've beaten her well enough!" the Minotaur growled. With that, all the creatures turned in her direction, the dwarf signaled for the hag and the ogre to take her.
Susan watched, a bit frightened, as the Hag and Ogre took her firmly by the hands shoulders and lower head, and made sure her head couldn't move. Ginnabrik then advanced on her, and that's when she tried with all her might to struggle, understanding that the dwarf was to pour the vile looking substance into her mouth to drink. However, he efforts were useless, the pain from before suddenly spreading across her body like liquid fire, and she was so numb from the cold she could barely move her lips and shake her head.
She was trapped, and as Ginnabrik went to pour the liquid into her mouth, the hag titled her head further back, and the substance dripped into her mouth slowly, running down her throat like sticky medicine, and bitter like salty water to the taste. They let her go limp once it was all gone, and watched as the potion began to take effect. They all smiled as they saw Susan start to change before their eyes. Narnia would soon be theirs.