Hey, y'all! I know that I haven't updated in forever. School has kicked my butt so far. But I decided to update because of two occasions. Last month was the one-year anniversary of this story, and this story has finally cracked 10,000 views! I honestly screamed cause I was so happy. Before I get started I want to thank you all for bringing this story to life. Anyone can write, but the readers make it possible to exist. So I dedicate this chapter to all of you!
(Third Person P.O.V)
Edmund trudged through the snow as fast as he could, each step bringing him closer to the Queen's castle. He shivered as his breath vaporized in the air. After a few more minutes of walking, he came to where Queen Jadis had told him to go, right between the two hills. He glanced over his shoulder to make sure that his annoying siblings weren't following him. When he was sure that the coast was clear, he continued across the frozen wasteland, happy that he didn't slip on the ice that surrounded the gleaming castle. He made it to the front gates as a cold wind blew through him. When it did, he thought that he heard his name being called. It almost sounded like...Lucy. It was almost enough to make him turn around, but he was too hypnotized by the castle to go anywhere forward. The magnificent doors glowed a light blue, and as he grabbed one of the handles, he felt a strange warmth rather than the cold one would expect to get from touching solid ice. He pulled the door open and walked in.
There was even more snow and it was even colder when Edmund crossed the threshold into the castle. He was alone, or at least he thought he was. There was this feeling. A similar feeling to what he had in the woods. A feeling of being watched; followed. He decided to observe his surroundings. Nothing but pure, cold ice and snow. However, looking up proved to be somewhat of a fatal mistake. There, right in front of him, weapon blazing was a giant, taller than any building in Finchley. Edmund nearly turn and ran, but not before he realized that the giant was stone and not of any threat to him. But he was not the only one. Everywhere Edmund looked there were creatures of all kinds. Centaurs, animals fauns, beasts, elves, even creatures that looked human like him surrounded the courtyard. All seemed to be either carrying a weapon or riding a horse. "These must be creatures who tried to take Queen Jadis's throne," he thought. "And she turned them to stone to protect herself. As a queen should." he added. He swiveled his head to look at the other side of the room, only to be met with the roaring fangs of a frozen lion. Getting a mischievous idea, he picked up a piece of charcoal and drew a crude pair of glasses and a mustache on the animal. He didn't know why he did it, just that he wanted to.
Not long after, he spotted another set of doors which more than likely lead to the throne room. He stepped over various stone creatures and mounds of snow, but he wasn't expecting the moment when something came to rush at him and pinned him on his back. "Be still, stranger!" the wolf warned with a snarl in its gravelly voice. "Or you'll never move again. Who are you?"
"I'm Edmund!" he pleaded. "I met Queen Jadis in the forest. She told me to come here! I'm a Son of Adam!" The wolf looked almost shocked, but he climbed off Edmund anyway.
"My apologies, fortunate favorite of the Queen," he said again. "Or else...not so fortunate." he then mumbled to himself, but loud enough for Edmund to hear. He followed the canine up a steep, grand set of stairs to where the throne room was. It was a large space. Several pillars stretched up to a transparent roof and at the far end of the room, there was a glorious, gleaming throne. It had another white mantel draped around it, and it even seemed to glow from the inside out. "Wait here," said the wolf, firmly, but not necessarily unkind. And then he walked away. Edmund watched him go before settling his eyes on the throne again. He knew he shouldn't have done what he did next, but he just couldn't seem to help himself. Walking up the small set of stairs, he turned around and gently lowered himself onto the throne. It felt right to him in a way, and he smiled with wonder, looking all around from the view that he had. However, now that he was seated, he could see something else out of the corner of his eye. To the left and right of him, there were four mounds of stone, but what was strange was they looked like they had legs. "Were these other thrones?" Ed asked himself. "And if they were, why were they destroyed?"
"Like it?" a voice rang out. Edmund turned and jumped when he found the queen right next to him, with Ginnabrik next to her, still holding that oily smile of his. Edmund quickly stood up and bowed before the white-clad queen. Answering her question with a shaky yes, he moved out of her way as she returned to her seat. "Tell me, Edmund," she began. "Are your sisters deaf?" Edmund face twisted into one of puzzlement at that odd question before answering honestly. "And your brother?" the queen continued. "Is he...unintelligent?" Ed smiled, feeling a joke coming on.
"Well, I think so," he said. "But-"
"THEN HOW DARE YOU COME ALONE?!" the queen suddenly shouted, rising up from her throne and nearly knocking Edmund down in the process. He tried to explain.
"Edmund, I asked so little of you," the queen continued. "And you couldn't even do that."
"I did bring them halfway!" Ed managed to spit out, finding his voice. "They're at a little house in a dam with some beavers." The queen's expression softened slightly before she dared to speak again.
"Well...then I suppose you're not a total loss." She turned around, but faced Edmund when he dared to ask for some more of that Turkish delight, still not knowing that it was enchanted. The queen then turned to her dwarf accomplice. "Our guest is hungry," she said, so quietly that it was almost a whisper. Ginnabrik smiled again at Edmund.
"This way for your num-nums!" he growled, taking out a hidden knife and placing the tip of it on the boys back. As soon as he began to be led away, he heard the queen call for Maugrim.
"You know what to do," she said in a low menacing voice. The wolf captain let out a screeching howl, more wolves coming out of the shadows to join him as they ran out of the place. Mere seconds later, Edmund was thrown into a ice cell with a faun, before being chained up tightly. As Ginnabrik went away laughing, only one thought came to Edmund's mind.
"What have I done?"
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
(Peter's P.O.V)
Edmund was making a huge mistake. How could he do this to us? To this country, I'm pretty sure that counted as treason. The four of us clambered our way through the snow, trying to go as fast as we could in the harsh environment. After stumbling, bumbling, and falling a lot, we finally made it to the top of a high hill, where, on the frozen cliff, stood the most beautiful castle I had ever seen. It glowed a light blue hue from the inside, almost as brilliant as the Northern Lights themselves. In fact, the glowing and sheer majesty of the castle nearly distracted me long enough that I almost missed the small figure standing at the front door. "Edmund!" Lucy shouted at the top of her lungs before Beaver shushed her fiercely saying that the Witch would hear us. Fine, then. If hearing us was to risky, maybe storming the place would be the best idea. I started to rush forward before Beaver grabbed my arm and pulled me back.
"Let me go!" I insisted.
"You're playing right into her hands," Beaver warned.
"But we can't just let him go!" Susan protested.
"He's our brother!" added Lucy.
"He's the bait!" Beaver said in contrast. "The Witch wants all four of ya!"
"But why?" I asked, somewhat curious.
"To stop the prophecy from coming true," Beaver explained. "To kill ya!" My eyes widened in shock and slight fear. "And once she has you out of the way, she goes after the princess!" he added.
"But why her?" I asked again.
"Because the princess is the Witch's heir," Beaver said. "She's her daughter!" Daughter? Her daughter?! I turned back to the palace, racing thoughts aside, where Edmund has disappeared into the castle. It was too late.
"This is all your fault!" Susan accused, talking to me, face holding rage.
"My fault?!" I repeated, shocked that Susan would start blaming.
"None of this would've happened if you had just listened to me in the first place!" she said, her voice rising even more.
"Oh, so you knew this would happen?" I tried, challenging.
"I didn't know what would happen," she admitted, casting her eyes down. "Which was why we should've left when we still could!" she added, voice rising again.
"Stop it!" Lucy yelled, cutting in suddenly. "This isn't going to help Edmund." she pointed out.
"She's right," Beaver agreed. "Only Aslan can help your brother now." He was right. Aslan was our only option.
"Then take us to him," I said sullenly. Without a word, Beaver turned around and began to trudge back through the know. Looking at my sisters, I began to follow him. Lucy did next, and finally, reluctantly, Susan did too.
Walking through the forest was surprisingly easier this time around, as we were going downhill instead of up. It was almost pleasant, until the sound of wolf howls broke the silence. "Wolves," Lucy whispered. We paused for a moment, where another howl rang out, this time louder.
"Run!" I shouted, and the others followed without hesitation. My legs and lungs burned as we raced back to the dam, snow still raining down all around us, stinging my face and getting in my eyes. Finally the little wooden house came into view. Beaver ran ahead and burst inside.
"Hurry, Mama!" he yelled. "They're after us!"
"Oh!" Mrs. Beaver exclaimed. "Right then." However, instead of running out the door, she scurried to the cabinet, grabbing things from the shelves.
"What's she doing?" I asked, impatiently. Beaver just shook his head as if this happened all the time.
"Oh you'll be thanking me later," Mrs. Beaver insisted, grabbing food and stuffing it into little packs. "It's a long journey and Beaver gets pretty cranky when he's hungry."
"I'm cranky now!" Beaver said back, otherwise.
"Do you really think we'll need jam?" Susan asked, impatient as well.
"Only if the Witch serves toast." I said back, attempting to make a joke, but only earning an eye roll in return. Suddenly, growling came from all around the outside of the dam. The wolves had us surrounded. Then, the wood began to crack and break as the creatures to get in. The beavers, knowing what to do, got on one side of a bookcase and shoved it away, where a hole was revealed, leading down underground.
"The tunnels," Beaver said simply, grabbing a lantern off the wall. Mrs. Beaver climbed in, Lucy following her. I made sure to get Susan in before Beaver and I did, too, sealing the bookcase closed. I asked him where these tunnels came from as we ran.
"Badger and I made these," he explained. "They pop up right near his place."
"You told me they led to your mothers' house," Mrs. Beaver said. i almost laughed, but then Lucy fell. However, before Susan and I could help her up, another haunting howl was heard.
"They're in the tunnels..." Lucy whispered.
"This way!" Beaver said, ushering us along. "Hurry!" My back began to ache from being hunched over, but I'm sure you could agree that when running for your life, back pain is a small problem. After running around a few more turns, we came to what I previously thought was a dead end, until the beavers jumped up and seemingly, hopefully out. I boosted Lucy up and Susan and I followed, climbing up into another dam house, similar to the beavers. We walked out of the house and sealed the entrance. All was finally quiet, giving us a chance to look around the scene. The snow had stopped falling, giving us a clear view of the dozens of stone statues all around. Dogs and birds and...badgers. Beaver walked up to the statue of his friend with a solemn look.
"What happened here?" I asked, trying to let my voice not choke up with the sadness I felt for these innocent creatures.
"This is what becomes of those who cross the Witch." A new voice rang out from slightly above. We looked the house and there was a fox standing on the roof. Beaver, taking him for a wolf began to threaten him, calling him a traitor. "Relax," he chuckled. "I'm one of the good guys." He jumped down onto the snow. Beaver commented something about him looking like one of the bad ones. "An unfortunate family resemblance, I'm afraid," he said. "But we can argue breeding later because we have to move." He was right. Howls were still in the distance.
"What did you have in mind?" I asked, desperate for a plan. The fox smiled. He had one.
The trees. Of all the places to hide, why the trees? But, I have to admit, it proved effective as the wolves burst through the sealed opening and ran up to the fox, surrounding him, growling. "Greeting, gents," said the fox. "Lost something, have we?" He tried to make light of the situation with that, earning my respect a little.
"Don't patronize me," a wolf, who I'm assuming was the captain growled. "I know where your allegiance lies. We're looking for some humans." The fox chuckled again.
"Please," he said. "Humans in Narnia? That's a dying bit of information, don't you think?" Suddenly, one of the wolves took the fox by the neck, causing him to yelp in pain. Lucy almost screamed, but luckily I put my hand over her mouth just in time.
"Your reward is your life," the head wolf snarled. "Where are the fugitives?" The fox panted before pointing with his paw.
"North," he lied. "They ran north."
"Smell them out," the wolf said running in the opposite direction. The fox then got dropped rather harshly on the snow by the wolf holding him. Once the wolves were all gone, we all climbed down from the tree and helped the kind-hearted fox to a small clearing in the woods, where I, with Beaver soon got a fire going. We all cooked some small pieces of meat as Mrs. Beaver applied a healing salve to the fox's mildly serious bite, to much complains from the latter. However, he managed to speak some about the badgers and other creatures.
"They were helping Tumnus," he said. "But the Witch got here before I did. Ow!" he said as the salve stung him.
"Are you alright?" Lucy timidly asked.
"Well," he chuckled. 'I wish I could say their bark was worse than their bite." He yelped again.
"Oh, stop squirming." Mrs. Beaver scolded. "You're worse than Beaver on bath day. He husband then shuddered, causing us to laugh.
"Thank you for your kindness." said the fox again. "But I'm afraid that's all the cure I have time for."
"You're leaving?" Lucy said, a little sad.
"It has been a pleasure, My Queen, and an honor." The fox bowed before my sister. "But time is short and Aslan and Princess Diamond themselves have asked me to round up more troops." The beavers gasped.
"You've seen them?" Beaver asked in astonishment.
"What are they like?" Mrs. Beaver said, excited.
"Like everything we've ever heard." said the fox. "But I must say, King Peter," he added, causing me to snap my head up. "Aslan could not have picked a better royal for you to be betrothed to." I nearly choked on my food and had to force it down.
"Betrothal?" I echoed in shock. "You mean I'm supposed to marry that girl?!" I sat back, my head swimming with this new piece of information. I had never met her. I knew nothing about her. I looked toward the beavers, who shrugged, and Susan and Lucy giggled, as did the fox again.
"Well, marriage agreements aside, you'll be lucky to have them by your side in the battle against the Witch."
"But we're not planning on fighting any witch." insisted Susan.
"But surely, King Peter," the fox said to me. I could get used to being called that. "The prophecy?" I looked around the campfire.
"We just want our brother back." I said honestly. I wanted to stay here, possibly forever. But Edmund was our top priority. And I promised myself that I would not rest until he was safe and sound.
So there it is guys, and God...this took forever! I hope you're happy with it as much as I am. Please review!
XOXO -Blue
