Not quite sure how to feel about this chapter, but, uh, here we go! :)
I feel like I didn't write the Witch or Edmund very well, but I tried my best.
Now, would you guys be interested in a bonus chapter of Thorin, Fili, and Kili arriving in Narnia, and how they fit into this? Cus yes they are in Narnia, too. I may or may not be starting it today, but if no one is interested, I won't write or post it, so let me know, please!
Alright, now onto the chapter! Hope you all like it!
God Bless and Good Day!
~The Lupine Sojourner
The one-eyed guard coming into the dungeon was the thing that woke me up from a cold, restless night's sleep. He was soon followed by the Witch.
Must be early morning, I note absently. There wasn't much light and it was still bitter cold.
"Bring the Dwarf." She orders and I barely have time to process that as the cell door is opened and I am set free, only to be roughly dragged from the cell. I stumble to keep my balance as I was shoved hard in front of the Witch. "There was something peculiar about your presence, Dwarf, when you were brought before me." She growls, stalking around me like a predator with its prey. I stand tall, despite my heart beating a little faster in my chest, reminding me of the bruise that was still healing there.
"My name is Aili." I retort defiantly, unwilling to provide her more information than I already had.
"Yes, and what was it you said? You are 'of Durin's line'?" She asks icily, coming back to stare directly at me intently. I stare back.
"Aye, that's right."
Her eyes narrow dangerously, and I swallow subconsciously. "I spoke with Ginnibrick, and he said there are no dwarf families with that name."
I chuckle. Insulting that dwarf made the Witch less terrifying. "It's no good asking him, Majesty." I retort. "He's a Narnian. I hail from Middle Earth."
"Whether or not you're lying, I will soon know." Jadis warns.
"I think you know I'm not lying." I reply evenly, somehow not as afraid as I had once been of this woman.
In reply, she strikes my face hard with the point of her wand. I reel back, my feet stumbling to regain my balance as stars dance in my eyes for a moment.
She is instantly right in front of me. "I grow tired of your insolence and lies. Where is Aslan?" She demands coldly, wand nearing my face again. I don't reply, feeling a drop of blood trickle from my temple where she'd hit me. She towers angrily over me, and my mind flickers for a moment, replacing Jadis with Azog again and I take an involuntary step back.
"Stop! I- -I found her lying in the snow! She didn't recognize the map I showed her! She can't be expected to know anything!" Tumnus protests desperately, coming closer to the door of the cell. My heart seizes in fear for the faun, now that he had intervened.
"Silence, faun!" She bellows, slamming the point of her wand into the ground.
Tumnnus cries out as a sickening crack was heard. I turn to see that Tumnus was sprawled on the ground, his right leg lying at an unnatural angle, twisted on a jagged ice spike.
"How dare you?!" I scream, whirling back to face Jadis angrily. Every once of my fear of her was gone in place of indignation and hatred. "All he did was speak!" The wand then stabs into my boot before I even knew she'd moved.
I scream in pain, automatically reaching to pull the wand from my foot when she tears her wand from my foot and grabs my chin, hauling me up to face her.
"You will not speak to me this way!" She hisses, eyes blazing with anger. "I am the ruler here!" The pain in my foot and temple bring a renewed terror of her as the silence lingers.
The silence only goes on for a moment, then I was tossed back to the guard, and I give a small cry of pain as my injured foot strikes the ground first. I stumble and fall down before the guard hauls me back up and chains my ankles again.
The Witch and the guard then leave and Tumnus and I are left to our own devices.
First thing I do is help Tumnus sit up. The ice didn't go through his leg, luckily. It was intended to break the leg, and it did so.
"How did she do that?" I ask breathily.
"I've heard her specialty is ice and petrification." Tumnus replies, voice trembling with pain.
I bite my lip, the pain in my foot ignored for now. I look around and find nothing I can use as splints. "I wish I could make a splint." I murmur. "The ice would just melt, so I can't use that. Best I can do is set the leg and wrap it."
"Better than nothing." He replies tightly, eyes clouded with pain and never leaving his broken leg. I nod and start ripping a few strips from my top tunic. I wasn't foolish enough to compromise the layer against my skin. "Thank you." He says softly as I work.
"Don't thank me yet; the setting is very painful." I warn. Tumnus nods and takes deep breaths to prepare himself. "3...2...1…" I gently grab his leg, making sure to do it in one fluid movement. Tumnus screams in pain as I quickly wrap it up as best I can around the break. "I'm sorry."
"It's...it's alright. Better than letting it heal wrong." He replies, voice trembling. I nod grimly.
Having done what I can, I grab my cloak, sighing heavily as I sit on the ground. It's then I'm reminded by a painful throbbing that my foot still needed tending to.
I grab my boot and slowly take it off, biting my lip to keep from screaming.
Luckily, the wound wasn't very big so the bones and tendons weren't terribly damaged, but it was all the way through my foot and blood oozed out slowly.
Suddenly, Tumnus' scarf falls beside my foot. I look up.
"You need it more than I do." He murmurs. I swallow, but take it, nodding gratefully at him.
I wrap my foot and use the rest of the scarf as a makeshift sock before putting the boot back on. "This is a fine mess." I sigh, grimacing as my foot throbbed.
"Not much we can do about it." Tumnus replies, sighing heavily as he adjusts his position to lay down. "I would have thought we'd be statues by now." He notes bitterly.
"Guess she prefers to draw out our punishment."
"Guess so." The silence lies heavy over the cell as the sun continues to creep up, sunlight filtering in with that cold blue hue to it.
As if the light were hope itself, a thought slowly occurs to me.
"Didn't that beaver say word of the humans in Narnia was spreading?" I ask, shivering a little. Tumnus nods.
"Yes, I believe he did." His eyes slowly become a little less pained and defeated. "And if that's the case, Narnians will have hope again! Which means maybe soon, the Witch's power will weaken and Aslan himself will return and Narnia will go back to the way it was before the Witch!" I smile for what feels like the first time since I was thrown in this cell.
"Aslan must be someone truly special if he can bring about such a change." I murmur.
"Oh, wait til you see him!" Tumnus sighs happily in the memory of the tales . "If even half the stories are true, he's unlike anything you've ever seen. I dearly hope I get to see him, at least once." I lean against him, feeling suddenly sleepy now that the adrenaline spike had started to wear off.
"Maybe some day…" I yawn, my eyes slowly closing as I lazily drape the cloak over Tumnus as much as possible. Tumnus leans on me in return a little, and we both nod off over the next few hours.
=#=#=#=#=
I come awake as there's some commotion upstairs. It seems the Witch is yelling at some poor soul.
"How long was I out?" I ask, rubbing my eyes. Tumnus was just coming awake as well.
The previous day had been spent either dozing off, or checking up on Tumnus' leg and my foot.
By nightfall, our wounds had stopped bleeding, but were still incredibly painful and stiff. It had been another restless night for the both of us.
It was now what appeared to be afternoon, and today was the same as yesterday; too quiet.
"I'm not sure." He replies. I notice that it's darker now.
"Must have been at least a few hours." I mumble, standing and stretching a bit more. I then sit back on my cloak. "I wonder if we're gonna have another cellmate." I muse, eying the ceiling as whatever was happening upstairs continued.
"Perhaps." Tumnus sighs. "I hope it's not the Pevensie children." I shudder at the thought, but before I can reply, I hear the guard coming down the stairs.
Right behind the guard is that wild-looking dwarf, leading- -oh, no!
"Edmund." I breath, my heart thudding into my stomach. Tumnus' eyes snap up to see the newcomer, groaning under his breath as Edmund is shoved into the cell beside ours and chained to the wall by his ankle.
The dwarf has a platter with a small mug of already half-frozen water and what looks like a stale chunk of bread. I try not to think about eating, but my mouth waters a little at the sight of food.
"Only three of those humans to get now. And we know where to find them. Your little friends won't save them." The dwarf sneers as he leaves, distracting me from my hunger. I glare back at him as he struts off, arrogant and smug in his victory.
Somewhere in the back of my head, I wonder what the dwarf meant by 'your little friends'. Likely, it was the beavers. I hope they're alright...
To distract myself, I watch through a sizeable gap in the ice wall between the cells as Edmund huddles into himself in an attempt to stay warm. He's wearing a strange outfit that didn't look like it would give much relief in a place this cold.
"How'd she get you?" I ask, my voice echoing as usual in the quiet.
Edmund starts and looks over. He seems to recognize me after a moment.
"You...you were with Lucy, weren't you?" He asks. I nod.
"Yes." Tumnus scoots over to get a better look, drawing Edmund's attention to him.
"...Mr. Tumnus?" Edmund guesses slowly.
"What's left of him." Tumnus replies, scooting a little closer still. "You're Lucy Pevensie's brother, aren't you?" Edmund nods. Tumnus swallows. "Is your sister alright?" He asks. "Is she safe?"
Edmund winces, realizing what all he had told the Witch and what that meant. "...I don't know." It's then Edmund notices that Tumnus doesn't use his legs, the boy's eyes drawn to the wrapping I'd done.
"What happened?" Edmund asks as if he already had a pretty good idea. I sigh.
"The Witch didn't take kindly to being undermined." I reply sourly. "She was trying to get us to tell her where Aslan was."
Edmund frowns. "I think I remember the beavers saying something about him. Those dwarves and my siblings believed them, but I don't think- -"
"Dwarves?" I interject, leaning toward the gap eagerly. If there was even a possibility… "What dwarves?"
"I don't know! They say they're from some mountain, and there was a big battle- -"
"Erebor?" I ask, and if I weren't chained to the wall, I'd be in Edmund's cell. "Were...were they from Erebor?"
"Maybe if you stop interrupting me, I'd tell you." Edmund grumbles, drawing back a bit, then he huffs. "Maybe they are. I don't remember."
"Edmund, please. This is important." I plead, "What did they look like?" Please, please let it be my family...please tell me I'm not alone here anymore...
"Well, there were three of them. I think one was blonde, the other brunette and there was an older one, Thor-something-or-other."
I laugh aloud in delight and surprise. "That's my uncle, Thorin! And my brothers! I thought they were still in Middle-Earth!" I dance around a little before my foot reminds me that's a bad idea. I sit back down, still laughing.
"Don't know what you're laughing about." Edmund snaps bitterly, "Those wolves will get to them soon." Edmund remarks and the swelling of joy bursts. I blink.
"What do you mean?" I ask.
"The Witch sent them out. I...I told them where to go." I pale, eyes widening.
"You did what?!" I demand, suddenly wanting to throttle this boy.
"I didn't know what the Witch was going to do!" Edmund protests, offended that I was upset with him.
"Didn't the beavers tell you of the prophecy?" Tumnus asks.
"I wasn't listening to any of that rubbish." Edmund defends, arms crossed.
"Edmund, if the Witch finds and captures your family, she will kill you. All of you." I tell him. So far, he had no idea the gravity of what he had done. I needed to make him understand. "You and your siblings are Narnia's hope."
Edmund curls up. "I didn't know or care about any of that when I told her." He mumbles, looking almost sheepish, but with a good deal of irritation at being scolded. "I just wanted to see her again."
I pinch the bridge of my nose. "She acted nice, didn't she, when you met her?" I ask, trying a different approach.
"Until I came back without my family. I thought she only wanted to meet them, so I told her. I wanted her to be the person I met in the woods again. She was so nice..." I take a deep breath.
I know it wasn't entirely Edmund's fault that he'd betrayed his siblings, but the fact of the matter is he did betray them and now those children were in danger.
"If my family is with them, they'll do what they can against the wolves." I say, clinging to that hope. I just pray they're armed.
Silence falls over the dungeon, each of us left to our thoughts.
"I hate to ask…" Tumnus begins, eyeing the chunk of bread hungrily, "but could we split that bread? Aili and I haven't been fed for a day or two now, and…"
Edmund tosses the whole thing over, going for his cup instead, only to find the contents had frozen solid.
I barely catch the bread and manage a thank you, using the sharp edges to the gap to try and slice the bread. It somewhat works and Tumnus and I dig in. It does little to satisfy our hunger, but it's something.
I toss the last few bites back to Edmund.
"Here. You need to eat, too." Edmund shakes his head.
"No, you eat it."
"Edmund, you need to eat."
Before Edmund can reply, there's thundering footsteps down the stairs. I back away from the gap and shiver in fear as the Witch herself storms into the dungeon, followed, of course, by the guard and that irritating dwarf.
"My police tore that dam apart." She growls at Edmund, ignoring Tumnus and I, thankfully. "Your little family, and their friends, were nowhere to be found." I find that a small comfort, knowing that the Pevensies and my family were still alive. Only problem is avoiding the wolves. Jadis leans in, grabs the front of Edmund's shirt, and draws him up to her eye level. "Where did they go?" She demands icily, the hand holding her wand itching toward Edmund.
I pale, praying she won't petrify him.
"I-I don't know!" Edmund stammers desperately. The Witch's eyes held no mercy or pity.
"Then you're of no further use to me." She drops Edmund and raises the wand to strike, but before I can do or say anything, Edmund pipes up again.
"Wait! Th-the beavers said something about Aslan!" If the situation was bad before, that statement made things ten times worse. My gut told me that was the absolute worst choice Edmund could have made.
I try not to react outwardly, but it's hard when the Witch's eyes ignite with rage, but also...something like worry. I find that an interesting notion as I share a glance with Tumnus, both of us realizing we had to keep that piece of information, if Edmund knew anything, from the Witch at all costs.
"Aslan?" Jadis repeats, "Where?" Edmund considers the question for a perilous few seconds.
"I…- -"
"He-he's a stranger here, Your Majesty! He can't be expected to know anything." Tumnus interjects, leaning forward a bit. I flinch as Jadis' eyes flick to the dwarf, who slams the hilt of his axe against Tumnus' temple.
Tumnus gives a small cry, falling silent.
"I said, 'where is Aslan'?" The Witch asks impatiently. Edmund glances at us, unsure what to do. Tumnus and I try to communicate the need for silence through a look as best we can, praying he got the message.
I shake my head as subtly as I can.
Edmund seems to get the message. "I...I don't know. I left before they said anything." He mumbles. The Witch doesn't look convinced. "I wanted to see you!" Edmund adds as an excuse, and I must admit he plays the lie well, though I suppose that's because it wasn't entirely a lie.
Time crawls agonizingly slowly in the tense silence that follows. Jadis sets her jaw, making some decision.
"Guard!" She barks. Instantly, the guard approaches.
"Your Majesty." It intones with a heavy, thick voice.
"Release the faun." She orders, and my heart drops, knowing what was about to happen.
The guard shoves me roughly out of the way, uncuffing Tumnus roughly. I wince as Tumnus cries out, his leg potentially jostled enough to reinjure it. He's dragged cruelly out of the cell and to the Witch, plopped unceremoniously at his feet. I try not to show my fear or panic, but I am shaking helplessly as the Witch turns almost casually to Tumnus.
"Do you know why you're here, faun?" She asks, as if asking about the weather. Tumnus, for his part, puts on a brave face and looks up at Jadis.
"Because I believe in a free Narnia." He replies, voice trembling a little in pain and fear.
There's a cruel amusement in Jadis' eyes as she flicks her wand to point at Edmund. "You're here...because he turned you in." Jadis explains and Tumnus' face drops. "For sweeties." She adds cruelly, smirking at her easy manipulation of the poor boy. Tumnus can't hide his hurt at that knowledge and I swallow. Jadis knew exactly what she was doing.
She was adding insult to injury, making sure Edmund wouldn't have many friends should he escape.
"Take him upstairs." Jadis orders the guard. I freeze in panic.
"No! Don't!" I cry, unable to help it.
Jadis doesn't even look as Tumnus dragged off, grunting and crying out in pain as his leg is further reinjured.
Tumnus had been looking out for me since I got to Narnia, sticking up for me when Mr. Beaver doubted my allegiance.
His eyes meet mine one last time as he's dragged up the stairs. He's trying to be strong, but he can't find it in him anymore.
I swallow thickly, unwilling to let Jadis see how much Tumnus being dragged off affected me, as cruel as that sounds.
"Don't worry, dwarf; your time will come, too." Jadis promises, and I shudder. Jadis then addresses her dwarf henchman. "Ready my sleigh. Edmund and Aili miss their family and friends."
I pale. She was planning to make a spectacle of my petrification in front of Uncle and my brothers before she captures all four of the Pevensies, and Aule only knows how grand a show she'd make out of killing them.
She leaves us to our despair, and I finally let my tears fall.
If Uncle and my brothers really were here, they'd relive Ravenhill all over again! They'd be forced to watch- -again- -as their family was killed in front of them.
And I was completely helpless to stop it.
My hands cover my mouth as more tears stream down my face.
I was shaking, chest aching terribly, hardly able to breathe, when a small voice broke quietly through my tears and shaky breathing.
"...I...I'm sorry." Slowly, as if my body were made of iron, I turn to look at Edmund. He was shaking too, though from the cold or his emotions I don't know. "I never meant to- -I never meant for this to happen. I'm so sorry…"
I notice wet streaks down his cheeks. It's then I remember that he was only a child.
He'd had no idea how to handle a situation like that and did what he thought was best. After all, in his shoes and at his age, under direct threat to my life, I might have done the same thing. Maybe.
The fact of the matter is he's hardly more than ten years old, by the looks of it. He needed someone to look out for and protect him, whether he knew it or not.
Forcing myself to wipe my eyes, I make a promise to myself.
I would be that person. I would do what I can to help Edmund. Even if it means sacrificing myself so he could escape, it would be worth it.
I take a breath. "I know, Edmund. Eat the bread quickly. Doubt the Witch will feed us at all." I say, trying to sound strong as I gather up my cloak.
Edmund seems surprised. "Are you sure you don't want it?"
I shake my head. "No. You eat it. I've had my share of the bread. Eat quick. They'll be back in a minute." He quickly does. It was a matter of seconds til he was finished, really. It was a piteous meal, but it was all I could do. I then toss him my cloak. "Put that on. Those clothes aren't nearly warm enough."
A little of Edmund's previous self seems to return as he scrunches up his nose. "Neither are yours."
I chuckle a little. "I, however, am used to cold winters. Put it on." I insist. He does, awkwardly fumbling with the clasp as I try to tell him how to work it.
As if it were timed, as soon as Edmund had the cloak settled on his shoulders, the guard's thundering footsteps were heard coming down the stairs.
The guard is alone, quickly releasing our cuffs before shoving us toward the stairs with a grunt, continuing to shove us all the way up and toward that nasty dwarf that follows the Witch around.
The dwarf has a whip for the sleigh on his hands, using it to push both of us out toward the courtyard. As soon as we step into the courtyard, however, we halt for a moment.
There was poor Mr. Tumnus, in a desperate, pained pose, mouth open in a helpless cry, arms up as if to save himself.
I swallow thickly, not wanting to picture my own statue joining him, or heaven forbid the Pevensies.
It's then the Witch makes herself known with a crisp, sarcastic command.
"Whenever you two are ready." She stood by the sleigh impatiently.
With no alternative, we slowly walk over, knowing we were walking to our deaths.