Chapter 6: Two Different Legends

"Shut up!" Edmund whispered sharply, poking his head out from behind the curtain where he was still hiding. "He's coming!" Not a second after he said this, Peter emerged in a side hallway and spotted his siblings. Edmund gave a big sigh, irritated that he had lost.

"You know, I'm not sure you two quite have the idea of this game," said Peter, confused.

"Weren't you wondering where I was?" asked Lucy. When she had come out of the wardrobe it had seemed to be the same time of day that she had left, but surely at least some time had to have passed. Shouldn't it have?

"That's the point!" sighed Edmund, coming out from the curtain. "That's why he was seeking you!"

"Does this mean I win?" Susan asked, now herself coming into the hallway.

"I don't think Lucy wants to play anymore," said Peter.

"I've been…gone for hours…" Lucy said slowly.

"What do you mean, Lu?" Peter asked. Lucy's eyes brightened.

"Follow me!" she said, going back in the direction from whence she came. Hersiblings followed quickly on her heels.

"Lucy, where are you taking us?" Susan asked.

"Into the spare room!" she replied. "There's a wardrobe inside!"

"You want us to see a wardrobe?" Peter asked.

"No!" Lucy said. "What's inside!"

"And what's inside?" asked Susan.

"Wait until you see it!" Lucy exclaimed. "There's a whole wood in there! And it's snowing! It's called Narnia! There's a Witch and I went in and met a faun, and he invited me to tea and he told me stories! And- here it is!" She pushed open the door and raced back to the wardrobe. "See for yourselves! It really is wonderful!"

"Why you goose!" said Susan, putting her head inside and pulling the fur coats apart. "The only wood in here is the back of the wardrobe." She knocked on it just to prove her point. Edmund knocked on its side and Peter inspected the back of the wardrobe too.

"A jolly good hoax, Lu!" he said. "You really took us in, I must admit. We have believed you."

"What?!" Lucy exclaimed. She went and looked. Indeed there was the back wall of the wardrobe, plain brown wood. "It was different a moment ago! Honestly, it was. I promise!"

"One game at a time, Lucy," Peter said. "We all don't have your imagination." He, Edmund, and Susan began to leave.

"But I wasn't imagining it!" Lucy cried. Her face was red and puffed, tears in her eyes.

"That's enough, Lucy," said Susan sternly.

"I wouldn't lie about this!"

"Well I believe you," said Edmund, stepping forward.

"You do?" Lucy asked, wiping her eyes.

"Yeah, of course," Edmund said, smiling. "Didn't I tell you all about the football field in the bathroom cupboards?" He began to snicker, making Lucy cry more.

"Oh, will you just stop?" said Peter angrily. He had had quite enough of his brother's antics. "You just have to make everything worse, don't you?!"

"It was just a joke!" he defended.

"When will you grow up?" Peter sighed. This time, Edmund couldn't hold it in.

"Shut up!" exclaimed Edmund, bringing himself close to Peter's face, his own red with anger. "You think you're Dad but you're not!" And with that, he stormed out of the room.

"Well that was nicely handled." Susan said slyly. She glared at Peter then began to go after Edmund.

"But…" whispered Lucy in a small voice. Peter turned to look at her, his heart wrenched at the sight of her teary eyes. "It really was there." He wanted to believe her, he would have if he was younger. But at sixteen he just couldn't. Lucy was also getting too old for these things. He knew he had to be firm with her.

"Susan's right, Lucy," he said with as much gentleness as he could. "That's enough." But it just made it worse. Lucy grew redder in the face and tried to say something, though she hardly knew what she was trying to say, burst into tears and ran out of the room; leaving only Peter to stare at the still open wardrobe. He walked over to it and shut its door, but not before he could've sworn he felt a small cold wind. "No," he thought. "Lucy's getting to me. Now I'm imagining things, too. Come on, Peter, be a man." Pushing the thought from his mind he shut the door of the wardrobe and left the room to find the others.

For the next few hours Lucy was very miserable. She could have made up with the others quite easily at any moment if she could have brought herself to say that the whole thing was only a story made up for fun. But Lucy was a very truthful girl and prided herself in her honesty. She knew that she was really in the right; but she could not bring herself to say this. Her siblings who thought she was telling a lie, and a very silly one at that, made her very unhappy. Peter and Susan did this without meaning to, but Edmund could be very spiteful, and on this occasion he was spiteful. He sneered and jeered at Lucy the rest of the day and kept on asking her if she'd found any other new countries in other cupboards all over the house. He almost dared to ask her at dinner if the food had come from this "Narnia" but Peter kicked him under the table to stop him before he could.

A few days later, at night, even though it was very late, Lucy could not bring herself to sleep. She laid awake in her bed looking at the candle burning on the nightstand. For a few minutes she tried to imagine the flame turning into another faun that was dancing. If she had been older she would have said that she felt the wardrobe calling to her. She just wanted to know if Mr. Tumnus was alright. Finally she couldn't take it anymore. She had to see if Narnia truly was real, or if it had all been simply her imagination. She snuck a quick glance at Susan to make sure that she was asleep and after being sure that she was, Lucy sat up in bed and instead of putting on her slippers, put on galoshes. She wrapped herself in her pink robe and took hold of the candle. As quietly as she could so as not to wake Susan, Lucy crept over the floorboards, out of the room and down the hall.

Once she had gone almost all the way down, Edmund, who was also awake as he had been using the bathroom, saw Lucy heading straight towards the wardrobe room. With a grin playing on his lips he decided to follow her. Not because he thought it a particularly good thing to make sure she got back to bed but because he wanted to go on teasing her about her imaginary wood. Lucy had no idea that Edmund was behind her. Her only focus was on Mr. Tumnus. She walked towards the wardrobe and opened the door. Immediately a blast of cold wind hit her in the face, extinguishing the flame of her candle. Lucy smiled with delight and relief and practically bounced into the wardrobe. Edmund came in just in time to see the hem of Lucy's robe vanish through the door.

"She thinks I'm Susan coming to catch her," he thought to himself. "And so she's hiding because she doesn't want to stop playing her little game." He crept to the wardrobe and flung the door open. "Boo!" he shouted. But there was no scream of reply from Lucy. "She's not that smart," he thought. "Lucy…I hope you're not afraid of the dark!" Edmund climbed in the wardrobe and shut the door, forgetting what a very foolish thing this was to he began feeling about for Lucy in the dark. He had expected to find her in a few seconds and was very surprised when he did not. He decided to open the door again and let in some light. But he could not find the door either. He didn't like this at all and began groping wildly in every direction. At first he felt nothing but fur coats but then became very shocked and surprised when his fingers brushed against something rough. He called out for Lucy but there was no answer and Edmund noticed that his own voice had a curious sound- not the sound you expect in a wardrobe, but a kind of open air sound. He also noticed that he was unexpectedly cold; and then he saw light. He thought the door must have swung open on its own accord. For a moment he forgot all about Lucy and went towards the light, which he thought would lead him into the spare room. But instead of finding himself stepping out there he found himself tumbling backwards and falling flat on his back on crisp, dry snow. Edmund quickly scrambled to his feet and took in the scenery around him.

He was standing in the middle of a mystic wood, more snow lying on the branches of the trees. Overhead there was a pale gray sky, the sort of sky one sees on a winter day in the morning. Right ahead of him he saw between the tree trunks the outline of the sun, just rising. Everything was perfectly still, as if he were the only living creature in that wood. There was not even a robin or a squirrel among the trees, and they stretched as far as he could see in every direction. He shivered and now remembered that he had been looking for Lucy. And he also remembered how unpleasant he had been to her about her "imaginary forest" which now turned out not to have been imaginary at all. He began to walk through the snow, thinking she couldn't be that far off. "Lucy, where are you?" he called. "I think I believe you now! I'm sorry!" He received no answer. "Lucy!"

But Lucy was far out of the earshot of her brother. As soon as her feet hit the snow she took off running towards Mr. Tumnus's cave. She felt her stomach grow a pit in anticipation. Even though it was freezing out, she felt her palms sweating. As soon as she reached the corner where 's cave was, she took a quick pause; trying to prepare herself in case the worst happened. She walked around the corner and all her bad feelings went away once she saw that the cave door looked just the same as when she came the first time. She sprinted as best as she could with her clunky galoshes and immediately knocked on the door. She waited for a few seconds before Mr. Tumnus himself opened it. He looked down to see Lucy standing there and his face contorted into shock.

"Lucy?" he whispered. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, Mr. Tumnus, you're alright!" Lucy threw her arms around his middle and hugged him. He returned the gesture, for he was happy to see her, too.

"What are you doing here?" he repeated.

"I wanted to see if you were unharmed," she replied. "And the wardrobe let me back in!"

"Well, come in, hurry!" said Mr. Tumnus, ushering her inside. As soon as he closed the door and Lucy stepped inside, she found that all his curtains were drawn and every nook and cranny that would've let in even the faintest of light were plugged up with scraps of fabric. "I must say you gave me a bit of a fright. I thought you were the Secret Police. Would you care for a spot of breakfast?"

"Oh, yes please!" Lucy said cheerily. She hadn't eaten much of her dinner out of nervousness and was now very hungry. Mr. Tumnus poured her a cup of tea and gave her a small plate of sausages, eggs, and beets on toast. "Mr. Tumnus?" Lucy asked after a while.

"Yes?"

"You mentioned something called the Secret Police. Who are they?" Mr. Tumnus almost spat out his tea but managed to swallow and set the cup down. He leaned close to Lucy and lowered his voice to a whisper.

"They are the White Witch's wolves who patrol at her command all throughout Narnia. Anyone caught doing anything against her laws are taken and dragged to her, where she either kills them…or turns them to stone." Lucy's eyes widened, hardly believing that someone could do such a thing.

"Why would she do that?" she whispered back.

"Remember when I said that she has all of Narnia under her thumb?" Lucy nodded in remembrance. "She does it to make sure that Narnia stays that way."

"So really she's the queen then?" Lucy asked.

"She wishes she was!" Mr. Tumnus said with disgust. "No, only one of the Moltenores can be the true Queen."

"The Moltenores?" Lucy repeated, her curiosity sparked. "Who are they?"

"Ah, now that's a story I would love to tell you." Mr. Tumnus arose from his chair and went to one of the bookshelves and selected a thin volume. It was bound in blue leather and had a symbol of a crown on the cover. It looked like it was made of gold. The title of the book read: A Short History of the Moltenore Family: Heroes of Narnia.

"Heroes?" Lucy asked. "How are they heroes?"

"Before I tell you that, we must start at the beginning," Mr. Tumnus said. "Around five hundred years ago, the first records of the Moltenore family popped up. Though they are said to be descended from the stars themselves."

"The stars?" Lucy asked in wonderment.

"Yes," smiled Mr. Tumnus. "According to legend, the star Sirisea came down to Narnia and fell in love with a man, who was a Moltenore. She became with child and wanted to marry him, but her mother and father, the moon and the sun, forbade the union. So heartbroken Sirisea was that she gave an early birth to a daughter who barely survived. Afterwards, she went back up to the sky, leaving her love to raise their child alone."

"That's awful. The sun and moon just stopped Sirisea from being with Mr. Moltenore?" Lucy said.

"Yes, but for the next part of the story, we have to jump forward three hundred years."

"What happened then?"

"Well," Mr. Tumnus flipped to a different part of the book. "During this time, Narnia was ruled by a horrible royal family, though still not nearly as bad as the Witch. There was King Gerfast, who was so greedy he nearly ran the kingdom dry filling his treasury with gold. He never spent any of it, he just wanted to have it. His wife was Queen Poheis, who they say was so vain that the only time she stopped looking at herself in the mirror was when she was sleeping. She did use the money, but only to buy lotions and potions to maintain her youth and looks. They had three children; Princess Besseta, Prince Roule, and Prince Tibout, who were spoiled rotten and each one was nastier than the other. They sat in the five thrones at castle Cair Paravel, and Narnia suffered greatly under them."

"They do sound rather horrid," Lucy agreed.

"Horrid doesn't even begin to describe them," agreed Mr. Tumnus. "The Moltenore family at this time were the servants that lived in the castle, attending to the royalty. The lowest of the low. There were many of them, but they still didn't seem to be enough to answer the royals' every beck and call. Eventually they had all had enough. One of them, Irevern Moltenore-" Mr. Tumnus flipped the pages and showed Lucy a drawing of a woman, wearing rags but with a crown on her head and a scepter in her hand. "Gathered a rebellion of her family members, other noble houses, and any peasant who would join and rose up against the royalty."

Lucy gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. "What happened?" she asked. "Did they win?"

"They most certainly did!" Mr. Tumnus replied with a wide smile. "They overthrew the evil royal family forever. And everyone agreed that Irevern should be the new Queen. And so she was." Lucy was silent for a while, then her face scrunched in confusion.

"But I don't understand, Mr. Tumnus," she asked. "Exactly how did they do it?"

"Well," began Mr. Tumnus, flipping through more of the book. "The Moltenore had…" he paused for dramatic effect. "Magic!" Lucy went wide eyed.

"Magic?" she whispered.

"Yes. No one knows for sure how they received it, but once they did and Irevern was crowned Queen, she declared that only another female could sit on the throne and be the true heir. And they ruled over a period of peace and prosperity for three hundred years. Until she came…"

"The White Witch?" Lucy asked.

"Yes," replied Mr. Tumnus, standing up and putting the book away. "She came to Narnia exactly one hundred years ago with her dark icy powers. She killed the Moltenore Queen Ynacia and took the throne. And all of the other female heirs were killed as well, so that way she could have no one overthrow her. And her winter would last forever."

"Is there no way to stop it?" Lucy asked timidly.

"Only one," said Mr. Tumnus. Then he paused for a long while. "But that's a story for another time. Would you like more tea?" With that, Mr. Tumnus refilled Lucy's cup and they went on with the visit.

Now we must go back to Edmund. While Lucy was chatting and eating with Mr. Tumnus in his cozy, warm cave, Edmund was walking through the snow. His slippers were soaked and his fingers were almost numb. But he continued to call for Lucy.

"Lucy! I'm sorry I didn't believe you! Come out so we can go home!" There was, of course, no answer from Lucy. "Just like a girl!" he thought. He did not like to admit when he was wrong and he especially didn't like being alone in this wintry forest. He looked around him again and decided he did not much like this place, and had almost made up his mind to go home. Then he heard, very far off in the wood, the sound of bells. He listened and the sound came nearer and nearer and at last there swept into sight a sleigh drawn by several reindeer. The reindeer were about the size of Shetland ponies and their hair was so white that even the snow hardly looked white compared with them; their branching horns were gilded and shone like something on fire when the sunrise caught them. Their harness was of scarlet leather and covered with silver bells. On the sleigh, driving the reindeer, sat a fat dwarf about three feet high. He was dressed in polar bear's fur and on his head he wore a red hood with a long gold tassel hanging down from its point. His huge beard covered his knees and looked more like a rug than anything else. After the sleigh had gone a little ways past Edmund it suddenly stopped. It flew by him with such a rush that Edmund was knocked off his feet into the snow.

He looked at the sleigh, barely having time to notice it was made out of ice. Through the transparent top he saw what looked like icicles hovering in midair. He hadn't even noticed that he had been staring when suddenly, the fat dwarf that had been driving the sleigh jumped off his seat and ran right at Edmund. And he had a whip. Edmund scrambled to his feet and began to try and run but as soon as he did the dwarf threw the whip around Edmund's legs and back onto the snow he went. He then jumped on top of Edmund and pulled out a knife, holding it to Edmund's throat.

"Leave me alone!" Edmund managed to cry out.

"What is it now, Ginarrbrik?" came a female voice from the sleigh. She sounded like a woman of authority…and very irritated.

"Make him let me go!" pleaded Edmund. "I didn't do anything wrong!"

"How dare you address the Queen of Narnia!" the dwarf named Ginarrbrik shouted.

"I didn't know!" defended Edmund.

"You will know her better hereafter!" yelled the dwarf, raising his knife. Edmund closed his eyes and braced himself.

"Wait!" said the woman suddenly. Ginarrbrik climbed off of Edmund and put away his knife. Edmund sat up on the snow and looked at the woman. She was taller than any woman he had ever seen before. She was dressed in a gown that rose from a pale blue to pure white. She had a white fur cloak around her shoulders but her arms were bare. She had golden hair twisted into small coils piled on top of her head, but it was so long it still managed to be over her shoulder. Her face was very pale, just as white as icing-sugar, but her lips were ruby red. In her hand she held a staff that looked to be made out of pure ice itself. Edmund thought she was very beautiful, but proud, cold, and stern. Edmund was reminded of Mrs. Macready. She looked at Edmund with a mixture of confusion and curiosity. "What is your name, Son of Adam?" Edmund was now confused. He had no idea what that meant.

"Um…I-I'm Edmund," he said, finally finding the strength to stand up.

"And how 'Edmund'," asked the Lady. "Did you come to enter my dominion?"

"I'm not sure," Edmund said carefully, not quite understanding how the wardrobe worked himself. "I think I came in through a wardrobe…"

"A wardrobe?" she asked. "What do you mean?" Edmund swallowed hard.

"I-I just opened the door to a wardrobe and found myself here…Your Majesty." In that moment he quickly remembered that she was a monarch.

"Of course," replied the queen. "A door to the world of Adam and Eve! Indeed I have heard of such things. And you got here on your own?"

"Not quite, Your Majesty," replied Edmund. "I was just following my sister and-"

"Your sister?" interrupted the queen. "How many are you?"

"Four," Edmund quickly replied. "But Lucy's the only one that's been here before. She said she met some faun called…Tumnus!" Edmund didn't see the dark look that flashed in the queen's eyes. "Peter and Susan didn't believe her, and I didn't either." He looked up meekly at the queen. To his surprise, she was smiling.

"Edmund," she said in a very different voice. She had a gentle tone. "You look so cold. Come sit with me." She gestured towards the sleigh. Edmund wasn't so sure but he dared not disobey. He walked toward the sleigh and stepped on (though rather he was pushed by the dwarf). Then he sat next to the queen. She put her white mantle around him and tucked it in. Edmund at once became a great deal warmer. "Now," said the queen again. "How about something hot to drink?"

"Yes please, Your Majesty." replied Edmund through his chattering teeth. The queen took from somewhere among her wrappings a very small bottle which looked as if it were made of silver and studded with emeralds. Then, holding out her arm, she let one drop fall from it on the snow beside the sleigh. Edmund saw the drop for a second in midair, shining just like the emeralds on the bottle. But the moment it touched the snow there was a hissing sound and in a few seconds there stood a jeweled cup full of something that steamed. The dwarf picked it up and handed it to him.

"Your drink, Sire," he sneered with an oily smile.

"How did you do that?" Edmund asked the queen in amazement.

"I can make anything you like," she replied. Edmund felt much better as he took a sip of the drink. It was very warm; sweet, foamy, and creamy. It reminded him of peppermint hot chocolate.

"Can you make me taller?" he jokingly asked the queen. She gave a small chuckle.

"It is dull, Son of Adam, to drink without eating. What would you like best to eat?" Edmund perked up considerably. If he could have anything he wanted, he may as well get his favorite.

"Turkish Delight, please, Your Majesty." The queen raised her eyebrows for a quick moment but then raised the bottle again. Onto the snow fell another emerald green drop. Instantly there appeared a round, also jeweled, box, tied with a green silk ribbon. Edmund opened it to find several pounds of the best Turkish Delight. As he began to eat, the queen took the cup from him and handed it to the dwarf. He snuck a sip then threw it against a tree, where it turned to snow before it even hit. Edmund had never tasted anything more delicious. Each piece was sweet and light to the very center, the flavor of rosewater caressing his tongue. He was quite warm now, and very comfortable.

"Edmund," asked the queen as he ate. "I would very much like to meet the rest of your family."

"Why?" asked Edmund with his mouth full, not caring about his manners. "They're nothing special."

"Oh, I'm sure they're not," the queen said, as if she had never agreed with anything more. "At least not nearly as delightful as you are." She then took the box away. To Edmund's amusement she removed Ginarrbrik's hat from his head and wiped Edmund's mouth with it (the dwarf stole a few delights as well). "But you see," continued the queen. "I have no children of my own. And you are exactly the type of boy that I could see becoming Prince of Narnia one day. Maybe even King."

"Really?" Edmund liked this idea very much. He could rule over this whole country. And no one, not even Peter would be able to tell him what to do.

"Of course!" smiled the queen. "But you'd have to bring your family."

"Does that mean Peter would be a King, too?" asked Edmund with annoyed disgust.

"Oh, no!" said the queen with a laugh. "But a King needs servants…" This sounded better and better to Edmund. What he didn't know was that the Turkish Delight he had been eating was enchanted; enchanted to be so addictive that any other man would commit murder for just one more piece.

"Well, in that case, I guess I could bring them," he agreed. Then the queen brought him in closer and pointed in the direction of the distant small mountains.

"Do you see those two hills beyond these woods?" she asked. Edmund nodded to tell her he did. "My house is right between them." She then removed her mantle from Edmund and stood him up. "You'd love it there, Edmund," she went on. "It has whole rooms simply stuffed with Turkish Delight. It is a lovely place, my house."

"But please, Your Majesty," pleaded Edmund. "Couldn't I have some more now?"

"No!" said the queen rather sternly. But before Edmund could sense it, her gentle smile and tone were back. "You wouldn't want to ruin your appetite. Besides, the magic will only work once. In my house it would be another matter."

"Why can't we go to your house now?" Edmund asked. He was trying to compose himself but his mouth watered for more.

"Oh, but if I took you there now," replied the queen. "I won't get to meet your brother or sisters. I very much want to know your charming kin. I might have to be disappointed if you came alone. I'm counting on you, Edmund." Edmund realized the queen was right, and he certainly did not want to disappoint her. "Now you and I are going to be seeing each other again very soon, won't we?"

"I hope so, Your Majesty," said Edmund eagerly. He then hopped off the sleigh.

"Till then, dear one," smiled the queen, tapping Edmund on the nose. "I'm going to miss you." And with that, Ginarrbrik resumed his position as the driver of the sleigh. With the crack of his whip and the jingling of the bells, the queen rode away, waving goodbye to him. Edmund was still staring after her when he heard someone call his own name. Looking around he saw Lucy coming towards him from a different part of the wood.

"Oh, Edmund!" she exclaimed. She rushed towards him and threw her arms around his torso. Edmund did not like hugs, but Lucy had a viper's grip. "You got in, too! Isn't it wonderful?"

"Where have you been all this time?" he asked, peeling Lucy off him.

"With Mr. Tumnus!" smiled Lucy. "He's fine! The White Witch hasn't found out anything about him meeting me!"

"The White Witch?" Edmund repeated. Lucy took a quick glance at the trees, then leaned in close so she could whisper.

"She calls herself the Queen of Narnia, but she really isn't. She killed the real royal family and took their throne! Can you imagine anything so awful?" Edmund said nothing, so Lucy continued. "All the good beings of Narnia simply hate her. She can turn people to stone and do all sorts of horrible things. And she has trapped Narnia in a forever winter with her dark magic; always winter, never Christmas, as Mr. Tumnus says. And she drives about on a white sleigh with her wand in her hand and a crown made of ice on her head." Edmund began to feel very sick. Could the lady he had just made friends with be a dangerous, murdering tyrant? Before he could entertain the thought even further he remembered the Turkish Delight and how badly he wanted to taste it again.

"Well, you can't always believe what fauns say," said Edmund, trying to pretend that he knew much more about them than Lucy did, even though he had never met one.

"Who said that?" Lucy asked.

"Everyone knows it," he said. "Ask anyone you like."

"Are you alright?" asked Lucy suddenly. "You look awful."

"Well, what do you expect?" defended Edmund. "It's freezing! How do we get out of here?"

"Come on, this way," Lucy said. She grabbed Edmund's hand and began to tug him through the snow. Just before they re-entered the wardrobe and Narnia was out of his sight, Edmund looked back at where the queen said her house was. He longed to go there. But now he had to think. He had to think of a plan to get Peter and Susan in.