Chapter 10: Off to Narnia

Mallory and Father Christmas walked away from the stables and over towards a great, big willow tree that Mallory hadn't noticed before this. It was some time before Mallory realised that this was the only willow tree in the valley.

At the foot of the willow tree its roots spread out so thickly and so high that it made a nice ledge to sit on. Father Christmas pushed its curtain of drooping leaves apart and said to Mallory, "Sit, Mallory."

She sat on the roots and he dropped heavily onto the empty space beside her.

He didn't say anything to her at all for the next few minutes. Mallory wondered what on earth he had wanted to say to her, and why it was so important and private.

Finally, he said, "Do you remember this willow tree, Mallory?"

That shocked her properly, but she gave a thought about it anyway. Willow tree? Willow tree? She shook her head. "No, Father Christmas. Why?"

He smiled and laughed softly. "How can you not? You planted this tree yourself, don't you remember?"

Mallory's mouth fell open. "But – but I haven't. You must be mistaken. I couldn't have – have been here before."

"Yes, you did," he said in gentle firmness. He cast his pensive blue eyes upon hers. "You were especially fond of willow trees, and you couldn't stand my insisting on having only pine trees in my valley, so you threatened to plant this willow tree by the well. We had a row over it, because it was plain silly of you to plant a tree by a well, and I didn't like willow trees anyway. But Aslan said you could if you promised not to plant it near the well, so you chose this spot. I was so angry about it I didn't speak to you for days. If Arundel was the one who had wanted to plant this willow tree, Aslan would have said no, but he said yes to you. Do you know why? Because he loved you most."

Mallory was puzzled and stupefied. "What – what do you mean, Father Christmas? I'm not – I – I couldn't have - "

He continued speaking as if he hadn't heard her. "Then you and Aslan returned to Narnia to aid King Frank and Queen Helen establish order. The wicked woman who claimed herself Queen of Narnia, Jadis her name was, had created creatures of her own in her House far in the north of Narnia and she had led an army of them against Narnia. You and Aslan went to their rescue. Have you really forgotten? You led the creatures of Narnia yourself. In a short space of time you taught them how to wield weapons. You won. You were always a great warrior and leader in war. And I suppose the victory came because while the Tree of Protection still stood, Narnia is protected from danger and blemish."

Slowly, things began to make the smallest sense to her, but she didn't dare to say it aloud.

"But you made a mistake. You did not kill the wicked Witch. You would have, but Aslan forbade you to. He was a great believer in diplomacy, he was. And he was the only person you would listen to. You held the Witch captive even though you would dearly like to kill her, but you were obedient to Aslan. And what a mistake it was. You – you did something horrible, I didn't know exactly what it was, and Aslan had no choice but to punish you. He turned you out of Narnia, out of Archenland, out of this world, but - "

" – here I am," Mallory finished quietly. Father Christmas looked at her, a little surprised, but to her dismay, he nodded slowly. "Yes."

"I'm – I'm her then, aren't I?"

He nodded again. "Yes."

Mallory found it difficult to believe it, but strangely it made sense. It explained how the Chest came into her possession; how she was able to read the runes carved on it; why she spoke strangely at times; and why she felt so familiar yet so distant to Father Christmas and Aslan himself.

"You are her, Mallory. Her very image."


"You're quiet, Mallory."

Mallory looked up at Firumel in surprise. She was in the sleigh now, sitting beside Father Christmas, and she was silent because she was thinking about what Father Christmas had just told her.

Firumel clicked his beak. "Is there anything you'd like to tell me?"

Mallory shook her head. "No. I'm all right."

He cocked its head. "Are you sure? You look as if someone had beaten the wind out of you."

Mallory shook her head again and said firmly, "I'm fine. Really."

Father Christmas took a deep breath and announced cheerily. "This is it, my good Christmas-Elves! Thank you for you help! I am off now: off to Narnia!" At the end of his words, the reindeers suddenly moved and Mallory jerked forward as the sleigh went into motion. Firumel gave a sharp cry and launched itself into the air.

The first part of the journey was bumpy and rocky and slow because sleighs were meant to be driven over snow. The reindeers picked the way delicately through the narrow pass of Mount Pire that led into Narnia, and after a few hours, they were actually in Narnia itself.

Mallory had certainly seen snow before, but still, it was quite something to see everything completely covered in pure, white snow. The trees were blanketed from top to bottom in snow, and there was not a patch of grass to be seen in the ground. It was a perfect winter wonderland.

And perfectly cold as well. Mallory found herself shivering in the cold and Father Christmas halted the reindeers. He wrapped a thick fur blanket over Mallory and smiled at her. "You won't be needing this later though. Just for the meanwhile."

After the short break, they resumed the journey at full speed. The sleigh slid smoothly over the frozen ground, sometimes narrowly dodging trees. But the reindeers of Father Christmas were clever and knew how to navigate their way even through the trickiest spots.

Suddenly, Firumel swooped down from the air and waved his wings frantically at Father Christmas. He pulled on the reins at once and said, "What is it, Firumel?"

"I saw them!" said Firumel excitably as he landed beside their sleigh. "I saw the humans! But how odd, there are two Daughters of Eve but only one Son of Adam."

"How odd indeed," echoed Father Christmas, "but they are still the children mentioned in the Prophecy, nevertheless. Perhaps one of them has betrayed them. But Aslan will straighten it all out, don't you worry. Where are they?"

"Just a mile or two away," said Firumel. "They have come with the Beavers. They will be coming into the Shuddering Woods in about an hour or so."

"Very well! Very well!" Father Christmas turned to Mallory. "The spell has broken. You have helped me enter Narnia. Now, it is time for you to leave me, for you have yet another task to carry out for Aslan, have you not?"

Mallory felt very wretched. "You're right, and I should be going now, because I have to go all the way to Stormness Head, which I'm sure is a dreadful long way off, and lead them to the Stone Table at that. But I do so want to see you giving the presents away. I want to see what kind of people they are, and which present is given to whom."

Father Christmas smiled softly. "But if Aslan says 'Haste!', then he means it, and so he shall have it! You remember what I told you before this? I am sure that you do not wish to disappoint him again. He has placed a great deal of hope, and love, in you."

Mallory sighed sadly, but she understood and accepted it and climbed out of the sleigh. Firumel clicked his beak and said, "Well, it's a terribly good thing I can fly now. We can get to Stormness Head in no time at all. So cheer up, Mallory. Do cheer up."

Mallory laughed a little and said, "I know, Firumel. Shall I climb onto your back?"

Firumel said yes, she may, and so she did, with much difficulty because of her difficult English skirts, so much so that she wished that she was a boy instead. Father Christmas chuckled as he saw this, and with no warning at all, he cracked his whip and said, "Goodbye! And Merry Christmas to both of you!" Before either Firumel or Mallory could blink, the sleigh had sped off in a merry jingle of bells.

After a few seconds of astonishment, Firumel finally managed to laugh. "And a Merry Christmas to you too! Hold on tight, Mallory! Oooh, I'm going to launch now, I truly am! Narnia! Narnia!"

Mallory was not prepared at all for the powerful thrust that propelled both of them into the air. The suddenness of it and the frightening lurch turned her stomach inside out and she screamed and buried her face into his soft, velvety neck. She felt the cold, sharp air rush past her, and then Firumel said, "It's all right, Mallory! It's all right! Oh, what a coward you are! Bosh!"

The word 'coward' made her look up at once, not caring whether she was ten or ten thousand miles in the air. "I am not!"

"You are!" Firumel continued with glee.

Mallory laughed as the wind whipped and stung her face. "No! Stop it, Firumel!"

Firumel cackled. "Hold on now, Mallory, I feel a little turbulence in the air. Hang it all, there's Stormness Head! As moody as ever! Oh, we're going down now, Mallory! We're going doooowwwww - "

Mallory couldn't help but scream and clutch at his neck as the Eagle suddenly swooped downwards at what Mallory was sure was breakneck speed. It was even more terrifying than the upwards flight. They were going so fast that Mallory was sure that they would end up crashing into nothing but slabs of stone. She squeezed her eyes shut and prayed for a safe landing.