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Disclaimer: I don't own anything that comes from C. S. Lewis's genius.

Chapter 1: Queen of the World

I am Rana. I am Jadis. I am both. To the pesky villagers of Arthnen and, unfortunately the whole kingdom of Charn, I am Rana. But to myself, my secret empire and my fantastically loyal subjects, I am Jadis, the Queen of the World, the High Empress, the Divine Goddess!

Rana, I hated that name, because as Rana, I have to obey the orders of Ismeth, my step-mother. As Rana, the step-daughter, I have to please every fancy and whim of my wool-brained step-sisters: Lyndele and Ryrele, who I can't stand not even one bit because not only they have pretty names they don't deserve, but they are the worst sort of girls in the entire kingdom of Charn. Which kind of girl would want to spend her time dressing fancily up, giggling and twittering over the village boys who are not worth even a snort, and acting like a nice and gentle lady in front of everyone but behind their backs she tortures her poor step-sister who didn't ask to be sold to such a lousy household in a lousy village? And it doesn't help that Arthnen is practically on the very edge of Charn, thus cutting me off from the glory of the city of Charn, which is said to be the very best city in the world!

To compensate for not being able to visit, much less live in Charn, I created my own world, my own country, my own great city, and I called it Mahtra. I modeled it after Charn, at least what I've heard of it. Mahtra is a wonderful, big city with many temples, pyramids, big houses with pleasant courtyard and grand sculptures of its kings and queens. It is the heart of the world, the centre of all trades and the livelihood of the rich. There is no road or street in Mahtra that is unpaved, and no household that did not enjoy clean water. And in the grandest of all grand palaces in Mahtra, I rule as Queen. I, Jadis, the Queen of the World!

But nobody understands me. No one appreciates the beauty of Mahtra. I've been teased, yes, teased! All because Mahtra does not exist, they say. But it does, I argued, it is here, in my heart and in my soul. And they laugh even harder. At first, when I was but a little girl, I would cry and run and hide until Ismeth found me and then she would beat me before sending me to my room without any dinner. But later, when I was a little older, I would beat them back. I would hit them, hit and hit and hit until they beg me to stop.

But one day, I hit too hard. It was a rainy afternoon. Ismeth had sent me outside because I had burnt their lunch. I was huddling underneath the old, twisted oak tree behind the cottage and I was dreaming of Mahtra and the faithful people who did whatever I asked them to do. Then suddenly I heard a laugh and realised that the rain had stopped. I looked around and saw that insolent boy Uzmin laughing and pointing at me, shouting, "Rana is giving orders to imaginary people! Rana is batty! Rana is dotty!"

"I am not!" I retorted back, feeling the flush creep into my face.

"You are! Oooh, wait until I tell Ismeth! She'll flog you until your guts spill out!"

"Shut up!" I yelled.

He stuck a tongue out at me and ran towards the house. I rose, shaking with anger, and in my fury I did not realise what I planned to do. I saw an axe, the one that I had used earlier to chop firewood and just as the image of the axe formed in my mind it just flew up and headed for him. He didn't see it, he was too excited thinking about the reaction on Ismeth's face if she knew that I had been playing with Mahtra again, and he was about to knock on the back door when I silently ordered the axe to hit him or whatever please just stop him from telling Ismeth and suddenly it just lurched and lodged itself into his back. When he screamed I ran towards him and muffled his mouth with my hand and then he was on the ground, shaking and jerking like a fish out of water and he was dead.

At first I asked myself, what had I done? Was I human? I had killed him . . . I had killed a person. And I had used my Magic when I knew that I should have not because Arbith said that it was not right and anyway it was unfair. But I squatted and stared at his blank green eyes and I thought served him right because he was always teasing me about Mahtra and saying that I was ugly and stupid and useless. This was a good thing. He'll never tease me again. Most importantly, he will never be able to tell Ismeth about Mahtra.

I hid him in the neighbour's bushes and smiled to myself.

No one can escape the wrath and greatness of I, Jadis, Queen of the World!