(A/N: Wow, 50 reviews! I'm very impressed and proud; I honestly had no idea this story would do so well. Thanks very much to all my fans and reviewers, your comments are much appreciated. On another note, EsmeAmelia pointed out how similar the plot of this story is to LWW. I do realize that and my goal now is to make the rest of the story more original and creative. If anyone has any ideas on how to do that, please let me know. I do take all ideas and criticism given to me into consideration when writing.)
There it stood in front of Jaina, Edmund, Lucy, and Mr. Tumnus, their final destination at the end of their journey to rescue Anakin. Sticking up from the ground like a gnarled sore thumb was the icy stone palace of Jadis. While all of them were nervous at going inside this monstrosity, it was Edmund and Mr. Tumnus who were really shaking as the group walked closer and closer to the palace.
"Never in all my years in Narnia did I think I would return here." Mr. Tumnus said.
"And for once, I'm not here by choice." Edmund mumbled to himself.
"What was that, Ed?" Lucy asked.
"Nothing, Lu. Let's just get inside the palace, ok?" Edmund said.
Lucy just shrugged at her older brother as the group finally made their way around to the back of the palace. Mr. Tumnus had told them about the back entrance and exit where Jadis always kept her sleigh and how it would be a good place to sneak inside. Everyone was extremely careful as they pushed the big doors open, desperate to make as little noise as possible and not attract attention of any of the witch's minions that were most likely lurking around the palace. When they did manage to slip inside, they received a shocking surprise.
"The sleigh's not here!" Edmund blurted out and Lucy nudged him in the leg to get him to be quiet.
"Ed! Do you really want to have our cover blown and be captured again?" Lucy said through gritted teeth.
"But Lu, the witch's sleigh isn't here so she must be gone. This makes our plan even easier." Edmund pointed out.
"She probably left some of her minions behind, especially to guard Ani." Jaina said.
"Bloody hell, you're right. Now what?" Edmund asked.
"If I remember correctly, the witch's minions aren't exactly the brightest ones around. That should make it easy to get past them and rescue young Anakin." Mr. Tumnus said.
"Still, we should be careful." Jaina said.
"Very true, dear Jaina. Well then, you girls follow me and Edmund and we'll lead you to the dungeon." Mr. Tumnus said.
Holding each others hands tightly, Jaina and Lucy followed Edmund and Mr. Tumnus as they walked through a nearby cold, foreboding hallway in the palace. All four of them were on the alert as they looked out for any of the witch's minions lurking around. As they neared the end of the hallway, they came upon a room that was extremely familiar to Edmund and Mr. Tumnus: the white witch's throne room. And there was something at the bottom of the staircase leading up to her throne that none of them wanted to see: her pack of vicious wolves lying there sleeping.
"What? Why are they here, why didn't the witch take them with her to battle?" Edmund whispered.
"Like we said earlier, she probably left them here as guards." Lucy whispered back.
"Well, now it'll be impossible getting up those stairs without waking them." Edmund whispered.
"But there's no other way to get to Ani. Come on, we'll just be really quiet and if they wake up, we've got our weapons with us." Jaina said and started to walk quietly towards the stairs.
Looking scared, Lucy ran up to Jaina, grabbed her arm, and whispered "Aren't you scared? We all know how dangerous these wolves are."
"Lucy, I'm training to be a Jedi. They don't know any fear. Don't worry, you stick close to us and we'll all be fine." Jaina said and smiled at her little friend.
Lucy sighed and motioned to Edmund and Mr. Tumnus to come forward. Everyone began their quiet, cautious ascent up the stairs, being extremely careful when stepping over the wolves so they wouldn't make any noise that would wake them up. When they got halfway up, Lucy's foot slipped slightly on the stairs, causing a bit of ice to go tumbling down the stairs. She almost screamed, but Jaina quickly placed her hand over her mouth and Edmund and Mr. Tumnus grabbed her arms to steady her balance.
"Shhh, Lucy! We're almost to the top. Once we get up there, they'll lead us to the dungeon." Jaina whispered fiercely to Lucy.
Lucy quickly nodded and everyone let go of her to continue up the stairs. Finally, they reached the top and were standing before Jadis's empty throne. Breathing a small sigh of relief, the group turned toward the small hallway just off to the side of the throne that would lead them to the dungeon. Unfortunately, they were stopped by a low, harsh voice saying "Halt right there, where do you think you're going?"
Jaina, Lucy, Edmund, and Mr. Tumnus slowly turned around and saw what they hoped would not happen. Standing right before them were all of the wolves, awake and snarling at them with Maugrim creeping closer and closer.
"Well, welcome home little king and faun. Happy to be back?" Maugrim sneered.
"No we're not. And if you'll excuse us, we'll just go get Anakin and be on our way." Mr. Tumnus said. The group started to walk towards the hall again, but Maugrim and three other wolves leaped in front of them, blocking their way.
"Oh, I don't think that will be happening. You see, I still need to fulfill my queen's orders of killing you all and now's the perfect opportunity to start." Maugrim sneered.
"Once again, I don't think that will happen." Jaina said, motioning for Lucy, Edmund and Mr. Tumnus to stand back and activating her lightsaber.
"You couldn't kill me with that thing before, so why believe you can do it now?" Maugrim asked.
"Because Jedi don't give up so easily, got it?" Jaina asked.
Enraged, Maugrim leapt towards Jaina to attack her. Unfortunately, Jaina was more prepared this time as she waved her hand around and Force threw Maugrim against the wall quite hard. Moaning, Maugrim tried to get up to attack Jaina. But he would never get the chance to as Jaina stabbed him in the side with her lightsaber, killing him instantly. Breathing hard and shaking as she stood up from the dead wolf, Jaina turned around to see the other wolves approaching her and the others, baring their teeth and snarling viciously. She glanced over at Lucy, Edmund, and Mr. Tumnus to see them backing towards the wall.
"Um, a little help here would be nice!" Jaina exclaimed.
Edmund drew out his sword and Lucy drew out her dagger and both of them rushed forward to help Jaina with the wolves. While Jaina Force threw the wolves against the wall to weaken them, Edmund and Lucy assisted by stabbing the wolves in the necks with their respective weapons. Mr.Tumnus, meanwhile, watched the melee from behind the throne. Almost as quickly as it began, the small fight was over and all 8 wolves lay sprawled out around the throne and on the stairs, dead and bleeding from their necks.
"Are you three ok?" Mr. Tumnus asked as he slowly creeped out from behind the throne.
"We're fine. Mr. Tumnus. We're fine." Lucy said, breathing rapidly and staring at her bloody dagger at the same time.
"If we could find a way to clean our weapons, that would be even better." Edmund said.
"Oh here, let me help you with that." Mr. Tumnus said and poured all the water from his drinking pouch onto the sword and dagger to rinse off the blood.
"Thank you, Mr. Tumnus. Now let's go get Anakin." Lucy said.
With that, the four of them made their way down the hallway next to the witch's throne and towards the dungeon, ready to rescue Anakin from his cold, lonely prison cell.