Chapter Two: The White Witch
When I came too, the first thing I noticed was that I was cold. It had been summer and Dudley's hand-me-down shirt and shorts weren't equipped to deal with even a slight breeze let alone the winter cold. But when I opened my eyes, it was to find myself lying on a snow-covered floor. It was colder here then it had ever been in Surry, even during the winter.
If the weather hadn't been a big enough clue, the very feeling of the place told me I wasn't in Surry anymore.
The land and the wind felt different. It felt old and magical. Full of life. But as I pushed myself out of the snow and to my feet, hopping to bring warmth to my limbs, I noticed that there was something wrong. The land felt like it was asleep. Hiding, scared of something.
Rubbing my hands up and down my arms in an attempt to get some feeling in them I began looking around, hoping to find answers to where I was. And once I had found that out, perhaps I could find out how I got here and how to get back. Because as much as I hated living with the Dursleys they were the only family I knew and I wouldn't know what to do or how to survive on my own in this forest.
I had been wondering lost for perhaps three hours, my feet and fingers having gone numb long ago and I was sure that my lips had a blue hue to them. I was tired, hungry and scared that resting would be the death of me. I had been walking in silence, listening only to the howl of the wind and the rustling of the trees. Sometimes I thought I heard the trees talking, but I dismissed such thoughts as being my imagination acting up due to the strangeness of the situation.
The monotony was broken by the sound of voices. Crouching low to the ground and using the trees as cover I approached the clearing where the sounds were coming from. There was a group of animals in the clearing: foxes, badgers and rabbits. Standing with them were three men with the legs of a goat. They were huddled close together and staring fearfully at a pack of wolves that had them surrounded.
"I won't ask again, where did you get the weapons?" One of the wolves growled.
"Please, let us go. We mean no harm to you or the White Queen. We just found them." One of the goat men pleaded, trying to shift the attention from his petrified friends who couldn't hide the sheer terror enough for the goat man's words to be believable. The goat mans' posture was more defensive and defiant than scared – at odds with the other animal and goat man.
"Don't lie to me."
The wolf jumped forward, forcing the prisoners back a few steps. The goat-man using his arms and body to shield the others from the wolf who had growled at and moved threateningly towards them. The move did nothing to protect them from the wolves who were at their sides and back. The lead wolves' movements revealed a pile of gleaming steal swords and what looked like chain mail.
"If they had just been left as remnants from the war, then they would be rusted. These are newly forged." One of the other wolves argued after moving in closer to examine the swords for a moment and then backing off to his position in the circle.
"Planning a little rebellion, are we?" The leader mocked.
"No… we're loyal to the queen." One of the rabbits stuttered, staring with wide fearful eyes, trying to sound sincere but not managing to do so due to their terror.
"I can smell your lies. Perhaps you'll be more forth coming with the queen." This was clearly a very effective threat, because the fear that the captives had been expressing suddenly got a whole lot worse.
"No please." The goat man who had spoken before said desperately, looking too his friends who had whimpered in fear at this threat.
"Take them in." the lead wolf growled.
Not willing to see these innocent animals detained by the wolves who felt evil, I grabbed a handful of stones and threw it with as much strength as I could at the lead wolf. Then I started throwing more stones and sticks at the other wolves – anything I could grab from the ground around where I was concealed. The lead wolf howled in pain and turned to look for me, the other wolves also yelped in pain and backed off slightly from the prisoners who used the distraction to put some distance between them and the wolves.
The goat man who had been talking took advantage of the distraction that I had caused to jump for the pile of weapons and arm himself. Seeing what he had done, his friends hesitated while the wolves rounded on him, seeing him as the biggest threat since he was armed and looked to know what he was doing with the weapon.
"GO!" he yelled to his friends who had hesitated, not willing to leave him.
They bowed their heads in sorrow before taking off, using his distraction to escape with their lives. Grabbing the longest stick that I could find, I ran to the goat man who was trying to fend off the wolves who were trying to remove the bigger threat. Something deep inside me refused to just let me run away now. Something about this goat man was important to me.
"Lower the sword, Faun." The wolves growled, letting the others get away. This one had shown himself to be the leader and so would most likely be more useful to the queen then the whole group anyway.
"Never. I stand for Aslan. And for Narnia." The goat man announced proudly.
"Then you will fall in his name." the wolf growled.
While they had been talking, I had made my way to the side of the group and when two of the wolves launched themselves at the man, I swung the stick as hard as I could at one of the other one's legs. The goat man wielded his sword with some experience and was able to cut down one of the wolves but was forced to stumble back as the other cut him with its claws.
"What do we have here? A human child?" the wolf growled with a smirk.
"Son of Adam," the goat man said worriedly as I reached his side, having hit another wolf on the nose which caused it to back off with a whimper. "You must get out of here." he pleaded desperately.
"Too late for that, Faun." The wolf laughed.
The goat man was able to kill one more wolf while I kept them off his back as best as I could by hitting them as hard as I could with the stick. Unfortunately, I was young, tired and cold and the stick couldn't kill. It didn't take them much time to knock me to the ground, one of the wolves pinning me beneath its weight. With his back undefended, the goat man was also brought down, one of the wolves clasping his arm in its jaws until he released the sword.
I wasn't sure how they managed it since the wolves didn't have hands but they, in short order, had the both of them bound in ropes.
"Please, at least let me stop the bleeding? He won't make it where ever you're taking us if I don't." I pleaded with the wolves, staring at the goat man who was struggling to stay on his feet.
"Get moving." The wolf growled, ignoring the boy as he motioned his pack to start walking leaving his fallen comrades in the snow.
The pace the wolves set through the snow was too fast for my short and frozen stiff legs. This was especially the case when going down the snowy inclines, because I kept losing my footing and tumbling down a few steps and it would take too long for me to regain my feet, causing the wolf holding my rope to growl and tug on it. The goat man was able to keep his footing but he was having trouble with the pace that was set because, as the time went by, he kept stumbling and he was getting paler. I recognised the symptoms of blood lose, both from my reading and from experience.
Eventually the goat man fell to the ground and didn't get up. Using the slack created from the lead wolf turning back to growl angrily at him, I dashed to his side and fell to my knees next to him.
"Please, let me help him. He can't answer your questions if he's dead." I pleaded with them.
"Fine." The wolf growled, moving forward to unbind my hands.
The moment my hands were free I grasped the goat man's shoulder and slipped one hand across his chest so that I could roll him over.
"Son of Adam, you don't need to help me." he said weekly, trying to sit up.
"Yes, I do." I told him sternly, tearing the bottom off the shirt I was wearing. It fell to my knees so I had quite a bit of slack to work with. Using the snow around my feet, I washed out the wound on the goat man's arm and chest as best I could before I secured them with the torn fabric. I didn't know why he called me son of Adam, but I figured now wasn't really the time to ask about it.
"How does that feel? Not too tight?"
"It's fine." The goat man said.
"Get to your feet." The wolf growled, obviously having gotten fed up with waiting.
Keeping my hands on his chest and arm I helped the goat man to his feet. The wolf went to retie my hands but the moment I stopped supporting the goat man he fell to the ground. This wasn't unexpected since I had only bandaged his injuries, not healed them or given him something to combat the blood flow. He would be week until his body had the chance to recover and reproduce the blood he had lost – and even then, there was the chance that his injuries wouldn't heal right or that he wouldn't fully recover.
"Keep an eye on the human, but don't bind him. We've wasted enough time as it is." The leader growled angrily.
"Thank you." The goat man said quietly once they had started walking again, the wolves mostly ignored them.
"It's okay." I whispered back. "I'm Harry. What's your name?"
"I am known as Raafxet." He introduced himself.
"If you don't mind me asking, but what are you?" I asked hesitantly because I felt like I was insulting him in my head every time I called him goat man.
"I am a faun. Am I right in thinking you are a son of Adam? A human?" he asked urgently.
"Yes." I answered realising that when he said son of Adam, he was referring to the first male human that God had placed on earth. According to the bible all humans were sons of Adam and daughters of Eve.
"You should have gotten away when you had the chance child. My friends would have helped you." He said sadly.
"I couldn't leave you. It was wrong." I told him adamantly. "Like the forest is wrong. And the snow."
"The forest is wrong?" Raafxet repeated confused, stumbling slightly in the snow as he was hit with a wave of dizziness. My grip tightened for a moment as he steadied himself and they carried on walking, keeping a careful eye on the wolves encase they noticed the conversation their prisoners were having.
"They're too silent. To quiet. Like they've gone into hiding to protect themselves. And some of them seem to be liars." I tried putting into words the feelings that I had as I was walking through the forest. Now I had seen animals talk, I conceded the fact that the trees might also be able to talk.
"Some of the trees are spies for the White Queen." Raafxet explained sadly. "We're here." he breathed in horror, looking upon the castle that they could now see as they came out from behind a pair of mountains. The castle looked like it could have once been beautiful but it was now covered in ice and looked dark and haunted.
They spent the rest of the journey to the castle in silence, not willing to talk when the castle seemed to radiate such hate and anger. My grip on Raafxet tightened on instinct as I sought some form of comfort from the only thing or person that didn't let off feelings of hate, anger and violence. I wasn't used to being so aware of the feelings being let of by the living things around me, and the fact that so much of those feelings was negative was in turn having a negative impact on my own emotions and confidence. Being in such an unusual and unknown situation without any idea as to how was also making me feel wary.
When we entered the castle grounds an involuntary whimper escaped me. There were statues everywhere and they had life. Like the trees, the plants and the animals. They burned bright like Raafxet did, but the light was trapped; shouting out and unable to escape the stony confines that imprisoned them.
"Get moving." The wolf pulled sharply on the rope that still bound Raafxet. I had come to a stop when I had felt the statues which had forced Raafxet to also come to a stop.
"What's wrong?" Raafxet asked quietly as they began moving again. He gazed sadly at the statues as they passed them. As though he knew that they had once been people.
"The statues. They're alive." I answered him.
"They were once my comrades. They fought against the White Queen. And we lost." Raafxet explained sadly.
"What have you brought me, Maugrim?" a powerful women's voice demanded.
The wolves all dropped into a bow and Raafxet stiffened against my hold. A woman entered the throne room that we had been led into. She was taller than any other I had met, wearing a long white dress and a crown that reminded me of shards of ice. She sat elegantly on her throne which was the only thing in the great room – raised above the rest of the room on a set of stairs.
"A traitor and a human." The wolf – Maugrim answered.
"A human. A son of Adam." The White Queen – because who else could she be? "Bring him forward."
"No." Raafxet snapped determinedly, straightening out of my hold and stepping forward protectively. The sudden surge of adrenaline giving him strength to stand tall despite the pain and the blood loss.
The White Queen laughed.
"Do you honestly think you have the power to defy me, faun?" the White Queen demanded.
"Raafxet, it's okay." I told him, placing a calming hand on his arm. "I don't want you to be hurt."
"You don't know what she can do." Raafxet cautioned.
"If you will not step aside then I will simply have to deal with you first, won't I?" the White Queen said in a mock kind voice when Raafxet still didn't movie despite my words.
"He was with a group and they had newly forged weapons." Maugrim explained as one of his pack threw a bag with swords to the ground.
"And where are the rest of the group?" the White Queen questioned dangerously.
"This faun was the only one who fought back, the only one with training; The leader. The human boy distracted us long enough for the faun to arm himself and the others to get away. We lost three of my Pack. My apologies, your majesty." The lead wolf bowed his head in submission.
"We'll deal with your inadequacy later, Maugrim." The queen warned as she stood from her throne and descended the stairs – her dress trailing behind her like a cloak. "You are aware, Faun, that the possession of weapons is strictly against the law and is considered to be treason?"
"I know your laws." Raafxet answered bitterly.
"Then why were you caught breaking them? And not for the first time if what my police say is true Why did you choose to stand and fight, killing my men?"
"Because I am not your subject. I have never bowed to you." Raafxet told her strongly, stubbornly. "Nor your laws. I follow only the laws of the true Narnia. The laws of Aslan."
"Do not speak that name to me." the queen roared in anger, using the end of her staff to backhand Raafxet. The power behind her blow and his weakened state sent him to the floor.
"No!" I cried out, jumping between him and the queen before she could hurt him anymore. "Please, don't…"
"Maugrim, take him to the cells." The queen ordered after a moment of assessing me. "Perhaps a few days there will loosen his tongue."
I knelt by Raafxet's side. "Be careful. Don't believe anything she tells you." He warned quietly before the wolves began dragging him away by the ropes. He tried getting to his feet but he wasn't strong enough to hold his weight anymore.
"What is your name child?" the queen questioned, her voice going gentle.
"Harry." I answered turning to face the women. I wouldn't cower before her, no matter how much her power worried me. Not when she had hurt someone I liked. Not when she felt so dangerous and wrong to my instincts. Cowering before this woman would make her think she could get what she wanted from me, and I had no doubt that would see me dead.
"And how did you come to be in Narnia?" the queen asked.
I remained silent. Not answering at all was better than answering and antagonising them. This was something I had learnt from living with the Dursleys. Silence was sometimes the best form of defence, especially if the person antagonising me didn't have a goal, or I didn't know anything about the situation. There were some situations where silence wouldn't work, like when talking would cause a distraction or antagonise an enemy in order to get them to act without thinking, but this wasn't one of those situations because I couldn't fight back and I didn't know anything. Not how I got to this place, who the White Queen was or who Aslan was.
"I won't ask again." She growled angrily, pointing her sceptre at me. It glowed but I didn't back down. I wasn't going to help her when she was hurting innocent people.
"Take him to the dungeons. He won't last long there and I'll get my answers." The queen spat in disgust.
Updated and edited 10/04/2022