Hey everyone! Sorry about the day; somewhere between holidays, weddings, and my muse going walkabouts this chapter stalled about halfway!
Thank you for all the reviews; you guys really are wonderful:D Telumiel – that's a very good point you made about Aslan and not something I'd consciously thought about till you pointed it out so thank you:D I'm glad you're all still enjoying it!
Again; the characterisation of Aslan is what I consider the weakest point in this, so please give constructive ciriticism on either that, or anything else!
Many thanks to Binksbabe, who I only realised after I'd posted the last chapter had changed her name to Vinnet ages ago(…whoops) for betaing for me.
Jack could hear the sound of pursuit behind him as he pulled a 'Kimble' and turned fugitive but, due to the fact that he'd taken a large part of his cumbersome mail off to sleep, as well as being younger and more nimble than his pursuers, the sounds were becoming increasingly distant.
When he could no longer hear anything behind him, he slowed to a fast walk. Breathing heavily, he seethed silently, his senses straining to hear sounds of pursuit behind him.
Hearing a noise behind him, Jack's head whipped round, ignoring the pain that tried to convince him his brain had just rebounded off of the inside of his skull. Seeing nothing and decided that he was imagining it in his over-tense state, he turned back forwards just in time to see the rough shape of a person as he walked full-tilt into what, seconds later, he discovered to be a definitely female person.
"Oh, god, I'm sorry!" he gushed as he tried to untangle his sword from his legs so that he could stand. "I should've been looking- Karrena!"
"Jack!"
"You're…here…" Jack stared at her in complete confusion, automatically grabbing her by the hand to help her up.
"Yes. As are you."
"Well yeah, but… I ran--uh, executed a tactical retreat. You were asleep."
Karrena's face darkened. "I awoke as you left." She didn't look at him, instead making a point of shifting the large pack she had with her so that it lay more comfortably on her shoulders.
"Oookay… So…how did we manage to completely by accident walk right into each other? Again?"
"Luck?"
"No…there's something hinky going on here." Immediately he was looking around, searching his surroundings with the knowledge that he would only recognise what he was looking for when he saw it.
"Hinky?"
"Weird, warped, messed up, not quite right…" His Teal'c-response reflex kicked in automatically.
"What is there that is right about the attacks?"
"No, it's something more than that. Someone up there is playing a game with us, manipulating us." As he voiced the idea, his convictions became immediately solid; it was one of those things that if nothing made you stop and think for a second, you could have remained oblivious to, like when someone points something out and then afterwards you can't help but notice it all the time.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean…how is it that we can walk for so long and not see any signs of life and then just happen to walk in on a village that's just been attacked? I got a good look at a couple of maps, and all the time we were walking on a straight bearing yesterday, we managed to end up walking around several other settlements to end up at a place several miles south of where we should have been. I mean, what are the chances that having left separately, we'd both end up literally running into each other? And on top of that it just…feels wrong."
Jack finally returned his gaze from an inconclusive scan of the area to see that Karrena's brows had knit into a contemplative frown.
Narrowing his eyes sharply at her as he recognised the 'I-think-I-have-an-idea-about-this-but-it's-a-bit-far-fetched' look that had so often flittered across Carter and Daniel's faces. "What?" he barked.
She shook her head in reply and Jack rolled his eyes. "Come on; I know that look. Spit it out."
"It's Aslan," she said simply.
Jack frowned, his anger bubbling up again. "As in big golden lion, appears every now and then and then disappears for a few hundred years?"
"Yes."
"And he'd do this why?" Jack bit out caustically. Even just the implication that he was being so easily manipulated grated against every nerve in his body
Karrena shrugged. "Because you were brought here for a reason"
Jack snorted, "Riiight…and I'm supposed to what? Be scapegoat for some nut job with an army and a problem with the talking beats?"
"No, to find the truth and stop this from continuing." Her initial reluctance to reveal the idea had completely disappeared now and her retorts came with a heat and conviction that rivalled Jack's anger and scepticism.
"Right, because I'm the chosen one, here to fight crime, save the world, and make witty and humorous remarks."
Refusing to be put off by references she didn't understand, Karrena ploughed right ahead, annoyed at Jack's cynicism. "Yes! The children of your world have always come to Narnia in its time of need and you have always returned our world to light!"
"Minor problem there - I'M NOT A CHILD!"
Karrena was suddenly taken aback not only by the venom in Jack's voice but also by the sudden realisation that they stood only inches apart. She narrowed her eyes at him, recognising the invasion of her personal space as an intimation technique. "Your soul may not be, but your body is." She paused for a moment to let the comment sink in. "Aslan would not have brought you here without reason."
Jack let out a frustrated growl and whirled suddenly away from her, opening his arms wide to the woods around them. "Here I am! Tell me what I'm supposed to do, your almightily powerful-ness! COMMAND ME!" The final two words were yelled hoarsely into the air with a hoarse frustration that made Karrena shiver and left Jack's throat sore.
"I command no-one."
Jack spun immediately back around towards Karrena and the deep, mellow voice that he'd heard, his still tender ankle sending him a reproving twinge of pain.
Seated beside an awed Karrena was an enormous lion, whose tawny fur seemed to glow golden. Jack didn't doubt that hidden away in the massive paws were claws that could rip a person apart with barely an effort.
Jack's eyes flickered to Karrena, regretting leaving her open to whatever kind of pseudo-god had appeared in his moment of inattention. "The Almighty Aslan, I presume."
"I am Aslan," he stated, the tone of his voice indicating distaste at the prefix 'almighty'.
"Tell me, he-who-commands-no-one, when was I given the choice about coming to this particular shade of hell?"
A faint growl sounded like distant thunder that left the two humans wondering if they'd heard anything at all. "Narnia itself called to you, and you answered."
"The hell I did! I walked through a door in school and ended up being transported to god knows where."
"You know where. You are in Narnia."
"Oh come on; there are thousands of planets. 'Narnia' means nothing. I don't know how you avoided the Asgard or the Goa'uld with all this tech but I'm not going to fall for any of this religious crap!"
"In this world, magic is more real than science."
"Or maybe you've just tricked them all into believing that it's magic when its really technology." Jack had moved closer to Aslan as he let lose with his disbelieving diatribe and was now standing within a few feet of both him, and Karrena. He found a release for his anger through biting sarcasm, his need to ensure Karrena's safety warring with his desire to expose the perceived deception. "I've seen it before and if you were really all powerful, then you'd know that!"
Aslan nodded his large head solemnly, though there was a slight twinkle of amusement in his eyes. "And yet, you feel more like yourself here, now, than you have at all in the past year."
Jack stared at the lion, his face suddenly falling into a completely neutral expression.
"You believed that the only way to continue was to immerse yourself completely in the modern culture and do everything that you could to fit in."
"Stop." Although Jack's face was expressionless, his dark eyes held a trace of menacing fury that hinted at the warrior he had once been. "I've had enough of your sick little mind games; send me home." The tone of command sounded out of place coming from his small, adolescent body.
Aslan shook his head sadly. "The magic that called you to Narnia will allow for your return only when your purpose here has been fulfilled.
"Would you cut the crap already?" he retorted explosively, making Karrena flinch. "I know it's just clever technology; I've seen the same trick used all over the galaxy!"
Aslan gave an amused snort. "After all you have seen, heard, and experienced you remain so closed-minded on this?"
"What I've seen, heard, and experienced can be explained by science and…people way smarter than I am!"
Jack felt oddly vulnerable as the great lion stared silently at him for a long moment before simply turning and regarding Karrena with eyes both questioning and accusing.
Karrena's eyes widened and fear touched them as she took a step away. "No," she gasped. "I…I can't…"
"You must, child." Aslan continued to stare at her for several long moments and Jack had the distinct feeling that something passed between them; something both important and personal.
Eventually Karrena cast her gaze downwards, and Aslan returned his attention to Jack for a moment. Giving a sharp nod as if his task had been fulfilled he turned with an astounding agility and disappeared into the darkening trees soundlessly.
Frowning, Jack realised that they'd been in one place for what must have been hours, although it seemed like only ten or fifteen minutes. Darkness had all but fallen, exacerbated by immense and foreboding storm clouds. It was nothing short of a miracle that his pursuers hadn't already stumbled upon them.
Acutely aware of the threat of Sinere's guards as well as the danger of being exposed when the storm hit, Jack lurched into action, his muscles having once again stiffened in the chill air.
Grabbing hold of Karrena's hand and scooping up her pack, he was surprised to realise that she offered no resistance and a quick glance at her pale face showed that her thoughts were miles away, consumed by some internal debate. Sighing and shaking his head, he pulled her onwards at a fast, but sustainable pace, pausing only to wrap one of the extra cloaks she'd grabbed around himself.
His sense of time slipped away from him as he shuffled onwards, increasingly wearied from several days' exertion and a lack of rest.
When the first fat drops of rain began to fall, accompanied by a distant roll of thunder, he knew that he had to find some sort of shelter, and soon. A short while later, by some sort of bizarre coincidence, they happened upon an empty, dry cave with a cold and empty hearth marked at the mouth and a generous store of dry firewood towards the back of it.
As he pushed Karrena in ahead of him, she seemed to take notice of her surroundings for the first time since Aslan had disappeared, and she gave a short laugh. "A storm cave…" she looked at Jack. "How did you find it?"
"Dumb luck," he replied shortly, handing her the bundle of her pack and trying to decide whether he should be pissed at their manipulator or not.
Karrena took it and frowned, obediently retreating to sit out of the way when Jack snapped irritably at her for trying to help with the fire. Despite feelings slightly hurt at the rejection, she knew that it was because he was feeling angry at his perceived manipulation rather than because she had done anything wrong.
That and the fact that, like her, he was soaked through and shivering.
Once he had the fire well built up and was starting to feel the flames warming his benumbed fingers, Jack turned to beckon Karrena forwards to warm herself and found that she set out a ration of her food for him.
Already digging hungrily into her own food, she silently shuffled forwards, her expression turned towards thoughtful once again, eyes fixed on the leaping flames, lost in her thoughts and heedless of the time that passed.
"Penny for 'em?"
Jack's voice was suddenly loud to Karrena, who had tuned out the extraneous noise of the incessant pattering of the rain and the unpredictable crackle of the fire.
"Pardon?"
"I said penny for your thoughts," he repeated, belatedly remembering that he wasn't on earth. "It's an expression; means what're you thinking?"
Karrena nodded her comprehension but didn't say anything, reverting to staring sightlessly at the fire.
Jack gave a small growl of frustration and, turning his back to her, he stretched himself out by the fire, wrapped his still damp cloak around himself and attempted to drift off to sleep in a sulk.
He wasn't sure whether or not he'd managed to doze awhile before her tentative voice reached his ears, but the rain had eased slightly and it felt as if a fair amount of time had passed.
Sitting up to look at her, he noted that her face matched her tone; slightly pained and fearful, her words were haltingly spoken.
"I gained from my mother certain skills that I used for play when I was young but was later forbidden from using, as my mother once was, and most of the women of my mother's line were, for fear of what might happen." She paused and took a deep breath before continuing. "Although a few at Cair Paravel knew about this because they spent time with me when I was young and didn't always heed the warnings of my superiors, even they never knew how this power came to me." She gave a slightly hysterical laugh. "I had thought I was the last person left alive to carry this power in my blood, but it would seem that there is another, who has embraced their heritage fully" Again she paused, as if struggling with the decision she had made and, although she was no longer staring at the fire she was deliberately not looking at, or near Jack.
Letting the silence stretch on, Jack observed her, waiting for her to continue.
"Our heritage, our magic, comes from the white witch herself."
Karrena made the statement so tremulously and visibly braced herself for who-knew-what and all Jack could do was raise an eyebrow questioningly at Karrena's hunched form.
"…so?" he replied at length and Karrena finally looked up at him slightly disbelievingly.
"You know of the White Witch, who enslaved Narnia-"
"-In an endless winter, yadda, yadda. What's that got to do with you? Except that you can do the magic thing?" Jack resisted the urge to say 'alleged magic'. He had an inkling now of what Karrena was so afraid of.
"She was Evil," Karrena stated.
"And? So? Therefore? Your point being?" he bit back, a little more harshly and sarcastically than he intended.
"Her blood and her magic are in my veins."
"Oh come on, that means diddly squat; you can't inherit evil. Evil is either self-taught or learnt from the people around you." He decided it would be wise not to get into the whole inheritance-of-evil-through-genetic-memory-a-la-Goa'uld thing just then.
"How can I be sure that the magic itself won't corrupt me? There have never been any tales of the deeds of good witches."
He shrugged, unable to honestly answer that question. "What if it doesn't, you don't use this….skill, and more innocent people, and talking beasts, and…Naiads, and…everything dies because you didn't have a little faith in yourself?"
Still sceptical about magic, Jack had come to the conclusion that she must have something in her blood that allowed her to operate technology that seemed like magic, rather like the Goa'uld and Tok'Ra use of hand devices,
The frown lines on Karrena's forehead deepened and she let out an exasperated sigh, "I suppose that Aslan would not lead me astray on this subject."
The noncommittal grunt that issued automatically from Jack made Karrena turn her frown on him. "You still do not believe in Aslan?"
"I come from a place where these little snake-like parasites pretending to be gods in order to enslave humans…" he pointed out, refusing to admit that the knowledge that Aslan had of him personally had unnerved him a little.
Nodding, Karrena hesitated only a moment before riffling through her few possessions for a moment before pulling a small key on a chain from around her neck and unfastening the small wooden box she'd carried so far. Opening it slowly, she pulled out what looked like a carefully and meticulously preserved sliver of dark wood, carved to form a minuscule lion, on a chain.
Karrena offered no explanation for it as she held it in one trembling hand and with the other grasped a small, sour green apple that they'd collected along the way.
Concentrating hard and gripping the wooden lion tightly the green apple that lay on the palm of her flat, open hand began to slowly grow and change colour until she was instead holding a large, rosy red apple.
Hesitating for a second, she took a small bite of it, testing it before she handed the fruit to Jack with an encouraging nod. Taking an equally tentative bite, his eyes wide with disbelief, Jack found that, although not the best fruit he'd ever tasted it was a vast improvement on its previous incarnation.
"What…how…what?"
"Now do you believe in magic, Jack?"
He continued to stare dumbly at the fruit, trying to comprehend what had just happened. No technology that he knew of could change the molecular structure of something living in that precise way and the fact that there was no visible technology around - unless it was contained in that small lion necklace - made the use of technology unlikely. However, years of devout scepticism on the matter were hard to overcome in just those few moments but he was, nonetheless, willing to entertain the possibility.
The implications of what this meant for everything that had occurred since he had arrived in Narnia were also of huge import. So, in typical Jack O'Neill style, he blocked them from his thoughts entirely and grinned at Karrena instead. "Sweet!" he exclaimed.
Karrena gave him a brief smile in return, "Not as sweet as those from the orchard at Cair Paravel but definitely an improvement."
Jack's grin widened a little at her misunderstanding, but he let it pass, thinking fleetingly and wistfully of Teal'c's many faux pas.
Noting both his own sudden tiredness and the drooping of Karrena's eyes, he banked the fire to last through the night and gathered the various dry and almost-dry cloaks together, preparing to lie down and sleep at Karrena's back.
Noting the strange and slightly worried look that she gave him as he did this, Jack rolled his eyes. "If we sleep next to each other, then we'll stay warmer." He stated, refusing to accept anything different for his own warmth as much as Karrena's; he would only be slightly less warm than Karrena, who would have him at her back, and the fire at her front.
Settling down with his back to Karrena's, he was oblivious to the fact that the strange look she had given him had more to do with her belief that he would never want to touch her again now that he knew she was descended from the White Witch than with the fact that he was male and therefore obviously had ulterior motives. Within moments, they were both asleep, exhausted from several days' exertion and very little sleep, resting peacefully as the storm blew itself out.
Thoughts, comments, criticisms, random kernels of wisdom……(Whippings for taking so long...)?