Veronica stopped but bumped into Lucy. Veronica gave an apologetic smile and received a cheerful smile in return. Mr. Beaver walked past Susan and stared at Veronica.
-"Now, Aslan's camp is near the Stone Table, just across the frozen river." He said explaining to the others but mostly her. She only nodded giving a smile.
-"River?" Peter asked cautiously. Mrs. Beaver only laughed.
-"Don't worry, the river has been frozen solid for over a hundred years." She said reinsuring.
Veronica stared at Lucy who gave a worried expression on crossing an Ice river. Veronica knelt don't next to her and whispered in her ear. She knew she could trust Lucy with anything.
-" Lucy, do you know who the Empress is?" she asked slowly, waiting for the girls' response. She looked at Veronica confused and shook her head.
-"No." Lucy replied. Veronica gave a smile and looked around her to make sure no one heard.
-"Well…you're talking to her," she said softly in her ear. Lucy turned around at her with her eyes wide in shock, and smiled.
-"You're the Empress?!" she said jumping up and down with excitement "Oh how wonderful, you can help us with Edmund, wait till Peter finds out!" Veronica's eyes went wide.
-"No, Lucy!" she grabbed the girl a little firmly "The others must not know! Especially Peter." She said in a warning tone. Lucy smile went into a frown.
-"But why?" she asked sadly. Veronica gave a sigh, she felt bad for bringing her hopes up and then sending them back down.
-"Because, The others aren't ready…Peter's not ready." She said firmly. Veronica stood back up.
-"Smaller." She heard Susan say harshly, probably to Peter she thought.
-"Come along Lu." Peter told Lucy as he took her hand. She looked back to see Veronica thinking to herself. Veronica felt a gaze and looked to see it was Lucy. Veronica gave a smile and started to talk to Susan. The girls started talking about Britain's latest fashion, and how they were going to only girls' schools. After a few hours, they finally got Mr. Beaver to agree on a five-minute break. Lucy began talking to Mr. and Mrs. Beaver quietly while Susan was there drawing in the snow. Veronica sat on a snow-covered boulder and began to ponder her thoughts.
She remembered it all to well…the beginning of Narnia. She was only eleven, but still. She came to Narnia from the world 'Charn' along with her sister Jadis. She had first met Aslan when he was making Narnia. Jadis was frightened by the great lion, and decided to throw a lamppost at him. Luckily for her it did not notice, but only turned away.
-"Jadis, look what you did." Eleven-year-old Claire (Veronica) said feeling sorry for the lion. Jadis was annoyed.
-"Be quiet! I know what I'm doing! And don't even think about putting on those rings!" she said turning to Diggory and his Uncle. They looked at her surprised. Just then a majestic roar was heard, this however frightened Jadis who ran into the woods. Claire turned to the girl called Polly.
-"So what do we do now?" she asked taking the least interest in her sister. Polly turned to her and smiled.
-"We should find the lion." She turned to Diggory "What say you?" Diggory smiled and turned to the cabby named Frank, who was looking for his horse. They heard laughter only to find that the talking animals where all laughing about the 'first joke'. They followed the path the lion had gone. They walked for sometime until they saw the lion, and some other 'fearsome' creatures.
They approached the lion, taking a careful step until it finally noticed them.
-"Welcome Frank and Diggory Sons of Adam, welcome Polly Daughter of Eve, and welcome to you Claire, Empress of Narnia." Claire looked shocked at what the lion told her.
-"I'm sorry sir, Empress?" she asked. The lion only chuckled, and nodded.
-"Yes, young one. You Claire will be the High Empress of Narnia." Claire took a step forward.
-"But why me sir? I barely know this place or anyone in it, for that matter." She said shrugging her shoulders.
-"Don't worry dear one, all things have it's time, but now," Aslan turned to the council of Creatures "This is your Empress, obey what she says, And this" he turned to Frank "Will be your King, protect him well." The cabby known as Frank; gathered the courage to speak.
-"K-K-King?" he spoke, his voice trembling "Well that's all fine and everything sir, but I can't just leave my wife in England." Aslan only nodded.
-" Do you not know who I am? You of all should, know be best in your world, son." Frank only shrugged with a confused look. The children looked at each other with confusion. Some of the council began to take interest in the children. They began playing with Polly and Claire's hair, while the others started tugging on Diggory's shirt.
-" I'm sorry to say that I do not know." Aslan only nodded. There was something to him that made Claire feel assured that she could be Empress.
-"Do not worry, your wife will be with you." and with that a woman appeared out of nowhere, which caught them all by surprise. Aslan spoke again. " This is Queen Helen, love her of all things." The creatures nodded. Claire, now free from the creatures only to be called on by Aslan.
Claire walked towards him and gave a small curtsy since he himself must be the King Of all Narnia.
-"You wanted to speak to me sir?" she asked quietly. He only nodded; she felt something different in him this time. His eyes held sorrow. " Sir? Are you all right?" Aslan smiled, but still his eyes showed sorrow.
-"Young one, two witches are in Narnia…" he started off " One is good, the other is evil." Claire nodded since it made sense. "These two witches will be forever more enemies, doomed to hate each other till the end, although they are family." There he lost Claire. She looked at him puzzled.
-"Well that's horrible! How can two sisters hate each other and be from the same family?"
Alsan was only silent.
-"Daughter, I mean you and your sister. Diggory has let evil come into my dominion. You will help Narnia, in anyway you can. For that I must give you a curse, for you see your sister is evil and you are good. You see there can be only one witch in Narnia. You both keep the balance, but there will be a time when two sons of Adam and two daughters of Eve will appear to help you defeat your sister. And during that time you may begin to have feelings for the one destine to be High King. That is where this curse will come in. This is a law:
Every Traitor will belong to that who is evil, and along with every treachery
There shall be blood to be paid. For this is the law on which the
Emperor-Beyond- The- Sea
Has given to all of Narnia to be followed…
Claire looked surprised. She looked at Aslan and then to the ground.
-"So you're saying anyone who commits a crime of treachery, will be given to my sister to be put to death?" Aslan nodded silently, " So where does my curse come into this?" she asked quickly.
-"If you love your loved on dearly, then you will be willing to give or take the greatest gift of all: Life…
The Curse may be fulfilled in two ways.
One, you must be willing to give up your life for that of another…
If your loved one for your sacrifice repays love, then you shall be reborn…
Two, you must be willing to take the life of one for another…
If the loved one returns love then the sin of treachery shall be removed…
The curse may be fulfilled without love…
Aslan finished and looked to Claire, who looked completely frightened. She didn't know what to do.
-"If I do the curse without love, then my loved one wouldn't be heart broken, for he will never know I loved him. But if I take the life of another and no love is repaid, then I die, for I committed a treachery… So really I'm just using his love to bring or keep me alive, while with no love I die…but then if I die for one, he will be heartbroken if he loves me, and I won't kill another that's for certain!" Aslan merely chuckled.
-" You will know what to do when the time comes, enjoy his love while you can, and then if you choose 'no love' then you will have to break his heart, but if that is the whole purpose of this argument then have him not love you…"
-"But I want to be loved!" she said stomping her foot to the ground. "But I don't want to hurt him!" Aslan breathed on her. His breath felt so reinsuring.
-"Then choose the path of –"
-"Veronica!" someone yelled out. Veronica opened her eyes to see Susan.
-"Susan?" she saw the Beavers, Peter, and Lucy up ahead. Susan grabbed her and hurried her off to catch up with the others.
-"What was that about?" Susan asked after a long period of silence. Veronica looked at her confused.
-"What are you talking about?" Susan looked at her confused.
-"I'm talking about some 'curse'. You kept mumbling in your sleep about a curse." Veronica panicked; she didn't know whether it was best to tell her or them all since they would slowly began to figure she was the Empress.
-" A curse? That's ridiculous I mean 'logically' you cant be put on a curse." She said sarcastically. Susan rolled her eyes.
-"Well, you never know, 'logically' this shouldn't be real, and I didn't believe it but I'm getting used to it." Susan stated in sarcastic tone as well. They turned around to hear Peter saying he was going to turn Mr. Beaver into a hat if he didn't shut up. Veronica smiled at his remark. He looked up to see Veronica smiling. He smiled back, but her smile faded. Not because of him, but of something else.
-"It's her!" Veronica screamed. The others turned around to see a sleigh coming up right behind them.
-"Run!" yelled Peter, who took Lucy's hand and ran. Peter and Lucy past her. Lucy saw her friend stood sill and screamed.
"Veronica! Come on!" Peter turned around quickly to see she was still looking at the sleigh.
-"Come on!" he tugged on her arm but she didn't budge " Please!" he added quickly and scared.
This took Veronica out of the trance; she stared at Peter and then to the sleigh. She nodded her head at him.
-"All right, lets go!" the three took off trying to catch up behind Susan.
-"Hurry!" yelled Peter who looked over his shoulder to see the sleigh coming closer.
Mr. Beaver stood gesturing them all to get into a small cave.
-"Inside! Hurry!" They all threw themselves into the cave. Mr. And Mrs. Beaver were huddle next to each other followed by Susan and Lucy, and to Veronica's regret she was next to (more like in front of) Peter. She felt his breath on the back of her neck; this made her heart beat louder at the thought of them so close. Just then a shadow appeared in front of the cave, her hand went straight for his and held it tight, and surprisingly to her it she felt it grip back.
Oh, Aslan she can't find them… not now!
The shadow then left. She breathed a sigh of relief, and she noticed so did the others.
-"Maybe…she's gone." Whispered Lucy. Peter began to move.
-"I should go check" Veronica just pushed her weight on him pushing him back.
-"NO! You're worth nothing to Narina dead!" she said looking straight at him. He nodded at her understanding.
-"She's right. I should go," said Mr. Beaver
-"But neither are you Beaver." Mrs. Beaver responded, he only turned around and patted his wife's hands.
-"Thanks love."
-"Wait!" Veronica whispered. The beavers looked at her confused. "I'm coming with you." She started pushing herself off the ground, when Peter pulled her down quickly.
-"What are you doing? She'll kill you!"
-"She can't kill me."
-"Well…I don't want to risk losing you," he said sheepishly. Veronica stared at him with disbeliefe.
-"What?" she asked her voice shaking. Peter looked to the wall and mumbled something to her barley audible.
-"I don't want to lose you."
She stared at the wall on her left.
-Oh Aslan! He loves me! What am I going to do?
- Break his heart Claire! He loves Veronica not you!!
-I don't want to hurt him!
-You hurt him either way!
She looked back at Peter….
Thank you to all who have read my story! You found out more on Veronica's past and Curse and how she really is called Claire… Thank you narniagirl17 and brezzybrez
And many others for reviewing!! More reviews make me write faster!! Seriously!