Chapter 11
Two days before the events in Calormen...
The White Witch stalked into the icy dungeons, head held high and unforgiving, wearing a blue-white gown that hid her feet. The sound of her heavy, angry footsteps yanked Edmund out of his melancholy thoughts, and he glanced up.
Her wand was in her hand, twirling around her fingers as she took another step forward, towering over Edmund and glaring down at him.
Edmund shuddered despite himself, rubbing absently at his shackled ankles. He chanced a look at Mr. Tumnus, Lucy's friend, who was watching with obvious fear in his eyes. Mr. Tumnus, who was here because of him...
Oh, if he could go back in time now, if only he had never been so foolish.
"My police tore that dam apart," The Witch interrupted his guilty thoughts with a shout, eying him coldly for any sign of guilt. When she found only that same expression of melancholy, her face pinched into an angry scowl.
Edmund jumped at the tone of her voice. She was angry, but for what, he couldn't imagine. She had gotten to his siblings. He'd been an idiot, telling her where they were. Her "police." She'd sent the wolves after them, and it was all his fault.
"Your little family was nowhere to be found," the Witch continued, anger seeping into her words. Anger that was the color red, though Edmund had always, before this, imagined it as blue. Her hands fingered the wand again, as if she were debating using it on him now.
Edmund swallowed, ducking his head and hoping the relief he felt wasn't showing on his face. Or, at the very least, that she hadn't seen it. They had gotten away! They weren't there. He hadn't been the cause of his siblings' death.
The relief soon turned to despair a moment later. The White Witch, as he had taken to calling her in his mind now, instead of "Your Majesty," was furious. She would believe Edmund had lied to her.
A tendril of fear snaked down his spine at the thought of what she might do to him. Of what she had already done to him.
She grabbed him, yanking him into the air and off his feet. He gasped for air and it felt like she was choking him to death.
He didn't hear her next words. At least, not clearly. The images of stone statues and dead bodies somehow blocked it out, and his thoughts were screaming at him, illogically, Susan would point out, considering his chains, to run.
Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Mr. Tumnus grow increasingly nervous. The fawn gave Edmund a look that was probably supposed to convey encouragement when he saw the human boy looking. Whatever the Witch had planned for him, for failing her, would not be pleasant.
He licked his dry lips.
He looked back up at the Witch. Her eyes weren't ice anymore, but fire reflected in them and somehow that was even more terrifying. Edmund shrunk away.
He knew what she wanted, what she had asked, even if he hadn't heard. Because for some reason that he didn't really understand, she wanted them dead. She wanted them all dead.
The only reason Edmund was still alive was because she thought he was withholding information from her. And Edmund wouldn't part with that information, even if it meant his own life was forfeit. Not now, that he had seen how evil she was. He'd already been a fool to do so once.
"I don't know," he whispered out hoarsely, lifting his chin defiantly, hoping she would believe him. He didn't know if his siblings could make it to this Stone Table and Aslan or not, with the Witch chasing them. Perhaps they would make it because he kept silent, and live. Perhaps it was too far away and the White Witch would stumble upon them, or worse, her wolves.
Either way, Edmund would not be the one to cause their deaths, no matter how much death terrified him. They were his siblings, after all, no matter how angry he was at them before. That anger was gone now, replaced only with...regret. Regret over what he had done, his betrayal.
The Witch studied him for a full minute. Her eyes changed color as they bore into his own, turning black then red then yellow. He balked at the sight, shrinking away from her as far as his chains would allow. His airways constricted tightly once more before she dropped him. He doubled over in pain, lying helplessly curled into a ball at her feet. At her mercy.
The fawn was holding his breath, knowing what was coming but unable to stop it.
Edmund closed his eyes, fully prepared to die despite the terror fluttering in his chest, beating erratically.
Then the White Witch raised her wand above her head without pity. "Then you are of no further use to me," she informed the human boy.
The wand came flying through the air, so fast Edmund could barely see it through the blur of his own watery eyes, slamming down towards him, the Witch's fiery eyes scalding as the wand that would be his doom came closer and closer to its target-
"Wait!" he shouted, fear and some other emotion, one he couldn't quite place, rushing through him. No, you fool, be silent! Something shouted inside him, but he couldn't listen.
The wand slowed but continued its descent. "The beavers said something about Aslan!"
The wand stopped moving and Edmund allowed himself to breathe again. For some reason it hurt.
The words were out of Edmund's mouth before he had the time to fully register what he was saying, and his face burned in shame and horror at what he had just done. Once again, to save himself, the price had been his siblings. I'm sorry, Peter.
For a moment he didn't understand just what he had done, though. The name of Aslan, the name he had betrayed to the Witch, reminded him of light colors and his sister, Lucy. But he associated it with a terrifying jungle creature, swallowing him up. Why would he want to protect such a creature?
Edmund squinted up at the Witch, and for a moment, the smallest moment, she wasn't the Witch, but a different woman.
A woman he hardly remembered, with short brown hair and kind eyes. A woman who cared about him just as much as she cared about his siblings, who was always there for him. For some reason, she was important to him, but Edmund couldn't remember why. He didn't know who she was.
Then, too quickly, she was ripped away from him and the Witch had returned, staring down at him.
The look of fear that crossed her face at the mention of Aslan surprised him. It was not altogether unwelcome.
"Aslan?" She was growing fuzzy, fading in and out before his eyes. He found himself wishing she would disappear altogether, but she did not.
"He's a stranger here, Your Majesty, he can't be expected to know anything," the fawn insisted, but it wasn't the fawn, it was Lucy, pleading with those beautiful brown eyes that could melt almost anyone.
Everything was a blur after that, spinning and swirling as he choked-choked?- and felt pain that he had no business feeling washing through him. It felt like he was being pressed in on all sides. He could hear screaming, and some small part of him told him it was his own. He let out another scream that neither the Witch or Mr. Tumnus seemed to hear and the world spun faster. He heard the roar of a lion and gasped.
The next moment, everything stilled, and Edmund was deposited onto solid ground. He was sitting in the White Witch's sleigh, letting her mop up the sugary mess around his lips with the dwarf's hat. He smiled, liking the feeling of someone taking care of him again.
It was the first time since they'd left home that anyone had bothered.
"You betrayed them, Edmund dear. For sweeties." She was smiling at him, her words coming from far away as she continued to wipe his mouth. Her actions didn't match the accusation in her words, and Edmund shivered at her cool smile.
The look of betrayal on Mr. Tumnus' face at this news was the last thing Edmund saw before the Witch brought the wand bearing down on him once more.
"Turkish Delight. Do you like it, my little prince?"
The wolf cringed as he passed the hallway leading to the dungeons, his ears twitching at the sound of throaty, panicked screaming from inside. Hackles rose on his back.
There was only one prisoner down there that he knew of, the boy King. He didn't know why that fact bothered him so much. The White Witch hadn't taken any other prisoners since her awakening, which surprised him. Before, her dungeons had been always kept occupied. However, he supposed she didn't need any others. This time, she wasn't planning on allowing any who opposed her to live.
As the wolf hurried down the ice hall, he saw an ogre standing guard to the dungeons. The boy inside let out another scream, and the wolf let out a small mewl in response. The ogre remained stoic.
"Stupid human won't shut up," the ogre snapped in answer to the wolf's questioning look. "Been at it all mornin'."
Ailyan, for that was the wolf's name, felt a shiver of guilt at the thought of what horrors the human boy was going through. Perhaps one of the Queen's dwarves was beating him.
"What's being done to him?" the wolf dared to ask, not entirely sure why he cared so much. The boy king was a fool to try and stand against Her Majesty after betraying for her in the first place, and he was paying for it. He should truly have expected no less.
The ogre eyed the wolf as if he thought Ailyan a bit slow. "Nothin'," he responded finally. "The Witch ordered he be left alone...for now. But he hasn't stopped screechin' since I took my post here. I went in to check on 'im earlier. Seemed fine to me."
Just then, another inhuman howl emerged from behind the closed door of the dungeon. Ailyan twitched, but the ogre only slammed his ax against the door and shouted, "Quiet!"
Ailyan lost no love on the Kings and Queens of the Golden Age. His allegiance had always been to the true Queen of Narnia, like his forefathers, and no one had been very accepting of the wolves, after the Witch's demise. Ailyan and his mate had become fell creatures, banished from Narnia on pain of death for their loyalty.
Still, the cries of the human boy plagued him every time he got close enough to hear them. Keeping him here did not serve any purpose as far as the wolf could see. And the poor thing was just a pup, like the boy from Calormen.
The comparison sent another shred of guilt through him.
He had thought that the return of the White Witch would change things, for the better. After all, he had been key in bringing her back. Ailyan had gone down to Calormen and retrieved the human boy. Without his services, the Witch would have never returned. That fact made her oddly more human, less of an all-powerful being in his mind.
She had needed his help, had depended on him, on the hag, and on a sniveling little Calormene urchin for her life. The fantastical Queen of old didn't seem quite so fearsome after that, because after all, what was Ailyan but a lowly Northern wolf?
One would think he would receive at least a little appreciation for it. Instead, he had been completely ignored, not even thanked for his services, his mate sent away on some mission that he wasn't even allowed to know about. The hag who had performed the spell to awaken the Witch had died in Cair's dungeons. And that Calormene boy...
The human pup let out another gut-wrenching scream from the dungeons, and Ailyan couldn't help but wonder if the Witch ever rewarded those she depended on.
ǁ
Lucy glanced back at her little trail of talking mice, offering them a cheeky smile. Spikes did not return the smile. He kept glancing behind them with a concerned look on his face, as if he expected the Witch to come out and attack them at any moment.
Lucy couldn't deny that she was nervous, afraid even, but she wouldn't allow it to deter her. Edmund needed to be rescued, and Aslan would protect her until then. Finding her brother was the most important thing right now. If Edmund could only come back they would be together again, and then it would be simple, defeating the White Witch. Everyone else seemed to think the only way they would get Edmund back was if the Witch was already defeated, just like they seemed to think they were on their own, Aslan no longer helping. But the Witch only had a chance to win if she killed-
No, she wouldn't think of that. Edmund would live. Aslan would return before that.
The sight of Jadis' castle, abandoned these five long years, was enough to make anyone nervous. Lucy was tempted to reach for the horn and blow it now, before it was too late. Something within her screamed for her to give up on Edmund, to turn around and go somewhere safe while she still had the chance.
But the valiant side of Lucy won out, and she refused to back down. Not when she was so close; she could practically feel Edmund's presence within that castle.
"Here," Lucy said, stopping so suddenly one of the mice behind her ran into her boots. The other mice ground to a halt behind the first before they tripped as well.
She had stopped at the top of a small cliff. If Lucy squinted, she could see movement around Jadis' castle from here.
If she knew that her brother's army lay on the other side of the castle, shrouded by a valley and impossible to see from here, she might not have gone through with what she was about to do. Then again, maybe she would have still.
Lucy laid down flat against the grass, motioning for the mice to do the same. They followed her lead, flopping down and gazing at the castle beyond.
"Spikes, can you see anything?" she whispered to the mouse captain as he settled into the grass beside her.
Spikes was holding an eye-glass, too small for Lucy, but big enough to let him see the castle's gates clearly. As he held it to his eye with his paws, Lucy couldn't help inwardly reflecting how absolutely adorable he looked. She would never have said so, of course. Spikes would have thought this the highest offense.
"Nothing moving in the castle or on the castle grounds, my lady," he reported. Lucy's forehead wrinkled at how strange that was. "And...ah!"
She slid closer to him, wishing she could see through the eyeglass for herself. Or that she'd had the presence of mind to bring one of her own when she left Cair. "What is it?"
"There's a creature...no, that's impossible." She was tempted to rip the little eyeglass out of his hands. He turned away from it and stared up at her, mouth open a little wider than usual. "I just saw nothing, and then there was a creature, as if it appeared out of the air. It's coming our way."
Lucy bit her lip in worry. "What manner of creature was it?"
"A badger I believe, my lady." Spikes squinted into the eyeglass once more.
It saddened her that a badger would have joined the Witch. She had always believed badgers to be wise, kindly creatures. But she must go through with her plan now. "Where is it going?"
"Into the forest."
Lucy leapt to her feet, plucking up her dagger from its sheath and starting toward the woods. Spikes let out a long sigh and started after her, along with the other mice. He put away his eyeglass.
"My lady, where are you going?"
She glanced back at her mouse Captain, a look of surprise on her face. "I'm going after the badger. Are you coming with me or not?"
Spikes did not answer her. Instead, his brow furrowing, he responded with a question of his own. "For what purpose?"
Lucy grinned. "Well, it would be better than storming the castle by ourselves, don't you think?"
Spikes looked back at his men, sighed again, and then followed after her. His men made no objection.
It took them a while to catch up to the badger. Tracking and hunting had never been Lucy's strong suit, preferring to go and visit the beavers with Susan while their brothers hunted, but the mice were good at it, and she only needed to follow them.
When they entered the wood, Spikes sidled up to her and whispered, "Your Majesty, I would be grateful if you stayed close enough for me to keep an eye on you."
It felt more like an order than anything, but she agreed. She had never been ordered around by a mouse before. Lucy could hear Edmund's gentle laughter at the idea.
The Valiant Queen held a finger to her lips, warning the mice to be silent. They stalked forward silently, then scampered into the trees and followed her from above. Every once in a while, she glanced up to make sure they were still following her.
When they finally caught up to the creature, she noticed how quickly it was moving towards wherever its destination was. It seemed suspicious, glancing over its shoulder every few minutes and sniffing. But, apparently, the badger hadn't noticed his pursuers yet.
Capturing the badger wasn't as difficult as Lucy had thought it would be. The creature suddenly stopped in the middle of a small clearing, looking around and sniffing. It tensed, and for a moment Lucy thought he would take off.
She glanced up, catching Spikes' eyes. The mouse understood and jumped down from the pine he was currently inhabiting, landing just before the badger with his sword pointed directly at the fell creature's heart.
The fell creature jumped, spinning around only to find himself surrounded on all sides by the mice guard, jumping down from trees by their tails.
Queen Lucy stepped out from behind a large pine, hand on the sheath holding her dagger in threat. The badger reached for his own sword, and was immediately met with six more.
Lucy, feeling guilt about it as she always did when she was forced to use violence, yanked the dagger out of its sheath and held it out toward the badger.
She had not thought the badger would put up a fight. But seeing the Valiant Queen had only strengthened the badger's resolve, it seemed. He swung at Spikes, and the mouse captain just barely managed to duck and avoid being sliced in two, surprise written on his features.
The other mice attacked from behind, boxing the badger in on all sides until he barely had room to move. The sword was knocked out of his paw by Spikes, who tossed it out of reach.
Then Lucy stepped forward, still holding the dagger towards the badger and frowning at the way Spikes and his mice guard had attacked the badger. Yet, she supposed, this was war. Sometimes unfair methods had to be used, as much as she disapproved of them.
"Surrender," Lucy said, hating the way her voice faltered as she said the word.
The badger let out a long, heavy breath and lowered his head.
Spikes took this as a sign of surrender and charged forward with two of his mice, tackling the badger to the ground and holding him down. Rope that Lucy hadn't known the mice had was suddenly wrapped around the Witch's agent, pinning him to the ground as the mice pulled back.
"Tell us where you are going and what your purpose was," Lucy said, taking another step forward, until she was standing over the badger. She hoped she looked intimidating enough to induce him to speak, but highly doubted it was so.
"You might as well kill me," the badger hissed out through clenched teeth, squirming against the bonds holding him. "I will never tell you anything that would betray my Queen."
Spikes raised his sword, willing to take the badger up on that offer, but Lucy lifted her hand, palm flat. Spikes settled for glaring at the fell creature.
Delicately, Lucy sank down into the grass next to the badger and offered him her kindest, sincerest smile.
"Please," she pleaded. "I just want to know where my brother is. Surely you can tell me that. King Edmund the Just?" As if he didn't know to whom she was referring.
The badger, despite his bonds, somehow managed to throw his head back and laugh. Spikes' sword pressed into the fur at his neck. It wasn't all Spikes wanted to know. His duty was to King Edmund, but it was also to protecting Narnia. But he would get to that later, if the badger proved willing to speak.
"Where is King Edmund?" Lucy demanded. "Please, I just want to know. He's my brother." Her voice sounded so young and hopeless that Spikes had to force himself not to run the badger through then and there for causing her such pain.
The badger glared at her, refusing to answer.
Spikes had enough of this. He pressed his small sword further into the badger's neck, until the animal gasped, his back arching in pain.
Lucy glared at Spikes, but then the badger was talking and her anger at Spikes' treatment of their prisoner was forgotten.
"King...Edmund the Just? Not anymore. He's nothing...but a prisoner in Her Majesty's dungeons. Wallowing away until she has a use for him," the badger gasped out, apparently deciding the information not worth his pain.
"So she does have him," Lucy said, inwardly disgusted that the badger chose to gloat about this. At least now she knew for sure, though, what had become of her brother. At least now there were no more doubts, no more wishing. "And he's alive."
The badger glowered at her before conceding, "He is. But just barely. She plans to kill him on the Stone Tale for betraying her."
Lucy's forehead crinkled at this. "But Aslan already paid the price on the Stone Table for Edmund."
The badger shook his head, gasping as the small pin-like sword pressed into him. He didn't quite understand her reasoning behind it, but the badger knew this was what his Queen had planned. Everyone knew. "She will kill him on the Table anyway."
"Where is he being kept?"
"Alone in her dungeons. She has a constant guard on him all of the time. You would never be able to rescue him," the badger said, the last bit sounding like gloating.
Lucy chewed on her bottom lip. Then, "Let him stand up. He's told us what I asked."
"But, Your Majesty-" Spikes argued.
Lucy gave him a look.
Spikes ignored her, shocking the Queen, badger, and his own mice guard as, instead, he pressed the knife further into the badger's neck. "Why is there no movement in the Witch's castle? What is she planning?"
The badger blinked. "What are you speaking of? Of course there is movement in the Queen's castle."
Lucy and Spikes exchanged glances. "We've been watching for a while now, and there is absolute stillness. You...appeared out of nowhere. We assumed you had some sort of concealing enchantment on you."
"Oh. That." The badger sounded almost embarrassed that he had forgotten. "Yes, when she arrived here Her Majesty set a concealing spell on her castle, so that you and your 'High King' wouldn't learn of how large her army was. I assumed she had taken down the spell when your army arrived. There was no reason to hide it anymore. You obviously know where we are. Apparently she did not."
"Our Army?" Lucy echoed. Spikes raised his eyebrows at this news.
The badger rolled his eyes. "Don't expect me to believe that little act," he snapped. "You must know about the Imposter High King's army, camped just on the other side of Her Majesty's castle. Why else would you be stalking about out here?"
"I..." Before Lucy could properly answer him, the woods erupted with fell creatures, jumping out from behind trees and logs, axes and swords raised in attack. A minitor swept up one of the mice before they could react, neatly breaking his neck and tossing him aside.
Lucy jumped to her feet, screaming as the little mouse hit the ground a mere pace away from her, dead instantly. The other mice leapt to attention, forming a circle around their Queen and backing away as the fell creatures cut the badger free and he disappeared into the forest.
Spikes couldn't believe he had been such a fool to lower his guard. Obviously this had been a trap from the start. The fell creatures were closing in on him, and he knew they must have every intention of destroying them immediately.
"Protect the Queen!" he shouted to one of his mice, before rushing forward with a battle cry and attacking a hyena with his little sword. For the first time in his life, he was aware of how small and insignificant it seemed when it was one of the only things standing in between these foul creatures and his Queen.
He and his fellow mice fought bravely against the much larger, fell creatures, but he knew it was no use; there were simply too many of them for the mice and Queen Lucy to win this victory.
Queen Lucy swept up her dagger, no longer feeling guilty about using it. She seemed to be holding her own against the hag fighting her until the vile creature suddenly sliced into her right forearm, causing the dagger to fall to the ground wit a thud. It hit the grass and seemed to vanish beneath the leaves and pine needles.
Lucy let out a cry of pain as a thin trail of red blood leaked across her arm. She looked down frantically for the knife. The hag advanced on her now, leering in victory. Lucy stumbled backward, tripping and falling onto her bottom.
Spikes turned away from the minitor he had been fighting, rushing forward on instinct to the Queen's defense.
The hag raised her weapon high above her head, about to bring it barreling down on the youngest Queen of Narnia when Spikes just managed to reach her.
He shoved the hag, causing her to lose her concentration on Lucy, but, sadly, not her balance, and the creature swirled around to face him. They engaged in a fierce power struggle over the hag's weapon for a full minute before Spikes pulled it away from her and tossed it aside.
It was much heavier than he thought it had looked, in the hands of the hag.
The hag shrieked, lunging at him, but Spikes ran her through without a second's delay, and the creature fell to the ground, glassy eyes wide with shock.
"Killed...by a mouse," he heard her mutter before falling silent for the last time.
He turned to Lucy then, smiling smugly at his victory. She was watching him with horror, eyes wide. Her hand covered her mouth, and a stray tear had slipped down her cheek.
"Spikes!" she shouted.
Spikes didn't understand why his killing the hag had upset her so. She had been in battles before; surely she...
He had forgotten about the minitor he was fighting earlier, in his haste to save Queen Lucy from the hag.
Looking down with apprehension, Spikes discovered the spear sticking out of his side, gushing blood into the leaves beneath him. He looked up and his eyes locked with Lucy's for one moment before he was tumbling to the ground, and Lucy was screaming his name. Several of his mice glanced up in worry, and saw their captain hurtling towards the ground, blood pouring out of his side.
The minitor stood over him, yanking his spear out of the little mouse and turning to another. He didn't seem concerned with Lucy, lying defenseless on the ground...
But she wasn't defenseless, Spikes remembered, thinking of Queen Susan's magical horn, hidden away in her boot.
As he lay in the leaves, sure that he would be dead any minute now, he turned his head to Lucy, who looked on the verge of tears at the sight of him. Behind her, he could see another two more members of his mice guard, lying dead.
"Your Majesty," he wheezed out, finding it extremely painful.
Lucy sat up, leaning forward and straining to hear him.
He could have apologized for failing her, as he wished to do. He knew he had brought great shame to his kind. Mice had only won the right to become more than dumb animals after freeing Aslan at the Stone Table, and he still believed it needed to be earned. But he had failed Queen Lucy while his brothers had helped Aslan! Shame swept through him.
He ignored it, clenching his teeth and blurting out, "The Horn!"
Lucy's eyes widened in realization at his words. Her hands immediately reached for her boot, and she pulled the white horn out of it. The minitor turned from his current mouse opponent, as did several of the other fell creatures, and their eyes widened in fear.
Spikes decided dying was worth it, to see such a look on the faces of the Witch's soldiers in response to little, sweet Queen Lucy.
The minitor lumbered forward, intent on getting the horn away from Queen Lucy before she had the chance to call for help.
Lucy lifted the horn to her lips and blew into it. The sound it made reverberated through the trees, causing all of the Witch's soldiers to flinch and Spikes to inwardly cheer, although he had lost too much blood to actually cheer. The sound the horn made seemed to echo through the forest like a wave.
And deep in Calormen, a criminal bounty hunter was pulled out of a dwarf mine and thrown before the feet of a wealthy Tarkaan.
The minitor shoved the horn away from Lucy's lips, and the sound abruptly stopped as the horn tumbled to the ground. Then the fell creature knocked Lucy over the side of the head, and she fell unconscious at once, blood dribbling down her forehead from the force of the hit.
Spikes felt tears blurring his vision, and he was furious. He needed to pay attention; he needed to see what was going on. Blood stained his fur, growing sticky in it. He needed to protect Queen Lucy...
The mice guard lay dead in the leaves beneath the canopy of trees as the minitor pulled Lucy up off the ground and flung her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. The horn was handed off to a wolf, who held it between his teeth like it was a great source of discomfort.
The fell creatures were about to start off, the minitor carrying their only burden, back to the Witch's castle. The minitor turned to the fox at his side.
"Make sure they're all dead," he ordered.
The fox bit back a laugh. "They're all dead," he assured the minitor.
"Check," the minitor insisted. "We don't want one getting away to alert their army that we have one of their Queens."
The little Queen moaned in his grip, her head shaking as if she were coming to. The badger, out for a bit of revenge, quickly put an end to that, hitting her over the head once more with his paw. She fell silent and slumped against the minitor's back.
"You did well today, badger," the minitor praised the badger.
"But weren't we risking quite a lot, by allowing him to tell the little Queen?" one of the wolves demanded.
The minitor shrugged. "It doesn't matter. Who will they tell?" he gestured to the mice. "And besides, the little Queen would have found out the truth soon enough, where we're taking her."
The fox sighed, dismayed by his glum task. He walked over to one of the mice, biting it hard in the neck. The dead creature didn't respond and he moved on to the next one.
He bit four more before deciding that was enough, they must all either be dead or close to it.
The minitor, wolves, hawk, and badger were already leaving, and he scurried after them, not wanting to be left behind with the dead in this forest.
And the mice were all dead, as he assumed.
All but one, just clinging to life, but alive.
ǁ
Edmund strained against the chains holding him, his legs finally giving out under him. They scraped against the ice before he collapsed unceremoniously to his knees. The chains holding his arms above his head cut into his wrists at this, and he let out a strangled gasp.
It had been a while since the White Witch was here, and, for reasons beyond him, he was rather disappointed by her absence. No one else, besides perhaps the evil dwarf, ever came to visit him. At least if she was here, he would be fed.
He didn't know how many days had passed since the last time he had eaten. Years, perhaps, of being stuck down here. But then, he would be dead if he hadn't eaten in years.
The guards standing outside the dungeons brought him water once a day, or, at least, he assumed it was once a day. He really had no way of telling anymore.
Food. He could hardly remember the taste of food on his lips anymore. Everything, when he imagined it, seemed too dry and easy to choke on, but it was better than nothing.
Besides, he thought the Queen had ordered he be brought food.
No, she wasn't the Queen; he mustn't think like that. She was the White Witch, and why would she care that he be fed? He should be glad she was leaving him alone. Peter would be thinking up a way to defeat her by now, and all Edmund could think about was food.
He lowered his head in disgust at himself.
But, then again, if he wanted to think of some way to defeat the Queen-Witch, he needed to eat so he could focus. Even Peter wouldn't object to that, surely.
The Just King banged on the wall of ice closest to him with a white knuckled fist, hard enough to cause a trickle of blood to run down his fingers when he pulled away.
"I'm going to starve to death down here!" he shouted, no longer caring who was listening.
He just needed to eat. There had been no food for too long, and all Edmund knew was that he was starving, his stomach was beginning to look strange and distended, and he would eat just about anything right now.
The door opened and the ogre standing guard outside, a fearsome, ugly creature that reminded Edmund all too much of the disgusting creature who had dragged Mr. Tumnus away to be turned to stone in his dreams. No, that hadn't been in his dreams, that had been in real life, he reminded himself.
It really didn't matter, he decided in the next moment. That had nothing to do with the mission: eat, defeat the Witch.
"What do ye want?" the ogre demanded. "I told ye to shut up!"
Edmund decided to try about the same as what he had said before. "The Witch ordered that I be fed! I haven't been, and she'll punish you for it if I die now."
The ogre glowered at him, but obviously believed him more than the last guard had. "Very well. I will go and fetch whatever Her Majesty wishes you to have today." He slammed the door, leaving Edmund alone, and Edmund was almost tempted to call him back, to beg for him not to leave him here.
As he waited, a horrible thought occurred to him. Perhaps the Witch really didn't care whether he was fed or not, and that was why no food had come.
No, she had admitted she wanted him to die on the Stone Table. Surely she would keep him alive until then. He hoped. It was the same mistake she made last time, refusing to kill him until she could properly gloat over his death.
It was a long time before he could make out the lumbering footsteps of the ogre outside the dungeon door, and he involuntarily tensed at the noise. Then there was silence, but he knew the ogre was still outside.
He turned his head towards the door, waiting for it to be opened and for the ogre to grudgingly hand him his supper.
Nothing happened, for a while. Then, a small, trap door that he had never seen before opened at the bottom of the door to the dungeon. It was just large enough for a small creature to fit through.
"Here ye are, Son of Adam!" he heard the ogre shout from outside, and then a covered plate of food was shoved through the trap door. It slid across the icy dungeon at a surprisingly fast speed before coming to a stop at Edmund's knees.
He leaned down, straining against his chains, using his feet to pull the plate closer and somehow managing to push off the white cloth covering it with both feet.
The cloth fell away, revealing the contents on the plate, and suddenly Edmund wasn't so terribly hungry anymore. He recoiled on instinct.
The sight of this particular food made his insides curl until he was sure he was going to dry heave. Scrambling back, he kicked the plate of food across the room, although it didn't go far with his lack of strength.
The plate sat in the middle of the room, just out of reach, taunting him. He clenched his eyes tightly shut and turned away. When he turned back the food was, sadly, still there.
It was Turkish Delight.
A/N: Thank you for all the lovely reviews! That's the most I've had in a while! Sorry about the wait; for some reason I've been having some trouble with this chapter so I skipped ahead to the next few chapters before I came back to this one. Please review and tell me what you think!