Finding Narnia

A Chronicles of Narnia Fanfiction by Darkened-Storm

Disclaimer: I, Darkened-Storm, own only my plot, ideas and characters. C.S Lewis owns The Chronicles of Narnia: the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Any characters you do not recognise from his series, including Stephanie and Rebecca Pevensie, are my creations.

Chapter Seven: To the Castle

"Let's split up," Peter said as soon as they'd bundled on their coats and gone outside in search of Edmund. "Search everywhere – we have to find him."

No one argued. Lucy went with Peter, her eyes wet with tears and they went left around the dam calling out to Edmund. Susan went right with Mr Beaver, looking cross but also looking extremely worried for her brother. Steph took Becky's hand and together they went straight, back the way they had come.

The sky was truly dark now and they didn't have a hope of seeing much at all. Steph held onto Becky's hand as tightly as she could so they wouldn't get separated and began to yell Edmund's name. They went all the way to the edge of the dam, Steph half dragging Becky through the layer of new fallen snow until they could both go no further, yelling until their voices were hoarse from the cold and their own fear.

Steph felt horrible. Fear nagged at the corners of her mind and she was beside herself with worry, but worst of all, she felt guilty, horribly guilty for all the nasty things she had said to Edmund earlier - guilty for telling him off and guilty for not listening to him when he said they shouldn't follow the bird.

Really, it's no wonder he's run off on us, she thought, when we treat him so. Had Edmund hated them all so much that he'd turned to the White Witch. Were they all such terrible brothers and sisters and cousins that he'd want them turned to stone?

No, Edmund wasn't like that. He could be nasty yes, but really, he was just a child – a child who'd been torn away from his mother and father, sent to live in a country house with a terrible housekeeper and stuck with an older brother who constantly berated him, an overbearing older sister, one cousin who treated him like a child and another who –

Who couldn't stand up for him when she thought something might be wrong, Steph thought bitterly, kicking at the snow. She had known something was wrong with Edmund that night Lucy claimed to have found him in the wardrobe. He'd looked so horribly pale and cold – he must have met the White Witch on his first journey in to Narnia.

If he'd met her all alone in the forest, who knows what the White Witch might have said to him to turn him against his family. She wouldn't need to say much, with Edmund already being so mad at them all. And once she had Edmund, what would the Witch do to him when she found out he was one of the prophesied Sons of Adam?

"Edmund!" she called. "Ed! Where are you!"

"It's no use," Becky said from beside her. Her teeth were chattering and she hugged her coat more tightly around her. "Mr Beaver's right – he's gone to the Witch. Stupid, stupid Edmund."

"Don't say that," Steph exclaimed, rounding on her sister furiously. "Don't you understand, Edmund could be in real trouble! The Witch might even turn him to stone!"

Almost immediately she knew she had spoken too harshly. Becky's brown eyes widened and her lips trembled. She didn't like Edmund a whole lot, but he was still family and she didn't want anything bad to happen to him.

"I'm sorry," Steph said at once. "Really, but Ed's in trouble now and we can't just leave him behind because we think he's not very nice – and it's because we were so horrible to him that he's gone and done this."

And she knew Becky felt horribly guilty, because while Steph and Peter and Susan had tried their best to diffuse Edmund when he was nasty, she had constantly teased and belittled him. "Do you – do you think she'd really turn him to stone?" she asked, her voice wavering.

Steph shivered. "I don't know, maybe – if she's really as evil as the Beaver says – " She broke off when she heard Lucy yell from the other side of the house. "Hurry," she said to Becky, and despite their tired limbs they ran the entire way back to the little house where Peter, Susan, Lucy and Mr Beaver were waiting.

"Footprints!" Lucy exclaimed, pointing to the snow. A set of small footprints that could only have belonged to Edmund led up a slope towards two hills in the distance.

"The Witch's castle is that way," Mr Beaver told them. "We haven't much time." And he ran, dropping onto all fours to climb the slope. They hurried after him, struggling with their oversized coats and slippery shoes.

It was colder now – horribly cold as they climbed, the snow soaking through Peter's trousers and the girls' socks before they'd even made it halfway. "Hurry," Peter called to them, racing ahead, and Steph, Susan, Becky and Lucy scrambled after him. What they saw when they reached the top of the hill made their blood run cold.

A mile below them, at the foot of the valley stretched a lake, frozen lake, much larger than the one the Beaver's house had been built at and in the very centre of the lake stood a terrible looking castle – with little towers with pointed spires as sharp as needles and large stone gates guarding the entry – and walking towards the horrible, tall stone gates, his body trembling with every step that he took, was…

"Edmund!" Lucy screamed. Peter rushed forward.

"No!" Mr Beaver exclaimed, leaping forward and pulling Peter back by the hand, but Peter was much taller and much stronger than him and he dragged the poor old beaver half a meter through the snow before he stopped.

"Get off me," Peter snapped, trying to shake the old Beaver off.

"You're playing into her hands," Mr Beaver exclaimed, digging his claws into the snow so that Peter couldn't take off again.

"Well, we can't just let him go," Susan exclaimed.

"He's our brother," Lucy added.

Mr Beaver shook his head violently and slapped his tail against the snow anxiously. "He's the bait," he told them. "The witch wants all four of you."

"Why?" Peter asked.

"To stop the prophecy from coming true," the Beaver explained, lowering his voice to little more than a whisper. "To kill ya!"

Helplessly, they watched as the Edmund disappeared into behind the big, stone doors.

Susan suddenly looked furious as she marched up to Peter. "This is all your fault," she yelled.

Peter whirled around to face his sister. "My fault?" he exclaimed furiously.

"None of this would have happened if you had just listened to me in the first place," Susan said, raising her voice and causing Mr Beaver to shush them all again.

"Oh, so you knew this would happen?" Peter asked her in a mocking tone – the same tone Edmund had used when he'd accused Susan of trying to be a grown up.

The tone had just the affect he'd intended – it made Susan even angrier. "I didn't know what would happen," Susan answered and she was so furious that began yelling again. "Which is why we should have left while we still could."

"And gone where?" Steph said abruptly, suddenly feeling very angry with Susan for constantly badgering them about going home. Of course, now it was painfully obvious that she'd been right all along and now she was acting as though she was better than all of them because she was right – just as Edmund had said she would.

"Stop it!" Lucy shouted, putting herself between the three of them and glaring at them all. "This isn't going to help Edmund," she exclaimed.

Dread filled Steph from head to toe and she knew Lucy was right – if they went after Edmund now the witch would only capture them and most likely turn them all to stone, but if they didn't go, would she keep Edmund alive? Surely they'd be no good killing him when she could still use him to lure the rest of them to her.

Unless she decides the best way to prevent the prophecy from coming true is to just kill Edmund now, Steph thought, and then they'd only be five of us at Cair Paravel.

"Will she kill Edmund?" she asked the Beaver, unable to keep her voice from shaking.

Mr Beaver shook his head. "No, most likely she'll keep him alive so long as he's the only one she's got. Only Aslan can help your brother now."

"Then take us to him," Peter said.

I had this chapter ready a while ago, but I didn't feel like updating because I only got one review. I'll update faster this time if I get more reviews.