This chapter has a little different tone than the last two-no late confidences or dreams of Narnia. I hope you like it!

I only own Smith and Armsby, and the unnamed "tutor," who I think must be from Archenland or one of the islands, since a human's center of balance is completely different from any other Narnian's. Hopefully you'll understand what I'm talking about by the end of the chapter. Enjoy!

I knew it was a bad idea to go for a walk today, with all the pupils coming back to Hendon House after the holidays. The streets would be crowded with rowdy boys eager for a last bit of Christmas fun before they had to settle down to their studies (as much as some of them ever settled down). But it was such a lovely winter day that I couldn't resist stepping out for a bit.

All went well at first. It was a beautiful day, and I enjoyed myself immensely. But then a couple of particularly mean-looking boys spotted me and apparently decided it would be fun to mistreat me. They came very close to me on both sides and took turns insulting me. I tried to ignore them and keep walking, but the bigger one grabbed my arm.

"What's the matter, lady?" he taunted. "Too old to defend yourself?"

"Leave her alone," a voice commanded at my side. A third boy appeared out of nowhere. He was smaller than either of the others, but he faced them fearlessly. The bullies seemed taken aback for a moment.

"Come on, Pevensie! Why don't you join us?"

"Because what you're doing is wrong, and you know it as well as I do."

"You hypocrite!" the biggest boy exclaimed, letting go of my arm and advancing a step toward my defender. "You were happy enough if I let you help out a year ago, and now you condemn me? I had quite enough of your preacher-man ways last term. This term you'd best back off if you know what's good for you."

"No, Smith," Pevensie answered calmly. "I am not the boy I was a year ago, and I will not let you bully this lady."

Smith threw a punch at Pevensie's face and I gasped, but Pevensie stepped to one side and grabbed Smith's arm as it passed his head. Before I knew what was happening, Pevensie had spun around, crouched down, and straightened up again, and Smith lay stretched on his back in front of him, gasping for breath.

The other bully started toward Pevensie with a shout of rage, but my hero was ready. The bully seized the smaller boy's shirt with both hands and pulled him closer. Pevensie unexpectedly yielded to the fierce pull, throwing the other boy off balance. At the same time he swept the bully's leg out from under him and gave his shoulders a slight shove in the right direction. The boy hit the ground with all the force of a young elephant, and because he was still holding Pevensie's shirt he brought him down on top of himself, completely driving the air out of his lungs.

Before the bully could recover, Pevensie was on his feet again, ready to face Smith, who was slowly getting up from the ground, shaking his head.

"Would you like another fall, Smith, or are you going to behave like a gentleman?"

The question seemed to enrage Smith, and he aimed another punch at Pevensie, with the same results as before. By this time, the other bully had regained his breath, but he showed no intention of getting up and renewing the fight. Pevensie offered his hand and pulled him to his feet, then waved toward the boy on the ground.

"I think you'd better get Smith inside before too many people see the school's most powerful bully lying on his back in the street."

"You heard him, Armsby. Help me up!" Smith wheezed painfully. I wondered whether either of them had cracked a few ribs.

As Armsby turned his attention to his fallen leader, Pevensie took my arm and gently led me away from the scene of the conflict and into a small park, abandoned at this time of year. After brushing the snow off of a bench, he offered me a seat in a courtly manner that added to my wonder at him.

"Are you quite all right, madam? Did they hurt you at all?"

"Not a bit, thanks to you, Master Pevensie. And call me Miss Plummer, if you don't mind. Why did you do that for me?"

"Edmund, please, Miss Plummer," he smiled. "I saw a lady in danger and I defended her. How could any knight do otherwise?"

"You seem to have done otherwise last year," I prompted, wanting to hear this strange boy's story, and wondering what he meant by bringing knights into our conversation.

"Like I told Smith, I'm not the same boy I was last year. A lot happened over the holidays, and well, I grew up. He's quite right that I used to be just like him; I was worse than Armsby. But that Edmund Pevensie has gone, and I hope I never see him again."

"You intrigue me, Edmund. You look so young, and yet you display a quality of character that I have rarely seen in grown men, and never in a schoolboy. How old are you?"

"Tw-eleven."

"Tell me, where did you learn to fight like that?"

Edmund laughed at that. "You may well ask, since it isn't something that is taught in schools these days, any more than logic or seemingly anything else useful. I learned that fighting method from one of my tutors last hols."

At any other time, his somewhat cryptic answer would have aroused my curiosity, but now I was distracted by his commentary on modern schools.

"Do you know a Professor Digory Kirke, who often says such things about the schools?" I asked.

He looked quite startled. "Yes, indeed! My siblings and I evacuated to his house when London was being bombed. How do you know him?"

"We were best friends as children, and we've more or less kept in touch ever since. Now wait a minute, I think I remember something about you. Edmund Pevensie. Yes, you have a sister called Lucy, and she claimed to have found something in a wardrobe, but you said she was only pretending. Am I right?"

"Yes! How did you-the Professor wrote to you, didn't he?"

"He did indeed, last summer, and since I suspect your big change took place after that, I am sure you will tell me the truth if I ask you now: Did Lucy really find a way into Narnia?"

"Then he didn't tell you about what happened after that?"

"I assume the answer to my question is yes, but I must confess the answer to yours is no. He wrote to me on the day that he talked to your brother and sister about you and Lucy, but he has not written since. Perhaps you would like to tell me the rest of the story yourself?"

He grinned. "First you must tell me what you already know about other worlds."

"Oh, a fair amount," I grinned back. "As a matter of fact, I could tell you a few stories myself that most people would not believe, so you needn't think I will not believe yours."

"In that case, you're right. Lucy did find a way into Narnia, and I followed her into the wardrobe on her second visit. By the time I had pushed through the coats, she was out of sight in the forest, so I wandered around looking for her until I heard sleigh bells approaching. I should have run the other way, but instead I waited to meet the people on the sleigh. A dwarf was driving it, and in the back was the most evil woman I have ever met. She was very tall, with a face as white as chalk, and she called herself Queen Jadis."

I started violently. "Where in the world were you?"

He looked surprised, but answered me readily enough. "Near the western border of Narnia, in an area called Lantern Waste because of the iron lamppost that stands there in the forest."

"Near the place where the water falls over the tall cliff into a pool?"

"Fairly near, yes."

I could tell he was very confused by my knowledge of the area, but I was too impatient to explain. How could he have met Jadis there? "What about the Tree that stands beside the pool?"

"There is no tree beside Cauldron Pool," he said slowly. "The forest is half a mile away."

"I'm not talking about any forest! There was a single Tree, with silver leaves and the loveliest apples. It was the most important tree in all Narnia!"

I could almost see the wheels turning in his head as he tried to figure out how I knew so much and yet so little. "The Tree of Protection has been dead for more than a hundred years."

My mind reeled with this information. A hundred years? "Has it been that long since we were there?" I whispered.

Suddenly something seemed to click in his mind, and his face lit up. "Lady Polly, from the dawn of time?" he asked eagerly.

"My name is Polly," I conceded, "and I suppose it was the dawn of time when Digory and I entered Narnia, but, well, how long ago was that, anyway?"

"Just over a thousand years. The Professor is Lord Digory? He never told us that!"

"He never told me a knight of Narnia was staying in his house, either."

"Two knights," Sir Edmund corrected, "and four Sovereigns."

"What do you mean?"

"My brother and I are kings of Narnia, and our sisters are queens."

Through my shock, I gasped out the first question that came to mind. "What are you doing here?"

He sobered immediately. "Unlike King Frank and Queen Helen, we were not allowed to live out our lives and die in Narnia. We ruled for fifteen years, but then Aslan sent us back, and no one here knows we were ever gone, except you and the Professor."

My heart went out to this young man and his siblings, torn from their kingdom and even their adulthood, and holding such a secret locked in their hearts.

"Won't you tell me the story?" I asked.

At that moment we were interrupted as Digory himself came running up to us.

Edmund uses a method that this world calls judo, though I'm sure Archenland has a different name for it. It is mostly about balance and using your opponent's weight against him, so Ed being the smallest of the three boys is not necessarily a disadvantage. For those who are interested, the move he uses on Smith (twice) is called the Ippon Seoinage or One-Arm Shoulder Throw, and the one he uses on Armsby is the Osoto Gari or Big Outer Reap. The throw especially is rather hard to describe, particularly from the point of view of a character who has never seen it done more slowly, so I'm sorry if it's confusing. There are better descriptions and even animations and videos easily available online, so feel free to look it up!