Eustace was startled to hear the soft shish of sleigh bells just as he started thinking about them. He peered down the road and just saw two bobbing lumps that formed into a pair of snowwhite horses pulling a sleigh.
As they swept into sight Eustace saw that they were driven by a black dwarf and reclining in the back sat a great lady dressed in shimmering white.
She was tall and beautiful, the most beautiful person Eustace had ever seen. Her black hair fell to her waist and her slender, white hands were crossed on her lap over something that gleamed silver. As the Lady's eyes met Eustace's, he saw that they were green, green as poison.
"Halt," her voice rang out, soft and commanding.
"Whoa!" the dwarf howled and the horses slid down on their haunchs as they attempted to stop. They snorted and the icicles that had frozen on their noses shattered and fell to the ground. The horse closest to Eustace turned its head and looked at him wide eyed, then it layed its ears back and shook its head.
Slowly, gracefully, the lady stood and stepped from the sleigh. She walked slowly though the snow, partly towards Eustace, but she didn't look at him. She ran her hands along the horse's back and it shivered and shrank from her touch.
"Son of Adam," she said, her voice was as gentle as a feather. Slowly she turned to him, "how cold you look!"
She put an arm around his shoulders and agianst his will he shrank from her as the horse had. Her arm was so cold it burned.
"Let us go sit in the sleigh! Then I can wrap my mantle around you!"
They walked to the sleigh and fumblingly Eustace sat in it. The lady wraped her mantle around him and cold began to sink into his brain.
"Now," she said, "tell me about yourself," she asked, "What's your name? do you have any siblings?"
"No ma'am," Eustace said, he could feel it somehow, a misty feeling beginning to grow on him. "but I have cousins…I'm the oldest," he lied with great brevity.
"Cousins," she stroked his hair, "how many?"
"There are four of us," Eustace said, "me, Susan, Lucy and Peter."
"Four of you…" she said softly, her face gentle. "Son of Adam, you look so cold, perhaps you would like something hot to drink?"
"Yes…" Eustace said, wondering where she would get it from.
The lady slipped a small bottle from her sleeve, held it over the snow next to the sleigh and let a drop fall. The liquid was green as the lady's eyes.
The drop hit the ground with a soft hissing sound.
For a moment nothing seemed to happen, then something started to grow. A group of fine silver wires were coming up in a small circle. Slowly, of their own accord they began to twine themselves more and more intricately and tightly until they had formed a cup that was completely made up of silver wires. A hot reddish liquid sprang up from the bottom and the snow around the cup melted from the heat.
At a command from the lady the dwarf hopped down from the sleigh and handed the cup to Eustace.
Eustace took a sip, it seemed sweet at first and then it seemed to get a bitter flavor. The more he drank it the more he liked it.
~o*o~
Edmund heard footsteps coming to the door, he heard the scrape of a bar being lifted, the door creaked open and a worried, pointed face peeked out with two curling horns sticking out of curly black hair.
"Hello," Edmund said, staring incredulously, "is my sister here?"
The faun responded by grabbing his arm, lugging him though the door and slamming it shut.
"Lucy!" the faun gasped, "you really have to get out of here! That knock almost gave me a heart attack…what if it was the Secret Police?"
"Edmund!" Lucy looked up, "So you got in too! This is Mr. Tumnus, we were just talking about Jadis, the White Witch and how she rides around in a sleigh drawn by two snow white horses and she turns people to stone with her silver wand! Oh! And did you know it's been three months since I was here last?"
"I think Mr. Tumnus is right," Edmund said, "I saw a white wolf on the way over."
Mr. Tumnus went very white, "did it see you?"
"Yes," Edmund said.
"And he didn't do anything to you?" Mr. Tumnus sat down hard, "that was Shard, he's brother to Maugrim who is the captain of the Secret Police."
"Edmund!" Lucy stood up, "what did you do to your eye?"
"Oh, that…" Edmund touched his black eye tenderly, "Eustace got in too…no, he's not here, I left him at the wardrobe…we got into a fight."
"Well," Lucy said, "I suppose we should go now."
"Yes," Edmund said, "I suppose we should! Come on!"
"Good bye Mr. Tumnus!" Lucy called over her shoulder as Edmund pulled her out the door.
~o*o~
Eustace drained the last drop from the cup and looked up to see a white wolf trotting towards the sleigh.
"Ah, Shard!" the lady reached out and stroked Shard's head, "stay here."
"Yes your Majesty," Shard bowed and dropped into the snow next to the sleigh, laying his slim white muzzle on his outstretched paws.
"Now, Eustace," the lady said, smiling sweetly, "You look like a very intelligent boy."
"Oh yes," Eustace agreed blandly.
"Since I have no heirs and think you are such a fine, smart boy I might make you king someday! But a king needs courtiers…would you bring your cousins to me some time?"
"I'll try my best," Eustace said, he wondered if it would be possible to wipe away the mist filling his brain. "But how am I to find you again?"
"Ah," the lady turned in the sleigh and pointed, "do you see those two hills?"
"Yes," Eustace said.
"My house is between those two hills," the lady said, "now go, but remember to come back soon!"
"Yes, your majesty," Eustace said, it seemed that his body was refusing to work. The lady smiled, then took his face in her hands and kissed him, then kissed him again.
"No more kisses now, or I would kill you with them."
Eustace nodded mutely and got out of the sleigh, the lady gave the word to the dwarf and the dwarf swung his whip over the horses' backs. They started as if they had been shot and broke into a canter. Shard was up in a moment and bounded after them.
Eustace was left staring at the tracks of the runners in the snow. For a moment, he couldn't move at all, then his brain decided to go back because he was cold and had a headache. He turned and stumbled through the snow towards the lamppost.
"She said she would," he thought to himself, "she said she might make me king!"
But that 'might' hung on the frosty air, untouched.
He battled his way through the branches of the trees, then stepped up into the wardrobe. Suddenly, he was knocked hard from behind and landed flat on his face on the floor. Something heavy was on top of him.
"Oh," Lucy's cheerful voice came from above him, "Sorry Eustace, I didn't see you."
Edmund picked Lucy up from off of Eustace, "Come on everyone," he said, "Let's go tell the others.