Caspian walked swiftly and silently through the dark How, glancing over his shoulder to make sure he was alone. He went back to the mural of the Kings and Queens of Old where he had spoken to Nikabrik. His heart beat heavily in his hollow chest: he was eager to know what the dark dwarf was planning.

He waited in the cold stone passageway, glancing up and down it, his dark eyes nervous.

"Are you ready to take control back, boy?" said a dark rough voice.

Caspian turned and saw Nikabrik, his dark hair and beard matted and his black eyes cruel as he smiled.

Caspian did not answer and Nikabrik walked past him, moving further into the passage. Caspian watched him for a moment, something unseen pulling gently at his heart, telling him to turn back. But he ignored it and he followed the dwarf.

Nikabrik led Caspian into the chamber of the Stone Table, the trail of fire ablaze as it circled the great room, emitting its bright light onto the stone murals and carvings on the circular wall. The Stone Table stood broken at the center of a circle of broken columns and beyond a great carving of Aslan stood mighty and true, looking over the chamber.

Caspian paused and he looked about the warm room, his eyes questioning.

"Are you scared off so easily?" Nikabrik asked, his dark eyes glancing up at the carving of Aslan.

Caspian looked up at the Lion and then back to the dwarf, following him.

"Why are we here?" he asked, his accented voice careful.

"You tried one ancient power," the dwarf said as he moved to the platform at the head of the circular room, looking over the Stone Table and the chamber. "It failed."

Caspian watched him closely as they stood at the head of the chamber, a great stone column on either side of them.

Nikabrik's voice was quiet as he looked over the Stone Table, "but there is a power greater still." He smiled cruelly, "one that kept even Aslan at bay for near a hundred years."

Caspian looked up from the dwarf and looked out over the chamber, hearing a dark soft rumble that seemed to cut through the silent crackle of the torches.

The rough growl echoed gently and the dark shadows of the flames seemed to grow, engulfing the Chamber. Caspian glanced around anxiously and his hand hesitated before he drew his sword, the metal shimmering sharp in the light.

Caspian looked over the room, holding his sword firmly in his right hand, and he nimbly jumped down the stone steps before him and stood behind the Stone Table, his eyes searching for the creature of the growl.

His voice was protective as his eyes roamed over the shadows, "Who's there?"

He heard a sigh, rough and coarse as coal, and a dark slouching figure emerged from the shadows behind a column to Caspian's right. Caspian turned towards it, his eyes wide as he listened to the raspy sinister voice.

"I am hunger," it said slowly, emerging from the shadows.

Caspian saw the creature was cloaked and when it turned its covered head, he saw its snout and sharp teeth. It spoke again.

"I am thirst."

Caspian heard a different noise from the other side of the Chamber and though the cloaked creature was slowly moving towards him, his eyes flashed to the other side, not knowing where to aim his sword.

"I can fast a hundred years," the creature said as it moved around the Stone Table.

Caspian's eyes were filled with anxious fear as he looked fully on the dark creature.

"…and not die."

Caspian glanced to his left and saw another cloaked figure walking towards him. He held his stance, his eyes glancing steadily to either of figures. He listened carefully to the raspy voice though he anxiously waited for the unexpected, his hand tightening around the hilt of his weapon.

He suddenly wondered if Lily.

"I can lie a hundred nights on the ice…"

Caspian saw the face of the other figure and saw that it was an old hag with the mouth of a squid: a beak, black and sharp and her sunken eyes were large like a deer's, red and shimmering. Her face was old and wrinkled and her body was hunched over with years.

"…and not freeze."

Caspian looked back to the dark figure with question in his eyes, more curious than fearful.

"I can drink a river of blood and not burst."

The two creatures moved steadily towards the Prince, though he kept his sword on the coarse creature which he still could not see its face.

Caspian looked back at Nikabrik and the dwarf nodded to him, his lips smiling.

"Show me…"

Caspian turned back to the dark creature, his face fearful.

"Your enemies!"

The creature growled viciously as he removed his hood, revealing the face of a wolf, his eyes wild and fervent.

Caspian jumped back, his eyes alert, and he held his sword steady as he pointed it at the beast. The prince did not appear frightened; his eyes were careful and curious as he stood firmly before the beast and the hag without a falter. But he felt foolish: he did not know how these creatures were let into the How…so close to his friends.

"What you hate, so will we," spoke the hag, her voice lighter than the wolf's, sweet but cunning.

Caspian glanced at the hag as she unveiled her head. She had slick black hair, greasy and tight and her movements were rigid but somehow fluid.

"No one hates better than us," the hag said as she looked up at Caspian, her eyes frightening.

Caspian looked back to the beast, his eyes doubting. But as he looked at the dark creatures, his eyes changed as his thoughts drifted into darkness. His eyes shifted between the hag and the wolf. Maybe they could help…

"And you can… guarantee Miraz's death?" he asked carefully.

The hag answered with inflection, bowing to the Prince, "and more."

Caspian slowly sheathed his sword as he watched the old hag, new thoughts blooming in his mind, and he looked back at Nikabrik.

The dwarf nodded to the Hag, his cruel smile eager.

The hag looked at the beast, "let the circle be drawn."

The beast leaned down and with a long sharp black claw, he began a line in the dirt on the floor and the hag began speaking in a foreign tongue. Caspian watched the beast carefully as the line became a circle, encircling him.

The wolf's growling curled his lips as he looked up at the Prince and Caspian did not flinch but watched with a blank expression, doubt growing inside him steadily as the hag continued with her incantations. The wolf circled Caspian and Nikabrik smiled encouragingly and Caspian looked about him, feeling trapped.

The hag stood at the head of the chamber and she pulled from her cloak an intricate metal wand that was crowned with crystal, crystal as clear as ice.

Caspian's eyes widened and narrowed as the hag's chanting became louder and she held the wand strongly with both hands. She shouted the last of her incantations and suddenly drew back the wand and turned around, thrusting it down into the stone step.

Ice grew from the wand, covering the stone around it and it glowed with a cold light. Caspian watched with curiosity as the ice covered the stone and began to form a wall of ice between the columns on either side of the stone platform. He could see his own breath escaping his lips and at his feet, the circle in the dirt glowed like the ice.

The ice grew, the sound of ice burgs drifting echoing in the chamber, and the torch light seemed to dim. The stone arch was now a door of ice and Nikabrik smiled darkly, thrilled.

Dark shadows seemed to move behind the ice and suddenly Caspian saw the figure of a lady, pale and cold within the ice though there was nothing behind the crystal wall. Her eyes were icy blue and her long blonde hair floated about her face as she smiled with pleasure, her eyes steady on the Prince.

Caspian knew who it was, he had heard stories, and suddenly his heart ached: what has he done?

"Wait," he said nervously, shaking his head as he stepped back. "This isn't what I wanted."

But before he could take a step out of the circle, the wolf moved quickly behind the Prince, taking hold of him and forcing his left hand out to reach for the White Witch.

Caspian looked up powerlessly, wanting to turn away.

The Witch smiled deceitfully, her voice as sweet as honey, "one drop of Adam's blood and you free me."

Nikabrik looked up from his loyal bow and the Hag drew a cold black knife.

The Witch's cold eyes were soft, "then I am yours, my king."

The Hag reached for the Prince's hand, the knife held tightly in her right, and Caspian struggled within the tight grasp of the beast.

"No!" he objected.

The hag placed the knife above his hand and then slid it carefully and sure down the center of the Prince's palm, a line of crimson forming quickly above his skin. Caspian watched helplessly as the wolf led him to the top of the circle, his hand forcibly out stretched.

The Ice Queen kissed her hand and slowly reached for the Prince. Her hand took form as it emerged from the ice wall, the ice cracking and sliding off her hand as her fingers appeared, just out of reach.

Caspian's helpless gaze turned slightly into wonder as he watched her hand.

Her eyes looked at him with hunger, seeing his will wavering.

"I can bring back what you have lost," she spoke softly, her lips smiling slightly.

Caspian's eyes widened as he thought of Gabriel… and Leland…

The wolf let go of Caspian slowly and the Prince did not run: he stood still, his hand still reaching for the Witch. He stared at the Ice Queen in wonder.

"I can give you what you desire most," she said so softly that Caspian forgot about everything.

He thought of Lily.

"STOP!"

The White Witch looked up and saw Peter, Edmund and Trumpkin running in from the passageway, their hands at their swords.

Weapons were drawn and the wolf and Nikabrik turned to the intruders with hateful eyes.

Caspian's hand was still outstretched, his expression touched with desperation.

The wolf shed his cloak and jumped onto the Stone Table, his long limbs tense and ready to strike. He leapt over Edmund and growled viciously. Edmund lunged at him and Nikabrik attacked his fellow dwarf, Trumpkin. Peter attacked the hag, her wail echoing in the chamber, and she forced his hand down, causing his sword to drop.

The wolf lunged at Edmund and over turned him but the tip of Edmund's sword caught the beast in the back of his leg and the beast howled with pain.

Just as Nikabrik was about to attack Trumpkin, Lucy appeared in the chamber and attacked the dark dwarf, holding a knife at his throat. Trumpkin looked around for his sword, his blue eyes bewildered, and attacked just as Nikabrik hit the little Queen. Trumpkin stabbed Nikabrik and the dark dwarf fell to his knees.

Peter overthrew the hag, throwing her against a column, and he fell back onto the stone floor. Peter looked up, his blue eyes full of fear as he saw Caspian standing before the White Witch, his unmoving hand still reaching out for hers.

The White Witch looked up nervously at the increasing sound of the fray and she watched as Edmund jumped off a broken column and struck the wolf with his sword. The wolf cried out and fell to the stone floor, his eyes clouding over almost immediately.

"Come on. Come," the Queen said entreatingly and impatiently, reaching out for the Prince.

Caspian stared at her desperately.

Peter stood hastily and rushed at Caspian, pushing him out of the circle. He held his sword up to the Witch, his eyes firm and fierce.

"Get away from him!" he said angrily.

Caspian fell to the floor, his expression pained as his thoughts became unclouded. He felt as if he had emerged from icy water.

The Ice Queen withdrew her hand and looked down at the blonde haired King with a pleasantly surprised face.

Peter looked at her with a firm unyielding expression though his eyes were anxious.

"Peter, dear," the Witch said sweetly. "I've missed you."

She outstretched her hand again, her skin as cold as the ice that clung to it, and Peter watched her silently, his expression falling.

"Come," she said softly, her eyes captivating and sly. "Just one drop."

Peter watched her as she lowered her head, looking at him with a reproachful expression.

"You know you can't do this alone."

There was a pause and Peter's guarded expression faltered as he looked at the Ice Queen. His blue eyes never left her deceitful face as he lowered his sword.

Suddenly there was a sound of metal slicing through the ice and the tip of a sword shown through the wall, stabbing the White Witch.

Peter's brow furrowed as he watched the ice crack; long cuts grew and spread through the wall of enchanted ice and across the Queen's thwarted face. Caspian stood quickly and stood at Peter's side, both watching with staggered eyes.

The Queen tilted her head back, her arms held out, and her shout was quickly silenced by the shattering of the ice gateway: the pieces of the wall fell and slid down the stone steps, melting away as the magic left them.

And standing behind where the wall once stood was Edmund, his eyes shut tight and his sword held aloft. He opened his eyes as the last pieces of the ice were falling from the archway and Peter and Caspian straightened, both looking at him with surprise.

Edmund, with blood in his black hair, looked at his older brother, his black eyes as surprised as his.

"I know. 'You had it sorted'."

Edmund moved away from the ach and Peter and Caspian were left staring at the stone mural of Aslan through the shattered gateway of ice. The Lion's eyes looked at them both in different ways but both felt shame fill their hearts.

They looked at each other, both seeing the remains of the trance in each other's eyes, and then they looked behind them to the chamber entrance.

Standing on the other side of the broken Stone Table was a sight that was colder to Caspian's heart than the ice itself had been.

Lily was standing as still as stone, her wide eyes clear and empty. Her slender lean figure was defenseless and unwilling as she stood there in the soft glow of the torches.

Susan stood at Lily's side, looking at Peter in plain disgust, and her eyes were cold. Hundreds of words rested on her lips but she did not speak.

But Caspian could only see Lily; her beautiful face was pale and he wondered how much she had seen. But it was evident in her blank expression that she had seen enough.

He stared at her with slight pleading in his dark eyes. His heart beat achingly as he watched disappointment slowly dawn over her face. He felt loathing for himself stronger than he had hours ago when he had seen her cradling Eris with tears sparkling in her eyes.

Her eyes were vast like the cold sea and he felt as if she could see into his soul. He felt vulnerable before her and he wanted to shield himself, ashamed of what she would find if she looked within him for too long.

Susan touched Lily's arm and slowly, Lily looked away from Caspian and she walked away. Susan glared at Peter before following Lily into the passageway.

Caspian swallowed carefully and looked at the High King.

Peter met his eyes and they both saw in that instant that they had felt the same pull, the same thoughts had crossed their minds and they had both faltered. Fear and amazement passed between them and in a way, both asked for forgiveness without saying a word.

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