Author's Note: Neither of our names are C.S. Lewis. Our names do happen to be Sibella and Eileen, who do own Icis, Chloe, Aidan, Ellamae, Fritz, Einar and Colonel Wolfgang Dolchbrander (or, as we all know and love to hate him, the colonel--or Spike).

Chapter 5: The Lion, the Witch, and the Secret Weapon

Fritz glanced at Ellamae before looking to Aidan. "Sank you, volf," he said to Aidan. "But you are eventually goink to help us get out of here, right?"

Aidan paused. "Well, that's not really my call to make…Aslan brought us here, so he says when you can leave."

The colonel took notice at this, and he pushed past Fritz, staring at Aidan sternly, but very eager. "Who's zis…Aslan? I vould like to request to him zat he return my corporal and I back to our country immediately."

Ellamae wiped her eyes to stop crying and looked up at the colonel. "You can't order Aslan around," she said.

The colonel turned on Ellamae and glared at her. "I am not plannink to order anyone around," he answered. "Actually I had a little persvasion in mind, some negotiation. After all, ve are apparently not vanted here. Letting Corporal Von Brandenburg"—he gestured to Fritz—"and I return to our country should not be too much to ask of your Aslan. And viz some of his own citizens"—he glanced from Ellamae back to Aidan—"to represent us, zat makes it all ze better, because he may see zat ve humans are not so troublesome after all. I see no harm in it, so vhy not?"

Fritz's brow furrowed. "But didn't ze volf just say zat it is not for any of us to make ze decision vhere ve go here, since ve are in zeir realm?"

The colonel wheeled around on Fritz, his dark eyes flashing. "You plan on stayink here viz zese voodland creatures, do you? Instead of returnink to Germany and fightink for your country?"

Aidan watched the colonel with an annoyed expression. "Whatever, you can try negotiating with Aslan if you want and see where it gets you. Just follow me and keep in mind you're in our territory now, with no knife or anything to defend yourself, so be very careful what you say—and if you raise one finger to harm the boy, or Ellamae, or even the non-talking dog, I'll remember my threat to bite your face off."

The colonel looked away from Fritz and glared at Aidan. He then took a breath and opened his mouth to respond, but after a few moments, he sighed and shook his head, turning away from Aidan.

After a moment's silence, Fritz stared at him strangely and looked to Aidan. "Uh…vell, sank you, Aidan, ve vill come viz you." With that, he took Einar's leash with one hand and helped Ellamae onto his shoulder with the other.

Aidan ignored the colonel and turned to start walking again. "This way—and we have to hurry and keep quiet or some of Her spies might see us—the White Witch, to you newcomers, I'll explain later." With that, he led them in the direction of the Beavers' home, where he hoped the children still were.

As they arrived, Mr. Beaver was coming out to them when he recognized Aidan and Ellamae. "Aidan!" he greeted. "Glad ya made it back! Oh, and Ellamae, welcome! Who are your new friends?"

At first as they were approaching, Fritz and especially the colonel were feeling slightly awkward being at a Beaver's dam. When they saw that Mr. Beaver could talk, Fritz was a little surprised, but not as much as the colonel obviously, since Fritz had already met Ellamae and Aidan.

"Hi, Mr. Beaver!" sported Ellamae. She then turned to Fritz. "These are Mr. and Mrs. Beaver that I told you about, Fritz. I'm sure they can tell you more about Aslan." She then flew from his shoulder as Mrs. Beaver came out and took Mrs. Beaver's paw and led her to Fritz, although she looked slightly intimidated by the colonel. "Mrs. Beaver, Mr. Beaver, this is Fritz Von Brandenburg from the shining city of Berlin, in the great land of—um—Germany. That's right. He's another Son of Adam. And this is his dog companion, Einar. He can't talk, but maybe he'll be cured if he stays here in Narnia long enough."

Fritz awkwardly smiled and nodded as he extended his hand to shake Mrs. Beaver's paw. At first, Mrs. Beaver looked at his hand strangely. "Um…how do you do, Mrs. Beaver?" he asked.

Mrs. Beaver glanced at Ellamae for a clue.

"Oh, you shake it, Mrs. Beaver," said Ellamae. "Humans do it when they meet each other. It's a sign of friendship."

After meeting both Mr. and Mrs. Beaver, Fritz and Einar were welcomed inside the Beavers' house, which was more like a little cottage than a dam. The colonel followed, in bitter silence and frustration. As he was, Mr. Beaver couldn't help but notice (since he was the last in the door after the colonel) that the colonel kept suspiciously eyeing Fritz's belt, which had an extra Luger handgun in a black leather holster.

Peter, overhearing "Berlin" and "Germany" from inside the house, stood to look at Fritz and the colonel as they came in. "Well, look what the cat dragged in," he said rather coldly. "Germans." At this word, all the children now watched the two and their dog either warily or hatefully, depending on the individual.

Aidan was unsure of what the issue with the Germans was, and with everything else that was going on, he decided not to touch it. "This is Ellamae, Fritz, Einar, and—I don't know this man's name. Just call him Spike for now. Newcomers, these wonderfully adorable children are Peter, Susan, Edmund, Lucy, and their friend Chloe." He grinned teasingly when he said the words "wonderfully adorable."

"And this rather cheeky fellow is Aidan, our personal tour guide in this winter wonderland also known as Narnia," Chloe said with a sweet smile and stuck out her tongue. "He just needs a little practice with his colorful commentary."

Aidan stuck out his tongue in return. "That's because there's no color around here to comment on, my good lady."

"True statement," Chloe smirked.

The colonel scowled at Aidan and the Pevensie children. "I am Colonel Volfgang Dolchbrander, in ze SS in ze service of ze Fürher, Adolf Hitler, of Germany. Fritz Von Brandenburg here is my corporal." He paused for a moment, glancing awkwardly at Aidan and the Beavers, and feeling as if he was insane for talking to animals, who should be dumb and witless, instead of talking and intelligent. He then looked to Mr. Beaver and cleared his throat. "Is zere any chance my corporal and I could meet and speak to your leader, Aslan, so ve may go back to our country in peace?"

Ellamae, Fritz and Aidan sighed and rolled their eyes at the colonel (we may know his name now, but we can still call him the colonel, since his name is too long), while Mr. and Mrs. Beaver glanced at each other and back at the colonel.

("Right. Spike," Aidan muttered under his breath.)

Mr. Beaver then looked to the Pevensie children and back at the colonel and Fritz. "Well, I don't know why Aslan called you two here," he said, "but whatever it is, I don't think you can leave now." As he turned away and he and Mrs. Beaver sat down at the table with the Pevensies, Fritz and Einar, he added happily, "However, Aslan is on the move."

At this moment, everyone was silent when Mr. Beaver mentioned Aslan. Warm, happy, almost dreamy feelings seemed to radiate from everyone—except Edmund and the colonel.

"Who's Aslan?" asked Edmund, confused.

"And vhere is he?" asked the colonel again, who was now growing very frustrated.

Mr. Beaver burst out laughing. "Who's Aslan?! You cheeky little blighter…who's Aslan, he says?!" He turned to Mrs. Beaver, pointing at Edmund as he continued to laugh. "Well he's only—"

"The head guy," Aidan interrupted. "The top dog, or cat, so to speak—kind of. He is a Lion—"

"—the true King of Narnia!" Mr. Beaver finished.

The colonel finally rolled his eyes and sighed as he turned away. "I give up," he growled to himself.

Mr. Beaver stopped laughing after Mrs. Beaver nudged him. He looked at the rest of them who were just as confused as Edmund and the colonel, save for Aidan and Ellamae. "You really don't know, do you?" He then looked to Mrs. Beaver. "Do you even know the prophecy?" he asked, looking back at the Pevensies.

"What prophecy?" asked Susan.

"They don't even know the prophecy!" burst Mr. Beaver, looking to Mrs. Beaver.

Mrs. Beaver glanced between her husband and the children. "Well, then…"

Mr. Beaver sighed and looked to the children again. "There is a prophecy held in the Castle of Cair Paravel:

"When Adam's flesh and Adam's bone

Sits at Cair Paravel in throne

The evil time will be over and done."

Susan scowled. "That doesn't really rhyme."

Mr. Beaver sighed again. "Well, you're kind of missing the point here!"

Mrs. Beaver then chimed in. "It has long been foretold that two Sons of Adam and two Daughters of Eve will destroy not only the White Witch's reign forever, but also her life, and will begin a new reign under Aslan, restoring peace to Narnia."

"And we're pretty sure that means you four," Aidan added. "See, until you, we haven't seen any humans here!"

Peter hesitated. "But…isn't the White Witch human?"

"No, no, Your Majesty, that's just what she wants you to think. She's no Daughter of Eve—Daughter of Lilith, Adam's first wife, rather, a Jinn—and a giant." Aidan smirked. "With you four here, it's no wonder she's on the edge of her seat lately—your arrival means her death, really."

"And vhat of zis uzzer girl ve met a vhile back?" asked Fritz. "She calls herself a princess of zis land called—Charn, I zink it vas. Vhat is she?"

"She's a Daughter of Lilith, too," piped up Ellamae. "Her mother, Ara, was the Queen of Charn. Queen Ara was the White Witch's older sister. See, the White Witch, Jadis, wanted the Charnese throne so she started this whole big war to get it. Then she and Ara had a crush on one of their nobles, but this noble was apparently greedier than both the sisters combined. First he flirted with Jadis to get information about Ara concerning the war. Then he soon got tired of Jadis after he got information about her sister, and he moved in on the Queen.

"It soon turned out that Queen Ara and the noble hit it off pretty well until Ara learned of his real intention of hopefully becoming king, especially if they were going to have a child—Icis—and despite this, the Queen killed him. Shortly after Icis was born, Jadis raised more hell, and Ara basically raised Icis to be one of her ultimate weapons, since Icis was heir to the throne, too.

"Icis, at first, obeyed her mother through and through, but then found out what she was really being used for. She then secretly took her own side, against both her mother and her aunt, and gathered some followers of her own. After awhile, through her spies and her mother's magicians, she learned the Deplorable Word—Jadis' ultimate weapon.

"When the war for the throne of Charn was almost over, Icis, Jadis, and Ara met on one of the terraces of their towers, and Icis just happened to speak the Deplorable Word the same time that Jadis did. A few seconds later, Icis and Jadis were the only ones left alive in their world. Once they saw that they failed to kill each other, they tried to fight to the death, but somehow they both got knocked out by a spell that made them sleep agelessly for thousands of years till someone broke it by ringing an enchanted bell with a hammer."

Chloe, who had been more idly listening up to this point, heard the words "bell" and "hammer," and her eyes locked onto Ellamae, listening to the story more intently from then on, though she still made no comment.

"When they were somehow awakened later, they escaped Charn, came here, and shortly after Jadis became the White Witch and began her tyrannical reign here, she put Icis under the same ageless sleep spell for another hundred years or so, hence why she's still sixteen now.

"So, in conclusion, and as I said before, no, she is definitely not a Daughter of Eve."

After a moment of silence, Peter spoke up. "How do you know all this?"

"I'm the best friend she has," answered Ellamae. She then stopped herself and sighed sadly. "Or, at least, I was."

Mr. Beaver then cleared his throat. "Well, you know of her now, and the Witch, and how dangerous they are."

Susan was now really worried. "Well, if the White Witch is—that sort of witch, then, thank you for the information"—she looked to Ellamae—"and your hospitality, Beavers…but we really have to go." She and Peter then stood up to leave, and looked to Lucy and Chloe to do the same, as Mr. Beaver's mouth dropped open.

"Well, you can't just leave!" he protested.

Lucy watched her siblings pleadingly. "He's right. We have to help Mr. Tumnus."

Peter sighed. "Lu, this isn't our war—"

"Funny, because if they're telling the truth, and I think they are, it is," Chloe interrupted, watching Peter and Susan with a stern look surprising to her relatively younger age.

Susan sighed and glared at Chloe. "Oh, you're so helpful! You just heard what the little Fairy just said, about the Witch and that girl you called that 'Snow Princess.' We are absolutely no match for them! We have to go back!"

"Vell, it looks like ve are stuck here until ve do do somesink about zese Vitches," said Fritz.

Peter turned away from Lucy to scowl at Fritz. "Don't you dare tell us what we should do! Our dad's already in a war because of you, isn't that enough?!"

Lucy bit her lip and looked around. "Peter?"

"Not now, Lucy"—and then, returning to Fritz—"No, it isn't enough, is it?! Nothing's ever enough for the Nazis!"

Fritz frowned slightly as his brows raised and his jaw. "Now you vait just a minute," he growled. "Zis var vas not my decision to make. I vasn't ze one who called your fozzer avay. I had no choice in ze matter vhen I vent to var myself. It vas eizer go to var, or my fozzer and I vould be taken to ze Russian Front to be shot, and God knows vhat vould have happened to ze rest of my family. And zere are sinks I suspect zat Hitler is not tellink us, zey just tell us to take orders vizzout kvestion. I am tryink to find out vhy, all ze time, vhich is vhy I'm not too vell liked by most of my platoon. Speakink of vhich, Colonel—" Fritz finally turned to face the colonel, but the colonel was gone…and so was Edmund.

Peter stared at Fritz speechlessly and followed his eyes to where the colonel and Edmund were a moment ago. "Where's Edmund?" he demanded, causing Lucy to sigh with very little relief that he finally noticed.

"I don't know," answered Fritz, shrugging and throwing his hands up. "Vhere is ze colonel?"

Peter glanced at Lucy, to the Beavers' open door, and then at Susan. "I'm gonna kill him," he said, and glancing at Fritz, referring to the colonel, he added, "Both of them."

"You may not have to," said Mr. Beaver. "Have Edmund or the colonel ever been to Narnia before?"

"Well, Edmund, yeah, but…what does that have to do with anything?" Peter said.

Aidan tilted his head curiously. "You don't know?"