Author's Note: This is one of our favorite chapters...Edmund & the colonel...and Aidan...just LOL.
Once again, not our property. Except for our characters. Plus Fenris and Morwyn. (Fenris is actually a reference to an alternate name of Maugrim's...but the character is mine.)
Chapter 6: Talkative Traitors
Edmund was walking in the snow, towards the White Witch's castle, shivering from the cold, since he had forgotten his coat. Despite the bad vibes he was now getting about the whole thing, he was moving as fast as he could without falling.
Once I'm King of Narnia, he thought, I'm going to build roads so it's not so cold—and so slippery. He looked ahead to see the two mountains the White Witch had referred him to so he could find her palace…and he did. In the valley between the mountains, he saw a glistening palace in the moonlight, all made out of ice.
Just as he was going towards it, he stopped when he heard something like footsteps behind him in the snow. Whirling around to see what it was, he couldn't see very well, since it was at night and the forest was a lot darker. Suddenly, he saw a tall, dark, masculine figure coming towards him, and when the figure emerged into the moonlight, Edmund recognized him to be the German colonel who demanded to see Aslan earlier.
Startled, Edmund turned and ran, but it was at too fast a pace, and before he knew it, he had tripped and fallen face-first into the snow. He pulled himself into a sit and wiped the snow out of his eyes the best he could before he tried to stand up again so he could run—but, as he told himself sternly, not as quickly.
The colonel started trotting after Edmund. "Vait!" he called. "Stop! I am not goink to hurt you! I'm just as lost as you are!" Once Edmund had fallen down in the snow, the colonel ran up to him as the boy was brushing himself off.
As he looked up at the colonel, Edmund was terrified; the colonel was a tall man and strongly built, and his dark eyes were cold and cruel.
For a few moments in awkward, chilling silence, Edmund sat shivering and staring at the colonel in fear, as he stood towering over him and his panting breath was seen in the wind in puffs of white clouds from the cold.
"Relax," the colonel said finally, "I am just as lost as you are. Maybe togezzer ve can find someone who can really help us." With that, he extended a hand to Edmund to help him out of the snow.
Edmund recoiled from the colonel's hand at first. What would Dad say if I touched that?! What would Peter say?! he thought and was immediately disgusted with himself for even caring about what Peter would say. Besides, it was probably best to help his enemy out of Narnia one way or another. He looked straight into the colonel's cold eyes and grabbed his hand, allowing this man to pull him to his feet.
"Alright. I think I know where we can find someone," he said simply, though this was only a half-truth—he knew exactly where to find this someone. I'm not as lost as you think, he thought hatefully, making sure not to actually roll his eyes in front of the colonel since, if his plan was to succeed at all, he needed his trust.
As the colonel helped Edmund to his feet, he helped brush the boy off. "Good," he said. "Who is zhis person? Since zhere is no chance of us finding zhis imaginary Aslan."
"That's for sure. True King of Narnia? They've got to be joking. If he's the King, how come he's never around?" Edmund scoffed at the mention of Aslan, forgetting who he was with at the moment. "Not a very good King, if he's even real. I've met the Queen of Narnia and I think she's very nice, actually, not at all like that White Witch they were all talking about. (I wonder if she knows about all these rumors.) That's who we're going to, by the way." He finished awkwardly, remembering all of a sudden that this was a German to whom he was speaking so freely. Without another word, he turned and continued to walk towards the palace, knowing full well the colonel would follow and probably try to keep the conversation alive.
As Edmund walked past him, the colonel looked after him awkwardly for a moment and then caught up to him in long strides. "Ze little Fairy back at ze Beavers made zis Kveen of Narnia sound like some sort of monster," he said, "zat she vas a Kveen from some previous vorld. If she vas able to rule a whole uzzer previous vorld before comink here, she must be very powerful, and seems to be ze only one who can keep things in order here. And if zat niece of hers, zat Princess Icis, knows how to get from zis vorld into our own, zen ze Kveen must know, too. From vhat I've heard, she has achieved a lot, unlike zis Aslan whom ve have never even seen...only heard of him, as if he vere some sort of myth."
"Well, you'd be surprised what people believe," Edmund said simply and kept walking, the palace becoming clearer with every step he took towards it.
The two soon reached an open gate leading into a courtyard filled with eerie-looking statues, and kept going, unaware that, within seeing distance, the others had followed them and could now watch them enter the dark, foreboding palace.
Lucy, horrified at this sight, screamed out, "Edmund!!!"
Peter started to run after them, but Mr. Beaver caught hold of his sleeve, forcing him not to. He tried to pull away from Mr. Beaver and shouted angrily, "Get off!"
Aidan bit his tongue, willing himself not to say "I told you so," or anything related to it, and chose instead to watch Chloe, who was strangely silent as well, her face hardening into a frown.
As they were passing through the gate, the colonel thought he heard a voice calling Edmund's name, which Edmund seemed to neglect to hear as he happily entered the palace. He looked out towards the forest to see if he could locate where the voice was coming from, but saw no one, and he shook his head as he turned away and followed Edmund. Looking around, they were in silence for a few moments as they noticed all sorts of figures on either side of a path leading to a flight of stairs and then another door. They were very still, wary of what lay ahead, and saw that they were only statues—large, silent, stone statues—of all sorts of animals such as Lions, Dogs, Rabbits, Bears, Horses, even Squirrels, and many mythical creatures, such as Giants, Unicorns, Fauns, and Centaurs. Not a sound was heard besides the soft wind and the snow and ice crunching under the colonel's and Edmund's feet, and they noticed that snow was building up on the statues' heads and backs. They must have been here for quite a long time.
Realizing that there was nothing to be afraid of, the colonel shrugged and kept walking to go to the stone steps. Edmund was nervous as he slowly walked past several of the statues, especially a Giant who looked ready to strike him with his spiked club in his raised hand but was only still and silent. Noticing how Edmund was still a little afraid of the figures, the colonel smirked as he found a Lion and strode over to it.
"Look at zis," he said to Edmund as he knocked on the Lion's stone, snow-covered mane. Edmund looked to see snow falling from the Lion's head, and the colonel glanced at the Lion and Edmund, giving a toothy grin and a pretend growl, obviously mocking the boy. After the colonel laughed, he looked at the statue again and said to Edmund, "You see vhat you are so afraid of? Zis is nussink, boy. A lump of stone." He then came away from the Lion, patting Edmund on the shoulder as he passed him to go on towards the steps. "Besides," he called back to Edmund, reaching for his belt, "I'm armed enough to defend us both!" He then lifted Fritz's hand Luger above his head for Edmund to see.
Edmund glared after the colonel and at the Lion, and was about to move on when he felt something crunch under his feet that wasn't just snow. Looking down, he noticed bits of a dark, soft rock—probably coal—and picked one up and turned to the Lion again. With a smirk, he sketched a pair of goofy glasses and a mustache on the Lion's face before he dropped the rock back where he found it.
"Not so powerful now, are you, Aslan?" he sneered under his breath, and then followed after the colonel.
Meanwhile, Mr. Beaver was quickly trying to convince Peter why he should not run after Edmund and the colonel. "Don't you get it? He's the bait! If you go barging in there, you're all dead!"
Peter opened his mouth as if to say something on the lines of, "I don't care," but Chloe noticed the look on his face and snapped, close to shouting:
"Hey! He deserves this mess, and you want to risk all our lives on the slight chance we get him out of it? That's not fair, Peter!"
Peter took one look at Chloe, and then at his two sisters, and shut his mouth.
Aidan sighed in relief, glad to see this boy finally see reason. "I could go keep an eye on him if you want…I have an easy in. Unfortunately, there's not much I can do besides that. Only Aslan can help your brother now."
Peter, staring at the ground, took a deep breath before looking to Mr. Beaver. "Alright. Take us to him."
Ellamae looked after the rest of the group in silence, and suddenly she perked up as her wings fluttered. I wonder where Icis is, she thought. If she's still out in the forest somewhere, and Edmund and the colonel go to the White Witch, the Witch'll probably send the Wolves after her! Oh, Aslan, please help Icis, too...
As Edmund started to catch up to him, the colonel was already starting up the staircase leading to the gate. As the colonel was close to the gate, he stopped, allowing Edmund to catch up to him. The colonel was looking down at the statue of what appeared to be a sleeping Wolf, but from the look on his face, Edmund could not tell that he wasn't completely sure it was stone. After about a minute of silence, the colonel looked at the gate, back down at the Wolf, and then at Edmund; he noticed that they could possibly step around the Wolf, and the colonel cocked his head for going around to Edmund. Edmund only looked down at the Wolf, nervously but strangely. The colonel then rolled his eyes at him and started to carefully try and walk around the Wolf.
As Edmund watched the colonel for a moment, he started to try and do the same thing, but the Wolf suddenly came alive with a deep, fierce growl, all the fur raising on his back, and his jaws bare and snapping. Edmund started and tripped, and the Wolf jumped on him, pinning him to the ground with a massive, heavy paw once he was flat on his back.
"Be still, stranger," growled the Wolf in a deep, threatening voice, "or you'll never move again! Who are you?"
Barely able to breathe under the crushing weight of the Wolf, Edmund answered, "I—I'm Edmund! The Queen of Narnia wanted me to come and see her!"
Not seeming thoroughly convinced by Edmund's claim, the Wolf started to growl at him again, until he heard a clicking noise, and a masculine voice bark, "Halt, Volf!" The Wolf and Edmund then looked up to see the colonel, who had cocked Fritz's hand Luger and was pointing it at the Wolf.
After a moment of awkward silence staring at the gun, the Wolf demanded, "And who are you?"
"Colonel Volfgang Dolchbrander of Germany," answered the colonel sternly. "I have also come to see your Kveen. I am viz Edmund."
The Wolf glared at the colonel for a moment and then at Edmund.
"It's—it's true! He is with me!" stammered Edmund. "I'm the Son of Adam!"
"Ve need Her Majesty's assistance," said the colonel, "and kvick." He pointed the gun right between the Wolf's eyes. "Now release Edmund."
After a moment, the Wolf finally got off of Edmund and said to him and the colonel, "My apologies, fortunate favorites of the Queen." As he walked past the humans, he growled, "Or else, not so fortunate."
Edmund sat up and looked strangely after the Wolf, while the colonel smirked as he put the gun back in his holster and helped Edmund to his feet again. The gates then opened and the Wolf entered, with Edmund and colonel following. They found themselves at the doorway of a long hallway leading to the empty throne room, and Edmund and the colonel looked around, once again finding both sides of the hall filled with stone statues, while the Wolf only walked on.
As they approached the throne's threshold, the Wolf stopped, looked to them and said, "Wait here." He then turned away, walked up the threshold, and bounded off down a back hallway.
When the Wolf was gone, Edmund and the colonel started shivering and realizing just how cold they really were; as Edmund tried to rub his arms, the colonel breathed on his cupped hands, trying to warm them, still glancing around the gloomy hall. As the colonel seemed to be studying all the stone statues, Edmund looked up to the White Witch's empty throne. Smiling, he walked up the threshold's few steps to get a better look at it. As his fascination with it seemed to make him forget the cold air, he finally came closer and sat down in the throne, making himself very comfortable by placing his arms on the armrests and leaning his head on the back of it, smiling even more as he surveyed the whole hallway and everything in it.
The colonel looked away from the statues for a moment and spotted Edmund sitting in the throne.
"Vhat are you doink, sittink up zere?" he asked, with a wary frown. "Von't ze Kveen get angry viz you sittink in her srone?"
Edmund then looked down at the colonel, smirked, and shook his head. "No, I don't think so. She likes me," he said proudly. Letting his eyes wander around the room again, still smiling, he added, "I'm only getting comfortable."
The colonel glared at Edmund, and then he turned to look at the stone statues and muttered, "Such confidence."
At the colonel's last remark, Edmund frowned at him again. "What do you keep looking at those statues for?"
After a moment of cold silence, the colonel answered, still slowly scanning his eyes over the statues, "Tryink to spot any resemblink humans."
Edmund's frown then got a twinge of curious alarm as he stared at the colonel for a moment, and then glanced out at some of the statues himself.
Finally, from the back hallway where the Wolf was last seen, the White Witch appeared, followed by her Dwarf, Ginarrbrik, and the Wolf. Upon seeing them first, the colonel cleared his throat to get Edmund's attention of their presences. Edmund noticed, and saw the White Witch to his left, glaring down at him with her tall, ice crown, and she was brandishing her wand.
"Like it?" she asked the boy in her throne.
Edmund quickly stood up out of the throne with a nervous smile, stammering, "Uh—y-yes…Your Majesty."
Still glaring at him as she sat down in her throne, the Witch said, "I thought you might."
After another moment of chilling silence as the Witch Jadis, Ginarrbrik, and the Wolf stood glaring at Edmund and the colonel, Jadis asked, "Tell me, Edmund…are your sisters deaf?"
Edmund looked at her strangely before he awkwardly answered, "No."
"And your brother," continued Jadis, "is he…unintelligent?"
Edmund and the colonel glanced at each other in further bewilderment, before Edmund looked to Jadis with a smart little smile, saying, "Well, I think he is. But Mum says—"
The Witch then shot to her feet with rage burning in her cold eyes. "THEN HOW DARE YOU COME ALONE?!" she shrieked.
Edmund and the colonel then started backing away in alarm, while the especially terrified Edmund tried to speak. "B-but Your Majesty, I—well, we—"
"Edmund, I asked so little of you," said Jadis, coming towards him.
"Your Majesty," began the colonel, "if I may—"
"I—I've done the best I could! I tried to bring them here but they wouldn't listen!" stammered Edmund.
"You couldn't even do that," said Jadis, ignoring the colonel.
"Well, I—I did bring them halfway!" Edmund said finally. Everyone paused, as he continued, "They're in the little house on top of the dam just up the river, with the Beavers!"
The Witch's anger seemed to subside considerably, and glancing at Ginarrbrik and the Wolf and back at Edmund, she said, "Well, I suppose you're not a total loss, then, are you?"
Edmund still continued to gaze up at her in fear, as the colonel looked at her with a skeptical glare, wondering what she was trying to pull. Finally, Jadis glared at the colonel. "Who are you?" she asked.
The colonel then awkwardly took off his cap, being caught rather off guard and not really expecting her to acknowledge him since she ignored him the first time he tried to speak to her. He then cleared his throat, and answered, "Colonel Volfgang Dolchbrander of Germany, Your Majesty. I have come viz Edmund in hopes that Your Majesty vould help me return to my own vorld as soon as possible."
Though Jadis, for the most part, still appeared angry and intimidating to Edmund and the colonel, she seemed a bit puzzled at the colonel's statement. This hesitation gave Aidan, who had been listening from out of sight, the opening he was hoping for. He rushed in, speaking as loudly as possible so as to add to any confusion already stirring in the Witch's mind.
"Your Majesty! I am so sorry, so very sorry—I can explain everything!" he began, allowing for a pause in which he hoped she would take the bait and allow him to continue. Once he was allowed to speak again, he knew it was absolutely necessary to keep talking. If the colonel managed to say anything in the meantime, Aidan's cover would be blown. This outcome had to be delayed as long as possible, as well as any pursuit of the other children. Aidan had to think fast, beginning with the one thing he was happiest to hear Jadis say:
"And what, exactly, will you be explaining to me?" she said crossly, looking very much like she wanted to kill something, but all the same, Aidan was relieved. He gave a quick bow, realizing he had forgotten to when he had first entered her presence.
"It's Icis, my Queen. She—oh, how do I put this?—gave me the slip. I gotta say, she's a lot more clever than she seems, escaping me…I've been searching for her, I figured that'd be a lot more useful than telling you of her disappearance. But, there's no trace. So I figure…now's the time to report it." He grinned sheepishly. "For what it's worth, Fenris was assigned to this originally and he ditched, leaving me to pick up the slack—so this is only partly my fault, and I offer my deepest apologies for the part where I am at fault." His grin faded as he prepared himself for the worst—at least a furious outburst—and was actually quite horrified at his failure to ramble further. He hoped the Witch's next response would open another door for him or focus on a search for Icis—anything but allowing the colonel to speak.
Edmund watched Aidan, surprised to see him there at all, much less to hear what the Wolf was saying. He didn't really know what Aidan was playing at, but he didn't really care, either. As long as it kept Jadis' fury focused on someone else, he was going to keep his mouth shut.
Jadis, angry and annoyed enough, listened to Aidan in cold silence, and after a minute of drumming her fingers on her armrest, she said, "Apologies accepted, Aidan. I order a search for the Princess immediately...after I deal with these two." She then turned on Edmund and the colonel, glared at them, and turned away.
Edmund then piped up. "Uh...Your Majesty?" he asked sheepishly. "I was wondering...could I have some more...Turkish Delight now?"
The colonel then glanced from Jadis to Edmund, looking at Edmund as if he were an idiot and expecting the Witch to slap Edmund for it, but instead Jadis looked at him and then to her Dwarf. "Our guest is hungry," she said raising her eyebrows. The Dwarf, Ginarrbrik, then took out his whip, and with the point of it began prodding Edmund towards one of the back halls.
"This way," he sneered, "for your num-nums."
The colonel, left standing and staring strangely after Edmund and Ginarrbrik, then turned to the Witch. "But—Your Majesty," he said, "vhat about—"
"Maugrim!" called Jadis, cutting the colonel off and ignoring him.
As Maugrim the Wolf came bounding back and up to the Witch's throne, she looked to him as she leaned comfortably back in her chair. "You know what to do." Maugrim then bowed his head, and then lifted it again, howling. At this, Edmund, Ginarrbrik, and the colonel all paused as they saw other Wolves answering Maugrim's call from the other corridors. As the Wolves all gathered in front of her throne, Jadis smiled slyly as she arose and looked to Maugrim and Aidan.
"Vait a moment, Your Majesty!" the colonel chimed in before he pointed amongst the approaching Wolves. "He—"
"Yes! He—Fenris—he's the one who was totally slacking off!" Aidan hastily interrupted, pointing his nose toward the corresponding Wolf.
Fenris started. "What?"
"Don't try to deny it! You just couldn't wait for your meal break, could you, you lazy—"
"No!" the colonel cut back in, pointing more vigorously in Aidan's direction. "He—"
Aidan interjected once more, even more hastily. "That's SHE—Morwyn—she should definitely be assigned to track down the Princess. She's one of the best, and she's definitely not lazy like Fenris here!"
Now he was indicating the she-Wolf, of brown coloring, standing right next to him. Surprised at the attention, she muttered, "Well, I'm flattered, Aidan…"
"Maugrim, Aidan," Jadis finally cut in sharply, "divide my Police into two searching parties. Maugrim and Aidan's group will go to the Beavers', Fenris and Morwyn's group will go after Icis. Spare no one but the Humans and the Princess. I want them alive. Go!" As the Wolves bounded away, the two search parties going into their different directions, Jadis looked to Ginarrbrik and Edmund. "Ginarrbrik," she said, "take him"—she pointed at the colonel with her wand—"with the other Son of Adam to the dungeons."
Both Edmund and the colonel were stunned—on top of Edmund's horror at these Wolves going after his family—and they were helplessly ushered off to the dungeons.
As Jadis looked away from him and the other Wolves started to leave, Aidan watched Edmund and, before he could avoid it, they made eye contact. He recognized the look of confusion and despair in the boy's eyes and wanted to say words of reassurance, even if he simply mouthed them, but he dared not in Jadis' presence. Biting his lip, he glanced around him to see that most of the other Wolves were gone, so he looked to Edmund again with a quick, sympathetic nod and then took off.
Edmund, as he was shoved along by Ginarrbrik once more, caught Aidan's look before the Wolf joined the others. He shot a skeptical look after him but thought perhaps this Wolf really did mean well: after all, it was possible there were others the White Witch had tricked. Perhaps Aidan was one of them. He could've told her about Aslan, and seeing my family…but he didn't. Maybe that's his idea of payback, he thought hopefully.