Chapter 6: The Ice Queen

Susan's POV

The fight had been going on for what felt like eons. One of our fauns had run up to me to inform me of the duel between Ella and Jadis, after which I immediately sprinted to the scene where I found the two of them circling each other. I stood next to my husband, who upon noticing my presence turned to me with a worried look which I shared with him before both of us turned back to our friend currently facing our enemy.

Soon, Ella and Jadis' swords clashed, meaning the duel began. I noticed Edmund standing next to Caspian, and judging by his ragged breaths and the veins in his neck popping out, I knew he was as anxious as ever.

Of course he would be, this was definitely a fight to the death.

Jadis was swift with her movements, effortlessly slicing through the air and targeting all of Ella's weak spots. But Ella was smart, and I knew her strategy was to tire Jadis out by being more on the defense than offence. Occasionally she would throw a swing of her own out of the blue to catch her off guard, but Jadis was shrewd as well and knew the game she was playing.

At one point, Jadis had knocked Ella down, which made Ed take a step forward in fear as my sister-in-law was now on her back. But quick Ella managed to slide her foot to knock Jadis, causing the regal ice queen to stumble, but sadly not fall.

In that brief moment, Ella managed to jump out and swing at Jadis so fast that she did not see it coming, causing her to trip backwards and drop her sword.

Currently, Jadis was kneeling on the ground, her sword a few feet from her, with Ella towering over her. She still had her staff in one hand though, which she raised and tried to stab Ella with. However, Ella managed to dodge the stab and took advantage of Jadis' position to swiftly move behind her. In a heartbeat, Ella drove her sword right into Jadis' back, its tip emerging from her heart.

Jadis let out a soft gasp, her mouth ajar and her green eyes wide as ever. Blood began to trickle from where the sword came out of her chest, and the blood flowed even more as Ella withdrew her blade. After a few seconds, Jadis dropped to the ground with a firm thud.

For a few seconds, everyone just stared in disbelief at the impaled White Witch, and at the panting victor behind her. The wind was starting to pick up pace now despite the sweltering heat, which caused Ella's hair to blow around her face. She pushed it behind her ear, looked around for a moment and then raised her sword with an attempt of a smile despite her exhaustion.

All around, Narnians erupted in cheers and applause, hailing their new victor. I too beamed as I realised what had just happened. Turning to my right, I jumped into Caspians' arms as he spun me around in ecstasy.

We won.

We actually won.

As Caspian put me down, I noticed Peter and Edmund hugging tightly, which made me smile even more.

Once Peter let go of Edmund, he immediately turned to Caspian and they shared a hug as well. Edmund noticed me and took a few steps forward before embracing me. I rubbed my little brother's back, still somewhat in disbelief but nonetheless over the moon that the war that had plagued us for so long was finally over.

Jadis was finally gone.

For good.

Once I let go of Edmund, he turned to the front where Ella stood, her sword still raised as she was looking around and smiling at the cheers. Finally her gaze landed on Edmund, and she smiled even wider, if that was possible.

She brought her arm down and walked around Jadis, heading towards us to be embraced by her husband.

I had hugged my husband and 2 brothers, but then it struck me that Lucy was not here. I looked around but she was nowhere in sight.

Odd.

As I looked around, amidst all the cheering Narnian soldiers, I also noticed Jadis' followers were very still, and were all just staring at Jadis' stiff body intently.

They had just witnessed their leader be killed.

Why aren't they trying to retaliate?

Just as that thought occurred to me, I heard a shout from my side.

"Ella, behind!"

I turned back to find Edmund pointing ahead, a flabbergasted look on his face. Ella froze for a moment mid-stride before turning around. The cheers immediately died down as everyone heard Ed's shout.

There, behind Ella, Jadis slowly rose from her previously dead state on the ground. Getting onto her knees, she pushed herself up until she was standing tall and unfazed, as if she was perfectly fine. Where there was previously a gaping hole in her chest from which blood trickled, now was filled with ice which stopped the bleeding. Her shoulders were square and she stared directly ahead at Ella, who was now very visibly tense and from what I could tell, even shaking a bit.

Oh great Aslan...

As the two of them looked at each other, I noticed Jadis had nothing in her hands even though, when she was stabbed, she was still holding onto her staff. Right now, the staff was lying on the ground between Ella and Jadis.

Jadis was squinting in the sunlight at Ella with a little devious smirk on her face before glancing down at her staff. That made Ella glance down at it as well, and I knew what she was thinking, what was going to happen next.

In a split second, Ella and Jadis both reached for the staff, but Ella was faster and as soon as she got her hands onto it, she pierced Jadis right in the heart, right where her sword had previously impaled her and then filled with ice.

This time, Jadis stumbled a few feet back and began to shake violently, her face a picture of shock as her eyes and mouth were wide open. As she shook, I noticed her fingertips were starting to turn icy white, and then her hands, and then her arms.

Soon, the ice was spreading all over her body, reaching her neck and finally travelling up to consume her head in the end. We just watched on in shock as ice devoured her entire body until she was just a solid white statue of herself in her petrified position. I could not help but think of the irony of how the very thing that made Jadis so powerful was now destroying her slowly. Suddenly, the ice crumbled completely, landing in a pile of shattered crystals and flakes on the ground.

All around, all of Jadis' followers started to slowly disintegrate, their bodies fading away into nothing but smoke and ash as they yelled out in pain and defeat.

They must have been products of Jadis' magic, or at least tied to her in some way...

And now that there was no Jadis, they could not exist.

Finally, the field was filled with nothing but Narnian soldiers, piles of ash and a large pile of crumbled ice.

As we stared at the final state of the White Witch, Ella dropped the staff and I noticed her hand still trembling. Edmund walked forward and grabbed onto it, smiling proudly at her before raising it up. Immediately, everyone exploded into cheers once again, and this time even louder than before as this time, we had actually won.

Jadis was truly gone.

I embraced the person closest to me, who happened to be Peter, and he laughed out merrily as well, hugging me back even tighter. When I pulled away, I noticed his cheeks were wet and his eyes glassy. It was then that I realised the dampness of my own cheeks and that I too could not control the flow of happy tears.

I felt an arm go around my waist and turned to embrace Caspian, but instead was met with his lips which kissed mine so hard I was pretty sure I would appear to have a bruised mouth. I laughed into the kiss at his over-zealous approach of celebrating our victory, but nonetheless, held him tight and savoured this moment of uncontrollable happiness.

The war was finally over.

We truly won.

Edmund's POV

I couldn't believe it.

As the crowd around us erupted into cheers, Ella and I continued staring at the pile of shattered ice in front of us.

That was Jadis.

That was all she was now.

Shattered ice.

I guess even in death she stuck true to her title of the Ice Queen.

I turned to Ella to find her eyes glued to where her greatest arch nemesis previously stood. I was still holding tight onto her hand which could not stop shaking, so I pulled her to me and threw my arms around her, hugging her with all the joy I had.

"You did it." I whispered into her ear, holding her even tighter as my pride for her swelled.

Ella hugged me back but not as tightly, which was a little odd since she always returned my hugs with as much enthusiasm and passion as I put in them.

Perhaps it was just exhaustion.

I pulled back and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear, wanting to gaze into those blue eyes I adored so much but sadly, were currently downcast. I leaned in to give her an "I'm-so-proud-of-you-and-I-love-you-so-much" kiss, but just as I did, she moved her head away.

"El, what's wrong?"

She responded with nothing but a lip bite, her eyes still looking down at our feet.

I lifted her chin with my finger so that she could look at me. Normally, I could read her eyes effortlessly but this time, this time there was something in them that I could not quite decipher. I knew there was uneasiness, but still, why or what kind, I could not make out. And that worried me a lot.

Something was definitely off.

"El, talk to me, what's wrong?" I cooed, really not liking the way she was nervously biting her lip.

She took in a deep breath, noticing my worry, and immediately feigned a little laugh.

"N-nothing, I'm just tired. I was already weak before the duel and now-"

"Well then come on, let's get you some rest." I interjected, realizing my suspicion of her exhaustion was right.

Somewhat.

But as I wrapped an arm around her shoulders and led her to the forts through the cheering soldiers, I knew deep down that she was just saying that to cover up for why she was really feeling uneasy.

And I was going to find out the reason one way or another.

But at the moment, my wife was exhausted and I needed to get her into a bed.

A/N: Reviews would really make my day! :)