THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA
THE LION THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE BBC
PART 19
THE RESCUE.
PREVIOUSLY: Aslan's camp came under attack by Maugrim, the wolf lieutenant and Snowstorm, who trashed the whole feast site and scared the Narnians taken by surprise away before turning their attention in Susan, who got separated from Lucy during the attack and cornered by the three. Peter, Aslan and the armed Narnians come to their aid and incapacitate the lieutenant while driving off Snowstorm with sheer numbers. Narnians are about to attack Maugrim but Aslan stops them, declaring it to be Peter's fight. Peter battles Maugrim in one-on-one duel and eventually kills him. The wolf lieutenant is allowed to leave, but Aslan sends his soldiers after him to locate and rescue Edmund, before he knights Peter as Sir Peter Wolf's Bane.
Dusk had already fallen over Narnia.
Back to the Witch, Ginarrbrik and Edmund, with the former two having discarded their furs while Edmund still had his, the three had halted in a dark valley all overshadowed with fir trees and yew trees after reluctantly admitting to themselves that it was no use of chasing the children anymore as they must have reached the Stone Table by now.
"Perhaps Maugrim and Snowstorm will bring us news." the Witch said, hopeful to some degree that her two most trusted servants had a better luck in catching the children than what they had.
"It cannot be good news if they do." Ginarrbrik said skeptically.
The Witch and Ginarrbrik had forgot Edmund for a moment. But because they had made him to walk longer than he had ever known that anybody could walk, Edmund was too tired to care how hungry and thirsty he was, or even what was going to happen nex. He simply sunk against the tree trunk, panting exhaustedly.
As they waited, their attentions were soon caught by the flapping of the wings that made all three of them look up, until they saw Snowstorm flying over the treetops and down towards them. the snowy owl then landed in front of the Witch, Ginarrbrik and Edmund, before he changed into his anthropomorphic form and bowed his head down to his Queen.
The Witch quirked her eyebrow when she saw that some of Snowstorm's snow-white feathers had been scorched, and that his plumage was partly ash gray and burnt black.
"What has happened to you?" the Witch questioned, though not out of concern for the snowy owl. "Report!"
"Your Majesty. Hoo-hoo! The humans are with Aslan at the Stone Table. Hoo-hoo!" Snowstorm hooted, his voice shaking from fear when mentioning Aslan's name.
Both Edmund and Ginarrbrik stiffened with worry and dread after Snowstorm had mentioned that name in the Witch's presence even after she had made her threat to kill anyone who mentioned that name very clear.
"You've seen him?" Ginarrbrik asked, while not daring, even now, to mention that name in his mistress' presence.
Snowstorm nodded his head to confirm this. "With my own eyes! Hoo-hoo!"
"And where is Maugrim? Where is my captain of my Secret Police?" the Witch questioned, taking notice of the absence of her wolves who hadn't come back to her along with Snowstorm. "WHERE IS MY WHOLE SECRET POLICE?!"
"Dead, Your Majesty. Hoo-hoo! They're all dead!" Snowstorm reported.
"DEAD?!" the Witch repeated aloud in disbelief.
"Hoo-hoo! Most of us were vanquished at the Great Lake after the Son of Adam sent the waters of the lake against us with that sword, Rhindon. Hoo-hoo! Only me, Maugrim and the lieutenant managed to survive that. We tracked the humans down to the Stone Table and we tried to kill them. Hoo-hoo! But Aslan and the rebels came to their aid and fought us off. Hoo-hoo! I barely managed to escape with my life!" Snowstorm reported.
Now terribly angry for such of news, the Witch glared down at the snowy owl with her ice-cold eyes.
Snowstorm's golden eyes went wide with dread when he saw the Witch taking out her wand, as if preparing to turn him into stone!
"You're telling me that not only you have failed to kill those human pests, but you ran flew away a handful of rebels LIKE A COWARD?!" the Witch roared terribly.
The Witch then raised her wand over her head and prepared to swing it down and at the snowy owl to turn him a stone as punishment for his failure.
"NO! HOO-HOO!" Snowstorm hooted in fright, jumping back and shielding himself with his wings.
"But Your Majesty! Hoo-hoo! He was there, and there was too many of them against us! What could I have done? Hoo-hoo!" Snowstorm protested. "And it wasn't just a handful of rebels like we suspected but an army! Hoo-hoo! Aslan has an army at the Stone Table! Hundreds of them! Armed and ready to war! Hoo-hoo!"
Eyes wide in surprise, the Witch immediately stopped her hand upon hearing Snowstorm mentioning that the band of rebels with Aslan at the Stone Table was actually an army.
"And army?" she repeated again, realizing that it was no longer just about a rebellion or a secret coup but about open warfare.
"He will soon be after us and we're not even ready ourselves!" Ginarrbrik said worriedly. "You better fly, Your Majesty! You better fly!"
"SILENCE!" the Witch barked, silencing the Dwarf.
The Witch's surprised expression soon switched to the determined expression of the alpha leader who had just been challenged, and not only for her position as the Queen but also for her "ill-gained" kingdom that she needed to defend.
"There need be no flying." the Witch said said dangerously calmly. "If Aslan wants war, then he shall get one."
The Witch then turned to Snowstorm, who was still shielding himself with his wings, shaking from fearful anticipation of being turned to stone.
"Snowstorm! I have a new task for you." the Witch told him.
In disbelief (and relief) that he hadn't been yet turned to stone, and unsure if he had heard her right, Snowstorm slowly lowered his wings down and looked up at his Queen.
"Hoo-hoo! You're not going to kill me, Your Majesty? Hoo-hoo!" the snowy owl cautiously asked.
"Not yet." the Witch simply said as she walked up to the boulder next to her, and beckoned with her finger the snowy owl to come to her so that they could speak in eye-level.
Without the hesitation, Snowstorm immediately flew up on top of the boulder, before turning to his Queen to hear out his next mission.
"Fly back to my House and tell my people there be ready to march, save for a few guards, and meet me here as speedily as they can. Then spread the word and summon all the faithful who will fight for me. Call the Giants, Werewolves, Spirits of the poisonous plants and the Spirits of those Trees that are on my side. Call the Ghouls and Boggles, Ogres and Minotaurs, Cruels, Hags, Spectres and the People of the Toadstools, Incubuses, Wraiths and Horrors, Efreets, Sprites, Orknies, Wooses and Ettins. Summon all the monsters, demons, spirits and the Talking Beasts that are on my side!"
Snowstorm nodded his head at each creature the Witch listed for him to summon.
"We will fight! Have I not still my wand? Shall not their ranks of the enemy turn to stone even as they come to me?" the Witch said, caressing her wand as if it was the most precious thing in the whole world to her. "Now Be off! I have a little business here while you are away. And don't fail me again!"
"I won't my Queen. Hoo-hoo!" Snowstorm said, bowing his head down, before after changing to his normal owl form took off to the skies and flew to the North towards the Witch's House to fulfill the Witch's orders to assemble the army for her.
"What shall we do meanwhile, Your Majesty?" Ginarrbrik asked. "Now that Snowstorm is assembling your army and it's no use for us to follow those humans to the Stone Table."
The Witch, without answering to the Dwarf's questioned, turned to look towards Edmund for a some time with the thoughtful look on her white and cold faces.
"Four thrones in Cair Paravel." she muttered thoughtfully. "How if only three were filled? That would not fulfil the prophecy."
"What difference would that make now that he is here?" Ginarrbrik asked, still not daring to say Aslan's name to the Witch.
"He may not stay long. And then we could fall upon the three at Cair Paravel." the Witch said, planning for the attack on the three remaining humans at the Cair Paravel once Aslan is gone.
"Then it might be better to keep this one." Ginarrbrik sneered as he held his whip at Edmund's throat. "For bargaining with."
"Oh yes." the Witch apparently agreed with the smile, though it was obviously out of sarcasm, before she raised her voice scornfully. "AND HAVE HIM RESCUED, YOU FOOL!"
Ginarrbrik winced worriedly at the results of his poor choice of words and was quick to change the subject. "Then we had better do what we have to do at once."
"I want the sacrifice to be done on the Stone Table itself. That is the proper place. That is where such things have always been done before." the Witch said, eyeing Edmund like a murderous bird of prey.
Edmund began to breath frantically and tremble from the growing fear when it dawned to him that the Witch was actually talking about him as this "sacrifice", as if she had found him no longer useful to her and planned to murder him right away.
"Well, we have no Table, O Queen, and it could be a long time before the Stone Table can again be put to its proper use." Ginarrbrik pointed out.
"True." said the Witch. "Then let it be done now and here. Tie the human creature against the trunk of a tree!"
Ginarrbrik then roughly forced Edmund to his feet, before he set him with his back against a tree trunk and began to bind him to it fast. Not really keen to wait for what was coming for him, Edmund struggled against the binds to get free and somehow get out of here, no matter how tired he was.
and tight, making it hard for Edmund to even move no matter how much he tried to get free.
"Hold still!" Ginarrbrik demanded harshly while pinching poor Edmund painfully from his ear to make him stop squirming.
After Edmund was bound so tight that it was difficulties for him to even move, Ginarrbrik smirked gruelly up at him.
"There. Does our little prince feel comfortable, or does he wants his pillow fluffed?" Ginarrbrik said, before he took the portion of his beard and rubbed it hard against Edmund's face, much to his discomfort that he tried to move away from the Dwarf.
Ginarrbrik then moved his head uncomfortably closer to Edmund's face baring his teeth as he grinned at him.
"Congratulations, though, cause there's going to be a special event waiting for the special BOY like you, and you have the highest honor to be a part of it."
This made Edmund to swallow nervously.
"Prepare the victim!" the Witch ordered.
Ginarrbrik then undid Edmund's collar and folded back his shirt at the neck. Then he took Edmund's hair and pulled his head back so that he had to raise his chin.
The Witch then put her wand aside for a moment and took out the knife which strange and evil-shaped blade was made of an ominously gleaming stone.
Edmund then began to tremble even more when the Witch approached him, knife held up and a broad, murderous and sadistic smirk on the Witch's lips... and her eyes turned into pitch black like the bird of prey's that is about to make its kill.
"Prepare, Son of Adam..." the Witch said, as she put the knife's cold and sharp blade over Edmund's throat, ready to slit it open. "...To meet your immediate death!"
Edmund was so scared for his life that he was on the verge to pass out.
However, before the Witch could have slit Edmund't throat, the rustling in the thickets caught the Witch's and Ginarrbrik's attention away from Edmund and turn towards the sound.
And in the moment, the ragged and out of breath wolf lieutenant bursted out of the woods and rushed up to them, before changing to its anthropomorphic form.
"Your Majesty!" the lieutenant panted, leaning with his clawed paws on his knees.
"Lieutenant?" the Witch said, surprised to see him still alive. "Where have you been?"
"At the Stone Table!" the lieutenant panted. "The humans are there... with him."
The Witch frowned at the wolf for the information she already knew. "I already know that, lieutenant. Snowstorm already reported that to me."
"He did?" the lieutenant said, mildly surprised to know that.
"Yes! Snowstorm also told me that all of you wolves were dead, including you and Maugrim after he left you at the enemy's hands." the Witch said scoldingly. "But if you're still alive, then where's Maugrim?!"
"Dead, your Highness! They killed captain Maugrim. The Son of Adam killed him with that sword he unleashed the waters of the Great Lake upon us! I saw it all!" the lieutenant reported. "I barely managed to escape with my life."
At that very moment, all four of them heard a flurry of loud shouts, roars and screeches, a thunderous drumming of hoofs and a beating of wings coming from the direction the Wolf had came from.
"YOU FOOL!" the Witch barked at the lieutenant. "YOU LED THEM RIGHT TO US!"
Soon the rescue party of Centaurs, Unicorns, stags, bulls, horses, dogs, leopards, horses, bear, Single-horned tiger, Fauns, Satyrs and Wood Gods, led by Flamestorm the Centaur, bursted through the woods and charged towards the Witch, Ginarrbrik, the wolf lieutenant and Edmund, with the flying creatures flying above the party.
"Over there!" Flamestorm shouted. "Get the knife out of the Witch's hand and grab her!"
Pegasus led the Winged Panther, Griffin, eagles, eagle owl, pelican and Phoenix ahead and against the Witch, the lieutenant and Ginarrbrik.
The Winged Panther roared as he swooped over the Witch, swinging his claws at her while the Witch swung her knife back at him in self-defense but missed, before the Pegasus landed in front of her, reared up and flailed his hooves at the Witch, neighing aggressively. The Winged Horse managed to knock the knife out of the Witch's hand, forcing her to flee while being chased by Aslan's forces.
The Eagles, Pelican, owl and Phoenix teamed up to attack Ginarrbrik, clawing him with their talons and pecking him with their sharp beaks. The pelican captured the Dwarf's long beard in his beak and tugged from it, causing Ginarrbrik to cry out in pain, before he took out his own knife and cut off his own beard, freeing himself from the pelican before the Dwarf ran off after his mistress, while being tormented by Aslan's birds.
The leopards, bullmastiffs and bear teamed up against the lieutenant, hissing, barking and roaring aggressively at the wolf from each direction while swinging their claws at him. Though outnumbered the lieutenant snarled back and swung his own claws at them in self-defense. However, the fight between the animals was cut short when Griffin swooped down on the lieutenant with his talons drawn, knocking the wolf off his feet to the ground.
With the villains driven off, the unoccupied members of the rescue party turned their attention towards Edmund.
"Untie him!" Flamestorm ordered.
The red-haired Faun, two Wood Gods that dismounted their horses, and one of the dogs, the brown one, and leopards who had changed into their anthropomorphic forms then came over Edmund while the others formed the protective circle around them.
"Don't be afraid! We're here to help!" the Faun said, before he took out his sword and began to saw with it the binds loose.
"You'll be all right in a minute." one of the Wood Gods said reassuringly until the Faun finally managed to cut him free.
And once he was free, Edmund was still reeling from shock that just a minute ago he was very close to losing his life if these creatures hadn't come to his aid in time, that he almost collapsed onto his knees and then face-first to the ground if the creatures hadn't caught him in their strong but gentle arms.
"Lie him down! Carefully!" the Faun said, as the creatures gently put Edmund down.
"How-how-how! How is he? Is he hurt?" the dog asked.
"He's just shaken. That must have been a close call, but he's going to be alright." the leopard responded.
"Give him some drink." the Faun ordered the Wood God, who immediately took out a flask of water and handed it to Edmund.
"Here. Drink this." the Wood God said.
Edmund looked warily at the flask in the Wood God's hands and then up at the Wood God's kind faces, who beckoned him to take it with the nod. Edmund wasn't sure if he could trust these strangers after everything he had been put through, even if these strangers had just saved his life.
However, the terrible thirst and the dry throat made him cast aside all the wariness before he took the flask and began to drink greedily the fresh and sweet-tasting water. After a few sips, he removed the flask from his mouth before having a momentary coughing fit.
"Steady now!" the Wood God said, gently patting Edmund in the back.
It took a moment for Edmund to get his coughing under control, before he looked up at the creatures around him. Taking into account that they had just saved him from the certain death and how tender and kind they were towards him, Edmund concluded that they were from the friendly side. From the right side. From his side.
With that knowledge, Edmund gave the creatures and animals a tired but deeply relieved and grateful smile. "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much."
Everyone's attention was soon drawn to the loud pounding of hooves, and Edmund noticed Flamestorm walking up to him, along with the Pegasus and other black-haired and -bearded Centaur, until the Centaur stood tall and almost intimidating in front of him, looking down at him with a stoic expression on his face.
Feeling rather nervous, Edmund shrunk a bit in his place as he stared up at the real living and breathing Centaur, from whose expression he concluded that he was not quite pleased to see him.
And Edmund didn't blame him if he didn't... for the very good reason.
"Edmund Pevensie." Flamestorm said with the calm but strict voice.
Edmund blinked his eyes in surprise that the Centaur actually knew his name, rather than addressing him as a "Son of Adam" like everyone else has done.
"You know my name?" Edmund asked meekly.
"We were sent by Aslan to find you and take you to Stone Table where your family awaits you." Flamestorm said in response, confirming Edmund's thoughts about their allegiances.
Edmund has never felt more relieved in his life than he did now, especially after hearing that he will soon be back to his family... but he was at the same time nervous about what kind of welcome he would get from them upon reunion.
At least one thing he was sure of was that Peter would most likely confront him about his recent actions and how he had put his entire family at risk for his own selfish interests.
"But when we get there..." Flamestorm said strictly, pointing his finger down at Edmund. "... You will be brought before Aslan first, for you have lot to answer for."
Edmund swallowed a lump in his throat, nervous at the thought of being brought before Aslan himself to answer for his actions. Though now free of the Witch's influence, Edmund still dreaded facing him so much that he would rather face Peter's wrath than Aslan's, but he doubted it would be up to him who he would have to answer to.
Flamestorm then turned towards Pegasus.
"Pegasus, you and your troops take Son of Adam to Stone Table as fas as your wings can carry you." Flamestorm ordered.
Pegasus nodded his head affirmatively and, with the other creatures making a way for them, walked up to Edmund with the black-bearded Centaur.
Edmund looked up at the Winged Horse and the Centaur nervously, wondering what's going to happen now.
"Come, Son of Adam. Pegasus will take you to Aslan." the Centaur said reassuringly.
Before Edmund could say anything, the Centaur bent down and scooped the surprised boy off the ground before he placed him carefully on Pegasus's back, behind his wings.
"Hang on tight. I fly high and fast." Pegasus told Edmund over his shoulder.
Edmund felt tensed, as he had never ridden a horse before, least the one that can fly. But because they likely wouldn't listen to his protests, Edmund concluded that he had no choice but to grip the Pegasus's mane tightly and brace himself for the take off.
Pegasus then lifted his head up and then let out a loud neigh, as he walked away to get more room for the take off.
The Winged Panther, eagles, owl, pelican, Phoenix and Griffin, who stood over the wolf lieutenant, who lay motionless on the ground, mauled to death by the latter, answered to Pegasus' call by each one of them taking off in the air one by one.
Panting in tension and closing his eyes, Edmund held on tightly as the Pegasus charged forward with full gallop, flapping his wings rapidly before taking off after the others.
Pegasus, while carrying Edmund in his back, quickly caught up with the other flying creatures and took his place as their leader, with the Griffin, Phoenix, owl and pelican flying on his right and the Winged Panther and the eagles on his left side.
It took Edmund a moment to muster up the courage to open his eyes to see what was going on around him, and he let out a gasp when he realized that he was flying - on the Pegasus' back - high above of the treetops.
He almost felt nauseatic upon seeing how high they actually were... but after a moment of taking in the vast view of Narnia's landscape illuminated by the bright full moon: the forest, hills and valleys below them, a westward winding river in the north, great snow-tipped mountains in the far south and a sea glistening in the moonlight far in the east, Edmund actually found the view the most beautiful thing he had ever seen and quickly found the flight on Pegasus' back as one of the greatest things that has ever happened to him.
After watching Edmund fly away on Pegasus and the other flying creatures, Flamestorm turned his attention to his troops who had already regrouped after chasing down the Witch and Ginarrbrik.
However, Flamestorm frowned when he noticed that the Witch was nowhere to be seen, not escaping in the woods nor as their prisoner.
His troops seemed to be no less confused of this as he was, as they were all looking into the woods for her, while the dogs, leopard, bear and Single-horned Tiger were sniffing the air and scouring the area for any tracks.
"The Witch! Who's got the Witch?" one of the bulls, the red one, asked while sounding confused.
"I thought you had her. You're the fastest and galloped ahead after her." the Satyr said, pointing his finger at the blonde-haired Centaur.
"I did, but I didn't see where she went after Pegasus knocked the knife out of her hand." the Centaur said.
"I almost had her until she just vanished." the Single-horned Tiger said with muffled voice, revealing a ripped piece of purplish-blue cloth from the Witch's gown hanging in his mouth.
"Did anyone saw where she went? You?" one of the stags in his anthropomorphic form asked from the Satyr.
"Of course not. I was after the Dwarf." the Satyr said, shrugging his shoulders.
"Do you mean she's escaped?" one of the Wood Gods asked, pointing his finger at the Satyr.
"I can't mind everything at once!" the Satyr snapped in frustration.
"Drat! She got away! Where is she?!" the blonde Centaur exclaimed, looking around both in confusion and frustration that their enemy had gotten away.
"Find her! She must not escape!" bellowed the black bull.
"It's no use anymore. Her scent is already gone. How-how-how!" another dog, a black one, reported when he and the other animals did not find or smell any tracks that led away from the scene into the woods.
"Her tracks disappeared by that tree and boulder over there, and so did the Dwarf's. How-how-how!" the brown dog said, gesturing his paw towards a fair sized boulder and a weird-looking tree standing next to each other in middle of the valley.
"At least that wolf is lying dead there." the bear pointed out, pointing his clawed paw at the body of the wolf lieutenant.
"What any good can one dead wolf do to us when the Witch is still at large?" the Bull questioned irritably from the bear.
"Should we search this valley? Maybe we could find some trace of her?" the stag suggested.
"NO!" Flamestorm denied, silencing his troops and making them to turn to look at him surprised.
"As long as she still has her wand it's too dangerous to go after her. Let her go and live to fight another day." Flamestorm told his troops. "Besides, we're already finished here. The Son of Adam has been rescued and on his way to safety. Today is ours but the battle is far from over."
Though the creatures and animals were disappointed at losing their only chance to capture the Witch, and reluctant to give up the hunt now that they were so close of catching her, they couldn't help but admit that Flamestorm was right: they had succeeded in saving the last Son of Adam, which was the sole reason why they came here, and that since the Witch still had her wand, catching her by surprise again by the same way wouldn't work twice. They acknowledged this by nodding to Flamestorm.
Satisfied with this, Flamestorm pointed his spear to the direction they had came from. "Onward! To the Stone Table!"
Flamestorm then turned around and galloped away, with the rest of the rescue party quickly following after the Centaur as he led them out of the valley and back to the Stone Table.
But as the sounds and voices of the rescue party faded into the distance, they might have been surprised if they could have seen what happened in that valley after they had gone.
When the moonlight shone over the treetops onto the boulder and the tree, it revealed that the boulder in the ground next to the tree looked really remarkably like a little fat man crouching on the ground and shielding its head with his arms, and the tree itself looked like a humanoid in shape with two branch stumps that looked like the arms shielding its head, while the trunk down to the roots looked like a long gown and the small branches on top of the head looked like a twisted crown.
After a while, both the boulder and the tree slowly transformed into a crouching Ginarrbrik and a Witch shielding herself with her arms, while holding her wand in her hand.
After her knife was knocked out of her hands, the Witch had made a mad dash for where she had left her wand before using its magic to make herself and Ginarrbrik look like a tree and boulders - for it was part of her magic that she could make things look like what they weren't - to escape being captured or killed by Aslan's troops.
"What shall we do now, O Queen?" Ginarrbrik asked after he had got back up, retrieved the stone knife and handed it back to the Witch. "Everything is lost now that he has both the boy, and all four of them, and the Table."
However, much to Ginarrbrik's confusion, the Witch didn't seem worried by this setback at all. In fact, she seemed to be smiling quite contentedly... in a wicked way.
"On the contrary, Ginarrbrik." the Witch said with a psychotic grin, before she started to chuckle evilly.
"Aslan is a fool to think he has won today, while in reality, he has won nothing!"
Ginarrbrick stared at his mistress with the raised eyebrow, not really understanding what his mistress was saying.
"Aslan is a fool to think that Edmund will be safe with him at the Stone Table, while in reality he is exactly where I wanted him to be."
The Witch's evil cackling only increased as she continued.
"Aslan is a fool to think he is above the Deep Magic... But I beg to differ, for there is one thing even he, as mighty as he is, cannot deny from me."
The Witch then let out an evil cackle, delighted with how easy things have turned out for her.
Even Ginarrbrik's confusion slowly turned into a pure wickedness as if he was catching on what the Witch meant.
"Come, Ginarrbrik. We have work to do." the Witch said to her Dwarf.
"Ohh, I see, Your Majesty." Ginarrbrik said with the evil grin of his own.
The Witch then began cackle again, with Ginarrbrik joining her with his own snickering laughter. The Witch's and the Dwarf's conjoined evil laughters echoed in the valley as the two began to plot their next move in this war.
TO BE CONTINUED...