A Tale of Two Queens (or Queen vs. 'Queen'): A Chronicles of Narnia fan fiction story by jrohi - koura7
Wednesday July 10, 2024
Summary:
This is my version of Chapters THREE and FOUR from Book 2 (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe) in the Chronicles of Narnia Classic literature series.
Edmund, the second youngest of the four Pevensie siblings, meets the White Witch of Narnia in C.S. Lewis' story, but in this fan fiction story, someone different crosses paths with her in the clearing not too far from Lantern Waste.
This is the first fan fiction story written by a long - time FanFiction member, with a curious mixture of book, movie and head – canon.
I can't say for sure if it's an adventure or a humorous story. A one - shot or part of a series, but I hope you enjoy it just the same.
Rated K + for light violence & mild language. There are also some references to skin color that I hope you won't find too offensive.
Disclaimer: I don't own the Chronicles of Narnia, the places or any of the characters.
However, the five protagonists in this story are my creation, even though the one who meets the White Witch are similar only in name.
Reads and reviews would be very much appreciated, please and thank you!
THREE
As the snowstorm swelled into a full - blown blizzard, Jadis found herself crouching in the shadow of thick, dark fir trees. She slowly stood up & looked about for the rest of the team, but she didn't see any of them.
She learned from experience to remain calm whenever she was alone and lost anywhere, so she stood still and took a deep breath while thinking about her next move.
Jadis decided it was best to begin with some exploration, so she cautiously stepped out of the trees into an open place in the middle of a wood.
There was crisp, dry snow under Jadis' feet and more snow lying on the branches of the trees. Overhead there was a pale blue sky, the sort of sky one sees on a fine winter day in the morning … if she liked winter, that is.
Straight ahead of her she saw between the tree trunks and the sun, just rising, very red and clear. Everything was perfectly still, as if she was the only living soul in the entire area.
There was not even a robin or a squirrel among the trees, and the wood stretched as far as she could see in every direction. She shivered.
During her exploration, Jadis recollected that she and the guys were in the process of carrying out their latest assignment. Now, their missions usually took the five of them through some quite rugged terrain, but the trek on foot through the extremely wintry Canadian Rockies was a true test of their endurance.
A gentle snowfall began about 45 minutes into the team's trek. It grew stronger with every passing minute, restricting their vision and disabling their tech devices. They would've gotten separated or worse, if it hadn't been for the stand of pine trees another 15 minutes away.
It was there that Jadis was in the near - fetal position among the fir trees but … where were her teammates?
She hoped at least one of them might be somewhere close by, for his safety as well as her own. She needed to try using her vest com - link anyway, so she gave it a quick tap to make contact.
"Kelbo, where's your location?"
There was no response from the team lead, so she tried to contact the others in turn.
"Servesh?"
"Manuel?"
"Hiro, where's your location?"
There was no response from any of them.
"Just great", said Jadis to herself. "They're probably in the same boat … or worse, in the water."
She looked around her again and decided she didn't much like this place. In fact, she began to have a feeling that she wasn't in the Rockies anymore, which defied logic a little too much for her liking!
Jadis had almost made up her mind to go back to the stand of fir trees to rethink her next move, when she heard, very far off in the woods, the sound of bells. She listened as the sound came nearer and nearer. At last, there swept into sight a sledge drawn by six reindeer.
The reindeers' fur was so white that the snow hardly looked white compared to them. Their branching antlers were gilded and shone like something on fire when the sunrise caught them. Their harness was of scarlet leather and covered with bells. On the sledge, driving the reindeer, sat a thin dwarf who would have been about three feet high if he had been standing. He was dressed in a dark brown coat with silver embroidered cuffs and a collar of polar bear's fur. On his head, he wore a long red sock cap with flaps on the sides and a bell hanging down from its point. His full black - and - gray beard covered his knees and served him instead of a rug.
Behind him, on a much higher seat in the back of the sledge sat a very different person. A great lady, taller than any woman that Jadis had ever seen.
She was wearing a sky - blue gown with gold - colored embroidery on the sash and around the neck beneath a hooded white fur mantle, fastened with a golden brooch. She also wore a golden, pointed crown atop her long, raven - black hair.
Her face, with the exception of her blood - red mouth, was white; not a pale white, but white like the snow, the reindeer and her mantle, with a proud, haughty expression.
But the lady's finery was nothing compared to the long, ornate golden staff with a pointed icicle at the end in her right hand.
Jadis had never seen such a thing before, but she assumed it was a symbol of authority, like the lady's crown judging by the regal manner in which she held it.
The sledge was a fine sight as it come sweeping toward Jadis with the bells jingling, the dwarf cracking his whip and the snow flying up on each side of it. She stepped back and looked on cautiously.
"Stop, Ginarrbrik!" said the lady, and the dwarf sharply pulled on the reins. The reindeer immediately stopped, then stood, chomping their bits and blowing. The breath coming out of their nostrils looked like smoke in the frosty air.
"And what, pray, are you?" asked the lady, looking hard at Jadis.
"Uhhh ... I think I should ask you the same question." Jadis answered with a raised eyebrow. She had no idea where she was, but she knew she didn't like the nature of the lady's inquiry, let alone the way she looked at her.
The lady frowned. "Is that how you address a Queen?" she said, looking more stern than ever.
That question confirmed the feeling Jadis had earlier. She wasn't in the Rockies anymore! Wherever she was, her teammates weren't with her, so she decided she should just go with the flow. For now.
Jadis cupped her hand to her mouth and cleared her throat. "I beg your pardon … 'Your Majesty'. I didn't know." she replied, with the respect that she was brought up to show others.
"Not know the Queen of Narnia? Well, you shall know us better hereafter!"
"Nar - nee - uh? Ohhh, boy. I can't wait." thought Jadis. "Maybe then I will wake up from this dream!"
FOUR
"But I repeat, what are you?" asked the Queen of 'Nar - nee - uh'. "Are you a Daughter of the Lamp - post?"
Both of Jadis' eyebrows were raised now. This dream was really starting to go South, but she thought she'd better continue playing along. So, she said,
"No, Your Majesty, I am the daughter of a woman."
"A woman!" Do you mean you are a Daughter of Eve?"
Jadis didn't know if she was expected to say yes or no by that time, so she decided to say nothing.
"I see that your appearance is similar to the lamp - post, whatever manner of being you are." The queen continued. "Answer me, 'Daughter', are you human?"
Jadis was very close to replying, "Well, I'm most certainly not an animal!" but she thought better of it. Instead, she replied,
"Yes, Your Majesty. I am human, and so was my mother. So, I couldn't look anything like a lamp - post."
"Peculiar … " said the queen, with a distant expression. She looked down at Ginarrbrik the Dwarf, who in turn looked at Jadis with a smile that didn't look very nice.
"Not as peculiar as a Christmas ornament that's taller than a Christmas tree." thought Jadis. "That does it. I'm going to put a stop to this human lamp - post nonsense, once and for all!"
"If you would permit me to ask a question, Your Majesty. What do you mean?"
The queen lifted her staff. Jadis thought she was about to point it at her, but she pointed it toward the middle of the wood and said,
"Look. Over yonder."
"I don't know what I'm expected to see 'over yonder', but I'll go ahead and look, just to prove to myself there's nothing there." she thought. So, she turned to face the clearing.
"Do you see that light?" said the queen.
To Jadis' utter surprise, she DID see a light. After taking a minute to focus her eyes, she saw that the light was not the steady, florescent glow of the halogen bulb atop the street light across from the modest 1950s - style home in which she grew up; it was a flickering, bright flame atop an old -fashioned lamp - post that looked like it belonged on a sidewalk in front of a row of grand townhouses from the 1900s!
Jadis stared at the lamp - post through her analytical eyes, attempting to mull over how it ever came to be there.
But the illogical thought of the lamp - post growing from a seed in the ground had just entered her mind when the queen said,
"Human or not, your visage and that of the lamp - post are nearly identical!"
Upon hearing that, Jadis slowly turned back around to face the queen. If the queen meant what Jadis thought she meant by that remark, she was going to respond with a "remark" or two of her own.
She was brought up to be proud of what and of who she was. To never let anyone make her feel bad about the skin she's in, and most importantly, to believe that respect was a two - way street.
Therefore, if the 'Queen of Narnia' planned for Jadis to know her delusional "plural entities" better hereafter, she would make sure the queen would know her better hereafter, too!
So, Jadis lifted her head, placed her hand on her hip and gave the queen the same hard look that she received when they first crossed paths.
With her finger pointed at herself, she boldly stated,
"Yes, you're right, Your Majesty. I'm practically made of strong, ebony wrought iron, and I love it. And no one living, dead or in a dream will ever change that."
Then, pointing her finger at the queen, she finished with, "Especially a weak ivory tusk of a so - called ruler!"
A flush of color came into the Queen's face and she bowed ever so slightly. Once she understood the message behind the words that were just said to her, she suddenly rose from her seat in the sledge and raised her staff high in the air like a javelin.
Ginarrbrik quickly took charge without a second thought, jumping down from his seat. The queen unfastened her brooch, removed her fur mantle and retook her own seat.
With a menacing hold on the whip, Ginarrbrik rasped, "How dare you mock the Queen of Narnia!"
He hop - skipped toward Jadis & cracked the whip at her in an attempt to coil it around her ankles to pull her feet out from under her. But she side - stepped to her left, just as the whip cut a deep groove in the snow.
Jadis hadn't known it, but if she had moved a second later, Ginarrbrik would have jumped onto her chest and held his jewel - encrusted dagger at her throat as she lay face up in the snow, so the Queen could step in and finish her with her staff!
From her place in the sledge, the Queen looked on, a scowl beginning to appear on her face.
"I do not tolerate failure, Ginarrbrik." she ordered in a dangerously calm voice. "Slay her."
The dwarf obeyed without question. Simple - minded though he was, he had enough comprehension to maintain his undying loyalty and obedience to his mistress, as opposed to dying by her hand for failing to carry out his task!
Ginarrbrik pulled the whip back toward him and hopped a couple of steps back, making a series of growling noises. Jadis however, stayed put. Raising her hands, palms forward, she bent at her knees down to his level, feet spread apart, wearing a silent, intense stare. She had some bold moves up her sleeve to swat this annoying little gnat good and proper, but she had only one chance to pull them off.
Could she do it? There was only one way to find out.
With a dwarf - ish battle cry, Ginarrbrik did another hop - skip toward Jadis and cracked the whip at her a second time, to coil it around her left ankle.
With perfect timing, Jadis took two steps forward and dropped to her left knee. With arms outstretched, she made a determined grab for the end of the whip and caught it with both hands as it sailed through the air. She held on tight and with a twisting motion, gave the whip a good tug.
The stubborn Ginarrbrik, holding fast the other end of the whip, was dragged through the snow in the process, which was what Jadis hoped would happen.
With another tug, she pulled the whip from his stubby hands and threw it aside as far as she could, leaving him fuming hot enough to melt the snow beneath him, but with one less weapon!
"Smite the human woman at once, fool!" rang the Queen's voice, rising in anger.
Ginarrbrik quickly got to his feet with more growling noises and attempted to dust some of the snow off his beard and clothing. Jadis took a couple steps back and once again assumed her combat position.
Ginarrbrik drew his dagger and rushed at Jadis with the fiercest battle cry he could muster. She dropped to both of her knees, grabbed his wrist with one hand, just as the blade was about to find its mark in her chest and squeezed. He let out a hoarse yelp.
As the dagger dropped from Ginarrbrik's hand, Jadis struck him on his forehead with the palm of her other hand. He stumbled back against the side of the sledge and received another blow to the back of his head during the impact.
He then lost consciousness and slid down into the snow.
The queen, still sitting in the sledge, was now beside herself with fury, but she decided not to show it.
Not yet.
The queen quietly stepped down from the sledge in a seemingly casual manner, staff held in both hands, and looked upon her incapacitated little man. As if on cue from his mistress' show of dissatisfaction, Ginarrbrik slumped over to one side like a defeated rag doll.
Suddenly, a sound wholly unheard of by the queen during the one hundred years of her reign filled the air throughout the clearing. A sound she managed to suppress once she had risen up & quashed all rebellion through the use of brutal violence and murder to become ruler of this realm of snow and ice.
She instinctively looked up; staff raised and turned toward the sound's source.
"Uh - oh. I think I just totaled your 'brick', Your Majesty." Jadis announced between gales of riotous laughter. "It looks like you'll have to buy yourself a new one!"
The queen glared at Jadis as though she willed daggers to start flying from them.
In a show of mock fear and contrition, Jadis placed her hands over her heart to protect it from the stabbing.
"Oops. My bad!" she quipped.
Jadis' witty play on words may have gone over the queen's head, but the mirth at her expense most certainly hadn't.
Without uttering a word, she switched her staff from her left to her right hand and aimed it to her left, looking as if she was about to activate it, from what Jadis observed. She then turned back toward Ginarrbrik and thrust the staff in a graceful downward arc. The staff's tip barely touched him before it emitted a flash of crackling blue ice - fire that gradually washed over him until his entire body, garments and all, were completely entombed in grayish - black stone.
Jadis hardly had time to believe, let alone discover, that magic - Dark magic at that - from a wand was afoot before the queen began to lunge toward her.
"YOU WILL PAY FOR YOUR EFFRONTERY, IMPUDENT HUMAN WOMAN!" She howled with pure rage.
Jadis quickly took several steps back and stretched out her right arm. She shielded her fist with her left palm and aimed the small, round disc on her ring finger at the queen.
The disc made a buzzing, clicking sound and sent a transparent beam toward her. Her eyes grew wide as saucers as the beam rested on her forehead.
The queen looked as if she had taken root where she stood as her wand dropped from her hand to the snow. The beam expanded outward until it completely enveloped her in a bluish - white light.
The queen was never one to be afraid, but for the first time in her life of endless days, she began to feel sheer terror.
The light seemed to pulsate through every fiber her being, from the points of her crown to the hem of her gown, as if it was searching for something deep within her.
Suddenly, the light vanished!
For all that the queen could surmise, the human woman that come to enter her dominions was really a 'queen' who was as evil as herself (or a queen who was good, depending on your point of view, readers) with a 'wand' & magic more powerful than her own.
And she came from a world beyond the Great Beyond with a more powerful Djinn. What's more, if she also possessed a Secret of Secrets even more deadly than the Deplorable Word, there was no doubt that she would destroy her, just as she destroyed her own world eons ago!
Just as the queen feared, the other queen's Djinn intruded within her body and mind like the cleverest of thieves and stole her arcane knowledge, her immortality, everything that flowed through her.
Before she had the opportunity to process this, something else began to materialize from the other queen's wand.
The Deplorable Light of Doom had come upon her ...
A 4K ULTRA HD image of a Great Cat burst forth from the disc amid the purest golden, shining light with a Virtual Surround Sound roar, ready to pounce on His prey with bared teeth and claws!
The Cat's prey screamed like a banshee and stumbled backward toward the sledge as the dwarf that she turned into a statue had done earlier, and almost fell down on her backside.
Once she regained her balance, she gathered up her gown and petticoats and ran away as fast as her high - heeled boots could carry her, screaming all the way.
After that image vanished, Jadis erupted into a fit of giggles as she watched the Queen of Nowhere disappear over the horizon, leaving behind her sledge, reindeer, dwarf statue, fur mantle and her wand!
After Jadis finally collected herself, she looked closely at her tech device and scratched her head, pondering over what had just happened.
"Wow. I figured this Transducer Ring would discover that lady's worst fear. I just never thought it would be a lion." she thought out loud. "That's the most amazing thing I ever saw. If only the guys had been here to see it too!"
"Jadis!" chimed a chorus of male voices in the distance. "Jadis! Where are you?"
"Guys?" Jadis answered. "I'm here. Over here, in the middle of the woods!"
She turned and sprinted toward their voices, while directing her teammates toward the sound of her voice.
The four men appeared from among the trees, armed with their tech devices.
"Are you alright, luv?" Asked the one named Kelbo, in a British accent. We heard quite a hullabaloo a few moments ago."
"I wasn't alright after we got separated during that snowstorm, but I am now that you're all here." replied Jadis.
"What happened?" asked Servesh in his sing – song accent.
"I'd like to how we end up here in the first place, mi amigos." said Manuel. This isn't the Canadian Rockies!"
"If I were to tell you that you're right, you'd think I'd lost my marbles, Manny!"
"Oh, we all thought we'd lost our marbles." said Hiro. With all the strange things we've seen around here!"
"What did you see?" asked Jadis. Her teammates glanced at one another as if wondering, "Should we tell her?"
"It's alright. You can tell me." she urged. I'm sure nothing could be as strange as the things I've seen around here!"
"We saw talking woodland animals!"
"Mythological creatures!"
"Little men. Dwarves!"
"Moving trees ..."
"… and a castle made of ice!" the four men said at once.
"I believe you, guys. One thousand percent!" said Jadis with a chuckle and a shake of her head.
"So, does that means you know where we are?" Or perhaps have an idea?" asked Kelbo.
"Well ..." Jadis said slowly, wondering how best to explain.
"I'll just say that this place has a name, but whether it's real or not is beyond me!"
"That goes double for me, Señorita! " said Manuel.
"Please, tell us about it, luv. I don't think anything about this place would surprise us at this point. Would it, mates?" asked Kelbo, looking at the other three men.
Servesh, Manuel and Hiro saluted in unison with a hearty "Aye, mate!" after which more laughter ensued among all five of them.
"Well … " began Jadis. "After we made it into those pine trees during the blizzard, I found myself alone in a shadow of thick, dark fir trees, and ...
… and there you have it, readers.
'Queen' Jadis Goldsworthy had quite an adventure, didn't she?
But she was none the wiser that she, a member of the Carson City S.T.E.A.M. Team had faced off against Her Imperial Majesty, Queen Jadis of Narnia, with some boss combative skills, a cool Hologram projection device and some unbridled rib - tickling humor!
However, she could never have defeated the White Witch without Aslan the Great Lion!
THE END