THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA
THE LION THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE BBC
PART 21
DEEP MAGIC FROM THE DAWN OF TIME
PREVIOUSLY: After being rescued by Aslan's troops, Edmund is forgiven by Aslan and returned to his siblings, who, even Peter, are too relieved to see him again to hold any grudges against him and welcome him back with open arms. At breakfast, Susan insists that the leave for home now that they have got Edmund back, but Lucy and Peter are dedicated to help Narnia. Edmund makes the ultimate decision for his family by insisting that they stay and help Narnians as he cannot bring himself to abandon it after witnessing with his own eyes its people's suffering and the oppression at the gand of the White Witch. Reluctantly, Susan agrees to stay, and suggests they get some practice to prepare for war. The Narnians them help the children to learn how to fight with sword, shoot with the bow and ride a horse with good progress, while also repairing thei sibling bond.
One day, despite the state of war, most of the Narnians were having a peaceful and relaxed leisure time around the camp: Some were eating and drinking virtuously, some were squabbling and laughing merrily with each other, others (mostly Fauns, Satyrs, Dryads and Naiads) were flirting and seducing each other and the others were simply taking the nap. The birds sang in the trees, the children played on the grass, in the forest and on the Stone Table's hill, the animal families spent common time together, the Pegasus and the winged creatures were kazing about on the rocks, and the Fauns and Nymphs entertained everyone with the music they played on their harps and flutes.
Even Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy had finally allowed themselves time to take it easy and just relax. Right now they were all sitting with Mrs. Beaver on a cloth spread on the grass beside Aslan as he stood there with the leopards and Satyrs, Flamestorm and Mr. Beaver. The Salukis, Dryads and Naiads both served them wine, fruit, grapes, and cakes, and entertained them with the relaxing music.
However, the peace of the camp was soon broken when everyone heard a frantic chirping, making everyone to stop what they were doing at the moment and look up into the sky.
To Pevensies and beavers, that chirping sounded quite familiar, even if it is mixed with dozens of other birds' chirping and chuttering.
Soon enough, their robin friend Chirp flew speedily into the camp and, taking his anthropomorphic form, landed landed to the grass in front of beavers and Pevensies, chirping breathlessly.
The beavers and the children were of course pleased to see their robin bird again, because they haven't had seen him for over a week after Chirp had assigned as one of the bird patrols to scout the outskirts of the camp ever since the wolves and Snowstorm's surprise attack.
"CHIRP!" Lucy squealed happily upon seeing the robin.
"Hello, Chirp." Susan greeted politely.
"How are you, dearie?" Mrs. Beaver asked sweetly.
"Hey, Chirp? Where have you been?" Peter asked, though he sounded more interested to know how their bird friend has been doing throughout the week instead of wanting to know where he has been.
Chirp, however, failed to acknowledge their friendly greetings but instead kept chirping frantically as if there was something wrong, which confused them.
"Chirp-chirp! Oh! It's bad news! Bad news! Very bad news, I tell you! It very bad... - Oh, hi Edmund! Chirp-chirp!" Chirp ranted frantically, until he cut himself short to greet Edmund upon seeing him with the rest of the children in rather casual manner despite the latter's previous actions.
Edmund felt a bit awkward to be greeted by Chirp - whom he had heard of having gone to patrol the outskirts of the camp with the other birds from his siblings and beavers the day he was rescued and brought back - just like that without ill wills or grudges towards him for his betrayal, even after he has been forgiven and that he had made a fine recovery from his time as the Witch's prisoner.
Either way, Edmund slowly lifted his right hand up to wave at the robin as a small greeting.
"Hi... Chirp." Edmund greeted shyly. "No hard feelings, right?" he asked hopefully.
"Chirp-chirp! None of it, Son of Adam. Chirp-chirp!" Chirp said with the light bow, assuring him that there was no hard feelings between of them. "I am only glad that you're back and safe. Chirp-chirp!"
"Thank you." Edmund said gratefully .
Peter then spoke in next, intrigued and at the same time worried that what Chirp could have mean with what he said about "the bad news".
"Chirp?" Peter called, getting the robins attention. "You kept ranting of something about the bad news. What were you talking about? What's wrong?"
Without them noticing, Aslan was listening to their conversation, deep frown on his face as if suspecting or possibly already knowing what was going on.
"Chirp-chirp! We're soon about to get some guests here! That is bad! That is very bad, indeed! Chirp-chirp!" Chirp told the children.
"What do you mean?" Susan asked. "What's so bad about having a guests?"
"Chirp-chirp! See for yourself, Daughter of Eve. Chirp-chirp!" Chirp told her and pointed his wing towards the entrance of the camp.
The children, beavers, Aslan and literally everybody else turned towards the entrance of the camp, and saw a red-caped Dwarf standing over there, whom the children recognized as the same Dwarf scout from that tree they had encountered at the outskirts of the camp when they first arrived.
Aslan turned to one of his Satyrs on his right and nodded him to go the Dwarf to ask what is it. The Satyr bowed before he rushed over to the Dwarf to hear his report.
After the moment, the Satyr rushed back to Aslan and kneeled before the Great Lion.
"Sire. The scout is reporting that they have caught the messenger from the enemy who craves audience." the Satyr reported.
"Hmm." Aslan hummed as he thought over it for a moment. "Tell the guards to let him approach."
Satyr bowed his head to him and immediately rushed back to the Dwarf to deliver Aslan's orders to let the enemy's messenger to enter.
After some time the Satyr returned to Aslan, escorting from the entrance of the camp before the Great Lion the messenger of the enemy whom the scouts had caught from the woods. Edmund recognized the messenger immediately.
"It's Ginarrbrik!" he gasped, wide-eyed.
"Gina-, Who?" Peter asked, raising an eye-brow as he turned to Edmund, confused.
"Ginarrbrik. The Witch's personal servant." Edmund clarified.
The messenger of the enemy was indeed Ginarrbrik... his whip in hand and the dark armor over his white tunic to cover his torso, though most of his beard was gone, thanks to Aslan's pelican. The said pelican even dared to laugh at Ginarrbrik for his short beard, making the Dwarf glare daggers at the bird.
The other Dwarfs in Aslan's army casted upon Ginarrbrik a contemptuous glares for his devotion to the White Witch, but Ginarrbrik ignored them.
But when Ginarrbrik was brought before Aslan, one could tell that despite the Dwarf's wickedness, he was clearly uneasy, downright nervous, even scared of the Great Lion - and he should be - to the point of kneeling before him despite having no allegiance to him.
"What is your message, Son of Earth?" Aslan asked as he stared down to the Dwarf.
"The Queen of Narnia and Empress of the Lone Islands desires a safe-conduct to come and speak with you." Ginarrbrik said "on a matter which is as much to your advantage as to hers."
The Narnians all around them began to murmur in protests against the ill-gotten titles of the White Witch that don't even belong to her. Mr. Beaver neither couldn't hold back his tongue.
"Queen of Narnia, indeed!" Mr. Beaver spat, earning a glare from Ginarrbrik for his "insolence" against his mistress. "Why of all the cheek...!"
"Peace, Beaver. All names will soon be restored to their proper owners." Aslan told him, causing Mr. Beaver to lower his head humbly down.
Aslan then turned back to Ginarrbrik. "Tell your mistress that I grant her safe conduct on one condition that she leaves her wand behind, otherwise she is not allowed to come."
"She expected such of request... and agrees." Ginarrbrik said.
Aslan, however, wasn't willing to take any chances despite that. "My people will go with you to see that the condition is properly observed."
Ginarrbrik nodded his head in agreement, before he was on his way back to his mistress to tell her that the safe-conduct is agreed, provided that she leaves her wand behind. Aslan ordered his two leopards, two Satyrs and Flamestorm to go with the Dwarf, and to tell the scouts to let the Witch come through and that the conditions are carried out.
Lucy was uneasy as she watched the leopards, Satyrs and Centaur disappear after Ginarrbrik through the entrance into the forest
"But... what if she turns them to stone?" Lucy asked worriedly from everyone around her.
The same idea had occurred to Edmund's mind himself... after having witnessed so many people being turned to stone by the White Witch already.
"I think they're thinking the very same thing." Edmund remarked, seeing the fur standing up on the leopards' backs and their tails bristling—like a cat's when it sees a strange dog. Flamestorm and the Satyrs maintained the solemn looks on their faces, but the Satyrs too were clearly uneasy, while Flamestorm showed no sign of it.
"I'm sure it'll be all right." Peter told them. "He wouldn't send them if it weren't."
Soon, Flamestorm, leopards and Satyrs returned to the camp and remained at the entrance, where the Witch herself appeared a few minutes later. Ginarrbrik wasn't with her this time, and neither she was holding her wand in her hands. Obviously, like the Dwarf had said, the Witch had indeed expected to be requested of leaving her wand behind, and so she had left it in Ginarrbrik's hands to the outskirts of the camp before entering.
Despite the safe-conduct being granted, the Witch wasn't without her own escort. Behind her followed the grunting and snorting phalang of black-armored pig-headed creatures Edmund remembered having seen before back in the Witch's House. The Pignoids were carrying shields, halberds, broadswords and spiked maces in their hands.
Peter, Susan and Lucy, who had so far heard much about the Witch but had never seen her before - at least not from this close - felt shudders running down their backs at the sight of her pale face.
And though it was bright sunshine with the warm summer weather, the howling wind began to blow harder against their faces and everyone felt suddenly cold in her presence, not to mention the fact that thick gray clouds began to gather in the sky above the camp, hiding the sun from view.
It felt like that even if the winter was long gone, the Witch was carrying a wintry aura around of her wherever she went.
As the Witch and her bodyguards entered, she was first greeted by the Pegasus' aggressive neighing, Winged Panther's loud growling, Griffin's and eagles and Phoenix's deafening screeching, eagle owl's frantic hooting and pelican's angry grunting, causing the Witch to jump a little in startlement.
The winged creatures were not the only ones behaving uneasily in her presence. All the Narnians around the camp were stiffened at the sight of the one who had casted the winter upon Narnia and oppressed them for one hundred years. There were a low growls and angry murmuring among all the animals present, while the children hurriedly covered behind their parents, scared of the Witch.
Some even yelled contemptuously at her from the crowd.
"What is she doing here?!" one of the bears growled.
"Tyrant!" one Dwarf roared.
"Go away, Witch!" one fox barked.
"Murderer!" one stag bellowed.
"You don't belong here! Go away!" one Unicorn neighed.
"Oppressor!" one squirrel angrily shouted.
"You don't deserve to call yourself a Queen!" one Centaur called.
"Monster!" one bold Satyr yelled.
"How dare you show your face here?!" one bull mooed.
"Witch!" one of the dogs barked.
"Get out of here!" one of the eagles screeched.
The Witch, however, paid them no attention but, holding her head high, walked straight across the camp and stood before Aslan, while the Satyrs, leopards and Flamestorm resumed their places by the Great Lion's side.
It was the oddest thing to see those two faces - the golden face and the dead-white face - so close together.
Aslan and the Witch calmly acknowledged each other, though the latter didn't look Aslan exactly in the eyes.
"Aslan..." the Witch started. "You're harbouring a TRAITOR THERE!" she shrieked as she sharply turned to look towards the person in question, Edmund.
Knowing that the Witch meant Edmund, everyone present turned their eyes towards him, either acknowledging this or feeling concern for him.
Edmund shrunk under everyone's gaze and retreated into the midst of his siblings, beavers, salukis, and Nymphs.
"I already said I'm sorry." Edmund said meekly, but also slightly confused.
He had already gotten over of not thinking anyone but himself after all he'd been through. And he had already been forgiven after the talk he'd had with Aslan a week ago. So why was this whole thing about his past misdeeds such a big deal anymore.
The children turned to look at Aslan to see how he would respond to this, but Aslan was like it didn't seem to matter what the Witch said.
"Well, his offence was not against you." Aslan pointed out.
"It doesn't matter in this case and you know it! Or have you forgotten the Deep Magic upon which Narnia was build?!" the Witch asked sharply.
"What is the Deep Magic?" Lucy asked in whisper from everyone near to her.
"The Deep Magic from the Dawn of Time. The set of laws, more powerful than any one us, that governs all of Narnia, and defines right from wrong." Aslan answered gravely, as if having heard Lucy's question which he certaidly did.
Aslan then tuned back to the Witch. "I was there when it was written."
"Then you know what is written there on that very Table of Stone." the Witch said as she pointed to the Stone Table on top of the hill beside them, before she turned back to Aslan, greedily rubbing her white hands as she continued.
"You know the magic which the the Emperor-Beyond-the-Sea put into Narnia at the very beginning. You know that every traitor belongs to me as my lawful prey... and that for every treachery I have a right... TO A KILL." the Witch shrieked, raising her arms up triumphantly.
Shocked and even outraged murmuring spread amongst Narnians after the Witch said that.
"Oh, so that's how you came to imagine yourself a Queen, because you were the Emperor's hangman!" an outraged Mr. Beaver spat.
"Peace, Beaver!" Aslan said with a very low growl.
"So, you know, Aslan, that that human creature is mine! His life is my property! His blood is forfeit to me!" the Witch said aloud for everyone to hear her, while she pointed her finger straight at Edmund.
Peter, Susan, and Lucy were outright horrified at the thought of losing Edmund again soon after they had just gotten him back.
Peter couldn't take it anymore! He couldn't bare the thought of losing his brother again just because of some laws, which he even believed being made up by the Witch as a way to rob Edmund from them. With that, Peter stepped forward and drew Rhindon out and held it at the Witch.
"You will not take my brother! I won't allow it!" Peter said defiantly, standing protectively between his brother and the Witch.
"MOOOOOO!" the black bull suddenly bellowed as he valiantly stood Peter's side, holding an axe in his hands. "Come and take it then!" the bull dared her, indicating that he intended to fight the Witch to defend Edmund if she tried.
The Pignoids squealed aggressively at both bull and Peter for making a stand against their Queen, and were quick to defend her by pointing their weapons in a battle-ready gesture towards them.
However, this provoked all the bravest and most warlike Narnians to draw out their swords, spears and axes and get ready to battle.
Flamestorm was quick to draw his longsword and step forward to Peter's side, and following his suit, all the Centaurs either drew their swords, or lowered their spears at the Witch and raised their shields, while the female Centaurs put the arrows into the strings of their longbows and were ready to shoot.
The leopards and Single-horned Tiger bared their teeth and hissed/growled menacingly. The dogs barked and showed their teeth in aggressive manner. Goats, bulls and stags lowered their horns and antlers down and ready for charge. Horses and Unicorns snorted furiously. And the bears let out the deep roars at the Witch.
Pegasus, Winged Panther, Griffin, the eagles, eagle owl, pelican and Phoenix neighed, growled, screeched, hooted and grunted angruly on the top of the rock.
Despite how heated the situation was quickly turning to, the Witch seemed not too worried if at all.
Instead, the Witch gave Peter, whom she was staring at directly, a savage smile before she let out a wicked laughter.
"Ah, ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-haa! FOOLS! ALL OF YOU!" the Witch spat with the snarl. "Do you think your master can rob me of my RIGHTS BY MERE FORCE?! He knows the Deep Magic better than that."
Narnians and Peter were all taken aback by the Witch's harsh words and reluctantly stood down.
The Witch then turned to look at all Narnians, most of whom were huddling to each other either from fear or cold, as she continued.
"Aslan knows that unless I have blood AS THE LAW STATES..."
then the Witch looked up and raised her hands to the sky, as she used her magic to conjure a magical window out of the thin air above her, just as she had done that day she met Edmund in the snowy forest. This time the magical window showed all of them the whole land of Narnia.
"... THE WHOLE OF NARNIA WILL BE OVERTURNED... AND WILL PERISH... IN FIRE... AND WATER!" the Witch roared.
As per the Witch's words, the land of Narnia in his magical window began to shake in the grasps of the violent earthquakes before it split in half, leaving there a great chasm that swallowed everything nearby. Then Narnia burst into worldwide flames which destroyed and killed everything that survived from the earthquakes, before the ruins of Narnia were finally drowned under the gigantic tidal waves until Narnia was no more.
The Pevensies and all Narnians around gasped in complete shock at such of catastrophic consequences if Edmund isn't given to the Witch.
"Do you all hear me?! I know you all think the same as I do: What's the point of fighting for Narnia that will soon cease to exist if you dare to refuse my rights?" the Witch adressed the Narnians both tauntingly and triumphantly.
"You all know now that this can be avoided..." the Witch then turned sharply around and pointed her finger directly at Edmund again. "... when Edmund Pevensie... DIES... on the Stone Table as law demands!"
Edmund face dropped down, near petrified from the shock to learn that the fate of Narnia depends on whether he lives or dies.
Peter, Susan and Lucy looked apprehensively towards Aslan, all three of them begging him silently to tell them that this was not true.
"It is true. I do not deny it." Aslan said gravely.
The Witch smirked boastfully, having all along expected that even Aslan cannot deny her her right!
The Narnians were all shocked by this revelation, that while Edmund's death would mean avoiding the catastrophe that threatens Narnia, it also means that the prophecy would never be fulfilled and evil would rule over Narnia forever!
Peter, Susan and Lucy were utterly devastated by this.
"This can't be happening! It can't be happening! It can't..." Peter moaned.
"But you promised you'd help him! You'd promised he'd be safe!" Lucy tearfully cried, her face red.
Aslan gave Lucy an empathetic sideways look, assuring her that he didn't like this any more than she did.
The Witch smiled smugly as she looked sideways at Lucy, sadistically relishing Edmund's family's pain and sorrow.
"Oh, Aslan, can't you do something about the Deep Magic?!" Susan pleaded desperately "Isn't there something you can work against it?"
Aslan turned to Susan, the empathy on his face quickly turning into a grim frown at such of suggestion.
"Work against the Emperor's magic?" Aslan questioned, before he shook his head gently. "No."
Aslan then stared at Edmund for a long time, while Edmund looked all the time at Aslan's face.
He felt himself choking with fear at the thought of being handed over to the Witch so she could kill him instantly on the Stone Table in front of his family and everyone else like a sacrificial lamb on the altar.
Even if Edmund didn't want anyone else to suffer because of him, he neither wasn't too keen to die like this, or at all, and wondered if he ought to say something about that.
However, Edmund felt that he was not expected to say anything or do anything except to wait, and do what he was told.
"Wait here, all of you!" Aslan then spoke. "I will talk to the Witch alone."
The Witch said nothing against this. Holding her hands behind her back, she just nodded to the Great Lion for agreeing to a private conversation.
"Wait here." she told her escorts, and the Pignoid warriors grunted at her in obedience.
Everyone watched as Aslan and the Witch walked side by side across the camp and disappeared through the entrance into the woods.
"Oh, Edmund." Lucy sobbed and rushed into her brother's arms, bitterly crying into his shoulder. Edmund wrapped his own arms around of his sister and hugged her tight, while Mrs. Beaver and Susan tried their best to comfort both of them. Chirp and Mr. Beaver glanced worriedly at each other while Peter, at a loss, turned to look out at the distant sea.
This was followed by a terribly long and distressing wait.
On top of the rock, the eagles, Phoenix and the Winged Panther exchanged glances before lowering their heads.
The Beavers stood holding each other's paws with their heads bowed.
The Centaurs, horses and Unicorns stamped uneasily with their hoofs.
Salukis, great danes and bullmastiffs were whining throughout this excruciating wait.
Fauns, Satyrs, Nymphs, Tree Gods and Dwarf couples and families remained huddled together, mumbling to each other, anxiously waiting to see how this would turn out.
The bulls and stags snorted and huffed and stomped their hooves impatiently.
The families of bears, foxes, badgers, rabbits, squirrels and hedgehogs huddled together, with their little ones anxiously asking from their parents that what was going to happen - and some of them even expressed their fears for Edmund - while their parents either told them that they didn't know or assured them that Aslan will settle this down somehow.
Leopards and Single-horned Tiger lied down, no less anxious with anticipation like everybody else.
The birds in the trees were awfully quiet.
Everything became perfectly still in the end, so that the only sounds around were the buzzing bumblebees flying past and the wind rustling the leaves of the trees.
And still the talk between Aslan and the White Witch went on.
Some time later...
"They're coming!" Pegasus announced from the top of the rock.
The children and the Narnians all turned towards the entrance of the camp and watched as Aslan and the Witch returned to the camp.
Neither Aslan or the Witch's expressions had changed since they left for their private conversation, except that the Witch's smug look had turned into more of a fierce joy and Aslan's own grave look was now even more graver and bluer than before.
Tension grew amongst the Pevensies - especially in Edmund, who felt like his guts were tied into tight knot inside of him - and the Narnians as Aslan slowly walked into the center of the camp, while the Witch remained at the entrance, where her Pignoid-minions also gathered at their Queen's side.
Once he was standing in the center of the camp, Aslan turned his gaze to the children, especially Edmund, for a long moment, before the Great Lion raised his head up to address everyone around him.
"I have settled the matter. She has renounced her claim on Son of Adam's blood." Aslan told them.
Peter, Susan, Lucy, the beavers, Chirp and all of Narnians let out a simultaneous gasp of surprise, as none of them had even noticed that they were holding their breath all this time, and the air was filled with relieved laughter and excited murmur of talk.
Edmund gaped at Aslan, unable to believe what he had just heard, before he let out a chocked laughters of relief that he won't be handed over to the Witch to be killed after all.
Peter, Edmund and Lucy were immensely relieved to hear that their brother was saved... once again.
The Witch was just about turn away and walk with her escort through the entrance and into the woods, when she suddenly stopped and turned back to Aslan.
"But how do I know this promise will be kept?!" she called skeptically.
The children and Narnians all turned to look towards the Witch, surprised and confused of what she was talking about.
Aslan's golden eyes bore into the Witch and his blue frown turned into furious one.
"BEGONE, WITCH! HAA-A-ARRH! HAA-A-ARRH! HAA-A-ARRH!" Aslan demanded and opened his great mouth wider, baring his teeth, and roared louder than any lion could.
His roar drove away the cold of winter the Witch had brought with her from the camp and brought back the warmth of summer.
The Witch stared for a moment at Aslan's terrifying face and teeth, with her lips wide apart and eyes wide from utmost fear, before she picked up her skirts and fairly ran for her life out of the camp, followed by her Pignoid-minions who squealed in terror.
To add insult to injury, Narnians burst into jeering laughter at the Witch as she fled.
And then, once she was gone, they rejoiced by cheering and clapping their hands/paws together.
"Chirp-chirp! I told you, children! She'd rather run headlong than would even speak up against Aslan! Chirp, chirp!" Chirp chirped, reminding the children about what she had said about the Witch and Aslan back at Beavers'.
Immensely happy Lucy bolted into relieved Edmund's arms and both hugged each other with the tears of joy, while Susan hugged Edmund from behind and Peter clapped Edmund on his shoulder. Mrs. Beaver clapped her clawed paws together at the children, happy for them, while Chirp flapped his wings and chirped in rejoice.
"Ha, ha, haa!" Mr. Beaver laughed, as he hopped enthusiastically in his spot while shaking his clutched paws.
Then a lot of Narnians - from the tallest Centaur to a small bird - began to gather around of the children from all sides to congratulate them, especially Edmund for him narrowly making it out of this and officially welcoming him as one of them. Edmund turned to the Narnians around them, immensely grateful for their support for him that he thanked them non-stop.
However, only one didn't join in the rejoice with the others, and that was Aslan. The Great Lion stared at the children in the middle of the crowd with the great sorrow written over his face.
Aslan then raised his head up and opened his mouth again to speak.
"EVERYONE!" Aslan bellowed gently but loud enough for all to hear him.
All rejoicing, muttering and laughter amongst the Narnians ceased when they and the children turned to the Great Lion to hear him out.
"We must move from this place at once. It will soon be needed for... other purposes. Pack quickly! Tonight, we encamp at the forest near the Fords of Beruna." Aslan instructed.
Heeding Aslan's words, everyone dispersed to take down the camp, pack all of their belongings and prepare for the journey.
Peter, Susan, Lucy and Edmund rushed to the pavilion to pick their Christmas presents and other belongings while the Dryads, Dwarfs and salukis set about emptying the pavilion before they would take it down.
"You know..." Lucy said as she tied her belt containing her gift dagger in its sheath around her waist and put on a red cloak. "I'm dying to ask Aslan how he managed to arrange matters with the Witch despite her warnings of what might happen if... you know."
"Everyone is, Lucy." Susan pointed out, as she picked up her gift bow and quiver of arrows and put them on her back, then she took her gift horn and put it on her belt, before she put on a emerald-green cloak. "But I wouldn't dare, for that stern look on his face, and my ears are still ringing with the sound of his roar."
"And that's why nobody should." Peter told his siblings strictly, as he picked up his shield and lifted it on his back before he put on a sky-blue cloak.
"Served her right, though." Lucy said, a lightly smug smirk on her lips upon recalling how the Witch fled interror after Aslan roared at her. "Aslan certainly showed her, didn't he?"
Edmund, however, casted a solemn look at his siblings, especially Lucy.
"Don't underestimate the power of the Witch. Remember, I've seen it at work and it should not be taken lightly." he warned as the memories of the statues in the Witch's House, as well as the traumatic incidents with Mr. Tumnus, that party of animals, Blossom and the Trees and those animals at the river bank flashed before his eyes.
Peter, Susan and Edmund looked at their brother for a moment, before they resumed their packing.
By afternoon the Narnians had dismantled the entire camp, leaving an opening around the Stone Table's hill bare after the tents and the pavilion were taken down and packed, before they left the Stone Table's hill and, with Aslan's lead, set off in a North-Westerly direction.
TO BE CONTINUED...