A Daughter of Aslan

XII : Jadis, Queen of Narnia

Edmund was uncomfortable, cold, lost, and starting to become extremely irritated with his little sister. He had been searching for countless minutes with no clue as to where she was. Frustrated, he held his arms to his chest for warmth and pulled his robe tighter. For goodness sake, he was trudging through the snow in his bedroom clothes. This clothing was clearly not suited for colder weather. Trudging through the snow, he came upon what looked to be a path in the snow with a clearing of trees along the path marking it distinctly. It seemed a strange location for a random path in the woods.

As he stared at the path, Edmund could almost swear he heard the sound of distant bells ringing. At first, he thought it was his imagination but when he turned to face one direction of the path he could hear it more distinctly now. It was certainly the sound of bells, almost like jingle bells if you would. Slowly, he could see an object coming into view down the path. "Lucy?" Edmund called out hoping it to finally be his little sister.

Unfortunately for him, it was certainly not his little sister. Reindeer, that looked to be connected to a sleigh, came stomping through the snow towards Edmund. Edmund hardly had any time to scream let alone jump out of the way. The reindeer, not even slowing down, trampled through the snow and knocked Edmund to the ground. He was still in shock at the sight of reindeer that he just remained laying in the snow with his mouth ajar. The reindeer were indeed connected to a sleigh and as the reindeer passed Edmund in the snow the sleigh halted to a stop. Edmund couldn't see what was inside the sleigh but however could see what appeared to be icicles coming out from the top of the sleigh. Why on earth was there a sleigh with reindeer in the back of their wardrobe? Heck, why was there a snow covered forest in the back of their wardrobe? None of this was making any sense.

From the corner of the sleigh, Edmund saw a man peek his head out from the sight and stare at him. The man had a long beard that went all the way to his waist. His nose was huge and he had bushy eyebrows. His hair was a light grey with streaks of white, almost appearing like the snow. On top of the man's head, he wore a dark red hat that kept the top of his head and ears warm and covered from the snow. At least, Edmund thought he was a man from what he looked like, with the beard and all. But upon hopping down from the sleigh, Edmund could see that what appeared to be a man was only a few feet tall. The guy must have been shorter than Edmund himself. Perhaps he was just a really short man?

Whatever the creature was, once it laid eyes on Edmund it let out a shrill battle cry and dashed towards him. Edmund, confused and unaware, watched as the man ran towards him with a whip in his tiny arms and grunting as it came closer. Before it reached Edmund however, he stumbled off the ground and tried to gain his balance as to get away from this tiny mad creature coming for him. Watching him do this, the little creature let out a cry and cracked his whip at Edmund. The whip caught a hold of Edmund's legs and caused him to lose his balance and tumble to the ground. As Edmund hit the ground he rolled onto his back to brace the fall. The creature, taking advantage of this, tossed his whip to the side and as he pulled a knife from his belt he jumped on top of poor Edmund keeping him pinned to the ground.

"Leave me alone!" Edmund cried out trying to get free of this small, but yet strong, creature.

"What is it now Ginarrbrik?" A voice asked with an agitated tone from inside the sleigh.

"Make him let me go!" Edmund begged whoever was in the sleigh. "I didn't do anything wrong!"

"How dare you address the Queen of Narnia?" The creature who must be Ginarrbrik spat in Edmund's face as he held his knife up to Edmund's neck.

Edmund looked up in sheer panic at the tiny man. "I didn't know!" He tried to explain but the creature would not have it.

"You will know her better hereafter!" He squealed as he raised his knife up to pierce Edmund's chest and kill him. Edmund squeezed his eyes shut bracing himself for the impact.