➹₊•°༉彡˚✧
AS WE PART WITH the beauty that alit the lands into rays of warmth, now laid upon us was the blanket that veiled the brightness produced by the first light. It dimmed the ember of the once blaring sphere, replacing it with twilight then dusk which went illuminated by the shiver-giving celestial body. The cold has spread more as the solar went into slumber, making us await for the calidity that is to be possibly sought on the morrow.
“Isn't there anything we can do to help Tumnus?” Peter spoke from his chosen seat, curiously looking at the beaver who was standing before the miniscule table.
“They'll have taken him to the Witch's now,” Mr. Beaver replied, holding a cup of what seemed to be hot tea. The whole area, despite the size, had a homey feel to it. Obviously because of the candles. Definitely the candles. “And you know what they say. There's few that go through them gates that come out again.”
“Fish ‘n’ chips!” Mrs. Beaver chuckled nervously, glaring discreetly at the male. “But there is hope, dear. Lots of hope.”
Smacking her husband, the other beaver spat his drink. “Oh, yeah! There's a right bit more than hope.”
He moved nearer to the three sat siblings, making glances around to see if there were excess listening ears.
“Aslan is on the move.”
From my leant position on the wall, I released a loud gasp, moving to their huddled forms. “For real?!”
Lucy glanced at me curiously, her face scrunched up in surprise. “You know Aslan?”
“No,” I blinked boredly at her, morphing my face back to my unamused expression. “I just wanted to say that.”
“Who's Aslan?” Edmund stood from his seat on the stairs, silencing Peter from making a remark at me. The beavers shared a look, later letting out boisterous laughs.
“Who's Aslan?” Mr. Beaver guffawed in disbelief. I glanced at Edmund who stood beside me, my face saying words that didn't need to be spoke. And there goes my last chance of having at least one sane companion. “Oh, you cheeky little blighter— what?”
Rolling my eyes, I proceeded to take back my original spot, leaning once more on the wall by the door of the small hut. My eyes flickered momentarily to the opened spots of the structure, deducting that those walls wouldn't be strong enough to hold on if something forceful were to happen to it. I mean, the beaver himself admitted that it wasn't finished yet, a work under construction. Where I reclined however was what I stared at when I first entered this place, knowing that due to it being possibly built first, it had a stronger foundation than the others so it was safe to be putting my weight on.
“You don't know, do you?” Mr. Beaver's amusement diffused, turning serious in a matter of seconds. I gave him a bewildered look, a scowl presenting its way to my features.
“In what way would a group that's new to this world have vast knowledge of the place?”
Susan shot me a disapproving look, shaking her head slightly. I frowned from my spot, now conscious of my newly arrived grumpiness. The real question would be whether it was my own or someone else's affecting mine.
“We haven't exactly been here very long.” Peter attempted to rephrase my statement, flinching when his tone sounded almost a lot like mine.
“Well he's only the king of the whole wood . . ,” As he continued to list out titles, my attention perked up in delight when a familiar tug on the link pulled on my abilities. I focused on it, not wanting to loose concentration as I finally got a hold of it. Edmund had once again proven suspicious as he got more annoyed by the second everytime the beaver spoke highly of Aslan. “The real king of Narnia!”
The vexed boy shook his head in disgust, walking lightly towards the door where I stood with a raised eyebrow. He avoided my gaze when he arrived in front of the frame, making sure to walk past me like he was not visible. I . . . Did I look like I was blind?
The next exchanged words of the preoccupied group went through deaf ears. My lips pursed in a mix of annoyance and contemplation, a frown deepening on my face as my eyes landed on a brown coat messily thrown to the floor. Don't you just love being included in the drama?
Well, let's see. If I were to follow that idiot, this would be the choice I won't do but still think of anyway, and hand him a coat, what would I possibly receive from it? Hyperventilation from running after him. A clear mind maybe? But also a step ahead in being a better person. Hurray! Note the sarcasm.
Although what if I ignored him and pretended like I didn't see him? Would I have some peace? Tranquility. No more negative aura. One less Pevensie to be annoyed with. A heavy, guilt-ridden conscience. And lastly, a possible soon to be found dead body caused by hypothermia due to not giving him a coat— Okay, stop. Fine! I'll give it to him.
After snatching up both of our coats, I stalked to the exit. Once outside, the harsh wind blew cold swirls to my exposed skin. I wore my own coat, sighing when it gave me some sort of warmth then proceeded to follow the footsteps of the bloody imbecile.
I only made it further more into the forest until I saw his figure moving slowly from up ahead. My eyes scanned the surroundings, making sure to glare at the trees. Let's just say I looked like an absolute idiot whilst yelling colorful words of warnings at the trees about gossiping.
The feeling in the depths of my secrets felt heavier within the second, weighing me down as if trying to stop me from taking more steps. When the winds blew, it stung slightly, my own abilities going into haywire about a magic unknown yet carried darkness much blinding than the night.
I opened my mouth, almost about to call for the boy to just stop. But something in the back of my mind warned me about screaming in the middle of the forest. So I bent down, formed a sphere shape using the snow I collected then threw it to Edmund with much force that he almost stumbled to the ground.
He slowly turned around, noticeably gulping in nervousness. Perchance thinking of me as an enemy. When his eyes met mine, a colorful swirl of relief released from him, his once tense posture relaxing a bit. But then he scowled, now realizing that I followed him.
“What are you doing here?” I didn't even bother answering his complain first, just proceeding to throw the coat to his face. He took it with a frown, contemplating whether or not he wanted to accept it. Sometimes I wonder if this kid really had major issues.
“Next time you plan on dying, don't let anyone watch you doing it.” His face showed visible annoyance, still clutching the clothing in his hands. The distance between us became smaller as I took steps towards him. If I went all this way to show kindness, I at least had to make sure it really worked.
“What am I supposed to do with this?”
“I don't know, you idiot. What else do we do with coats? Eat it?” I stated sarcastically, crossing my arms in front of my chest.
He huffed on his spot, glaring at the brown coat on his hands before putting it on. Even unconsciously releasing a breath of relief when he felt some heat seep in his system. He opened his mouth at me, closing it suddenly like he was hesitant. I rolled my eyes at him, my gaze flicking to a very near looking disaster of a castle behind him. An unfamiliar feeling enveloped my being, my stance faltering as it got overwhelming.
When I glanced back at the boy in front of me, our eyes surprisingly met. Both faces conveying different emotions, my own mixed with uneasiness and disturbance. But his was straight with worry. Clearing my throat, I prepared myself to leave, telling myself that I've already done my task.
“W-wait!” His hand shot forward, grabbing my own making me shiver from the coldness. “Where are you going?”
I pulled a face at him, clicking my tongue in dismay. “To distance myself from death.”
“Could you not use that word? We're not, in any way, going to die!”
“Yeah, because you are, in every way possible, going to die.”
Edmund groaned from his spot, turning red from both the cold and vexation. “Why must you be impossible? I just wanted to return the kindness.”
“How? By leading me into danger?”
“No! How do you even know we're in any sort of danger!” He yelled, making me purse my lips. Although he did have a fair point, how was I supposed to say that I felt the evil lurking in that direction. Do I say ‘Oh, you know, empath things.’ or ‘Hot girl hunch, don't question it.’ Both bad ideas, I'll admit. Sighing heavily, I turned once again to the icicle thingy, if that was even a castle.
Now that I stared at the near structure, I could see the visible traces of hypnotizing swirls. They flew in the air, the source evidently inside there. However, what really did cause me to nod at the boy was the fact that the magic directed itself near me. Very close. And it was him. The dark magic went straight to Edmund. Meaning I had a very low chance of convincing him to halt the journey.
As we continued to trek in the snow, I thought of the scenarios that could happen. By what I remember from first coming in here, we went to the house of the faun. Which we later found out was taken. I dug even deeper into my memories. Thinking back to any plausibly useful detail. The wreckage. The picture frame. The toast with butter— not important, hehe. The broken door. The note!
In situations like these, I always believed that to have the photographic memory would compare to be in huge joy. However, that did not stop me from attempting to let Peter's words echo in my mind. Faun Tumnus . . . charged for high treason . . . fraternizing with humans, enemies of the Queen . . . signed by the secret police.
“We're almost there.” Edmund stated from beside me. I moved my eyes forward, taking in the spike-shaped walls. Looking as if it was meant to be sharp enough and signify the guarded sanctum of the Witch. Around the huge mess of spikes was a moat, frozen solid yet still deep enough to at least break a bone or if lucky enough, sprain an ankle.
“Do you usually have a death wish?” I asked, a gust of cold mist swirling from my mouth.
“We've already talked about this,” The person next to me sighed, frowning deeply at my tone. “Besides, you don't know her enough to judge her.”
“And you do? How long have you even been with her.” His words were still spinning in my head, repeating like a broken music disc. Just as I thought, my sentence led him to believe I was referring to her. In order to find proof of my assumptions, I first need to do more clue-searching.
“Well, not exactly that long,” He sheepishly admitted. “But I trust her. She even made a promise to me.”
I narrowed my eyes at him, observing the hesitance starting to climb up back to him. “Trust her? What did she even do?” Chuckling in disbelief, my gaze settled back to the direction of our destination. “Give you candy?”
Edmund cleared his throat at that, visibly gulping. He bit his lip, frowning deeply at my words. I expected him to reply with ‘Do you really think I'm that dumb—
“Yes.”
There goes that thought going down the drain. Bless his soul. May he have some sort of peace once he finds out he was walking right to his death.
“Didn't someone ever tell you about not taking candies from strangers?”
He merely hummed at that, nodding his head. I scoffed loudly then faced him, just about ready to smack him. “Then how in the world—”
“They were delicious!” Oh, goodness gracious save my brain cells. I am admittedly seconds away from smacking him.
“That doesn't even make a huge difference.”
“But turkish delight's my favourite.” As he muttered those words, it took me a few moments before I put the pieces together. If I heard him correctly, the Witch gave him turkish delight. But who in their right mind would carry those with them whilst travelling around. Unless it's her favourite snack to eat, I would've seen the connection. Although I doubt that it's the latter.
The entrance of the castle stood in front of our small frames. Our walking ceased momentarily, taking in what was now right in front of us. I bit my lip in concern then faced Edmund's direction.
“Where did you say the sweets came from?” I interrogated one last time, suddenly confident of my assumption.
“She made it with her magic.”
And that was where I learned what all of those warnings were about. How I felt those sudden stinging from the wind's coldness. It was because her magic flowed freely in the wind, causing enough pressure to become unknown. It was now that I knew about my abilities wanting to help the boy beside me.
The magic barricading him was strong, but wasn't strong enough to hold tight. My own capabilities surged everytime it stood in vulnerability, fighting it to wipe the Witch's control over him. Because right now I knew, the reason I'm risking my life was to follow my empathic peculiarities. Whom led me to the idea of his compelling via his favourite snack. It just so happens that it chose to first protect Edmund Pevensie from her enchantment.