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"I can see you're scared of your emotions.
I can see you're hoping not hopeless.
So why can't you show me? Why can't you show me?"
In the Dark
Camila Cabello
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Chapter V - Skipping the Pleasantries
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42 Hours Earlier
I sit on the ice floor flipping my knife lost in thought, which no doubt is exactly what my mother wanted. Just my thoughts and I for two days straight. No distractions just the unending torment of boredom. If only my mother's parenting hadn't created one of the sneakiest children to ever live, it may have worked.
"Pst, check the mouse hole." A familiar mischievous voice says through the wall of ice I was leaning on.
I smirk as I put my knife down in its ankle holster and crawl to the little hole in the wall. After all these years in and out of punishment, whether it was Ben or me, we would both make sure that the other would have to spend the night alone in the frigid darkness of the dungeons. It originally started because he was deathly afraid of sea monsters when we were six. He believes they were frozen in the ice of the castle and wanted revenge for freezing their home on anyone that was loyal to my mother. While Ben outgrew his fears, the tradition persisted.
I reach into the little hole and pull out a piece of bread. This piece was much nicer than the grey rock that was known as the prison food.
"Jam?" I ask knowing I'm pushing my luck but I still wanting to tease Ben.
He scoffs loud enough for me to hear. My mockery is answered by the surprising sound of a little metal container sliding in from the other side of the wall.
"Ben, what would I do without you?" I praise, stuffing the bread in my mouth.
He laughs lightly, "Probably starve."
As the little laughs faded out into silence. Little drops of water from the icicles above collide with the floor making the silence even worst. The empty space is made uncomfortable by the one question that we dreaded but needed to know.
There is a silence before he speaks up again, "How long?"
I sigh, letting my head hit the wall, "Two days."
"Do I even want to know what you did this time? Talking back again?"
"Well first, Masivan smacked me with his tail for calling him, 'Wolfie'," I chuckle trying to lighten the mood, "But mainly denying the execution of a child and then a last minute attempt to avoid spending the night sleeping on ice in the company of hundred year old frozen treacherous Narnians."
The whole punishment seemed a little overdramatic. I couldn't decide if it was driven by my mother's control issues or just the pure hatred of my failure.
"You're joking," He states seriously, probably rolling his eyes behind the wall, "Next time come up with something believable. We know she handles her executions personally."
"I'm being serious, it wasn't just any child. It was a daughter of Eve." I say plainly, "Harlow brought word of it from afar."
"Harlow is known to be extremely dramatic," He scoffs, "I'll believe it when I see it."
"What if it's true?" I breathe out, skeptical myself, "What if the first of the four has entered Narnia? What will become of us? Especially if the queen falls? Will we be dead before-"
"Stop, you know the promise we made?" He calls out to me, "Cold or warmth, sun or stars, ice or fire,-
-winter or summer. You and I. Till the world stops turning," I finish.
"Bring up a promise we made years ago? Who knew you were such a sentimental softy, Benny Bear?" I playfully pout.
"I thought I warned you about even using that nickname ever again," Ben growls in a threatening tone.
My mind vividly remembers the last time I tried to revive the nickname I gave him when I was six. I recall the memory in my head of when he pushed me into the middle of a frozen river. I spent about an hour stumbling and sipping on the ice trying to make my way back to solid land. The entire time he laid out on his back laughing at my struggles.
"Mhm, I don't recall." I play.
"Yeah, right." He huffs sarcastically and let out a small chuckle.
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With no sunlight in the dungeons, time could only be estimated. I seemed to lose all bearing of time after I fell asleep. All I know is that it was passed first light because Ben had already vanished to his morning training.
So here I sit, wrapped up in my cloak, mindlessly carving into the ice flooring with nothing better to do. That was until the guards brought in a faun and chained him to the opposite wall. I didn't bother asking his name or even looking up to the creature. I wasn't going to waste my breath talking to a creature I would never see again. But now I had something to do. Try to ignore this excessive questioning.
"Who are you?"
Scratch scratch
"Are you the only one here?"
Scratch scratch
"How long have you been here?"
Scratch scratch
"Why is the princess of Narnia being kept in dungeons?"
Scratch scr-
"So you do know who I am." I test, leaning back against the wall as I look up at the pitiful looking faun sprawling out on the floor.
He stiffed at my response, obviously not expecting it, his eyes looking down at the knife with worry. As if he expected me to throw it at him.
Fear was a powerful force. Nothing seemed to match it. With fear came respect, or better, a reputation. Fear had the power to win a war or drive it into the ground.
"I figured out that much due to the cloak." He mentions pointing to it. "Why are you here? Shouldn't you be at the Queen's side?"
After a moment of contemplation, I actually answer, "Even I am not an exception to the rules, though mine vary a little differently when it comes to humans. Slightly more violent."
"What stopped you? I mean, don't get me wrong, I don't want you killing the first human you have ever met." He defends wildly but curiously.
"I have this thing with kids," I admit, leaving out the ultimate details.
"But you're under orders to kill even that the slightest sign of humans. And it's not like you haven't killed before."
"You mean, Loxley," I state, putting together that what he was insinuating.
"I've heard the stories," He says through the chattering of his teeth from the cold, "The girl sculpted of marble, a refined pure but unbreakable by man. As beautiful as she is dangerous, but often hidden by the once pure white cloak that exchanged its color for ash grey during the unspeakable night at Loxley. Favors letting her opponents underestimate her. Heir to the next era of evil. Foretold to lead Aslan to his death."
"Oh yes, I'm the nightmare of children's storybooks," I comment, twisting the knife in my hand avoiding the gaze from the faun as he spoke.
"Why'd you do it?" The faun hesitantly questions, "Loxley?"
"There are reasons that you may never understand and I will not explain," I answer with an unwavering straight face.
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Present
The ogres open the heavy icebox gates. Waking both the faun and I. I blinked a few times trying to comprehend what they were holding. As they throw it down I finally realized what it was and my instincts took over jumping at the human boy.
"Who the tash are you?" I interrogate with my knife millimeters from his throat, "If you make me ask again it won't be nicely."
"This is your version of nicely?" He croaks out, squirming underneath me making me roll my eyes and press my knife closer to him. He instantly stops moving and complies, "Edmund. That's my name, Edmund Pevensie. I'm a son of Adam."
"Obviously." I scoff, "I know what a mortal looks like."
The faun struggles against his chains from the corner, "Pevensie? Like Lucy Pevensie?"
"Shut it, goat," I order while keeping my focus on the boy underneath me.
"Lucy is my little sister." He answers the faun against my orders.
"How many of you are there?" I question, fearing the worst.
"Four, including myself. Peter, Susan, Lucy and I." He answers.
"The prophecy," The faun breathes out, speechless.
"You've got to be kidding me. That's impossible." I chuckle, finally letting go of the boy and withdrawing my knife back into its place in my ankle holster. He was obviously no threat in this state.
My mother has a reason for keeping him alive. She had no reason to keep this weak link without a plan.
"Explain. Everything." I order as Edmund scrambled away from me and taking deep unconstricted breathes while pawing at his neckline for blood.
"Can you calm down?" I roll my eyes impatiently, "If I cut you, you would have felt it. Now, How did you get here? Why are you here?"
Edmund looked up at me, clearly shaken. Most likely scared I was going to attack him as soon as he was finished spilling all of this information. Which would exactly what my mother would do, which leaves me with the mind-boggling question, Why the tash did she want him alive? He was nothing but a scrawny lost boy. Was this a test for me?
"She told me she would make me King," Edmund answers arrogantly.
"Wow. Let me get this straight, you show up in a magical land and believe you're just going to be given the throne?" I speculate, making sure to point out how absurd it sounds, "How did you expect that to work?"
"She offered me her daughter's hand to make me king!" He raises his voice in defense.
I couldn't help but let out a laugh. The thought of my mother actually allowing and supporting this human as my betrothed.
I scoffed again, "Of course she did."
"What do you mean by that?" He snarls as if I had disrespected him, even though it was the other way around.
"Mothers are supposed to love and cherish their children and their 'hopes and dreams'. That has never been the case for me. I have always been a secret weapon, a pawn of deception used for power. Any hope for the true love I read about it sappy books of fiction is exactly that. Fiction. You got played."
The boy's mouth falls open, "Wait, you're her daughter?"
"And your newly betrothed apparently." I imply with every bit of sass needed to the greedy boy.
"Then why are you here?" He asks.
Mr. Tumnus speaks up equally intrigued, "You never managed to tell me exactly why you are here either? What situation got you here?"
"That doesn't concern either of you," I claim with no intent to tell them anything they didn't need to know. They are the enemies after all, even if they won't see the light of day again.
"Where are Lucy and your other siblings now?" He managed to squeak out to the boy, fully terrified of the answer.
"They didn't follow me in. They are with some talking beavers." Edmund responded.
The faun let out a breath of air. The prophesized children were the very principle of his hope along with the rest of the believers in free Narnia. Once my mother acquired them then it was just a matter of time before all hope of the rebellion shattered.
"Mr. and Mrs. Beaver. They will know what to do." The faun assures. I couldn't help but notice his glance to me when he gave his vague response.
"They may have a plan but they won't make it out of the Western Wood before my mother finds them. Make room boys," I snarl, "It won't be long until this party of three is about to become a party of six. The Beavers won't make it this far."
"They have a chance," The faun speaks up trying to show some kind of comfort to the boy.
If you could look past the fact that the dark haired boy disrupted one of the most precious prophecies of all time, then you could understand that he was still just a boy. The faun had enough empathy for this. I didn't.
"Not likely." I deadpan.
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This chapter took long af but I loved writing it. This chapter has a lot of development towards the future chapters and key things about Ash. Hope you guys are enjoying so far. ((:
B