PROLOGUE
“Born of ice and all that is cruel, here she is, my heir to this new Narnia, the first of the new age, you’re Princess and future Queen, Eirlys! Rejoice with me my people! Aslan thought he could win this war but she is our key! Our snowdrop in a desert!” the pale skinned woman exclaimed from her castle balcony with a voice so thunderous it made the men in her army quake in their metal armor as they did as was told and yelled in excitement for the future of this cold kingdom. “Long live Princess Eirlys! To the new Kingdom!” the crowd cheered with such excitement it made the ground beneath them shake as they beheld their Queen, Jadis outstretch her arms and show them the small white bundle of blanket which contained the newly born princess. She too had pale skin. This tiny baby had short locks of dark brown hair which reached her chin and eyes black as the deepest cave with no light. Jadis smiled in satisfaction and cradled the child in her arms once again and with a small grin she looked out on the crowd and bellowed, “Let the festivities begin!” before going into her castle and had the child’s governess, Luminess, dress the baby for the event. She was after all going to be passed around so that all may know their new princess. Luminess gently took the child and smiled down at her, “Yes your majesty.” She replied in a voice so soothing it could make any screaming child calm when they heard it. As Jadis let out a satisfied hum and left the room, Luminess carried the baby to her room and laid her on a light blue changing station and began looking for a dress for her to wear. “How about this one your highness?” the black haired fawn asked as she held up a light blue dress with pretty frills on the sleeves and a puffy skirt. Eirlys blinked and of course didn’t understand but rather found her hands rather fascinating and played with them. Luminess sighed and smiled softly. “How about this beautiful periwinkle dress?” she once again asked for the now fifth time in a row. This time however, Eirlys looked at it and smiled while rubbing her left eye and reaching for the sparkly dress. “This one it is then princess.” Luminess cheered and readied the little princess for her debut.
“Come Eirlys, I want to show you something.” the pale woman spoke softly and gestured to the now four year old girl to follow her. “Coming mommy.” the young girl replied happily and got up from the floor, leaving her toys behind and following her mother. They walked through a frozen garden and into an old tower, a tower she was told to never step foot in. “Mommy where are we going?” the brown haired girl asked as she now was hesitant and for some reason, she felt scared and stood at the doorway as her mother walked in. Jadis walked deeper into the tower and noticed her daughter wasn’t following, “Are you coming or not?” she said in a flat tone, almost sounding threatening to the ears of the scared child before her. “Y-yes mommy.” Eirlys replied shakily in a tone so quiet not even a mouse would hear it. She swallowed hard and took a step towards her mother who watched intently. “Come now don’t be frightened. You and I are the only ones here my love. You have nothing to fear.” Jadis assured her and it seemed to calm the small girl since she moved faster now and followed close behind her. They walked down a spiral tunnel for what seemed like an eternity. It was so cold the water along the walls were frozen and every step was slippery as you could hear the ice on the stairs crunch and crack. The walls themselves held candles which were lit and provided very little light, barely enough to light up their path so they wouldn’t trip. When they arrived at the bottom, they came across a glowing white sigil on the ground in the shape of a snowflake. The little girl’s black eyes widened in delight as she ran over to get a better look. “You like it?” her mother asked as she took a vial off a table and opened it. The child nodded in excitement and ran back to her mother. “What is that?” she asked in curiosity as she tilted her head slightly to the side. “This my dear is what I wanted to show you.” the mother smiled warmly and proceded to project ice from her hand. “This is the source of our power.” she continued. Of course now the girl’s eyes were wide in astonishment and wonder. She laughed in excitement and hugged her mother, “Why are you hugging me?” Jadis asked, holding back her disdain since she was only four after all. “Sorry mommy. I forgot you don’t like that.” the poor girl mumbled sadly. “It’s just I was so happy you could do the magic too!” Eirlys continued while playing with the hem of her sweater. Now Jadis was curious, “What do you mean I can do it too?” she asked as she lowered herself to Eirlys’ height and held her small hands in her large ones. “Well yeah. I can do it too look.” The young one removed her hands from her mother’s grasp and outstretched her hands towards the wall and ice proceeded to project from her hands. Jadis was stunned and stood to her full height with wide eyes. She was speechless for a moment as she beheld the ice wall that was before her. This made Eirlys worried. Was she in trouble? Why was her mother staring that way? “H-how did you do that?” Jadis glanced at her child and regained her composure. “I don’t know. I got mad one day and it just happened.” the child replied as she kicked a pebble by her shoe. “I see. Why didn’t you tell me?” Jadis asked now calming down. “I thought you would be mad at me. I can’t control very well so sometimes it just happens.” Eirlys let out a sigh of relief. Jadis smiled proudly and picked up her daughter in her arms. “Oh Eirlys, you can always trust me with these things. As a matter of fact, what you have is truly a magnificent gift indeed! It normally takes many years of hard work and training to even get to your level of ice!” she doted and praised her. Eirlys beamed brightly, “Really?!” She questioned curiously. “Of course! As for controlling it, we’ll work on it.” Jadis smiled as she carried her child back upstairs and inside the castle. “Why don’t you go play and we can train later alright?” the Queen spoke softly as she watched Eirlys run into the play room. “Aren’t you going to tell her?” Luminess questioned in a concerned tone. “Tell her what?” Jadis asked innocently with a straight face. “You know what Jadis! You’re magic is against everything Narnia stands for. Above all else, it goes against Aslan.” she snapped at the queen. “Are you forgetting who you are talking to?” Jadis scoffed, her voice growing louder with every word. “I AM YOUR QUEEN! Aslan is not coming back. This is why you’re here to begin with slave! You will stand and watch as I tear Narnia to shreds in this endless winter! Then and only then will I kill you.” Jadis threatened coldly while aiming her sceptre at Luminess’ throat. “I-I understand.” Luminess said in a tone that seemed as though she had been crying for hours. She was heartbroken to say the least at the destruction of her home but she always remained hopeful that one day her King would return. That the prophecy would be fulfilled and that Narnia would have Spring again. So she secretly taught Eirlys of the prophecy. How two sons of Adam and Two daughters of Eve would come and defeat the White Witch and bring an end to Winter and Aslan would return to Narnia and bring peace.
Chapter One
The Boy
As time went on Eirlys grew up, she learned to control her powers but one day her once loving mother had a change of heart. Her happiness was destroyed and she was taken from her castle bedroom so lavishly furnished, to a dungeon in the lower levels of the castle made entirely of ice. She had been here for three years now with no one to talk to but herself. She would often talk to herself daily to keep her sanity and from time to time Redwood, one of her mother's wolves would keep her company and chat with her but usually, she had a schedule. She’d look around her and notice if the ice has melted or if any icicle grew, she would write on the walls with a shard of ice she had but after a while her hands would grow numb from the cold which forced her to stop and sigh, Luminess would sneak her a warm meal at least every other day but meanwhile she would nibble on frozen bread her mother would give her and even chew on ice just to trick herself into thinking it’s something good to eat but today was different. Jadis came in this morning with Luminess and two other maids in a fit of rage but she hid it well. “Get up.” she commanded in the coldest tone. She tried standing up but the lack of strength made her fall to her knees. “I said get up!” Jadis exclaimed in anger. “Get her strength up now! I want her dressed like the princess she is and bathed and ready to come with me immediately!” she snarled at the maids as they helped me up and led me to the bathing room upstairs. “Oh my dear I’m so sorry.” Luminess whispered to herself as she gestured for the other two to leave them alone so she could bathe her. Eirlys was embarrassed to say the least but didn’t have the strength to argue so she left it at that. Once that was done, they had her put on a gorgeous dark blue dress with white trim and put her hair into a ponytail nicely and led her to the dining room so she could eat and gain some strength for a while. She remained stone cold and silent as she ate her soup and drank her water. “How are you feeling?” Luminess asked kindly. “Does it matter? She’ll just get what she wants and make me do what she wants then throw me back in that rotten dungeon.” Eirlys replied through gritted teeth, her stare not leaving the bowl of soup in front of her. She was no longer the bright eyed child she was back then. She changed in these three years as anyone would. She was so filled with anger and bitterness that it changed her graceful disposition into that of a snarling beast waiting to attack it’s prey, this is what worried Luminess greatly. “My dear, don’t you remember the prophecy I told you?” she gulped. “What about it?” Eirlys rolled her eyes in annoyance. “I believe it’s unfolding as we speak. Rumour has it that a daughter of Eve has been spotted!” Luminess beamed with hope. The young girl burst into a fit of hysteric laughter so much so that tears were streaming down her face from laughing so hard. “You don’t expect me to believe me that childish story do you?” she exclaimed in between breaths while panting for air. Luminess’ heart sunk to her stomach, this child she had raised had completely denounced her teachings. “I pray Aslan comes quickly…” she mumbled and led a still laughing Eirlys to her mother's sleigh where Jadis was awaiting. “Hurry up Eirlys, we’ve no time to lose!” she hurried. “Right.” Eirlys sighed and composed herself as she climbed in and off they went.
The ride was terribly silent until the sleigh stopped. Someone got in the way and I couldn’t help but laugh. ‘What fool was dumb enough to not clear the way for the queen?’ I thought to myself with a small laugh. A smile of amusement etched onto my lips as I saw mother get off and stop Ginarrbrik from hitting the trespasser. I stood up in curiosity and glanced at the sight, I couldn’t tell what they were saying but she suddenly began walking with a dark haired boy around my own age, they were walking towards the sleigh and I quickly took my seat, hopefully without her noticing my curiosity. “Come sit with me.” she told the boy who hesitantly got in the sleigh and glanced at me before between my mother and I at her command. “Darling don’t be rude, we have a guest. What do we say to guests?” she stated in such a sweet tone anyone who didn’t know her would be fooled easily by it, to me it was such a venomous underlining of a sweet tone. Like honeysuckle laced with botulinum and the glare she gave me had the same tone. I smiled fakely but enough to convince the boy that he was safe. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Eirlys.” I introduced kindly. I don’t know why but I suddenly felt as if the worst was about to happen. I had never in all eleven years in my life felt this scared in my life but I tried my best to hide it. He smiled sweetly, “Nice to meet you Eirlys, I’m Edmund.” he replied with a voice that seemed calming and reassuring. Unlike anything I was used to. My mother quickly noticed how cold he was and gave him her fur coat. Now I knew something was going on for sure. She even gave him a warm drink and some sort of candy, I’m assuming it is candy but I have never heard of Turkish Delight in my life. He offered me one but I had a gut feeling telling me to refuse his offer. I felt even worse when I remembered where the candy had come from and what could have been done to it. “Tell me Edmund, do you have siblings?” mother asked sickly sweet while smiling down at him. “I have my brother Peter and my sisters Lucy and Susan but they’re nothing special.” he said in a matter of fact tone which caused me to let out a snicker and he looked at me oddly. “Sorry.” I apologised and kept to myself, feeling the cold glare from my mother. “How about you bring them here with you next time?” she asked him. “Why?” he sassed. “A king needs servants you know?” she smiled. “You can make me king? What about Eirlys?” he mused. “Eirlys is my servant. You can be king.” she answered coldly. I stared at the ground, pushing back tears. Even after that day, I knew she didn’t see me as her heir or child but as a prisoner held for ransom. “Oh, I thought she was your daughter though.” Edmund countered as he looked at me. “No, I’m merely a servant sir.” I replied softly. “But you two look so similar!” He replied unconvinced. “That girl is not my daughter Edmund now listen to me! Bring your siblings to my castle up there between those mountains and I will make you king over all of Narnia!” She barked at him coldly while catching his attention and pointing between the mountains she spoke of. “Alright. I ‘ll do it then. But can I have more candy?” he asked shyly. “Only if you do this for me.” She rudely replied which was enough to send him on his way. “See you later Eirlys.” he waved at me and of course I waved back as we rode away, leaving him behind as I saw a little girl a bit younger than I am run up to him. I then heard a voice whisper to me, “Don’t tell Jadis. Leave them alone or you will suffer a worse fate.” I knew that voice wasn’t my own but I had never heard it before and it sounded like thunder on a dark rainy day so I decided it best to listen to it and not say anything.
As I sat in my cell once we returned, my thoughts drifted off into space as I thought about that boy and girl. I thought about the prophecy that Luminess reminded me of. I thought about the way my mother acted around the boy and asked of his family. I thought about the worried look in her eye when he mentioned he had a brother and two sisters. At first I thought it was a coincidence but now, maybe just maybe, could they be the ones the prophecy spoke about? Could they be the sons of Adam and daughters of Eve? Why would my mother give the kingdom to this boy? Would she give it to him or would she treat him the way she treated me? If he is one of the sons of Adam then I am in deep trouble. The candy Edmund ate was laced with a strong magic that would have him coming back for more and the more he ate, the stronger the magic would be over him. I let him eat it without warning him. I should have warned him as that voice instructed. Who was that voice? I need to warn Edmund. I don’t even know if the prophecy is true. What if I am right and it is a lie? My main question is this, where and who is Aslan and will he return soon if this prophecy is true?
When I arrived in my cell this time, I noticed something different. Through the cracks of my ice wall, I could see into the next cell. Curiosity seems to be my strong suit right now as I peered into the crack as Luminess drew close from my left which faced the cell door. There was a faun in the next cell. He was chained to the floor, unlike me who was free to walk around in my cell for an hour a day. “Dear I’ve brought you lunch.” Luminess whispered quietly. “What about him?” I asked with a softness in my voice. Luminess glanced at the faun in the next cell. “He must be new, that cell was empty a few days ago.” she pondered. “I see.” was my reply as she handed me the sandwich and canteen of water. “Thank you Luminess.” I smiled at her as she waved and left in a hurry before she was seen. I once again glanced into the next cell. “H-hello?” I called out quietly. He seemed to have panicked and was shaking from the cold. “W-w-who’s there?” he asked shakily. “I’m in the cell next to you. There’s a crack in the wall and I can see you. Can you see me?” I asked curiously. He scooted himself towards me and peered back into the wall. “I believe I can see you now miss.” he half-heartedly chuckled. I smiled. “So why are you here?” I asked with a sigh. “They say I commited treason. I hid a daughter of Eve from the White Witch after I told her I had her.” he sighed with regret. “You know a daughter of Eve?!” I asked excitedly. “Shhh!” he replied with a finger to his lips. “My bad.” I whispered apologetically. “Yes. She had short brown hair and a green sweater.” he began describing the girl and my eyes widened. That was the girl with Edmund. “Her name was Lucy. She was so kind!” he continued with a smile. “So that’s her name.” I whispered. “Do you really think the prophecy is true?” I asked and he looked at me as if I had two heads.
“You mean you don’t think it’s true?” he asked in disbelief. “Well….I still haven’t made up my mind. At times I think it’s true but then other times I think otherwise. I don’t know what I believe anymore.” The brunete sighed in confusion. She was torn to say the least. She didn’t have any hope but she desperately wanted to hope that Aslan would return and that the prophecy would come true but how could she hope when her world was full of darkness? “I see. Oh how rude of me, I’m Tumnus.” he said with a smile. I smiled in return and gave him my sandwich to which he nodded in thanks. “Oh it’s nice to meet you Tumnus, I’m -” I was cut off when a guard dragged me away. “Come on princess, you’re getting a new cell.” Ginarrbrik scoffed and threw me by my arm into a cell a few spaces over from Tumnus. This one looked more like a jail than a dungeon and I could see Tumnus clearly from where I was. Ginarrbrik cuffed my hands in some special cuffs made for my magic and chained me to the floor like he did the first time I was in the dungeon. “I don’t understand.” I began but he slapped me and I fell back onto the cold ice. “We have another prisoner.” Ginarrbrik snarled and another was brought into the cell next to me. “Edmund?!” I asked in shock and he looked at me with pain in his eyes as my mother came in. “No talking!” She yelled at me. I stared away and sighed. She and Ginarrbrik walked away while Luminess came out of her hiding. “The time has come my child. The prophecy is unfolding. You were born for a reason.” she said as she unlocked my cell. “I will stay here, take this letter and follow the wind. The wind will take you to a small village called Securas, there you will find an older couple named Ziv and Aldo. There you will find answers to whatever questions you will have. Now go! There isn’t much time! Run and don’t look back. Trust no one!” Luminess tried rushing and reassuring me as I glanced back at Edmund. “Hurry before it’s too late!” Edmund cheered in approval yet sadness. “I promise I’ll come back for you both!” She exclaimed before running out as soon as Luminess undid the cuffs. “Follow the wind and be on guard!” Luminess exclaimed as the young girl ran out of the castle and into the courtyard and mounds of snow. “Don’t you worry your highness. I received word by a friend that Aslan is on the move!” Luminess smiled with tears in her eyes. Her hope was finally on his way as she watched the girl disappear from her sight. “Aslan grant her the wisdom and courage to do what must be done.” she prayed and hurried into the castle again, leaving Edmund and Tumnus alone.Statistics: Posted by narniannetty — Wed May 27, 2020 7:57 pm
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