Striking the Bell

[Tenethia]

Here's yet another old fic of mine that I'd lost. I lost another one I think - it was a short story about what happened in the courtyard of the Witch's castle, so if anyone has a copy, let me know, please.

Strike the Bell

As the four Pevensie children left Professor Digory Kirke’s study, he leaned back in his chair to think. The four schoolchildren had just finished telling him a remarkable story about their experiences in another world named Narnia.

“No,” he corrected himself softly, “Not a story. I’ve been there, too.”

The youngest, Lucy, had told him that they had gone into the wardrobe upstairs, and how they had found another world. Susan, the older girl, had explained that they’d met a Lion named Aslan and that there was a prophesy that someday the four children were to sit on the throne. The eldest, Peter, said that they had taken four of the Professor’s coats out of the wardrobe, and into Narnia, and now couldn’t find them. He also wondered if they shouldn’t go back and try to look for them.

But what really struck Professor Kirke was what Edmund had said in-between Lucy and Susan. He had explained that The White Witch, Jadis, had made it always winter, and never Christmas, and that they had broken the spell of the witch while they were there.

Jadis. That was a name Digory would always remember. So after all this time, she’s finally gone.

Years and years ago, when he was just a schoolboy, Digory and his friend Polly visited a place called Charn, another world. In that world, Jadis slept, cast under a spell.

Make the choice, adventurous stranger,
Strike the bell or bide the danger,
Or wonder ‘til it drives you mad,
What would have followed if you had.

Those lines had been written under a bell in the room where she slept.

What a fool I was! Striking the bell! Thought the scholarly man in regret. I, one person in this world, and I was the one who woke a witch from her sleep.

The bell was rung against Polly’s will. The enchantment of that bell woke the cruelest witch one could ever imagine. All the trouble Jadis caused, all the turmoil of the great many years she lived and reigned in Narnia. ‘Twas one man’s fault, and that was mine. Digory now realized.

Make the choice, adventurous stranger. Oh, yes, Digory had made his choice, and one wouldn’t have realized at the time, but that choice had influenced thousands upon thousands of creatures, man and beast alike.

Strike the bell, or bide the danger. Such danger! Such terrible turmoil! Such utter despair was caused by making that choice! And it wasn’t he who had to bide the danger, it was an innocent nation called Narnia. He’d known better than to strike the bell. He and the girl both realized that there were heavy enchantments in that room; in that world, really. But he’d struck the bell, and he’d hurt Polly in the process because he somewhat twisted her arm.

Or wonder ‘til it drives you mad. It would not have driven him mad, and he well knew it. But he’d chosen to use it as the excuse to strike. People had died because of that witch. People had suffered so greatly! One bell, in one room, with one boy who didn’t make the right choice. And that was all it took.

What would have followed if you had? And no one ever needs to wonder. Torturing, deaths, plagues, pain, and heartache for a nation followed!

One man’s decision, one man’s choice, realized Professor Kirke as he regretted over his actions forty years before, They influenced a world! What choices rest upon a man!

To be honest, Digory Kirke had done what any boy would have done. But sometimes, one has to wonder, am I making the right choice? It would make this world a much better place, if one person chose to do the right thing.

One choice makes a world of difference, Professor Kirke concluded, and he leaned forward and began to study.