The Last Tree In Narnia

8. Traitor

Rhea and the rest of the group charged through the tomb until they reached the lowest level, where Aslan's stone table was hidden.
As they entered the room, they saw a large block of ice on the far side, opposite where Caspian was stood.
But what disturbed them the most, was the fact that they could see the White Witch inside the ice, and she appeared to be reaching her hand towards Caspian, who had a large cut on his hand.
Rhea dreaded to think what would happen if they touched hands.
"Get away from him!" Yelled Peter, as he raised his sword.
Rhea took her eyes off the witch and looked at the figures standing either side of Caspian.
One was a hideous hag, and the other was a large bear.
But Rhea was shocked when she saw that the third and final figure, was Nikabrik.

Rhea looked over to Trumpkin, and he wore an expression of disbelief, just like her.
She knew that the dwarves had originally sided with the White Witch, but never in her wildest dreams did she ever think that Nikabrik would betray them all and try to bring back the witch. She trusted him just as much as Trumpkin and Trufflehunter, so she couldn't believe that Nikabrik could betray her like that.
"You get to Caspian, we'll distract the others" Rhea said to Peter, as she tried to focus on the situation in front of her.
The king nodded, and charged towards Caspian, leaving the others to deal with the hag, the bear, and Nikabrik.

Rhea headed for the stone table in the centre of the room, for it was connected to the deep magic of Narnia. So, she could use its magic to make herself more powerful, as she couldn't connect to the earth, for the ground beneath her feet was made of stone not mud.
Edmund seemed to read her mind, and began defending her as she made her way across the room.
He used his sword to slice into the bear, allowing Rhea to make it to the stone table, just as Peter pushed Caspian away from the witch.
Rhea placed her hands on the stone table, and began drawing in its magic, so that she could help the others stay alive.

Susan began firing arrows from her bow at the hag, but the dark creature moved too fast, and managed to avoid the onslaught of arrows.
Edmund raised his sword at the hag, but she slipped under him, and knocked him to the ground.
Rhea realised that she wouldn't be able to throw anything at the hag, for she was too quick. So, she closed her eyes and imagined roots growing out of her body, and heading across the floor, towards the hag.
She wouldn't have been able to accomplish it on her own, but she could feel Aslan giving her strength, and pushing her on.

Eventually the roots made their way across the room and began to snake around the hag's legs, stopping her from moving.
The hag tried to rip herself free, but Rhea held on tight, refusing to let her go.
Edmund used this chance to run over to the hag, and slice her through, with his sword.
Once he had succeeded, Rhea pulled her roots back into her body, allowing the hag to fall to the ground.
She then turned around to face the last enemy in the room; Nikabrik.

The dwarf had managed to knock Lucy to the ground, and he was beginning to advance on her, with his dagger raised.
Rhea pointed her hand at him, and prepared to send a branch towards him, which would pierce his chest.
But she lowered her arm when she realised that she just couldn't kill him.
Nikabrik had helped raise her, and he was like a father figure to her.
Despite his betrayal, she just couldn't bring herself to kill him.

Thankfully for Lucy, Trumpkin didn't feel as conflicted as Rhea, about killing Nikabrik.
He snuck up behind his friend, and stabbed him in the back, causing him to drop to the floor.
At first, Rhea thought Nikabrik was just injured, but as she looked closer she could see that his heart had stopped, and he was longer breathing.
She felt tears begin to fall from her eyes, so she turned her head so that no one would see her crying.

This was when Rhea saw how close Peter was standing to the witch.
"Come on Peter. You know you can't do this alone" whispered the White Witch, as she stretched out her hand to him.
Peter began to lower his sword, as he realised that the witch was right.
Rhea quickly wiped away her tears and jumped down off the stone table, before stepping towards Peter.
"Don't listen to her. Don't let her get inside your head" begged Rhea.
"She's right though. I can't defeat the Telmarine's without her help. Especially now I've lost half my army" admitted Peter.
"One drop of Adam's blood, and I'm yours, my king" smiled the White Witch.

"No! Peter listen to me, you don't need her. We can do this without her. Your battle against her all those years ago is legendary, you did everything you could to defeat her. Don't let that all be for nothing" pleaded Rhea.
"But what if she can help us? Wouldn't you like your home and your freedom back?" Questioned Peter.
Rhea shook her head, "Not if she is helping us. She can't be trusted. You know what the world was like back then. Please don't send us back into eternal winter".
"But she could-"
"No! What would Aslan say?" Interupted Rhea.

Peter frowned and turned his head to look down at Rhea, knowing that she was right.
"He would be so disappointed in me" mumbled Peter.
"He chose you to be his king. Which means that he has faith in you. And we can free my people without that witch, trust me" insisted Rhea.
Peter nodded and turned back to look at the White Witch.
But as he did, the ice she was in began to crack and splinter.
A moment later, the ice block exploded, sending shards of ice throughout the room.
Peter instinctively used his body to block Rhea, to keep her from harm.

Once the ice had stopped flying everywhere, they looked up to see Edmund standing behind where the ice block had been, with his sword raised.
"I know. You had it sorted" mumbled Edmund, as he lowered his sword, and made his way back towards them.
As Rhea looked up at the wall behind the ice, she saw an image of Aslan carved into the wall. And she felt as if he were watching them then.

Rhea helped Caspian up from the floor, as he hadn't moved from the ground where Peter had pushed him away from the witch.
They all then turned to look back across the room towards the others.
Susan was glaring at Caspian and Peter, and she seemed furious that they had both considered resurrecting the White Witch.
She turned her backs on the boys and headed out of the room with Lucy by her side.
Rhea left the boys alone, so that they could think about their actions.
She crept around the room to where Nikabrik's cold body lay. And as she knelt down beside him, she began to cry.