The New Warrior (Book 1)

Chapter 26 The Werewolf and the Hag

I left Peter a while back to talk to his siblings in private. I thought they needed some time, besides, I wanted to talk to Caspian again. I couldn't help but try to figure out how I'd insulted him earlier. Was it something I said? Something I did? I walked a little further down the long cave like hall, trying to make out the noises I heard up ahead. The closer I got the clearer it became, voices and not just any voices.

"Not to proud of that magic horn now, are you boy?" The black dwarf, Nikabrik, asked Caspian, who was staring at the paintings of the golden age that lined these walls. Peter told me that the Black Dwarfs were the name of the evil dwarfs that once sided with the white witch. Caspian turned suddenly, startled.

"The Kings and queens have failed us. The armies half dead, the rest of us will be soon enough."

Caspian sneered at him. "What do you want." His thick accent like a whisper.

"You want your uncles blood? So do we. You want his thrown? We can get it for you. He murdered your father and he would've murdered you too, if you hadn't escaped. That thrown is yours. What better way to take it than by force, force that we can acquire."

I ducked down behind a statue as Nikabrik walked slowly into the stone table room. Caspian watched him the whole way and I prayed he wouldn't follow, but he did. The dwarf and Caspian walked up the steps to the table once they were in the room.

"You've tried one ancient power, one that failed you, but there is still one greater that you've yet to try. One that kept even Aslan at bay for nearly a hundred years."

A growl rang out, low and steady, chilling me to the bone as I peered into the room. Caspian must've been afraid too, as he drew his sword and stepped closer to the table, trying to see on the other side.

"Who's there?" He called steadily.

The voice that replied, one that I'll never forget, growled out, "I am hunger." A dark, cloaked figure with the snout of a dog and pointed teeth walked out from behind the rocks. "I am thirst." It circled Caspian slowly, its eyes yet to be shown. "I can fast one hundred years, and not die." It stepped closer, slowing its pace. "I can lie one hundred nights one the ice, and not freeze." Another figure emerged behind it, also cloaked, but instead of a snout it had a beak.

The voice grew louder, "I can drink a river and not burst." It paused to take a deep, loud breath then cried, throwing off its cloak. "Call me Uranimous!"

It had the appearance of a wolf, but it was the size of a human. It's eyes, like black holes, staring right into the very fiber of your being. I gasped as the second figure tossed its hood off revealing a bird like creature. I vaguely remember Edmund describing something like this to me. A hag, I believe it was called.

It smiled a sick grin and cackled, "Hate is something you know so well, and no one hates better than us." It's beak was black and its eyes were over grown. It tossed its thin, boney arms around as it spoke, the light from the torches illuminating the green of its head.

"And you can.. guarantee Miraz's death." I shook my head and clasped my hand over my mouth at Caspian's words. I shifted my position a bit to get a better look inside, my eyes wide. The hag laughed softly and bowed to him. "And more." Caspian sheathed his sword slowly.

"Let the circle be drawn!" The hag cried, dragging its long talon on the dirt floor, chanting something over and over in a language I couldn't even begin to understand. Caspian stepped back and looked at a smiling Nikabrik. The wolf creature crawled around slowly as the Hag sauntered around the now drawn circle. It cried something twice and lifted a white, clear staff into the air and plunged it into the ground.

The dirt around it instantly turned to ice and it spread up over the stone table until it reached the ceiling. I watched in awe as the block of ice formed before my eyes that contained a woman in the middle. She was dressed in a light blue, white gown that would've reached her feet, if it hadn't been torn. Her hair, spiked up and icy, held a large white crown.

"Wait!" Caspian exclaimed. "This isn't what I wanted!"

The wolf growled and grasped Caspian hand, Palm up, as the Hag sliced it open. Caspian took a sharp intake of air and I held my breath.

"One drop of Adams blood." She spoke, slowly but clearly. "And I am freed. Then I am yours."

I recognized that saying about Adams blood from all the stories the Pevensies had told me, this was the White Witch. I dropped to my knees, watching the scene unfold, unable to move.

She smiled and reached out her hand, pushing it slowly through the ice that was bending around her hand, until she could almost reach him. She waggled her fingers and swiped her tongue across her cracked lips. The wolf released Caspian as he realized he was no longer fighting and stepped back. 'No!' I screamed in my head as he stepped closer, but I couldn't find my self to speak. I watched, frozen, helpless. He was going to free the White Witch.