Daggers of Ice

Chapter 34

Where the Northern Lands Meet the Western Woods.

Lucy.

"And how do you plan to kill the sorcerer, who can surely heal himself as you can," Peter's voice was dubious and Arianna felt.

She laid her daggers on the table, daggers which he did not know if they were made of glass or ice, glittering in the torchlight. "A wound created by these cannot be healed magically."

And her gaze flickered to Edmund's hand; to the thin scar she had caused so many moons ago, almost regretful.

Lucy's eyes flicked to the enchantress, whose emerald eyes were narrowed at Edmund. It seemed almost as if they were communicating without speech; though she knew it was not one of the woman's talents.

When had they gotten so close?

"You go by many names, Arianna of Charn," Oreius said in his deep velvet voice, his dark eyes serene. There was something more to his tone, something probing. And there was nothing friendly in Arianna's smile. "Ice Queen, the Enchantress, Queen of the North. Within the woods I hear them whisper of you, referring to you as the demon princess, evil's own daughter."

"And yet I chose only one of those names," Arianna said softly.

"So you can decide who you wish to be, not what others wish to make you." The centaur seemed almost approving of Lucy's words. Until Arianna laughed, a bell-like sound, so beautiful and so deadly. It sent shivers through her soul. Those emerald eyes were hard, all trace of humanity gone.

"People like us can't afford that luxury, Lu," Edmund said softly, his eyes never leaving Arianna's. Though there was something more in that gaze, something full of heat that almost caused a blush to rise in the young Queen's cheeks. "Every time someone speaks my name there is something attached to it. To the people of Narnia I am the Just King, who rules over them fairly. To the warriors I am Narnia's Sword, the warrior they can all look up to. To those who Arianna rules I am the traitor who betrayed his family to the White Witch. And to those who know me I am simply Ed, yet they still serve me, they expect-"

"A new name is like a mask," Arianna interrupted softly, she seemed oblivious to all those who were listening attentively to their conversation. "Protecting you just enough to let the real self come through."

"So the Ice Queen is just a mask?" Lucy questioned, almost lost by their word play. "Why would you fake a cold, hard exterior?"

"The Ice Queen is the name I chose, Lucy Pevensie. The Ice Queen is the real me."

Lucy felt a shiver was over her. It was as if she were looking into the eyes of one who had seen centuries pass – one weary with life and what they had seen. But she knew the words, even as Arianna of Charn spoke them, were not true.

Not completely.

She had seen something more in the eyes of the one who had once opposed them. Something untouched by the White Witch who had held sway over her for so long. Something that she knew Edmund saw too.

And then the temperature dropped.

...

Edmund.

"The witch-queen-mother holds her in her grasp," Myriel's voice, as musical as it had ever been, held a sombre note, her holy-leaf eyes watched Arianna with something akin to concern. A concern that had Edmund's insides clenching.

He glanced towards the Ice Queen, whose eyes were closed, those soft soft lips parted ever so slightly. Nothing belied any inner struggle safe for those small fists clenched around the daggers.

"Edmund, what is happening?" Lucy's voice was worried, and he could imagine that her cornflower eyes were wide. But he could not look away from Arianna, could not tear his gaze from her if he'd tried. "Is she ok?"

"She's speaking to the White Witch," he replied in a soft whisper. "Willingly."

...

Arianna.

The slight tugging on her mind drew her attention; it had been moons since Jadis had spoken with her. Her taunts were no longer ever present in her mind; she had become a simple observer, unable to hold any sway over the events that passed around her.

The ice floor was gone, the current pulled at her legs playfully.

She could barely see the witch between the cracks in the mirror.

"Your time is running out, little Ice Queen," Jadis's tone was condescending...mocking...As malicious as it had been in life.

"Don't forget Jadis, if die, so do you," she said softly, looking up into eyes the same colour as her own.

Exactly the same in shape and size as her own.

There was something hidden in those ancient eyes, something that Arianna had learnt long ago not to trust. "Your plan will not work, the Sorcerer will kill you," she said in that haunting voice. "Let me help you, I have defeated him once before. And I can do so again."

"You only defeated him by using me, Jadis," Arianna did not flinch under the emerald gaze as so many others would have. As the Witch had flinched beneath Aslan's roar. "I will no longer be your tool. Never again will you hold sway over anything in Narnia."

"You forget, Arianna of Charn, as long as you live, as do I," the White Witch laughed. "You are so much like my dear, dead sister. I thought I'd taught you better. Only the strongest survives, little Ari."

Something was wrong; she could feel it.

The unease flickered at the corners of her mind; just as the White Witch had, creeping inwards. She could feel Edmund staring at her, she could feel Lucy's concerned gaze. But she did not truly see them; Jadis was seeing them.

Her fist clenched beneath the table.

She did not mean to make the ice in the glass freeze; but neither did she let out a startled noise as the glass shattered.

She was on her feet in an instant, her daggers drawn. She could feel the intruders, the moment they stepped upon her territory. The frozen lake no longer held those that stepped upon it captive – Corradyn's men could pass as they pleased. And it seemed they took full advantage of it. But there was one flame she would extinguish first, she felt the waters distress. She felt the pain.

Her lips curled back in a snarl.

In the back of her mind she heard the Witch laughing.