Gallowglass (Prequal to The Narnian Warriors Saga)

Chapter Five

𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝕱𝖎𝖌𝖍𝖙 𝖆𝖙 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝕷𝖆𝖒𝖕-𝕻𝖔𝖘𝖙

Jadis, who was standing on top of the cab pulled a lamppost as Polly would later tell her it was called, out of the ground with her bare hands. She tossed her new weapon up in the air, caught it again, brandished it, and urged the horse of the cab forward. There was a sickening crash and a thud. The Witch had brought the bar down on a policeman's helmet: the man fell limp. Aquila did hope he was not dead.

"Quick, Digory. This must be stopped," said Aquila.

Digory did a double take when he saw her in one of Polly's plain dresses and without a weapon in sight, she looked so much less intimidating as so much like either of them, minus her purple eyes and blue birthmark "You are a brick," said Digory faintly. "Hold on to me tight. You'd have to manage the ring, Polly. Yellow, remember. And don't put it on till I shout."

There was a second crack and another policeman crumpled. Then there came an angry roar from the crowd: "Pull her down. Get a few paving-stones. Call out the Military." But most of them were backing up as far away as they could. The Cabby, obviously the bravest as well as the kindest person present, was keeping close to the horse, dodging this way and that way to avoid the bar, but still trying to keep his horse's head safe.

A stone whistled over Aquila's head. Then came the voice of the Witch, clear and sounding as if she were almost happy. "Scum! You shall pay dearly for this when I have conquered your world. Not one stone of your city will be left. I will make it as Charn, as Felinda, as Sorlois, as Bramandin." Aquila had no clue what she was speaking of, she had never heard of those places. With a fright she realized that Jadis was probably the reason for such.

Polly held Aquila's hand tightly for the time to switch rings, she had none of her own and Polly refused to leave her here. Digory as last caught the witch's ankle. She kicked back with her heel and hit him in the mouth. In his pain he lost hold. His lip was cut and his mouth full of blood. From somewhere very close by came the voice of Uncle Andrew in a sort of trembling scream. "Madam — my dear young lady — for heaven's sake — compose yourself."

It was the next moment that made Aquila like Digory. He was in pain and had a fair amount of blood running down his face, but he still made a second grab at her heel, and a third when he was shaken off. Finally, he caught her heel again and held on like grim death. He shouted to Polly, "Go!" then the angry, frightened faces had vanished. The angry, frightened voices were silenced. All except Uncle Andrew's.

The old man was wailing on "Oh, oh, is this delirium? Is it the end? I can't bear it. It's not fair. I never meant to be a Magician. It's all a misunderstanding. It's all my godmother's fault; I must protest against this. In my state of health too. A very old Dorsetshire family."

"Bother!" muttered Digory. "We didn't want to bring him along. My hat, what a picnic. Are you there, Polly?"

"Yes, I'm here. Don't keep on shoving."

"I'm not," began Digory, "Is Aquila?"

"Right here," She declared.

Before any of them could say anything more, their heads came out into the warm, green sunshine of the wood. And as they stepped out of the pool Polly cried out: "Oh look! We've-brought the old horse with us too. And Mr. Ketterley. And the Cabby. This is a pretty kettle of fish!"

Aquila had many questions about her last comment.

As soon as the Witch saw that she was once more in the wood again she turned pale and bent down till her face touched the mane of the horse. You could see she was once again deadly sick. Uncle Andrew was the same shivering and Aquila thought he would be much like the Witch, never able to remember this place. But Strawberry, the horse apparently, shook his head, gave a cheerful whine, and seemed to feel better. His ears, which had been laid flat back on his skull, came into their proper position, and the fire went out of his eyes like he was a young foal once again. "That's right, old boy," said the Cabby, slapping Strawberry's neck. "That's better. Take it easy."