Queen Elizabeth the Courageous

Chapter Ten - Stone

        The horse slowed down as he and Penny reached the castle in between the two mountains. She'd be lying if she didn't say that she was beyond nervous to be there. The horse slowly walked forward as she took in everything. Soon the large door to the castle opened and she looked seeing her sister Jadis. She sighed in relief getting off of the horse and took off towards her sister. Jadis walked forward and pulled her into a tight hug.

"I'm so glad you're safe" She whispered to her older sister. "There's been talk in Cair Paravel that you're betraying us, that you're betraying Aslan. I knew they were wrong, you were here all along. You couldn't have betrayed us" She said and Jadis smiled at her sister.

"I'm glad that you have faith in me little sister, why don't you come inside" She said and Penny smiled nodding following her sister.

"What are you doing here anyways? What is this place?" She asked looking around at all the ice inside. She shivered as it was freezing cold here.

"It's my new home" Jadis said as they walked up the steps.

"Your new home? What about Cair Paravel?" She asked and Jadis rolled her eyes.

"Cair Paravel is not my home" She snapped and Penny looked at her. "It's no more of my home than London was" She snapped as they reached the Throne room.

"What are you talking about Jadis?" She asked stopping as Jadis walked up sitting on the Throne.

"Oh come on Penny, don't tell me you don't feel trapped in Cair Paravel" Penny looked at her confused and shook her head.

"Cair Paravel is my home Jadis, it's a much better home than London. Why are you here? Aslan's back we should go visit him" At the sound of Aslan's name she rolled her eyes.

"Aslan this, Aslan that" She grumbled. "Don't tell me you actually trust Aslan"

"How do you not trust Aslan?" Penny asked her. "Aslan has helped us so much, he's the reason we're here" She said and Jadis rolled her eyes.

"He's keeping us trapped here Penny open your eyes! He's using us! We were never going to be Queens! We have to take matters into our own hands. We have to make ourselves Queen so that we can rule Narnia" Penny looked at her with her eyes wide.

"We're not ready yet Jadis, we just have to be patient-"

"We've been patient Penny!" Jadis yelled standing up. "For over 7 years! I'm not waiting any longer" She said walking down the steps towards her sister. "I'm done waiting for Aslan, I'm done waiting until he thinks we're ready. I know we are ready and I'm taking Narnia" She said stopping in front of her and Penny looked at her with wide eyes.

"How?" She asked quietly.

"Remember those rumors about the witch that lived here?" She asked quietly and Penny nodded. "Well those were true, until today" She said smirking.

"I don't understand" Penny said and Jadis smirked widely.

"I killed her, I killed the witch and I took her power. I took her powers, I took her allies, I took everything from her" She said and Penny backed up. "I'm apart of Narnia now, I'm just as important as Aslan. I am finally Queen" She whispered spreading her arms out and smiled widely. "And this is my castle" She said.

"What now?" Penny asked finding it hard to look away from her sister.

"Now? Now I'm going to take Narnia, I'm going to take it away from Aslan and kill anyone who gets in my way. Tell me Penny" Jadis whispered to her. "Are you in my way?" She questioned. "Or are you going to stand besides me and be Queen?" She asked.

"This isn't the way to do it Jadis, this isn't right! We can't just abandon everybody! We can't just turn our backs against Aslan!" She yelled backing away from her sister and Jadis sighed looking down. "It's not to late Jadis, we can go back to Cair Paravel. We can become Queens the right way, we can be a family again" She said looking at her with hope in her eyes. Jadis looked at her walking closer to Penny with her hand behind her back.

"When are you going to realize Penny? We were never a family" She whispered and Penny looked at her with tears in her eyes when Jadis pulled her wand out pressing it against her sister turning her into a stone. "I'm sorry Penny, but if you're not with me then you are my enemy." She could hear some of her men behind her and she continued to look at her sister. "Take her to the room carefully, do not break her" She ordered. "It won't be long know until the others come looking for us. Get the troops ready, they're coming"

"Elizabeth, My scouts saw Jadis and Penny standing outside the castle in between the two mountains" Lance said walking besides his sister. Lance, Elizabeth, Digory and William all stood in the tent where a map of Narnia was laid on the table. Across from them stood Aslan who listened to the siblings speak.

"The witch" William said and they looked at him. "Is she real?" He asked looking to Aslan who nodded.

"She is, they are either her prisoners now... or they are working for her" Aslan said and Elizabeth looked to Lance.

"What else did your scouts see? Did they see them walking into the castle willingly or forcefully?" She asked him and Lance looked at her.

"Penny rode up to the castle on Jadis's horse. When she arrived Jadis walked out and greeted her before pulling Penny inside" William looked down knowing what this meant.

"So it's true" Digory whispered. "She's betrayed us"

"And what about Penny?" William asked and we looked at him. "Maybe she went to the castle to make sure she was alright. You know how big her heart is, she wouldn't do this willingly" The others agreed with him. She showed no signs of betrayal, only signs that she was a concerned girl worried about her sister.

"In that case we need to go to the castle now, we need to go there and get her back" Elizabeth said and then looked to Aslan. "I want permission to take troops to attack the castle."

"We don't even know how many followers Jadis has. We don't know the terrain, we don't know anything about who and what we are fighting against" William said. "We would lose more than we would save" He said and Lance looked at him.

"So what?" Lance asked him. "Are we just supposed to just leave her there?" He asked angry.

"No of course not" William said quickly. "We just need to find a better plan" He said looking at them.

"Lance, what can you do about us not knowing their numbers or the terrain?" Elizabeth questioned and he smirked crossing his arms.

"I've got a few ideas" He said. "Give me a few hours" He said and she nodded. He walked out of the tent quickly and the remaining siblings and Aslan looked at each other.

"What do you know about the castle Aslan?" She asked him. "Anything will help" He nodded and began to tell them everything he knew about the castle, about the witch, and what he suspected.