ignite me / p. pevensie

chapter seven

Rowyn smiled at Lucy and Susan who were practicing their aim with a dagger and a bow. Rowyn was a ways away practicing on forming a flame in her palm and making it glow brighter.

"Woah!" She heard Lucy say from her place by Susan. Rowyn looked up from the flame in her palm to see both the girls looking at her with awe. "You have a flame in your palm?" Lucy questioned as she ran up to observe the flame closer.

Rowyn nodded. "My mother had the same gift." She concentrated on making the flame bigger, brighter, hotter.

But the sound of two more gasps made her stop. "Holy shit-"

"Edmund!" Peter scolded his little brother as they got off their horses to head for Rowyn. "It's beautiful . . . I've never seen a flame look like that." Peter's face held so much awe that Rowyn smiled.

She observed the flame more. It's deep red color mixed with strings of gold was truly mesmerizing. Rowyn honestly couldn't believe that she was able to create something so beautiful.

Peter opened his mouth to speak again but the shouts from Mr. Beaver cut him off. "Edmund! The Witch has demanded a meeting with Aslan!" The beaver told the group. Rowyn's flame burned hotter and brighter just from the thought of Jadis. "She's on her way here!" Rowyn's nose twitched with anger and she flicked the now even brighter flame away and ran back to the camp with the Pevensie siblings right on her heel.

She bit back a snarl when she saw the saw the chained animals holding her up on a chair while the dwarf shouted, "Jadis! The Queen of Narnia! Empress of the Lone Islands!" Gruesome images filled her head at the dwarfs shouts. More gruesome ideas filled her head when she saw Jadis staring directly at her with a proud, evil smirk upon her mouth.

Rowyn looked back towards the chained animals—chained Narnians—and their feet. Bloody and bruised from how tightly the chains held their ankles.

She looked down at her own wrists. At the scabs that rested all the way around each other them and around her ankles as well.

Rowyn knew that she would have scars from them, just like the four scars that raked down her back. During their training, Aslan offered to do the best he could to heal them, but those four scars were too deep for even him to fix.

The chained Narnians placed her down on the ground—Rowyn's hands burned at the way they winced, only to be glared at greatly by Jadis—and she stood.

Rowyn heard Edmund's loud gulp beside her and they shared a quick look. Lucy grabbed Rowyn's hand out of fear when Jadis stared daggers at the children when walking towards Aslan, her long sickly white dress dragging behind her. Rowyn hated the color. Usually, she loved white. It made her think of snow and Christmas, but she knew that she would never look at it the same way.

Neither would Edmund.

"You have a traitor in your group, Aslan." Jadis said towards the lion. Gasps filled Rowyn's ears as the Narnians heard her words.

Aslan straightened his posture. "His offense was not against you." He told her.

Edmund looked towards Rowyn with a sad, nervous expression. Rowyn felt his pain and grabbed his hand so she was now holding both his and Lucy's.

"Have you forgotten the laws upon which Narnia was built?" The Witch questioned.

Aslan snarled loudly. Edmund and Rowyn squeezed their hands in fear. "Do not cite the deep magic to me, Witch. I was there when it was written." His voice was laced with anger.

Rowyn stifled a proud smile at Jadis' offended—possibly even frightened—look. "Then you'll remember that ever traitor belong to me." Edmund's grip tightened so much that Rowyn almost winced. "His blood is my property." Rowyn's hands burned but she took a few deep breaths to keep from harming Lucy and Edmund.

The sound of a sword being unsheathed made everyone turn towards Peter. "Try and take him then!" Peter threatened. His sword out and pointed towards the Witch.

Jadis scoffed and picked at her nails. "Do you really think that mere force will deny me my right? Little King." She added. Peter frowned and lowered his sword, stepping back towards his siblings. "Aslan knows that unless I have blood, as the law demands, all of Narnia will be overturned and parish in fire and water. That boy will die on the Stone Table! As is tradition . . ." Rowyn had to rip her hands away from the siblings to keep from burning them when her veins filled with wildfire.

"You will perish in fire if you so much as lay a hand on any of my people!" Rowyn suddenly shouted. She almost didn't recognize her tone. It was cold, ruthless. The kind of tone that sent shivers down Jadis' spine . . . as much as she tried to ignore it.

Jadis looked at the girl. "Your people?" She questioned the young girl, stepping closer. "Last I checked, your mother died at the hands of my ice . . . she lost her throne when she lost her life—as did you, motherless fool." She spat.

Rowyn's eyes burned and the ember in her chest ignited into a deep, burning fire that flooded her veins. A bright flame formed in her palms—brighter than ever before, hotter than ever before—and Jadis looked at it in shock.

But before anyone else could process the flame, Aslan's roar dwindled it down to nothing. But that fire in her chest still burned.

"Enough!" Aslan shouted loudly. Rowyn could've sworn the ground shook from his roar. "I shall talk with you alone." He turned towards the tent. Jadis and Rowyn shared a glare before she stalked after the lion and disappeared within the tent.

"Rowyn?" Peter said from behind her. He went to touch her shoulder but she raised her hand to stop him.

She took a deep breath and peeled her gaze away from the tent. Edmund looked in shock at the two burn marks that rested in the grass where Rowyn once stood as she walked away from everyone with her fists clenched.

Peter contemplated going after her but the string of vulgar curses that left her mouth as she walked away made him stay with his family.

....

Rowyn, with all of her clothes still on, submerged herself into the river that rested away from the camp to try and calm down. She closed her eyes and took many deep breaths.

But Jadis' words kept flooding her mind.

She lost her throne when she lost her life . . . as did you, motherless fool.

Rowyn clenched her fists so hard that her fingernails drew blood on her palms. She was going to burn Jadis. Burn her from the inside out and watch her body turn to ash and fade away.

Rowyn didn't notice how much the water got hot until dead fish began to rise to the surface. Her eyes widened when she saw that the water was boiling around her. Rowyn began to cry from frustration and anger.

She moved out of the water and sat in front of it with her knees to her chest as she cried harder. Rowyn didn't know how long she stayed there but it was long enough for the fabric of her dress to dry and for all of her tears to turn to steam radiating off her cheeks.

"She isn't going to kill Edmund anymore." A voice sounded behind her. Rowyn jumped slightly and turned to see Peter standing there. "She made a deal with Aslan . . . I don't know what, but she agree to spare him."

Rowyn nodded and turned her head back around to rest her chin on her knees that she still held. "That's good." Peter came and sat down beside her with his legs crossed.

"I . . . I'm sorry about your mother." He said after a moment of awkward silence.

Rowyn shrugged and closed her eyes. "I never knew her—or at least, I don't remember her—so there's nothing really to mourn . . . but hearing her talk like that about her-" She paused to take a deep breath. "It hurts." She whispered.

Peter watched the girl with a saddened expression. "She'll pay for what she's done—to your mother, to Narnia, to you." He told her.

Rowyn opened her eyes and met his. "I know . . . I'll make sure she does."