13
It seemed, to Eddie, there were more twists than he could imagine. Even as they struck upwards instead of seeing my, instead they saw darkness. And finally he saw something that he didn't think he would ever see again, not only was there light, but it had a clean crystal feeling to it that, while it it was cold, it had an air to it that indicated that spring was ahead. This gave Eddie tremendous hope, unfortunately it was dash by a clear enough face - namely the witch. Even before she spoke, he was crushed by her image
“So you thought you could escape?” cried witch - because now it truly was a witch. Not only had she garbed herself in black, but her countenance was ugly, though it was a pretty face, there was an undercurrent that said that there was something amiss about it. The features were wrong, and an ugliness shown through has if by magic.
She grabbed his head, and shook it. It was clear that she was not going to be kind, the way she was when they first met.
But instead of curling up in a ball, which is what you would do when he first arrived, he stood his distance, and looked her square in the face. If she was going to do something, then she would have to hit him, and make no apology for it. But she did not, because she had expended a great deal of effort to track the lion down, and even more to expand ever on the ceremony. And it was a loss for her. But she had one row of dice left, and she was determined to make it count.
Thus she ordered as many guards as she needed, and trust it was a lot, and ordered them to be ready to face Peter, even if Aslan was not behind him. She was not sure if he was defeated, that is Aslan, but she knew that his body was left on the field, and either he would be dead and a monument for his folk, or by some magic, he would be alive again.
Dragging Eddie into her carriage, she assigned guards, and their was one thing left that she had: the crystal that she had been saving. It was totally evil, and she dared not using in invoking the stone table. There was magic in the stone table which would be averse to it. She would not dare use at the same time, even if she didn't know the result, it would certainly be bad.
While she ordered her driver to go back to her city, she made plans to defend, at whatever cost. But she had one thing that she hoped no one would know: among the many powers of the crystal, it could arise forth a terrible Legion of the same kind of snake with nine heads that had plagued Eddie. Eddie meanwhile was gripped by four gremlins, and held fast. But what they did see was that they had missed the bird.
Earlier Eddie had told the bird to find Aslan, or at least Peter, and worn him that they would be coming. He knew that he would be found out if someone was looking for him, but he knew the bird was probably not a noticed. At least that was his plan.
So the bird escaped, and indeed he was unnoticed. Though the bird was not that bright, he was loyal and new that the Ridge above the mountainside, which is place where Peter had slain the two cats, was probably best place to look. So he went in that direction as quickly as he could. Want he found is that the Queen had about a third of Narnia under her control, including Caer Paravel. It should be noticed that the name of the castle and name of four Royal monarchs in the original book closely resemble each other.
He saw, that his the bird, that there were animals and other things, coming to aid the rebels, and that there was a mighty battlefield growing. So he flew down in to what looked to be the center of the activity. And what he found was that Peter, alone, was getting pretty for battle. Normally a bird would not have been noticed. But there were no birds, they being hidden, and not taking any sides as yet. So the bird was very different, not being part of either side.
Thus he stepped in to a ticket of orders going back and forth. End immediately one of the hippogriff immediately recognized that he was of special value. Therefore he had to be taken to High King Peter, with all due haste.
When they got there, the hippogriff merely clear his throat, and presented to High King Peter the bird. Where upon Peter was squaring downwards, and looking straight at the bird, and was ready to this to what he had to say. The problem is that the bird was shaking in knees and was flustered, but he gradually right himself, and began:
“I don't know who you are, but you must be in charge here.”
“I suppose so, if only by default.” intoned Peter, “ what news do you bring us?”
“I come from Eddie.”
Peter immediately perked up. “What news do you have from Eddie?”
“You know him?” Questioned the bird.
“Oh I know him very well, he is my younger brother. And though a bit mischievous, I would like to know where he is?”
“The witch has claimed him, and I don't know if he will live.”
“This his very grave news indeed, and we have two find out whether he lives or dies.”
“ Are you sure that wise?” bird quest everything, which was a very fine trait. Everyone else took orders.
“Yes. In this case I am sure. We need to gather a small party, and if he is alive, or if he is dead, recover the body.”
And that his want they did, because the witch would not expect a frontal attack, just to recover a prisoner. In the end they select only two hold the fauns, and three griffins, any more than that would be easily discovered. They knew that which was doing something, because she had not gone anywhere. Though they didn't know what it was. Does they launched very low and close to ground, in order to surprise her. They also knew that Eddie would be held towards the back, and most of witch would be forward, so that would be an advantage. They planned to give a assault from a different direction, not forwards, and not backwards, because retreat would be on the witch is mind. She would sacrifice anyone to get away, because that is how she thought.
So quickly they put this together. With the wind in their face, being that the witch would not know they were coming, they quietly slipped away. The only other creature was the bird, because only he knew what to look for.
It was hard to know if they were doing the right thing. There was no one back at camp, and the two sisters were not back. But, in Peters mind, there was nothing more important then rescuing his brother. Nothing in this world. Peter was loyal to a fault, even to someone such as Eddie had been mean. He did not know that his younger brother had grown up, since last they spoke. But that didn't matter to Peter, because Eddie must have a chance to prove himself, and, quite frankly, his mother didn't really give him that chance.
So they flipped around towards the sides. And very carefully they slipped all the way into the camp with being caught. It was an overcast day from here, because the witch wanted it that way. Then they saw what was going on: the witch was concocting dozens and dozens of beings, that looked like snakes, but had many heads. She was in her black outfit, which none of them, except the bird, had ever seen her in. they to found her ugly, as if some change had made itself manifest. In one hand she had a crystal, and in the other hand, covered with a glove, she poured exactly one drop of the Crystal into a boiling chalice that was as large as an ox, for it had been made of an ox who tried to kill the witch.
What a site it was! It was copper, with dents in, and was covered in a slimy mess that was The ingredients for only one product. Now mind you there were several things that could be made with it, but she only want snakes, and of a particular kind. Realize she had not crafted it herself, instead she promised to let someone go if they would make it for her. Of course, she did not keep her promise, and instead dropped her down a hole, never to be seen again.
With great stealth Peter and the fauns went around the back, end eventually saw what had been done with Eddie. He a little bit roughed up. He was lying in the snow, for the witch held power here, and even though it was late Winter, she not having the strength to engage in high winter even close to herself. What astonished Peter, was that he was not mad, but determined, determined to get himself out, by himself if necessary.
Peter and the fauns came as close as they could, and then there eyes met with Eddie. It was a choice experience, even if it was in battle. Remember they were flat on a plane, with only bolders to hide them. But if you looked closely, you would see that they were giants. You see in the past, the witch had gathered all of the Giants, and offered them a alliance. But what Giants did not know, was she was going to betray any giants which would not join her. So Giants who did care to join her were frozen in place, until the day that she died.
But missed all this gloom, there was one thing going in there favor, no one was looking, for everyone was doing something with the snakes, and was not noticing anything else. Remember the witch merely cast them, everyone else had to assemble them in to finished legions, and that took time. And witch did not give much time to spare. She was determined to make as many as she could, even if crystal was dry.
So Eddie gave a brief look in his eye, as if to say he was ready to be sprung. Because remember he was down and gag. And Peter got it, and sprung his trap, because he knew that only one guard, a dwarf in fact, was looking at them. So he barrel into the guard, and before anyone knew it, he was over the guard and unlocking everything. Meanwhile to fauns were keeping the nightmares quiet. Peter then unlocked everything that was causing use brother to be tied up.
But just at that moment, but the witch knew something had happened, and raised to look but it was. She even poured a misshapen cobra, but she saw that High King Peter was getting away, with Eddie write behind him on a hippogriff. Of course she was enraged, and called all of her followers to get them. But it was of no use, because the were light and fast, and were up off the ground. It was hear that the giants were not in the witch's favor, because they were scattered around, almost aimlessly, and that meant that only a few of them reached then in time.
It was a race, and Peter had the edge. Though she might try, it was a losing battle, so by her logic, she moved back to the first plan, and assembled more cobras. She was determined to when the last battle.