RUTH:

The next morning, we hurriedly explained what we had figured out to Mr. Tumnus and his wife, who agreed that we were probably right.

"But to someone who knows nothing of the vial or its theft, it might be difficult to believe," Mr. Tumnus said apologetically. "You may want to conjure up some form of substantial proof."

I pursed my lips. "I hadn't thought of that. Thank you. What do you suggest?"

He chuckled. "I haven't gotten that far yet, Ruth. I'm just thinking it would be difficult to believe, had I not seen the vial for myself and told what it does."

Edmund cleared his throat, looking at the ground for a second before meeting Mr. Tumnus's eyes. "Do you think my story would be enough? I-" He cleared his throat again. "I told Ruth last night, w-what happened when I first came and nearly destroyed Narnia. Do you think my story alone could convince them? If I... if I was honest and confessed and apologized and explained?"

Mr. Tumnus's eyes softened. "I don't think it will need to come to that, Edmund. I believe you have been forgiven and your story potentially forgotten. I'm sure there is an easier way."

I nodded in agreement. "Oh! I know! Edmund, the best way to figure out if we're right would be to see for ourselves, yes? What if we camped for a time near the castle? We could simultaneously check our theory and come up with a plan of attack."

"That seems like a good idea!" Tulia agreed. "Tumnus and I could in the meantime tell our friends what we've learned from you two, and we could begin to spread the word of the plan that way."

"That would be great, thank you," I replied. "In that case, I suppose Edmund and I will be on our way."

"Do you have enough food for your journey?" Tumnus asked.

We nodded. "We do, thank you," Edmund said. "Enough for at least a week. I expect we will try to attack in that time. It will be half a day's journey there, then we should know within a day or two what must be done. From there, we can assemble an army on this side of the river, hopefully out of sight. Then we will find a way to rescue the kidnapped ones and destroy the castle for once and for all."

"How old are you now, Edmund?"

"Seventeen," he replied. "Why do you ask?"

"Just admiring your courage," Mr. Tumnus replied simply, smiling.

"Well, Peter and Ruth both led battles at 14, but I try my best."

"Don't sell yourself short, Edmund," Tulia said. "I may not know your story, but I am sure there is courage there that you yourself overlook in your own grief."

I smiled. "I couldn't agree more. Farewell, Mr. and Mrs. Tumnus."

Tulia blushed, and we all laughed.

"Just wait until I can call you Mr. and Mrs. Peter Pevensie!" she shouted over the laughter, a goofy grin on her face. "Just you wait!"

Now it was my turn to blush, and I kept blushing long after we had left because of Edmund's teasing.

"Do you miss my brother?" he asked.

I shrugged. "I am definitely having a good time with you. I'll be glad to be home, but I wouldn't trade this past time with you for anything."

Now it was his turn to blush, making me laugh.

"Do you want to marry him?"

"Oh, why is that everyone's favorite question these days?" I asked jokingly. "Haven't you already asked me?"

"Maybe I have, maybe I haven't. You're dodging regardless."

"Susan asked me while I was sick. I suppose Mr. Tumnus getting married has suddenly made everyone want to get married all of a sudden."

"I'm just in it for the cake!" Edmund declared.

I giggled. "I'm sure you are, Ed, I'm sure you are."

"You're still not answering," he teased.

"Well, of course I want to marry him, but I don't know if he wants to marry me. I want to wait until he says he does."

"You don't know if he wants to marry you?"

I shrugged. "I wouldn't blame him if he didn't."

He looked as if he'd been slapped. "Why wouldn't he?"

"Plenty of reasons. Anyway," I said, trying to change the subject, "do you want to go by the Beavers', or just head straight to the castle?"

"I'd love to see them, but we don't have time. I was thinking maybe we should run, really, before it's too hot to. We'll be careful, though, not running too fast."

"Alright," I agreed, so we ran. We ran all the way there, which was perhaps not the wisest decision, but we got there in good time.

"Let's sit under a tree for cover," Edmund panted.

"I agree. Let's move by night, when it'll be harder to see us."

We ultimately decided to climb a tree, an oak with thick branches and dense foliage. We waited there for the cover of night, talking about what we might do and how we might do it. The most pressing issue was separating the kidnapped from the kidnappers. We had not yet reached a conclusive answer when night came, and it was time to move. Leaving our supplies up in the tree, we slunk forward across the grass to the palace of ice.

This was the fun part, for both of us. We could barely contain our glee at the spy mission as we clung to the shadows and crept closer and closer to the center of the castle, checking room after room, looking for any sign of life.

As we neared the lowest floor, we heard loud voices. We didn't need to go much further to make out their words.

"If you help us overthrow the kings and queens," a hag was screeching, "we will replace them! And you will amply rewarded, with gifts of food and safety for the rest of your lives and the lives of your families!"

"The kings and queens caused the hot weather?"

"And the famine?"

"Yes!" a deep voice boomed. "They need you to be dependent on them! They need to feel powerful!"

A sick feeling crawled into my stomach. I had heard enough. I turned to Edmund, whose face was red from more than just sunburn. We quickly fled the castle, both fueled by our anger and throwing caution to the wind as we raced back to the tree.

"I can't believe- I just- they said-" he spluttered, his face growing redder and redder.

"I know," I spat. "We need to act quickly. But we still don't know how to separate the good from the bad. We can't just murder them all."

He sighed. "I know. But they all seem to want to murder us, brainwashed though they may be."

"That's why we need to act as quickly as possible." I sighed too. "Perhaps we could have family members come retrieve their individual person?"

"Too dangerous. And too time-consuming. We'd need to act swiftly."

"You're right." I closed my eyes. "We need to figure out exactly how many people we need to save. A couple dozen, I believe, but we need to know who and how."

He nodded. "Let's sleep on it, Ruth, I'm too angry to think rationally tonight."

"As am I. We'll both be better off in the morning."

He nodded again, and curled up at the foot of the tree. I followed suit, and yawned.

"Good night, Edmund."

"Good night, Ruth."

🦁

Our dreams were kinder to us that night. When we awoke in the morning, however, we had a decision to make. Stay and find out more, or go tell what we had heard and pray people believed us?

In the end, we decided to risk the castle by day. But before we did, we decided we had been too carried away in our fun the night before and had been too reckless. This time, we were going in with a plan.

"If I get caught, don't come after me. Not this time," Edmund said.

"Only if you promise not to come after me," I replied. "But please don't be worried about that. We'll be careful."

He nodded. "I just wanted to be sure. After... last time."

I touched his hand lightly. "Hey, it's alright, remember? It's alright."

"I'm trying to convince myself of that. You're right."

"Alright. So we'll go down to the basement first and figure out who's there, then explore if necessary. And talk to anyone we can, assuming the bad ones are out trying to kidnap more people."

"Yeah." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't like assuming it's completely unguarded. I'm sure someone's there.

"I agree, but we have a better chance now than we would later. The kidnapped people are probably so brainwashed they're trusted not to run away."

He nodded in agreement. "So are you ready?"

I sighed heavily. "I think so. Should we leave our stuff here?"

"I think so."

"Wait, one second." I scrambled up into the tree and checked my bag. Surely enough, my beanie was there, right on top.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," I called down. "Just making sure my beanie was in here."

"Is it, yeah?"

"Yeah. Sorry, coming down now."

I landed next to him and smiled. "Ready to save Narnia? Or, well, try to?"

He smiled back. "I guess so."

We hurried across the grass back to the castle. We stood outside the doors for a second to catch our breath before proceeding.

"Are you ready, Edmund Thomas Pevensie?" I asked, flashing a grin his way and squeezing his hand.

"I hope so, Ruth Sarah Byrne."

"Hey, don't worry. You're bigger than your past. And I promise I won't let anything happen to you. Let's go."

And so we plunged inward. Gone were the spooky stone statues, but the icicles still stood in their place. It felt different this time, looking at the castle with new eyes and knowing Edmund was safe next to me.

I still could not help but feel an animalistic fear crawling in my stomach. I felt like I needed to run away. I could tell Edmund was the same way, fidgeting and glancing over his shoulder at every slight noise.

"We're alright," I whispered, more for my sake than for his.

"We're alright," he repeated.

We climbed the stairs to the now-empty throne. I tapped Edmund on the shoulder and reached down for a sharp rock. As he watched, I carved "ASLAN BEAT YOU" into the ice of the throne.

He giggled softly and took the rock from my hand.

", YOU FILTHY MONGREL!" he added in even bigger letters.

I stifled my laugh with my knuckle. The tension somewhat alleviated, we proceeded deeper into the castle. I led the way, investigating the storeroom first to see what was there now.

There was no Narnian armor this time, but there was a multitude of food. From the vial, no doubt, to back up the claim made to the Narnian victims. Edmund reached forward to touch it, but I swatted his hand away.

"We can't eat it!" I whispered.

He smirked. "I wasn't going to." He reached forward with his other hand and grabbed a bottle of wine. He hurried over to the window and dumped the contents outside into the grass. I snickered, reaching for a watermelon. I joined Edmund at the window, and chucked it as far as I could.

We waited a couple of minutes to see if anybody had noticed, but when no one had, we stepped out again into the castle. Nearly every room we entered was also stuffed with food. My anxiety over being in the accursed castle soon turned to anger. How would we ever be able to tell what was enchanted and what was stolen and what was legitimate?

That question was shoved to the back of my mind when we came to the room where we had each been imprisoned. It was so cold it stole my breath. This time, it was me reaching for Edmund's hand.

The room was empty, so we entered and closed the door behind us. Edmund gasped when he saw the crimson stains on the floor.

"Ruth... is that...?"

"I tried to escape," I whispered, my own voice barely audible to my own ears. I walked forward to the chains, lifting them in my hands. "Edmund... look."

The chains seemed to have been cut clear in half, not unlocked.

"Did you do that?" he asked.

I shook my head. "I woke up one morning to find they had come off. The morning of the battle."

"Ruth." Edmund's eyes were wide. "That's when Aslan came back to life, Lucy and Susan said. Sunrise on the morning of the battle."

My jaw dropped as I examined the chains again. "Wow."

"Wow."

I rose to my feet after laying the metal down on the ice silently. "No matter how hard I tried to escape, it took Aslan and a miracle to actually free me." I turned my eyes to Edmund. "I think Aslan is what we need now too, to save Narnia."

He nodded. "I just wish we knew how to tell him we need him."

"Intruders!" the shrill voice of the hag screeched. "Intruders have come! The throne has been desecrated! Find them!"

I shot a panicked look at Edmund. "We need to split up and get out. No matter what happens, don't stop running until you reach the lamppost. We'll meet there."

"I don't want to split-"

A series of shouts below us as the creatures in the castle mobilized interrupted him. We both burst out of the door and ran in different directions, me to the left and Edmund to the right.

I drew my sword in combat for the first time in weeks, and the blade felt amiss in my hand. But it was my best chance.

I sprinted as fast as I could, determined not to get trapped. If I got out before they could trap me in, even if they saw me, I'd be safe. I hoped Edmund was thinking the same.

"I see her!" a voice boomed from behind me. I put on a burst of speed, but it was too late. A minotaur grabbed my arms, nearly wrenching them out of their sockets and sending my sword sailing in the other direction, making it clang loudly.

I shut my eyes and willed away the tears, praying Edmund would keep running to safety. Run, Edmund, run. I opened my eyes again and began flailing and kicking, trying to force myself free. But the minotaur was stronger.

"I'll break yer arms if you don't stop squirming," he bellowed. "I got her! Come this way!"

Dozens of Narnians swarmed the area then, sending both relief and dread flooding through my body. Edmund now had a chance, but did I?

The hag brought up the rear. "Ooh hoo hoo," she cackled, "Her Majesty told me she wanted this one. But where is the other?"

"I'm alone," I lied. "There is no other."

"Take her to the dungeon," the hag leered. "I do believe Her Majesty will be most pleased if we ensure she does slowly and painfully. The rest of you, go find the other. She lies, and he will watch her suffer."