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𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐔𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐒𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃 𝐎𝐅 galloping hooves carried far over the winter landscape. As the sun slowly peaked above the horizon, the eastern sky turned a few shades lighter and the sparkling glow of the stars diminished till a faint light. The branches of the forest moved gently in the wind and the hot breath of humans and horses created small clouds, though they only existed for a few moments before they dissolved into the frisk air.

After the raging snowstorm, no one had expected to ride this swiftly back to Cair Paravel, but the sturdy horses had no trouble with traveling through this slight layer of snow. However, the realization that the storm had been created to keep them trapped, made everyone anxious for what could be laying ahead of them.

The company shot out of the pine forest onto the main road and as the dense canopy of pine needles made way for the clear winter sky, the towers of Cair Paravel rose up in the distance. The first rays of sunshine fell right around the light-coloured stones, but the castle sparkled in an unusual manner as it bounced off the sunlight in every direction.

'It's frozen over,' Lucy realized with a cracked voice, and everyone gasped involuntarily for air when the castle gate and outer wall beyond it, came into sight.

Caspian forced Destrier to a halt, ordering the others to stop as well, and the last echo of the galloping horses got carried far away with the chilly wind. Caspian's heart beat irregularly in his chest and a numbness washed over his body, causing him not even to notice the moving reins in his hands as Destrier nervously nibbled on the bit.

The iron gates in front of them hung crooked in their hinges, forcefully blasted open by something, and pieces of the castle's walls lay scattered on the courtyard. Hundreds of icicles stuck out between the rubble and the pointed ends glinted dangerously in the rising sun while their distorted shadows stretched far over the grey stones. A layer of ice swirled over the courtyard in patterns yet there shot a noticeable line through it, as if the ice flowers had sprouted from some sort of a path.

The silence between them broke when Elodie dismounted her horse, the creaking of the leather saddle shot through the air and the ice crackled under her boots as she landed on the ground.

'What are you doing?' Ella whispered, her concern causing her voice to sound higher-pitched than usual, but the last words died on her lips when she noticed where Elodie sprinted to.

Everyone had been occupied with taking in the destroyed castle, but not far from the gate in the shadow of the guard tower lay a figure on the ground.

Elodie kneeled down by the body, taking off her gloves and pressing two fingers under the man's chin while the others quietly dismounted their horses as well and walked onto the frozen courtyard.

They eyed the castle suspiciously but nothing moved, not even the wind whistled, and the silence pressed heavily on their shoulders. It was as if nature waited for something to unleash itself with a horrific fury, the silence before a storm.

Lucy took her healing cordial off her belt, but Peter laid a hand on her shoulder when Elodie looked up with a crestfallen expression. The man's skin felt cold under her touch and she couldn't find a trace of his heartbeat.

Caspian crouched down as well, closing the guard's eyes with a sigh before climbing back onto his feet again. He turned to look at the castle, his dark eyes appearing grim as he tried to think of what to do now. Cair Paravel had fallen, just like the vision in the mist, but he needed to know the exact situation. He unsheathed his sword and walked towards the middle of the ice path.

'Darkan?' Caspian asked over his shoulder and the raven-haired Archenlander nodded in understanding, readying his weapon as well when he halted at the King's side. The adrenaline rushed through Darkan's veins but it couldn't completely wipe out his exhaustion and though no one seemed to notice, his movements were a bit sluggish.

'We are going to take a look inside, the rest of you, wait here,' Caspian said in a hushed tone.

'Just the two of you?' Mina commented, raising an eyebrow in disbelief.

'That is madness,' Noelle added, but she sounded more worried than scolding.

Caspian gave them a stern look. 'That is an order.'

However, everyone stiffened when a loud click followed by some creaks traveled through the air. It was unmistakably the sound of a door opening. The company's gaze shot upwards when they realized it weren't the doors of the entrance hall but those of the balcony overlooking the courtyard.

A tall woman walked onto the balcony, a crown of ice crystals sparkled atop of her head while the fabric of her grey-bluish dress glinted just as equally fierce.

From this distance, Edmund feared he had been wrong ─ maybe this was Jadis after all ─ and a chill ran down his spine when he could sense the woman's eyes landing on him. It took him a few seconds to realize, but although the woman bore many resemblances with the White Witch, it wasn't Jadis.

The woman's blonde hair was lighter, almost white, and frost covered her bare arms, running over her skin like winter flowers while the tips of her fingers and her lips were as blue as a clear winter's sky.

The company's blood seemed to turn into ice when the woman opened her mouth and the evil laugh rose up from deep within her chest. The sound echoed eerily over the courtyard and the shrill tone rang in a crescendo manner between the icicles.

The woman spread her arms and as if on cue, the outer wall of Cair Paravel got flooded with ice-like humans and creatures. Their blue, almost translucent, skin and fur shimmered in the rising sun, and even their crossbows seemed to be made out of ice.

'Retreat!' Caspian shouted when all the creatures aimed their weapons at them. They were far outnumbered and most of them were still unfamiliar with their weapons. However, the order hadn't properly left his lips or the ice arrows already shot through the air.

Screams erupted behind him and Caspian narrowly dodged an arrow as it embedded itself right into the frozen soil between two tiles.

'Go, go, go!' Caspian shouted, turning on his heels while putting away his sword again and pushing Elodie back towards the gate.

Everyone scurried to get out of the range of the flying arrows that even managed to bury themselves into the stones with a surreal force. The shallow thuds of the impacts sounded everywhere and Lucy screamed when an arrow soared rapidly past her, missing her waist by just the length of a fingertip.

The sharp edge of the arrow's head, though, sliced right through the belt carrying her healing cordial. Lucy's heart skipped a beat when the familiar weight fell away from her middle, and although she tried to catch it, the glass vial shattered in dozens of pieces on the icy ground.

'No!' Lucy shrieked as the puddle of bright red liquid soaked into the soil. She stopped dead in her tracks, staring with big eyes at her destroyed healing cordial.

Darkan looked back over his shoulder when he heard her dreadful cries. The youngest Queen stood a few steps away from him, her whole body frozen in shock, but what scared Darkan most was the ice arrow shooting right towards her. He had no time to think and in the flash of a second that still lasted, he leaped towards Lucy.

Grabbing her shoulders, Darkan turned both of them around, shielding Lucy's body with his own for a moment. He pushed Lucy out of the arrow's path, but when he tried to dodge the arrow by jumping aside as well, his exhaustion finally got the better of him.

The air got knocked out of his lungs by the arrow's impact and though Darkan tried to scream when the explosion of pain soared through his body, all that left his lips was a gasp as his breath abandoned him forcefully.

He fell on his knees and his fingers trembled uncontrollably as they reached for the ice arrow that had pierced him through his right shoulder blade.

Several screamed his name but Darkan only heard the whizzing of his blood between his ears. Black, blue and purple dots danced in front of his eyes. He noticed it only vaguely when the arrow suddenly melted away and the freezing water dripped towards the ground, before everything turned completely dark. . .

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𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓:

𝑬𝒍𝒐𝒅𝒊𝒆 𝑩𝒆𝒍𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒕 𝒃𝒚 @ 𝒎𝒆
𝑬𝒍𝒊𝒛𝒂𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒉 𝑹𝒐𝒔𝒃𝒆𝒓𝒈 𝒃𝒚 -MoonlightRose-
𝑫𝒂𝒓𝒌𝒂𝒏 𝑬𝒗𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒚 @ 𝒎𝒆
𝑴𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒌𝒔𝒉𝒊 𝑩𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒂𝒍𝒆 𝒃𝒚 RockingGirl06
𝒂𝒏𝒅
𝑵𝒐𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒆 𝑶𝒓𝒄𝒉𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝐃𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞_𝐏𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐞

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