After The War Part IV

Turning her head to the side did little to cushion the blow, though she refused to let her mouth open to aid such a pain, instead merely closed her eyes tightly to let it pass without a word. Slowly, ever so slowly, she turned her head back, her eyes opening then to look up at Edmund’s angered face- only to have her head sent once more to the side as another blow was scored to her cheek, the still red flesh stinging her mercilessly. Luckily, she was saved another blow as Peter stepped forward, catching Edmund’s raised arm to pull him back and away from her. “That’s enough Ed,” he said quietly, and she heard the younger brother draw breath to speak, but did not give him time to.

“Why do you stop him?” she asked Peter quietly, instantly causing all five’s attention to be drawn to her, though she did not notice, her gaze blankly on the ground beside her. “Surely he does what you wish to do, what you feel I deserve…”

To her surprise, however, Peter instantly spoke. “No,” he said simply, causing her to raise her gaze to look at him with tired eyes; why she had asked Aslan to tell him, she now could not understand. “You have done… damage, to many, but beating you up,” she saw him send a glare in Edmund’s direction at that point before he concluded, “isn’t going to solve anything.”

“You speak wisely, Peter,” Aslan said, taking a step towards her such that Peter let go of Edmund’s arm, obviously trusting him to protect her from his brother.

“What will you do with her, Aslan?” Susan asked, and the Great Lion went to answer- but stopped himself short. The White Witch drew up her gaze then, only to see Lucy walking slowly towards her. Unlike her brother, Jadis did not think the small girl capable of harm, and so she held her gaze as she approached and crouched before her.

“Does it hurt?” she heard the girl ask, causing her to eyebrows to furrow in confusion.

“Does what hurt?” she said coldly, and was surprised somewhat to see the girl took no offence to such condescending words.

Instead, she smiled, reaching out a small hand towards her face. “Your cheek,” she said by way of explanation, and when her hand finally touched said cheek, the White Witch found herself throwing her gaze away in embarrassment. “Does it hurt?” Now at quite the impasse- she would never admit pain, despite the fact that it did hurt- she merely blinked, unable to meet the young girl’s gaze. Silence seemed to engulf the area for quite some time, before Lucy broke it once more. “One of us should look after her,” she said, finally giving Jadis reason to look back at her, surprise in her eyes.

“One of us should kill her,” she heard Edmund mumble, though ignored it, since Susan stepped on his foot sneakily to silence him.

Seeing Aslan’s gaze on her, Jadis looked to him, her eyes still holding surprise at the suggestion of the girl whose hand still resided on her red cheek. “It would be safest, for all of us, I think. It is a good idea,” he said, his amused gaze causing her to glare at him before swatting away Lucy’s hand.

“I refuse to be treated in such a fashion,” she said sharply, causing the Great Lion to raise an eyebrow at her. “It is demeaning, and I will not stand for it.”

“Well that’s alright, seeing as how you’re sitting,” Susan said lightly, causing the White Witch to turn her glare instead upon her, an act that caused her to shrink back slightly.

“Maybe ‘look after’ isn’t the right words,” Peter said to Aslan with a small shrug of his shoulders. “She is the enforcer of the Deep Magic still, is she not? So she must be fairly wise.”

The White Witch’s eyes snapped to the older brother then, having gone wide with surprise; would the wonders of the day never cease? “She would be a good advisor,” she heard Aslan suggest, though her eyes remained on Peter, who seemed to be looking over her with appraising eyes.

“I could take her,” Edmund suggested in a cool voice, his arms having crossed over his chest. “I could use her… wisdom.”

But she found Aslan shaking his head. “You speak with revenge in your heart, Edmund. No, I do not think it would be wise to entrust her to you.”

“Well then, what about me?” Lucy said with a smile that made Jadis’ eyes once more widen.

“Are you sure Lu?” Peter said, and the White Witch could easily see Susan agreeing with her eyes at his tentativeness towards the situation.

But Lucy merely looked back to the two with an innocent look. “Why not?”

There was a silence over the group before Peter turned his gaze away from Lucy and instead to the Great Lion. “I think she should come with me, Aslan. Unless,” he paused there, sending a questioning gaze in her direction, “that isn’t acceptable to you?”

At first Jadis opened her mouth straight away to say no, but then she closed it, a thought striking her. What with Peter being the oldest, he would hold the most sway in terms of power… she could use him to her advantage. After all, she had turned the one male into a traitor, how hard could it be to corrupt the other? Putting the guise of her pride upon her face, she raised her chin, easily meeting the oldest human’s gaze. “It is… acceptable,” she said simply, causing Aslan to nod his head.

“So be it. You four should all return to Cair Paravel before the sun sets. She and I will both follow in the morning.” And with those simple words said, the four left, leaving Jadis to walk back into the tent with a small smirk- hidden of course from the Great Lion- on her face. Oh yes, things were bound to get interesting…

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