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F I V EÂ Y E A R SÂ A G O
"Please spare us." One of the Narnians begged.
The creatures trembled with fear as the young girl stood over them as they tried to anticipate her next move.
Guilt hits her like a loaded truck as she sees the look on their pale faces. She never wanted this to be her life, terrorising innocent lives of others.
"I know it's hard. But we have to do it, Nerissa." Her bestfriend, Jed, urges. "She'll kill us if we don't."
Nerissa's eyes darted from the Narnians to her friend and back again, all of which had the same terrorised looks on their faces for reasons that were more similar than they thought.
She nocked her bow, drawing the string tight as she aimed it right at her targets, ready to shoot at the creatures standing before her.
The loud thumping of her heart filled her ears and her hands had started to shake. She watched, with tear-filled eyes as the Narnians held onto each other tightly, bracing themselves for the end of their time.
"I can't do it." The girl's voice quivers as she speaks, "I won't."
She lets her bow fall from her hands and onto the thick layer of snow that now coated the ground.
"There's got to be another way to do this." She reasons with Jed, "We could hide them."
"Hide them where? The Queen has eyes everywhere. Do you even remember what happened the last time we disobeyed her? She killed our parents and she won't hesitate to kill us too." Jed sighs, "Our ancestors didn't sacrifice their lives back in Charn for us to live so that we could be killed in another world."
Jed runs a hand through his hair, looking just as torn as Nerissa had felt.
"Nerissa, look-" He started again, but was soon cut off by Nerissa.
She brought a finger to her lips, shushing him. Her brows drew close to each other as she listened attentively, eyes scanning the woods.
"Do you hear that?" She asks.
"Is that...A horse?" Just as the words leave Jed's mouth, a figure appears from behind the bushes.
It was, indeed, a horse-well, the lower half of its body was and it's upper half, was that of a human.
The two stumbled back at the sheer height of the Centaur that stood tall in front of them, a sword raised in front of him.
Out of pure instinct, fire bursts from the ground with a flick to Nerissa's hand, creating a barrier between them and the Centaur, making him rear back.
It wasn't long before the Centaur had regained himself. Now, he was staring at her, eyes wide with shock and mouth slightly ajar.
"It's you." He mutters.
"What?" Nerissa asks in confusion.
The Centaur lowers his blade, "The Phoenix. You're the Phoenix." He says.
The flames slowly start to fade to nothing as the girl continued to stare at the Narnian in confusion.
"The prophecy. You're meant to protect Narnians, not slaughter them-" The Centaur continued but was quickly cut off.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Nerissa says, fearful that there may be wolves in the forest listening in to their conversation.
"In time you will, Warrior. My name is Oreius." He says, his tone now softer, "Remember my name. You'll need it when the times comes for you to fulfil your prophecy."
"How will I know?" She blurts, a part of her wishing that there was a chance Jed and herself could live a life without having to take the lives of innocents; a life with purpose.
"You'll know." He states, "They always know."
Nerissa simply stares at the Centaur, a thousand questions rushing through her mind.
Just as she opens her mouth to ask another one of her long list of question, a figure rushing off through the woods caught her eye.
Her eyes meet those of her friend, whose face was now drained of its colour.
"Maugrim." Jed's voice breaks as he speaks, failing to hide his fear. "We need to go, Nerissa. Now!" He urges, dragging her behind him.
She steals one last glance at the Centaur, who offered her a firm parting nod as they fled into the woods.
The two rushed through the dense forest hand in hand. Twigs snapped beneath their feet and the only other source of any noise were the sound of their heavy breathing.
Finally, they make it to the Ice Palace. Sneaking in through a hidden back door of the castle, the two silently made their way down the long hallway, inwardly praying that they wouldn't get caught.
"Hold." The voice they dreaded to hear echos off the walls, making it seem louder than it really was.
The two stop dead in their tracks, exchanging a nervous glance with each other before turning to face the pale woman who stood tall behind them.
"Did you get the job done?" She questions.
Nerissa could feel her heart beating against her chest like an erratic bird ramming its body against its cage trying to escape.
"We did." Jed quickly answers before Nerissa could get the chance to, "It's done, your Highness."
The White Witch raises her brows in what looked like amusement, "Oh, really?" She asks, "Who was the one who did it?"
"I did, your Highness." Jed lies again, "We decided to split up, Nerissa patrolled the area while I got rid of the Narnians."
The Queen hums thoughtfully, twirling her wand in her hand.
Before the children could even react, she stabs her blade of her wand forward into Jed's stomach.
"Jed!" Nerissa yells as the boy doubles over, clutching his side as he fell to the ground, groaning in pain.
She tries to rush to Jed's aid, but is quickly stopped by Maugrim who lands in front of her.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." The wolf stops her with a huge grin on his face.
"How dare you lie to your Queen." The Witch bellows.
In a fit of rage, she swings her wand forward again and immediately, Jed turns to stone as soon as it touched him.
As if turning the young boy to stone wasn't enough to satisfy her anger, she brings her blade down on the stone figure, smashing it to pieces.
"No!" Nerissa screams, tears spilling onto her cheeks as the sight of her friend's demise.
Nerissa rushes forward, kneeling down beside Jed's shattered remains.
"Let this be a lesson to all." The Witch speaks again, "This is what becomes of those who dares to defy me."
The Witch then turns to the young girl, still grieving over the death of her dearest friend.
"You ought to be grateful that I've decided to spare your useless life, you little varmint." She shrugs, "But I guess it's safe to say that you've learnt your lesson. Am I right?"
"Yes, my Queen." She spat, eyes filled with spite.
"Good." The Witch says with a satisfied smile.
Nerissa watched as the Witch took her leave. Never in her life has she felt so much hatred for one person.
Tears continued to fall from her eyes as she glanced at the pieces of stone scattered across the icy floor, what's left of the only family she ever really had.
In that moment, the girl swore that she was going to make the Witch pay for what she did.