Elsa's POV

Once I reached the gates of Tashbaan, I stopped flying and walked through, searching for Eustace and Jill. I was slowed every time a Tarkaan or Tarkheena would pass, because everyone had to clear the road so they could do so. When they did, however, they would send me horrible glares. They could probably tell I was a Narnian; Narnians and Calormene didn't get alone too well.

Once I finally caught up with Eustace and Jill, they were about to enter a building, which they explained was the man's house. We slowly, carefully opened the front door and crept inside, cautiously making our way through the halls in search of our friends.

Lucy's POV

Everyone was asleep but me. We didn't know whether it was day or night, let alone what day it was, so we slept when we felt tired. I wasn't tired. I was too busy worrying about what would happen to us. After all, Jonas nearly died! His shoulder had been bleeding so badly, you could see the crimson liquid soaking the whole top-left part of his white shirt. I didn't have my cordial (the man had taken it from my person while I was unconscious), so I couldn't heal him. I ended up having to use his shirt to put pressure on his wound to stop the bleeding. Once I had done so, Edmund ripped some cloth from the end of his shirt and I tied it around Jonas' shoulder in an attempt to keep it from bleeding again.

I tried making myself fall asleep, but the farthest I could get was lying on the cold, hard ground. I shifted uncomfortably and let out a sob. At that point, it didn't seem like we would ever be rescued. That was when I saw a sliver of light across the room.

"Hello?" I croak, my throat dry from lack of water. Elsa's 'father' didn't give us much food, so we all had sore throats and pained, growling stomachs.

"Lucy?" I heard a familiar voice ask.

"Eustace? Is that you?"

"Yes. Jill's here, too. Where's everyone else?"

"Edmund, Rilian, and Jonas are in here; I don't know where Peter and Elsa are."

"Elsa is with us," Jill piped up, "We split up, though. Elsa's searching the basement."

Eustace, Jill, and I woke Edmund, Rilian, and Jonas before we headed to the basement to meet up with Elsa.

Elsa's POV

I tip-toed down the spiral staircase leading to the basement, nearly tripping and falling countless times because of each stair's small width. The walls were damp, the corridor had a stale smell, and my steps echoed down the stairwell. The farther down I got, the less light there was, and in the end, I had to create a small fire in my hand to light my way. Eventually, I felt no more stairs underneath my feet, and realized I was at the bottom. Sadly, the fire didn't illuminate the room enough for me to be able to see all the way to any of the walls. I took cautious steps forward and once again, the sound waves bounced off the walls, creating a chorus of echoes throughout the entire room.

"Who are you?" I heard a voice choke out.

"Who are you?" I repeated.

"I asked you first."

"I asked you second."

"Yes, but because I asked you first, you should answer first."

Then I understood who the voice belonged to.

"Peter?" I breathed.

"How did you-" I rushed over to the sound of his voice and to find him in the dark, coming close enough to him so my mini-fire shone on both our faces. This also allowed me to see he was chained to the wall behind him.

"We have to get you out of here," I stated the obvious, "I don't know when that man could come down here."

I feel the locks on Peter's chains to get a idea for their shape, inside and out.

"Elsa, about that man-"

"Not now, Peter."

I began to form ice in my hands and created the shape of a key that should have fit perfectly into the lock.

"But, Elsa, you don't-"

"Peter, please."

I set the key in the lock and turned, releasing one of Peter's hands.

"Elsa, you need to-"

"No, I don't. What I need to do is get you out of here."

I moved to Peter's other side and unlocked the chains on his second hand. I stood up, reaching a hand out to help Peter up, which he accepted.

"I have to tell you-"

"Peter," I started, "We don't have time right now. We have to go." I rush toward the door, but Peter grabs my wrist and turns me back to face him. Not forcefully, mind you, just enough to get me to turn back around.

"You have to listen to me first. It's extremely important," Peter's face was solemn, and I nodded to show I was listening, "Elsa, that man.... He's your father."

My eyes widened and my jaw dropped. "No. You're lying to me. There's no way that horrible man could be my father," I whisper, my voice quavering, hands shaking, and breath staggering.

"Elsa, I wouldn't lie to you about something like this."

I nodded again. "I know."

Then, I completely broke down. Tears flowed from my eyes so much they soaked my entire face, and my loud sobs filled the room. Peter held me close, rubbing my back and trying to calm me down, but it didn't work. This went on for quite awhile before my tears slowed and my breathing was nearly back to normal.

"Elsa," Peter said softly, and I looked up at him, "It'll be okay."

"There's just one thing I don't understand," I sighed, "If he's my father, then why is he doing all this?"

"I have no idea."

Just then, we heard multiple footsteps running down the stairs, and multiple voices calling both our names. Peter and I walked to the bottom of the stairwell, waiting for them to reach us. When they did, I saw that Eustace and Jill had found everyone else; Edmund, Rilian, Lucy, and even Jonas.

"You're both alright!" Lucy exclaimed, running towards us and engulfing us in a hug.

"Now that that's settled, we should probably leave before we're caught," Edmund pointed out.

We all nodded in response and traveled back up the stairwell. Jill returned Jadis' staff to me, as I had left it with her for some reason I couldn't remember. On our way out, we found everyone's belongings. We ran all the way through the house, but just as we got to the front door, we were stopped by a group of minotaurs and wolves blocking our path. Peter protectively pulled me behind him and drew his sword. Edmund and Rilian drew their swords as well, and Lucy pulled out her dagger. I took two daggers from my boots (I kept them there just in case) and handed them to Eustace and Jill.

The next few minutes were near complete chaos; both parties seemed to charge at the same time. A minotaur reached me first when he slammed into me and threw me to the ground, which knocked the wind out of my lungs. However, I still leapt back onto my feet as soon as my back hit the ground, seeing as I didn't want to give the creature an advantage over me if I was lying vulnerable on the ground. We battled against one another for what seemed like ages before I finally knocked his weapon from his hand and turned him to stone. A little while later, I killed my third wolf and turned around to face the one person I had been hoping never to see again. My father.

"Well, hello, darling," he sneered as a horrific grin crept across his face.

I glared at him, attempting to seem as intimidating as possible. "Don't call me that," I growled.

"Oh, getting feisty now, are we?"

"Yes, actually, we are," I snarled, getting agitated, "But I'm done talking."

As soon as the words came out of my mouth, I swung at him, causing him to duck. I had always heard that when in battle, you weren't supposed to make the first move, but I couldn't help it. I wanted to rid that man from my life so desperately.

Here's the thing about Jadis' staff, though: it's powers are determined by the powers of its wielder. It's only purpose is to intensify said powers, but it does so drastically. A wielder's powers can be intensified by at least ten times their normal strength, which is why I knew it was a good idea to use it for my weapon. I also chose it because I wanted to do so much more to this man than just turn him to stone.

Immediately after I swung at the man, he blocked it with his own sword. Then I set the staff on fire, and he took a couple steps back.

"I see you inherited your mother's powers," he chuckled.

"I did."

We went back and forth for quite some time, but he never seemed phased by any of my powers. In a moment of weakness, he elbowed my stomach and hit me in the head with the hilt of his sword, nearly causing me to go unconscious. Luckily, I didn't, but I fell to the ground, and found that my vision had grown blurry. I could, however, make out my father's sword pointed at my neck.

"Any last words, daughter?" he asked, and unreadable tone lacing his voice.

"Not ones that I should say."

"Alright then," he sighed, "But you should know that I'm going to kill you with something much more painful than the action of slitting your throat."

"Noted."

Once our conversation was over, he raised his sword, and I squeezed my eyes shut, expecting the worst. But instead of feeling pain, I heard the clashing of swords. I snapped my eyes back open to see Peter fighting my father with all his might. I stood back up, trying to rebalance myself on my suddenly wobbly legs.

The next thing I saw was the man throwing Peter to the floor. I rushed over to them, and did what I had been trying to do since I first came face-to-face with my father that day.

I stabbed him in the abdomen with Jadis' staff, and ice crawled over his stomach, eventually making its way over his whole body. So, he would freeze to death, and bleed to death.

I wan't sure if I regretted what I did or not.

YAY!!!! Another wonderful update! I think this is a pretty intense chapter, worthy to be posted on New Year's Eve, don't you? XD Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed!

~Tiffani

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