FicWad

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THE LION, THE CAT AND THE TURTLES
Chapter Thirteen:
As the Hag Turns


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After what seemed to be far too short a time (but time always does fly when you are enjoying yourself), the Red Lady managed to tear herself away from the reflection in the ruby to look up at her followers, who were still watching her and awaiting her orders. They were a far less pleasant sight, the Red Lady had to admit; neither hags nor werewolves are a feast for the eye even at the best of times, and right now they looked even worse. Several of them had wounds or bruises that were most unbecoming, a few of them were bleeding.

They were indeed a gross contrast to the beauty of the Red Lady herself, and she couldn't help but wishing that, for all their loyalty, they had been just a bit prettier -- and she made a silent vow to herself that when she was queen of Narnia, as was doubtlessly her fate, she would surround herself with only the most beautiful and handsome courtiers and subjects.

After all, being stared at is ever so much more pleasant when you yourself don't mind to look at the one who is staring at you.

"Well?" she said, a tad impatiently. "Why are you still standing here, children? Run along! My orders aren't going to obey themselves!"

"If you please, M'Lady," said the Captain of the werewolves, bowing low, "you have yet to give us any orders."

"Oh," said the Red Lady."Yes. Yes, I suppose I haven't. How silly of me. Well, my sweeties, pay attention now. The first thing to do is to get that green creature -- I mean Leonardo. With this little piece of him," (she held up the tooth fragment that Ylgameth had given her) "he'll be easy to control. Then, when he's mine, I'll order him to take me to Cair Paravel. They'll let him in, and he'll let me in. And with any luck, our little friend has already acquired the little piece of king Rilian that we need. But, as I said, first things first; and the first thing in this question is to find Leonardo again." She looked at them. "Well, what are you waiting for, him to come and find us? Spread and search, all, spread and -- yes, what is it, Ylgameth?" she added, a little annoyed, as the hag began waving an arm in front of her.

Now having the Red Lady's attention again, Ylgameth began shaking her head and pressing her hands together before pointing at the witch, nodding, pointing at her mouth, and then moving into a complicated series of motions and gestures, getting more and more agitated.

The Red Lady sighed. "Will someone please get her a piece of parchment and a pen?" she said. "I really don't feel like playing guessing games right now."

The Captain of the werewolves, smirking in a self-satisfied way as if he'd expected this, nudged one of the hags, who immediately produced both a rolled up piece of parchment, a pen, and an ink-horn from somewhere within her skirts.

Everyone watched as Ylgameth spread out the parchment, opened the ink-horn, and began scribbling furiously -- it seemed, the Red Lady thought as she watched the crude letters form from the hag's pen, that even being the oldest and wisest of hags doesn't necessarily give you pretty handwriting.

"Spreading out is a bad idea," she read over Ylgameth's shoulder. "If anyone but you meets the green creature, he will doubtlessly kill him or her. Only you have the tooth fragment that can bring him under your control. Well," she said as she looked up from the parchment, "I have to say you are slipping, old hag. Even you should realize that I wanted the one who finds the creature first, signals to me. You do remember how to do that, don't you? And how many times must I tell you not to scowl when you look at me? You are ugly enough without making that ugly face."

Once again, a few of the werewolves looked like they were trying very hard not to laugh, but in such a way that made their amusement almost more obvious than if they had laughed out loud. The Red Lady allowed herself a coquettish wink at them before growing serious and turning around to address everyone.

"As I said, then: Spread and search!" she said cheerfully. "First one to find the green creature signals to me the normal way, and I'll be with them as soon as I can. In the meantime, I'll wait here for you -- or from our little friend from Cair Paravel, whichever comes first."

"And I shall wait with you, M'Lady," said the Captain of the werewolves, walking up and standing next to her. "It does not do for the future queen of Narnia to stay out in the woods with no escort."

She shrugged, with a smile. "As you wish. The rest of you, go on! The last one out my sight gets five seconds of intense pain courtesy of my ruby -- but Ylgameth, hold on," she added as everybody began running away. "I have a special task for you. You go back to the clearing where we first met the green creature and see if he's still there. And while you're at it, see if you can do anything about Yareth's body. You there," (she pointed at a random werewolf who hadn't been as quick as the others) "be a sweetie -- go with her and make sure she doesn't get any bright ideas."

"Of course, M'Lady," said the werewolf, shooting Ylgameth a look that dared her to get any bright ideas, before bowing to the Red Lady and dragging the hag along with him.

Just before they vanished in between the trees, the Red Lady called out: "By the way, Ylgameth, you were the last one out of my sight!" squeezed her ruby and laughed heartily at the hag doubling over with the pain.

"She's much more tolerable now that she can't speak, don't you think?" she said between giggles as she turned towards the Captain.

"It was an honor and a privilege to be allowed to be the one who silenced her for good, M'Lady," said the Captain with a wicked grin that, had he been just a little more handsome, would have looked quite nice really.

"Of course it was," she answered, returning the grin before returning to her reflection in the ruby and letting herself get lost in its seductive beauty.




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Ylgameth fumed silently as the werewolf dragged her through the forest.

The ruby-induced pains always vanished quickly, but the sheer indignation of it all stayed, the feeling of hatred growing a little bigger, a little more intense for every time.

How dare that... that would-be witch treat her, Ylgameth, like that? She, who was the oldest and wisest of hags, and who had been a loyal servant of the Narnian Witch Clan ever since the beginning? This kind of nonsense wouldn't have been tolerated for a moment, not for a moment, during the White Witch's reign.

What would the great Queen Jadis have said, had she seen the sorry state of the forces of darkness in Narnia nowadays? Scattered to all corners of the world and without a proper strong leader to unite them, they had grown small-minded, unambitious and petty, with little or no interest in recreating the glory of the olden days.

Werewolves lived in shadows, hiding from everyone and everything. Hags masqueraded as humans and kept their heads down, for fear that the king's knights should discover them and put and end to their miserable lives. Giants paid treaty to the humans and tried to pretend they weren't there. Black dwarfs had apparently changed sides completely and allied themselves with the king and with Aslan's crowd these days. And all the rest -- efreets, orkneys, cruels and others -- had either left the land for good or gone so far underground that it was impossible for anyone to make contact with them.

And the only one who could have changed things, the only true witch left in Narnia and last of the Witch Clan, was (and there was no polite way of saying this) an absolute joke.

Well, Ylgameth had simply had enough. She had originally planned to bide her time some more, pretend to be subdued and silenced until she could make her move, but this new development just proved that the Red Lady didn't deserve even the pretense of the hag's assistance.

True, she was supposed to be loyal to the Witch Clan, but back in the day when she and the other hags had sworn their loyalty, it had meant something. The White Witch's greatness and glory had truly been a marvel to behold, and she had truly believed in her cause, right to the bitter end. Her soul burned -- passionate and beautiful, yet cold and hard, like a frozen flame -- and all creatures of darkness, most of all Ylgameth herself, knew the burning and followed it. It was her reign that had been the true Golden Age of Narnia, not the feeble few years when King Peter and his kin were on the throne.

And Ylgameth would not see the memory of the White Witch sullied by a subordinate not even worthy to kiss her feet.

You think you have everyone under your control, "M'Lady"? she thought maliciously. You think I will remain your obedient slave, like the the others, just because of the magic that you think I don't know you're using on all hags and werewolves? In that case, you are about to get a nasty surprise. I think it's about time to drop this silly pretense...





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Back at the clearing, Leonardo was having some problems of his own.

He had been in Narnia for more than a week now, and was starting to realize that there was still much -- probably too much -- he didn't know about the land; people and customs and things that the locals took for granted but were a little unexpected to visitors like him. For example, right now he was learning a lot about the Narnian woodland creatures that hadn't been obvious from the start.

In Narnia, all woodland creatures -- at least the ones who could talk -- were equals, and treated each other as equals. Talking animals, dwarfs, fauns, satyrs, centaurs, nymphs and others; everyone was of equal rank and footing, and nobody had any business giving others orders or decide what was best for them just like that. Everyone obeyed the king and the king's men, and everyone was expected to do whatever they can for the good of their country in times of war or crisis, but nobody was quite prepared to let anyone tell them to do anything against their will, especially if their will was to follow the traditional Narnian spirit of chivalry and helpfulness.

To sum it up; Leonardo was having some difficulties in convincing the woodland creatures to let him go and search for the Red Lady on his own.

"Listen, Portly," he said, looking down at the badger, "this isn't about me not wanting help, it's about your safety. You people really need to stick together until we know whether the Red Lady and her posse are still here or not. Seems like you'd be easy pickings for them apart, but together --"

"Of course," said Portly. "And that's the exact reason why you shouldn't go on alone either, master Leo. Strength in numbers, that's what I say! There ain't no reason why a sensible person should go off on wild hunts all on his own, especially when there are so many true-blooded Narnians around, willing to offer their help!" (A few of the others nodded and said /"hear, hear!"/)

"I know, and I'm not trying to be ungrateful or anything," said Leo, "but I can move much faster on my own."

"And be easier pickings!" Portly countered. "It's with witches as it is with werewolves; no-one should go up against one without someone to watch his back!"

"Look, we really don't have time to argue --" Leo began, but cut himself off as he heard a bush rustling in the background and the unmistakable sound of a struggle filled the air, a wolflike growl sounding and then fading away, followed by some more rustling.

Leo spun around just in time to see a werewolf come tumbling out of the bushes, fall down, and lie motionless on the ground in front of them. Quick as only a Ninja Turtle could be, he drew his swords, leapt over the unconscious werewolf and stood in front of the second figure that emerged from the bushes: an old, wrinkled woman with sharp eyes.

"One of the Red Lady's hags!" the cry went up among the Narnians, all of whom tensed, ready to strike at a moment's notice.

That was all Leo needed, and before anyone could do anything more, he was behind the hag, pressing both swords against her throat. "Don't move a muscle," he cautioned her before calling to the Narnians: "Someone check on the werewolf to make sure he's not just playing possum, but be careful!"

Without comment, and as thoroughly as he dared without taking his eyes off the hag, he reached out with his mind, trying to feel for other hags, werewolves or witches in the area -- but he felt none.

This, he reflected briefly, didn't necessarily mean that there weren't any there, but from what he'd experienced earlier it did seem like a hag or werewolf in Narnia stuck out more than, say, a Foot Ninja in the streets of new York; they struck the mind like sour notes in an otherwise beautiful symphony. Whether this was simply the Narnian air affecting him, or a hint that such creatures really didn't belong in Narnia was impossible to say, but whatever the reason, it hadn't failed so far.

The centaur looking up from the werewolf and nodding. "He is alive, merely asleep," he said in a grave tone. "Enchanted, I would say; there is a definite air of magic about it."

"And I can't sense any more of them anywhere," said Leo. "Stay on your guards, though!"

"You stay on yours as well, master Leo!" said Portly. "Hags are dangerous! Remember, they can enchant you using their voices alone!"

"Most of them can," one of the dwarfs said thoughtfully, "but can that one? Wasn't she the one that the witch said couldn't talk?"

"Was she? They all look alike to me," said another dwarf. "I don't think we should trust anything a witch says in any case, or did you forget how deceitful and untrustworthy witches are? It could very well be a trick!"

Leo concentrated fully on the hag again. "Well?" he said. "If you can talk, talk. But, let me give you a fair warning here: If you so much as think about enchanting anyone here, then you won't live to regret it. Understand?"

The hag looked at him, and then said, in a voice that seemed rusty from disuse: "Perfectly."

A few of the Narnians immediately covered their ears, as if this single word would have been enough to enchant them.

Clearing her throat (and being careful that no part of it came in contact with the sharp edges of Leo's sword, the hag continued: "I can talk. The Red Lady merely thinks I can't. Some days ago, she ordered the Captain of the Werewolves to tear my voice box out so she would no longer have to listen to me... but foolishly enough, she didn't bother to make sure that the order was properly followed. I simply enchanted that brute of a werewolf into thinking he had torn my voice box out, and have been playing dumb ever since then. Nobody knows." She sounded quite pleased with herself.

"And what are you doing here?" Leo demanded, deciding to ignore this story. "Spying?"

"No. In fact, I'm here to strike a bargain with you."

"A bargain?"

"See him?" She motioned to the sleeping werewolf. "He was about to summon the Red Lady. I put him to sleep to hinder him, because this is a bargain you will not want to miss out on."

"And why not?"

"Because if you don't agree to this bargain, the Red Lady will have taken over the entire kingdom of Narnia by this time tomorrow, and you shall all be her slaves!" the hag snapped, causing several of the Narnians to stare at her. "Especially you, green creature! You have seen how she can enchant people into doing her bidding -- well, you will be the next! This entire meeting with you was just so she could get her chance to put you under her spell, can't you see that?"

Leonardo looked at her suspiciously. "And why didn't she?" he said. "Why enchant Moorwin if it was me she was after?"

The hag took a deep breath. "You are like king Rilian, that's why," she said.

"What do you mean?"

"Do you know why he's called 'Rilian the Disenchanted'? He was released from a powerful enchantment years ago, and since then, it's been impossible to get to him with casual enchantments like that. They don't seem to have any effect on him any longer. And you, who can see through the Lady's invisibility spells so easily..." Ylgameth narrowed her eyes. "There's a strong will in both of you, too strong for normal magic. But even you... even the king... couldn't fight against the oldest magic... not without my help."

"And you're willing to help us?" The suspicion hadn't left Leonardo's face for a moment.

"I knocked out a werewolf for you, didn't I?"

"That doesn't prove anything. What do you get out of this?"

The hag straightened slightly, and there was a steely resolve in her eyes. "I am Ylgameth," she said. "Oldest and wisest of hags, faithful servant to the White Witch, and to the Lady in Green after her. And I will not let their memories be sullened any more by the Red Lady! The sky is high and the sea is deep, but deeper than the blackest ocean is my hatred for that woman who calls herself a witch! Look at me, green creature, and see the all-encompassing hate burn in my eyes!"

"Most impressive speech," said Leo dryly, "but not very convincing. If I understand this right, you're saying you've been serving witches for hundreds of years. And now you're trying to convince us that you suddenly want to change sides?"

"Change sides? I make no such pretense," said Ylgameth. "Your side can never be mine, green creature -- but for the moment, we have a common goal. It's not in my interest, nor in yours, that the Red Lady should succeed in her plans! She wants to be queen of Narnia, as the White Witch once was, and she's gaining the means even as we speak!"

"Don't trust her," said one of the dwarfs. "Even without the enchantment, a hag will say anything to get what she wants! Given half a chance, she'll betray us all to the Red Lady!"

"Actually, I don't think so," said Portly, peering nearsightedly at the hag. "I think she meant all that she said. Wouldn't trust her not to stab me in the back afterwards, of course, but it seems to me like she's honest about wanting to bargain. After all, I am --"

"Portly," the dwarf interrupted, "please tell me that this is not going to be another of your speeches on what great judges of character you badgers are."

"Of course not," said the badger, a little too hurriedly. "I'm just saying, I don't think she's with the Red Lady."

"The enemy of my enemy is not necessarily my friend," said the dwarf. "Only a fool starts trusting a snake simply because he sees it biting a dragon."

"Then again," said one of the fauns thoughtfully, "don't the stories say that when Queen Lucy the Valiant first entered Narnia, she was saved from imprisonment or worse by one of the servants of the White Witch, who risked his own life to save the young Queen from the Witch? Who's to say we're not looking at a similar situation right now?"

This comment caused most of the Narnians to stop and think, but the dwarf wasn't having any of it: "If you're referring to Master Tumnus the Faun, he was different. For one thing, he was not a hag. For another, all the stories agree that he did genuinely change sides, out of pity for the Queen. This hag is simply looking for a bargain, out of pure self-interest. It's not the same thing at all, and even you should understand that much!"

"All right," said Leo loudly, sensing that an argument was going to start unless he cut in. "Both sides has a point. Ylgameth, did you say your name was? Why should we trust you?"

"Because only I know the secret of the old magic," she answered. "Only I can tell you how to escape the Red Lady's control, and how to save your precious king Rilian from her! She intends to get a small piece of him -- a few strands of hair, a fingernail, anything -- anyone who has a small piece of you and knows the old magic will have you completely in their power!"

Leo felt as if an ice-cold hand had gripped his heart. He ran his tongue over his chipped tooth -- there was definitely a piece of it missing.

It seemed like Ylgameth guessed what he was thinking, because she looked up at him and said, extremely cocky for someone who has two swords almost pressed against her throat: "That's right, green creature. She has a fragment of your tooth. Didn't think that anyone noticed one of your teeth breaking when the centaur kicked you, did you?"

Leo forced the feeling of dread away -- he hadn't thought anyone noticed, and he hadn't told anyone, so for the hag to even know about it did at least suggest that she was telling the truth on some level, but he couldn't let fear dictate his actions. "Supposing we did agree to your bargain," he said as calmly as he could, "what exactly is it you propose?"

"Simple. I tell you how to counter the old magic, and in return you let me leave the land of Narnia."

"And you go straight to the Red Lady and tell her 'those fools fell for my bluff,' and we discover that your so-called counter is completely useless," said Leo. "I don't think so. Try something better."

"That is my offer," said Ylgameth. "Take it or leave it, but whatever you choose, choose fast! The sleeping spell for the werewolf isn't going to last forever, and when he wakes up he'll immediately send for the Red Lady -- and in the meantime, the Lady's pawn will have reached Cair Paravel and likely managed to get the piece of king Rilian that she needs!"

"So that's why she enchanted that squirrel to send to Cair Paravel!" said Portly with a frown. "Should have guessed."

Ylgameth looked at him. "That's why she enchanted the what to send to Cair Paravel?" she said.

"Squirrel! Don't know which one it was, of course, but old Stoneclaw the Griffin said that he'd seen this here Red Lady talk to a squirrel and send it off to Cair Paravel, so we guessed that she'd enchanted it, and old Stoneclaw and a few others set out to warn the king of --" the badger began, only to stop and look surprised when Ylgameth started to laugh.

She laughed and laughed, a hoarse and mirthless laugh that was extremely unpleasant to listen to, and Leo had to press one of his swords lightly against her throat and tell her to "get on with it!" before she would calm down enough to tell them what was so funny.

"You idiots!" she snarled. "The Red Lady never enchanted any squirrel to go to Cair Paravel!"

"Are you calling Stoneclaw the Griffin a liar?" said Portly.

"I'm saying," said Ylgameth, "that the Red Lady never enchanted a squirrel to go to Cair Paravel for her. She enchanted Stoneclaw the Griffin to go to Cair Paravel for her!"

Leo mentally kicked himself. Of course. it all made sense now. If only he had tried to look a little closer at the griffin's story before it had left... but the problem was, there hadn't been any time. There still wasn't any time, he realized; Ylgameth was right about that one thing, if nothing else. He would have to make a decision very quickly, or everything might be lost, no matter what he chose.

"But..." said one of the bears, who was apparently a little slower on the uptake than the others. "He was fighting alongside us, against the Red Lady. He wouldn't have done that if he was --"

"Have you ever heard of a little thing called subtlety?" said Ylgameth, causing the bear to hide its face with its paw. "If you don't believe me, by all means, go to Cair Paravel yourself. Get the story from the king himself. Of course, by then it will likely be much too late for me to help you out, with one thing and an other, but don't feel you have to let that stop you."

Leonardo's hand clenched around his sword a little tighter. "All right," he finally said. "Bargain. Tell us about this old magic of yours."




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Stoneclaw the Griffin was, as should be no surprise, the first to arrive at Cair Paravel, beating the others by over an hour. Beating his majestic wings as he landed by the castle's front gate, he was immediately greeted by two human guards who had seen him coming and hurried up to hear what a griffin might want at Cair Paravel.

After the necessary pleasantries and polite greetings (for griffins are very big on manners, especially when meeting strangers for the first time), Stoneclaw got around to the point.

"I need to see the good king Rilian as soon as possible," he said. "I have urgent news from Leonardo, the Ninja Turtle, concerning a certain Red Lady."

And since good king Rilian had specifically given all the guards the order that anyone who mentioned either Leonardo, Moorwin, or the Red Lady were to be granted immediate audiences, of course the guards took the griffin inside and went to fetch the king.

And of course none of them saw anything strange about the griffin's eyes or behavior, because a witch's enchantment can be very subtle, and a griffin's eyes always seem to be staring piercingly at whatever it is the griffin is looking at anyway -- and unlike many other creatures, it's completely impossible to guess from its facial expression what a griffin is thinking.

Of course, all that was going on inside Stoneclaw the Griffin's head at the moment was one constantly repeating sentence, like an old scratched record: Obey the Red Lady. Obey the Red Lady. Obey the Red Lady. Obey the Red Lady. And that can hardly be called thinking.






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To be continued....
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Chapter Notes: As of this chapter, The Lion, the Cat and the Turtles is on hiatus until further notice. Sorry about this, but I just can't get chapter fourteen to work... so I'm taking a break from it. I haven't given up on the story, but it might take a while before you see a continuation...

Other notes on the chapter: Ylgameth's betrayal of the Red Lady probably doesn't come as any great shock... although there might have been a couple of other revelations in this chapter (Ylgameth being able to talk after all, the story of Stoneclaw the Griffin) that might have surprised you, at least a little?

By the way, I hope the heavy focus on OCs in some of these chapters (the Red Lady, Asheena and now Ylgameth being the most prominent examples, all having had at least one "starring" chapter) aren't turning too many readers off this story. I never create OCs to be the stars of the show, but occasionally I find that they so much to say about the situation at hand that they end up dominating a chapter or two. And that's a pretty big turn-off in much fanfiction, because... well, why do we read fanfiction? To see our favorite characters in new stories, of course! Certainly not to see some other characters we've never heard of before steal their spotlight and get all the attention.

Oh well. The next chapter, whenever it does show up (sometime after he hiatus, no doubt) should have more canon-character action.